SOMEWHERE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA ...

For those who do not know, our Marine is deployed on the USS Whidbey Island for the next 9 months or so. He is on his way to the Mediterranean Sea to keep an eye on Libya and the rest of the Middle East. If serious trouble breaks out (even more serious than what it is now) his company will be one of the first ground troops in to face the danger.

Well, Daniel called Monday morning at about 6:30 a.m. Satellite phone connections are terrible and we only got to speak for about one minute, maybe less before we were disconnected. In that short time I learned he is bored, very bored; he is somewhere in the middle of an ocean, and that's about it.


Daniel does have regular access to the Internet and facebook, however, so we do get to communicate with him that way. As I said he and the rest of his unit is bored and he has requested lots of movies so we are shipping him out as many movies (DVDs) as we could afford to buy. We also are sending him and his buddies some TV series since those take longer to watch than a movie.

Other News ...
Our daughter, Rachael, and her husband, Josh, and our granddaughter, Maddie moved from Oahu to Georgia a couple of months ago. Josh is in the Army and wanted to transfer closer to his family. Maddie turns 1-year-old near the end of May and has just begun to walk.

Our son, Aaron, will finally be reunited with his wife, Grace, after nearly 2 years of being separated because of the whole immigration law thing. It's taken them nearly 2 years to get through all the paper work and interviews to finally get Grace a green card so she could move to America and live with her husband. She arrives here in a few weeks.

Rebecca has decided to race in the Kona Marathon's 5K race again and will begin training next week for the end of June event. Rebecca is in a wheel chair if you didn't know and 5K (3.1 miles) on Alii Drive is pretty difficult.

I've been out all year with a split tendon in my ankle/foot/leg and will be out for a few more months. I'm on my second round of physical therapy and things are coming along slowly. I've started riding the trainer (basically a stationary bike) for 30 minutes a day and that is going well. I've had to give up swimming though because it was irritating the problem and that's been difficult.

Oh, I almost forgot, I started to learn how to play the drums. It's a lot of work and a lot of coordination and thankfully, I finally got some electric drums so no one has to hear me but me. If I ever get any good I'll post a video but don't expect it anytime soon.

Well, that's about it for now. It's been a while since I've posted anything so I'll try to take the time to write more.

UPDATES

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been busy the past few months even though I'm not training for anything. Here's what's been going on:

SEMPER FI
First, Daniel is being deployed to the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the month to keep an eye on Libya and the reast of the Middle East. He wasn't supposed to be deployed until summer. This time he will sail to the Med and wait to be sent into the fray when needed. Unfortunately, his deployment will probably be extended to his original date and not be able to come home a few months early.

SWIM, BIKE, RUN
I'm in physical therapy for my ankle/tendon. Apparently I have a split tendon and hopefully PT will help it heal so surgery won't be necessary. It's a slow process and for the past few months and the next few months about the only thing I can do is swim and walk. No running and no biking. My first scheduled marathon for this year happens at the end of the month so that's one race I'm missing. The two I wanted to make are the Kona Marathon in June and Honolulu in December. June may not happen but my physical therapist seems to think Honolulu may work.

DRUMS
Since I can't run or bike I have a lot of free time on my hands so I decided at 50-plus years old it's time to learn how to play the drums. So for the past couple of months I've been driving Karen, the kids and the neighbors crazy with a lot of banging, quite unrhythmically, but I'm starting to get the basics down. I've even sold some of my - now useless - triathlon gear so I can buy some electronic drums. That'll make Karen and everyone else happy because the noise factor is almost zero.

HURRAY FOR KAREN
Karen finally was healthy enough to take her certified nurses assistant test and passed. She was supposed to take it back in November but because of her mo-ped accident and breaking her collarbone she wasn't able to do the test until a couple of weeks ago. Now she is working part-time at two jobs. Her regular job and now at a nursing home. Good job Karen. I'm so proud of you.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Rachael, Josh and Maddie have moved from Oahu to Fort Benning, Georgia. Nearly 5,000 miles away. That's a long way. Hopefully we'll still get to see them at least once a year, if not more.

AARON AND GRACE
Aaron and grace are nearing the end of all the mountains of paperwork and money and interviews and everything else so Grace can finally become a U.S. citizen and move here from the Philippines. They were married about a year and a half ago and haven't seen each other since the wedding.

Well, that's about all for now. Take care and thanks for stopping by.

A TRIP THROUGH THE MAGNET

I've been having a problem with my ankle for over a year. It used to hurt once in a while on the bike and would swell up. Then it started hurting more often on the bike. After a while the swelling just never went away. Then it started hurting all of the time on the bike and some of the time on the run. Then it was hurting most of the time on the run and some of the time walking. Now it hurts all of the time.

I thought it might just be tendonitis and it would go away after Ironman but it just got worse. Some days I couldn't even walk. So about a month ago I stopped pretty much everything except swimming. No running, no biking and I try not to walk anymore than I have to.

I finally broke down and went to see a doctor. Actually two doctors. The family doc didn't know what it was and the X-ray didn't show anything so i went to an orthopedic surgeon who guessed it was probably tendonitis but wanted me to get an MRI to rule out the "Big C" and a few other things. My options will be surgery, physical therapy or both, or a walking boot/cast and physical therapy.

So this morning I went to have an MRI and as the technician was getting me positioned on the machine here is part of the conversation we had.

MRI TECH GUY: Do you have any metal in your body?

ME: No.

TECH: Any tattoos?

ME: One on my leg.

TECH: How old.

ME: Just over a year old.

TECH: Sometimes the iron in the ink can react to the magnets.

ME: Oh.

TECH: Your tattoo may tingle or get hot. But don’t worry, you’ll have an emergency shut-off switch just in case your leg catches fire.

PAUSE ...

ME: Haha. You had me going there for a minute.

TECH: (No reaction) Here’s the emergency shut-off switch Mr. Wrighthouse. Once the machine starts I won't be able to hear you so be sure to use the switch if you need it.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous as the huge magnetic machine wound up. Visions of my leg bursting into flames danced in my head as I held tightly to that emergency switch.

Well, OK, maybe he didn't really say my leg would catch on fire but that's what I heard as he explained what could happen.

I have to wait now until Monday, Valentine's Day, to see the doc and hear the results of the MRI.

Hope you all have a great week and a happy Valentine's Day.

THROWING A FIT

Karen and I have been car shopping for the past few weeks.

We've had a little disagreement on the type of vehicle we should get. Karen wants a gas-economical car and I want a Big, gas/diesel guzzling truck.

Here are our choices:

This one is what Karen wants. A Honda Fit. But just look at the one below. Ain't it a beauty?

This is what I want. A man's truck!!! I mean, just think what you can do with this. Need a mountain moved? No problem. Need a new yard, or two? No prob. Need your house moved? Shoots, you can live in the back of this thing. Just pitch a tent ...

I wonder which one we'll get??? I'll keep you posted.

2010: A YEAR IN REVIEW

A lot has happened with our family this year. Some I've blogged about, some I've FaceBooked about and some I did neither. The big highlight this year was our granddaughter, Maddie, was born and our son, Daniel, returning safely from Afghanistan.

Below are a few of the highlights from 2010: Happy New Year everyone!

JANUARY
Daniel is in Afghanistan and has been since November. We get an occasional phone call from him, which most of the time keeps getting disconnected. A devastating earthquake in Haiti. The heartbreaking photos touched most of us.

To celebrate a new triathlon training season I even tried my hand at poetry in honor of triathlon

IT'S A LOVE HATE THING
You o triathlon,
builder of egos and breaker of hearts ...

I hate it when you raise me up
I hate it more when you tear me down.

I hate it when you promise me glory
then throw me to the ground.

I hate your 5 a.m. wake up calls
and swimming in the dark.

I hate your freezing cold swimming pools
and when I see a shark.

I hate it when its time to ride
and ride and ride some more.

How your gale-force wind is always there
that ain’t no Kona lore.

I hate the way you make me run
I hate it but it’s cool.

I hate the way you challenge me
like I was back in school.

I hate the fact we cannot draft
Bike refs make sure of that.

I hate those cards of yellow and red
that whole penalty tent format.

I hate it when you make me laugh,
even worse when you make me cry.

But love that you made me an Ironman
then branded me till I die.

I hate it when you’re not around
after Kona’s race in the fall.

But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you,
not even close
not even a little bit
not even at all.
(Inspired from the poem, "10 Things I Hate About You")

January was the start to a very long 10-month triathlon training season.

FEBRUARY
Daniel turned 20 years old in Afghanistan while patrolling, getting shot at and generally being miserable. Another tragic drunken driver fatality happened here in Kona. This time killing a high school girl on Queen K.


The big news for me in February is I met Lance Armstrong and had the chance to see him race against triathlon pro Chris Lieto.

A lot of Kona swimmers were riled up about the heat being turned off at the pool (it still is off. Plus they started closing the pool twice a month for furlough days.)

MARCH
My first triathlon race of the year, Lavaman took place. I actually made the podium with a third place finish. Something I never imagined would ever happen. Karen competed in her second Lavaman and did excellent.

Daniel is still in Afghanistan but healthy.

Lots of swimming, biking and running going on in Kona.

APRIL
A very busy month for our family. Three birthdays, Karen, our son, Jon (who turned 27), and mine. And our wedding anniversary - 31 years. You can go here: A BUSY MONTH to watch the video I made in honor of our anniversary.

MAY
May was a great month. Our first granddaughter, Madison Lynn Permenter, was born.

And here's a photo of Maddie at about 6 and a half months.

When Maddie was born I even had an urge to write some grunge poetry. While our daughter, Rachael, was in labor on Oahu I was on the Big Island running 10 miles training for Honu. Karen kept me up-to-date via cell phone. Poor cell reception from the hospital caused me to only get cryptic messages on what was happening. Thus the following was created:

LABOR OF LOVE
Water leaking, water gushing;
2 centimeters, 4 centimeters;

Dilation, balloon inflation;
IV fluid, amniotic fluid;

Stretching, tearing, new mom forbearing;
contraction, distraction, uterine inaction;

Tears of pain, tears of joy;
soon we'll say "it's a girl, not a boy."

Waiting, waiting our breath abating ...
a gift of God, new life creating.

Well, as I said, grunge poetry. That's what running 10 miles in the heat, combined with static-filled, staccato cell phone conversations yields I guess.

JUNE
Honu, the Hawaii Half Ironman was this month. The worst race of my tri career. But even so, I qualified for Ironman World Championship.

As you can see in this photo at the finish of Honu, I wasn't a happy camper. I thought I had lost my slot for Ironman but fortunately they gave us two slots in my age group.

Daniel is finally back from war safe and sound and came home for a visit. He was able to watch me race at Honu.

JULY
There were several fun races in July. The King's Swim (a 1.2-mile ocean swim) in which I got a PR and the Peaman Kaloko Run. A very steep 6 mile run. How steep? check this out ...

OK, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but when you run it that's how steep it feels.

Also in July, Ironman announced the end of big Island and State "earned" slots for the world championship. From now on Big Island and state triathletes hoping to make it to the big show will be entered into a lottery. No more "May the best athlete win ..." Now it's "May the luckiest athlete win" So I made this shirt in honor of next years lucky athletes:

Go Team Lotto!!!

AUGUST
The dog days of training for the world championship. LOng rides, long runs and long swims. I got back in touch with my artistic side and created a few computer drawings from the Tour de France.


Of course my best drawing, Alberto Contador, is pretty much worthless now ...

SEPTEMBER
Ironman is only a month away and I'm hating those 6 and 7 hour bike rides. I have an ankle injury that hurts with every pedal stroke and riding a hundred-plus miles at a time is a real killer. I also rode over the Kohala mountains for the first (and last) time. The scariest ride I've ever had. Super windy. Nearly got blown off the bike and the road.

Ironman athletes are arriving in town. The dog days of training are over and the excitement of the nearing race is building.

OCTOBER
Ironman time!!! I met so many great people/athletes this year. If you click on October on the right side of my blog you'll see photos of many of them.

This was my second Ironman. I beat last year's time by about 9 minutes. But more importantly I finished and that's what counts for me.

I did another computer drawing in honor of our local professional triathlete, Bree Wee.

NOVEMBER
After five years of living in the same house, we had to move so we spent most of November searching for a house and moving. I kept up my running and had a couple of races. I also got hit by a car while running on Alii Drive. No major damage but I did suffer from a stiff neck and some damage to my spine that showed up a couple of days afterward. I learned to ALWAYS get information from a driver even if you don't feel like you are injured.

I also started writing my book. November is National Novel Writing Month, also called NaNo Wri. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days and although I wasn't writing a novel I gave it my best try. But with moving to a new house consuming most of my free time I only managed just under 11,000 words. But at least it's a start and I worked out some issues with the subject I'm writing about and progressed further emotionally than I thought I would. It's a tough subject to talk/write about and hopefully one day I'll get worked out and all down on paper.

DECEMBER
Our daughter, Rachael, and granddaughter, Madison, came for a visit before they move to Georgia.

I started turning some of my photos into computer paintings to decorate our new house. I kind of like the results. Once printed on canvas I'm filling in highlights with oil paint to give it that freshly painted smell and texture. I may try to sell some at some local markets as well.

Well, that was my year. If you managed to read it all, thank you. If you just browsed it thanks as well.

PLANS FOR 2011
I don't have a lot of plans for 2011. So far I'm not planning on doing triathlons this year. My ankle is pretty messed up and riding a bike is just too painful. I go to the doctor next week who will probably refer me to a surgeon and who knows how long all of that will take. My athletic plans are focusing on running (for some reason running is the least painful activity for my ankle. Walking and biking are the most painful.) I'll also continue to swim. I'm hoping to run in a few marathon and swim as many ocean races as I can.

A new hobby I just picked up, thanks to Karen's Christmas gift, is learning to play the drums. Karen got me a small electric drum set that is really just a toy but while trying to get down the coordination of moving your foot, and each hand at different speeds and times reminded me of learning to swim, I couldn't resist the challenge of it. Plus I love music with lots of heavy drums in it. So I'm hoping to overcome my lack of coordination and be able to at least play some basic drum beats.

I don't know, do you think 51 years old is too old to become a rock star?

Happy New Year everyone. Be safe and thanks for stopping by throughout the year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HAWAII

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping by my blog and hope you all have a fantastic new year.

Oh, and if you are reading this Christmas Eve and wondering where Santa is check this out:

"NORAD Tracks Santa now has a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a Youtube channel and apps for mobile phones, along with a website, noradsanta.org, and the phone line, 877-HI NORAD.
More than 13 million unique visitors went to the website last December. NORAD Tracks Santa more than 625,000 “likes” on Facebook by Friday and more than 49,000 followers on Twitter.
The phone line is still at the core of NORAD Tracks Santa. Volunteers answer calls in two-hour shifts from 2 a.m. Mountain Time on Christmas Eve until 3 a.m. Christmas Day."

So stop by noradsanta.org to track santa or give them a call. Michelle Obama is also answering Santa's calls from Hawaii.

Santa's stop in Hawaii.

Our house this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

'PAINTING IS JUST ANOTHER WAY OF KEEPING A DIARY' - Pablo Picasso

Henry Ward Beecher once said, “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” If so, below is a glimpse of my own nature, or maybe my soul.

My pictures began with a camera, a lens and natural lighting that made its way to a computer, mixed in with filters, electronic brushes and adjusted pixels and finally printed on canvas and added oil and acrylic paints. A true mixed media of art forms and of ages (traditional and computerized painting). This is my hobby while I decide if I will continue in triathlon or on to something else. Maybe art, maybe writing or maybe back to triathlon.



Somewhere along the way before Ironman I lost my enthusiasm for the sport, especially the bike portion. Mostly because of an ankle injury that made biking extremely painful for the months leading up to Ironman. I was hoping taking some time off after ironman would allow my ankle to get better but it is still bothering me and is forcing me to go to the doctor and possibly have surgery.

So in the meantime, this is what's filling my spare time. It's hard to see the texture of the prints on the computer but I hope you like them. Who knows, they may be for sale one day.

JUST GRAND

Our daughter, Rachael and our granddaughter, Madison, are visiting us from Oahu this week. Next month they are moving to Georgia so it'll be a long while before we see them again. Rachael's husband, Josh, is in the Army and is being stationed at Fort Benning.

Here are some photos from this week:

Maddie at 6 months old

Who's the little princess?

Curiouser and curiouser

Mommy and baby sleeping

Proud grandma

Play time

Tasting grandpa's hat. Teething time

Santa's little elf

LIFE IS BUSY

It's been a long and busy past few weeks. We are still in the process of moving. Well, mostly we are finished except for a yard sale tomorrow and then getting rid of everything at the old house that doesn't sell. Then cleaning and finally we'll be finished.

One thing I've learned over the past month is that training for Ironman is easy compared to moving. I'm beat up, banged up and plain tired of the whole process.

(Maddie learning to sit up by herself.)

On a brighter note, Rachael and Madison are coming to visit tomorrow for a week. Tomorrow is also Aaron's birthday.

(Aaron the bell ringer.)

Life is pretty busy this time of year for us especially with the move. By January things should be slowing down I hope. I hope you all are staying warm. I've been having snow envy as I do every year at this time. Our temps are in the 80s for the highs and 70s for the lows.

When I get to really craving the cold I go out to Costco and jump into their walk-in refrigerator. That seems to do the trick for a while.

(A cool 32 degrees. Just what the soul needs in December in Hawaii.)

Well, take care and Merry Christmas. I'll post again soon.

BUSY MOVING

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I have lots to write about but with Karen still recovering from a broken collarbone and us in the middle of moving I haven't even had time to run or swim or blog. I'll post again soon. Happy Thanksgiving almost. Have a safe week.

GET THE INFO

Well, it finally happened to me.

I was running along Alii Drive last Monday minding my own business and listening to my tunes. ( I have headphones that allow me to hear ambient sound while listening to music. for all you safety-minded folks) I was only out for a one hour run and was pushing my pace pretty hard. I had just checked my time to see how I was doing. I was at about mile 4 and a half heading back to Coconut Grove where I started from.

I usually run with traffic because my left ankle is injured and the slope of the road is such that I need to run on the side that slopes to the right. Otherwise it is just too painful. More on all this in another post later.

Like I said, I was just minding my own business when out of nowhere I heard a loud "THUMP," felt a pain in the back of my left arm and at the same time my upper body twisted violently to the right as a gray-brown blur flew by me just inches away. Instantly my left arm went numb. I looked up and saw a Suburban-like truck cruising half in the shoulder and half on the road. It's passenger side mirror now smashed flat against the door.

My first thought was, "Holy crap, I just got hit. Am I alive?" My second thought was, "Hey, this guy's not going to stop." So I strained my eyes to get a glimpse of his license plate. "HVM something, something, 8." I don't know if he didn't know he hit me or it took it a little time to register with him what to do or maybe the fact that he just passed someone walking toward me who could be a possible witness, but after about a block and a half the guy pulled over.

I was walking by then, holding my arm and trying to assess if it felt broken or what. With every step I took toward that vehicle I was getting more upset. The driver didn't get out, didn't back up. He just set there. When the person who was walking got to me I asked him if he had seen that guy hit me, he said no. So much for a good witness.

Just before I got to the vehicle the driver got out. It was a young man in his 20s. Maybe even his teens. He looked scared and I'm sure I looked mad. As I approached him he asked, "What happened, brah?" Still holding my arm I said angrily, "You hit me, cuz." "I was just driving," he said too defensively I thought. "On the shoulder?!?" I said even more angrily. "I'm sorry," he said, a little shakiness in his voice now.

Then for some reason I felt like I was giving one of my kids a lecture about safe driving and started tell him he needs to be careful. That there are a lot of runners along Alii and to give them plenty of room.

He finally asked me if I was Ok which I told him I thought I was. I kept walking and he got back into his vehicle. Then I turned around walked back to him looked him in the eyes, I'm sure he thought I was going to lay into him again, and told him "thank you for stopping. A lot of people don't stop." Then I turned around and headed back to Coconut Grove. After he passed me a second time I started running, angry with myself for not getting any contact info and for not calling the police. I figure the more auto verses runner/bike accidents that are reported the likely we are to get funding for safer pathways. And I blew it by not getting any info.

My arm stayed numb the rest of my run and for a little while after that but otherwise as far as I could tell nothing else hurt. My biggest concern was how much the whole affair was going to affect my average pace for my run and if I should deduct a couple of minutes for being hit by a car.

The next morning taught me a lesson. Never assume you are OK if you get in an accident. When I got out of bed the next day I could not turn my head to the left at all and I could barely turn it to the right. And I couldn't look down without causing serious pain in my spine that made it hard to breathe. Nonetheless though, I went for another run on Alii Drive. I figured I needed to face my fear, you know, do what scares you. And I knew I had a confidence problem now. So I ran for only 40 minutes but with my neck/spine feeling the way they were it made it difficult to breathe and to run.

By that night I could barely move my head and hardly slept. Wednesday night I went to Masters swimming to see if maybe swimming would loosen it up. I managed to swim 2,000 yards but it was too painful so I stopped. By then I was getting pretty worried that maybe something serious was going on. By Thursday morning I was feeling a little better and by early afternoon I was feeling even better. By the time I went to bed that night I was nearly pain-free. And today, Friday, There's just a hint of pain in my spine between my shoulder blades when I turn my head.

So, here's the moral to this story. You get hit, you get the info, call the cops to report it and never assume you are OK just because you don't feel any pain. Or you could just never leave the house again. Your choice.