I am in El Paso. I have 34 days to go. I was under the weather all week with a bad head cold/sinus infection, going to bed at 7 or 8 am MST every night. I trained today but at a lower rate and distance. All advice points to getting better, even at the risk of missing some sessions or doing less than the schedule calls for. One thing I am working on are the snacks I will eat along the way. I took a baggie with Cheerios and half a banana. Those gels/bars that are high carb don't sit well on my stomach. I can't eat nuts so trail mixes are out for me too. The experts say never never eat something untried on the big day. I am also experimenting with the clothes I will wear. There is a golden rule to only wear clothes ( including the undies) that are tried and true. It is not good to discover on event day that a tag rubs or an undergarment chafes. My shoes are broken in but not worn out.
Where is Bhutan and why does Milly care? When I work in El Paso my office is on the campus of Univ of Texas El Paso. When I first arrived here, I scratched me head---had never heard of UTEP before. Originally UTEP was the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy. Never heard of that either. Then it became Texas Western. Voila! That rang a bell. Texas Western was best known for its 1966 basketball team which knocked off the Univ of KY Wildcat favorites to win the NCAA National Championship. The coach, Don Haskins started five African American players against the all white KY team. His decision was seen as courageous and is credited with putting in motion the final desegregation of Southern college basketball teams from that point forward. If you like movies, rent Glory Road which documents the story, which is very moving and true. Still, what about Bhutan? When the university was formed in 1914, the wife of the president was fascinated with travel and the arts. She saw pictures of Bhutan and its distinctive architecture in the April, 1914 National Geographic magazine. She thought the landscape of the Franklin Mts in El Paso and that of Bhutan were very similar. Long story short, most of the buildings on the UTEP campus are built in this style. The original building Old Main was finished in this style in 1917 and is now a National Landmark. When I first saw the campus, I thought the buildings were lovely Southwest-style architecture. After I heard the story about Bhutan, I had to Google it to see where it is. It is bordered by India, Bangledesh, and Tibet---so I guess that is Central Asia. In the pictures above, the top left is from Bhutan and the rest are of the UTEP campus. This style is characterized by steep walls that slope inward as they go up. There are broad over-hanging eves with black-rimmed windows. The wide red stripe below the roof line denotes the original religious nature of the buildings in Bhutan. The campus is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful I have seen. It is one of several nice surprises about El Paso.
My honored hero today is John Haluck. He is a trustee of the Sacramento, CA Leukemia and Lymphoma Society ( LLS) chapter and is a leukemia survivor. John was diagnosed in 2000 with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia CLL during a routine physical. He had lost a close friend to leukemia and was devastated to think he wouldn't be around for his three children. Initially his doctor advised a wait and see approach since this is a chronic, not acute, form of the disease. Unfortunately his leukemia progressed very rapidly. His doc told him there was no cure and advised him against clinical trials. Good for John that he ignored his local doc. John went to MD Anderson in Houston to see Dr. Michael Keating, who was funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The day after seeing Dr. Keating, he started on Rituxan (R), which was in clinical trials, also funded by the Leukemia Society. Now John is 53 months in remission!!!
Things to be thankful for: finally the media has stopped talking about the Yankees (LOL), 50 degree temps at sunrise in El Paso, Sunday night football
Still, what about Bhutan? You have become such a writer. Every blog is a Short Story. Look out Vince Flynn! Who ever said you were a "Type A"? Jeez, I don't know, ah, that person was Sooooo Riiiight!! Let's see, while your training, you are worried about jackets, shirts, pants, undies, socks, shoes, food, high carb gels and bars. Yikes, I'm tired with the mental gymnastics let alone the 10 or 20 miles. Can't wait to train with you next weekend.
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