ADVENTURES IN FAITH                                                                                                                         FAITH IN ADVENTURES

FAIR PAYMENT by Kent Terry

 Almost everyone who has lived on a farm has bailed hay at one time or another. And, almost everyone who has done so will tell you that this is one of the worst jobs ever. As I remember from being a boy and helping farmers, you pick the hottest day of the year to do extremely physical labor for an awfully long time. Thus, I surprised myself somewhat when I offered to help my wife's brothers bail hay for my father-in-law Carl because I actually knew better.

The task didn't disappoint me! Bailing hay was just as miserable as I remembered from my youth. Although I was in my 50s and prided myself in staying in shape I certainly wasn't as strong as Ann's brothers but I was holding my own tossing bales from the field into the wagon. Naturally, it was terribly hot and I have to admit I had forgotten how sticky the chaff from the hail feels when it sticks to your sweaty body. While I can't say it was fun, I did enjoy working with Ann's brother and father until it was time to put the hay into the barn loft. Here is where the job turns from miserable to really miserable! At he end of the day, when all of us were the most tired, the bales began to pick up late afternoon moisture and weight more. The sun beat down on the barn roof and made the loft hotter and hotter. As the hay bails took up more and more space in the loft it seemed like there was less and less air and more and more chaff. Just about the time when I thought that my arms were going to fall off from tossing bails off the elevator we were blessedly done. My father-in-law gratefully thanked me for my help and offered to pay me.

I responded with a smile, "Carl, you can't pay me enough to bail hay."

I haven't bailed hay since that day and certainly don't plan to at any price, but this is not the point of the story. My time and effort was a gift and it was "small potatoes" or more to the point, inconsequential compared to the gift that God gave us. There is no way in the world we could ever compensate God for the gift of his Son's life on the cross that God Friday and for the even better gift, His resurrection.

                                                         

     ADVENTURES IN FAITH `FAITH IN ADVENTURES

                                                                        The Old Kodak

Psalm 90: 12  Teach us to realize the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom.  

    I love my office. It has items that I have treasure such as a framed picture of the Alamo that my grandfather made for me when I was a small boy and driftwood that my talented daughter Sara painted for me showing my favorite spot along the Fox River. Many of my favorite pictures are in my office including one that shows me climbing straight up a rock wall in Colorado and I put a yellow tag on the bottom with the words "fall risk!" I try not to be too much into personal honors , but the Volunteer of the Year award from the American Red Cross for my work in helping to restore my city of Marseilles following the disasterous flood of 2013 is in a prominent spot. All my religious books are kept here and on top of the fold down desk that I inherited from my grandparents is the diploma from my lay ministry instruction, a picture of my wife Ann and I from the day that I received this and a wooden cross carved by a friend. Among all this stuff, which at least I consider interesting, is something most people might miss seeing. On the book shelf there is a black and white Kodak picture going back to the early 1940s just prior to WWII.

    My father and his twin brother Ed were born in 1920 and my mother in 1922 and in this now browned Kodak picture the three young people barely out of their teens are pictured by a Missouri bay. What makes the picture so delightful to me is that my Dad and Uncle Ed are holding my mother up off the ground literally making a chair for her with their strong arms. I remember seeing this picture for the first time and exclaiming, "The were just kids having fun!" and the joy of the moment could be seen on all three of their faces.

    WWII soon intervened stopping all that fun and my father and uncle both served honorably. They serve who also stand and wait and my mother carried a locket, which of course I have, with Dad's picture until he returned from the Navy. My parents were married in 1944 and I was born three years later.

    This old Kodak picture is important to me on several levels. I was blessed to be with both of my parents as they took their last breath. I still have the vivid remembrance of carrying my mother weakened from cancer in my arms to her room when my sister Karen and I spent the last week of her life with her. This browned picture of my parents as young strong kids is a jarring reminder to me of the changes in life that we all go through. Whatever stage of life we are in, be that young and strong stage or in our later years when we look back longingly at those days, our lives are transitory or as the Bible puts it, "dust in the wind." 

    So, what's the most important object in my office. It is obviously the cross, or as I counted going shelf to shelf, crosses since I found 10 and may have missed some. Our lives may be short and obviously subject to many changes. These are not only physical as evidenced by the old Kodak picture, but also emotional from our life experiences good and bad. The constant through all these changes should be Jesus and I count growing up in a Christian home as one of my greatest blessings and not only is Jesus with ous through our lives, if we truly believe and confess our sinfulness, he can be with us through eternity.

    One more item from my office; hung on the wall by my grandparent's desk is a wood carving that I brought from the chapel at Mendota Lutheran Home where I had the honor to serve as Chaplain until it's closure. The beautiful carving shows Jesus knocking at the door, and that's our door whether we are a young child learning about Jesus in Sunday School, young adults in the prime of their lives like my parents in the Kodak picture or in the stage of our lives where the road ahead is far shorter than the road behind. It's a wonderful reminder to me, regardless of what stage my life is in, to not only open that door when Jesus knocks but to keep it open as well.

Kent Terry 3/8/21

John Harbeck Memorial Triathlon: Women's results

          Competitor           5-K Run     Transition     4 1/2 mile Kayak      15 mile bike         Total

1. Suzie Walsh             23.22*           .53                   57.04*                       56.08*         2:17.21
2. Holly Hall                24.23            .64                   1:18.06                    1:07.11           2:50.44
3. Karen Broadbeck     26.22            .51*                1:15 20                    1:10.12           2:52.55
4. Ginny Phillips          30.58            2.45                 1:32.47                    1:04.07           3:10.41
5.  Liz Reynolds           30.04            4.13                 1:26.13                    1:15.08           3:15.38
6. Sarah Mustered        36.52              .59                 1:28.31                    1:25.31           3:31.55

These are some amazing times, especially since both the kayak and bicycling events required a great deal of endurance and physical strength. Suzie Walsh, using my boat and with only one kayak lesson from me, beat my personal record on this course by a minute and my record on the bicycle section by two minutes. There is probably a good reason why she is nationally ranked as a triathlete and her overall time was faster than all the men competitors but one. Karen Broadbeck had only kayaked once earlier using the same route and knocked 30 minutes off her time helping her to place 3rd overall in the event. 

John Harbeck Memorial Triathlon: Mens Results

          Competitor       Run       Transition       Kayak        Mountain Bike        Total

1. Alex Marsh      20.31          .47*             1:04.22        49.39*                   2:14:39
2. Joe Heart          21.20          .55               1:01.04        59.38                     2:22.49
3. Daryl Condon   23.51          1.00             1:02.56       1:05:45                   2:32.52
4. James Lippold  30.37          1.08              58.19*        1:05.09                  2:34.33
5. Rich Mangold  22:03          .54                1:10:36       1:03.37                   2:37.13
6. Matt Skelly      25.33          1.36              1:10.25        1:02.16                  2:39.50
7. Brian Donahue 30.50          1.05              1.08:32        59.49                     2:39.06
8. J. Mahoney       28.48          1.14               1:16:50        1:14.49                 3:01:41
9. Jake Lambert    19:25*        2.09               1:45.37        55.59                    3:03.37
10. T. Rustenburg   28.45          1.08               1:14.55        1:22.32                 3:06.40
11. Pat Campbell    22.46          11.00             1:07:08        1:14.09                 3:14.21

These are some excellent times on a course that demanded speed, power, endurance and in reference to kayaking, technique. Alex Marsh came in second in the run, 4th in the kayak but then had a blistering time on the mountain bike section to catapult himself to victory. Alex had a cross-bike with barely legal size tires (but they were!) but he better be looking for a mountain bike next year because the requirements will change. Jake asked if he could just keep running instead of kayaking since he was the first in the water following a sub 20 minute 5-K but then was last out of the water. Regardless of athletic ability, there is a knack to kayaking but all the competitors caught on since there was plenty of time to on the 4 1/2 mile course. The bicycle times on this route were excellent because although there are no hills, the constant friction of the gravel surface soon gets to your legs, especially as the time approaches an hour. Joe Heart, at age 59, had an excellent run as did Brian Donahue.

Playing the Life Guard card: Alcohol poisoning

I love kayaking weekends on the Fox River above Wedron. I kayak upriver against the current for a couple of hours and then turn around and drift back. I love the kibitzing with the dozens of canoeists that I meet going with almost half telling me, "You are going the wrong way."

The river has been very shallow this year because of the lack of rain so it was more difficult to get up through the rapids because I couldn't paddle deeply enough. Even boats coming with the current were hanging up in the very shallow water. I saw a quite overweight girl that was stranded on a rock so I got out of my boat, walked over and pulled her canoe into deeper water but was shocked by what I saw crumpled in the bottom of her boat.

"Is she OK?," I asked the canoeist because the girl's complexion was about the same shade as my rapidly graying hair and to be honest, my first impression was that the girl was dead.

"No, she just had too much to drink,"replied the paddler. "Way too much vodka."

I wasn't born old and remember those college days when my friends and I drank too much, but this young girl seemed well beyond this and I was more than a little concerned for her welfare. The girl paddling the canoe lacked skills and with her weight, found it difficult to get out of her boat for the frequent portages. It may well have taken her several more hours before she could get the girl back to their car. Dehydration, sun stroke and alcohol poisoning were all dangerous possibilities. It was time to play the Life Guard card.

"I'm a Life Guard," which is true by the way, I told the paddler, "and we need to find a way to get this girl back to her starting place and shade quickly."

Luckily there were two young guys in this girls group who came upon us and playing the Life Guard card again, I convinced them to switch boats and take the intoxicated girl back to the starting area as soon as possible. They obviously weren't happy about their passenger but they complied.  Blessedly, the girl that had consumed so much alcohol regained consciousness, so she obviously wasn't dead much to my relief, and she lay crumpled in the middle of the guy's canoe as they took her back.

I wish I knew how the rest of the story turned out but I don't. I had a family commitment later that day so I wasn't able to stay with the girl which obviously would have been the safest option, especially as I read about the dangers of alcohol poisoning the next day. When I last saw the two guys with the girl they were less than 15 minutes from their starting area. Hopefully the guys would have enough sense to get the girl out of the sun and give her some water to avoid dehydration. If I had it to do over again, and I knew what I know now, I definitely would have stayed with the girl and probably called 9-1-1 if she didn't improve rapidly. Alcohol consumption can get away from young people rapidly, especially young women who aren't very big, and even after passing out alcohol in their system can increase as it is absorbed. Throwing up is common and asphyxiation can occur if this is swallowed. The heart rate slows and can actually stop. Drinking until you pass out is way more dangerous than just having a good time.I learned a lot from my experience and I can only hope that the young intoxicated girl learned from hers.


 

An Ironman Triathlon; let's get real!

Even though I am an 'old dog' I consider myself an endurance athlete. I have climbed 40 plus mountains including Longs Peak in Colorado which was over 14,000 feet.  I swim several times a week and love to bicycle and have ridden across several states. Last winter I participated in a 13 mile cross-country ski race in Michigan so, to a degree, I know how to suffer.

I suspect that every endurance athlete, even the 'old dogs' like me look at a triathlon, even the full length ones and wonder if they could do that. Two of our outstanding athletes at our YMCA just did this very thing, Ginny Phillips finished her first Ironman triathlon and Suzie Walsh her fifth in Houston Texas recently.  So, in my attempt to 'get real!' I realistically looked at each event in the Ironman to see where I would possibly rank.

The 2.4 mile swim: Now in an Ironman competition the swimming is way tougher than in a pool. You are in open water so you need to look up frequently to keep your bearings and to keep from wandering left or right, after all 2.4 miles is long enough. This is not to mention the fact that you are side by side with other racers and this is similar to being in a washing machine. Ginny's time for this event was 1:26 and Suzie's time was 1:21. Where would I have finished?  While I almost swam a mile once but had to get out for a bathroom break, ordinarily I swim 1/3 of a mile in a tad less than 20 minutes and since I mix up my freestyle and breast stroke I feel that I can go quite a while at that pace.  Still, my fastest pace for that length of swim would be two and a half hours and I can tell you, "I don't want to swim that long!"

112 mile bicycle ride: Now here is an event that I can relate to. I have ridden 100 miles three times; once in my 40s, once in my 50s and even once last year at age 63. Now this was with lunch, breaks and friends and my average speed all three times was around 12 mph. In a true race I might be able to add one or two miles per hour to that but then without breaks my speed might go down, not up. Now to extrapolate that to 112 miles means that I would be on a bicycle nine hours; ouch! Oh yea, I forgot to mention that this would be without restful night's sleep but following a two and a half hour swim. What did our YMCA triathletes do in this event? Ginny did this in seven hours averaging 15 mph which is a speed that I can sometimes manage . I once did a 60 mile tour averaging 15 but ordinarily at that speed in an hour I'm toast. Suzie, who must have had a motor secretly hidden in her bike, averaged an amazing 18 mph taking a little over six hours. So, these girls are just flying along and if you are keeping track, I am at 11 1/2 hours now.

The 26 mile marathon run: I don't even want to think about this! I finished one of these when I was 22 years old and swore "Never again!" My wife Ann is an excellent runner but I simply am not built for this. I need wheels, skis or skates under my feet to really go fast. My finishing time at age 22 was five and a half hours and realistically I couldn't match that now. I might be able to do one is six hours, and that would be of course with nothing preceding this. Eight would probably be more like it. You total all this up and add in the transition times and I am up to 20 hours. It would be pitch dark, all the finish line signs would be down and the ambulance crew would be out looking for my body.  Ginny did the triathlon in my six hours bringing her total time to just under 15 hours. Suzie moved that motor from her bike to her shoes and ran a 4:12 marathon, honestly not a bad time even without the torture preceding in and finished the total marathon under 12 hours, just a few minutes actually behind many of the professional women.

 I might be able to do these three events individually, although I truly feel my legs, hips, feet and most everything else would probably give out if I tried to run a 26 mile marathon now. I could probably swim 2.4 miles, but I wouldn't want to. After being that long in the water I would probably develop gills like Kevin Costner in the movie Waterworld.  I wouldn't mind riding 100 miles again, but racing that far is a little intense and to do all of these events back-to-back in one day; "Let's get real!"

ABSolutely not!

Oh the never ending quest for abs! You can't run through the stations on TV without see totally ripped young men and women working on a gadget of some sort that guarantees that you will look like a men or women's model in weeks. Now granted, having your abs visible is pretty cool, and the only six pack that I will ever have is the kind you buy in a liquor store, but this issue does need some clarification.

First of all, everyone has abs; it is just that for most of us they are covered with a layer of fat, and sometimes sadly many layers. Working on your abs specifically with no other goal is often fruitless because although there are advantages to a strong core, the muscles from your chest to your thighs, it takes more that a TV special to get there. The key thing about getting your abs to show is to get your body fat down to a pretty extreme level. For me, that is around 18 percent and is typically something I only experience after I have ridden my bicycle for a week solid across a state or in the midst of cross-country ski season, and even then I never get the kind of definition that bodybuilders often have.

So there are actually two muscle thoughts that you really need to develop abdominal definition. The key one is table muscle, that being the muscles you use to push yourself away from the table. I am not real good at that one at all. While exercise is key, diet is probably even more key in reference to getting your body fat down. Second, don't specifically think about your abs so much as thinking total body exercise. The more of your body that you can engage in exercise, i.e. YMCA classes such as Power Hour, Zumba, Kickboxing, etc, the lower your body fat is going to become. Once you get these two issues licked, then you can do specific gym exercises to accent your abs or if you want, order that fancy machine which might do you some good then.