Marathon Madness

Autumn and I are going to do the Twin Cities Marathon on October 1st. Over the next 6 months I'll keep you updated on our training progress as we get ready to run 26 miles and 365 yards in "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America."

I've run the marathon distance or more a couple of times, but this is the first opportunity for either of us to run in an official event of this caliber.

Link Info

Since I just posted information on one of my links I thought it would be good to describe the other ones:

Google News gives you the news in the order of its occurence (it even posts the time of its arrival to the website). It does sort the headlines in general catagories like sports and entertainment, but the stories come from a variety of sources. This sometimes provides the balance that CNN and Fox News are seeking but have not always achieved.

Sunrise-Sunset Data (Please see the post below for more details)

Graham Watson Photography is the finest online source of professional bicycle racing photography. Graham posts his photos along with accompanying descriptions from the major road bike races.

Weather Underground provides more up to date weather information from more locations than any other website. (This is a more useable weather site than Weather.com)

Rockclimbing.com is the hub for all things climbing. It has an extensive database of routes, outdoor areas, and manufacturers.

If you have a link that deserves to be seen, please post it in the comments and I will be happy to consider it.

Check it out

I've added a new link to the U.S. Naval Observatory (Sunrise-Sunset Data). This website provides a host of astronomical information allowing you to plan your next adventure with a complete knowledge of the amount of daylight and moonlight expectable.

I've used the site several times, most significantly when I was planning the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim epic. It allowed us to set our start time for 3:30am, knowing not only that it would start getting light at 4:45am and dark at 8:09pm, but that the moon would aid us for a large portion of the night.

How I Got Hit by a Car and Survived

The other Monday night I left my apartment and walked over to the clubhouse at 6:50 to work out. The clubhouse has a pretty small fitness center and all of its machines were in use, so I decided I could just do my running outside.

It was a pretty balmy January evening by Minnesota standards, but a light snow was falling in big, heavy flakes. I turned west out of my apartment complex and headed down to the Mississippi River. I ran the river trails in a bowl of white, my Petzl headlamp momentarily both aiding and hindering my path, the light building opaque walls of swirling white then tearing them down revealing the way.

After 30 minutes I turned around and made my way back to the apartment. Around 7:45, I came in the north entrance of the property and turned left at the first driveway. I cruised by a long garage and when I neared the end of it, I moved farther out into the road in order to see around its blind corner more easily.

Approaching the same corner perpendicular to my direction was a small car. It came to a stop as I reached the corner. Since I had the right of way, I kept right on going. I was in the center of the car’s hood, and hence completely in the driver’s field of vision, when the car started moving again.

With very little time to react, I jumped as the car struck my right thigh, placed my hands on the hood of the car, and half-vaulted, half-rolled across the passenger’s side of the hood. I landed in the dirty snow of the parking lot shocked, and the car just kept on going.

Not really knowing what to do, I jumped up and shouted as loud as I could, “HEY!”

The taillights flashed as the driver hit the brakes and slowed down. My head was a jumble of thoughts trying to figure out what had just happened—“Did the driver not see me—Had I some how made him think that I was going to wait for him—How could the driver not have see me?”

The person let off the brakes and drove away. Since it appeared as if the person was going to stop I hadn’t even thought of looking at the license plate. I chased after the car for a few strides in a futile attempt to get its license plate number.

I walked the rest of the way home slightly shaken, kind of angry, and completely incredulous. I was just involved in a car-pedestrian hit and run accident.

My wife was gone teaching a piano lesson and having no one else around to tell my story, I picked up the phone and called my mother—“Mom, I just got hit by a car…”

The response was exactly what I was looking for, a sharp gasp, and then, “You were hit by a car! Are you okay?”

Then, of course, I had to tell her I was fine, what had happened, and asked her if I should call the police. I was debating that because I didn’t really have anything to tell them. I didn’t have a license plate number or even a decent description of the car’s color because the lighting was so poor. She said I should call them, so after a little hesitation, I called the station.

It rang twice and then an answering machine picked up, “You have reached the Fridley Police Department. Our office hours are from…” and finally, “if you have an emergency or need to report a crime, please call 9-1-1.” I was thinking, “Great, I get nicked by a car and was on shaky ground to call the police station anyway, and now I’m going to have to call 9-1-1.”

So I did.

“9-1-1 Emergency this is Devon. What is your emergency?”

“I have no emergency, I just need to report a crime.” I explained my story and then Devon told me he would have a police officer stop by and interview me.

This was getting out of hand. I went for a jog, got hit by a car, got knocked to the ground but was unhurt, the car drove away, the police station was closed, I called 9-1-1, and now I was going to be interview by a police officer whom I had very little to tell.

A few minutes later the phone rang and Officer M. was on the line. Since you have to call our apartment in order to be let in, I thought he was at the front door. He explained that he was at an office halfway across town and could conduct the interview by phone.

I took a deep breath and plunged into my story. When I got to the part where I was struck by the car, he stopped me and wanted to know what the driver had said when we exchanged information.

“Well actually officer, that is why I’m calling—we didn’t exchange any information. The guy just drove away.”

“What?! You’ve got to be kidding me. You were hit by a car and then the guy just drove away—like a hit and run?” He was irate.

He asked me quite a few questions and then gave me the report number and case number and then hung up.

And that is how I survived getting hit by a car.

If you’re like me, a lot of strange things have happened in your life. Please, don’t think you’ve seen it all.

Open Letter to American Airlines

American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612

To whom it may concern:

I recently booked a flight online and flew American Airlines and one of its regional partners American Eagle to and from my vacation destination in Dayton, Ohio. My stay in Dayton was fine, but the actual travel was appalling.

I would consider myself a fairly regular traveler, flying an average of six to ten times a year, and this was by far the worst trip I have ever had.

My wife and I arrived at the airport in Minneapolis at 3:30pm, on December 15th, to be an hour and a half early for our scheduled 4:59 departure on Flight #1975. We checked in and arrived at our gate to hear that the plane was being delayed due to a backup at O’Hare for poor weather conditions. We boarded our plane about an hour late, were de-iced and anti-iced, then took off.

We were in a holding pattern above O’Hare for a half-hour. Upon landing, we rushed to our next flight, Flight #4193 (American Eagle), which was scheduled to depart at 8:39pm. We had anticipated a nearly two hour layover, but instead landed after our next plane was supposed to have been boarded. After running through the airport, the greeter at the gate told us that the connecting flight had not even arrived yet and to standby for further instructions.

An hour later we boarded Flight #4193 and flew to Dayton. That flight went smoothly, until we landed. Because of the delays, the baggage of all the customers connecting to Dayton did not make it onto the new plane. Losing luggage in not terribly uncommon, but your baggage claims employee utterly failed to offer acceptable customer service.

He complained about the fact that he had to stay late, and when I asked him a few questions regarding when my bags would be arriving, he said that if he was asked a “single additional question” he was going to walk out. At this point, I quit asking questions because I just wanted to get my destination (as it was nearly midnight), but he continued to push the issue with me saying that it was my fault that the bags were lost because I was late. When another passenger and I pointed out that the flights were delayed, he continued to berate us for our tardiness.

After waiting for nearly an hour, he ranted and raved a few minutes then completed my paper work and I finally left the airport around 1:00am. It takes about 12 hours to drive from Minneapolis to Dayton and, between driving to and from the airport, the flight delays (which are understandable), and your belligerent customer (non-)service representative (which is not
understandable), it took us 11 ½ hours to fly.

Our flights home to Minneapolis on Sunday, the 18th, were also fraught with complications. We were delayed several times, both for late arriving planes and an unscheduled maintenance problem. My wife’s Samsonite suitcase was severely broken and some of its contents were destroyed.

I fully understand that delays and lost luggage are common problems facing all airlines, but poor customer service should not be included in that list. American Airlines and its partner American
Eagle offered me a service that I would be hesitant to pay for again.

As I disembarked the plane in Chicago, the pilot addressed us over the loudspeaker thanking us for flying one of the only major carriers to avoid bankruptcy thus far and I could not help but wonder if the bankruptcy had been avoided at the cost of quality.

Sincerely,
Eddy Zakes