Tragedy

Take from www.Canada.com

ISMAILIA, Egypt A plane belonging to the multinational observer force that monitors the Egyptian-Israeli border crashed on Sunday in the Sinai peninsula, killing eight French soldiers and a Canadian, security sources said. The sources said the aircraft had hit a truck while trying to make an emergency landing on a Sinai road, but managed to briefly regain altitude before finally crashing and exploding. I heard a loud explosion and saw fire. I saw remains on a wide area. There was no one alive, said Abdel Qader Salman, a Bedouin man in central Sinai.

Security sources said they believed the crash of the twin-engined propeller plane was caused by mechanical problems, although the planes black box had not yet been recovered. Foul play was not suspected. The charred remains of five people were found in the wreckage, and a search was under way for remains of four other passengers recorded as having boarded the plane, Egyptian aviation and security sources said. The French defence ministry said eight French and one Canadian soldier had died. Egyptian state news agency MENA said the pilot had called in to report a problem with one of the aircrafts engines before contact was lost. The plane had been on a training and orientation mission, the director-general of the Multinational Force and Observers Mission in Sinai, Normand St. Pierre, told Reuters. We lost contact, and I have no reason to believe it was anything but mechanical failure, he said.

TRUCK DRIVER SURVIVESThe Egyptian driver of the truck jumped from his vehicle as the plane hit it, and was believed to have survived although his truck caught fire and burned, security sources said. They said they were convinced all on the plane had died.
The French Twin Otter plane had been heading from El-Gorah in northern Sinai, site of the observer forces main base, to Saint Catherine in the south when it crashed near al-Nakhel in central Sinai.

The crash was the second fatal transport accident this year involving members of the Sinai observer force, which has also been an occasional target for Islamist militants.
In March, eight Egyptian engineers from the observer force were killed in a road crash while riding in a private taxi.

Last year, a suicide bomber blew himself up near an airport used by the multinational force. In August 2005, militants attacked a vehicle of the observers, injuring two Canadians.
More than 100 people, most of them Egyptians, have been killed in three bomb attacks in Sinai since 2004 that the Egyptian government has blamed on Sinai Bedouin.

The observer force, set up to supervise security provisions in the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, has contingents from 11 countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Fiji, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the United States and Uruguay.

I have flown on this plane over 20 times. 3 times within the last week with this same crew and pilots.

Life......is uncertain.

Back In My Montrails!

Thurs- 6.6miles- 54:15
Friday- 11miles- 1:28

Ah Yes! Back on the dirt/crushed coral/sand of the southcamp base and thus back in my trusty Montrails. I have a bunch of Montrails here that are a bit older that I am attempting to kill off before they are retired for good in June when I leave. I'll donate them to the locals who often wear pretty old beat downl shoes. I still love the Leona Divide's and this pair must have 800-1000 miles on them. I also have a pair of highline's here with me that handled the 2005 Haliburton 100 and MMT Ring 71 miler. I look forward to being back in the states running trails most every day and running in some of the newer Montrail models that I have not ried yet.

I am going to be here at the southcamp for a good 9 days and plan to really BINGE run a bit. I will run doubles most everyday and hope to get in a solid triple digit mileage week. I will only run one speed workout and that will not be for a few days. I'll take advantage of the hills here and do some repeats on Tuesday. All the other runs will be easy ones just circling the 2.2mile loop. 3 laps in the morning before work and 5 in the afternoon.

March is just about over, therefore, I want to send a happy birthday out to my brother Jeff and my Dad who were both born on March 30th. Enjoy guys!!

I googled (loomdog ultra) to find the page for my blog today as I am away from my computer where I have it bookmarked. Found this blast from the past about MMT 100 2001, fun!

100 Days

Sunday Am- 3 miles Jog, PM- 8 miles 64min

Monday Am- slept in like a bum, PM- I will do Jack Daniels Rep workout

Today is an historic one in that I now have 100 days left in the Army (assuming things go as there are supposed to). I'd be more excited if I had more concrete things such as orders. None the less it is an exciting thought. I look forward to the little freedoms one gains by not serving in the military. Like: 1) I can get in my car and drive more than 200 miles away for my base without getting someone who out ranks me permission. 2) No one will tell me that I need to cut my hair, and 3) If I want to (or forget to) shave my face in the morning, no one is going to give me a hard time....except my wife...and I'm gonna work on you babe! :-)

Honestly I have had a clean shaven face and the same haircut for the last 10 years. I'm not sure if I know how to (or want to) do anything different. But, it is nice to have an option.

It is funny how our minds look at time. Now that the days left number is getting small it seems even harder. waaaaaaaaaaaaaah, 100 days!!!!!!!!!!!!! My gosh that is soooooooooo long. Yet, when I "only" had 7 months left it seemed more manageable. Not sure why that is.

New thought, after reading about The Trail Mule's exercise regimen of trying to do push ups/pull ups/ and sit ups. I was inspired to get my own self on a bit more of a regimen. I've been doing ab crunches on a swiss ball for a month now, but decided to switch to the supine bicycle. In scientific studies the supine bicycle (SB) exercise has been shown to be the best abdominal exercise in terms of muscle recruitment. A full 250% better than the standard Army sit up. So here is your challenge...perform the SB for 3 x 30sec bouts and see if the next day you are not sore.

Sand Storming

Wed- 8 miles- 64:13 (7th mile- 5:31)

Today and yesterday we have had some incredible weather. Sand storms with sustained wind of 40mph. Amazing how dusty sand as fine as plaster dust can get EVERYWHERE! Then following the big winds we had rain. Rain like I have only seen a few times in the 9 months I've been here. down poor with thunder rattling all. Thunder is more impressive in the desert since nothing is in the way to block/absorb it. Kinda fun.

Last nights run, was still only 85% as the long one last weekend really put a hurt on me. But, I did throw in a quick miles just to shake things up and the popliteus muscle (in your knee pit) that has been bothering me held up just fine.

Today is Thursday and in Egypt it is the last day of the work week. (Sinai Friday) as we call it....so I am excited to have a weekend off.

Pounding The Pavement...I Mean Coral

About every two weeks I fly 90 minutes on a twin propeller plane from the north base in the Sinai, Egypt to the south base to treat patients down there. I don't mind this at all due to the fact that the running surface is much better. The main base (north camp) has a completely flat asphalt road around its 4 miles just inside the razor wire fencing and guard towers. The 2.2 mile south camp perimeter loop is an undulating dirt path that is actually crushed/ dried coral. The consistency is much like the Umstead course....not sand, but not pebble gravel either.

I like to do my long runs while at the south base despite its shorter length as it is more visually interesting. The terrain around the north base is a desolate sandy desert with flat nothingness as far as the eye can see. The south base (near Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt) is right on the Red Sea with views of mountains to the west. Additionally, sun and moonrise over the water are often amazing.

This weekend I felt pretty good and managed to do one of my quickest long runs in a while: 22 miles in 3:00:21 including 9 minutes of stops for water and gel (4 stops total- one after every 2 laps). So basically I was able to run around 8:00 miles. I felt smooth and ran consistently the whole time despite temps climbing into the upper 80's by the time I finished at 10AM. My intent is to keep building this long run every two weeks until I leave Egypt in July.

Entering the blogger geek world

Hello and welcome to my blog! I have enjoyed many other athlete's blogs for months now and finally decided I had enough interesting things to post myself. So here I go!

I hope to give frequent updates on my training (goal race is the Vermont 100 mile endurance run July 21st) , as well as, give my day to day meditations from my current location (Sinai, Egypt) Where I serve as the physical therapist for the Multinational forces and observers http://www.mfo.org/ I am indeed a runner and it defines me.

Running has helped me gain confidence, and obtain goals in both athletic and educational arenas. I was driven to study the body and have always been amazed by what it could do and how it worked. This thirst for knowledge on the ultimate machine lead to studies in Biology, Physiology, and Physical Therapy at Ithaca College, The University of Virginia, and Baylor University. In 1997 I enlisted in the US Army and later, via ROTC, become an officer. I have served in MA, VA, TX, DC, and am currently in the Sinai, Egypt. Working with the Iraq war wounded while stationed at Walter Reed has been my life's most rewarding experience and in July 2007 I will be leaving the Army, moving to Richmond, and hope to begin working in the field of prosthetics.

Please enjoy and happy trails!