First Weekend in Poland

[reposted to fix pics]

Adventures in Poland are going a bit slower with extra sleep to ward off an interminable cold. Friday night after work I met Sarah at a cafe to finish respective meetings. Nice place in Jewish district with wifi, tea, and sitting on the floor. Tables available we just enjoyed sitting lower.



Then we toured the Jewish district more.



Most of the bridges around Wawel are lit with lights blue in the foreground here, white chandeliers in the background are another bridge.



After a nice long sleep we enjoyed linner at Piwnica Pod Kominkiem on near market square. I knocked my head twice in short stair wells leading down to an intimate dining area. Along the ceiling toward the street there was a a clear chute. Presumably previously used for shovel coal or similar down to the basement. The "duo soup" was delicious with mashed pea on one side and horseradish on the other. Small flakes of egg and ham in the middle. Amazingly it stayed separated down to the last bite.



I do not remember the other appetizer. Sarah enjoyed the raw fish, tomatoes, and other bits. I enjoyed the red peppers.


First main entree was potato latke esque with meat sauce on top. Delicious and has all of the makings of a great hangover cure.



We also had part of a pork knuckle. Our eyes were bigger than our stomaches on this visit. I highly recommend this restaurant. Great service (for poland) and great food.

We're slowly learning that polish service mostly responds to requests or demands. "Natural flow" of a meal, driven by waiters & waitresses would either be impossibly long or infinite. We haven't had the patience to find out which yet. Some folks know how impatient I can get. Even Sarah gets a bit impatient here.

Afterwords we walked around market square more. Sarah found an apothecary that carried vodka mixed with pretty much everything including elderberry.


Afterwords more market square exploration. The square was hopping well into the night (2am).



We strolled back by the river with chill of the night setting in. Swans were clustered together sleeping in the river with heads tucked under their wings.



We found a perch overlooking the hotel lobby and chatted further into the morning. I was amazed at how innocuous the water and ice machine was. Here it is built into the wall and partially hidden by a plant. Things that are engineered here are done so to the 9's. It's really exact and refreshing. I'm amazed at how closely the doors seal even with all of the traffic and humidity. I'd expect that to cause wood to swell and contract so doors scrape or don't close firmly. The doors to really well and they're not even the typical industrialized aluminum or steel.



Sunday we ventured across the river for breakfast at a place that more closely resembled someone's private kitchen than a restaurant. I highly recommend Konfederacka 4 to anyone traveling through. We started to put it together a trend of restaurants known only by their address. Sunday morning was a slow time so we were able to chat with the cook and hostess throughout our meal. More good food and great company. I was again amazed at the general diet. 3 egg omelette with sausage and just a few pieces of green pepper. Lots of protein here.



After that more walking. This time along Jozefa Dietla. This was near a church with MPs, armed with actual hand guns or similarly shaped tazers, covering the entrance and directing traffic.


Somewhere along the way we found this statue. It reminds me of communist era symbolism. More research required.

Beautiful parks everywhere:


Christmas works a bit different here. Lights and christmas trees stay up until Feb 2. Allegedly displays similar to the one below originated in this reason. They are also on display throughout January. I've heard a few anecdotes that all of this is inspiration/light for the dark and cold of winter. I'm still working on more personal tour of local culture.


Lunch found us in the Jewish district again. This time at Moment. This the most american scene and food we've seen. I like that Pepsi is the most common soda here :) .


In the evening we toured the Museum of Anthropology for free. This proved interesting with all labels in Polish. Ever the engineer the stairs are what caught my attention the most. Every stair had these brackets on both sides. What are they?




Circling around the city again we found another route near market square. I'm continually amazed and calmed by the parks that permeate this place. They're everywhere. And they're great.






Inside joke. Some of you will get it.






Dinner was great with another variation of hunter's stew. This apple pie dessert looked amazing with powdered sugar decoration. Taste didn't live up to appearance. Sarah swooped in to the rescue and shared her meringue cake. Yum! Bitter coffee was great with all that sugar.






Monday brought new levels of cold and rain. Nice trip to wet and dry sauna, hot tub, and heated pool helped to thaw my core. More soon.

Boots on the ground in Krakow

Hello from Krakow, Poland. Hammering out a quick update as experiences are fast and furious.

Flew through Frankfurt. Didn't do a good job of living on destination time 24 hours before arrival (too tempted by movies). "The Butler" was a great movie. Found a dark quiet hallway for a 1 hour nap in FRA.



Arrived in KRK, had first meal, and crashed hard. Awoke and went for dinner at Market Square. Beet broth soup was mediocre; hunters stew was delicious! Saw a quite entertaining tradition where 3 people in costume storm the restaurant playing music. They were supposed to be The Sun, The King, and a Buffalo. I still struggle to offer coffee abroad. "Coffee with milk" isn't the same as a venti Starbucks with half and half. And no blonde roast to be found!

People are quite jovial and really seem to enjoy life. I heard guys singing and whooping it up on the square just having fun.



A nice 2 mile work from the hotel to work this morning. Love the walk/bike lanes. Cool air and walk really help clear travel fog.






I really love how walkable the city is. So many buildings have rounded roofs, windows, arches. "Straight and square" are accepted while nice curves appear appreciated.

A pig, on its back, on sticks for a bonfire? As a statue in the river. Lots of pork based dining options.



I love the walking city. Fun seeing the world and interacting, even in passing, with the people. I'm still learning to understand local enunciation and learning to read signs. Lots of C,Z,J,W in odd places. My current approach is to memorize the position of the first "odd" letter in the word where "J3" means the street with j as the 3rd letter. So far I see more jumble of letters than words. More acclimating to do! The office was a warm reception.

Divorce Part I

November would have been my 10th wedding anniversary. Instead it became the start of a life as a divorcee. I'm writing about it to help myself move on and in hopes it might help someone else. Lessons this painful should not be in vein.



I've started this post on paper, in electronic format, and in my head no less than 100 times. I never get through it so I'm going to slow down and take it one step at a time.



North Carolina recently passed legislation to make marriage "a union between one man and one woman". That took aim at alternative lifestyles. That legislation also betrays traditional marriages. A marriage is not between one man and one woman; rather it is between one man, one woman, and several disparate systems. The effects of those systems cannot be overstated.



One of those systems is "marriage counseling". Every profession has a range of practitioners. Those practitioners cater to a broad range of clients. What works for one may not work for another. In my case I feel very strongly that my counselor was more of a hindrance than a help to my at-risk marriage. I didn't have experience with counseling before this experience and therefore lacked any baseline of comparison. My gut reaction was to distrust our counselor. Every feedback I've received since then reinforces that position.



First my counselor shared very personal details about her own experiences. This should have been a red flag. Her personal experiences underscore a personal bias which she would neither confirm nor deny, not even in the paradigm of communication she presented. Beyond that she explored the deep dark corners of my consciousness in full view of my partner; my partner who already regarded me with great apprehension. I needed help and counseling. That work needed to happen independently of my partner. This was a waste of her time and likely reinforced her existing negative perception. Therapy is an ugly process and should be approached in a safe environment with great confidence. Attempting this with a tenuous/biased counselor in full view of an already wounded partner is a poor combination.



Somewhere along the way lawyers will get involved. Once lawyers are involved do not be misled; the game has changed. Therapy, at least for me, was focusing on the other person as a human, practicing acceptance, and seeking compromise. Once lawyers are involved these principles are out the window. Every bit of compassion I used in the legal proceedings was used against me. Every olive branch I extended was sharpened and used to stab me.



The legal system, including lawyers, judges, mediators, court system, local laws, and legal precedent are the next "system" in marriage. These entities all come with their own agendas. I found most of those agendas to be contrary to common sense and the values my partner and I shared in our marriage. I want to make this clear - what we agreed upon and stated during our marriage did not matter.



These entities come in with their own agendas. Again, I cannot overstate that.



I'm going to close here with one overarching point - prenuptial agreements. I always heard these as a "forecast of doom for the marriage". In reality these are agreements that say "we are each responsible for ourselves". This is a key underpinning to any successful relationship. Each party must act responsibly, maintain their own balance, and tend to their own needs. This creates a healthy individual who can then participate in a healthy relationship.



A prenup is not a condemnation of a relationship; rather it is a foundation for a healthy relationship.

Friends and Adventures

More of both. Be agreeable and find reasons to say yes. Thanks to all of you. Just a few of the more memorable questions below.

Need a place to stay?

Want a ride to DC to do that bike ride on the C&O?

Can you patch a 29er?

Via text message pedaling down the trail: can you login remotely and...?

Mind if I ride with you for a while?

How about a tour of Quantico?

Have you considered a life coach?

Dinner?

How do you feel about India?

Want to hike up a mountain to a holy site?

We are cycling in Kerala, join us?

Want to go skiing?

How about a hockey game?

Hike on the AT?

Coffee?

Want to join our 200 mile relay run team?

Ever done a mud run?

Want to help collect poisonous plants?

Another relay in New England and Raleigh?

There are more. These are the few that came to mind in the van with friends enroute to the next adventure.

Skiing, Running, Charity, and Friends

What happened to the first quarter of 2013? Here's a quick recap with plans for more frequent posts going forward.

January and February were even more snow in Raleigh.

Late season snow supported my first ever ski trip to Snowshoe, WV. Great times with great friends. I'd do it again. Thanks Jeff for use of the gear and great instruction.

 Snow AND I'm smiling? That's not supposed to happen...

March sucked. I finally made it back out in April to finally run Raven Rock State Park

And I found some mud for the Jeep to really justify a wash job.

Squeeze into this weekend roller blading and a bike ride. It was really a smorgasbord of activities - and lots of fun. It was a smorgasbord of food as well - Thai, Italian, American, French, and Arabic. Yum. I swim/bike/run/blade/hike/burn calories so I can enjoy replacing them!


Mid April I joined a great new running group for the Palmetto 200 Relay thanks to an invite from an old family friend - you know who you are - and THANK YOU! We ran from Columbia to Charleston, SC in just over 26 hours. This was so crazy fun I signed up for two more relays. Highlight was a solo 9+ mile run on SC backroads at 11PM with no van support. Our van had a bit of an accident and we would handoff to our other van at the end of my running leg. Thanks to Van 2 for picking up the other runner and a shot of Advil in the last mile! This night also included being stranded at a church with a friend, no phone, no money, and only running clothes on our backs and sleeping on church pews. It really was a blast - you had to be there.

Lead off of first leg - I got places to go!

3rd leg of our 2nd shift and our first leg in the dark.

Van 1 all legs done around 10am(?) on Saturday.

Van 1 and Van 2, all 12 of us, together at the finish.

And view of the bridges before Sunday morning departure.

5.69 miles at 7:30/mi on Friday at 10am, 9.67 miles at 8:00/mi on Friday around 11pm, and 3.75 miles at 6:55/mi on Saturday around 5am. The last leg felt especially good. It was my finish line, time to lay it all out, nice and cool, and the blinky lights of other teams just barely visible in the distance waiting to be caught. With 1/2 mile left my respiration peaked and I knew I was toast. I knuckled down the last few minutes, handed off to my awesome team, and relaxed.

Then squeezed in some team building and community service at Hope Reins of Raleigh. Operating a shovel can be VERY therapeutic. Sharp eyes on our team found the head of a sledge hammer which I brought home to re-handle and return because, well, I enjoy the craft of putting new handles in tools.

Then a Memorial run after explosions at the 2013 Boston Marathon. About 3,000 people turned out in downtown Raleigh for the run. Nearly all of my running friends from all circles came out to this event. It was quite the confluence of people and a great event to share.

Then a hockey game. Good seats, good game (overtime and shootout), good friends, and a great time.

That's a quick 4 months. More gas, less brake. Life's an adventure - get out there!

I'd Apprecaite Your Help

I've been working on some personal changes and it's time to see how I'm doing. I entreat you to have a chat with me and see if you notice any differences.

After a month I'll share what I've been up to and the results.


If you're just here for adventures and pictures...

In January I amped up training for my first attempt at an ultra marathon - the Uwharrie Mountain Run. Increased training including running on the frozen days of January.



Frozen and winterized Umstead still has nice views. This is on Sycamore trail:


Some more visible ice


Bundled up for cold runs. I love my Buff!


The glasses in the picture are my biking-running-all purpose athletic glasses. They have transitions lenses. From the inside I never notice the tint. Pictures showing the tint always amaze me. I did have occasion to notice the tint today. I stopped for gear adjustment and laid the glasses down. When I put them on there was an obvious line in the lenses. What? How'd that happen? I put them down with half the lenses exposed to the sun and the other half in the shade. These aren't the new Iridium(?) tint. They get crystal clear for night riding and running. And they get sufficiently dark in the daylight; I just don't notice from the inside.

Loblolly trail has been rerouted away from an bridge and onto this rock crossing. Fun until the water gets deep!



The Uwharrie Mountain Run didn't work out. I didn't even make it to the start. Wednesday night before the race I got sick. I had focused on my core for the race and still vomited hard enough to make my abs sore. Thursday I ate nothing. Friday I was feeling bold and socially enabled. I ate proper pre-race meals. That didn't work out. My stomach wasn't ready for solid or plentiful food. Relapse #1. Saturday was no food again. Sunday was soft foods. Monday I felt good and had a big salad for lunch. Bad idea. Relapse #2. I finally learned my lesson and stayed on soft foods until late in the week. It wasn't an "A" race for me but as it turns out I was really looking forward to it. Missing the race really hit me hard and that compounded being sick.

Finally this was Saturday's snowfall:


It snowed all day as far as I was aware. Next event on the calendar is Umstead Marathon.

Kerala India Cycling - Part II

Sunday started early to get a large group a little ways down the road.

Not too early though as we're living on Indian time. 6:30AM roll out was closer to 7:30. We headed west through Sulthan Bathery and immediately uphill. Navigation stated early with 14 turns today compared to only 3 the day before. Directions are reminiscent of Tour Divide. Roads have no names. "After 4.1 kms take the Rt turn". There are no street signs to reference. OpenStreetMaps offline maps show roads and no names. The 4.1kms is promising but inaccurate. It was another day of asking directions at each intersection. Generally we stayed on the larger paved road where both larger and paved are relative.
Mountains, valleys, and tea plantations provided beautiful vistas. This aligned well to the route description. Climbs felt different from the elevation profile.

Climbs first separated us from the pack and then pulled us together as a group. I saw folks struggle and walk on milder hills the previous day. IF we were on the right track then folks were in for a good amount of walking today. While the route seemed questionable we had a strong group of cyclists, a good navigator, and supplies. We'd reach Soochipara Falls, how was of menial consequence. Sky was overcast, weather was comfortable, pedals were turning, conversation flowing, and the KMs ticking by.


We found ourselves, the bus, and breakfast at one appointed location along the route. Retracing the route afterwords in the bus I'm pretty sure we came into town a different way. The breadcrumb trail on my GPS looks nothing like the squiggly line from the route overview. I look forward to uploading the ride to Garmin Connect to review the route, compare the climbs, and have GPS data to back my travels.

The tough riding came before breakfast. Roads leveled out after food easing digestion. Easier riding left time photos to shout out to my friends at Finish Strong, FSSeries,  back in the US.

But not too much time, Vinai was setting a good tempo pushing us forward. We never got to paceline but we were consistently pushing the big ring.

We stopped for a snack in what we expected to be the last town before the final big climb of the day.

The guys were entertained by my meticulous procedure to flatten coke. Sugary drink and caffein for the pep minus the GI stressing carbonation.
Further down the road we found Soochipara falls before our canter (truck). We rode the steep rough climb up to the parking lot. Guards stopped us indicating only walking was allowed on the rest of the route.

Another shout out to my friends at Bull City Running in Durham, NC, USA. The cap is part of my adventure kit. I'd refrained from wearing it thus far this trip as I didn't see anyone wearing baseball caps.

Expectations go out the window when ride time arrives. This kit has, and continues to, serve me well. I did get sunburned on this ride. The bill of the hat protected my face. My neck, ears, and bare arms from the previous day were less fortunate. The sun in India, even in the winter, is formidable. Word to fellow world travelers - cover up. The sunscreen I found in Sulthan Bathery was heavy white paste more akin to sunscreen from childhood.
We eventually got in touch with the driver and needed to ride back down the mountain a bit. The guys seemed very apprehensive about the descent. I never figured out why. I pointed downhill and reveled in the reward of the earlier tough climb.

Thanks to Vijay and Ravi for driving the canter and providing SAG support. Support, Aid, and Gear (SAG) took some explaining.
We dropped cycles at the canter and hiked back up to the falls. Again I paid a higher foreigner entrance fee. This one came with an unexpected perk - I got to keep all plastic including snacks and bottled water. Everyone else had to hand over anything that could potentially become litter. This was an effort to keep the falls nice and, from what I saw, it was paying dividends.

I took one trip to the falls with my new friends and another trip with the rest of the crew when they arrived.
Cycling frequently inspires good conversation and this trip continues the pattern. At the base of the falls I stumbled into a conversation about the challenge India faces with litter. It is common practice to finish something and nonchalantly drop the wrapper onto the ground. You don't have to look for this as it is everywhere in practice and in evidence. I'm curious about this practice and seize every opportunity to probe about it. In my own experience I could never find a trash bin when needed. Earlier in my trip was entertained by rubbish bins at Vishnu Devi inscribed with "Use Me". I previously heard this littering behavior attributed to the cheap labor phenomena. Basically why should I trouble myself with this that is someone else's job.
Today I heard a new explanation - assertiveness and defiance. "I can do what I want; who are you to tell me what to do". This was a new explanation in this locale. It is very similar to an explanation I've heard for litter in Durham, NC. I previously blogged about a ride there were I saw someone finish a bag of potato chips and then drop the bag. The gesture, in that context, was very defiant. "I'm going to do what I want" seems to outweigh "This is my place and I take pride in it". Litter is a big problem. Even where rubbish bins exist they are under utilized. The land, country, and people have a formidable challenge on this task.
After folks played in the water we congregated at the bus.

The bus took us back to Sulthan Bathery for a very late lunch. This came with not-unexpected excitement as police seized our bus driver's license for stopping in a no-stopping zone. Eventually we got underway on the long trip back to Bangalore.
We passed some of the time playing "Mafia". I equate it to attempting to crowdsource truths. Primary roles are Mafia and villagers. Mafia get to know other mafia. Villagers don't get to "know" anything. Mafia secretly select the next villager to kill. Villagers publicly vote on the next person to kill. Game ends when all mafia are dead (villagers win) or when mafia outnumber villagers (mafia wins). It's a great game of politics, logic, and public persuasion.
We stopped at KFC on the ride back. KFC is an almost direct import. The basic fried chicken tastes the same. There are other more localized options.
The final day of cycling started at 6am and ended at 1am. It was a long and great final day of adventure in India.
Now I'm going ramble even more as the hours of flight back to the US are adding up.
Notable differences in cycling between US and India:
* roads - "Road Bikes" from the US do not exist in India. Sturdier frames, wider tires for traction, and taller sidewalls for shock absorption are mandatory. The road wasn't as rough as my ride on Rockingham Nature trail from last year but that wasn't really sustainable cycling.
* horns - A quick honk to say "on your 6" is pleasant early in the day. As hours, KMs, and temperature climbs those honks become more grating.
* wildlife - Though we never saw a big cat it's a thrill to say I rode in a tiger preserve. Casually cycling by an 8' tall elephant is also novel. Monkeys are funny too. They are eerily human like when I am unaccustomed to them.
* navigation - Road Signs, base maps, and GPS may be lacking in the US. In India they are largely useless. Navigate by asking locals and hope for the best. I will give a nod to iPhone/Android app "Maps with Me Pro". It downloads basemaps from OpenStreetMaps(OSM) for offline use. GPS on the iPhone works even without cell signal and it shows my position on the OSM basemap. The OSM basemap has many roads, names, and points of interest. Roads may have no names or they may have 3 names. It's at least a starting point for interpolation/extrapolation. I would also put spelling in this category. Things have multiple names with multiple spellings or no names. This isn't a problem in the basemaps. This is how it is in real life. At least part of this can be attributed to the number of languages where each language or group have their own name for a particular entity. Practice triangulating.
* languages - languages change at state lines or every hundred KM or when the wind blows - whichever happens first. I can't help but feel that much of the gridlock in India is attributed to communication problems. Speaking, like driving, caters to the lowest common denominator and that can be pretty rudimentary.
* nutrition - "energy bars" tend to be chocolate and make wonderfully messy in the heat. I found granola bars only once. A roadside coconut is quite a treat and a bargain at 20 Rupee or about $0.40 USD.
* gear - much less optimized cycling gear. I saw no clipless pedals, or for that matter, pedals with toe clips. Platforms and tennis shoes or sandals were order of the day
* respiratory challenges - I've had respiratory problems for a few years. Cycling in India irritated my respiration pretty thoroughly. Dust, exhaust, and smog are all in full force. Many people in India wear breathing masks, scarves, or something to filter particulate matter while out and about. This would be mandatory for me with any longer term exposure. I'm still coughing a week later after only two days of exposure on less congested roads. Three wheelers, used as taxis here, putter past spewing smoke especially going up hill. I believe they are the pollution equivalent of lawnmower engines in the US - poorly tuned, no catalytic converter, frequently with bad rings so they are clearly burning oil, and generally constantly spewing heavy exhaust. Here's another perspective on the amount of particulate matter in the air - after cycling through the morning on Sunday I used earplugs for part of the bus ride home. Later that night, under decent lighting, I took one look at the earplugs and immediately threw them away. I then washed, flushed, and used multiple q-tips attempting to clean my ears.
* Tea plantations are a boon to local economy. Every town we rode through on the tea plantation had new cars, new three wheeler taxis, and ample commerce. Commerce was clearly visible and a stark contrast to very meager villages elsewhere.
* People, kids and adults both, are fascinated by mountain bikes with gears and suspension. Kids come give high 5's. Adults will ask questions as long as you are willing to answer them. Long distance cycling is still very novel. It's novel in the US but much more so in India.
* Some things are universal. Cycling is a conversation starter. It's a much closer connection to the land and people. Meals taste better after long days in the saddle. We bond over tough climbs and breathtaking descents. Cycling begets camaraderie everywhere.
* Communism - we cycled past several communist flags on flagpoles and painted on the roads. India truly is diverse

GPS Track for day 2: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/259406878