gab's a trucker

15 February 2011

A New Adventure

I hate February......always have. It's a cold dreary month that seems to drag on forever much longer than it's 28 (or 29) days. And it just happens to be my birthday month. This year I decided to treat myself to an out of state half marathon, go somewhere, make a week of it, explore a little. However when I did a web search for end of February races, this little gem popped up, the Malta Marathon. Yes, Malta, the island in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Italy. Might as well start my passport stamps off in style, right? A bit of (ok a lot of!) debating with myself and a bit of research and one very maxed out credit card and yes I really am taking a solo international trip to run my very first international race.

Satellite image borrowed from Wikipedia

I haven't told many people because quite frankly most are freaked out by the thought of me making this trip alone. However, this is a safe place to go and one of its main languages is English (the other being Maltese of course). Have I mentioned my credit card is maxed out, lol. I will be spending a very limited amount of time in London before flying over to Malta so if anyone is interested in meeting for a coffee let me know and we'll see what can be arranged. Also if there are any must-sees please leave me a comment :-))). Oh and any advice about what to take would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!! And traveling advice too please, I haven't flown in 24 (25?) years, wow.

A thank you post

This should have been posted last month but my blogging mojo hasn't been great lately. A huge thank you to Mike (my dad) for the washer and dryer! And a giant thanks to James for picking them up for me. Of course I can't leave out my appreciation to Jackie and Phil because I was able to get a much nicer set than I thought I could get initially.

Go away snow

This winter really isn't much fun anymore. Between recurrring truck problems (let's just say I've spent more time than I care to under the engine) and the snow/ice I'm just plain old ready for winter to be over with. Part of the reason that I like my route is that I do normally get to avoid the vast majority of winter precipitation but I do believe Mother Nature is taking her revenge on the south this year.

Here's a bit of Wednesday and Thursday in pictures for your viewing pleasure

Hwy 70, attempting to get to the International dealer

Overpass at Galloway over I40

Returning to terminal, all these trucks are parked for the night in the road, nowhere else to go

Hwy 70 on Thursday, the trucks up ahead are parked

The great white expanse of I40 outside of Little Rock

Let the backups begin

This lovely guy "Elmer" decided to throw his trash out his window while we were sittng in a traffic jam

Snow chains!

The next series of pics are a very good example of why you shouldn't drive right on the bumper of the truck in front of you during inclement weather. The first one or two mess up and there's absolutely nowhere to go.

View of the underneath of my trailer between the trailer duals, lots of ugly dirty ice

Closing with a pretty shot :-)

25 January 2011

For a friend

A memorial of sorts

19 January 2011

Desert Island shuffle pic

It's been a while since I've done a desert island pic so when my zune popped Goose up on shuffle mode I was kind of psyched because this is one of my favorite late night trucking, keep me awake bands........also kick ass for your running playlist

"Black Gloves"
"Bring it On"
"Can't Stop Me Now"

Mudbaths are good for the skin I hear

I drive a 2008 International Prostar for work and the starters on these particular trucks have a tendency to fail quite regularly....the kicker of it is that you don't get the traditional "click-click" noise when the key is turned.....just nothing....kind of like the dead silence you get when someone says something mortifying that everyone else wishes they could scrub from their auditory canals. Well I've been getting those episodes occasionally this month so when I had the fuel leak issue I also wrote up the starter....which night shift supposedly tested...and I assumed it had been replaced. Yep, mistake number 1 on my part.

Second mistake? That would be shutting my truck off at the dunnage dock which just so happen to sit downslope from a very muddy area and water puddles up in small ponds all around the cab of your truck.

Yep, turn the key, let it cycle through the cacophony of warning buzzers.....and nada..I'm cringing because I don't want to get out and lay in this

in order to beat on the starter... to reach it you have to lay on your back just behind the driver's side steer tire, kinda fold up the mudflap and scoot under the fender and springs to reach the thing. Whoever came up with that design should be drawn and quartered, just my personal opinion anyway.

So hair is tucked up into a ponytail bun to try and keep it out of the way, work jacket on (why don't I own coveralls???), and with a huge sigh of trepidation I scoot my way under Lola's chassis to hammer on the starter....once, twice...no results. After the second time, Scotty the forklift driver meanders out to find out what I'm doing.

Explain the situation then crawl under there again. Attempts 3, 4, and 5 and still that maddening silence. Each time I'm getting more and more soaked and dirty and Scotty is looking more horrified everytime I scoot back out.

The fifth attempt also came with a bash to my right eyebrow, after a quick glimpse in the mirror to make sure I wasn't going to bleed all over everything I discovered the grease and mud down the left side of my face. Yup, I love my job :D.

Thus began the process of trying to get in touch with our road rescue dept...yeah I was going under that truck with the iPhone pressed to my ear praying I didn't drop it.....RR by the way wanted me to continue with what I was doing (of course) but with someone turning the key simultaneously. I enlisted Scotty to sit in my truck and be in charge of that while I hammered on that recalcitrant starter several more times. FINALLY it caught!!! Geez, I wouldn't mind a mudbath but I really prefer a spa setting, lol.

17 January 2011

Have your cake and run!!!!!!!

Brooks Run Happy

I very much needed this weekend off, got a great deal of unpacking done but seem to have spent too much again on needed "things" but still seem to have not gotten everything I would like. However I have managed to catch up with a few friends while getting my run on :-). Friday with 2 of my best girls in Little Rock/N. Little Rock for a nice easy 5 miler which included lots of great chat and some navigating the ice over the Broadway Bridge. Saturday was just over 11 miles with 7 other friends on a hilly, icy route then meeting up with breakfast with even more of the Cruiser family afterward.

Yesterday I even managed to bake a cake completely from scratch even without having all the proper tools......unfortunately I ended up getting in a rush and the results were less than spectacular visually. Tastewise it was the overly sweet concoction that it was meant to be. The outer part was just confectioners sugar, finely ground almonds, lemon juice and almond extract dusted with granular sugar. Yeah, sugar overload.........next time off I will try a different recipe for the cake and hopefully I will have all the proper utensils.

The very ugly end result of my baking experiment, don't laugh too loudly please, lol!!!!!!!!!!

And here it is Monday already.......where ever did the time go? It's chilly (35f/1.9c), overcast, drizzly, just the kind of day I LOVE to run--huge grin--No seriously, this is perfect running weather. Headed out for what was supposed to be an easy 5 miler at a 9:54 pace to test out my new racing flats from Brooks Running, the women's Green Silence (go read about 'em, very cool shoes!).

Well, my first mile was 9:01 and felt comfy, aided by some great music......right up until 1.27 miles and my mp3 player's battery died......who knew you had to charge them occasionally, lol. No worries, I was feeling good, loving my new shoes, loving the slight drizzle, loving the RUN. Miles 2-5 8:58/8:43/8:31/7:59. Now that's a progression workout but not the 9:54 pace I was supposed to do, oopsy :D.

This is approximately 30 seconds slower than my 5 miler near the end of December at Italy, TX but today felt tons easier, I may actually be starting to regain some speed and endurance again, yay!! The shoes were awesome but as of right now I think my maximum distance in them will be 10k, gotta say that my feet did feel better than they usually do after a run so there's definitely something about the minimalist cushioning, less is more when it comes to trainers. My only complaint is that they are only available in black and I'm not so much a fan of black running shoes, the guys version is a fantastically loud red and yellow combo.

14 January 2011

Time is not on my side

I'm so going to quit promising blog posts, they're just not happening due to a lack of time.......and that's really quite frustrating because I do have a few topics bumping around in the hollow spaces of my brain that I'd like to get down before I completely forget them.

So what's up in the world of Gabby? Well, thank you for asking :-). I've now moved, much closer to work and my running friends, although further away from my cycling friends. Busy with work, missing my 3 day weekends that I had for the previous 4 years but I have things to do and I did volunteer so not complaining *much*. It is nice living much closer because I can drive home on my way down to Laredo to grab a shower and check my mail.....Hey, boring stuff but it is the little things that make life bearable.......and this brings me to why I'm actually getting to write a post today. After fueling at the purgatory that is the North Little Rock Pilot, I parked at the terminal, raced home for my shower, and upon arriving back to the yard, noticed a very overwhelming diesel smell the moment I got out of my pickup.

Thinking nothing of that, I walk around to the driver's door and am confronted with a huge puddle of diesel on the ground, yeah, not good. Quick look underneath and there was a steady drip, drip, drip of diesel....I'm guessing one of the straps had rubbed a hole into the bottom of the tank but since it was night and I had no desire to lay in the diesel to determine exactly where it was coming from I just unhooked from the trailer and drove over to the shop bays only to have to deal with some moron of a driver who kept interrupting me while I was trying to find out who, what, when, where, why from the lead mechanic on getting repairs done. Y'know all the stuff the dispatcher asks when you call in to tell him you can't deliver the load......

And this brings me to this morning.....laying on my sleeping bag aka bed, writing this post. I am frustrated that I'm missing out on 1,424 miles worth of pay but so incredibly thankful that I found this while parked at my home terminal......The EPA and DOT fines alone would have more than wiped out any wages I would have earned not to mention being stuck out on the road getting repairs......oh and let's not forget the safety aspect of it........least of my worries would have been running out of fuel......yeah, there's a whole lot more that could have happened.

Ok, gotta get out of bed. Have a lot of unpacking to do still and I NEED to get out and run at least a little, all this ice has had me out of the trainers for the past 2 days, I'm 16 miles in deficit this week and I kind of have an international 1/2 marathon end of February that I've maxed out my credit card for so training is a bit important, lol. Plus I NEED to go buy a washer and dryer that I actually have cash money for thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from my dad (still feel odd about accepting that but a very loving lecture from my sis kinda put the brakes on refusing it). It is much appreciated though.

02 January 2011

2010 Races & Events completed

11/20 Spa 10k, Hot Springs, AR 54:52

10/10 Arky 100, Sheridan, AR

10/2 Bluff City Blues 100, Memphis, TN

9/25 Big Dam Bridge 100, Little Rock, AR

9/5 Tupelo 14.2 Miler, Tupelo, MS 2:12:56

8/28 Hotter'N Hell Hundred, Wichita Falls, TX

8/27 Too Hot to Trot 5k, Dallas, TX

7/11 Riverside Duathlon, Little Rock, AR

6/26 Tour de Oink (40 Mile), Morrilton, AR

6/26 Pigout 5k, Morrilton, AR 24:24

6/12 Tour de Rock (62 mile option), Little Rock, AR

5/31 Du for the Parks Duathlon, Hot Springs, AR

5/29 Rock Run 8k, Little Rock, AR 41:13

5/15 Paws on the Pavement 5k, Little Rock, AR 23:47

5/1 Tour de Toad (46 miles), Conway, AR

5/1 Toad Suck 10k, Conway, AR 51:06

4/25 Iron Mountain Duathlon, Lake DeGray, AR

4/24 Spring Fling 5k, Cabot, AR 24:04

4/11 Hogeye 1/2 Marathon Fayetteville, AR 2:04:43

4/3 Capitol City Classic 10k Little Rock, AR 53:22.40

3/20 65 Roses Tour (30 mile route), Searcy, AR

3/13 Chase Race 2 Mile & 1 Mile Pet Race, Conway, AR 15:20.37, 8:00

25 December 2010

Failure........or perhaps not

Yes, I've been a bad, bad blogger but I promise there will a proper update later this week. I just had to come in write about today's run......it was gonna be almost immediately but kinda got waylaid, lol so a little bit of the initial rush has worn off. First off I've had a bit of a tough week driving wise with the all the holiday traffic and such plus I might've pushed a bit on getting home last night.......actually I pulled in the drive right at 1:55am this morning then didn't get myself into bed until after 3am, woke up at approx 7:30 then lolled about in bed until after 10 am. Thoroughly enjoyed it too (huge grin).

My problem was that I had a 7 mile run on the schedule that should have been run on Thursday (my new long run day) and I had extremely fatigued legs. I honestly thought I'd be lucky to eke out 2 miles before calling it quits.....but then the thought of some possible heckling spurred me to keep going. And as is the usual case I eased into a rolling rhythm that was slightly slower than my other runs lately, just a nice easy sub 10 minute pace........right up to around the 2 mile point........new home constructions are a welcome sight because they = portapotties!!! Since it's Christmas day, most places are closed so these were greatly appreciated, haha!

Nature call taken care of, its back to the zoning out of my "long" run......again fatigued legs, slower pace but I start thinking about running up what the locals call either Backbone Ridge or Hitler Hill (called so because it goes up at the angle of that hateful salute)........I'm tired, legs are shot, and I keep thinking "run up it, you're not going to make it, but run up it anyway". This is going through my mind on an endless loop and I honestly thought I was setting myself up for failure.........Not to mention that the light rain has turned into light sleet (eventually turned into light snow) and it's actually getting colder as I run......so 5.25 miles and I'm at the crossroads, turn left and head towards home, doing a 1 and 3/4 mile tour of the neighborhood to get my 7 miles or turn right and head towards that blasted hill....

I turn right.........how stupid am I? I'm exhausted and my legs are seriously grumbling at me to quit, I'm struggling to get up the incline to get to the road for that hill and I'm telling myself, you're not gonna make, you're not gonna make it. What kind of idiot sets themselves up for failure like that?????? Reach the top of the "little" incline and again it's turn left or turn around...... I turn left, then right and start up that bitch, still thinking I'm gonna have to stop half-way up.......

But then after a few yards up it, I start thinking, why, why, why would I set out to run up that KNOWING I couldn't make it up and immediately switched to this hill is gonna be MY bitch. Head up, look at the apex and just keep moving. Failure was not an option today......so yeah, lungs burning, legs screaming I ran up that sunovabitch hill all the way.........Lol, ok, ok, to the casual observer I was prolly at a snail's pace but I DID NOT WALK A SINGLE STEP. Job done.

Problem was I still had approx. 1.5 miles to get my dumbass back home, lol. Felt like I was slogging the entire distance too......but y'know what, my 7 miles got done and I didn't fail.

Today's stats
Mile 1 9:08
mile 2 9:14
mile 3 9:00
mile 4 9:05
mile 5 9:18
mile 6 9:50 (going up that hill)
mile 7 9:19
mile 7-7.17 9:15

Backbone Ridge by the way is .2 mile, 150 feet long at an 11% grade according to an accountant/cycling training partner friend of mine for the curious amongst my readers.

06 December 2010

New earworm: Awolnation

Its been a while since I did a desert island pick so thought I would share a band that's responsible for my latest earworm--Awolnation.

Adoring "Sail" but you need to check out their YouTube channel--great music & cheesy sci-fi, how could I not love this band?

Sorry writing this post via my phone, you'll have to cut & paste the links until I can fix it on my notebook--now updated with the embed codes

05 December 2010

Rambling on

An update is a bit overdue I guess. First off I'd like to say thank you to everyone for their comments here, on twitter, and those i know in real life The amount of support has been simply amazing and I've found myself overwhelmed by all the kindness and non-judgementalness (I don't think that's a real word, lol). THANK YOU

I have kind of let time slip by me, not getting things done except in short frenzied bursts. ATT is frustrating the heck out of me but I finally have everything sorted. Mobile phone bills are separated and the dsl & wireless modem are ordered so hopefully I can get that installed for James next weekend.

Work....well I'm having a difficult time adjusting to the schedule change. And yes this was requested by me so I can't complain but y'all know I will anyways. Friday night I was driving by all the 1/2 empty fuel stops and for the life of me couldn't figure out WHY there were parking spots available at some of them when it finally hit home that it wasn't Monday. D'oh!!!!

Today finds me chasing the logbook because I'm bumping right against the 70 hour rule, grrr. 6.75 hours available to work today, 6 tomorrow. Enough to get me home but to get a 34 hour restart there I have to get up at midnight tonight. Totally throws my body clock out of sync but it's either that or take my 34 hours at Laredo.

So there's my whinging for the day, I'm headed for Hillsboro so will have some wifi at Starbucks to do another blog post with pictures--if I can find a parking spot that is. Ohhhhh, that reminds me, I've lost my unlimited data plan on my iPhone due to the switching of accounts, grrrrrrrr.

22 November 2010

Life & just a few of the things that kill

Complacency. Anger. Resentment. Obstinancy. Just a few of the things that can kill a relationship over time.

As a handful of you already know, James & I are separated...I've debated quite a while on writing this post because quite honestly it will not put me in the best of lights. It does need to be done though.

James and I have been together almost 23 years and many will question my decision to leave him since we were friends and did have love for each other. He for the most part (99.9%) has provided me with some of the best support a person could have. He taught me most of what I can do now, drive a truck, ride a motorcycle, pedal a bicycle, even to start this blog a few years back. He has been my biggest cheerleader over the years.

However I've not been happy for quite a while.....we seemed to have gotten to the point where nothing was separate, our own little place to escape to and while I'm not sure that James needed or wanted that, I did and do. Quite a bit of this comes from my childhood & teen years....my family is definitely not what a loving & nurturing environment should have been. As a result I tend to retreat into myself entirely too much and/or lash out in not so nice ways, again usually toward myself but not always. That sounds like an excuse and I'm not sure I want to delve into my psyche so deep on this blog. However that experience has left me wondering if I'm just not wired right to be in a relationship with anybody.

This brings me to now....we were on our way to a very amicable separation but my feelings of being smothered and overwhelmed manifested themselves into a bit of self-destructiveness as is my want.....Not even going to try and explain what went down other than to say that instead of elaborating on what was a flippant reply, I ended up pushing on and saying things that were hurtful and untrue just because I was feeling trapped and resentful when all it would've taken was a moment to explain what I really thought & meant. This ended up turning into a very long evening where we caused each other a considerable amount of pain with both of us doing things we shouldn't have. So there you have it....how to turn an amicable, friendly separation into one of lots of hurt.

31 October 2010

Right, an update then

Last week started off a bit stressful, Sunday there were a lot of storms moving through the central Arkansas/Tennessee area........High winds, heavy rains, usual fall weather for the area but still doesn't make dodging the cars any easier. There was one that spun out and hit a wall, and blocked off 2.5 lanes just a few seconds ahead of me as I was entering the Nashville area, sigh.......

Then there was a huge twitter rant that I went on about one of our company drivers on Tuesday night. Actually there were two of the drivers that hadn't been into Penske before, the first one was great. He parked at the stop signs in the drive like you're supposed to then walked his paperwork up to the security guard to find out the proper checking in procedure. Very polite and professional. Then while I and another driver were getting checked in and the trailers inspected the obnoxious driver shows up. He stops at the stop signs but instead of staying there and walking up or asking how it works there, he then goes on to pull up behind the 2 of us already there and blocks off the entire drive so that those who don't have to get inspected can't get through. Guard asks him politely to back up and the guy half-ass does so, still blocking off most of the drive then proceeds to curse out the guard. Security then tells him he'll have to come back in the morning with acting that way and the jerk comes up to me ranting and raving about how he's calling dispatch and this is b.s., blah, blah, blah. No sympathy from me, he was a jackass and they totally should have asked him to leave. This crap makes the rest of us look bad.

Tuesday night was just cruddy all the way around.......the stupid driver, I put a 1.5" welt on my arm by catching it on the sharp corner of my truck door, Elsie threw up on the bed, oh, here I am blah, blah, blahing. enough of that! I did threaten to go hug the first truck driver or border patrol agent I could find though, lol.

Yuck dirty windshield, but cool Landy that I saw when I was leaving out this week at Jacksonville.

I think it's safe to say my running mojo has returned. Monday found me getting up before my driving day started and tackling some hills on a road I'd never ran on before at Columbia, TN. Absolutely beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. Cool and overcast, near perfect. I was even sorta fast considering the hills :-). 4.01 miles in 37:12.

Wednesday, I waited until we got to Von Ormy to run around the industrial park just west of the Love's. I say we because James went out and ran with me. We ended up talking about my hating running back over the summer when I was training for the Marine Corps Marathon (which is today, btw) and he said most of my running issues probably stemmed from our problems and now that we were reaching a resolution that's why things were better with my workouts. Insightful man. 4.31 miles in 45:19.

Thursday........lots of stuff around the house done but still tons more to do :-(. And I was incredibly moody and grouchy.

Friday--5.05 miles in 46:52. Cold!!!!!!!!! My knees ached afterwards when they thawed out. Great run though. Took some more stuff to the consignment store, all the crap I had hanging in there that didn't fit or I bought for who the hell knows why. Did my civic duty and voted. Ate sushi & sashimi :). Just a good day.

Saturday--cycling ride that went horribly :-(. Well the first 33-34 miles were ok but after that the 2 week layoff and high winds took their toll, grrr. 56 miles in 3:42. It was another cold morning, brrrr. Wasn't quite sure how to dress but knew not to bundle up too much. Wore a long sleeve tech shirt, the HHH jersey, and armwarmers up top, with a bandana around my neck, then just shorts and the Arky 100 socks that were a bit taller. Just wished I'd had knee warmers but after 10 miles I was good to go. Everybody else overlayered, lol.

Afterwards, I stopped by one of my training partners house and evidently I looked kinda rough because his wife was offering to drive me the 2 miles home that I had left, lol. It was slow going but I made it :), then got here and bitched about how awful the ride was for entirely too long. Yes there was an ice bath, followed up by a 10 minute hot shower. My legs and butt are incredibly sore today though :(. Treated myself to an avocado salad and more sushi though! Oh and mint Three Musketeers mini candy bars, yeah too many of them.

Sunday (today)--yesterday I ended up dozing off early then waking up and staying that way until nearly 4am. Which would have been ok, but I can't stay asleep past 0800 usually, today I was awake at 0730.......so decided that I needed to run.....but was having a hard time finding any of my gear, lol. Or even my coordination. Or a brain.......yeah took me a bit. But my socks matched at least, unlike last weekend. Although I did walk out the door in a short sleeve shirt and immediately turned back for a long sleeve one which ended up being a cycling jacket because I couldn't find a matching long sleeve tech shirt that wasn't packed away. Got in 4.25 miles in 42:47, recovery run from yesterday. Didn't I already mention I was sore, lol.

Almost ready! This pic is very indicative of how long the process was to get ready this morning, lol

On the trail. And I even coordinate :), just a mish mash of brands.

The Trapiche Oak Case Malbec is my favorite, followed by the Alamos, both inexpensive too which is very nice. The Pascual Toso, however, HORRIBLE! 3 sips and I poured it down the drain.