Miscellaneous (did I spell it correctly?) thoughts on running, being out of a job, and post surgical stuff

Well, I haven't posted anything in awhile mainly because I haven't done any racing or serious adventure runs since my failure at Salt Flats.  So if you're interested, here's what's been going on in my life.  If you're not interested, go somewhere else.
Yeah, so I DNF'd at Salt Flats way back at the end of April.  I had just lost my job plus I had run the Zion 100 the week before and my head and legs just weren't into it.  It was a good decision.
So I lost my job on April 24.  I had already scheduled a inguinal hernia repair surgery for May 1 and I was concerned that I would have to cancel since my health insurance would be gone by April 30.  Smith Optics was very gracious and offered to continue and pay for my health insurance for three months.  They didn't have to do this.  Needless to say, that was pretty nice of them.

I've never had a major surgery before.  Even though this was to be an outpatient one, it's still major.  I was a major basket case before the surgery.  This was a complete unknown for me.  It was really interesting to kind of detach myself and objectively look at how I was reacting to the impending operation.  At my pre-surgical appointment the nurse took my bp and asked if I had high blood pressure.  Nope, it was white coat syndrome.  The day of surgery, the nurse took my pulse and asked if I ran, I said yes and asked what my pulse was.  She told me it was 75.  I laughed and told her my resting pulse was normally 45-50, so it was way high.  Anyway, I was a nervous wreck until they put the IV line in me, then for some reason I really relaxed.  They hadn't even given me any drugs yet.
So, in the ensuing couple of hours, I was gutted like a fish and repaired.  I now am the proud owner of a couple of serious scars.

The first couple of days post surgery were rough.  I was in some pain that I had never felt before.  Running 100 miles is painful, but not like this.  I hurt.  I found out Lortab is a wonder drug.

 I took them religiously.  But I also found out there are side effects to taking Lortab.  Those weren't pleasant.  Still, I was bound and determined to get up and get active as soon as I could.  So the next day, my lovely wife went for a walk with me.  I managed to make it to the corner (50 yards) and back.  That exhausted me.  This was a whole different world to me.  Still, by day 3 post surgery, I walked a bit over a mile and the week following surgery I walked close to 30 miles.  I started running again at two weeks (the doc said I could).  It was slow, and I was pretty cautious about it.  I could just see me falling on to some rocks and ripping everything open.  By 3 weeks, I was running more, and by 6 weeks, the doc said I could do pretty much whatever I wanted.  I'm now back up to more mileage than I was doing before I ran Zion.  The moral of the story?  I really think it helps your recovery to be in some serious shape before surgery and to get active as soon as possible.  I'm convinced that I recovered much quicker than someone who doesn't run or exercise would have.
Meanwhile, on the job hunting front.  In the first few weeks, I had a flurry of interviews.  Nothing panned out and so far I'm guessing that I've sent out about 75-100 resumes for positions.
So since I seem to have a pretty good network of friends and acquaintances here in the Salt Lake City area, if anyone you know of is looking for a Manufacturing or Quality, or Process, or Safety Engineer or something similar, let me know.  I'm actively looking.

Don't call us, we'll call you

 I don't plan on moving away, we like it here too much.
Other than the whole looking-for-a-job thing, I'm actually enjoying the time off.  I get to run when I want, I'm getting stuff done around the house (much to my wife's delight), and I actually cook dinner sometimes (also much to my wife's delight).

Honey, dinner's ready, come and get it

Summer is on and I still have some adventures planned through the fall.  I'm running Wasatch again, I'll be helping out at Speedgoat since I was smart enough to not sign up this year :-)  I'm running El Vaquero Loco 50K.  I'm signed up for The Bear and I may sign up for the Ogden Valley 50 mile.  I'm also contemplating pulling the trigger and entering the Chimera 100 down in the OC.  My wife and I are going down to the Grand Canyon the first weekend in October.  I'm planning on running either a R2R2R or something else with about 40 miles of trail, so if anyone wants to join in, feel free.

On the race directing front, All of my fall races are open for entry, the Antelope Island 50K/100K, the Mountain View Trail Half Marathon, and a new race, the Frary Peak Hill Climb.  Hit the race website for details (www.buffalorun.org).  I'm trying to put together a spring 12.5/25 mile race, but that may not come to fruition due to Forest Service intransigence in giving me a permit.  Still working on that one.
I'm also working on improving and building out the race website.  I'll be offering various Buffalo Run items for sale and providing links to other companies that sell outdoor gear and other stuff for us runners.  We'll see how that goes.
Meanwhile, keep up your own running.  Get out there and hit the trails.