Now I'm pissed!!

So here I sit all broken hearted . . .you know, it's hard to be told that you can't do activities when you are an active guy. I had knee surgery because of the injury sustained on the Nijmegen march and am just now getting out to run. I haven't been on my longboard since I got it and that's not cool. At least I'm getting better. I'm taking 4 classes right now to try and punch out my degree before I go back to the states in 2010. I should have my Associates just after the first of the year. I've been one of the assistant coaches for my oldest son's football team and that's kept me busy in addition to the schooling. Work has not been too bad, just the usual BS that goes on in any job. I got some boxing gloves last week and have incorporated boxing in to my work out. I had my wife try it the other day and two things happened. One, I laughed my butt off and two she got a great cardio workout. Oh yeah, then she uppercut me for laughing at her. Love you too baby. The kids all started school and are doing very well. My wife stays busy with the little one at home running around like she just ate 13 pixie stix. That's what I've got for now.

Where I've been the last few

I've been gone. I've been out. Nijmegen broke me. I tore my miniscus after all and had surgery to repair it on the 20th of August. So, after two weeks I returned to work and resumed the grind. The docs say it will be about a month before I run and bike like the days of old. I'm aching to get my longboard out and break it in again. School is keeping me busy. I'm taking 9 credits and helping coach my oldest son's football team. I guess it will keep me out of jail.

No run, jump or march profile

It's been long awaited, the pictures of the whole Nijmegen march that I did, but Houston informed me that we have a problem. I injured my right knee at the end of day 1 of the 4 day march. After the doc in holland looked at me he "red carded" me and pulled me out of the event. I followed up with my doc here, Doc Andrews, who by the way is the best damn doc in the world. This guy is my mentor and he is who I want to be when I grow up. Doc 'Drewz told me that (after an MRI that he deciphered in Germanese) that I didn't tear my miniscus, but rather it is degenerating. It's wearing down, that's all. I also have synovialitis, inflammation of the synovial. There is a little bit of fluid in my knee too. Overall, it's not as bad as I thought. After all that I was given a "no run, jump or march profile". I can't run with my unit for PT, but I can bike. I've been going to the gym on run days and riding the bike. I'm still sore at the end of the day, but nowhere near what it was. As for the pics, they're still coming. We (the team) are putting all of our pics together on a disc and once that's done, it's on.

Just who is this "SilverBack" guy?

My legend preceeds me, I know. By now everyone has heard about SilverBack and the destructive path that he is leaving throughout the world. What can I say? Right now I am training for the Nijmegen ruck march in Denmark that takes place next week. I ruck with a 22 pound pack for 25 miles. Every day. For four days. Totaling 100 miles. This is while I am wearing full "Battle Rattle" military gear. To say that I am excited about this is to say that I would love to lick barbed wire. I could also say that I am a fan of sticking toothpicks under my fingernails. I am thrilled and filled with a sense of motivation. Perhaps it was the two scoops of Hooah that I ate this morning. I honestly love the idea and the thrill of it all however (comma) it's gonna hurt. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It is also the world's largest organized ruck march. Great, I can add that to my "wall of fame" in my den. A picture of me with 43,000 drunk marchers ( I like to refere to them as "ruckers") looking like I've been through hell.

There is a difference in Ruckers. For instance:
Mother Rucker: The most high speed, low drag rucker of them all.
Dumb Rucker: The guy that didn't train for the march and still came out only to fail miserably due to his lack of planning.
. . . and in the spirit of the movie "Super Troopers" . . .
Pig Rucker: This guy looks like Slimer from "GhostBusters". He's the guy you think will never make it because whenever you see him he is holding a schnitzel in one hand, a beer in the other.

Once this whole thing is over, I will have pics posted of each kind of Rucker. I'm sure by then that I will have found a few more Ruckers.