Might as well

I figured I might as well get the blog post done since the following few days are going to be quite full of trip related prep.

My return to race timing was a rocky one.  Leading up to the race I have been doing some testing of new features of the latest version of the timing software I use.  However all my testing was of the new features, not the old ones.

Well on the morning of the race I discovered that the new version had some bugs, like I was unable to use two laptops at the same time to do data entry like I normally do.  This meant that Ali had to handle all of the paper entries herself, luckily her fast typing ability kept her ahead of the roughly 70 people that walked up the day of the race to sign up.

This was also the first time that we accepted credit cards on race day.  We processed them using a Square reader attached to the club Ipad I recently purchased.  It worked very well, the only issue I had is the Square card reader can be a bit inconsistent.  I had to manually key a couple of the transactions in which takes longer.

Another difference was I planned to use our Time Machine to capture the start race time instead of the boring old Timex stopwatch I normally use.  I further planned to use it as a back up to the chip timing system, where I would manually be punching in runner bibs and times as they crossed the finish line.

So our club president starts the race, “Ready set GO!” I hit the ENTER button to start the Time Machine.  Nothing happens, I hit the ENTER button again and again, nothing happens…  Then I realize I am hitting the wrong button, I hit the START TIME button (imagine that) and the finally the seconds start clicking off.  Unfortunately almost 10 seconds had already passed by the time I figured out my mistake.  Luckily I also wrote down the race start time on my watch.

So I had forgotten to lay out the finish line mats ahead of time.  After speed walking back to the finish line I hurriedly laid out the mats, hooked up the lines, tested the field strength and got it synched with the computer with about two minutes to spare before the first kid came flying across the finish line just after the 16 minute mark.

Somewhere around the 4th or 5th finisher I noticed something was whacky with the finish times, they were all reading about two minutes longer than they should be.  I looked at my time capture screen and noticed in my rushing around I typo’d the race start time, making it two minutes earlier than it should be.  F me….

So I changed the start time on the fly which corrected the time for the first 4 or 5 finishers however I then had a new problem.  Every runner after that was showing the time of day as their race time, so instead of saying Sally Smith finished in 29 minutes it said Sally’s race time was 7:59.  Argh….

In order to get correct results I had to wipe out all of the real time data collection and do multiple imports from files I captured off the timing box.  It was a real mess but thankfully it worked out ok in the end.  On a good note, I was able to post the finish line results directly to the internet from the race site.  Runners were able to scan a qr code and check their times on their smart phones.

Cindy ran the race and managed a 5K PR which surprised her since she said she didn’t feel like she was running all that well.

Once I got home I was tied up with race related stuff for quite awhile, longer than normal because I also submitted an in depth bug report to the race timing software author so he can address these bugs before my next race at the end of the month.

On the way home from the race I grabbed the girls to spend some time out at the house.  They always appreciate open yard time, despite it being BRUTALLY hot and humid Saturday (and the entire weekend for that matter)

On Saturday afternoon I knocked out outside chores while Cindy was nice enough to help me with some of the indoor to do’s.  By the time I returned inside I was really, really tired because of the 4 AM alarm for the race.

Saturday night I saw Argo, a film I heard a lot of positive buzz about.  I mistakenly thought it was about rescuing the Iranian hostages we all heard about as kids.  It is actually about rescuing 6 or 7 Americans that were not taken as hostages but were hiding from Iranian authorities.  The movie was good but once again I suffered from drowsiness during it.  I need to either take naps before or drink coffee during these things.  As is I’d give the movie a B+. Good stuff.

Sunday the training brick was instead turned into a single training event, a swim.  It was hot as hell once again and time-wise, a swim only exercise plan worked out better for both motivation and time constraints.  Since I didn’t pre-fatigue myself with running or biking beforehand my swim was good, for me.  I averaged right around 10:30 for each of my 500 yard swim segments.

Cindy had not one but two different people jump into the lane she was swimming in without asking and start swimming as well.  Cindy seems to have this happen to her a lot when we swim there.  For some reason some people don’t see the problem with swimming towards a person that doesn’t know that you are there.

When you stop and call them out for this stupid behavior they are always apologetic but it seems there is another person lined up and ready to go to commit the same brain fart shortly afterwards.  I mean it is a combo of common sense and common courtesy to make sure a person is ok with sharing a lane with you before jumping in.  Unfortunately both of those things seem to becoming endangered species in 2013.

So when I was driving the van on Saturday I noticed the check engine light come on.  What perfect timing, I have had the van for 4 or 5 years and never seen a CEL.  A few days before I am ready to push it cross country to the Grand Canyon it makes it’s first appearance, awesome.

Later in the drive the light went back out but when I got home I threw my code reader on the van, not wanting to tempt fate.  The code it threw had to do with a failure in the EGR valve. An EGR valve has to do with capturing exhaust gases and reusing them in the combustion process.  When I looked into the side effects of a faulty or failing EGR valve like hard starting, bad idle and dramatically decreased gas mileage I sprung into action.

If I was doing my normal dog taxi driving, a bad EGR valve could be overlooked/ignored for awhile.  However with over 4000 miles coming up, any significant reduction in gas mileage could have a pretty big impact in my wallet with more fuel costs.  I figured I would just replace it after verifying doing so wasn’t outside of my normal low end mechanic abilities.

Replacing the valve wasn’t too bad although doing anything in the engine compartment of the van is not exactly fun due to the limited access.  I utilized my long socket extension to get to the two bolts holding the valve in place.  After replacing the part I fired up the van to verify no CEL had returned, so far so good.

The van also gained a brand new battery on Sunday.  The battery has been clicking off the built in battery saver switch after shorter and shorter durations lately.  The switch basically kills all the power to the van once the voltage level of the battery drops below a certain point.  When the battery was new, I could not drive the van for 2 weeks and not have to hit the reset button on the battery switch.  Well recently the switch would be tripped after not driving the van for a day, a sure sign the battery is going south.

I pulled the battery out, which had a 12/10 manufacture date and took it to Wal-mart, where I bought it.  I figured since the battery was not totally dead they weren’t going to give me any warranty consideration, leaving me on the hook to just pay the $100 for a new one.  However, if I have learned anything over the last few years, it is if you don’t ask for something, you are pretty much assured you will never get it.

I asked the manager if he could scan the battery and see if I can get it covered under warranty.  He checked it and verified it was weak but not dead.  However he said he will just exchange it for a new one, no charge, SWEET.  I returned back to the house with a little spring in my step, free stuff does that.  I am hoping the new battery and EGR valve will set us up for a trip devoid of mechanical issues.

I had hoped to be out mowing the grass this morning, knocking out another must do before the trip. Unfortunately a deluge on Sunday washed away those plans.  I did put on my water proof boots this morning and weed whacked everything at least, coating myself in wet, green organic material.  I am hoping one day this week after work things will dry out enough for me to get a full mowing session in.  Unfortunately for the last 2-3 hours it has been pouring once again, oh well….

I plan to spend the rest of my Labor Day doing little labor instead filling it with maybe some Tuffwing construction or perhaps even some time in Azeroth.