Tag: run

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Hey..That’s A Nice Bead.

I am in my third week of the welding class I have been taking at College of DuPage and we just moved into the hands on portion of the semester. The first two weeks we just lectures, reading homework and workbook exercises. All of that was very important, especially the chapter on safety, but now we get to the part that puts the theory into practice.

Today we were given the task of creating a uniform bead on a 1/16 thick coupon of sheet metal. The metal piece is called a coupon because it is about the same size as a store coupon (4x4inches or 2×4 inches). We used the Oxy Acetylene torch as our tool for this task and were allowed to practice until we were comfortable and confident that we could run a straight uniform bead 6 or 7 times on the same coupon.OxyTorch

The hardest part was getting comfortable with my positioning so that I could keep a steady hand as I moved the torch over the work. Positioning was a challenge because of the stools we were working with. They are OSHA compliant so they were a bit too tall for the work bench they were paired with and it made for an uncomfortable top down perspective. If you are not comfortable all kinds of negative things things can happen:

  1. Torch to far from work – metal won’t melt (pool)
  2. Torch too close – metal melts too much and you burn through
  3. Too shallow of an angle – molten metal can blow out of the pool and leave gaps.
  4. Move too fast – pool is not consistent
  5. Your angle fades up or down – the line is not straight

OxyBead

This is one of my 7 good beads on the work piece. Not bad for my first day.

The other challenge for me was concentration. I found I was getting mesmerized by the glow of the molten metal and it caused my mind to wander off to other places and non related thoughts. I found it very relaxing and an almost therapeutic exercise to move from bead to bead bathed in the hot glow of the torch light. I really had to stay in the moment so that I did not move too far from the work or drift off the straight line I was trying to keep.

After today’s exercise, I see why the fabricators who have been at this for years can earn the title of Master Craftsman. It takes a great deal of skill to do what they do on a day to day basis. I have a long way to go but I think I am off to a great start.

 

 

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What Do You Mean I Can’t Run?

 

300px-Old_comiskey_park

It has been more than a week since I last ran and I am going nuts. I did a quick 5 miler the Wednesday after I got home (three days after the race) and it felt great but there was a little swelling in my right ankle. By Friday the ankle was feeling stiff so I thought I would try to do another 5 miler. Again, my body felt great and the stiffness went away pretty quick, but about 2 hours after finishing the run the creaking started where the shin meats the ankle. I also noticed that it was swelling a bit more. Was I going to have to stop running for a while? Sadly, very sadly, yes.

I talked about the injury in my post on January 14, 2010 so I won’t rehash it. The point of this post was the realization that I had no idea I would miss running so much when I was forced to take some time off. You would think the after all the training last year for the marathon that I would look forward to some time off. No, the time off is killing me. Now I see why the wife is crabby in the morning until she gets her run in (but it could be other issues as well smile_wink).

For anyone who thinks they can’t be a runner, don’t believe it. Two years ago when I was getting ready to do my first 5K at US Cellular Field (it is still Comiskey Park to me), I figured I would try it and have such a hard time that I would hate it and never try it again. But a strange thing happened. It was painful during the run but it felt exceptional when I was done. So began my road (no pun intended) to better health and eventually my first marathon.

The doctor said to give it four weeks before I run again. I think I’m going to give it 1 more week before I do a quick three miler. I know, listen to the doctor, but I think he was generalizing about the injury and I will know soon enough if I came back too soon. In the mean time, I will have to hit the weights or so some yoga that does not put weight on that ankle. We’ll see how that goes.

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