It was cold again this morning, I dressed more warmly than on Wednesday’s run. I wore the same pants, gloves and headpiece. Over the mid-section, I wore a light sweat-wicking tee shirt, my blue warm up clothes, and my reflective windbreaker. For the most part, I was warmer, except I was sweating, so when I […]
It was cold this morning, the TV said it was in the mid 20s, thus the short run. I also did not get the GPS going until about 1/8 the way through the run so it registers a little short. It should say about 1 mile. Heres the link to the run. I wore my
Wednesday morning run Read More »
I went for a long run this morning. It was about 8 miles, I had planned to meet up with the Sunday Morning Austin Runners Club group, but I was an hour late. So I ran most of the course myself. I started from home and ran 2 miles to the starting location, then ran
Sunday’s Easy/Long Run Read More »
Today I took a long ride through downtown Austin. I have always wanted to take such a ride on a holiday when all the stores are closed and the streets are empty. I explored some of the streets that I dared not ride on at normal times, like Guadalupe from the University to where Lamar
Christmas Bike Ride Around Austin Read More »
Since I hadn’t heard from Daniel about our Sunday run, and since I am recovering from a bad cold, I thought I would try a new (and hopefully easier) run that’s about a mile from home. So I met up with the AAWC (Austin Athletic Wellness Center) runners, a running group associated with the ARC
2 Mile Run With The AAWC Sunday Runners Read More »
Had a very good run this morning with Daniel, his wife Andrea, his mother-in-law Marilla and Chloe, their 10-year-old dog. We started at 9 AM and ran a little over 5 miles at about an 11 minute pace. The temperature was a little above freezing with no wind. In other words a perfect day to
One quarter of the way through my Interval run it started raining. I had adjusted the distances on my two intense legs and I was just getting them dialed in. The new interval session is as follows: Run until lap is pressed. Repeat the following 4 times. Run .33 miles keeping pace below 8:45 minutes
This morning I went for an easy run. I was planning to do 12 miles, my last long run was 10 miles, but that was under ideal conditions: I was running about 20 miles per week, I was 5 lbs lighter, had not given blood during the previous week and I had not been to
I ran the Trail Of Lights 5K this evening, but I just about didn’t make it. I left a more than an hour before the race, but I should have known something was wrong when I hit the heavy traffic at about 45th street on Mopac. I was moving only about 35 mph on the
Ran the Trail Of Lights 5K Read More »
I really needed to get out and run tonight, for the last several weeks I have been sloughing off. First was the two weeks in Europe then giving blood on Monday and they said not to exercise for 24 hours. Then to top it all off, my usual Wednesday group had other things to do;
Tuesday Night’s Intervals on Wednesday Read More »
I gave blood during the blood drive at work today, because I know that my type O blood is always appreciated. I try do this minor civic duty on a regular basis, so I went out and I gave a pint of blood when the blood van visited our company. This brought back many memories
Yes! I Gave Blood Today! Read More »
Wednesday night’s run was interesting. Normally I run with my Wednesday group, but that is petering out now that daylight savings time is ending, the holidays around the corner, cold weather, etc. Several weeks ago we met Amy and her friends on the Town Lake trail and they invited us to run with them. So
Wednesday Night’s Easy Run (Sort of) Read More »
I had a real hard time getting going last night for the run. Yesterday it turned cold and I just did not feel like running. Finally about 9:30 PM I changed into my running cloths and hit the road. Here is a table of the results. It’s interesting how my first intervals are very close
Tuesday Nov 6 Interval Run Read More »
The Tuesday run will be very similar to last week’s run. The main difference is that I will do 8 intervals instead of 6 and the min speed has been changed to 8:45 minutes per mile as opposed to 9:00. The workout is as follows: Run until lap is pressed Repeat 8 times Run 0.25
Plans for Tuesday’s (Nov 6) Interval Run Read More »
The Susan Kormen Race for the Cure 5K was a great race in spite of all the difficulties. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in getting ready for the run. First off, the alarm did not go off at 5. Last night I very carefully set the time back to regular time. At
Susan Kormen Race for the Cure Read More »
Today I did the Tour de Gruene, starting in Gruene Tx. My day started at 6 AM when Mike picked me up for the ride down to Gruene. It took about 50 minutes to get there. The temperature at start time was a little under 60 degrees. I had worn my red coat but decided
Tour de Gruene Bicycle Classic Read More »
Tuesday run went a whole lot better than expected. I expected the times to be 9 minutes or more and I thought I might have trouble getting all the laps below 10 minutes. Here is the results: Lap Time Pace RT 1 2:09 8:36 0:54 2 2:13 8:52 1:17 3 1:59 7:56 0:35 4 2:15
Tuesday’s Interval Run Read More »
Here is the plan for tomorrows interval run. Wait until lap key Repeat 6 times Go .25 miles at a pace of 8:00 / mile to 9:30 / mile. Let heart rate go under 105 bps. Wait until lap key. Go 1 mile The first interval will start at the top of the hill and
Plans for Tuesday’s Interval Run Read More »
I have added a new advanced workout to my Garmin 305. The name is “Nov Long Run” and consists of the following steps: Wait for lap key 12 miles with not target speed, heart rate or time. cool down for 1 mile Hopefully, I will get to use this sometime this month. Next weekend is
I ran 10 miles today. Daniel, and his wife Andrea ran with me for the first 6 miles. Andrea’s mom joined us for several miles. It was a beautiful run, the sky was clear, the temperature about 60 with very little wind. We ran at about a 12 to 12.5 mile pace. You can check
This was my first tempo run this season also the first with my Garmin 305. I was hoping to be able to run as fast as I had last season but alas I was much slower than before and there were some strange anomalies. The most interesting one was my heart rate. I’ve used 165
Last Night’s Tempo Run Read More »
In October 7, 2007, Marilyn and I were out for the Luckenbach run with the Volkssportverein Friedrichsburg. Here are some of the pictures that we took. I had heard about Luckenbach, which is just a few miles from Friedrichsburg, for a long time. Both places started as mid-19th century German settlements in the Texas Hill
Marilyn and I traveled to the very small settlement of Mountain Spring, Nevada.
Nevada Trip for A Margutti Family Reunion Read More »
Sunday I did Patti’s 45 mile ride from the Salt Lick in Round Rock Texas. I loved the ride, it’s one I am going to remember for a long time. There are several reasons: I was able to complete the ride feeling stong. I have ridden shorter versions of the same route several times before
Patti’s 45 Mile Ride Read More »
To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, we visited Paris together. A collection of wonderful memories…
Gary’s Romantic Afternoon with his Sweetheart along the Seine Read More »
Replenishing supplies was always a big chore for the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11, or any other navy ship. There were several ways to do this. It could be done in port, either by using cranes or just by using simple manpower. Or it could be done at sea from a resupply ship. The Chicago could come
Radio Watch at midnight was, in my opinion, the worst watch of all on the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11. It was important, but boy, it was boring. Radio Watch only happened to me, and to the other members of the ON Division, when we were in port and the people who normally stood Radio Watch were
Standing Radio Watch at Midnight Read More »
Abandon Ship was a very interesting drill, because we guys in the computer room would get to go outside. There were two phases to this drill. When I was a junior person in the division, I would go with my group to the exterior of the ship as fast as possible, and we would assemble
Abandon Ship Drill Read More »
I don’t recall any fire drills while I was on the ship. I’m sure they had them, as fire was one of the greatest dangers of being on a warship. We had extensive training in bootcamp on extinguishing fires on a ship. We had numerous shipmates who could tell us about fires aboard ships. The
I was never involved in one of these exercises, although we did have several people fall overboard while I was on the ship. The first thing to do was to throw the person a flotation device, and then report the event to the bridge. The bridge would immediately note the location and would report the
Man Overboard Drill Read More »
This was a problem for which we did a lot of drills. The purpose was to prevent an individual or a small group of people from coming aboard to sabotage the ship and its mission. As we practiced it, the intrusion could could be a single individual or a protest with hundreds of people. When
Repel Boarders Drill Read More »
The computers I worked on printed a continuous log of the activities that the computer was monitoring. These logs were printed on teletype paper rolls several hundred feet long. Many times a day, we would have to remove the paper, date it, and put on a new roll. When things were really busy, we had
Destroying Classified Information in the Incinerator Read More »
The U.S.S.Chicago CG-11 had a ship’s vehicle, an old gray van. It was wrapped in a gray Navy canvas and was lashed to the side of the ship when we were at sea. The van provided the land transportation for the general needs of the ship when we were in port. Taking the ship’s vehicle
Driving from the Long Beach Naval Shipyard to the LAX Airport Read More »
On one of my duty days in 1975 when the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11 was in port at North Island in San Diego Bay, I was assigned the task of escorting a prisoner from the ship’s brig (jail) to a larger brig run by the Marines at the San Diego Shipyard. I knew several days beforehand
Escorting a Prisoner to the Brig Read More »
When I finally got my second class rating, it opened me up to many more responsible duties than I had previously been qualified to do. For example, as a Second Class Petty Officer, I could be a guard in the ship’s brig, the small jail for miscreants on the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11. One day my
Guarding the Ship’s Brig Read More »
One of my first times to do guard duty was at the Naval Tactical Data Systems (NTDS) Command School on Mare Island in Vallejo, California, in the winter of 1971. I had the midnight watch, so I tried to get some sleep before going to my watch location. I always had the intention of going
Guard Duty in the Snow at Mare Island, California Read More »
Shore Patrol duty was always something I dreaded when I was serving in the U.S. Navy. Sailors, after weeks at sea, would reach port with extra money in their pockets, and they would go ashore to do all sorts of activities—shopping, eating real food in restaurants instead of eating Navy chow in the ship’s galley,
Shore Patrol Duty in Olongapo in the Philippines Read More »
Fleet Week, or Navy Days, as it was known locally at the time when I was serving in the Navy, has a long tradition in San Diego. The very first celebration of the prototype of Fleet Week, or Navy Days, was held in San Diego during the California International Exposition of 1935. This was a
Lowering the Colors for Navy Days in San Diego, California Read More »
On the U.S.S. Chicago, there was a ship’s whaleboat, a small motorboat that was pointed at both ends (we carried several on the ship) which ran regularly between the Broadway Pier and our ship when we were in port in San Diego. We went down an “accommodation ladder,” which was a narrow flight of portable
Accommodation ladder (and whaleboat) watch Read More »
On one memorable occasion, one of my friends in the ON Division missed the first step on the ship’s accommodation ladder as he moved from the whaleboat to the Chicago on a particularly rough day, with a storm brewing. He ended up floundering in the water. In the rough waves, the whaleboat was sometimes high
Marilyn remembers best about the photo with Uncle Bruce is that it was taken one afternoon when Larissa was extremely fussy (probably from those teeth coming in) and she absolutely, positively did not want to take a nap.
Larissa meets her Mischievous Uncle Bruce Read More »
These letters commend the U.S.S. Chicago after the 1971-1972 WESTPAC deployment, which was my first cruise. This deployment was highlighted by the success of Operation Pocket Money and the mining of Haiphong Harbor. The original documents were posted in the officers’ wardroom. The text of each letter is copied from The Old Bluejacket website. http://oldbluejacket.com/chicago.htm
Commendation Letters to U.S.S. Chicago CG-11 in 1972 Read More »
WESTPAC TALES: When the U.S. Navy Mined Haiphong Harbor (Operation Pocket Money) by DS2 William Gary Pickens First, let me explain how I happened to be involved in this military action…. After I enlisted in the Navy (as an alternative to being drafted into the Army) during the Vietnam War, I was sent to Boot
When the U.S. Navy Mined Haiphong Harbor (Operation Pocket Money) Read More »
WESTPAC TALES: One night in the wee dark hours of the morning sometime in the spring of 1972, when I was a brand new sailor, with a month or so of shipboard experience on the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11 under my belt, I was awakened by a call to GQ (General Quarters, or battle stations). I
My first (ghostly) adventure on the U.S.S. Chicago Read More »
March 16, 1970 — Day One On the day when my enlistment in the U.S. Navy officially started, my parents drove me to the Federal in Building in Denver Colorado. It was a bleak and snowy day, and we had to get up very early to get me to the building on time. I had
Naval Boot Camp Adventures Read More »
In a little-known appearance as a thespian, Gary Pickens appeared in the Flagler High School Junior Class Play, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, adapted by John G. Fuller. The play was presented on March 26th and 27th. Gary appeared in the second performance, as the redoubtable (if blundering) knight named Sir Sagramor. This
Gary as a Thespian Read More »