Hertzler Outpost » Jerry

Cross Florida Ride – Finished

Jerry — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:24:22 +0000

Eastside Cycling Club
at start of Cross Florida Ride

The 167 mile Cross Florida Ride looked like a suffer-fest to me, but instead the event turned out to be really fun. The hills were challenging between miles 120 and 150, and we had a west wind (5-10 mph) all day to ride against, but I was able to ride in a group the whole way and avoided bike breakdowns, cramps, and overheating. I actually felt better at the end of this ride than I do on many Saturday morning group rides of one third the length. We finished the course in 10:00 hours, including stops, but our rolling average speed was 19.6 mph. My heart rate monitor said I burned 11,200 calories.

I would ride it again next year.

Cross Florida Ride – Track Jerry’s Location

Jerry — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:54:56 +0000

On April 1 I am attempting to ride my bicycle across Florida in one day (Cross Florida Ride) with some friends from the Eastside Cycling Club. From Cocoa Beach to Weeki Wachee Springs (east to west), the total distance will be 170 miles. I expect the real work to start at 120 miles where the route gets hilly.

You can track the progress of our group here. It’s in real time, but you’ll have to refresh the page to see updates.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

Easier viewing:
http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=1902577887064436155
http://mobile.instamapper.com/ext?key=1902577887064436155 (mobile version)

Round 6 done

Jerry — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:10:58 +0000

Although Cathy hates them, each of her chemo doses have been mostly routine. Today was no exception. She’s exhausted and laying down now. She will have no energy this week, but if this week is like others, on Sunday she will bounce back again. 6 down, 2 to go. Thanks for praying for Cathy!

Tour de Cure – first 100 miler

Jerry — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:37:29 +0000

Tour de Cure – near halfway

Today I finished my first cycling century, a 100 mile ride. I did a fund raiser for Tour de Cure, the American Diabetes Association event to raise funds for finding a cure for diabetes. Several of my extended family and friends live with diabetes, so I was happy to do something productive and fun at the same time.

At the 52 mile mark my tire blew out. Had it been the inner tube, I would have been back on the road quickly, but I wasn’t carrying a spare tire. So I called for the repair truck and was back on the road 60 minutes later and $60 lighter. I was also taken back 7 miles on the course route to the repair truck, so I resumed with a greater challenge than I had expected.

Fortunately for me, one of my Eastside Cycling Club friends also had a mechanical failure, so he was just getting his chain repair finished at the repair truck as I pulled up for my tire repair. We were able to ride the remaining 55 miles together. Together we averaged 20 mph the rest of the way.

After the event, my friend, Jim, who helped organize this event, starting working on me to do the Cross Florida Ride April 1 (170 miles). We’ll see.

Chemo Round 4 – Another good one

Jerry — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:20:52 +0000

Cathy left the MD Anderson Cancer Center today amazed again at how good she felt. They made another adjustment to the combination of chemo drugs she gets, and it left her with greatly reduced side-effects. She is still wiped out tired, but that is much better than wiped out and horrible side-effects. This last phase, chemo treatments, have been a welcome answer to our prayers!

mLearning in a new era

Jerry — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:45:17 +0000

On Wednesday two events marked a new era for our mLearning project.

First, we had the launch event of a major new version of the software we have been using, Allogy Digital Press. This new software will make it possible for non-technical people to publish their own mobile learning course for smartphones or tablets.

The second event was a planning meeting where the 8, or so, member mLearning team identified ten projects that are either under way or in the developing stages.

We are now out of the initial development stage of this project and into a growth stage. I’m excited about what this new phase will bring!

Chemo Round 3 – Best Yet

Jerry — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:24:12 +0000

One of the side-effects of the type of chemo treatments Cathy is getting is an annoying tingling feeling in your fingers when she touches anything cold – like you get when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize you’ve been sleeping on your arm. Cathy had ten days of that tingling after her last session. Funny, she never complained about it, and I never knew it until she mentioned it to the chemo nurse last Monday. She just figured it was normal.

Ten days is too long, the nurse said, so they eliminated one of the chemo drugs that causes that issue from this round. This was the drug that has given her the most difficult side-effects.

As a result, Cathy felt pretty good this week during her third round of treatment. She had more energy and didn’t have the tingling and cold-sensitivity from previous weeks. This was great!

She is helping to plan a big church event this weekend, so the timing was good. She had energy to work on making the plans happen. Granted, she has probably over-done it, but the fact that she had capacity at all is amazing. She is grateful at how God has answered everyone’s prayers for her so far.

Chemo Round 2 Went Well

Jerry — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:10:51 +0000

Cathy expected her chemo treatments to get progressively more difficult, but this was not the case for dose #2. This time Cathy had a better understanding of how to use the medications at her disposal to keep the usual nasty chemo side-effects at bay. So Round 2 ended up going better than the first week. We are really happy about this! We recognize that God is allowing this to be less difficult than it could be, but either way Cathy has continued to experience God’s peace and patience in this.

We are so grateful for everyone that has been praying for Cathy. The sense of peace she has had in this is truly a gift from God.

Training Team On The Way

Jerry — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:05:49 +0000

Training Team

Today three of our team left for Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya to train the technical coordinators who will be teaching the orientation sessions for our mobile phone pastor training course. These are most of the people who developed the training. It took a lot of work, but we expect it will pay off when we see the first wave of 2400 pastors-in-training start this course!

Chemo Week 1 Completed

Jerry — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:49:12 +0000

Week 1 of Cathy’s chemo treatments is complete, and she is doing fairly well. Fatigue and a weird sensitivity to cold temperatures were the main difficulties. Knowing there are 7 more to go has not exactly encouraged her, but she recognizes she is doing a lot better than what is possible.

On Monday (Jan 9) we spent half the day at the MD Anderson Cancer Center while Cathy got her first round of infusions. Later that evening a home nurse connected a small pump to another infusion that lasted for two more days at home. The pump sits in a little shoulder bag that Cathy carries around with her. It’s a lot better than being at a hospital, but it’s odd carrying something like your purse all the time around the house.

What was really interesting, and annoying, is the cold sensitivity. It hurts her fingers to pick up anything cold, and it feels like gravel in her mouth when she drinks anything cold. Now we have a pair of gloves sitting on top of the fridge for whenever she needs to get something.

She continues having an incredible endurance about this whole thing. We’re praying she doesn’t feel too badly over the next three and half months remaining.