What to do when what you planned is not what happenes. What do you do?
So I got to Jenison, Michigan, just fine. Went down to check out the little lake we would be swimming in for a sprint triathlon. Good Lordy, that water was cold. 600 yard swim, 18 mile bike, then run a 5k. Simple. I've been doing these distances for a while now, and while I had slacked off on my short vacation, I had built up a pretty good set of distances and times.
The swim? 12 minutes, tops. Especially with a wetsuit.
The bike? Maybe an hour. I can usually hold 18mph pretty steady, but the first 7 miles were pretty up-hilly, and I am a flat lander, so... that should be interesting.
The run? Yeah... I am still not a fast runner, but I should be able to keep my 10min/mile, and kick it up a hair for 29 minutes, maybe a few seconds more.
Into the water we went!
I started in the 3rd wave. They were 2 minute intervals, and everyone was talking how they would probably wear their wetsuits for the bike to help warm up after the swim, etc...etc.. etc...
Water temp at race time was 62F ashore, so probably 58 or so towards the middle/turning marks.
Got off to a good clean start, nothing at all like the angry washing machine of the deep water starts for the Chi Tri. We were able to stand in 4ft of water for the start, so we were not fully immersed. I had done a little freestyle out to the start mark, so I knew it would be cold, but I felt ok.
First mark was about 180-200 yards out, and to the right (facing the lake from transition.) I got near the mark, took a quick peek over my shoulder. I was in the top 3rd of my start, swimming strong, felt strong, all is well in the world. We had caught the stragglers of the prior start, and were pulling in towards the middle of that group.
As I turned back and went head down, I got some water. Just a little bit. Swimmers know this feeling... you cough a bit... take a deep breath, and then it is back to business. Happens all the time.
Only this time, I choked a little. Throat closed up. Breathing stopped.
For those of you who do not know me, I took my first swimming lesson when I was 2 and 1/2. I've been swimming for 43 years. I am more comfortable in the water than out, and I am more comfortable UNDER the water than some people are in a bathtub!
And then... I had... A Moment.
A small... oh so small... but very real. Panic Attack.
Suddenly, I had vertigo. I was free falling through space. I could feel the cold water around me, but everything stopped. My chest constricted, the wetsuit choked my neck, the whole freight train of hell parked itself on me.
I had an immediate flash mentally, and rolled on to my back. I can float for days... someone brings me a cheeseburger now and then, and I'll drift to Hawaii, no sweat.
So there I am... first 3rd of a racecourse, floating on my back... 'Look.. a cloud. <breathe... breathe deeper> Look... another cloud <breathe again, dammit... get that heartrate under control... stop hyperventilating.. BREATHE.>.. nothing but blue sky....
I think I was on my back about 4 minutes; seemed more like 3 hours. I felt alone in the lake. I absolutely needed to get my shit back in order, and get out of the lake.
I had seen a number of swimmer turn back after the 1st mark, saying "F this... f-ing cold, screw this crap," etc...
It was about 250 yards to the next mark, then a turn towards home. I could do that. Hell, that is not even my warm up swim.
So I started to doggy paddle. Yup, hard core racing there, folks. Head clear out of the water, feet kicking breaststroke style... Just keep moving forward.
I rolled over for some more backstroke, and a helpful cloud let me glide pretty smooth and straight. I made some good distance, but I knew I really did not want my chest and face back in the water. I was just not ready for the cold, not at all. When would I warm up? July? No clue... just keep moving forward.
Around the mark. Headed for home. Nobody here in the lake but us chickens. More breaststroke... some freestyle (front crawl for you Brits,) but head-out-of-the-water-for-'sighting' freestyle. 1st swimming lesson freestyle.
50 yards to go, and I can feel the bottom under my feet. Start running... I reach a hand back, grab the zip line on my wetsuit, and I am 3/4 peeled by the time I hit transition. Time to bike, maybe it will help warm me up.
My time was pretty lame on the bike, too, but I know that was the after-effects of freaking out on the swim. It took a while to get that monster out of my head. To be honest, what I wanted to do was go into the porta-john and cry my eyes out from the most disconcerting, scary moment I have ever had in the water. I have never once been scared, let alone anything more, in the water. Never. Pitch black, no reference, no shore, jump over the side, cut some crap free from the boat in the middle of the night? Sign me up, coach, I'm all over that.
What the *** happened?
Cold. Cold, and not ready for it. Not even close to ready for it. And then a freaky choke moment, that took advantage of the cold in me. Cold does funny things, and this time it busted my chops good. I was still recovering 7 miles into the bike (which was mostly uphill, and upwind for that distance.)
I managed to hit a good downhill spurt, zipped up to my top speed (35.44 mph on my speedo,) and I was still pedaling, trying to accelerate. I was down hard on the aerobars, and it felt so good.
I pounded the daylights out of the rest of the bike course, but, let's face it, the damage was long done by that point. All that I was up for was finishing. Running is my weak point, and I turned in a 32 minute 5K, which is not horrible, but I did expect better.
And I finished last in my age group. 92 out of 99 for finishers (+11 that dropped out totally, so I beat THEM, too... bwahahaha... but none of them were in my age group.... poop.)
I was talking to the last person to finish. A girl, quite a bit overweight, had no wetsuit for the swim and first triathlon ever... but she finished. After we chatted for a bit, she said "You know, I came in last... but I finished ahead of every single person who is too chicken to give it a try. I am taking back control of my life, and this sport has not seen the last of me."
I gave her a really big hug.
The next thing I need to do is go float around in the lake for a bit, face down, with a snorkel. lol....
What do you do when you get thrown a curve ball? Really?
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. (Thank you United States Marines!)
Improvise... float on my back a bit (mid-race!) and see when my heartbeat recovers.
Adapt... Breaststroke! Sidestroke! Backstroke! Keep moving in the direction of the finish line.
Overcome... The mental challenge is the hardest, because your mind can mess with you more than anything from the outside could ever hope to do. Not even a contest. Use your will. Use your strength. Defeat your own weakness. Come back stronger.
When I exited the water, I pretty much told myself I would never swim again, ever. Right.
Right.
Find me some water, I have some swimming to do.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
How to start...
Hi there!
A friend of mine posted on my facebook page the other day (in response to me posting about a training bike/run,) "How did you get started?"
How does anything get started?
When it comes to any kind of endurance sport, just start small. People can even look at say.. a sprint Triathlon (~800 yard swim, 18 mile bike, and 5K run) and think 'Oh, that swim would kill me! I can't bike that far!'... etc... etc...
Simple. Start small.
ANYBODY (roughly) can run/jog/walk a 5K. It is 3.1 miles. If you grew up on Chicago's South Side like I did, from about the SouthEast corner of Ford City Mall to Mother McAuley High School's front door; or, if you are a Northsider, from the front sign at Wrigley Field to the Beach house on North Ave Beach (via Clark and North Ave.)
That is really not that far.
The swim is the most intimidating thing. People rightly kind of freak out in open water. Some people have never learned to swim. My mom took us to the YMCA when we were little, and they basically just threw us into the unheated pool. Grab the sides, try not to drown.
After that, I was always in the water if there was water to be in. Summers in Kentucky, swimming every single day rain or shine in the lake. Oceans are salty, which was strange for a sweetwater swimmer, but you get used to it (spit it out!)
Start small.
Don't even think of running a 5K.... well, except maybe as a goal. Just go for a walk. Plan on it every night, or morning, or whatever. just once a day, take a stroll. Doesn't even have to raise the heart. The idea is to just start doing SOMETHING, and walking is one of the most simple skills we learn. Anyone with children will tell you that you would almost have to prevent them to stop children from learning how to walk. They WANT to!
So get used to walking. You don't even need shoes!! (There are really good reasons to get behind why the barefoot running community calls them 'foot coffins.')
So you want to run now?
Remember, your body has a certain ability to heal and grow (even if you are 90!) We have to respect those limits, too. If you have been living a 'seated' lifestyle, had little to no physical activity (drive to the end of the block to get McDonald's) you need to let your body start that process correctly. It takes a little bit for the ligaments, joints, muscles, to get used to being used again.
There are all kinds of 'couch to 5K' apps out there, you can use one if you like, but the basic rule is this-- Start slow, increase slow, but don't give up.
The running rule of thumb for distance is only increase your running distance by 10% a week, never more. That seems to be a fair rule.
Another way of looking at it is in relation to time. When you are on those walks, pick up your tempo a bit, or trade off jogging a minute, walking a minute... jog/walk/jog/walk. I actually have a GymBoss timer that I use for interval training on my runs, and it beeps at user-set times. When I run, I have it set (for now) at 7/1, so when I run, I run/jog for 7 minutes, then walk for 1 minute, then run for 7, etc... Mentally, it is a game, because I always know I have a short walk in the very near future.
That is really it. You just have to find a way to start. Get that first walk in! Spring is here, so go take a walk around the neighborhood. I actually love running through neighborhoods. Check out the houses, etc.
Treadmill running is "OMG" boring. ugh. But, when the weather goes to crap, you can either run in life-threatening weather, or bounce along on a treadmill. I vote treadmill (even though I can palpably feel my brain rot when I forget to bring a new podcast, etc...)
IF you have ANY goal, especially for your first 5K, it should be along these lines-- "I know I can finish this, there is no time limit, so I am going to run/jog when I can, walk when I want, and pick up my t-shirt at the finish."
So you can set that goal. --'Run the Runway 5K' looks cool. It was in October last year. You get to run out onto the north runway AT O'HARE. How cool is that? you can WALK it!! no need to run!! But if you wanted to do a 5K, that would be cool. Pick one, if you want, just be realistic. Rome wasn't burned in a day.
Does it get any simpler? You still have not gotten new shoes! You most likely don't need them!
Now, if you want to do 5Ks, etc, regularly, or start running/jogging daily, you probably should go to a good shoe store and have a 'stride/gait analysis' done. They will look at how your foot lands, the loads you put on your body, and will probably recommend something really expensive. As a barefooter, I tend to be against that, but then again I have an awesome contact for barefoot (zero lift, zero drop, etc) shoes... they tend to be extra pricey!
You can get not quite so expensive shoes simply by asking if they have last year's model, etc. You could go for a stride/gait analysis, and then buy the shoes off of Amazon, but I think that is unfair (you went to get checked out, which they do for free, under the assumption that you will buy shoes from them.) But, to each his own.
Going further----
If swimming intimidates you, there are YMCAs, Master's Swim clubs, etc, that all have adult learn-to-swim programs, and I highly recommend them to anyone that does not know how to swim. I can teach you to swim, too. At the very least, I can help make you comfortable in the water. Not knowing how to swim or being afraid of swimming is nothing to be embarrassed about! No big deal. Lots of people don't know. Historically, until quite recently, even sailors did not necessarily know how to swim (honest-- if a warship went down, even in sight of land (such as during the Napoleanic wars, thinking of when Nelson found the French Fleet in Egypt,) everyone on board would usually drown. When you see figures on naval battle losses or casualties, by far the largest group of losses would be from drowning when the ship sank.)
You can swim... honest you can! The first thing to get over is the fear of water, and the only way to really do that is to... get this... get in the water. Get in shallow water, with someone you trust. wear a life jacket (honestly!) Get used to the feeling of the water around you. Some people never get used to that. That's fine... not everyone needs to learn how to swim (although I think everyone actually should learn how to swim enough to survive getting dumped into the water,) but it is certainly a good skill to learn.
Biking--
Did anyone not ride a bike when they were a kid?
Triathlon bikes are crazy expensive, but a bike is a bike. The most important things about a bike is that it fit. You can have a super high $$ bike (diamond crusted pedals, solid gold seat, etc,) and if it fits like sh*t, you can actually injure yourself riding it, and it will never be comfortable to ride. Take that old beater out of the garage and take it in to a bike shop to get updated (replace the rusted chain, etc... etc...) it doesn't even need to be a multi-speed bike, single speeds bikes are just fine! Have it fit to you. If the frame is too small for you, or it is too long a reach to the handle bars, you probably need to find a new (or different) bike, if you plan on riding for any length of time. No reason to damage your knees or hips by riding a bike that doesn't fit you.
You can find all kinds of used bikes on Craig's List, or EBay... just know what size you need. Again, you can go get a bike fit, and then use the info you get to buy someplace else.
And then just like the jogging, you simply have to go and do it. It sounds so trite, but the reality is, the only thing stopping you from going is you. I do a lot of running/swimming early mornings or nights after we put our son to bed. I want as little interference with my family as possible.
Simply put, in order to get started, you just have to.... wait for it.... start.
Cheers!
Scott
A friend of mine posted on my facebook page the other day (in response to me posting about a training bike/run,) "How did you get started?"
How does anything get started?
When it comes to any kind of endurance sport, just start small. People can even look at say.. a sprint Triathlon (~800 yard swim, 18 mile bike, and 5K run) and think 'Oh, that swim would kill me! I can't bike that far!'... etc... etc...
Simple. Start small.
ANYBODY (roughly) can run/jog/walk a 5K. It is 3.1 miles. If you grew up on Chicago's South Side like I did, from about the SouthEast corner of Ford City Mall to Mother McAuley High School's front door; or, if you are a Northsider, from the front sign at Wrigley Field to the Beach house on North Ave Beach (via Clark and North Ave.)
That is really not that far.
The swim is the most intimidating thing. People rightly kind of freak out in open water. Some people have never learned to swim. My mom took us to the YMCA when we were little, and they basically just threw us into the unheated pool. Grab the sides, try not to drown.
After that, I was always in the water if there was water to be in. Summers in Kentucky, swimming every single day rain or shine in the lake. Oceans are salty, which was strange for a sweetwater swimmer, but you get used to it (spit it out!)
Start small.
Don't even think of running a 5K.... well, except maybe as a goal. Just go for a walk. Plan on it every night, or morning, or whatever. just once a day, take a stroll. Doesn't even have to raise the heart. The idea is to just start doing SOMETHING, and walking is one of the most simple skills we learn. Anyone with children will tell you that you would almost have to prevent them to stop children from learning how to walk. They WANT to!
So get used to walking. You don't even need shoes!! (There are really good reasons to get behind why the barefoot running community calls them 'foot coffins.')
So you want to run now?
Remember, your body has a certain ability to heal and grow (even if you are 90!) We have to respect those limits, too. If you have been living a 'seated' lifestyle, had little to no physical activity (drive to the end of the block to get McDonald's) you need to let your body start that process correctly. It takes a little bit for the ligaments, joints, muscles, to get used to being used again.
There are all kinds of 'couch to 5K' apps out there, you can use one if you like, but the basic rule is this-- Start slow, increase slow, but don't give up.
The running rule of thumb for distance is only increase your running distance by 10% a week, never more. That seems to be a fair rule.
Another way of looking at it is in relation to time. When you are on those walks, pick up your tempo a bit, or trade off jogging a minute, walking a minute... jog/walk/jog/walk. I actually have a GymBoss timer that I use for interval training on my runs, and it beeps at user-set times. When I run, I have it set (for now) at 7/1, so when I run, I run/jog for 7 minutes, then walk for 1 minute, then run for 7, etc... Mentally, it is a game, because I always know I have a short walk in the very near future.
That is really it. You just have to find a way to start. Get that first walk in! Spring is here, so go take a walk around the neighborhood. I actually love running through neighborhoods. Check out the houses, etc.
Treadmill running is "OMG" boring. ugh. But, when the weather goes to crap, you can either run in life-threatening weather, or bounce along on a treadmill. I vote treadmill (even though I can palpably feel my brain rot when I forget to bring a new podcast, etc...)
IF you have ANY goal, especially for your first 5K, it should be along these lines-- "I know I can finish this, there is no time limit, so I am going to run/jog when I can, walk when I want, and pick up my t-shirt at the finish."
So you can set that goal. --'Run the Runway 5K' looks cool. It was in October last year. You get to run out onto the north runway AT O'HARE. How cool is that? you can WALK it!! no need to run!! But if you wanted to do a 5K, that would be cool. Pick one, if you want, just be realistic. Rome wasn't burned in a day.
Does it get any simpler? You still have not gotten new shoes! You most likely don't need them!
Now, if you want to do 5Ks, etc, regularly, or start running/jogging daily, you probably should go to a good shoe store and have a 'stride/gait analysis' done. They will look at how your foot lands, the loads you put on your body, and will probably recommend something really expensive. As a barefooter, I tend to be against that, but then again I have an awesome contact for barefoot (zero lift, zero drop, etc) shoes... they tend to be extra pricey!
You can get not quite so expensive shoes simply by asking if they have last year's model, etc. You could go for a stride/gait analysis, and then buy the shoes off of Amazon, but I think that is unfair (you went to get checked out, which they do for free, under the assumption that you will buy shoes from them.) But, to each his own.
Going further----
If swimming intimidates you, there are YMCAs, Master's Swim clubs, etc, that all have adult learn-to-swim programs, and I highly recommend them to anyone that does not know how to swim. I can teach you to swim, too. At the very least, I can help make you comfortable in the water. Not knowing how to swim or being afraid of swimming is nothing to be embarrassed about! No big deal. Lots of people don't know. Historically, until quite recently, even sailors did not necessarily know how to swim (honest-- if a warship went down, even in sight of land (such as during the Napoleanic wars, thinking of when Nelson found the French Fleet in Egypt,) everyone on board would usually drown. When you see figures on naval battle losses or casualties, by far the largest group of losses would be from drowning when the ship sank.)
You can swim... honest you can! The first thing to get over is the fear of water, and the only way to really do that is to... get this... get in the water. Get in shallow water, with someone you trust. wear a life jacket (honestly!) Get used to the feeling of the water around you. Some people never get used to that. That's fine... not everyone needs to learn how to swim (although I think everyone actually should learn how to swim enough to survive getting dumped into the water,) but it is certainly a good skill to learn.
Biking--
Did anyone not ride a bike when they were a kid?
Triathlon bikes are crazy expensive, but a bike is a bike. The most important things about a bike is that it fit. You can have a super high $$ bike (diamond crusted pedals, solid gold seat, etc,) and if it fits like sh*t, you can actually injure yourself riding it, and it will never be comfortable to ride. Take that old beater out of the garage and take it in to a bike shop to get updated (replace the rusted chain, etc... etc...) it doesn't even need to be a multi-speed bike, single speeds bikes are just fine! Have it fit to you. If the frame is too small for you, or it is too long a reach to the handle bars, you probably need to find a new (or different) bike, if you plan on riding for any length of time. No reason to damage your knees or hips by riding a bike that doesn't fit you.
You can find all kinds of used bikes on Craig's List, or EBay... just know what size you need. Again, you can go get a bike fit, and then use the info you get to buy someplace else.
And then just like the jogging, you simply have to go and do it. It sounds so trite, but the reality is, the only thing stopping you from going is you. I do a lot of running/swimming early mornings or nights after we put our son to bed. I want as little interference with my family as possible.
Simply put, in order to get started, you just have to.... wait for it.... start.
Cheers!
Scott
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Death by Bureaucracy
Long time no post!
This morning, I went down to Central Illinois, for the Illinois Food Safety Advisory Committee, Dairy Work Group Meeting.
In August 2012, the State of Illinois decided it needed to do something about raw milk sales in the state. Historically, raw milk in Illinois was simply overlooked, as long as it was not a commercial operation, or was separate from the commercial operation of dairy farms.
Everyone who reads this (all 4 of you!) know that I am a big supporter of raw milk as real food. I drink it every day, and so does Thomas. There is nothing like the flavor!
So when I found out from my good friends Kelly and Rick Boge, owners of Golden Guernsey of Illinois, that the State of moving towards very strict regulation, and would have a committee meeting that was open to the public, I finagled my schedule so they would be forced to give me the day off, and I could make the drive to Bloomington, IL.
I got to meet some great people even before the meeting came to order. Kelly and Rick have a friend who has 'spun off' part of their dairy operation, and John and Linda now run a branch (2 cows!) in North Barrington. I had a great time chatting with both of them; They lived in Guadalajara for about a dozen years, kids are grown, and having the time of their lives just caring for cows and chickens and helping provide real milk.
After a while, the committee chair called everyone to order, and we got down to the show. Molly Lamb, the leader, layed down the groundwork for the meeting, such as how it would be run, and who would speak, etc. Everyone on the committee introduced themselves, and they got down to business.
There were basically 2 sides (1 side had a pair of factions,) to the group. The State side, which included reps from the State, the FDA, and some of the large commercial producers. The "Farm to Consumer" side included the Boges, Donna OShaughnessy from South Pork Ranch, and a number of other independent producers, mostly small family farmers, and the like (some of whom have animal numbers as low as 2 goats or 1 cow.)(Now that is small!)
I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of the meeting, not yet, at least. There are a number of resources that covered the meeting, and I want to go over my notes and compare them to the few news outlets that sent reporters so that I can give the correct info.
However, I now understand Death by Bureaucracy.
The Chair (Mrs. Lamb,) was asked a few times "What made the State of Illinois decide that we needed laws to govern our personal commerce in this regard?""Raw Milk has been available on farms for sale since Illinois was incorporated, what happened? Was there some massive outbreak of food poisoning from raw milk?"
She could not give a real answer. When asked Who had gotten the committee together to start investigating rules and rule making regarding sales of raw milk, who started the ball rolling? Somebody had to, right?
Well, there is no answer to that. This is the problem of rules by committee. Nobody is accountable. Not a single raw milk associated sickness in Illinois, going as far back as they kept records (1984,) however, suddenly, we need rules and regulations on supply and sales.
Nobody takes responsibility for the rules. It just happens.
Mrs Lamb is referred to as saying the reason for the committee to make rules, is right now there are now rules or regulations in the state governing the sales of raw milk.
So, basically, the State sees its job as this-- "There are no rules regarding this, so we must make rules for it."
Weird. Not surprised at all.
I have always been a believer that if there are not rules regarding something, and that something is fairly common, and is not hurting anyone, well.... why would there be rules?
Donna O had an interesting observation at the end of the meeting, where she had earlier made the observation that if something is not broken, don't fix it, she reminded us all that the reason most government departments exist is to prevent fraud, but they want to start meddling in the affairs of everyone they come into contact with.
"Things would be better if I could just fix..."
"There aughtta be a law..."
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
There was a great turnout, and I met some really fun and interesting people (like Donna O, who with her husband runs the South Pork Ranch (I will be contacting them to get a pig-share.. :) ) and a friend of theirs, Ashlee, who with her husband is just starting out in central Illinois as a small producer (they have 4 pigs!) and CSA.
I met a number of family farmers, people who have been farming for generations. One farmer said he was 60, had drank raw milk (mostly from the milking pail) his entire life, his father before him had, and his grandfather before him had. He said all of his children are fine and healthy, and they all drink the same, and so do his slowly growing grandchildren, the next generation.
I think it is pathetic, but oh-so-typical, that a State government would want to get involved in something that is so essential to life, and to livelihoods.
How do you strangle someone politically? You pass laws that don't need to be passed, you pass regulations that will cost too much money and time to comply with, and then you watch everything wither away on the vine.
I told my friends that as something politically horrible happens, and they ban the sales of raw milk, "As long as you have a place to hide a cow, I'm still buying."
That sentiment was echoed by everyone I met.
Cheers!
Scott
This morning, I went down to Central Illinois, for the Illinois Food Safety Advisory Committee, Dairy Work Group Meeting.
In August 2012, the State of Illinois decided it needed to do something about raw milk sales in the state. Historically, raw milk in Illinois was simply overlooked, as long as it was not a commercial operation, or was separate from the commercial operation of dairy farms.
Everyone who reads this (all 4 of you!) know that I am a big supporter of raw milk as real food. I drink it every day, and so does Thomas. There is nothing like the flavor!
So when I found out from my good friends Kelly and Rick Boge, owners of Golden Guernsey of Illinois, that the State of moving towards very strict regulation, and would have a committee meeting that was open to the public, I finagled my schedule so they would be forced to give me the day off, and I could make the drive to Bloomington, IL.
I got to meet some great people even before the meeting came to order. Kelly and Rick have a friend who has 'spun off' part of their dairy operation, and John and Linda now run a branch (2 cows!) in North Barrington. I had a great time chatting with both of them; They lived in Guadalajara for about a dozen years, kids are grown, and having the time of their lives just caring for cows and chickens and helping provide real milk.
After a while, the committee chair called everyone to order, and we got down to the show. Molly Lamb, the leader, layed down the groundwork for the meeting, such as how it would be run, and who would speak, etc. Everyone on the committee introduced themselves, and they got down to business.
There were basically 2 sides (1 side had a pair of factions,) to the group. The State side, which included reps from the State, the FDA, and some of the large commercial producers. The "Farm to Consumer" side included the Boges, Donna OShaughnessy from South Pork Ranch, and a number of other independent producers, mostly small family farmers, and the like (some of whom have animal numbers as low as 2 goats or 1 cow.)(Now that is small!)
I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of the meeting, not yet, at least. There are a number of resources that covered the meeting, and I want to go over my notes and compare them to the few news outlets that sent reporters so that I can give the correct info.
However, I now understand Death by Bureaucracy.
The Chair (Mrs. Lamb,) was asked a few times "What made the State of Illinois decide that we needed laws to govern our personal commerce in this regard?""Raw Milk has been available on farms for sale since Illinois was incorporated, what happened? Was there some massive outbreak of food poisoning from raw milk?"
She could not give a real answer. When asked Who had gotten the committee together to start investigating rules and rule making regarding sales of raw milk, who started the ball rolling? Somebody had to, right?
Well, there is no answer to that. This is the problem of rules by committee. Nobody is accountable. Not a single raw milk associated sickness in Illinois, going as far back as they kept records (1984,) however, suddenly, we need rules and regulations on supply and sales.
Nobody takes responsibility for the rules. It just happens.
Mrs Lamb is referred to as saying the reason for the committee to make rules, is right now there are now rules or regulations in the state governing the sales of raw milk.
So, basically, the State sees its job as this-- "There are no rules regarding this, so we must make rules for it."
Weird. Not surprised at all.
I have always been a believer that if there are not rules regarding something, and that something is fairly common, and is not hurting anyone, well.... why would there be rules?
Donna O had an interesting observation at the end of the meeting, where she had earlier made the observation that if something is not broken, don't fix it, she reminded us all that the reason most government departments exist is to prevent fraud, but they want to start meddling in the affairs of everyone they come into contact with.
"Things would be better if I could just fix..."
"There aughtta be a law..."
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
There was a great turnout, and I met some really fun and interesting people (like Donna O, who with her husband runs the South Pork Ranch (I will be contacting them to get a pig-share.. :) ) and a friend of theirs, Ashlee, who with her husband is just starting out in central Illinois as a small producer (they have 4 pigs!) and CSA.
I met a number of family farmers, people who have been farming for generations. One farmer said he was 60, had drank raw milk (mostly from the milking pail) his entire life, his father before him had, and his grandfather before him had. He said all of his children are fine and healthy, and they all drink the same, and so do his slowly growing grandchildren, the next generation.
I think it is pathetic, but oh-so-typical, that a State government would want to get involved in something that is so essential to life, and to livelihoods.
How do you strangle someone politically? You pass laws that don't need to be passed, you pass regulations that will cost too much money and time to comply with, and then you watch everything wither away on the vine.
I told my friends that as something politically horrible happens, and they ban the sales of raw milk, "As long as you have a place to hide a cow, I'm still buying."
That sentiment was echoed by everyone I met.
Cheers!
Scott
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