Back To the Program

The weather has gone back to being absolutely beautiful. The cold has well snapped and the afternoon high temperature has been in the mid 60’s with abundant sunshine. I was able to sign-up for a telephone call yesterday for tomorrow afternoon, the only issue I had with signing up is that it delayed my run. Normally I would come up and deposit my identification card in the telephone sign-up box and run a few laps until they start the sign-up process. Yesterday the yard was opened a little late (this seems to be the case in the past few weeks) and the sign-up process is supposed to start at 1:00 pm. It was 1:00 pm when I deposited my identification card and I had to stand around for the next 35 minutes for the process to commence. This was fine because I didn’t want to run many miles however I did not care for the standing around time.

After securing my telephone time I started my run. I decided to go for speed in my 10 miles run. My first mile was a very slow 7 minutes and 50 seconds. I was having a hard time getting started and I discovered my $42 running shoes aren’t that good. These are the best running shoes in all the catalogues but sometime in life you get what you pay for, the running shoes are light and do provide some cushioning from the asphalt, however, the shoes are not responsive. Once they hit the ground they seem to turn to mush instead of springing off the pavement. (I sue do miss my Asics running shoes but the one I have will do because I am not out to set any prison running records!) Be that as it may I did increase my speed over the course of the run. My last (mile 10) mile was completed in 7 minutes and 12 seconds which is my fastest mile here. I do swear that the times around the track are a little more than a mile because 18 months ago when I was on the outside I was doing 6 minutes and 30 second miles for 6 miles and I can’t seem to get into the 6 minute miles here for anything. Anyhow, my run was very good and an interesting thing happened while I was running. Yes, I still got the “marathon man” calls and the crazy looks as I ran by my fellow inmates but this is no longer interesting. It has become very normal. The interesting part was even though I increased my speed I maintained my breathing very well and I was not sweating very much. The breathing is really not a big deal because it seems the longer I run the easier it gets. However; the sweating was interesting because I usually do sweat a great deal. I think the humidity level was very low and my perspiration was drying rather quickly. I did sweat but really not that much. I did feel very well at the end of the run. Also the warm sun felt very good as I was running and do hope it stays this way for the rest of the winter. I’m sure we are not done with the cold snaps but I could use a few more days like this one.

Before I go into my daily briefing on dinner I need to mention breakfast from yesterday. Sunday breakfast is essentially the same every week; eggs, (ugh!) roasted potatoes, ham or sausage links, hot cereal, apple, fruit juice and skim milk. Normally I don’t play my vegetarian special meal on Sunday breakfast; however, yesterday there were two large pieces of ham (it is turkey ham because the prison system does not serve pork – there are many inmates who’s religion prohibits them from eating pork.) on every tray as I looked around when I entered the dining hall. I decided to ask for the vegetarian meal to see what I would get. (Usually I would have taken the ham and given it away just like I do the eggs but I didn’t feel like this yesterday). Yes, I got a tray without the ham and was given a double order of potatoes and hot cereal. This worked out very well because those are the two items I do indeed eat. I made a very good decision and again the guys on the food service line did “hook me up”.

Now back to dinner last evening. The main entrée was chicken fried steak with Mexican beans, mashed potatoes, broccoli, salad and an icee treat for dessert. Of course I played the vegetarian special meal and received everything with the exception of the chicken fried steak. I received a double portion of the Mexican beans. The dining hall was rather crowded last night. Usually I receive my tray and go directly to an open table with my dorm mates. Last night we had to wait a few minutes for a table to clear. As I waited near where the rest of the inmates were entering the dining hall to receive their trays I received many comments regarding my tray. My tray was filled with Mexican beans to the point they were dripping off the tray. As each inmate passed my tray (in the line to receive their tray) they commented about the large quantity of beans however; none of them noticed I did not have a piece of chicken fried steak on my tray. After the 10th comment I turned back and said (very nicely not even the hint of sarcasm) “yes I am a vegetarian and don’t eat the chicken fried steak”. The comments stopped after I said this. It is truly amazing how people see what they want to see and disregard everything else.

When dinner was over I was able to trade my James Patterson book for yet another James Patterson book “Cat and Mouse”. I was excited to start reading this book because now I have a lamp so I can see while lying down in my bunk. The lamp did arrive without a standard light bulb but I was able to purchase a 100 watt bulb for $2.00 from one of my dorm mates. The 100 watts is a little much but I don’t have much choice and it is most certainly better than the way it was previously. I couldn’t lie down in my bunk without straining my eyes to read and now it is so much better. I stayed in my bunk all night long and read half the book. It is very interesting reading these James Patterson novels out of sequence because most of the characters are the same throughout the series and some very significant events happen to them later on in the series which I have already read. It is good to get background on these characters and with the way Patterson writes each book does stand on its own. Somewhere down the road I will switch to a different author but for right now these novels work for me. Thankfully the weekend was finally over. (That was a very strange sentence but it is so true for me in a place like this.) I did get to sleep at 10:00 pm because I needed to be up at 5:30 am (my new wake-up time) to start my week on the right foot.

I was able to sleep fairly well and woke up at 5:00 am as the C/O’s woke up my dorm mates who work in the kitchen. I stayed in bed as they got ready for work and when they were finished I got up and performed my daily morning routine. I brushed my teeth, took my vitamins (I not only have a multi-vitamin, I have vitamin C, E, and a B-Complex – this is still a far cry from my normal vitamin intake on the outside but I do feel a difference since I started taking these), got dressed and watch the morning news. Lately the early breakfast unlock has been fairly consistent at 6:45 am. However, this morning it came 10 minutes earlier. As I hurried back to my locker to put away my headphones (to hear the television) the C/O had already opened and closed our door. He did say he would be right back. I have heard C/O’s make this comment in the past to comeback 40 to 60 minutes later so I was very concerned I would miss the early breakfast. (By the way, the C/O was two steps away from our door when I came back from putting my headphones away, which was very exasperating when he didn’t open the door.) Fortunately the C/O did come back 2 minutes later and unlocked the door for me.

I hurried over to the dinning hall to join the rest of the instructors and the class for breakfast. This morning we were told to go into the other dining hall. There are two dining halls, one for the upper tier and one for the lower tier. The dining hall is essentially the same but reversed from the one I normally attend. They are adjacent to one another. I ate breakfast with some of the students in the class and it is neat to see how nervous some of them are about the class. It is my job to aleve some of their fears and my job started early this morning. I did my best to encourage them to do their best no matter what and everything will work out fine. I am positive and do encourage the students but I make them no promises. Some of the inmates are very clever and try to play instructors against the “Coach”. I make it perfectly clear that the “Coach” and only the “coach” controls who passes and who fails. I won’t fall into the trap of having the inmates say to the “Coach” “but Paul said”. No, it is up to them to do their best and try as hard as they can. I will always be positive no matter what but ultimately it is up to the students themselves.

As I was walking out of the dining hall it was time to pick up lunch (Everyday it is the same; after breakfast prior to departing the dining hall everyone picks up their sack lunch.) Each day ever since I was granted the vegetarian meal I carried the slip from the doctor giving me this meal except today. I have gotten to the point over the past two weeks where I haven’t had to show this slip to the C/O because they all know me by sight. As I reported earlier this was not my normal dining hall so the CO who was in charge of the lunches did not know me. I had to go over to his side and retrieve my vegetarian lunch because they were not available on the other side. (By the way, this particular C/O was not exactly cordial when I went over to him last week even though the C/O from the other dining hall had alerted him I was coming over.) It was my turn to receive a lunch and I very politely asked for a vegetarian lunch. (Please keep in mind I am dressed in sweats which state I am a “PFT Instructor”. Most of the C/O’s do hold the instructors in a high regard than other inmates and we are treated nicer.) The C/O responded in a very abrupt manner and said, “Who are you, I don’t know you and where is your slip stating you can receive a vegetarian meal.” I responded most likely (in all fairness) not as politely as previously, “I did not bring my slip and I do apologize.” The response from the C/O was very curt, “I can’t give you one because I don’t know you, you can take a regular lunch or you can go over to the other side and see if that C/O will give you a vegetarian lunch.” There were so many things I waned to say such as, “How many inmates actually pretend they are vegetarians and don’t want to eat meat?” and “I was in here last week and you begrudgingly gave me a vegetarian lunch after inspecting my slip”, but I bit down hard on my tongue and went to the other dining hall. I did see the normal C/O in that dining hall who knows me by sight and he gave me my peanut butter and jam lunch. After finally retrieving my lunch I was pissed (for lack of a better word) and fortunately I had a short walk so I could blow off some steam prior to the class starting. I couldn’t believe what a jerk (for lack of a worse word!) he was to me for asking a simple question. I did let it go after a few minutes because this little run in was NOT going to ruin my day. By the time the class started this incident was dead and buried.

The class started very early at 7:15 am which is very good. There was some confusion at the beginning of the class due to too many chiefs making too many different decisions. We did get things ironed out and I handled the back pace all morning. This is just like the front pace but I am in the back of the pack. We did just about 7 miles of walking and running in the class which felt good. Also the weather again was very nice although the mornings are still a bit chilly with temperatures in the low 30’s. I was able to use my new gloves this morning which were almost too warm because they are wool. The other instructors noticed my gloves (it seems everyone notices everything around here all the time) and really liked them. The class finished around 10:15 am and we had an instructors meeting at the end of class. I was impressed because the “coach” actually knew my name. He calls everyone Mr. followed by the respective last name and he almost pronounced my name properly. I didn’t have the heart to correct him because I was surprised he even knew my name. I think I am progressing rather nicely and each day I feel more and more comfortable. There are many diverse personalities to deal with-not only with the students but the instructors and also the “Coach”. I was used to dealing with many diverse personalities but this is a great test which I do enjoy.

The class was over and I was actually able to have a mid-morning snack thanks to the arrival of my package on Saturday. I was able to have a granola bar and it certainly helped. Also after class I played basketball with one of my dorm mates. It was the first time in a very long time that I shot a basketball. I am far from an athletic person but the sport I played most when I was a kid was basketball. I was fairly good up to the age of 13. After this all my class mates grew past me and my skills somewhat diminished. Playing basketball was a nice change of pace and I didn’t embarrass myself. In fact my dorm mate said “I wasn’t so bad for an old guy.” (By the way he is 27 years old.) I took this as a compliment. As I was playing basketball I sure thought the basket was higher than the regulation 10 feet (it was not) but I think it looks higher because I am older and everything seems farther away!