Learn | Make | Fix | Run

The car is back together, but there is a hiccup. The car started right up, which was music to my ears. Then, it had trouble finding idle. Although I originally installed the vacuum line for the brake booster, I took it off to re-route a wire harness and forgot to put it back on. Once I found my error, the car idled great. However, it’s low on coolant; I only put about half a gallon of coolant into the expansion tank and probably drained two gallons from the system. I need to find out how to get the air out of the coolant system. I will need to look at it when I get back to town. I’ve made silly errors, like forgetting to re-connect the vacuum line, failing to plug in the MAF sensor after cleaning it, and failing to plug in the coil packs for half an engine when I have worked on cars. It’s always something different. What about you? What’s your silly error? Please share in the comments below.

It’s the last week of training for the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. Run with Hal has scheduled me to run 59 miles this week. Then, I will transition to the three-week taper. For this week’s update, I will recap my recovery from my injury and share the logistics for this week’s runs. To recap, I injured my left foot on Tuesday, April 1 ( Lessons Re-learned: Haste Makes Waste and Listen to Your Body ). Thinking I was okay, I ran on Wednesday, April 12; I wasn’t okay. Thursday, April 13, was slightly painful. Friday, April 14, worsened as the day progressed. That night I thought I needed to go to urgent care the next morning. Switching to Ibuprofen helped a bunch. My foot felt better on Sunday, April 16. I took the scheduled rest day on Monday, April 17. I took videos and pictures for an instructional design project (to showcase my skillset for a future employer) on Tuesday, April 18, and walked about five miles. The walk aggravated my big left toe, so I took Wednesday, April 19, off. I fe...

This week, I started the head gasket replacement on the 2004 Chevrolet Malibu LT with the 3.5 L V-6. I knew I had the skills to complete the job, but I had two fears with this project. My first fear was that the hardware to the exhaust manifold would be seized from rust. The second fear was cracking a head bolt. Both fears were based on damaging engine parts that I could not repair with the engine in the car. There is no room to extract broken bolts, drill larger holes, and tap for a larger fastener. I respected my fears, moved slowly and carefully, and I prevailed. The exhaust manifold was surprisingly easy to remove from the engine block. I soaked the areas on the top of the exhaust manifold near the head with penetrating oil, but I could not get a good angle to spray the bottom of the manifold. I carefully turned the rachet, and the nuts/studs came free from the top and the bottom. I had difficulty with the other end of the manifold where it meets the catalytic converter. I also soa...

I have two running experiences to share with you today. Both lessons are mind-numbingly easy to understand. I am sharing my tale hoping no one follows in my footsteps. Apparently, I don’t know how to put shoes on, and I don’t listen to my body. I have a routine when I put on my running shoes. I sit down, widen the top of the shoe, carefully insert my foot, draw in the slack from the runner’s knot loops, tie my shoelaces with a double knot, and check to ensure they aren’t too tight or loose. On Tuesday, for some unknown reason, I hastily jammed my feet in my shoes, went outside, put one foot on top of the front tire of my car, and tied my shoe. I did the same with the other shoe and went on my way. The run was a four-mile recovery run. The shoes and my feet felt fine during the run. However, I felt pain on the top of my left foot near my big toe when I completed my post-run core exercises. The next day I followed my typical shoe routine, my foot felt a little sore to walk on, so I teste...

This week I have dabbled in some decluttering. I picked up some tips by listening to the Creative Culture podcast (formerly the Woodworking Talk Show by Steve Ramsey). The guest was Cassandra Aarssen, the host of the Clutterbug podcast . The discussion around anxiety resonated with me. I found the idea that anxiety might be related to why we hold on to items intriguing. Cas suggested we might be holding onto items we don’t need because we see the items as part of our identity. For example, I am a woodworker; I must keep every scrap of wood since this is what I do. I can’t dispose of this scrap because I am getting rid of part of who I am.  Cas also proposed that we might hold on to clutter because we don’t want to make a mistake by disposing of it. We ask ourselves, “What if I regret it? What if I need to repurchase it?” which leads some of us to keep clutter. Personally, I am guilty of keeping the boxes for newly purchased items. My thought is, what if I need to return the item f...

This week I realized I am having a problem sticking with the spirit of the run and remembering what my new marathon race pace should be. I’m always learning from my runs and believe I am missing the point of getting a feel for my marathon pace by emphasizing hitting my marathon pace goal each split. After the Oakland half marathon, I thought my marathon pace should be 9:25/mile. Somehow, I forgot that and decided to run last week’s six-mile marathon pace run at 9:20/mile. I struggled with pacing and was so concerned about hitting 9:20 miles I ran each split faster than 9:20/mile. I know my marathon pace should be the average for the entire run and not each split; however, I have difficulty executing this practice while running. 9:20/mile felt quick but sustainable for 26.2 miles, and, in hindsight, 9:25/mile would have felt even better. However, I was so concerned about running 9:20 miles I was running faster than I should have. 9:16/mile and 9:14/mile uphill on the return trip were...

I enjoy watching and learning from the I Like to Make Stuff YouTube channel . Some of the more complicated woodworking projects require what looks like a ridiculous number of clamps to hold pieces in place while the glue sets. The channel uses an onscreen graphic that says “Clamp Champ” during these setups. In my case, I only needed one clamp, but it was the champ because it solved my problem. There was a power steering leak coming from the car. It was running down the hose from the power steering fluid reservoir and dripping from the lowest point of the hose to the ground. I tightened the hose clamp, which didn’t solve the problem. The leak stopped when I replaced the German-style worm clamp with a standard hose clamp. Upon further inspection original clamp was stripped and didn’t provide the clamping force needed to prevent the leak. I may not have used as many clamps as they use in I Like to Make Stuff, but the new clamp is definitely a clamp champ in my book. A $2 clamp solved my p...

One issue with training and low heart rate training, in particular, is the delayed gratification in seeing improvements. I have been working hard for the last eleven weeks and am starting to see results. My advice (provided you have your healthcare provider’s approval) is to keep showing up. I hope my journey gives you some inspiration. For those who don’t know, I am not the fastest runner; I am not an expert or a coach. I never liked running in junior high school and high school. I did not run in college. I dabbled in running from 2006 until 2017. I like to say I was a yo-yo runner, similar to a yo-yo dieter; sometimes I ran, and sometimes I didn’t. Fast forwarding to the Summer of 2019, I decided to start running again, and I completed the Couch to 5K plan for the third time. Something kept me going this time. Then the pandemic hit; my running routine finally became a permanent fixture in my life. I’ve made all the beginner mistakes and still make mistakes with my training. I can sha...