Figured I'd at least get us into 2014.
I'm still around. Just haven't felt like being on the computer much once I get home and have limited time at work now.
Jim - Very interesting re your vision being part of your physical problems. More explanation??
Arla - Glad the surgery went well for your mom. Shorty's mom fell and broke her hip at Thanksgiving and she ended up in the hospital and rehab for about a month or so all together. Best thing that ever happened to her. They made her eat and exercise, and the other day she said she feels better than she has in a long time. Hopefully, she keeps it up. Like we've all told her, if you want to be strong and live out the rest of your life feeling good, you have to exercise and eat.
Are any of you getting hit with this new winter storm coming in? We, unfortunately, are still having beautiful weather with no precipitation in sight through the rest of January. As Arla knows, California is now in its worst drought in 100 years. I remember the drought that hit in the 70's. Everyone was allotted X-units of water based on the number in your household. No showers, just bathing in about an inch of water, then dipping that out to water a couple of mom's plants. No flushing to toilet unless absolutely necessary: If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down. In other words, don't poop unless you absolutely have to! It's going to be a horrible fire season if things don't turn around soon. California also has a very large agriculture base that's being severely threatened. Not good, not good at all.
I have one more PT appointment. Things are definitely on the right track, so I just gotta keep up with the exercises.
Saturday I'm running my first local race in probably 4 or 5 years - the Clam Beach Run. Hopefully, I'll be meeting up with some local folks I've been chatting with online. I'd sure like to find another running partner, at least to run with once in awhile. The course is beautiful, with the last 2 or 3 miles (?) run on the beach. I'm taking my little camera and have no expectations except to have fun, so I'll be able to post some pics.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
flatland mountaineer
Finally did 3 miles pain free yesterday and ran the whole way without taking walk breaks to rest my back., first time in months, apparently something is working.
Leslie glad Shortie's mom is coming around, yep got to keep them active and exercising. My dad enjoyed walking and I think that helped him immensely. Have fun at your local race.
Hope Arla's mom is coming around mobility wise also. I didn't realize how much vision and mobility are connected until visiting the pt clinic I am with.
As far the vision thing for me, a quote from their website;http://www.privisioncenter.com/about/story.html
"specific and specialized eyeglass prescription along with a patient-specific program of PRI exercises, the brain and nervous system seem to re-wire themselves and this new nervous function can become permanent for long term results. The simplest way to explain how PRI Vision works is to say that we can purposely turn off muscles that are over-active and tight (called too much extension tone), and turn on muscles that are under performing and weak. This is true for muscles from your head all the way down to your feet."
.
Link to a story I posted before Husker all-American. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?id=5861274
Anyway hope it works or keeps working
for me
Unfortunately my are is in the same drought classification as most CA, hoping for some spring precip. We have had 4 days in the last 7 with 40-60mph winds, lots of dirt in the air even with no=till etc., when it gets about 50mph.
Hiyas to Stumpy and any lurkers out there.
The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!
Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.
Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that? quote from Back to the Fut III
That's really interesting, Jim. I'll be looking forward to hearing more about your progress. And praying you guys get rain, too!
7 miles this a.m. It was one of those rare runs (at least for me) where everything clicked perfectly and I got into that wonderful zone where it all feels so simple and pure. Even ran up a couple of hills I normally gas out on. It was a beautiful, calm, chilly predawn with a gorgeous star-filled sky. The are the type of run that keep me doing this.
So as I'm getting in the car this a.m., the Hub walks by on the way to his truck and says, "Guess what I did on my birthday? I threw away my spitter." Now, I'd seen the bottle in the trash, but thought he'd decided it was finally too disgusting to keep and got a new one. . . . . . Apparently not.
The story behind the story: He quit chewing cold turkey about 10 +/- years into our marriage after we went to a baseball coaching conference and he attended a seminar on the horrible affects of chew. Stayed away from the stuff for about 12 years, then started back up again maybe 4-5 years ago. I didn't know until I had to get something out of the truck and found a can of chew. While in rehab, he upped his game in the chew department, which, between smoking and chewing, I'll take chewing any day, although they're both disgusting habits. Of course while in jail, he couldn't chew, but once he got out, got right back into it. I haven't said anything because I figure when you're a recovering alcoholic, you work on one vice at time. Obviously he feels strong enough to tackle this next phase.
As some of you may know, tobacco is a very hard addiction to conquer, and with the work he does, he almost always has a chew in his mouth - when working, when at AA meetings, when . . . . well, you name it. HUGE kudos and lots of prayers for him from me as he gets through this next phase. . . . . . love that guy . . . . .
I'm watching CNN. They just said there's a company making "meggings" - - leggings for men. IMHO - Unless you're working out in cold weather, leggings are a bad idea no matter who you are. Unless they're under a dress that comes down at least close to your knees. There's a couple of gals in our office who wear leggings on a regular basis with a shirt over the top that barely covers their butt. *sigh* Maybe I'm just getting old.
Okay - Gotta get myself together for the Clam Beach Run. See ya on the flip side ~
7 miles this AM. Tried to run them slower than Tuesday since they're suppose to be EZ runs. Didn't take much encouragement to do so since my legs were pooped from my squat fest yesterday morning.
Tomorrow, my buddy Karen is coming to town for one night to help her daughter move up to OR. We get to run together Saturday for the first time in 10 months. I'm so excited! I miss her terribly. Over 7 years of running together almost every Saturday - not having her around has been hard.
Looks like decent weather for the Stupid Bowl Super Bowl. Hope it's a good game ~
Did my vision appt. today, freaky incredible results, will let you know how I progress.
Leslie, good for Shorty on the chew, I quit my Cope habit 2003 after many years, pretty common amongst basball and rodeo folk. Some folks say harder than smoking. Have fun on your reunion run with Karen.
Hey to everyone else.
Queen of 3rd Place
R2 - I don't understand what's going on with your vision, but I'm sure glad to hear whatever they're doing with your muscles (?) is working! Nice to have your back feeling good, too. Hope the rain that came through here does good things out your way. We were supposed to get 0.1 in but got 0.53! I've never been so happy to hear a soft rain in the morning with my coffee.
Leslie - kudos to Shorty! Besides tobacco being unhealthy and gross, I'm sure it'll be nice to have a few extra bucks around. When my mom smoked I couldn't believe how expensive it got. I hope you find some new running pals, but meanwhile enjoy your run with Karen.
Mom's eye is now 25/20 and she found a PT she likes. Things are starting to turn around for her. There's nothing really wrong with her (she's on some heart and blood pressure meds, but her cardiologist says she's fine), and she deserved some more quality years.
I joined a local running club who pitch in for a coach, he's been giving us some tough workouts! 800m repeats, hill repeats, long runs with hill repeats at the end... it helps having other people around to do them with.
Ex runner
Howdy Do -
Arla - A new local group does track workouts on Tues evenings. When I start back into speed work, I hope to hook up with them once in awhile and maybe learn a thing or two. One of the guys who shows up regularly is a young man who moved here from the Bay Area and is becoming quite an accomplished trail runner. He finished 24 overall at Lake Sonoma 50 last year and 4th overall at Dick Collins Firetrails 50. I me him last weekend and he seems like a nice guy (early 20s). It's my understanding he's pretty strict about his track work, so maybe I'll be able to get him to show me a thing or two.
I don't know what my problem is, but I just don't want to get out of bed in the mornings! However, this lackadaisical attitude I have adopted re my strength and core training has to stop. And with my tendinitis issue trying to flare up again, I absolutely HAVE to take control or I'll be in the same mess I was last year. Ugh!! Calgon! Take me away!!!
Okay - tomorrow - running with Karen. Yea!
Happy Monday, and welcome to February. Seeing as how I got very little sleep from about 1:30 to about 4:00, I didn't get up and work out this morning. Hopefully will sleep better tonight.
Soapbox Time
Saw a piece on Fox News this a.m. where they were talking about CA's drought and the effect it is having on the central valley, one of the largest produce growing areas of the country. Senator What's-His-Face (can't think of his name) was down there holding a press conference about how there's water that can be diverted from "the north," and how can officials think keeping "a fish" alive is better than providing water to people - yadda, yadda ,yadda. My comment: "Well, sir, if you kill off the fish, then what are you going to do for the people whose livelihoods depend on the fishing industry? And what about the communities in the north that are running out of water, as well?" It's not just the central valley that's getting hit hard by this drought, it's the entire frigging state, and how to best use the water supplies that are available is not a black and white issue. The only reason we in Humboldt County are doing okay is the two lumber mills are shut down. Otherwise, we'd be in a world of hurts, as well.
Stepping Off Soapbox
Okay, I'm done. Have a great week ~~~~
Trails are hard!
Not paying full attention here, but your avatar is not even mildly scary.
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
I decided to give you all a break.
Good Morning - 7.5 miles this morning with 2 miles of tempo work with hills thrown in. Just about killed me. I was only suppose to do 7, but due to my brilliant mathematical prowess, I ended up with an extra .50. Stunning, I know.
Do any of you watch Jeopardy!? It changed times here, so I keep forgetting, but I caught it last week with Arthur Chu, the current ongoing champion. Apparently, people are ticked off at his strategy for playing the game and consider it unfair to the other players. Um - - forgive my obvious ignorance, but isn't winning the whole point of being on a game show??? As long as a player isn't cheating, he/she should be able to use whatever strategy he/she has at his/her disposal. . . . . . . . People are weird.
Okay - Work time ~
Tried to catch some extra ZZZ's this a.m. after feeding the Zoo Crew. Will get in my strength/core workout this evening. And since Wednesday workouts are suppose to be a lot of leg work, I predict a very slow 8 tomorrow. I will just have to keep repeating, "You did this to yourself, stupid."
We're suppose to be getting some wet stuff starting this evening and carrying on through next week, with Saturday and Sunday being fairly wet. I shall have to choose my trails/logging roads wisely on Saturday . . . .
Leslie - you're supposed to enjoy those tempo runs, my friend, not suffer! OK, maybe the last quarter mile. I'll join you on the soapbox about the water thing, if you give water to one group, you take away from another. Everyone needs water. Politics seems to determine where the water goes. I've been tearing out the stupid lawn and putting in drought-tolerant plants over the last 5 years, and am ready to go to just drip on a few trees and my veg garden. Sure it's kind of ugly and the drought-tolerant plants are small, not the most gorgeous things, and still getting established. I'll wait. The rest of Fresno looks like the east coast with luxurious lawns. What are they thinking? Of course now that it's raining they think it's all ok...wrong...well, that's the story of the west.
Stumpy - you need to refresh those goals. What's in store this year?
I see OM on Facebook and Joe. in the Swamp. OM is kicking some booty and looking healthy!
Got a solid schedule going with the club. Hate the core workouts (who is the jerk who invented Russian twists?) but it's easier with a group. We're about a month in as a group and I'm almost feeling like a runner again. Intervals, tempos, core workouts, hilly long runs, I'm tired writing that!
I guess I am a bit behind. It means some effort to pick a race or three. Probably means some effort to run more, too.