Howdy and Happy Spring!
It's 1:00pm - where is everybody???
Mike's and Henry's posts from yesterday are simply the best.
6 mi. at a racewalking training session this morning - 4 on my own before the crew arrived, and 2 more with the rest of the folks. Then I went to our local running store to look for new racewalking shoes. I tried on about 6 pair, but came home empty-handed. Some shoes were close, but none were what I was looking for. Now I have to mop the kitchen floor, then bake a new cake - a chocolate whiskey cake, and sometime later start work on another new dish - hashed brussels sprouts with lemon that we'll have with grilled salmon tonight. OK, gotta go get busy!
Have a greta first day of Spring!
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Happy Sunday
Yes, I too loved Mike and Henry's posts from yesterday!!
Tet -- PLEASE don't forget your swim trunks today!! We don't want you skinned alive by your DD!!
Chocolate Whiskey cake - hmmmmm - there is a chocolate guiness cake recipe floating around on FB, now if I could only get someone to bake it for me!!
7:30 mass for me today then 9am spin and 10 am barre class - rest of the day for hanging out with the family until I meet friends later for a 60th birthday celebration. Life is starting to feel a little more normal here - taking 1 more week off work on FMLA to get things done for Steven. I am actually looking forward to a return to work and life before the ventilator - altho somehow I think things will always be a little changed!!
denise
I am going to third today's commentary regarding yesterday's posts by Mike E and Henrun. Both are very inspirational.
deez4boyz I made a chocolate stout cake for St. Patrick's day a few years back. They are really good and I know you can bake as I have had the pleasure of eating some of the results!
Jlynne the wonders of modern pest killing chemicals! Great news on the lice deaths.
tselbs you might want to give the RD for today's "St. Patrick's Day" race. I thought races for XYZ are supposed to be before not after, if the day does not fall on a weekend. If it does, then after is okay. I am not sure this is in the rule book as a first order offence, like for example, "No running in the rain!"© but it might be worth checking.
enkephalin I am soooo glad I do not have a good Mexican restaurant anywhere near me! I would weigh 300 pounds if I did.
stumpy77 if you preferred schedule is to start at the crack of noon, you might want to see about getting a graduate degree of some sort. Just a suggestion.
evanflein yesterday it looked like your storm would hit my area today. But today, they are saying it will be a near non-event here. I cannot say I am unhappy about that!
wildchild ho hum, another story of people running insane distances designed to convince the rest of us you all are bats! Bats I tell you! Perhaps leprechauns seeing as to how close we are to St. Patrick's day. Or should that be bunnies seeing as we are past St. Patrick's day but closing in on Easter.
Mariposai just lobster? A pretty light meal that was. To mangle a phrase, I suspect that is just half the menu.
tetsujin209 good luck! Not sure if that is wishing you to keep your GS or to lose your GS, but whatever it is you are shooting for.
I want to know whose idea winter weather is anyway!!! It is brutal outside in CT today. No snow. But a damp cold that just sinks through your bones. I ran 7 miles in it today and hours later I still have a chill. My DW went for a walk and is complaining about being chilled today too. Tomorrow looks bad as the edge of the Nor'easter comes blowing through. Fortunately, which should probably be in quotes, it is a no running day for me and I will be indoors on the elliptical.
Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.
Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way --> http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/
Somehow I missed any lice infestations with my two kids, just luck I guess.
Chocolate whisky cake sounds pretty good to me.
So I did get my 9 miles in. 4.5 mile run from my house to Tet's favourite Mercer Island half marathon start/finish, watched the lead men and lead women come in, then I ran/walked home. More walking than I would have liked but still I think my knee is improving. Uli won the race again, for what, like the 15th year in a row?
Funny thing, on my way to the race, I was jogging along the same path the 5K and 10K route was on. I was slower of course and making sure I was not interfering. I got a few "keep up the good work" from some people passing me. That whole energy of the race crowd makes me want to start entering races again. And I had forgotten you see all kinds of people out there, kids, grannies, chubbies getting it done and amazing athletes.
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
I'm thankful that I also missed out on any lice infestation ritual with David.
wonderful stories in the daily yesterday. At our local Shamrock Run yesterday, a couple guys were recognized. it was one of our regular club members 79th birthday. I'm not sure how many years he's been running - probably most of his life - and it was mentioned that yesterdays race was his 616th. Up until a couple yrs ago, this guy was beating me in several races also. Another guy was recognized because he turns 80 today and is arguably one of the most infamous, consistent and fastest runners we've had in our club over the yrs. I don't think I've ever been at a race where he's not there. they both may be slower now, but they still love running.
speaking of the Shamrock run. It was a 5 mile race and I was pretty slow. 50 min, but I just kept a nice steady pace which is really all I wanted. I need to build up to a 10 mile in 3 wks and then an 18 miler 2 wks after that.
today is heavy heavy rain, so I think it's a good day to get caught up on everything around the house that I need to do. maybe even take a nap.
Tammy
Marathon Maniac #957
Funny thing, on my way to the race, I was jogging running along the same path the 5K and 10K route was on.
FTFY
Denise - it is just so wonderful to hear that Steven is doing so much better. He had us all pretty worried for a while. You had a lot of prayers going up, and the Good Lord heard them - just awesome.
Mariposai - I hope you are feeling better - that sounded like a rough cold to have.
Twocat - hang in there, spring is coming.
Today it was 26 degrees when I started, and somewhere in the mid to upper-30's when I finished, but the sun when it came up was bright and full of promise. We are at that point in the spring when most of the trees are just beginning to bud, but grass is brilliant green and the dogwoods and forsythia are exploding into bloom. I love watching spring unfold!
20.3 miles total for me, slow and with too many walk breaks, but that's okay.
Afterward, still in my running clothes, I worked for an hour and a half with DS to dig out and move the stones that make up my garden perimeter, stacking them on the patio and then dismantling the fence just inside them. After that we took turns on the rototiller for the 12 x 15 patch of existing garden space. DS has requested a part of the garden this year for himself, so we will be making it bigger by double, but the existing lawn will need to be turned by a shovel before tilling - a job for another day. Today was just to get a start ahead of the weeds.
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
Thanks Holly!
I had this on FB, but thought I would share here. This photo was taken a few days ago, when we had a warm day in the 60's. Doesn't our lawn look fabulous! This is the best it will look all season....Anyway, this is DD sporting her new golf shoes and shorts, looking "fierce" for the camera. Hmmm, now that she and I are the same size, I may just have to borrow those.....
Sayhey! MM#130
Henry, please don't stop. You are a runner by any definition that has merit.
(And you know, I think the knee will get better. We runners are an impatient lot.)
Mike--your Mr. Fraser still holds some all time fastest mile records in MN--look up MN all time age records for the mile.
He ran an 8:31 mile at age 80, 8:49 at 81, and 10:31 at 85. (hermosaboy's on that list for a 5:11 mile at 50).
I used to use RID prophylactically when I worked at the special needs school and lice would appear. It makes your hair feel like straw, but I had long hair then and didn't want to risk it.
Jay, how do you go shoe shopping and get nothing???? Wow, that's discipline.
We had humidity and hills today, but I do enjoy hills. Marco Island runs from5 to 54 ft. above sea level, and then we did some bridges. The Calusa Indians lived there and supposedly created large mounds of shells in burial sites, believing it offered protection from hurricanes. It's about 100 miles south of where we ran last Sunday, plus we started an hour later, two factors to which I am attributing my slower time. But I got in 4+ miles before and 2+ after, so it's (sorta) a 20 miler. So I feel better.
twocat, pithy as usual, said a lot I could quote.....but I'll just wave at y'all. Good days ahead deez!
So good! Red Sox win, and on TV!
grins,
A
https://agratefullifedotnet.wordpress.com/ (for a piece or two of my mind)
What a sweet picture of your daughter, Holly. She is a as gorgeous as her mama.
Tetsujin, your DD's notes are priceless. Glad to hear you are having a blast with your GS.
Enkie, way to go with your 9 miler!. That must have been a fun thing to watch the lead runners.
Deez4boys, glad to hear that you will have another week with Steven. Is he at home with you?
Twocat, way to endure the cold weather today. It is so awesome to see you running strong again. I guess I should not tell you that it was 50F when I left the house for my run today.
With the wisdom I gained from yesterday's run (pace in which I don't tax my lungs and start coughing), I was able to run 12 miles today at about 11:30 pace. It felt so good because I ran the whole way and no coughing episodes. At times you just have to learn what the body can do. This week sees me with a total of 46 miles, for which I am grateful for.
Happy spring to all.
Nancy
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
MM #5615
Yep--that is Holly Jr--very pretty girl...and, yes...the grass looks very nice.
Thanks for looking up those records, Amy. I googled his name looking for the American record but never found it but I didn't spend much time.
I went 8 miles today.
Okay--gotta go. See ya!
Twocat, I don't know the protocol for timing of races associated with a particular day but I am happy with what a good race they put on each year. I've often thought the should just call it the St. Patrick's race rather than the St. Patrick's Day race since it's rarely on the 17th. When our kids were young we did have a lice episode but it didn't hang around too long. Holly, it must be several years since you've posted a picture of your daughter as my mental picture of her is of a little girl. It's neat you and your son are working together on the garden.
Nice long runs for Aamos and Holly.
This morning was a nice one for the St. Pats race. It was in the mid to high 20s, there was just a light breeze, and it was sunny. Between the 8K, 5K run, and 5K walk, over 5000 were registered. I did the 8K. Based on recent runs, I was hoping to do better than an 11:30 pace and would have been happy with close to 11:00. My Garmin gave me a time of 53:51, distance of 5.01 miles, and pace of 10:44 so I was happy. I was 889/1068 OA and 1/2 in my AG (70-74).
A good day and good runs for all.
TomS
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Holly - fantastic DD photo.
However, please repost as that's too much like the same
expression I've been seeing every once-in-a-while on my own DD.
I wonder where yours got hers from?
i know mine.
4.5 mile run from my house to Tet's favourite Mercer Island half marathon start/finish. . . ..... Funny thing, on my way to the race, I was jogging along the same path the 5K and 10K route was on. I was slower of course and making sure I was not interfering. I got a few "keep up the good work" from some people passing me. That whole energy of the race crowd makes me want to start entering races again. And I had forgotten you see all kinds of people out there, kids, grannies, chubbies getting it done and amazing athletes.
4.5 mile run from my house to Tet's favourite Mercer Island half marathon start/finish. . .
.....
You got that right enkie, . . . except you forgot to mention old guys
who think they can still run even though all they can still do is have fun..
.
With the great tax base provided by all the beautiful homes on Mercer Island, including Microsoft founder Paul Allen tucked away in a little $100,000,000 cove, a new mansion going up on a lakeside acre that sold for $28,000,000, etc., the smooth pavements of the whole half mary around the island perimeter are a barefooter’s paradise. However, with comparable entry rates, I used to run the same 4.5 mile distance on race day over-and-back to the start/finish from Belltown before it’s become almost impossible for me to run such distance without the incentive of an actual race with all the kids, grannies, chubbies, and others like the old guys who think they can still run, out there too for inspiration.
.Speaking of inspiration, the way my running has been unexpectedly deteriorating so badly into my seventies that others have been able to stave off until their eighties, I have have no reasonable expectation of being able to run at all in ten years but, even though it is probably not a very good idea, no matter how I have to do it, I'd like to find a walk-friendly finale somewhere in 2026 for my 50th year of running marathons when I turn to 82 too. Thank you Henry. I only hope MikeE can be there. .ps - what a great day at the pool today with GS.Everything redeemed and back to normal. Yippee..Dear Dad,Thanks for taking (GS) swimmingHe had a great time and we appreciateyou signing him up for the April swim lessons.Thank u.ps - don’t worry about getting a new toothbrush for DH as his you seem to have used instead of yours is from Costcoso we have plenty. Love u.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Oh, tet--I wish you could see me laughing right now about that tooth brush! You are hilarious! And I love your DD! 2026--you just tell me when and where, and I will be there!
Thanks Holly and Posai and everyone else who has asked about, thought about, prayed for Steven these last few week!! Yes, he is home with us after a short stay in rehab. He has in home PT 3x/week right now and tomorrow has an appointment with a new primary care doctor to figure out the next step. I'm thinking he will advance to outpatient PT soon - he needs time to rebuild some endurance before he can drive or go back to work.
Unfortunately the bills are starting to roll in. Some completely waive the fee when we give them his insurance information - others not so much. He has an ambulance bill of over $4400 that we need to work on. I just wrote a hardship letter for him and will see what response we get. What irks me even more is that a doctor can be consulted in the hospital which has accepted his insurance, but the doctor doesn't have to accept it and can bill whatever they want. That just seems wrong to me! Will have to work on that bill as well.
Oh well, bottom line he is home with us and improving every day!!