Rose Colored Glasses
0541
30°
3.57 miles
Still at the Swamp.
Be right back
"Anytime you see the word "inflation" in the news, replace it with "record-breaking corporate profits" and you'll get what's happening."
0724
On couch, fire turned on, King Leonidas at my feet.
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free,‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be;And when we find ourselves in the place just right,‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.When true simplicity is gain’d,To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,To turn, turn will be our delight‘Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring (excerpt)
It was a simple outing this morning. The air was chilly yet still. The dark sky held its stars under a translucent cloth. The moon was occupied elsewhere.
In fact, the only remarkable experience occurred in the last half mile as I traversed the boy scout bridge! The owls! The ducks! The other water fowl and avian friends simply engaged two of my senses.
At first I listened to the raucous voices of the owls and then was marveled by a visual treat. One large owl flew to a tree with another owl, they conversed and then that big owl flew back across the bridge to another tree on the other side. I stopped my watch and stood there admiring the bird.
Well. The mallards were ruffled by this display and took to the sky. Quacking their displeasure as they flew above me. Much to my delight.
And then!
I got back to Sparky and stretched and touched my toes a thousand times and raised my arms toward the brightening sky and breathed.
And checked my phone to make sure that Garmin performed its task,
Somehow clicked on Running Ahead and happened upon another simple gift.
Steve's photos! I love seeing those grandchildren and hearing their clever comments to Grampy.
Tramps! Thank you for sharing that link from the NYT regarding the "simple things" we do to appreciate our loved ones.
I read most of them and, boy, am I a slacker!
However. I have been carrying my warm, dry clothes downstairs before I depart for my morning excursion. This way, when I return, I can strip off the running togs right there in the kitchen and quickly don my warm clothes without stomping up our creaky stairs and disturbing the rrs in our room.
The rrs likes to pray the rosary before he starts his day and I like to give him that time and space. We have an ancient lazy boy chair in the corner of our bedroom where he sits counting the beads as he prays.
What simple gifts will you enjoy today?
Hi Masters,
Thanks for the start, RCG. A simple gift that I enjoyed very much today was reading your post. Thank you.
Another, but perhaps not so simple gift was my first race since before knee surgery in November. This was the MTC Longfellow Frostbite 2.5K in Portland, ME. Strange distance, I know. We tried to find out why it was a 2.5K, but no one seemed to know. At the 9:00 start, it was 21° (Twocat's favorite) and partly sunny. The first 1/4 of the course was up a steady but not steep hill. Then we turned around and the middle quarters were the same steady but not steep downhill. Then we turned around again and had the same uphill back to the start/finish line. Another racewalker from our group, Margaret, was in the race, and she is a fast and fluid racewalker. One of my goals was to try to stay with her. Another goal was to try to sneak under a 12:00 pace. I started maybe a couple of yards ahead of Margaret, and for the first uphill, I was just trying to stay ahead of her. I felt a little awkward at whatever pace I was at, and breathing was a little hard going uphill at a pace I wasn't used to. At the first turn around, I snuck a look and saw Margaret still a couple of yards behind me. About halfway down the down hill, at at midpoint in the race, she pulled even and then a little ahead. I tried to match her cadence to see if I could at least avoid losing any more ground. Much to my surprise, I pulled back ahead of her just before the 2nd turnaround. I didn't know how Margaret was on uphills, so I just focused on the finish line as soon as I could see it, and tried to keep my cadence up. For some reason, breathing wasn't as hard in this uphill stretch as it was at the start. I managed to just stay ahead of Margaret at the finish: I finished in 17:31.37, and Margaret was in at 17:31.82. My pace was 11:17, and I was surprised by that. My average cadence was 160, with a max of 178, and i had a .90m stride length which was where I should be. I'm grateful to Margaret for pacing me - mentally at some points, and visually at others. All in all, it was a good morning, and a good test. But I know I have some more work to do if I want to be able to maintain even close to that pace in any longer a race.
Have a greta Sunday.
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Thanks for the poetic start, RCG.
Jay- that is simply awesome. What a pace! I'm glad you settled in and raced well with good strategy and pacing. You are definitely on the way back! That is just about my training pace- with RUNNING! I can't imagine walking that fast.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
Excellent posts this morning! I can feel joy in both your posts.
3 miles for me today. 20 and sunny which is my favorite if the wind is calm. Alas, there were gusts to 25 mph. And to clarify, they were all walking miles. I’ll save the run/walk for later this week. Enjoy the winding down of the weekend all.
WTG Jay-great race.You’re on your way for a full recovery.
I used to love winter- but no longer as I age. Arthritis, cold winds and icy roads are not fun.
Short walks today in the diminished winds and sun.
To answer Posie’s question of yesterday, we’re still traveling. After returning home for 3 weeks we leave for 2 weeks in Sarasota Fl. on Sunday to see friends, spring training baseball, opera and to get warm again.
A somewhat peppy 10-miler at dawn in IRC. Saw a covey of quail and a bunny. Heard a LOT of birds. Herr W and I ate our Sunday waffles and are totally wiped out now.
weather and schedule cooperated to allow me to get in 4.25 miles this morning. Started out feeling cold but turned into t-shirt weather after a half mile. I really need to trust the clothing/temp charts rather than how I "feel". If it's 60 Merkun degrees outside, it's going to require just a t-shirt, not the jacket I put on because when I went outside it felt colder than the house.
Now, storm rolls in and flooding alerts commence by the evening.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
What was in those waffles??
Thanks for such a poetic start as always, RCG.
Nice racing, Jay. You're back (as if we were ever in doubt!).
17.9 miles on the trainer. It was one of FulGaz's "Weekly Challenge" rides with other riders on the course, which always inspires me to ride just a little bit harder. I finished with a slightly higher average speed and power than I usually do and completed my Strava 200K for the month as well.
Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI
"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"
Great pictures, Steve. What a crew! And you do all that sober!
I didn't run until noon- I waited for it to warm up from this morning's 18 degrees. By noon it was over 40 and sunny. I didn't want to do it at all, but I drove to the path for flatness and managed 4.6 miles (went up a road that wasn't really flat, but compared to my neighborhood it was....) We have tickets to Clint Black (iconic country artist) at the Ryman tonight- our Christmas present from Kira and Michael. We are looking forward to it, but it starts at 8 and we get tired....
since
my knee is still popping, I'm skipping my gym work-out days
meanwhile
I found some ''Irn Bru'' Commercials
it's Scotland's Favorite Soft Drink
it has Iron in it
the company claims it's ''made from Girders''
there are dozens if you google it, and they are Hilarious and Weird
here's a sample
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcXTZhzzm-Y
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
Trails are hard!
Greetings!
Sounds like a Shaker song.
Still dog walking. Not a whole lot else
Oh, I did subway and bus from my speech therapy and conversation groups on Friday! It's a hour +, but DW at least is free (sort, anyway) for my pickup. Might do it down AND back!
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
coastwalker terrific news on the race! Nice to read that the parts are moving (pun intended ) in the right direction.
mariposai so nice of you to support your friend going through chemo like that.
Another totally frozen day in CT. It was in the low 20's when I went out. Fortunately, just for 4 miles. Even more fortunately, the weather for next Saturday's Wilmington NC marathon is looking good. Near ideal temperatures in the 40s or low 50s. In the meantime, I just need to avoid breaking my neck on the ice around here. Whose idea was winter anyway?
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/
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Jay - nice Margaret nemesis. My nemesis Judy had me running way faster than I ever could have on my own for some 25 years, . . . but I rarely, if ever, did I beat her as you did. Good job.
RCG - guess it's that time of year but all my owls have been solitaries. Very nice.
ps - I guess I always took my knee for granted and never appreciated it like I should have if I'd've known then what i know now that it has all the restorative hardware! that makes me appreciate it every step.
Surly - can't run with his shirt off because 60F is "too cold!" Nyan Nya nyan nya yan ya.
Tom - had me wondering but hilarious upon hilarious, after all.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
well, now that I've stayed on Hawai'i for a month, I'm a native Hawai'ian. Anything less than 75 degrees is freezing.