(sigh)

Always a bittersweet goodbye for me...I'll miss you, summer...

The cowboy wedding photo reminded me of a bridal shower we saw at Howl at the Moon (a piano bar, sort of)  in Louisville after the Kentucky Derby Marathon where the women all wore t-shirts that showed a bull "humping" a cow, labeled with the prospective bride and groom's names underneath.  The giant inflatable penis they were passing around was also memorable.   

3 miles for me today in 62 degrees.

Mornin' Masters.

Thanks for the start, Holly. good 3-miler today. Sounds like a heck of a wedding in Louisville!

If 4 miles works for you, Dave, it certainly works for me too, regardless of the Garmin.

I realize that not everyone likes classical music (I don't always either), but I found this work by YoYo Ma yesterday and find it relaxing/soothing, especially in the setting in which it is performed: https://www.yo-yoma.com/audio/nature-at-play-bachs-cello-suite-no-1-live-from-the-great-smoky-mountains-ep/

Good weight/core work yesterday, Holly. Extra Pink Lemonade gum?? Since I don't get paid for any of the work I do, I take lunch whenever I damn well please.

Good early 3.77 miles, Dave. We don't have bear or coyotes here, so there isn't much to spook me when i head out. However, I have been surprised to come up next to deer just standing beside the road, and the occasional skunk that is kind enough to show me its stripe before it and I get too close to each other.

I'm glad you got out for a good walk on a busy day, Henrun. Agreed, Marj - Storm King is a wonderful sculpture park.

Good 7 miles back in the 'hood' KSA. I didn't give that driver yesterday a special wave, but I did tell him "Don't be a jerk!"

Good sunny 10K, Tramps.

Nice 5, chilly predawn miles after oversleeping, Leslie. Sort of the best of both worlds?

Nice 5.3 run/walk miles Jlynne. Sounds like a great paper that you wrote in college. I worked for the Post Office for just one summer while in college, and also found them very underhanded. Believe it or not, I was made the union steward for that summer, and had to constantly pull management off the floor because they were doing work that employees should have been doing.

Good 6-miler in Evergreen, Wildchild, and sounds like a good exploratory trip.

Nice pre-work 10K in good weather, moebo. Good luck getting in this weekend's 20K around the rain drops.

Nice two-tripper, Marj. And another west coast trip/meet-up for you two too!

Good twinned workout, sub7. 10 sec/mile is too much variance only if your goal is to be consistent - otherwise, I'd think it is not enough to worry about. Thanks for the advice about cadence over stride length. I tried to find some balance between the two this morning, and it seemed to work out OK.

Thanks for more great pics, Doug.

Hi, anneb. Sorry about the rain.

Tet, it is good that someone at the ophthamologist office told you before you were too far along about the lack of coverage at that office. Still, what a pain in the neck (eye?) to have to truck over to another office just because of that.

Good Peleton ride and veggie soup combo, Deeze. Good idea to give yourself some extra rest days - feel better.

Good 16-miler, Twocat. Sorry about the rainy 5K this Sunday; good thing there is a rule carveout for that, should you decide to go.

Good 3-miler, Mariposai, and good job of knowing yourself and pacing yourself.

Good for you for taking a rest day, Steve. So, you're the requested company letter writer?

I slept in just a scootch this morning, and didn't get out till 4:30. With my massage therapist and sub7 in mind, I tried to find a good middle ground between cadence and stride length. I also tried to pay close attention to my stride, foot plant, toe off, etc, and made some corrections along the way because I think I have been taking short cuts while rehabbing my hamstring and I think they are not really productive. So 5.6 RW miles this morning in 52° temps under clear skies, followed by 30 minutes of stretching and core work.

Have a greta Friday.

Jay

Holly, I have to agree with you, summer has seen its best days. Good run.

Dave 59, I'm guessing Paris in the US right? 4 miles is a nice distance in my book.I would love to run an event in Paris France one fine day. My wife and I have relatives there...

coastwalker keep it up and see what the differences are between stride and cadence in your RWs. You could end up on the DARK side (us cadence runners). Good 5.6 RW and damn your temps was identical to mine again...

Karen, any run has an upside. You got 4.5 miles, and that's always a win in my book.

The Colonel and I went out for a HM training run, we tried to follow a set pace with mitigated results. I was a cool 52 F, with East winds  in a dark cloudy morning but we got in 6 miles. I called out mile times after every mile and he got upset at mile 4 picking up the pace to a respectable 7'58" on mile 6. I guess he was motivated.  Have a great Friday all!

Thanks for the start, Holly. We certainly don't share sentiments about summer. Least favorite season for me, followed by my favorite. Hello autumn!

Jlynne--I was asking about you recently. Good to see you back. And "yes' on the usefulness of unions!

wildchild--hope you can figure out what makes sense for you two. I know your current house is a special one but maybe a little less snow would be a plus, too.

Doug--Mark Twain? What's the Montana connection?.

tet--ain't insurance fun?

deez--Yuck. Any theory what you might have?  I hope you see some improvement.

twocat--nice 16 miler!

moebo--hope you find a way to squeeze in your 20-miler this weekend.

24.5 miles on the bike this morning. Looks like the weekend could be a washout here from that tropical storm, so there may not be a lot of outdoor time. We'll see.

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Autumnal Equinox (tonight at 11:50pm PDT)

I wonder if erika got to get over to volunteer

this year and has any pictures?

Holly - thanks for the start.

However, I usually rely on Jay to stimulate

me getting out the early morning door.

ps - they have a festival for it in Japan too.

I have to admit that I have no desire (even if I was in shape to do it) to run a marathon in Paris or even to visit it, ever.  There are so many other places/cities that I would rather go to, for a variety of reasons.

Holly - since I've long ago learned that walking marathons can be as much fun, if not more, that running them used to be, Paris'd be one place I'd love to go to if I had a bucket list but, since I've already done more than I ever imagined possible in one lifetime, I don't.

Doug--Mark Twain? What's the Montana connection?. 

Tramps - me too. I had to clean my reading glasses to make sure but, even Googling it didn't find anything.

ps Tramps/Jay - I still can't believe how lucky I was that their billing department realized before it was too late that they were gearing me up to see one of the ophthamologists they arranged me to see who didn't take our Medicare Advantage Plan vs. the several they could have to who did but, especially since I'd even double checked my coverage with them as I always do when making the appointment and also when arriving on appointment morning, I wouldn't be paying for their error anyway, that's for sure, . . . I think. 

Sub7 - There's a Moscow in Idaho

but I've never heard of a Paris here.

Have you been there or something?

Sub/Jay - because the idealized running and pedaling ones are the same at 180 steps/min and rpm's, respectively (maybe swimming strokes too), I'm an almost an automatic cadencer.

Dave - I pretty much relied on regular races for the incentive to get out the door but streaking, challenges, etc. would have done the same.

ps - since they all use the same satellites, I'm not sure how different apps, etc. get different distances for the same timed runs, e.g.  your Garmin and Strava and the ones I've tried including Fitbit, MapMyRun/Walk/Hike, Runkeeper (with the French updates on distance and time), Alltrails, etc.

pps dave - however, don't you mean "Klaatu dit ne le fais pas!"

After three weekends of final flinging at summer, today's going to give it another try and get back up into the higher seventies before reality strikes for good this weekend.  Clear skies marked the first morning temps touching the forties in more than three months but with the sunny afternoons to follow, who cares? so two miles down and around the cityside park this time a little later than usual around 6:45 am revealed 20-30 dogs being walked on almost every block on the way by not quite as many masters.  Oddly enough, though I'm sure the dogs would have liked to run, none of the humans at the other end of the leashes all had were with joggers.

Good Morning, Friends -

Nothing for me so far today.  I'm hoping that when a certain someone arrives today, she'll be so tired of driving, she'll want to go on a walk before dinner. 

Well, my massage gun that I use on an almost daily basis has unexpectedly died on me with no warning.  It worked fine yesterday morning, then even though it wasn't fully dead I plugged it in to charge it, and it wouldn't even come on to charge.  I fiddled with it after work yesterday and it wouldn't even turn on.  I need to go back and see when I bought it, but I'm sure it's out of warranty.  I am beyond bummed.  It was the perfect ending to an already crap day and I almost started crying.  It wasn't a really expensive one, but it also wasn't cheap. I just looked at my Amazon orders and see I bought in January of this year.  The warranty is good for 1 year!!  Yay!! 

Happy Friday!!!

I am totally dragging today after getting up early the past 3 mornings. The first 2 for all-day work events with visiting Sr people from the Borg. They are actually very nice and we showed them a good time in Seattle, doing a walking food tour around Pike’s Place Market, and going out to dinner in the evening and having meetings during the day. However, I am not an extrovert and all that socializing I find a bit exhausting. Plus the early drive into the office to avoid rush hour.  So the post by Anneb resonated with me.

I couldn’t get my mind to concentrate on work this morning (tired) so I went out in low 50s for a nice fall walk in the hood. Only 32 minutes, but helpful.

I am lucky to not have to punch the clock. My last job I had to do time reporting (various clients) and hated it. It was hard to get enough billable hours, and I would get grilled on why I wasn’t finding other things to do when there was no work. I felt like I put in 10-hour days (administrative stuff would come up that I couldn’t log) for the expected 7.5 hours/day of billable.

Quickadder – the original covid strain did have a median incubation time of 5 to 6 days. Which is one of the clues that tipped me off in March of 2020 that that is what I had in December 2019. That incubation time was so consistent in the chain of people that I got it from and gave it to. As viruses propagate and mutate, strains that can replicate faster and transmit faster have an advantage and outcompete the others, and so Omicron did infect in 2 days. Also, strains that cause more sneezing etc, and ones that cause less severe illness (as less sick people socialize more) will overtake the strains out there. Or anything novel, as we haven’t any immunity to it yet.

Posie, I so hope you can make it over here in January!  Carolyn too!

In college I had tickets to a Yo-yo Ma concert (I played cello in HS, was mediocre, and quit). Anyway, Yo-yo Ma cancelled and a Canadian cellist named Gisela Depkat filled in. A couple years later, Gisela happened to live across the lane from me at a townhouse complex, and she had rented the unit we were in before us. One day I was cleaning and noticed something shiny in the heat duct in the bathroom. I poked down there and found a tri-colored gold wedding band with the inscription “Love David”. I figured it must have been hers and went over to where she was living to give it to her. To my surprise, she didn’t seem at all happy to get it back. I believe she was divorced but I would think you’d still want it. I even wondered if she had 'lost' it on purpose.

 it can be quite cold that time of year. There are warnings about how to dress if the temps drop below the 50s (F). 

Leslie - in my experience, those massagers seem to die after a very (to my mind) short time.  Next time I buy one, I will probably spring for the extra 2-3 year warranty that is generally offered for about $3.