5.5 on a warm sunny day, 70 degrees today and more for tomorrow. Was able to get some lawn work done today and picked up veggie seeds to start for the garden. Healing vibes to all that are hurting and happy running!

6.21 miles with too many walk breaks but at least I made my goal of 10 for the week.  Ok with me as I pretty much did not run all of 2017.  Feet killing me.  . . .  It was light rain and a bit gusty, maybe 43?

Me too for last year.

However, gotta appreciate 43-degrees as the five day prognostication

for erika-land on my weather link is for minus thirties with highs of -25.  Yikes!

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Didn’t realize how bad this aging thing is but now I don’t even understand Holly’s posts anymore and TomW’s got me on the don’t call site.  However, twocat need not worry about Mariposai as she’s about as violent as I am fast or he loves to run in the rain. Hope the relive works on races too, though,
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All this talk about fitness clubs, ellipses, etc. got me feeling guilty about not taking advantage the gratis memberships being old on Medicare gets me in LA Fitness and 24-hour over in Bellevue so I did an extended mile to the bus stop for the Saturday Aquafit Class via some stairs l love (305 of ‘em), thereby missing the every thirty minutes bus so made some of the people lining up for the next one think I was more than a little fay as added another mile slaloming back-and-forth and in-and-out and around-and-about the 11 birch trees and utility poles on the bus stop promenade for 20 more minutes.
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However, I finally figured out why all the aquafitters seemed to be wearing some sort of aquasock or sometimes colorful water-footwear in the pool when the instructor warned me to be careful and not hurt my toes when facing the wall of the pool for some leg-raises-cum-kickoffs.  I guess she didn’t know that my outstanding karate training in the early days in Japan taught me to bend back the toes at the last minute and strike with the full force of the flat metatarsal balls of the feet.  Hmmm, maybe toughening up feet from those days might explain why running barefoot never was a problem.  
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I was actually pretty good, . . . until coming back with quadruple six-pack abs I believed were invincible and challenging my younger sister to hit me in the solar plexes as hard as she could.  She did, . . .nearly knocking the life out of me in front of our mother in the living room as I doubled down onto the floor gasping for breath.  Not that I’m stubborn or anything like that but apparently didn’t learn my lesson and kept on thinking learning martial arts in Japan should prepare me for all taker-on'ers over here, . . . until someone broke my nose in a university match and I finally threw the tenugui (towel) for once-and-for-all.
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henry - do you get out there with all the Boston Marathoners in a vintage shirt or jacket to give ‘em something to talk about, . . . and aspire to?
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KSA - nice that someone has a good basketball team to cheer.

This is the tenth anniversary of Seattle’s pro BB team abandoning the PNW for opie/friese-land.  Yep, not that I’d ever hold a grudge or anything like that as I'm really not that bitter, <<<(ed note: . .N.... . oh, forget it, he's a lost cause, anyway). . . especially compared to when the Patriots stole a Seahawks’ stupid pass on first down with 25 seconds to go 18-inches away from a walk-in victory in SB-49.  Please, please let it work out that Vikings can beat the Pats in two weeks on MikeE’s home turf.  

ps MikeE - don’t worry if you missed last week’s game.

By the time you have great-grandkids, you’ll have been on the 50-yard line.

Tet-  Vandy isn’t particularly good this year.  We will be next year, though.  It’s been a little frustrating, but I love the coach and the players and am pretty plugged into the whol thing- connected with some of the players and their parents on social media. We did win today in an unnecessarily exciting game, though.

That's pretty neat to be such a big fan of the local team, win-or-lose,

especially since you seem to have had a number of bases

here-and-there around the country over the years.

In marathons, and everything else, I've always tried to emulate the "Support-your-local-athletics" mantra of famed local sportscaster Steve Agbaba I was reminiscing about with erika a couple of weeks ago who, before going up to erika-land fame, used to announce games down where I was a little to the warmer (and wetter) southeast.  His famed BB call was "he doooze it" after setting up a player for a possible shot. We loved him.

Hey y'all, spent a good chunk of the morning trying to figure out what we (legally) can and can't do when everyone comes in to work on Monday.  Bottom line is not too much.  Frustrating, but I'm taking the long view.  The inability of Congress to pass a budget (and running the government on a series of continuing resolutions) for so many years has been catching up to us.  So if we can get to an actual budget (to include a no-kidding defense budget) it will be worth it.  Doubt that will happen with this one but as I told a two star general (who had just said "Hope is not a strategy!")...Yes ma'am; but it is a tactic!  Luckily she thought that was funny.

Anyway, very nice weather for mid-January, even in the Carolinas.  Took a 10+ mile run around the base (including the road where I had my accident) at a sub 8:30 pace.  After a quick lunch I joined several (8 of us total) local riders for the first outdoor bike ride of the year.  Temps in the upper 50s, lower 60s with a bit of a breeze.  Since most of the group hadn't been on their bikes in a while (spin helped me) we kept the pace easy and had an enjoyable ride.  17.5 miles in just under 1:10 (a very pleasant 15.1 mph average).  BTW, the Vivoactive 3 bike app pretty much matched Strava (carried phone in my back pocket).

RunnerKSA, enjoying watching (from afar) how Auburn is doing this year.  Completely unexpected!  I was fortunate, I was a student when Bo Jackson was there, Charles Barkely and Chuck Person as well as Frank Thomas (who was a fantastic tight end--also playing two sports with Bo--who also ran track).

Coastwalker, good luck with your speech (whenever it happens).  One thing I enjoy about running (especially long runs with friends) is that those sorts of discussions happen without the rancor that seems to be far too prevalent today.  When I lived in Athens, GA I ran with a lot of professors--talk about some interesting discussions!

evanflein, thank you for the photo.  When we were up there (again, in July) we did wonder what winter was like.

Have a great night everyone!

Falcon-  Auburn is doing great and I am one of the few Vandy fans who likes Bruce Pearl.  he may be a little sketchy, but what he got busted for at Tennessee was really pretty minor (well, except for the lying part....).  He’s a great coach and motivator.

I should have posted earlier but better late than never.  MrStarr arrived at the mission in Guatemala at 1:30 this morning.  He sent a text asking for the pin number for the credit card.  He wasn't the best organized for this trip, plus he forgot his medications.  Uff da!  I spent a lot of time catching up on a few DVR recordings and felt like a slug.  This morning I did run 2 1/2 miles along the campground trail with some walk breaks because I am just out of shape.  There was a village of fish houses converged on the lake for a fishing tournament, part of "Winterfest".  I actually thought I'd see the people doing the 2 mile run/walk but they must have gone a different direction.  Thirty-seven brave souls jumped into a hole in frozen Lake Okabena during the ninth annual Deep Freeze Dip this afternoon raising more than $40,000 toward a new splash pad. The temp was 42° but still, brrrr.....  I finished shoveling the driveway and chipped all the ice off before we get slammed with a winter storm on Sunday/Monday.

I suppose security cameras don't really deter criminals as much as provide proof in court. Our police force and drug task force is on their toes here in SW MN. In the newspaper today was a story about a Nevada man arrested near Worthington with approximately 130 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle.  That sounds like a lot to me. The K-9 snuff it out.

MikeE, are you wearing purple to church tomorrow?  I may wear MrStarr's Thielen jersey and probably won't be the only one.

Good luck to the racers tomorrow!

MikeE, are you wearing purple to church tomorrow?  I may wear MrStarr's Thielen jersey and probably won't be the only one.

I am not getting sucked in!  I am not getting sucked in!  I am not getting sucked in!  I am not getting sucked in!