Tet; a trick I learned in search and rescue: if the light is very low to the ground it accentuates any depressions or upswells in the ground. For tracking, we would attach lights near the bottom of a hiking stick to shine across the ground. You be surprised how easily you see tracks that were "invisible" when the flashlight was in your hand, and especially if it's a headlamp. A headlamp sends the light almost directly from the location of your eyes, so there are few if any shadows to distinguish depth or contour. Headlamps are the worst on rough trails! But they can be convenient, freeling your hands. I think there are belt buckle lights, and that would give you much better contour vision than a headlamp. Plus, that's the part of your body that moves the least, so the light is fairly steady. Handhelds would be the next best thing, if carried around waist height. I've attached headlamps around my thighs, wrapped around my wrist, ankle, and tried once to attach it to my belt but couldn't get it angled right. For bikes, maybe attached on the fork at the front axle instead of at the handlebars, but handlebars seem to work fine for me, on pavement. Everyone should try this fun experiment: at night, go out in your yard and hold a flashlight by the side of your head, and then start moving it downward watching the same piece of ground 10' in front of you, keep it pointed forward so that it's shining across the ground instead of pointing at it. Once it's close to the ground you'll see a world of difference.
Tet; a trick I learned in search and rescue: if the light is very low to the ground it accentuates any depressions or upswells in the ground. For tracking, we would attach lights near the bottom of a hiking stick to shine across the ground. You be surprised how easily you see tracks that were "invisible" when the flashlight was in your hand, and especially if it's a headlamp. A headlamp sends the light almost directly from the location of your eyes, so there are few if any shadows to distinguish depth or contour. Headlamps are the worst on rough trails! But they can be convenient, freeling your hands.
I think there are belt buckle lights, and that would give you much better contour vision than a headlamp. Plus, that's the part of your body that moves the least, so the light is fairly steady. Handhelds would be the next best thing, if carried around waist height. I've attached headlamps around my thighs, wrapped around my wrist, ankle, and tried once to attach it to my belt but couldn't get it angled right. For bikes, maybe attached on the fork at the front axle instead of at the handlebars, but handlebars seem to work fine for me, on pavement.
Everyone should try this fun experiment: at night, go out in your yard and hold a flashlight by the side of your head, and then start moving it downward watching the same piece of ground 10' in front of you, keep it pointed forward so that it's shining across the ground instead of pointing at it. Once it's close to the ground you'll see a world of difference.
One more lighting thought that hit me while I was running this morning...back to Bill's suggestion above. I realized that, without knowing the reasons, I had happened into the same conclusion several years ago.
I wear contact lenses and in the early 2000s, I had a pair which, though they did fine for eyesight, were difficult to remove each night, such that one would often pop out of my eye, miss my palm which was supposed to catch it and end up on the bathroom floor (these were rigid lenses, not soft). If you've ever done this, you know at that point, you dare not move either foot for fear of squashing the lens. As this happened about every 3 weeks or so, I figured out, by trial and error how to find the lens more easily. I would ask for a family member, if available, to grab a flashlight, put it on the floor a safe distance from the base of the sink (with me still standing there, never moving my feet) and then do a slow scan of the area with the flashlight, sometimes with me flipping the bathroom light off. From my standing position, I learned I would often quickly see a slight glint, which was the lens in the carpet. Lick the finger, pick it up, carry on, go to bed.
This is exactly what Bill explains above about the direction of the light and the ability to see small details. I never realized it was actually a thing.
People ask me, often, "What do you think about while you run all those miles?" This is a good example...it hit me this morning that this 15 year old recollection was exactly what Bill was talking about. And decided to post about it here. Yeah, that's what I think about.
And good luck with your contact lenses, as well.
________
I have nothing particularly clever or profound to add as a tag to each message...I just like to run.
Interesting day. Mrs Bio and I packed up from the condo at the beach and went to a cooking class given by a top chef in Delaware. Class focused on knife skills. He demonstrated how to hold knives efficiently, then how to do all the classic French cuts. We were all invited up to cutting boards and he offered guidance. The whole time he was making mushroom risotto for all of us to enjoy when class ended. Very fun.
Home in time for a very windy 6 miler.
Tailwinds!
2 miles on the mill at the Y. That’s all I’ve got.
Good first playoff game. Hope the Pats and Chiefs is just as enjoyable.
Vicks on the bottom of your feet? Is that like “diamonds on the soles of your shoes?” 😁
Good luck tomorrow Leslie!
I'm a 7.
Glad you got the outside run in, Joe, and I'm sure with the footing your effort level was what it was supposed to be even if it didn't translate into pace. One good thing about my home treadmill is that the basement is 57-59 all winter!
Leslie- good luck at work and don't get too tired or sore. I'm going to have to work a full day tomorrow since I can no longer play the pneumonia card! It's a short week for me since I'm flying to Florida (where it isn't going to be all that warm, unfortunately) to visit my sister and her family until next Monday. I'll have to do some work from there, but......Florida.
Yeah- the dusting of snow can be a problem on our hilly roads, but this time it seemed like the roads stayed OK.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
26.2 miles this morning. First 12 went great, but the remaining 14.2 were ugly. Final time was 4:50:32. I will write a race report later.
Started running at age 60.
AG 60-64 PR - 5K 25:45, 10K 53:28, HM 1:57:39, Marathon 4:32:09
AG 65-69 PR - 5K 26:11, HM 2:02:39, Marathon 5:04:47
I'm an 8
A little woozy after watching some handheld camera footage this morning, which pushed me over the edge. Also a bit wet here today, so unplanned day off.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
Nice mileage, Holly. 36 miles for the week, jippieeeee.
Quickadder, nice marathon today! I can't wait to read the report.
bioguy, what a fun experience with the cooking class!
As for me, today was a 6 miler, alone because I missed the opportunity to run to a breakfast spot with the gang because I forgot to pack my running shoes with me . So, after everyone left, I walked to the store to buy me a pair of shoes, walked back to our son's condo to then go out for a nice run.
We are having a great weekend with our sons in Seattle.
Nancy
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
Hey y'all, very cold (for us) this morning with a "feels like" in the teens...quite the change in temps from yesterday. I did the rational thing...and stayed in bed (Deez, our vigil Mass seemed more full than usual also). Joined a trail running group which certainly minimized wind exposure. The trails are in a park near the university campus. I haven't been on them in a while and they've added many since I've last been on them. Anyway, I did two laps of the trails that run along the exterior of the park. 6+ total. 7 of us for the first lap then 3 of did the second (far fewer stops on the second lap). Also, my Garmin Vivoactive3 recorded what it thought were the equivalent of 61 flights of stairs. Will see what Strava says later.
FWIW, I'm a 7 also on the X thing.
Surly/Joe, we have to account for every tool/part/piece of hardware while working on aircraft (not surprising). At dusk one day, a guy working on a C-130 engine dropped a fastener. I found it (so occasionally I have a use). I was the only one looking that far from the work area, but was also using a flashlight held low. Saw a weird shadow and found the fastener in a joint between concrete pads.
Holly, hope you're not sick....but if you are get better quickly.
Have a greta night everyone!
So that's how you get new shoes. Uh huh. Well played, Posie Lady, well played.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Way to go getting through the Louisana Marathon, Quick! Look forward to hearing more!!!
KSA, Florida...nice. Enjoy the trip this week!!!
12 pregnant obstetrics nurses from the same hospital? Wow! How're they gonna deal with that?
I heard this story on the news in Mn earlier this month.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sctimes.com/amp/2289093002
#7 for me too.
Leslie, don’t you love getting your hair colored. Now you are 10 years younger! I sur
e hope they let you work from home, why wouldn’t they?
I swam warm in the ocean today! The surf was really strong so I rode it in to shore and did the front crawl the rest of the way. The undertow was quite strong and the riptide even more so. I struggled to get on my feet an back to shore, kinda scary. On the wack back we stopped at the volcano and walked along some of the homes destroyed by the volcanic ash. Some houses were filled almost to the ceiling with ash. The bilingual church service today was very good.
hope the storms have passed and you are all dig out by now.
“Courage is not defined by those who fought and did not fall, but by those who fought, fell, and rose again.” — Adrienne Rich
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Jeanne - I think it was, if not more so.
Almost enough to make a Pat's fan of me.
Not that I remember things like this
or they matter one iota but, why not?
especially now that they don't have Malcolm Butler
any more who intercepted the stupidest pass
in the history of football when the Seahawk's
QB Russell Wilson ignored the league's then
best rusher (Marshawn Lynch) and tried, instead,
to throw a pass to someone else on the team
on first down with three more downs to go
to win the game from the one yard line
with seconds to go right into the hands
of Mr. Butler so the Patriots could keep
their 28-24 lead and deny the Seahawks
from winning two Super Bowls in a row
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Somewhat miraculously, the cloudy skies that covered up
this morning's full moon as it was trying to set
gave way to clear skies after sunset
for enjoying the lunar eclipse too.
However, I thought the earth's shadow
would swallow up the moon
but it ends up in the same orange
we had all summer long from the Oregon
and British Columbia forest fires
Marathon Maniac #957
Interesting day. Mrs Bio and I packed up from the condo at the beach and went to a cooking class given by a top chef in Delaware. Class focused on knife skills. He demonstrated how to hold knives efficiently, then how to do all the classic French cuts. We were all invited up to cutting boards and he offered guidance. The whole time he was making mushroom risotto for all of us to enjoy when class ended. Very fun. Home in time for a very windy 6 miler. Tailwinds!
That sounds like fun!
Mariposai - what shoes did you get?
Starr - glad you are enjoying Guatemala.
Quickadder - looking forward to the report.
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."