Mornin' everyone.

Tuesday’s workouts:
RunnerKSA (3.3 TM miles - done)
Jlynne (5 total TM miles + some elliptical work at the Y)
Henrun (2 cloudy, pre-rain miles)
Holly (4.4 TM miles)
Quickadder (5.5 EZ morning miles with DD)
Tomwhite (50 min HH with 2lb weights in temps in the 20s with windage)
Falconfixer (8+ lunchtime miles, including accelerations, at 7:39 pace overall + leading spin class at the Y)
Evanflein (5.7 waning daylight miles, including 3X3 hill repeats)
Twocat (4 Beijing TM miles)

I’m one of those diehards (idiots?) who won’t buy at TM because I’m afraid I’ll get sucked into taking the easy way out when I should be outside. But I’m OK with my idiocy - just don't ask DW about that, OK?

I admire all parents for the tough jobs you’ve taken on, but especially those of you who were dealt a difficult hand and have embraced it and are dealing with it as best you can to try to ensure the best life/future for your kids, no matter what. I know you struggle, but you also do great work. Metalman - that’s a heck of a story about what your DD, you, and your DW (and your DS) went through for those 3 years.

Got pics of the fence 7 gate, S. Bill?

The meeting with the police chief went fine yesterday. There is some concern about congestion on the road in the early stages of our half (duh!) and some people not being able to get out of their driveways for a while. He suggested a staggered start, but I don't know if that would solve the problem. We tried to let people know days ahead of time when the race would be held, but maybe we need to do more of that.

I’ve been getting amazing feedback from unexpected quarters from the presentation I gave at a “State Of Our Estuaries” conference last Friday: a Methodist church group wants me to come to speak at one of their regular breakfast meetings; a teacher wants to help with our educational outreach programs geared toward students; a state senator wants to talk about new legislation she wants to propose; and the president of a local science center is interested in joining the board of our non-profit. Who knew?

The sides and shoulders of the local roads had lots of icy slush on them when I got home last night, so I decided then to just stay in this morning. By the condition of the roads on my way to the office, I could have done OK, but it was too late then. Maybe I can pull off a lunchtime mile or two - I'll see.

Have a greta Wednesday!

Jay

Nothing for me today, no thank you.

 

Finished up a fancy redwood fence and gated entrance in Berkeley today, which resulted in triggering severe allergic response, despite the dust mask. I'm currently sneezing and snorting out pints of snot and phlegm. I dare not rub my eyes or I will not be able to stop until I reach the occipital lobe. Sort of worth it, several people stopping and taking pictures and oohing and ahhing as if it were a new Frank Gehry masterpiece instead of just a bit of old-world craftsmanship.

 

I used my 45 minutes of daylight after fetching the kids to finish our Tio de Nadal logs for the holidays. I look forward to whipping mine with a lot of force, so I'll get more goodies. Also, it's first night of Hanukkah, so we're going to light a candle and say the blessings, and I'll toss some gelt at the kids. The holidays are great, especially if you partake in several! All at once!

 

And since this is a "day off", I'll bust into the Abbey style ale, probably Brother Thelonious from North Coast Brewery.

 

_________________

 

Jay; I can say that my glow in the dark shoes absolutely scare away tigers and Barbary macaques with 100% effectiveness, as I have never seen either when wearing these shoes.

 

Metalman; stick in there, use the down time to your advantage.

I like your style, Bill.  Would also love to see pictures.  And the world needs more holidays.  Especially 8 day long ones.

Ended up with a little run closer to Jay o'clock than planned.  We had a little power glitch last night and apparently I set the alarm  correctly, but managed to set the time an hour fast.    Didn't realize until I got dressed and downstairs and looked at the kitchen clocks.  I made the mistake of starting the run without everything having been worked out, which it did about 1/2 mile into the run.  So rapid reversal and home after only 1.3 miles.  So ended up at work an hour early.  We'll see how early I leave.

I'm with Jay on TMs, too.  Not to mention the fact that we have no where to put one even if I did want one.

Metalman--that was one long road your family traveled.  glad to see this one came out on the positive side.

 

One word Stumpy - garage. You still get the temperature changes. Just need some video distraction.

 

 

Cheers.

That would involve having one.  The one that was with the house apparently fell over not long before the previous owners split the lot and sold the house to us.  34 years ago.  so now we don't have the setback to put one up.  So fortunately I don't want a TM.  or actually any further space to accumulate stuff.

We chose to be child-free (and never regretted it!) but this seems like good advice.

Hang in there.

Cold and windy out, I'm on a deadline, etc, etc. I'm putting off running until tomorrow.

That's funny Tramps!
I'm glad I never had moments like that with David. But I am thankful now we only had one child. Tried for years for a #2, including fertility docs, but just wasn't meant to be.  We have loved every moment with our only and wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

Another day of no running for me. I'm going to have  a REAL hard time making my annual goal at this rate. Actually, I can tell right now it's not happening. I'll just do what I can, when I can, and be okay with that.  Yesterday after work was my board meeting and Christmas party tonight at some friends so I'll be drinking and eating after work.

3.2 outside miles for me.  No snow here, Norm.  It all was north and south of us.  Just cold, cold, cold, although it was clear and calm this morning.   2 miles after work on the treadmill,  so 5.2 for the day.

I never even considered having a treadmill when I lived in Dallas.  If it was too icy to run (maybe 3 days a year) or pouring rain, I did some other form of exercise. I lived 1/2 mile from the best fitness center in the country and it had a 1 mile outdoor track which weaved around ponds and trees.   Tennessee- different story.  Plus, I'm older.  I am supposed to avoid falling (osteoporosis) and my night vision isn't great.  About 4 years ago we took the treadmill plunge and got a high end one after a lot of research.  We have a good basement area for it and put up a big TV.  It's by a couple of windows, too.  Since I run everyday, it's been great.  No problem to get in a couple of miles before a very early flight.  No problem to keep my streak going even if I'm a little sick.  I don't love running on a treadmill, but I made peace with it and it has allowed me to run no matter what (well, not after eye surgery and when I had a stress fracture).  I think it's challenging in its own way and I don't see it as a cop out if I run on it instead of outside.  It's great for speedwork, too.

I had huge struggles raising my kids, especially my son.  My son is extremely smart, which was not a plus in many instances.  He's still not particularly easy.  When he was 16 and we truly thought he would wind up dead or in jail, we went the route of having him taken from his bed by a teen escort service and hauled off to a wilderness program in Utah.  Long story and not for here, but his tormenting of the transporters and his near escape is still legend in the teen help community.  We were not able to parent him effectively enough to keep him safe and, fortunately, had the resources to turn to professional help.  The teen help industry is very uneven in terms of quality and integrity.  It is hard to navigate, and we did the best we could.  It takes a huge toll on the whole family.  We met families who did everything possible and still wound up losing their kids to drugs or suicide.  It's a tough road and a large part of why I have absolutely NO desire to have grandchildren.

With lots of skiing, soccer, fishing, hiking, scouts, etc. up a little southeast of erika-land,

no problem at all in raisin' our boy and girl, . . . .

until repercussions a decade later of what boy-son'd been doing without us having any inkling at all right under our noses during his senior year in high school finally served to bring him out of the ski-bumhood we thought would never end and become the responsible adult we were beginning to think would never happen either, . . .

and, at age 45, and contrary to our on-going warnings for almost ten years, model-of-perfection daughter's trust of unscrupulous employers turned everyone's lives upside down last year. Where was Tramps' poster when we needed it?

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spacity - neat 16-hour mary link.

In additional to everyone's expanding 100+-marathon streaks, the Japan 100-Marathon Joyful Running Club ranks members slowest times for the year too.  With three members taking 16 hours in their Mt. Fuji Ascent Marathon, the nine hours for my Hakone Pass Marathon with them only ranked ninth place.  It didn't help, though, that all three of the Mt. Fuji'ers got lost several times.  I know the feeling on huge mountain where a simple turn of the weather can transform an easy hike into a life-and-death experience.

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3-miler - decided to take an early (for me, . . . however, well past jay o'clock) morning (6am) three-mile trek around the neighborhood, including up-and-down 400 stairs built into the hillsides of a nearby park to check out Christmas lighting included in the Chamber-of-Commerce's seasonal lights list.  However, only two houses shining this year.  Maybe all the adults are depressed too.

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ps treadmill - maybe it's because I grew up where there were no swimming pools or treadmills (if they were even invented) but, just as swimming is for rivers, lakes and the seas that warm up in the summer, running is for outdoors too. Never treadmilled and never will.

Hello everybody!

Is there anyone besides me that's happy the election is over in Alabama?

Was there an election in Alabama?

I went 10 miles, today.  Even though I'm not signed up for anything, I went ahead and did 8 tempo miles as if I were.  They were tough going against the 19 mph wind but kind of fun going with it.

Okay--gotta go.  See ya!