Everyone hard at work around here? I'm just sitting around trying to get myself motivated to do something.
Looking at heading out for a 9+ mile run. Should go up on the mountain but I'm not that motivated right now so it will be on the roads around the house. I'll stick to the dirt ones as much as possible.
QOTD: Took me awhile to come up with one and it's not really running related.
Lets talk drugs. Is your area experiencing a lot of illicit drug usage. The area that I work in is. A lot of narcotics and Meth. I'm one of those people that thinks it comes from the lack of decent jobs in the area so people have too much time on their hands and it has spiraled out of control. At the same time I have observed that being "supportive" of users only makes it worse. I don't see any evidence that throwing people in jail helps, but I have seen that making Narcan (the narcotic antidote) available to everyone only makes it worse and is actually killing more people than it helps. I think it would be better to just let people know that if they use drugs they are on their own and have to bear the consequences. I have a cousin that spent most of his adult life in jail for drugs and neither that nor being supportive really helped.
Sorry if this is a bad QOTD but it's all I could come up with .
Tim
Jess and I had a muggy 12 miler in Pinckney SP trails. Was going to be 14 but high tide made one area not accessible unless we wanted wet shoes for the next 6 miles. We'll walk later.
QOTD : Heroine is king in Gettysburg right now. I treat most of the drug task force police and they said cocaine is only found around the college. Too many doctors prescribe narcotics for minor pain ( studies say it doesn't help long term) and many get hooked on prescription stuff first and then go to heroine. Meth use is down now. The war on drugs has done nothing to drop drug use. I have 3 Parkinson patients that are using cannabis oil to treat their symptoms and have to pay cash ( medical marijuana is legal in PA) yet their insurance will pat hundreds of dollars for them to get vicodin, which helps with pain but not tremors. I could go on forever on this subject.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
Refurbished Hip
My chiro beat me up yesterday. It was good, I think. We'll see if it helps...
QOTD: Honestly, I don't know. I don't think this is known as a drug city. I rarely pay much attention to local news unless something big is happening.
Running is dumb.
Le professeur de trail
A nice 5k last nice. Felt a bit fast which I will take.
I see Mandy posted some pictures and words on the recent trip. I will have to take some time to look it over.
QOTD: So I work for a behavioral health insurance company in the quality department. One of my department's tasks is to investigate when one of our members dies. So I can speak this very frankly. Yes, it's a huge problem over the last 2 years. Heroin has been one of those drugs that ebbs and flows. It was big back in the early 2000's and then waned a bit as the prescription opioids took off. But then when the street price for Oxy, Percocet and others was just too high, heroin took off again. Now there is a huge problem with heroin being laced with fentanyl. Dealers and others who make the drugs started doing this to make their heroin more potent. The problem is some of it is now too potent and killing off many of their customers. In PA, we work with many of the counties and the ones I investigate have a huge problem. We work with the coroner's offices to gather info and they all say the overdose deaths (mainly heroin and a combo of heroin/fentanyl) are way up - more than double in 2016 versus 2015. The Narcan, as DD referenced, seems to help in some situations but my fear was as DD said that it gives some addicts a license to use. The Narcan helps with fentanyl overdoses in some circumstances but not all 9I think it has something to do with the potency of the fentanyl). All I can say is it's crazy out there. Super crazy!
On that note, have a fantastic day!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
running under the BigSky
Our streak of perfect running weather continues; lows in the upper 30's, highs in the 50's- I could easily take this year round. Going to try and get 5-ish in after work.
qotd: sad story- Montana was really bad for meth, but they put on a concerted effort to inform, treat and bust up meth labs. Passed laws to make it much harder to acquire precursor ingredients and that combination saw a huge decline in meth use; it looked like we had won. Then the Mexican cartel saw an opportunity; no small labs- industrial size labs to crank out not pounds, but literally tons. It's now cheaper and higher quality. Meth use is once again increasing rapidly. It's not just the drug use, I'd say conservatively that drugs (meth being the king) account for at least 2/3's of all our crime- theft, burglary, robberies and assaults. Sad that we were that close to wiping it out
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
I ran a 4.5 mile loop this morning before daybreak. It was a muggy 72; it is March 28th!!! It should have been a pleasant 52.
QOTD: Meth seems to be on the down turn from what I can see. I don't hang out in those circles. Since I am totally done with being mayor, I don't have any direct information on a regular basis about what is going on in town regarding arrests or day to day operations of the PD. I still see those guys, and they tell me what is going on. Anyway, back a couple of years ago, we were finding some heroin in areas of town, but most of the people who live here in town are older. In larger towns in our area, heroin is definitely a bigger problem than it used to be. I am happy to be living out in the woods now. I think I'll stay there.
LB2
Sue
my running yesterday and this morning...I mean the lack of it. WILL RUN AFTER WORK!!!
QOTD: Weed is king around here. Everyone is growing it but selling it is getting harder because, well everyone is growing it. I am ok with it except, it brings folks from the city up to our small town to purchase it. And these city folks aren't to nice. My friends 21 year old son had a friend who met a black kid at a concert. He didn't look like a thug but come to find out he already had a felony record. He comes up to buy (steal) pot from this kid. The kid see someone hiding in the black guys car and decides to just leave. The black guy turned around and shot him in the face!! The kid is fine. I think once it becomes legal it may take out the criminal aspect of it. We shall see.
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
I used to be completely against making any forms of marijuana legal but I have changed my mind. I think medical marijuana does wonders for a lot of people. Non medical marijuana - or just everyday weed is not nearly as harmful as some prescription drugs that are being sold on the streets. I am still not sure that all weed should be legal but like I said, there are worse culprits out there. The synthetic stuff especially can really screw up the brain.
my running yesterday and this morning...I mean the lack of it. WILL RUN AFTER WORK!!! QOTD: Weed is king around here. Everyone is growing it but selling it is getting harder because, well everyone is growing it. I am ok with it except, it brings folks from the city up to our small town to purchase it. And these city folks aren't to nice. My friends 21 year old son had a friend who met a black kid at a concert. He didn't look like a thug but come to find out he already had a felony record. He comes up to buy (steal) pot from this kid. The kid see someone hiding in the black guys car and decides to just leave. The black guy turned around and shot him in the face!! The kid is fine. I think once it becomes legal it may take out the criminal aspect of it. We shall see.
3 miles Timbercreek hill repeats.
Sandy you're only 25 miles away. Are you going to be around tom.
qotd meth then oxy now heroin is back. Two towns in NC will now put you in re-hab and pay for it instead of throwing you in jail.
These kids can't aford re-hab. I hope this helps and catches on in other cities.
We did 4 miles in the Appellation Trail today. Saw a few thru hikers they were really nice to talk too.
We're staying in Gatlinburg, TN tonight. I wasn't expecting the place to be such a tourist zoo. It's funny. Some photos from today below.
qotd: Nott hat I know but my DS knows 3 people in TX who died... in 2017. F'ing sad.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL
Eastern Tennessee is the place where we have vacationed the most. Been going there ever since about 2000. Anytime we have are heading back fro MS or TX and have a extra day or two we will stop in. Been thru Gatlinburg three times and one was just several weeks ago and the only reason then was to see if there was any fire damage still visable. I avoid that place like the plague. Far too many people. We always try to stay over at Townsend.