Did It Again!

This past week, Marine older-brother Sarge twisted my arm about another 5K, and I decided to go for it… the starting point was right outside the back gate, in one of the community parks! Rather than driving an hour and a half each way, I got to sleep later (up sixish last weekend!), warm and eat a nice breakfast, then step outside. I strolled across the footbridge, got my race packet, bib, and tracking chip… and walked back home, got one more caffeinated sip, said Hi again to Maude the cat, grabbed some tissues/napkins, and walked back to the starting line, still 'way early!

Like last week, I walked most of today's course, but also sprinted/jogged a couple short stretches… and somehow managed to knock several minutes off last week's time. The folks at last week's event had me crawling past the finish line at… around [mumbled number] minutes, so I'd at least walked my age, which gets easier as you get older.

This time 'round, here in town, I finished at 49:02… right between a six-year-older and a ten-year-older, according to the posted printout. This seems to indicate I'm getting younger – underscored by that age-group bracket; heh-heh.

I still didn't dud myself up seasonally, unlike these folks:

 

 

…but should've at least brought along my jingle-bells, dang it. There was a real-beard Santa in kilt (bagpipes would've been stunning!), plus a passel of elves, a woman dressed like a school bus, some more trotting kids decked out as li'l snowmen, poochies like reindeer… fun!

The two gals joining Goofy Santa above (really cool gloves, Goof!) are labeled "Dasher" and "Prancer", but could easily have worn tags that both said "Vixen"… never mind. And they finished long ahead of me, fluffy tails and all.

The course covered a few chunks of some of the places friend Gwynne and I took in during our own walks last year (and much earlier), both nighttime and afternoon… so I relived some of those good memories of her company, and as always sent up some extra prayers. I hope she felt especially blessed this morning. Hah; she IS! It would have been great to have her along this morning, of course – and her nurse-mom with the stethoscope and nitro pills, just in case.

One of the several great things about hosting Gwynne here, a year and a half back, was all the walking we did. I lost maybe twenty pounds over that two-plus-month span… I seem to've found them again, and would like to drop them by the wayside once more, along with their cousins and friends.

This is just one way and part of an-even-slightlier healthier lifestyle. Plus Rosie next door (my other Sarge – and a friend of Gwynne's as well) encourages it – and where the heck was she this morning, anyway? I'll have to check… she was probably completing a marathon someplace (she's a sixty-something grandmother), maybe even the 5/10K at the military base in the city, where my brother and his wife were doing their own running this morning.

Brother and sister-in-law (hyong-su nim) were supposed to be at today's local course, but at the last minute found they had a conflict – that on-base run. Hah! No conflict for them; they got to visit the commissary afterward.

The cold air – had to be in the thirties – was so crisp it almost crackled… and was quite invigorating, too, given my thick coat, sweatshirt underneath, and knit cap. And the route was easy, with only one uphill stretch, and a couple nice downhills. Bonus: I now know an exact 5K course in my own neighborhood to practice on.

 

Another 5K... Survived

…you know, as you get older and keep practicing, it gets easier every year to run your age. I walked mine today – I think I really did cross the line at the [mumble]-minute mark.

 

Just after starting, and by tradition, I called up childhood friend Spartacus. It's been two or three years since my last 5K, and almost always I call while setting out… and give him a hard time about strange, panting men on the phone. I did the same this morning, of course, and regaled him briefly in crummy Italian, before wishing him and famiglia and pooch well, and pholded up my phone.

 

For most of the course, I was right behind a grandmother, who was garbed up – like many other walkers and runners – for the Christmas season. There were elves, three snowmen, walking giftbags, a Mrs. Santa, a Grinch or two – and an actual Christmas tree that ran the full 10K. To the friendly, chatty reindeer tail and cap in front of me, at about the first-mile mark, I said, "Is your husband running the 10K?"

 

"He's hunting," she explained, waving off toward the mountains. It was nice Northeast US rural farmland, with Colonial-era limestone farmhouses… and even a 1920s-era rusting tractor roadside.

 

I grinned, and pointed out, "And here you are in the country, wearing a pair of antlers. Good thinking!"

 

That got me a snort. We later finished up by sprinting the last couple yards, having walked the rest. And I picked up a seasonal race shirt, so that'll be under some Whoville Who's Christmas tree.

 

I'm not as reluctant to take on the next 5K, whatever my Marine older-brother twists my arm for… and I'm embarrassingly a bit sore about the feet and hips, for having hoofed it for under an hour. But I was still vertical when I finished, which is always a good thing.

Moving Day for the Aging Child

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Good afternoon, loyal reader!

(…"loyal reader", meaning "sole reader"…)

Last week, I set up this blog's successor – well, transplantee might be a better term. For now, I'll mostly be moving over into it this old site's postings, until maybe just this single page remains here.

That'll take a while; I may drop new foolscap in here regularly as well.

This where to find me: http://1MT2mb.BlogSpot.com/.

See you next door!

Regards,

A. Gene Childe

"It's Only a Day Away"

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December starts tomorrow! So remember:

Yow! Ad Orientem, too!

Steps Forward

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I've begun moving this blog, one posting at a time, over to Blogger. (I can't move it all there at once.) Just my first sixteen posts have made it over thus far... leaving two-hundred-twenty-some. Well, [shrug], so I'll be busy with that awhile.

I'll try to keep this front end going, even while trimming off the backside, so to speak. I'm still busy with plenty of other things, including some backfill from The Missing Years.

I write first for me, not for both my readers... so it's more like the cat watching its tail twitch, than jumping onstage and capering around. In some profound ways, I'm not the same person who was writing here regularly, most of a decade ago - pardon the cliché. And likely you're far different from who you were back then as well.

A chunk of where I've grown different is in politics... or rather, what's been guiding me in how I engage political and social issues - which came to a head most recently in the national election earlier this almost-over month. I'll drop some more about that at some point, hopefully soon.

My faith remains strong, my longing for the monastery is undimmed, my commitment and devotion to those I love is unwavering... so in many ways, I'm still me, too. Yet I feel... deeper, and a bit less wishy in my washy; you'll see - or just maybe you've seen already.

Cheers, folks!

The Missing Years

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Catching Up, and Moving Onward

First Sunday of Advent (November 27, for the Gregorian secular), 2016:

I've blown the dust off this old blog and am pulling it back out onto the road. It's been mostly dormant since early 2009, but it's surprisingly roadworthy still; ditto the driver. I'm planning to transplant the engine and transmission and seats into a Blogger site, at some not-distant point. (For one thing, the formatting there is loads easier - plus fewer ads and fewer hands out.)

Life's been busy, demanding, rewarding… and no-less-so now, today. The world and my little corner of it have changed tremendously, and I'll be filling in some of the 2009-2016 blank areas of the map with backdated content. Pretty much anything here from early 2009 to late November of 2016 is backfill… or filler – or landfill.

On we go – and welcome back, my two readers! Still on board? Hello? Hello?

Watch This Space!

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More to come shortly!