Running in the Dark

When I first started running, I was so embarrassed I'd walk when cars passed me. I'd pretend I was looking at the flowers! - Joan Benoit Samuelson

This past February had a crazy gorgeous Saturday - sunny, 72 degrees (yes, really - here in central Indiana!), and people came out in droves!  People walking, running, pushing strollers, pulling wagons, bicycling, and walking dogs.

The paved trail across the street was jammed with cyclists and pedestrians of  all sorts.  All.  Day.  Long.  UGH.

I'm one of those crazy antisocial runners.  I don't want all those other people to look at me.  I've been running for years, and I STILL have this thing about not wanting to be noticed running.

This makes it difficult to enter races, even for fun.  All those other people there - staring at me!  Of course they're not.  I know that.  But knowing it in my head and knowing it in my gut are two different things.  All those eyes.  Watching.  Me.  UGH.  It's nearly intolerable.

Anyway.  That Saturday.  Not only was it a beautiful day, but it was also a gorgeous night with clear skies and a full moon.  How did I know?

I like to run at night when nobody else is out.  I run where there are street lights, so light isn't an issue, but moonlight makes it intensely different.  The light is bright and silvery, not just a sickly yellow mercury vapor circle surrounding each light post.  The shadows are sharply defined.  The world is quiet and still - perfect for introspection, meditation, list-making, or zoning out.

I've joined a running group, but I've only run with them once.  It's a small group, and I like them fine, but it's a running GROUP, and I just don't know that I can do that. 

And on top of all that, I've had a flare up of plantar fasciitis, so my mileage is down (oh, all right - non-existent), and I'm not really feeling like much of a runner.

So now I'm kind of running in the dark, trying to figure out how to get back to it - "it" being strength and stamina and confidence. I signed up for my usual spring half marathon, and serious training begins in less than a week. 

I'd better get with it!

This may be a case of fake it until you make it.
I'll just have to act like a runner until I believe again.

The Beach, Rockets, and a Lesson Learned

I spent the first week of December in Cocoa Beach, a paradise of beaches and rockets.

The first thing I saw climbing the wooden steps to cross the dunes was a squadron of brown pelicans gliding in stately formation overhead.  Before the glint of sun on waves, before the rainbow beach umbrellas, before the red flag at the lifeguard's chair, those prehistoric-looking birds.

From anywhere along the beaches you can see the launch platforms - sometimes painfully bright and hard-edged in the sun, sometimes nearly lost in a gray haze, but always There.

I always check launch schedules before I head to Florida, and I checked the schedules the week before.  There was nothing planned until the week after I would be there, so I didn't bother checking again.

Mistake!

The launch scheduled for the following week was moved UP, and I MISSED IT. Ugh.

So I've learned my lesson.  Always, always ALWAYS check the launch schedules!

All Geeked Out with the BLAZE!

Last week my FitBit Blaze was delivered to my mailbox - oh, goody, a new toy!!!

I get text, calendar, and phone call notifications, and I can control the music on my phone with it.  Pretty cool, daddio!

It's a smart watch, but it's NOT an Apple watch competitor - I can't answer texts or phone calls like The Girl can on hers, but it's what one reviewer called a smart-enough watch!  I've seen The Girl answer her phone and carry on a conversation on her watch, and it reminds me of Dick Tracy and his 2-way wrist radio (oh, no, I don't remember Dick Tracy comics in the newspaper myself- not me, never ever, that's for OLD people - HA).   Even she said it's awkward to talk to your wrist.

I can choose different watch faces.  I'm using the "Flare" face.  It shows you how active you were during the current hour by how much "flare" shows up on the display for each minute.
I originally had reservations about wearing what's essentially a pedometer on my wrist, but it's proven to be fairly accurate for most activities.

But...!

Beware if you wear it while you're grocery shopping and pushing a cart.  NO STEPS RECORDED.  

Beware if you run on the treadmill and hold the rails.  NO STEPS RECORDED.  And I had it in treadmill mode.  It showed 400 steps for my 3 mile run. 
 
Ya gotta swing that arm!  Phooey.

But I like it.  I'm all geeked out now!

That Man and the Garbage Disposer

That Man had knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago.  The day after he came home from the hospital, I turned on the garbage disposer after cleaning up from dinner (yes, I DO cook), and water sprayed all over under the sink like a fire hose.  Why THEN?!?!??!!?  Why not 5 days earlier, BEFORE the surgery?!?!??!?  So typical of houses and cars.  Things just have to break when it's most inconvenient.

I said nothing.  I can live without the GD (interesting initials that machine has!) for a few weeks.  I put a strainer in the sink and emptied it into the trash every day.  UGH.  To actually TOUCH garbage is so YUCKY (that's a scientific term).

But late last week, The Man was making plans to change the oil in one of our cars  Hmmmmmm....  If he feels up to doing THAT...!  

So I fessed up - the GD was hosing down the sink's nether regions. I thought it was a seal.  

He got down on the floor (WITHOUT getting on his knee - how is that possible?), removed the trap and handed me the fitting.  I dug out the seal, and it was split.  So he went to Home Depot, spent about $3.00, came home, got back down on the floor, and put everything back together - my hero!!!

After he was done was the best part - he was all smiles the rest of the evening!  Back to feeling useful and needed.