For most of you, a run of six or seven miles in fourteen degree (F) weather would be torture. But today’s run, according to everyone I talked to, was great. The majority felt that it was because we’ve been running in such poor weather with snow and ice on the roads all winter. Today there was very little wind and the streets were DRY…at least for the most part. Most of us stayed on the main roads and, other than a little ice where it melted yesterday and then refroze overnight, it was excellent footing. With all the weeks of running on ice joggers, or YakTrax, or on the treadmill, it was a refreshing change of pace. The group training for Ironman Lake Placid had a recovery week so their run was 50 to 70 minutes at heart rate one. Of course, Jean went longer than 70 minutes…no surprise there…but everyone else did what the training schedule said to do. At least she did stay in heart rate one according to my spies.
Last Saturday evening, Jean, Becky and I went to the Methodist Church to see “Live Under The Dome…A Ticket To Nashville“. It was a musical revue presented by a group of community singers and musicians benefitting the Mary Youngs Scholarship Fund. It was a couple of years ago that Mary was at that show, went home afterwards, and never woke up. Most of the people were friends of ours, so it made it very enjoyable. About halfway through I got to thinking that this kind of thing was playing out in communities all around the world by people with lots of talent…not for money but for the good of others. You all know by now that sometimes when I start thinking, my mind can go off on tangents. I couldn’t help but think about the fact that we, as consumers, are paying good money that benefits singers, actors, actresses and athletes who make millions of dollars. Half of them are either going into rehab, coming out of rehab, wearing just enough clothes to be legal in most states, or are at home abusing their spouses. And we still keep supporting their habits. Thank God for the community volunteers.
With nothing better to do during this long northern winter, I looked up local beer brewing clubs to see if there was one I could visit and, possibly, join. The closest one is in Kalamazoo and is the Kalamazoo Libation Organization of Brewers or KLOB for short. It seems like they could have come up with a better name that had a more catchy acronym, but they didn’t. Anyway, they meet the third Monday of the month which was this past week. They meet on the northeast side of Kalamazoo in a “clubhouse” behind a residence. The weather wasn’t very good with some snow and a thirty mile an hour wind that was drifting the roads, so I got on the website to make sure the meeting wasn’t canceled. I’m glad I did because there was a notice that the meeting wouldn’t be held at the usual place. Everyone was to meet at Bell’s Brewery, the new location in Comstock, and there would be a tour of the brewery led by the founder, Larry Bell. Attached is a picture of the supply of Oberon for the Trilanders this summer.
I had my doctor’s appointment this past Friday for a weight and blood pressure check. My BP is in the OK range and I’m down another six pounds from my last visit. That makes fourteen pounds so far. It sounds like a lot, but it’s just a drop in the bucket. I’m still eight pounds over my last Ironman Wisconsin weight and nine pounds over the break between obese and slightly overweight on the BMI index scale. I know I’ll never get to the “ideal weight” category but being close will be better than where I’m at right now. It’s still “calories in…calories out” and every once in a while I have a “blowout day”, but I’m getting there.
Just (Sticking With It So Far) Jack
