Mornin' Masters.

We made it to Long Island (NY) with far less traffic than usual yesterday morning, which was a very pleasant surprise. The only problem I'm having here is having to climb stairs up to and down from our guest room. And our friend had very high ceilings on the first floor, which means more stairs to get upstairs. It's a lot different than our ranch house, and my knee is not liking the extra work on the stairs. So it was barking at me a bit last night when I was trying to sleep. But I did get out for about another 1.5 mile walk yesterday afternoon. So for today, do I keep doing more stairs to further help strengthen my knee, or stay off them as much as possible to give the knee some rest?

I got up this morning and did 75 minutes of knee and core work and stretching, and then went for a 2.3 mile walk as the sun was coming up. DW is up and is proofing the dough that she'll be baking into GF sourdough bread a little later this morning. And we're both enjoying some quiet time with some coffee in the kitchen, waiting for our host to wake up and join us.

I'm always amused by people who don't work out on a regular basis telling those of us who do how our working out is doing damage to (pick your favorite body part), when what they are really trying to do is to justify for themselves why they don't work on staying fit.

Have a greta Saturday.

Jay

 

 

I'm always amused by people who don't work out on a regular basis telling those of us who do how our working out is doing damage to (pick your favorite body part), when what they are really trying to do is to justify for themselves why they don't work on staying fit.

 

EXACTLY!!! I find it highly annoying!!!!!

5.1 miles with the festive SS crew - wearing a knee brace isn't the most comfortable way to run, but I get used to it after the first mile. It's worth it if it helps the knee cap track properly while I work on strengthening my weak A** - and now time to hit the basement gym for some glute work!!

Happy Eve of Christmas Eve friends!!

Thanks for the start, Jay. Less traffic? Shocking! Seems like no need to rush the stairs if using them is causing pain. It'll come.

bioguy--enjoy the well-earned break.

Steve--vacation! Enjoy. That's a lot of reindeer food!

Henry--hope you feel better soon.

Mike--glad to hear your ribs are finally feeling somewhat better. As to your poetic challenges...

In the land of lakes, where snowflakes dance,

Lived Mike, a runner with a speedy prance.

Minnesota's his home, where chilly winds blow,

And winters descend, with freshly fallen snow.

The holidays approached, a festive scene,

Mike, in a dilemma, turned a bit green.

For his family's poem, he scratched his head,

"How will I ever get these rhymes?" he said.

Kids and grandkids and Debbie, of course,

His family travails were always his source.

But rhyming their names, is a difficult chore,

Mike was left worried and a little bit sore.

Next up, the school soccer team,

Endlessly chasing their JV dream.

But finding the words for a soccer tale,

Left Mike fearing this year he might fail.

Then came the company, builders and bosses.

The world of construction, profits, and losses.

Meetings and memos, and co-workers too

Mike longed to escape, he didn’t know what to do.

Frustrated and tired, he let out a sigh,

"I need some help, maybe AI!"

With circuits and code, the response came,

"I'll craft those poems, don't you worry, no shame."

In the North Star State, where the cold winds blow,

AI quickly produced its poetic flow.

Family, soccer, and company lore,

Mike's holiday poems are a nightmare no more.

Now free to run through the snow-covered pines,

Mike laughed and exclaimed, "This AI's divine!"

No more poetic struggles, no icy dread,

Thanks to AI, I can finally go to bed!

Just my usual plodding-along 5-miler today but I must have been well-rested because I finished at under a 9 minute/mile pace without even trying, which I never do anymore. It was upper 30s again with no wind, so IRC.

Wow- a lot going on in here!  Thanks, Jay, and I'm with Mike (sadly) on what I would do with the stairs, but you should go up and down on your butt!   Mike- that was post of the day and maybe week!   And congrats on all your great poetry- also Henry and A1Tramps! And Tet!  I'm impressed by our talented group.  I used to write a big poem every year for the White Rock Marathon Results Book (remember when races had those?).

I woke up to a high chance of rain for our group's Santa Run, which I really look forward to.  Ugh.  I went anyway and, yes, we had rain on and off.  I got cold and wet, but it didn't rain hard and not the whole time.  I managed 7.2 miles- by myself after 3 miles.  Before the run we wanted a group picture by the beautiful town Christmas tree, and a woman was about to take it and not be in it (even though she was running with us) when a Franklin police officer parked his cruiser, hopped out and took our picture!  That was so nice.  Good breakfast in downtown Franklin afterwards with some of the folks after I changed out of the top part of my wet clothes.

coastwalker, we live in a world where people always tell us it's somebody else's fault or it's because you did - fill in the blank- so I just ignore them and do my damndest to live a helluva life!

Tramps, well done! That's a decent pace.

Karen, there's nothing wrong with being like you and Mike! Right? Good 7.2 miler.

I went out with the RR group for an easy 10 miler in messy conditions. It's foggy conditions, mebbe 38 F with strong winds, 15-20 mph but no one cares cause it's 38 F! We ran to the Forks and ran into approx 100 runners from various running clubs getting their weekly runs in before the Bird's Hill trail HM tomorrow. That could be a disaster in the making as it could be warmer than it is now. Oh well,  now the last thing I have to do is decide if I'll run the TRAIL HM tomorrow. Have a greight day Masters!

Hi all. I met a friend for a run this morning. I had a poor night’s sleep and my Garmin was telling me to take the day off, but I ran/walked 3 miles.

the afternoon has been reading and writing thank you cards to students who brought me gifts

Hi all,

Christmas Trees.....about 25 years ago, when we lived in our duplex apartment house before we bought our current home 4 years later, I discovered I am REALLY allergic pine, fir, spruce, you name it, when I'm inside with one.  So we begrudgingly bought our first artificial tree the next year, and it was pretty real looking (???) because it had white painted branches in places, that looked like snow, and artificial pine cones.  Got it for 75% off in JM Design's after-Christmas clearance sale, and we had that for about 15 years.   I always thought it looked good each Christmas after spending the previous 11 months in a body bag in the attic.  Then we bought one that was pre-lighted which was nice until the lights started failing after four or five years...so I cut the lines and removed the lights.  This is apparently our last year with that one, because DW said it's time we got a table topper.  But I thought it was pretty good that we got ~ 25 years out of two trees.   This one will probably wind up on the "Generosity Page" on Facebook at the end of this Christmas season.  We leave it up until at least Epiphany, as we like to celebrate that lesser-known holiday as well.   (Remember what I said about 75% off after-Christmas clearance sales?)

I swam 2,300 yards this morning after a 15 minute "push" workout at the Y gym.   This swim was my first 10 x 100 backstroke workout since I injured my shoulder back in November, when I hit the wall with my arms still somewhat extended while doing backstroke kick drills.   I slowed the target repeat time down from 1:27/100 to 1:30/100, which feels like it's one degree of separation, so to speak, from the all-out 1:27 effort. I shortened the recovery portion of the interval from 1:33 to 1:00, so I did them on 2:30 instead of on 3:00.   I got all 10 reps in the target range with 2 @ 1:30, 7 @ 1:29, and one that was right @ 1:28 - rep #9 of 10.  I keep telling myself I will start learning to do flip turns better so that I don't get water up my nose, and that I'll start doing a good underwater dolphin kick (or 5) at every turn as well.  That alone would cut a lot of time off of my 100 yard time, but, yeah, I'm disciplined but not that disciplined.  Would be nice to have a coach (the cost of which I can't really justify) or a training partner, for the sake of accountability; but I don't really know how to go about coordinating something like that.  Maybe I'll try a Facebook post and see what comes of it?

DW got back from her Mom's at 3 today and by 4 was at her friend's birthday party - the unlucky one whose birthday is Christmas Eve,  On the bright side, DD and Magdalena went with her, so they were here for a while and I got to hold her for about 20 minutes while she stared at the Christmas Tree.

Speaking of grandchildren, did any of you who are grandparents wind up getting called by your grandchildren the names you had hoped, like Grandma, Grandpa, Granny, etc?  I like Grandpa but I think I might wind up being Pop Pop, which is what my Dad was.  DW ("Gigi") has called me Pop Pop a couple of times and feels pretty natural, but we'll have to see what Magdalena does with it when she starts talking.  

We order our trees freshly cut - used to be from NH but now from Michigan.  They are pretty, smell good, and last well with less needle droppage and dryness.  Expensive (especially shipping), but it's something we really like.  We get about a 6 foot tall one, so not too hard to get the lights and ornaments on.  I love Christmas trees.