I was a bit sluggish this morning from too much wine last night, coupled with the rain, led me to shorten my run to just over the minimum mile. No one else was out this morning with the dark clouds and drizzle that is expected to last all day. Checking my phone, it was day #5,218 since I last missed a day. My sister was supposed to arrive this morning, but I haven’t heard a word. It will not be a sunny beach day, as was the plan. If they do show up, we’ll “pivot,” as was the attitude of the Chris Pine character in the Dungeons & Dragons movie. This will, of course, drive my wife, “the planner,” nuts.
I love my sister, but she’s never well organized. Throw in her daughter and grandkids, and I should not be surprised by her lack of communication. I did give them plenty of flexibility, considering travel time, a sick ex-husband, and weather. She’s trying to herd a party of five, including two teens and a 10-year-old, on Spring Break. I don’t envy her but “the planner” would like to know soon… if we’re to be involved… or NOT.
Just after I finished the last paragraph, the word came down that they are not coming. We now have two free days to do as we please. I’m just glad that I went out for pizza last night, as if another night of pizza would have been horrible. I’m now sitting here watching Curse of Oak Island, while composing this post, a Wednesday morning tradition. I also just signed up to me a subscriber to the Facebook page, Indy Radio Alums and Fans, another source for obituaries. Thankfully, I didn’t see my name this morning.
Another day of doing nothing. The run is done as I prepare to take a seat for chair yoga, followed by a shower and “Theater Tuesday,” most likely ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. The new hallway light fixtures are finally in place, while the Tally-feared unicorn floats in the pool, a leftover from granddaughter Nora’s afternoon swim. My son was once again very patient installing the overhead lights, while I stood by trying not to get in the way.
The temperatures are heating up without much chance for rain over the next few weeks. A month after time change and I still haven’t adapted, although my run was finished by 9:30a. Three months ago, I was done by 9a, so hopefully I’ll get back to that schedule by the next time change. Further adjustments will be necessary after Cairo and London stays.
I only managed a little over 80 running miles throughout the month of March, meaning that I’m behind the 1,000-mile annual goal. Las Vegas and Disney World took me out of the routine with a couple of short runs, knowing that we’d be doing a lot of walking. In order to reach it I need to average about 85-miles monthly, thankfully January was 97, so I’m still on target, despite the March shortfall. The important thing is that “The Streak” continues at 5, 210 consecutive days after a 5k trot this morning. April will be better – No Foolin’
Blogging has once again been put on hold this past week, with this short post between visitors. My I.U. buddy from Indianapolis came to town and we kept him busy. We watched the Sweet 16, went boating, dined at several area restaurants, toured the neighborhood on the golf cart, played bocci ball, went to a baseball game, and escorted Tally to the groomer. My friend managed to go to the driving range, while I got my mileage in every morning. It was an easy five days of entertaining, before my wife’s brother and his wife take over the guest room. Tag you’re it.
I was able to reconnect with a childhood friend yesterday morning after responding to a post on the “I Grew Up in Elkhart, Indiana” Facebook page. He lived a block away in the same neighborhood, before we both ended up at different elementary schools, junior highs, and high schools. We were fast friends through the fifth grade, but lost track of each other. Thanks to Facebook, we’ve started to catch up. It’s exciting to find someone after sixty years of going our separate ways. I have several more questions to ask once my life settles down to normalcy, as it will next week.
Today was the 5,200th consecutive day of my Running Streak, a 5k jaunt through the neighborhood. Thanks to last week’s boat ride, I now know the identity of several more people that I cross paths with every morning on my standard route. There are still many bikers, walkers, and runners that I address every day that remain nameless. However, it is a friendly neighborhood, so a nod, wave, or word is commonplace. We’ve now lived here just short of two years, so in many cases familiar faces have become friends. Our week of company continues this afternoon, so expect more delays in my daily posts.
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I am finally caught up on my logging, slogging, and blogging. My diary is up to date, entries on the blog have been made to compensate for missing posts, and the daily 5k slow jogs (slogs) through the neighborhood continue at their regular time each morning. ‘Home Sweet Home,’ although we’ve been out every night this week, and fight over use of the car or golf cart for travel to baseball games, doctor and chiropractor appointments, not to mention tap, aqua fit, bridge, or chair yoga classes. Tonight, we dine at home after a week of restaurants or fast food in Vegas, Orlando, and Venice.
The NCAA basketball tourney starts today. We might even get back to watching an episode of Lost after the travel hiatus. I’m also giving blood and pee this afternoon, but not at the same time. In addition to these lines of excitement, I am dealing with an electrical box recall. An Indy friend will be here on Monday followed by my wife’s brother, so there’s little rest for the weary.
A mysterious injury to my right bicep has prevented doing my push-up regimen and it’s been too cool to get in the pool. Flabby arms are not attractive. My stamina has also suffered as a result of some congestion and light-headedness. I took a Covid test as a precaution and it proved negative. New medication may be a factor, but “The Streak” continues despite these struggles (consecutive day 5,191). More likely it’s just a result of burning the candle at both ends.
It sounds easy – but it’s not! Chair yoga is not sitting and watching TV but rather all about balance, stretching, and proper breathing. I just completed my 5th class, so there’s still a lot to learn. I have trouble controlling my breathing, lack the necessary flexibility, and definitely need the chair for balance support. A neighbor friend talked me into going, and now I’m committed to make it a regular part of my retirement routine, every Tuesday morning at 10:15. I’ll miss next Tuesday due to our trip to Las Vegas but will seek a chair in front of a winning slot machine. In all seriousness, it is something you can practice at home, but I haven’t taken the time. Perhaps when I am more familiar the stretches it will seem more natural.
The class is right after I finish my run and just a golf cart ride away. Today was 5,175 consecutive days, the tenth longest streak in Florida. It will of course continue in Vegas and then Orlando next week when my wife and I are there with the grandkids. It will be a good change of pace to run some different routes than the familiar path I tend to religiously follow every single day. It’s fun to say “hi” to all the regulars that I’ve met in the past two years of living here. Many of them I’m unfamiliar with by name but their faces are a daily fixture. We did get a new Islandwalk directory, but not everyone is listed. I often feel like I’m stalking when I see someone turn into their driveway or front door, so I memorize their street number and look up their address after the run. My wife has met several during her daily trip to the dog park with Tally. I wave as I “slog” by, making mental notes as to their identity.
There’s a couple with three dogs that I see most mornings, but only know him because of an Iowa sweatshirt that he wears. I recently acknowledged a guy in an I.U. hat also wearing a Rutgers t-shirt. He was wearing all I.U. gear the day after the Purdue victory, obviously proud of that accomplishment. There is a group of women that are in the chair yoga class that pass by most mornings with a friendly “hello.” The instructor rides her bike down the wide sidewalk path that I follow. N.Y. Yankee guy wears the hat when he walks the dog, and many other unidentified “neighbors” give a nod of encouragement.
I’m hoping that chair yoga will help with my running, although the first few times it made my muscles stiff the next morning. I need help with speed and balance, feeling like the ground is unsteady under my feet or working against me as I try to make progress, like going the wrong way on a moving sidewalk. Too many times I’m easily passed by a speed walker that I find particularly embarrassing. The harder I work on trying to go faster, the more my pace seems to slow. Ultimately, I’m just trying to make it to the chair at the end.
We were unable to get to a movie theater this past week but continue to wade through the many seasons of ABC’s Lost. Each T.V. episode seems to factor in another hard to believe coincidence that has us scratching our heads. I think we’re only about halfway through. Tonight is I.U. basketball and tomorrow evening is the Super Bowl. It’s good to stay close to home for a few days, after 800 miles of local travel this past week. Hoosier company is coming these next few weeks, so we should have a full month of home brew before heading to Las Vegas and Disney World.
My Running Streak continues at 5,158 days. It’s a daily grind with a couple of shorter runs this past week to accommodate the local travel but a nice 5k around Anna Marie Island to break up the monotony. The Margaritaville lifestyle was appealing but the cost of beach property and related maintenance is salty. Million-dollar shanties were prevalent. Wind and water levels would be a constant worry for me, but obviously worth it to many.
Yesterday afternoon, we were dining on the Palmetto waterfront at the Riverhouse. It was my second LIN-TV reunion this week. This one was with our WISH-TV-Indianapolis colleagues, including an executive assistant, receptionist, and chief engineer. Last weekend, it was fellow GMs and a Local Sales Manager. Each interaction brought back lots of memories and forgotten names as we reflected on our years together. Retirement is only possible because of the pensions that we earned working there, so each of us is grateful to get a monthly check. Many media companies did not offer this benefit.
My wife will dig out her Longi’s pizza bread recipe for our traditional Super Bowl feast tomorrow. We first enjoyed this treat on Maui in January of 2005. Three years later, we went back for more with friends as part of the Maui Classic. We also typically have chicken wings on this special football occasion, where once again the ads will be more appealing than the game. It’s an annual reminder of when we were responsible for selling the local ads for this event that commanded the highest rates of the year. It was a huge revenue boost for the network affiliate lucky enough to carry it each year and serious competition, earning bragging rights, for outperforming the previous year’s spot rates. Super Bowl, Super Food, Super Weekend!
I was really confused on what day of the week it was today after a busy week. Our Sunday night Lunar New Year Party went well with 34 guests, but it seemed like more of a Friday or Saturday night affair. Confucious or Confusion? Monday was a traditional “Matinee” day, but we went to the movie “Plane” a bit earlier to get home for another party of neighbors planning a cruise, so dinner wasn’t even “Meatless.” Tuesday, I went to my first chair yoga class and stretched a few rarely used muscles. Temperatures have been cold, and therefore swimming has been more sporadic than normal, disrupting that routine. We had also strayed from the habit of having the kids over for Tuesday Eve dinner, getting that family tradition back on track.
Wednesday night, I watched I.U. men’s basketball barely edge Minnesota, but usually they play mid-week Thursdays, so that threw me off a bit. I was also up late for the game, fueled by adrenaline after a late tip-off. My wife and I ended up going chair shopping in Sarasota yesterday, our second visit there in the past week. We also gorged ourselves on Amish cooking at Der Dutchman and had no need for dinner, another unusual twist to the week. The night ended with an I.U. women’s basketball victory over #2 Ohio State.
In the middle of my run today, I suddenly realized it was Friday already. Jogging has at least been a consistent habit for me. That hasn’t changed in the last fourteen years, as “The Streak” now stands at 5,143 consecutive days. I also did not vary from my 3.1-mile course and was not rushed into a shorter distance. In addition, I’ve done a lot of writing this week, adding to the chapters in my Storyworth ramblings. Nothing much is planned for the weekend when traditional partying is done. We got it out of the way early this week, and that was the beginning of my retirement confusion.
A neighbor ran by this morning, halfway through a 10-mile training run. He retired earlier this year and decided to do another triathlon just after the new year. I used to be motivated like that, but never to do a run, swim, bike challenge. Instead, I’ve now settled into a daily running streak that reached 5,116 consecutive days this morning. It made me wonder when the last time was that I ran over 10-miles? I couldn’t find a date in my diary but noted five 6.2-mile races I did during this current running streak. There were two in Austin, Texas (Capital 10k) with my best time at 1:03:49 in March of 2012. That was when I was still able to run at slightly over a ten-minute mile pace. I also ran the Human Race in August 2008 at 1:08:25, Helvetica in June of 2015, and The Heartbreaker in February 2016. Those were the last of my distance races with the exception of the Hood to Coast relay event in August 2017. One of my training runs in preparation was 9-miles long and that seems to be the last time I covered that much ground in one morning. There were three legs of Hood to Coast that I finished in a 24-hour period of 7, 5.2, and 5.3 miles each.
Since that time, I’ve settled on a maximum distance of 3.1 miles and consistently cover this most every day. My pace has slowed to 14-16 minutes per mile on average, so covering 10-miles would take me over two-and-a-half-hours to finish, if I wanted to take an injury risk. In the good old days, I could have finished in well under an hour-and-a-half. My best Marathon (26.2 miles) time was just over 3-hours in 1979. It was an International Marathon that couldn’t happen in these Covid times, starting in Canada through the Windsor tunnel into the city of Detroit. Crossing any border is difficult these days. Also, border guards don’t like to see people running.
It was during this time, that I once legged over 120-miles within the course of one week (over 17-miles a day)! My legs often feel like concrete anymore, but at 71-years of age I’m lucky to have avoided serious injury. It takes about a mile to even loosen up and then I begin to tire. There’s certainly a great deal of admiration for those who can still compete as fellow Sexagenarians. For me, however, it’s often just challenging enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I was forced to bundle up on this Christmas Eve day in what is normally sunny Florida. However, the temperature was 35 degrees as I took to the streets this morning. The knee-high compression socks that I wore were comforting and supportive. Most days it’s just too hot to wear but it definitely helps keep my muscles and joints warm. My times were even a bit faster despite a stiff breeze on the way out. It felt good on the way back – the cold air in my lungs reminded me of being on the ski slopes. It also made me recall the only time I’ve ever won my age division in a 10k race. This was probably over 25-years ago in temperatures well below zero and unmentionable wind chills. Obviously, few people showed up and even fewer finished, but I seemed to relish the challenge.
Slow and steady is my motto these days, coinciding with my pace. There was one other runner that I spotted this morning guiding a dog on a leash. Our aging schnauzer Tally is usually only good for a short burst before she’s distracted by nearby smells. There was a time when she would tag along but not much anymore. My wife’s dog, Belle, when we first met, would actually wrap her leash around a mailbox post so she wouldn’t have to run with me. All my former pups -Gizmo, Smiley, Belle, Tinker, and Roxie – monitor my daily running streak from the heavens above, grateful that they don’t have to participate. Tally watches me pass by her dog park every morning and on occasion will come to the fence to greet me.
We had “Date Night” at Big Mike’s Pizza last evening and especially enjoyed their Mac & Cheese Boulders. As is the tradition, we always visit a new restaurant on this occasion. We have no plans for Christmas tomorrow since the beach picnic is cancelled due to cold weather. It would have just been the two of us, since my ex-wife and her family is now in town, so we’ll wait until next week to get together for gifts with the grandkids. A movie matinee might be in order, even though it’s not Monday.
I cleaned out my car and even degreased the engine in hopes of finding a buyer. I was surprised at the low-ball offers that I got from Kelly Blue Book, Carvana, and various dealers despite the need for used cars. Sadly, I can’t even buy a used golf cart for what it’s apparently worth, and I really don’t want to put any more money into it. It’s due for an oil change, insurance premiums will be coming up, and license fees will soon take another bite. If I repaired the oil leaks it would cost another $2,000, so I’m at a stalemate. I can certainly wait until after the holidays to find a buyer, but not too much longer.
We have newly paved streets in the neighborhood so many of the familiar markers are gone along the route of my daily run. I had become very aware of every pothole, crease, and oil leak along the way. I’ve spent a lot of time staring at the pavement each morning. It’s been nearly two years now of running these streets as I quickly approach the 14-year mark of doing this every single day. I’m very proud of this accomplishment knowing that it could come to a stop any day now. The stiffness and heaviness in my legs makes me dread the first half-mile. Once I get to that point, my aging body begins to loosen up. I envy those that can move freely and pass me like I’m standing still. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other like a machine.
My car and I have a lot in common – rusted out on the inside and not worth much anymore. I wish I could trade my legs in on a new pair, but at least they still support me. There are too many people my age in wheelchairs, leaning on walkers, or bedridden to feel sorry for myself. I’m lucky to still find the motivation to take that first step every morning regardless of whether I’m home or not. These legs have carried me across frozen streets, blazing hot asphalt, up or down stairs, rutted trails, over cobblestones, fighting a fever, post-surgery, up never-ending hills, climbed mountainsides, around islands, through mud puddles, down dirt paths, on ship decks, busy highways, junk yards, crowded sidewalks, treadmills, and sandy beaches all over the world. I’ve run through airports, tunnels, malls, hallways, parking garages, grassy parks, football fields, and baseball stadiums. I’ve used indoor and outdoor tracks, worn rainsuits and snow gear, crampons for traction, braved a hurricane, gone barefoot, and even donned my street shoes when I forgot to pack my Brooks. There’s not much that can stop me, but I’ve also been lucky to avoid injury and serious sickness. Today was the 5,107th consecutive. Hopefully, there’s tomorrow.
