The hardest part about running this week has been getting all the compression gear off. I’ve got support socks, thigh sleeves, and a knee brace that all stick like glue to my sweaty body. I’ve likened my lower torso to that of a mummy, wrapped for entombment. I pull, tug, and strain to get all this stuff off after my daily jaunt that reached 4,149 consecutive days this morning. The good news is that I haven’t felt the stiffness and heaviness that plagued me for awhile. However, I still feel like my legs are going to give out in the final mile if it weren’t for all the stretchy support supplements. 

I’ve gotten a pretty good start on my novel, relieving some of the stay-at-home tension. For years, I’ve threatened to write another, and too much sitting around has inspired me to get started.  I’ve always wanted to write a murder mystery but didn’t realize the toll it takes. I’m not necessarily relishing having to think like a murderer and pervert. It’s often embarrassing to see in print some of the evil thoughts that come from my imagination. As part of the process, I’ve done some research on Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, two modern-era serial psychopaths. It’s disturbing when you try to get inside their twisted minds.

In reality, the only thing I’ve killed this week is my car battery. After several weeks of letting it sit without use in the garage, there was no juice when I turned the ignition key. Apparently I left the trunk slightly cracked after retrieving some groceries last weekend and the light stayed on, slowly draining the power. Sadly, my car has become simply a storage place for our hoarded goods like paper products, water, dog food, and Diet Coke. There’s not much pantry space in our tiny apartment to keep these bulk-purchased items. 

We’ll take my wife’s car out to wine country this afternoon, a long-overdue outing. It was already in the 60’s when I ran early this morning and expected to approach eighty by the end of the day. Unfortunately, there will be no wine tasting involved in this excursion. The mission is strictly to pick-up a case as part of our annual membership commitment. Normally, we go on a wine-tasting adventure about every two weeks, but it’s been since Thanksgiving, almost six months ago that we last made the journey. The wineries are only open limited hours for customer service, and like most retailers  struggling to stay in business during this COVID-19 crisis. We set-up an appointment, so they will be glad to see us – unless that battery is dead, too!