I’m not sure anymore what day my week starts? Are there still seven days in a week anymore or do they just merge together into months and years? I still have the 1000 Places to See Before I Die calendar on my desk to give me reference, but soon I’ll turn-over the last page and probably won’t get a new one. There’s still a date icon in the lower corner of the computer I’m using, but I pay little attention anymore. Rarely I fill out a check with the date, and certainly there’s no longer the need to write business proposals that are date sensitive. It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of the days, and more than likely it just doesn’t matter. 

Time is still important, although it passes quickly. My current routine has me up at 6:45 a.m. After some push-ups and sit-ups, I take the dogs out to do their business. By half-past seven, I’m starting my run that was cut short this morning by a baseball card show. I prefer to do things in the afternoon, so mornings are not disrupted, but on occasion I will have to be somewhere early. It’s then a mile-plus run rather than the standard 3.1 mile norm. This sustains my consecutive running streak that now stands at 3,940 days. One mile is the minimum daily requirement, according to strict USRSA standards. 

With our recent move to a near-downtown Portland apartment, I’m in the process of establishing a new course, so right now my street routine varies every day. I can run north or south across the alphabet streets or east/west numerically. The good news is that it’s hard to get lost even for someone as direction-ally challenged as myself. (See Post #1081). We live in the middle of the alphabet on 21st Street – the Willamette River (as in dammit) borders 1st Street. A for Ankeny or Alder (there’s apparently a difference in opinion) borders downtown, however B for Burnside is the main divider. The blocks are also shorter – 20 blocks to a mile, whereas most American cities have much larger block patterns. This morning I ran a loop down to 10th and back to complete my Streak minimum. Now, it’s off to the card show.

Last night, we walked seven blocks to our first neighborhood restaurant, Mamma Bird. There are two restaurants directly below us that are just an elevator ride away, plus countless other good choices within a twelve-block radius. Rarely will we have to get in the car for entertainment, although tonight we’ll see the movie Judy with some passes to a theater nearer our old neighborhood. There is a movie house just down the street that offers $5 tickets on Mondays. It will be a frequent matinee choice starting with Joker next week. Soon, we’ll be neighborhood regulars at the bars and shops that make this section of Portland unique. It’s why we chose it as the first stage in our joint retirement plan.