8/20 - 8/26

Trevor had to workout alone Monday because Penny and I went to Over 60s, which we do once per month. Sheyenne Chatham was the entertainment. For a ten-year old, I can't remember ever hearing a better singer. Although I could not lift, I did make it to the pool and swam

1,000
1,600 countdown
100 easy
total: 2,700 meters

Tuesday I only swam 1,700 (countdown set), but at the gym, Trevor and I worked legs for the first time. We both need it; maybe we can stick with the lower body work.

Wednesday I did not do a warm up set at the pool but started right off with a countdown set. The first 100 was a little tough but it get better quickly. At Plate City I benched

17 X 70
10 X 95
8 X 120
4 X 130
4 X 130
1 X 135
4 X 130
4 X 130
14 X 120

I was stronger, noticeably, than a single week ago. 

Thursday I had to work until 4:00 at the Moorhead campus so I could not get my swim in and the gym work. Trevor and I did shoulders, biceps, and traps.

Friday morning, I had the tough call between going to the pastors' breakfast and going to the pool with no worries about time. I chose the pool and did 4,500 straight, the longest swim I have done since June 3, 2017. I am beginning to believe that not only can I swim, but I can swim long again.

Saturday I worked out alone hitting most of the upper body and late in the afternoon I went to the pool for an easy 1,800.

For the week, I 

swam four times for 12,700 meters,
lifted four times,
and ambulated 4.91 miles.

It's getting better, thank the Lord. 

Plate City in Full Swing

Trevor doing a set of curls.

A month or so ago, I wrote about the improvements I've made this summer at Plate City Gym. Since then I have made the ultimate improvement. Or maybe I should say, the ultimate improvement happened. Or more accurately, God made the ultimate improvement: I acquired a training partner, the first real one I've had at the gym since the early 1980s. You read that right, the 1980s. In fact, Plate City did not exist from the mid '80s until it began to be reborn around 2004. Now she is a star, the apex of backyard gyms.

Trevor McLean, a friend and member of Team Centerville, started coming by after work a few weeks ago. Although I have worked out alone for years, having a buddy to lift with has helped in several ways.

One way Trevor has helped is to increase my regularity. At my advancing age, I am finding myself pretty tired at the end of an easy day. Consequently, I stretch out to take a nap and sometimes get lazy and let a day slip by without doing anything. Now I have Trevor texting me from the backyard wanting to know when the weight clanging starts. That's a good thing. I have to get up and get going.

Another advantage of having T-Man come by for the past several weeks, is he adds youthful enthusiasm to the workout. I can use that. Especially today when I was having real trouble even changing clothes much less hitting the gym. Furthermore, he often pushes me in ways I need pushing. With him there, he challenges me to another rep, another set, another exercise. Although I need no help to get outside and do bench presses, with T-Man's company I am more consistently hitting some muscles that often went neglected.

Today we made a joint commitment to do leg work every week. That's one of the muscle groups that I need to work most, but find it easiest to neglect. We even set Monday, the first day of the working week, as leg day. That sounds like a plan that will work. If we can stay on the legs, and I can lose some weight, I may be able to get my running back. Lord, I am doing what I can. Please make up the difference.

T-Man hitting a set of shrugs using
the leg press machine.

205 - 207

205
rain drizzles on sheep,
border collie sleeps on porch,
sun begins to shine

206 
flock lies under tree
dark clouds roll while sheep chew cud,
eyes peer from dark woods

207
daffodils dot the field
while gentle sheep feed in peace,
coyotes gaze from woods.

8/13 - 8/10

This was Hades Week at school, and I think I won't say anymore about that. Having real job hours makes playing difficult, and if I don't play I ain't happy. I did play some, but not as much as I wanted or needed. Monday, Trevor and I worked out at Plate City Gym. On the bench, I pressed

15 X 70
10 X 95
8 X 120
3 X 130
3 X 130 and then a strip down set of
  3 X 130
  3 X 125
  3 X 120
  3 X 115

Tuesday I went to the pool and swam

2 X 500
1,000 countdown (21:08)
6 X 50 small paddles
200 easy
total: 2,500 meters

I didn't do anything Wednesday, but Thursday I was back at Twin Rivers for

1,200
1,200 countdown
8 X 50 small paddles
300 easy
total: 3,100 meters

Nothing Friday. Saturday, however, Trevor and I hit Plate City. Since we had missed several days, we blasted the whole upper body as well as calves. Two hours and forty five minutes later, I hit the water for

1,400
1,400 countdown
4 X 100 small paddles
total: 3,200 meters

For the week, I only lifted weight twice and swam 8,800 meters. Now that registration week is over, I plan to be more consistent with the lifting as well as swimming. The shoulder is still far from 100%, but thank you God above that I can swim and enjoy it. Pray for me and rejoice with me that I am as well as I am. I want to start back running. Every time my knee feels well enough, I start limping again. Sigh. God is good anyway. 

8/6 - 8/12

Boy howdie was I getting it going. 

Was. 

Let me tell you about it.

Monday morning, I swam

1,200
600 cd (this is my old countdown set, a proven fitness builder)
700 cd
2 X 50 small paddles
total: 2,600 meters.

In the afternoon on the bench, I pressed

15 X 70
10 X 95
8 X 120
3 X 130
3 X 130
3 X 130
8 X 120
9 X 115

Tuesday morning I swam

1,300
800 cd
10 X 50 small paddles
100
total: 2,800 meters.

For reasons I can't remember, I did not lift weights in the afternoon.

Wednesday morning, I swam

1,400
6 X 100 @ 2:25
200 easy
4 X 100 @ 2:25 (I felt some tendon pain on the last two reps)
2 X 50
total: 2,700 meters.

Thursday I did nothing. Friday I exercised not. Saturday I did a touch of lifting but far too light and far too few sets.

For the week, I 

swam 8,100 meters,
lifted weights twice,
walked very little, and rode not at all.

What happened? 

I don't know. I do know the shoulder flaring up sort of threw a monkey wrench into my emotions, momentum, and drive. Maybe I will get it back next week. Help me, Jesus, help me.

I Found Him!

He just stood there and looked at me. I kept calling his name over and over, and he didn't say a word for what seemed like forever, but really was probably only a minute or two. Finally he spoke.

"Hi."

The side of the old house at Hillbilly Heaven

"I've been looking for you. For years. After your house burned, I didn't know if you were dead or alive. Where have you been? For the past few months I have called, driven, thought, prayed, researched, investigated, done everything I could think of. Twice. I don't understand."

He looked over my shoulder and out the window like he was nervous. 

"Does Ellis know you're here?"

He shook his head 'no.'

"You ain't gunna tell are you?"

"No."

Then he looked at Zane.

"He won't tell. This is my grandson, Zane. How long you been here?"

He never answered the question. I finally got him to relax enough to sit down in the living room and we talked. Some. He gave up a little information, but not much and then grudgingly. Getting stuff out of Ray was always like pulling teeth.

He did confirm a lot of what Ezell had told me. They worked together until short wood went out. Then he bummed around awhile, doing carpentry work, roofing, breaking horses, driving a truck, but never staying anywhere very long. Now at night he hides out in the old house at Hillbilly Heaven. By day he drives a tractor for a farmer in the delta, but he never would tell me who although I asked several times.

I did get him to say that he walks through the woods to the highway and catches a ride to work every day. Attempts to get him to tell his age, talk about his parents, say where he came from, give any solid details about anything all failed. He never said, 'I don't want to talk about it,' he just didn't answer. After all these years and after finally finding him again, he remains a mystery. That seems to be the way he wants it, but it makes me a little suspicious. Is he wanted by the law? Is he immortal, never ageing? Is he an angel, a demon, a ghost? Most of the people who remember him are now dead. 

The only picture I was able to get was one I took by stealth. He flat out refused to let me take one. He never told me his plans; he didn't say how long he would hide out on Hillbilly Heaven. When I asked when we could talk again, all he said was "later." We stayed until I was afraid the rest of the family would get worried about Zane and me being gone so long. Then we left not knowing if I, we, would ever see him again or not.

The furtive photo I took while we were leaving.

As we walked back towards the house and away from Ray, Zane asked me if I was happy.

"I don't know how to feel, Zane. I don't know how to feel. But we have to keep this a secret. No one will ever believe us anyway."

"I always believed you, Poppy."

"I know you did, son. You were the only one."

Bikes, Blues[,] & Bayous

Friday, downtown Greenwood was as busy as I have ever seen it with the exception of Band Festival Day back when I was a kid. Howard Street was hopping so hot that I was surprised when I found a parking place. 

I was headed to the Alluvian to register for the 2018 edition of Bikes, Blues[,] & Bayous. Besides the traffic, people on foot were everywhere. Couples walked hand it hand, exploring the glory that is one lovely street in Greenwood. I overheard someone asking for directions to Giardina's. Inside the motel, every available seat in the lobby was filled. I found my way to the registration table and did the deed. I payed the money and committed myself to ride miles the next day for which I was not prepared. What else is new?

Saturday morning I arose just in time to slip on cycling shorts, pump up two almost flat tires, and make my way to Front Street where I was greeted with the spectacle of 1,056 cyclists. What a sight. 

The starter's gun went off at 7:00 am. Although I did not time it, a solid three minutes must have passed before I began to push my bicycle with one foot while trying to stay balanced at 2.1 miles per hour. It took another three minutes to pass the Aluvian. Eventually we crossed turned west, then north, and finally crossed the bridge onto Grand Boulevard. By then we were up to almost seven miles per hour. I'm not complaining; I'm explaining that it takes awhile to get over 1,000 bicycles up to speed.

The morning was amazingly cool. I have always been aware of weather, but I do not remember an August that has ever rolled in so cool as this one. The temperature would rise to 93 by early afternoon, but at 7:00 am it was still a pleasant 67 degrees.

I was only riding to Money and back. Although I rode the 46 last year on minimal training, I didn't want to suffer the last 15 miles this year so I took the short option. It was fun out there on the road with scores of other cyclists. I bumped into people I knew and many I did not. A few miles out, I heard someone yell, "Dr. Hodge." I assumed it was a student because almost no one else calls me that. I tried to turn to look, but one sign of my advanced age is I can't look behind me while I am riding a bike anymore. My neck just won't make the bend. I yelled back, "Who is back there?" "McCoy," was the answer, so I slowed enough to get beside one of our city councilmen who is always a nice man wherever you meet him. We rode together for awhile before I decided to press on a little faster.

That building in the background is
Ben Roy's Service.

When I made it to Money, the place was jumping like a Saturday night dance on the Fourth of July. In my haste, I had not even put a water bottle on my bike so I needed something to drink. At first, all I could find was pickle juice and I drank it like cold water on a hot day.

I saw Tom Flanagan, the tall lawyer I used to ride with often. Later, I bumped into Wilson Carroll and his son Spencer, some of the saviors of this year's Chicot Challenge. Then I saw Jackie Blue and her husband, Jerry. Of course there were people everywhere I had never seen. The rest area, at Ben Roy's Service. was well furnished. Back when I was a kid, my did often stopped here for gas, beer, and bait when we fished the McIntyre Scatters a few miles up the road. Now the building has been refurbished and serves as the Money rest stop. Next door is the collapsing building where the Emmett Till incident took place. Unlike Ben Roy's, it is falling down a few brick per year, and vines cover much of what remains. As a young man, I ate lunch in that building one day. Now posted signs cover what little can be seen. The owners, like many Mississippians, just want it to go away, but our past can't be escaped that easily.

The lovely Jackie Blue. Unlike her name,
she is always happy and bubbling over.

On the way back, I passed David Pentecost who was headed north with three of his grandchildren, all the little ones on little bicycles. At the start he had come up to me and asked if I remembered when we made the ride to McIntyre Lake and back when we were kids. Dad had taken all the neighborhood children on the ride to the lake where we swam, are hot dogs, and jumped off the bridge. Now here we are, old men reliving our past, and he handing down bicycle memories to his grandchildren.

I hopped a few wheels on the trek back to Greenwood, but always managed to get dropped. But I made it. It was a nice ride, day, event. Maybe next year I can go all the way to Minter City. The rest stop there is over the top.

7/30 - 8/5

A big week it was, but I sit in horror as I ponder the fact that I will soon be back at work. I haven't had much free time this summer. Maybe next year.

Monday I hit 3,800 straight, my longest of the year, but the pace was a lousy 2:19. At the gym, I benched 

15 X 70
10 X 95
6 X 115
4 X 120
3 X 125
2 X 130
2 X 130
3 X 125
5 X 115
13 X 100

Tuesday, at the pool, I swam

1,300
12 X 100 @ 2:30 (with Tyron,; it was tough but a start)
200 eay
6 X 50 @ 1:30 small paddles
100 easy
total: 3,100

At the gym, I worked upper back.

Wednesday, I did

2,200
6 X 150 with Tyron (middle 50 fast)
total: 3,100

At Plate City, I worked traps and biceps.

Thursday, I swam

1,000
400 cd
500 cd
6 X 50 small paddles
total 2,200

Friday I just got in and swam. After 4,200, I stopped. My average pace was 2:08. Then I hit the weights at Plate City.

Saturday, I rode my 11th Bikes, Blues[,] & Bayous. I will do a separate post later. In the afternoon, I did some light and varied work at the gym.

For the week, I

lifted weights 5 X,
ambulated 2.94 miles,
cycled 23 miles, and
swam 16,400 meters. 

Thank you, Jesus.