A Good One

Friday morning saw me up at 6:00 a.m., working. I did my stuff and then begin my regiment of coffee drinking and cat petting. Originally I had planned on being in the water at 5:30. But I was too tired for that, plus I wanted as much of a slow-start day as I could get.

I had one advantage that would serve me well. The sky was overcast. That meant I did not have to worry about the sun. I take it pretty well, but as I advance in age, I am realizing that cooking in the sun really is not good for one's skin. Not only that, but sunscreen will only last in water about 90 minutes.

If I had started at 5:30, the sun's direct rays would have only hit me for about thirty minutes. But as it was, I started at 8:30 with the goal of swimming for around three hours. I began swimming on the west wall because I knew the women's water aerobics would be in at 9:00. We can coexist in the big pool and the west wall takes me totally out of their way.

So I had been swimming for exactly thirty minutes when they arrived. You can set your watch by these ladies. They were scheduled for one hour. For me, that was good because having company, any company, makes a long swim a little easier. That is one of the reasons I like the big boat for Chicot. Besides safety for me and comfort for the kayakers, having a few extra pairs of eyes on me makes me swim better.

It did Friday morning. I have been lamenting my slow long-course times. Those times picked up with the ladies being there for an hour. Actually, they stayed an extra five minutes. Not long after they left, Rose Bowman and another lady came in.

I tapped out after 2:24. That is only two minutes longer than my longest long-course swim of the year, but 1,200 meters farther. Huh? Yeah, I busted out 6,800 meters, a bit better than four miles. Maybe I should have kept going, but I had other things I wanted and needed to do.

The first other thing I did was eat lunch. Then I did some lounging. I contacted Taylor Buchanon about my broken phone. He came to the Hideout, picked up my phone, and loaned me a phone that would ring if someone called my number. I went back inside and about an hour later he called and said he was in my driveway with what looked like a new phone. He had replaced the badly broken screen and the almost worthless battery. It is like I have a new phone. Taylor is the man.

After that, I texted Barry Brewer then drove out to his business where we designed a new Chicot shirt. This one is simple with no art work on it. This one is also late, but it has been that kind of year.

I went home and took a short shuffle, 2.6 miles. I ran the river trail mostly. I finally figured that thing out and know my way around in there. In the past, every time I thought I knew it, something would confuse me. No, I never studied the map they have posted at the trail head. I'm a man. I just ran around in there. I think they think of it as four trails, going by the color markers they use. There is the yellow trail that is the basic one that runs the full length and is closest to Claiborne. There are two large trees down and blocking it so I have not run that full thing in months. Then there is the blue loop which is the one farthest west. There is also the red loop which goes to the river bank and is the farthest east. That makes three so you see, I am still confused.

I lifted at the new and improved Plate City Gym. It started raining while I was out there. That was the third time that I did not get rained out of a workout. It felt delightful while the air cooled, the winds blew, and the thunder roared.

Thank you, Jesus.