A Non-typical Friday

Not this time. Not this Friday. I did not do a long run, an adventure run. Why? I am racing Saturday so Friday was part of my taper. What is the race? Grenada is hosting its third annual Winter Classice half marathon. I did it last year and liked the course so I'm going back. It should be good training for me to run thirteen miles at a pace faster than I train.

I did swim Friday for my fifth day in a row, and I did even more than I have any day this week. I stroked

  2,050 40:28

  6 X 25 no breath

  4 X 50 back

  total: 2,400 yards

You might notice that my pace was faster than Thursday. Finally, I feel like I am beginning to come around in the water. You might also have noticed that I have done no quality in the pool this week. It has all been focused on basic fitness and breath control.

After the pool, I rested. Eventually I went to Plate City where I did a little bit of treadmill running and some uppper body weight lifting. That was it on the training front. 

Penny and I then went to Crystal for dinner. I ordered the chicken livers which is my second favorite meal there. I'll get my favorite one Sunday at lunch. 

After that, we rode around and looked at Christmas decorations, but not before we went to Wendy's and ordered a frosty. Yeah, we're bad like that. Then it was time for home and rest.

What's Not Good about That?

Thursday morning I was in the pool kicking butt and taking names. Not really, but I felt a little more fit. And it is nice not to have to jump out and hurry home to get ready for work. I swam

  1,850 41:30

  5 X 25 no breath

  25 breast

  3 X 50 back

  50 easy

  total: 2,200 yards

I guess you can tell that I am working on basic fitness, trying to rebuild the base. The shoulder is feeling good, and I am swimming a bit better. I hope to keep building and Plate City is set up to give me the best dryland experience possible. I should be able to get fit enough for the State Senior Olympics and the State Games of Mississippi, not to mention the Heart O' Dixie Triathuuhlon and the mystery event that I have not yet announced.

After lunch, I went Christmas shopping and got a lot done. I bought a gift. Sometimes one is a lot. Then back home, I did not go out on the road. Instead, I rested then went to Plate City. I ran on the treadmill, did light shoulder work, and punched Bob, the heavy bag, and the speed bag. On the TM, I ran 2.55 miles. Also I worked the skierg for the second time this week. The skierg is gold for swimming, but I have a love/hate relationship with that thing. It hurts so good/bad. Sometimes I just stand there and stare at it knowing I need to work on it but instead searching my mind for an excuse not to. 

*Sigh. 

Sometimes I can be wimpy like that. But I did it. It was a good day. I shopped, I drank coffee, and petted cats, I trained. What's not good about that?

I Have Plans Yet

What I didn't tell you yesterday was that I went to Plate City after I arrived home from the sit down with the old buds, Charlie and Lynn. I did push and pull along with some treadmill running to bookend the swimming I did at the beginning of the day. So that was one full and enjoyable day.

Wednesday morning I hit the pool just a little bit harder than I have of late. I swam

  1,800

  4 X 25 no breath

  100 back

  total: 2,000 yards

CC is giving me the treatment again so Luvie has been hanging out with me. He needs some love and has been neglected for a long time due to CC's ways. She is too much. Often I don't have the emotional energy to deal with her. She wants me to woo her. She takes a lot of wooing, sometimes more than I have.

Since it rained all day and half the night Wednesday, I spent a good bit of time at the gym setting up Bob, watching sports TV about Mike Leach, and working out. I ran another 2.83 miles. Who is Bob? you ask. Punching Bob, the new addition to Plate City. I will make a little video and post it on my YouTube. I filled him with 150 pounds of sand. Yeehaa. Plate City is more gooder than ever. And I have plans yet. Thank you, Jesus.

The Old Trio Together Again

Two or three of you might be wondering why I didn't post yesterday. I did not because I had a full day planned. This was the long-awaited day that I would travel to Flowood to get up with the other two-thirds of the unholy trinity, the crazy three, the bad boys from back in the day. I was to meet Charlie Turner and Lynn Watts for a sit down and a meal. This would be the first time the three of us had been together in about forty-seven or forty-eight years.

Before leaving for Flowood, however, I went to the pool and got a swim in. I did

  1,650

  3 X 25 no breath

  75 back

  total: 1,800 yards

I carried my day's clothing with me to the pool so I could leave from there. And I did. Leaving the pool, I headed south and did not stop until I got to Madison, where I picked up something new for Plate City. Then I continued my journey south. I made it to Walmart in Flowood where I thought we were to meet. Charlie showed up and after a bit Lynn texted and wanted to know where we were. Turns out, we, Charlie and I, were in the wrong town. The meetup had been set for Brandon, but somehow my mind mixed it up. I'm good like that.

To make a short story, long, Lynn travelled to Flowood, and the terrible trio were together again. Anyway, it did not take long to see that we would never leave the parking lot if I didn't say, "Let's go somewhere. I'm hungry." We might still be there talking about the old days. 

I had a hard time getting these guys on the road.

So we finally got a move on and drove west to Logan's where we were able to sit down, eat a steak, and have some good laughs. I ordered the 22 ounce porterhouse because they didn't have a 24 ouncer. I can't recount for you what we talked about. The Fifth Ammenment to the United States constitution says I don't have to incriminate myself so I won't. But I will say there was some talk about dragging an aluminum boat down an asphalt road at high speed. Bear in mind, in those days, air-conditioning in pickup trucks was a rare thing so the windows were down, and I recalled not being able to hear much for weeks afterwards.

We spent another half hour in the parking lot after our meal.

There was also some talk of a 12-gauge shotgun going off three times in an upscale neighborhood of Greenwood, of some fast spinning out and running stop signs getting away, and wondering how we didn't go to jail. Amazingly, several stories were told that I didn't know. When I protested that I was not there for those events, both of my old buddies vowed I was. Well, there is a reason I have amnesia about a lot of the past.

Hal Flowers came up. We hung out with him a little bit. Thank the good Lord we weren't together too much or we would have some long police records. He is the only person who rivalled Charlie Turner when it came to crazy. Lynn asked if we knew what became of him. You should have seen the look on Lynn's face when I said, "He's an infectious disease doctor at the hospital," I pointed west towards St. Dominic's.

I had to ask one question of Lynn. I already knew the answer, but I wanted confimation. I think I was absent the night Charlie and Lynn took to chopping down road signs with machetees. In those days, road signs were on wooden posts. Because of my friends, they are now on metal posts. I figure it was Charlie's suggestion because he was always had the best ideas. When I asked whose idea it was, Lynn pointed at Charlie. Poor Lynn. He would not have done half the bad stuff he did if it were not for me and CT. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd.

Now we are already thinking of when and where to get together again. We are not only thinking, but thanking. At least I am. Thank God we survived it all and even became solid citizens. That's what Jesus can do with the worst of us. Thank you, Lord.

12/5 - 12/11

Week 49 of 2022 was a decent one for training. I finished a semester at school and got a leg up on my marathon training (pun intended). Not only that, but I mowed the back lawn, took some naps, and set up a rendevouz for next week with the terrible trio. 

Monday started with 1,400 in the pool. Then after a long day at work, I shuffled 5.32 miles.

The pool numbers were the same Tuesday although the practice was different. T was there and we hit some hard 50s. On the road, I shuffled 3.3 miles, and at the gym I lifted weights.

I busted out 1,700 yards Wednesday and ran 5.3 miles. On top of all of that, it was leg day at Plate City, and I had no pitty on my spindly chicken sticks.

Thursday morning Tyler and I swam another 1,400 yards but with even more fast 50s than Tuesday. I only shuffled 1.33 miles, however, because of all the stress my skinny calves took the night before.

Friday was an adventure run in the triangle in Carroll County. I shuffled 18.51 miles. Since that is kind of a lot for me, I did nothing else that day and night.

Since I had some sore stuff after my long run, I crossed running off the agenda for Saturday. I did go to the gym and work my full body. We had a Christmas party that night and of course I ate too much. But it was still a pretty solid training block.

For the week, I

  swam 5,390 meters,

  lifted weights three times, and

  ran 33.76 miles

That is not bad. The swimming volume is still too low, but it is easing up, which is the only way I can get it up right now. I really need to start training in the water rather than doing just a little swimming. I have several things on the horizon for this summer that involve a strong swim. There is the State Senior Olympics, the State Games of Mississippi, the Heart O' Dixie Triathuuhlon, and a mystery event that I have yet to unveil to the public. Stay tuned for an announcement on that not long into the new year.

Free Friday

I woke up Friday morning knowing I had a day to hit the road and build some fitness. That's my kind of attitude, oportunity. I already had a plan. The plan was to drive to Carrollton, park at Dollar General, and make another run from there. This time, however, I would go inland, go into the heart of the big triangle, the huge expanse of wild country between Highways 17 on the west, 35 on the east, and 430 on the south. I was running by 9:02 a.m.

In less than a mile, I had turned off Highway 17 and into the triangle, onto County Road 211. Having studied Google Maps, I had an idea about some of the roads in this area. My plan was to just run south on 211 and get a view of the roads that peel off of it.

What kind of image is this?

One of the first things that stood out to me was the tree above. To me, it is a stunning image of death. Standing there all alone, with an old lightening scar and no leaves, it looks aged and dead. Certainly it is aged. Dead? I think not.

I shuffled on until the road turned gravel. Then I began to feel that spirit of adventure. The road constantly twisted, turned, rose, fell. What is around the next bend?

County Road 211 after the rain stopped.

For the first couple of hours it rained lightly on me. The weather was warm enough that getting wet was not a concern. In fact, the drizzle gave me just a touch of cooling and made for near perfect running conditions.

I crossed several creeks and took a picture of each one. You know what crossing a creek means, don't you? It means you go down hill for a long way and then you go uphill for a long way. Good training if you can take it.

One of several I crossed, Pelucia I think.

About seven miles in, I entered a new section. I started coming upon old homesteads, and I mean old. Most of these looked like they were built in the late 1800s or the early 20th century. When people back then build homes in rural Carroll County, they were not constructing weekend houses or hunting camps. They were trying to eke out a living. How did these people get their start? Even though land was cheep back then, it wasn't free. What bank would loan money to a man who owned nothing but two hands and an axe several thousand dollars to buy land he had to clear by hand and farm with mules?

One of several old, abandoned houses
 I photographed.

Around eight miles, I came upon some horses and an interesting-looking barn. I took a couple of photos and then noticed an elderly black man observing me from his yard across the road. He was the first person I had seen in an hour or more.

I love that barn. And the horses must have never seen
someone coming down the road on foot.

I walked over into his yard and attempted to talk to him. He was very interested in where I was from, and he seemed suspicious of me. I guess they don't get many visitors out here, and the fact that I took a photo of his horses apparently made him wary. I asked him how far it was to Highway 430. When he told me it was about five miles, I knew that was too far for me to get there and back. So I left and when on about another mile and turned around at 9.17 miles and headed back the way I had come.

How many kids grew up in that house? Where are they now?
Are their memories good or bad?

On the way back, I began to notice coyote doo doo all over the road. I also took pictures of the road signs so when I got home, I could check out Google Maps and know more about where I wanted to run next time. Around mile 17 things began to get tough for me. They always do. To make a short story long, I limped in for 18.51 miles. Slow. They were slow miles, but I did them, I had fun, and I am going back for more. What did I learn? I learned there is a whole lot of land and some interesting views in the triangle. I want to see them all.

Invisible Ink

It finally happened, we received the announcemnt that we (our department) were through, had finished our duties, and could call off our vigil of standing by our phones. They did reach out and touch us Wednesday and make us do something we had never done before. But Thursday midmorning we got word that the armastice had been signed, the war was over, and we could go back to our lives. Thank you Jesus.

I did, against advice, got to the pool first thing. I even met Tyler there and we swam

  700

  10 X 50 r 20

  200

  total: 1,400 yards

That was a real practice. I went home afterwards and drank coffee, waited, wonderiing what they could do to prolong the semester. I went out for a short run, a very short one of 1.33 miles. Remember, I shuffled 5.3 the day before and on the squat did four sets of doubles at 80% of one-rep max with only 30 seconds rest between each set. There was other stuff also. In short, I was proud I could walk much less shuffle a slow mile.

Then I sold a couple of small pieces of exercise equipment. The next few sentences are written in invisible ink. If you can read them, then you are not my wife. Selling a bench, a weight tree, and a heavy bag (plus I gave away a Total Gym) means I have some coins and some room for new equipment. I know what you are thinking: how could you possibly need more exercise equipment? Believe me, need has nothing to do with it.

I spent most of the afternoon taking naps and hanging out with CC. She has been insatiable of late. We had a Ministers' and Wives' banquet that night at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church. When we arrived, we saw Larry's trailer (Larry's Fish House) parked next to the Family Life Center. That meant a good night was going to be a great one. We just ate and fellowshipped and found it highly enjoyable.

When we got home, I went to bed and slept like a rotten log on a river bank. I woke up with a wet T-shirt. When I sleep really well, I always sweat a lot. Anyone else do that? So, you can probably tell that it was a nice today. What will this one hold? As much as I can fill it with.