Life & Death & Life

My beloved husband, Bill Irwin, passed away on August 17th.  He is greatly missed.

Here is a link to his obituary: https://www.williamsthomasfuneralhome.com/obituaries/william-bill-irwin-4

I have no words...just a thankfulness for the life we shared and the blessing of being Bill Irwin's wife.  

"I love you Bill, always and forever!"

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Congrats to Spain

 

over the night's course.In today's final round game, played in New Jersey, The Spsin nationl soccer team w on over  Argentina 1-0 in extra time to claim the 2026 WorldCup title. again, congrats to Spain...

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rock-running

 10:30...

Happy Independence Day

 Happy Independence Day..

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MY TOp 3 Songsof June 2,2026

         BEETHOVEN: 7th SYMPHONY

         2-The Smiths:How Soon Is Now? 

         3-BEETHOVEN:Fifth SYMPHONY

                                

Medical emergINCIes bring on on rrehab stretch

 Melissa a I expi2ncd a diffiult 2-week stretcha UF Helath rh paten, wih our eating and bathoom acti carefully monitored n contollloed t lest until our release Saturday morning. Preced thiw I hd  bd hit th hard  dining room floo no-fir(wih profuse bleedin0 I thn n ino two dp gGrand ML EPileptic seiures, bin on the hospital trip befoere our admission there.motre bou ho UHealth Rehb went fo an oou optct n  later article...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   m l                                           lth R                                                                              l                                                                                                                    ,sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Close Call With Kitchen Floor Gives Me Pause

 Early in the Morning od Jun e 11th, on which my late mother would be turning 86, while chasing down a roach before heading to the back of the house,, I lost my balance and collided, nose-first, with the hard kitchen floor. At first I was convinced that a tooth had been broken, but the effect was to violenty twist the cartilage of my nose, bringing on some scary, acute nosebleed before the needed clotting set in. Melissa quickly drove my sorry ass down to the UFHealh Emergency room on  NW 39th Avenue.    After my session there, I returned home and slept off the rest o the morning, grateful to God for His divine protection during that time of my personal foolishness that I hope I learned something important from.  The rest of the day saw me being much more careful with my movements while honoring my wonderful mother's memory..Now onward to June 12th..    

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Beethoven"s 2 Symphonic Masterpieces 'Floored" Me

 Today I have listened through two diffrent, complete YouTub presentations to ludwig van Beethoven's 7th and 8th  Symphonies which he composed in 1811 and 1812..some 15 yearsbefore h prematurely succumbed to illness in 1827, only 5ee6 years old.  He had severe alcohol-induced liver disease and lea poisoning. when he died on March 17,1827.Whil not officially credited with being born on December 16rh,1770, hi birthday was faithfully celebrated through his lifetim onthat date.Hence little Schroeder ofPeanuts would make a point o wishing everyone a happy Beethiven's Birthday fo December 16th. KNown for rhhisshort temper andsocial awkwardness, hi music'squality fo me ...wespecially the nine symphonies...were by far his greatest creations.  The Seventh Symphony is one of my all-time favorite classical music pieces. At 41-plus minutes in length,whene I first heard it a couple of days ago, i was stunned myself by how deeply 2emotionally compelling it is: Ican't get enough of it!If you go out toYouTube, y can hear just about anything Beethoven did..or the works any other notable musical artists.  Of course, you'll probably have a nice picture or video to look at while listening...

Still Weak But Feeling Better

 While avoiding attempting further physically depleting workouts like in recent days, I find myself today feeling a little better...but just as weak as before.  the medicine I'm taking to lower my blood pressure seems to be working.  I am now ready to call it a day and lie down on the couch and watch some TV. Earlier on I heard Beethoven' s 7th Symphony and really liked it. It's now one of my favorites.  To all, sleep well tonight...

Walking Progress Seems Absent, Even Reversing

 This morning, amidst the high humidity and stifling heat, I got up and steadfastly took a painful walk/run around my .7-mile home block,doing very brief, slow jogging on the road back.  It was difficult and punishing, doing this. I don't feel that I am making the degree of progress that I had wanted:maybe there's no improvement happeningat all!  In fact, I feel like I am sliding.  Simple motions are getting harder for me. I prefer to avoid outings that demand physical endurance, balance, and the strength required for me to adequately lift my feet and legs from the ground while maintaining a sense of functional balance.  It's very discouraging when I just want to turn up the air conditioning and go back to bed and hide beneath the sheets...

Upcoming Speech Therapist Visit: Will It Help?

 Today I felt too tired to train.  Melissa said this may be due all the chemotherapy I had been taking recently against my glioblastoma brain cancer. My oncologist feels that the treatment..including Avastin infusions... fed into my weariness, and temporarily relenting on it could restore more energy to give me better strength and endurance.  Tomorrow a speech therapist will b visiting to assess how I am doing with my speech. Cognitively I don't think I have a speech problem, but that while engaging in speaking my voice tends to weaken and even break...this is frustrating when I get the impression that folks simply don't want to invest the needed time and attention to hear me out...

Skipped Exercise on Beach Excursion

 On Friday June 5th Melissa drove us to Daytona Beach to spend the weekend there, returning home today.  We skipped Gainesville's Saturday morning Depot ParkRun 5Kwhich in 2026 coincided with historic D-D-Day, 6-6-44,when Allied forces staged a successful amphibious landing in Normandy, France. For the trip I intentionally avoided exercise...this extended through today...

Cardiologist Visit, ExercIsing, Baseball, TV, Beach, Depot Parkrun, Typing

 This morning I visited my regular cardiologist at northern Gainesville's UF Health Medical plaza in Spring Hill. He endorsed prescriptions to help lower my recent high blood pressure...and the exercises continue! I also did a good amount of rock-running, mainly while watching baseball games on TV. Also, I slow-ran for 40 seconds across the back yard.  It's now early in he evening following sunset, and I'm ready for more television.  As for tomorrow, we'r e still considering a brief stay at the beach..Depot Parkrun is now "off the table." My typing accuracy has worsened a lot, so, I'll leave it for you to read the best that you can,errors and all. So for the time being, good night, everyone..sleep well...

Abnormal readings set the Tone for My Cardiologist Visit on Thursday

 This morning I awoke with the intention of walking around my home block with Melissa . but after getting two unusually high blood pressure readings, we instead decided to cool it with the intense physical activity. My nurse Jennifer visited and we had a good conversation.  I have a mid-morning appointment tomorrow with my cardiologist, but I suppose the main focus will be my recent high blood pressure spikes. I hope he has some good solutions to get me relief with this problem.  Later on today, I did some milder rock-running exercise while watching baseball on TV.  So right now I'm closing out today's blog article, preparing to go back to the bedroom to try to get a decent night's sleep.  And then it will be onward to the cardiologist again...

Exercise and Baseball Following Medical Tests

 After having some of my medical concerns addressed yesterday at Shands Hospital, today I was more into exercise, doing a single home block walk/run... and then i earned more than 10K steps while rock-running as I watched TV, mostly baseball, on our MLB channel.  My favorite specificgame this evening?  MIlwaukee'e 8-3 home field victory against their struggling National League rival San Francisco, as "Front RowAmy, the Brewers' top fan, meticulously watched, cheered and kept score for this interesting game's duration.Well, it's time now to go to the back of our house for some overnight climate-controlled rest and relaxation. Good night, Y'all... , and calm down, Peewee Daisy...

Alleviating Clotting Concerns Reason for Return Visit to Shands for Tests

 Late afternoon today Melissa came back to me, woke me up from my nap, and declared she was driving me to Shands Hospital toundergo an ultrasound and a ct-scan to rule out the risk o blood clots appearingas side effects of some of my brain cancer treatments.  Later in the evening I would be building up exercise steps while watching baseball on our MLB channel.  Later on I recall getting a reasonably good night's sleep.   A couple of good friends met us at the UF Health Neuromedicine building on Archer Road to consult with my neurooncologist, Dr. Serendipity Rinonos, and her nurse practitioner.Although the additional tests took place in a hectic setting and I felt  little roughhandled by thet ech who efficiently and competently performed the ultrasound, the result seemed reassuring to me.  Life for me happens one day at a time and I intend to live it that way.And I stand grateful to God and Melissa for looking after me...

Stubborn about Fighting Cancer for Extended Lifespan and Healthspan

 This morning Melissa and I exercise-walked north from our house  along NW 27th terrace..then turned around and walked back home.  i'm not happy that this walking of mine for distance is such a tiring grind, remembering how easy it used to be: I want to go back to being a power walker, challenging the 40-minute mark for 5K's.With slow running I want to be like Ralph the Ageless Runner on YouTube..I love his shows.As for me, I strongly want to become confident in my proven ability to slowly runfor long distances as I live through this unwelcome era of sudden cancer diagnosis bombs dropping on me and disrupting my life, physical mobility and hopes for my future as I want to live on a high-functioning level throughout my seventies..and possibly deeply into my eighties..The marker of my level of stubbornness that I embrace, without self-shaming, on the present moments of my immediate physical environment, is  and should be a highpriority for me, and for you...

Trying to Withstand Heat and Humidity on Parkrun Day

 I woke up this morning with no intention of completing our local Depot Parkrun 5K. In fact, after an elevated blood pressure reading of mysel, Melissa and I had a brief discussion as to whether we would even  try..but in the end we decided to show up and she volunteered to do  a lap.For me, walking on such a hard, rough surface for that distance wore badly, and the few seconds of very light running near the end was a kind of relief for me.In the backyard I ran slowly for 40 seconds...maybe rock-running on the living room floor in the evening will add a good amount of steps to my recorded daily total. A little while ago while sitting outside on the back porch I found the heat(nineties) and humidity to be almost unbearable..maybe some rain will improve conditions.  I am now going back to the bedroom (withA.C.).to rest some.  All the best to you and yours...

Parkrun Tomorrow Morning , No Plans ro Complete It

 During the previous 2 dawns, I arose and promptly navigated my way around my home block, walking most of the distance and slow-running the rest. I took this as simple exercise.  It's supposed to reduce my blood pressure,yet when Meliss takes my readings (sh does them often) they tend to come out high.This morning...if it doesn't rain.. we should have the chance to go down to Depot Park together and get in a short walking...and possibly a slow jog...workout. The idea of completing the race course by covering the stipulated course distance of four laps seem a bit out of reach for us right now...I have fresh memories of speed-walking throughout several Parkruns during the hot and humid summer o 2024 and 2025 while barely breaking into a light sweat...where have all the memories gone? My objective for tomorrow morning is to do some walking exercise out there with Melissa...and then we get back into the car whenever we're ready to call it a morning.  Completing the Parkrun..which requires taking some time to accomplish...is only a secondary goal to getting out there and showing up...let's get some training done...

MRI Scheduled Soon, Training Plans and Outlook

 I amoing to uUF Health Neuromedicine building in about on hour for them to do an MRI on my brain. rMRIa tend to go well for m, although going through thnoise an sucha lengthy procedure can get t o b annoying.  I am looking forward t o my health improving, and forthe cancer in my head to beat  a hasty retreat from my life. I want  nice, long lifespan with a lot of athletic fittness equipping m me to participate...and thrive..in various middle-length-distance running races organized for this fall and winter.But before I get to that point, I'd like to attain a sense of proven confidence about completing Depot Parkrun 5kK's on Saturday mornings.  (Primarily) walking around my ,7-mile home resisdential block is transforming into a healthful, habitual routine.  I do like it when I'm going down the return street and breaking into a brief, light jog fo a couple of house lengths.     Hooray, Martinus Evans!My stated goal is to become an Endurance fitness walker, with  a trail of successfully completedraces behind me...

Confirmed in Opposition to Trump and his Acolytes

 In late 2020 a crazy pro-Trump molestation conspiracy theory group calling itself QAnon grabbed news headlines, and I was treated once or twice following the presidential election to a group of those die-hard kuckoos waving at me as I carefully and slowly drove past them on Gainesville' sNW 39th Avenue, past the gentrified bunch of stores there, including Starbucks, called Magnolia Parke.  During the past five electoral opportunities when Donald Trump's name was on the ballot against other candidates, I never voted for him...yet HillaryClinton(2016), Joe Biden (2020), Chris Christie [2024] an Kamala Harris in the2024 general election received my enthusiastic votes...I would have been happy with any of them as my president.  As for Trump's suck-up acolytes...beginning with JD Vance, who I believe wants to sell out Ukraine to imperial Russia,and continuing with Pete Hegseth..I can easily confirm to the reader that I'll never vote for them, not even for dogcatcher. I know that my single, one vote on election day has about the same effect on outcomes as a drop of water in the ocean. I think that right now, DJT should be incarcerated for his 34-count felony convictions, receiving excellent medical care and security at taxpayer expense with all of the power he now exerts permanently removed. I also believe that past reported assassination attempts on him were fake, contrived hoaxes and that he successfully milked their media coverage to create a false public image about himself as a kind of folk hero.  Well, that worked: at large, people are susceptible, gullible schmucks.  But I can still love them despite my frustration, can't I?  Yet they voted for him for president. May God in His mercy look out for my fellow Americans in spite of themsselves...

With Today's Chemotherapy Experience Comes Hope for Future

 This morning I walked around my home block (.7 mile). At first there was an elderly man ahead of me walking his old dog, which often would stop and sniff around in the off-road grass.  Finally, along the street after rounding the block's far end, he took his buddy back up, into ttheir house...leaving me alone to complete my exercise chore.  I slow-ran the last half-block, jogging past houses with brief walking breaks.  This strategy looks to be very promising..I wonder if it will help me complete Parkruns in the reasonable future. Later this afternoon Melissa drove me down to the UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion off Gale Lemerand Drive.  There they drew my blood and took a urine specimen, then provided an IV chemotherapy Avastin infusion.  I'm back home now, feeling fine except for creeping anxiety about how my medical providers see the extent of my brain cancer, along with future prospects for my life and its quality.  I deeply wish that there will be no explosive growth of tumors like what happened to me in September and most of October last year, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the weeks and months to come. So I'm still hanging in there, wishing and praying for your health and, God willing, that my cancer will diminish and that my daily life will be fulfilling and marked by a high level of muscular  energy and cardiovascular fitness.Stay healthy, friends...

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Athletic Training Prospects with Uncertain Medical Future

 ALTHOUGH I am grateful((to God) for the time and quality of life He has so graciously granted me for this limited season, I get the disturbing impression that somehow the the clock is ticking down on me. Before the cancer bomb hit me in October,2025with no forwarning, my fitness level was sky-high...now when I walk I often feel as if I'm kicking down into the pavement with each walking step.  I'm still fighting the good fight with my training, practicing slow running in the back yard and rocking simultaneously back and forth on my feet...running in place seems to have slowed down, however, as a regular workout routine. Depot Parkrun 5K is a fitting challenge if I want to finish walking or running the course to completion....I just need to make it a priority.     This coming Saturday morning could well be too wet with the high probability of rain that they're forecasting.  The time is now approaching midnight...and I hear thunder in the background outside.   Tomorrow I'm going with Melissa to get blood drawn and another chemotherapy infusion session, to last much of the afternoon.And then later in the week I have another MRI to undergo.  That procedure, along with its analyzed results, could drastically change how stable of a life I have to expect at least for the short term, looking at my pain here with headaches, with me longing for release from having to pay attention to them and communicate my feelings to Melissafor for some relief and added life quality.  I just need to put everything about myself into the hands of the Lord...He's the Boss and has everything covered...                                                       

Storm, exercise, Steps,Baseball Commentary Over"Stepping"

 I regularly exercise indoors, in air conditioning on my living room floor, doingrock-running. By this way my heart rate gradually climbs over 90 beats per minute, reaching a low "zone one" of cardiovascular stress that physicians recommend to their patients for walking and light physical exertion.  Yesterday I earned a little more than 23K (23,000) steps training this way while watching TV, usually major league  baseball games, half-inning by half-inning.  MyFitbit watch has an annoying tendency to reset the step total to zero every few hours..and whenI've already done a few thousand steps, I try to remember to write down that number; I have credit for 2511 so far today.  Last night Gainesville had a tremendous thunderstorm that went on for hours..before today's meteorological activity I observed the clouds build up while sitting with sweet Melissa and Peewee Daisy on the back porch.  Maybe later today I'll be able to enjoy sitting outside some more with them.Yesterday evening I watched some baseball on the baseball channel we're subscribed to. I enjoyed the game but not the commentary during the final innings. The dude who thought he had all the important opinions came across  as cynical, hypercritical and disrespectful to both the game of baseball and to me as a fan who, ironically, has never played it.  Maybe if this continues I'll use the "mute" `button more.  More games are on tap today and into the evening:enjoy...

This is Memorial Day weekend, so with it I would like to honor Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in times of conflict to protect our blessed freedoms.  None of us, myself included, will live within our mortal bodies forever on this Earth.  Those who bravely sacrificed their precious lives for our sake are especially worthy of our respect and honor. May GOD bless them all...

(Slow)Running to assume more active Role in Future Races and Events

 On this morning for which is forecast a 90% probability of rain, I am certain that we will be witnessing some stormy weather.  For the Depot Parkrun5k, I didn't feel remotely adequate to the task ofcompleting the entire course, but Melissa walked the first and only lap with me.  I was a bit irritable and grumpy, but toward the end of the looped trail...when it leveled off...Iwas able to lightly run down the pathway...it was an unexpectedly pleasant and empowering experience!I think that, on a gut-feeling level, Martinus Evans has it right with his "slow AF" run club. In the future i'd like for Melissa to drive me down to a nearby running track for me to train there and see how far I can jog on it...I feel quite optimistic being able to cover a good distance.  Now let's see how this day goes weather-wise, and how much training will help to improve my overall c-v fitness and endurance.  Also, I'm planning to use that running training to boldly 'step up' my running contiributions to future Parkrun events and races...

New Parkrun 5K Completion Strategy

 As a personal journal entry of this blog,my report today concerns my feeling of physical tiredness on the eve of yet another Parkrun 5k running and walking fitness event, which quite a few participants treat competitively.  I just want to complete a full Parkrun 5k an get it 'officially' acknowledged through timing, scanning, and posting online.Walking seems right now to be the most feasible strategy for me to get through it all instead of stopping before the whole 4-lap course is covered, but even now it seems like the task is too formidable.I have my wristband with the barcode, on my left wrist.My stopwatch should do the trick or accurately record my finishing time, whether or not I actually complete the prescribed Parkrun 5k course.  This evening I am completing my TMZ chemotherapy dose.. I'm currently on the fifth cycle of chemotherapy(orally administered), prescribed against gbm brain cancer discovered and diagnosed during surgery on  October 24th, 2025.I love so much how Melissa is so caring and tender with her love during this ordeal of mine...God bless her! I'm looking at tomorrow morning and see an opportunity for me to design my own physical fitness program. I've divided  it all up in my mind into 3 parts:1:show up, 2:follow through, and then 3: reward myself. But hydrate a lot out there. Have a wonderful weekend, everybody...

ON Cancer, Late-NIght Political TV "Comedy, God in CONTROL, Mortality, Gratitude

 Today I made an earnest attempt to be more physically active with home-based exercise, combining walking, slow running and non-impact 'rock-running designed to increase my heart ratewithout putting strains on my soft leg and feet tisssue...total measured steps for today surpassed 14,000.  Now I'm being involuntarily exposed to TV news and so-called "comedic" late-night shows in which the hosts take potshots at our own depraved "leaders".  I am NOT a Jimmy Kimmel fan, and I've never been one.  And that Stephen Colbert..forget him!  I'd just like to live my life training for better fitness and endurance, and to train my reactions to others during my daily existence whenever processes test the limits to my patience. As a matter of fact, it's not the provocations I pass through that matter so much, but rather my own chosen reactions to them. I watch the local Gainesville-area news and am saddened by the stories about different folks who hurt others with  a kind of violence and abuse indicating that they've lost their minds.And there are the typically ugly mug shots I see                                                                                   slapped across the TV screen..no, they have taken leave of their senses, thoroughly impulsively reactive people that I deeply wish to avoid like the plague.  Well, now we have an ebola outbreak, a new variant of COVID, and the hantavirus scaring the general population.  And cancer is slipping in quite easily among the population, my own body struck with prostate and aggressive brain cancer varieties.  The medical care here provided in the Gainsville area by UF Health is state of the art, and the BOSS is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, running the entire show: I follow my health and medical providers' instructions and am at peace accepting that my physical life is limited by time and that I am in God's loving and powerful hands.  I am deeply grateful for the many wonderful blessings in my life and in those of my loved ones.  So I"m about to head back to the bedroom and briefly agitate our dearly beloved Pewee Daisy...may you all sleep well and enjoy tomorrow to its fullest...

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HeadacheThroughout Day, No Early Rising Planned

 It's now early evening here in gainesville, Florida, which went through a very uncomfortably hot stretch in the low nineties.  My exercising wasrestricted to rock-running in the living room, amassing~4,500 steps. Now the baseball channel is showing the tail end of a tied  gamethat is going to extra innings...I don'r care who wins, as usual.  I putout some K-Cup flavored decaf coffee to brew a pot...now I"m sipping from a small Mario Brothers mug.  I have been  sufffering from headaches for most of today and still feel their effects, moderate in intensity but not going away. I'm still speculating on last October and the worsening of my headaches back then, which I think may have intensified due i major part to the rapid growth of cancerous brain tumors that the surgeon generally removedo n October 24th, more than 95% of them according to his own account.  I don't want these tumors to return, and i really want the neext MRI's I undeergo to reveal that my tumor growth has stalled out, at least for the next few months.  Waste removal and recycling are scheduled for pickup in my neighborhood tomorrow.  I don't have plans to get up hours before sunrise...a good night's sleep would be in order.  Well, i can adjust the air and rest on the living room couch for a while before heading back to stir up Peewee Daisy.  Y'all have a good night tonight...

Looking Ahead to Today, Structure or Not

 I finally awoke and got up this morning as the time was approaching six o' clock...completed ten minutes of running in place on the living room rug floor as the coffee was brewing.  I don't know about any appointments or planned visits. There's no discernible timstructure or schedule ahead for today, other than reading, more physical training, or rest.  Ive grown to appreciate sitting outside on our back porch when it isn't raining, the chairs are dry, and Pewee Daisy seems the happiest.  From time to time I find myself with a mild headache...Melissa encourages me to be forthcoming about expressing my physical feelings to her. Beyond the gloomy, degrading news cycles i'm exposed to on television with this very disappointing, mean-spirited president and his soulless sycophants, it looks like old recycled movies, along with live major league baseball games on the Baseball.tv channel, are the only ways to go nowadays in this incrementally degrading society and culture.  Melissa is now up and about, and I am sipping on this tasty coffee, topped off by butterbeer-flavored creamer.  As for training goals, I want to keep my total dailyaccumulated steps at 7500-10,000.  Walking around our .7-mile neighborhood block and brief interspersed slow-running breaks, seem to fit the bill...as long it doesn't storm much and th temperatures can be endured..Good morning on this fine day to you all and enjoy it...God bless you....looking forward to hearing all the mourning doves, blue Jays, and crows...

My Ongoing Walking and Running Training Activity: Going for the Steps, Slowly

Today I exercised out in the back yard [soft running] and on the living room floor rug rock-running.  The other day I watched a YouTube video extolling walking for fitness' sake.  It touted doing up to 10,000 steps per day.  I have been monitoring my Fitbit and Angel Sense watches, and watched some live major league baseball innings while simultaneously rocking my feet forwards and backwards, in he process adding steps on my wrist device.  Yesterday I amassed 7,500 steps while, with today's sunset, I went over 8 thousand. Well, let's see how tomorrow goes.Becoming fitter with walking and running may, at my age and with this gloomy medical condition, have slowed down a lot.  but it won't be until Saturday morning, May 23rd, when I test my training progress during Gainesville's next Depot Park 5K.Speed doesn't matter here, only distance covered. Just call me the "slow AF geezer"...Funny, a little while ago I searched on my phone's Facebook for photos taken at last Saturdays'West End Community Parkrun 5K west of Gainesvilleon Newberry Road, but the pictures hadn't been processed.  Well, I'll check it out again tomorrow or Wednesday...

About YEeyerday and This Morning, Parkrun, and Training

 Yesterday for me at Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K,  didn't feel empowered enough to go beyond one lap...I even cut it short enough to circle the course once.yet i regard it all as a good walking exercise training session...my first of two today.  The second involved me walking with Melissa around our home block, just before twilight...the day's temperature had risen to 97 before dropping some into the upper eighties. While returning, i would break into a slow'Martinus Evans' jog spanning a couple of homes down our residential block...sometimes a little more.  Today, if the weather and my body [and mind]  decide to cooperate, I'll try mixing a little more running into the training session. This morning I arose early,but it took me a good while to do it completely...I'll brew some coffee and finish writing this article before running in place in the living room. In yesterday's photo from the Parkrun, as I was crossing the e first bridge I came away looking like a semi-zombie, trying to avoid falling forward...but I did get around to saying good morning to the nice lady taking the pics for the Depot Parkun to put on Facebook, posted last night. Today is Sunday, and Melissa and I plan to stay around the house with our beautiful, funny dog Peewee.  Life is precious and good...may you enjoy it and prosper...

This Morning's Overly Unpleasant Depot Parkrun 5K Walking Challenge

 Each week I think ahead to the next Saturday morning when they plan to hold another Depot parkrun 5K, an event i've completed since 2019, approaching 100 times.  Now, recovering from a steep dip in fitness and endurance after some strong treatment for recently diagnosed glioblastoma brain cancer and subsequent brain surgery[10/14/25], radiation and chemotherapy, I am still pushing to complete one full race at a time.  After finally reaching my comeback milestone of a completed course...scanned and posted online, I was skeptical this morning about being able to walk all four laps..I felt too roughand curbed the effort..  and today turned out to be another struggle as I struggled to complete most of just one lap before I went to the car. Maybe later this afternoon I'll make another venture around the block for purely exercise purposes, tTheMLB.tv channel looks like a good choice when I do decide to give training an overnight break. Melissa is now at UPS returning an unwanted item, and then we'll have some lunch...followed by sitting out on the back porch while Peewee Daisy runs around the backyard, mouth wide open like a sweet fool.The weather this afternoon will be hot and humid...let's be congnizant of that.  To you and yours, I wish you all a very happy Amy's birthday...

On Training to Cover Future Long-Distance Races

 This early Friday morning i woke up between 4;:30 and 5, and brewed a pot of caffeine, hazelnut-flavored coffee while I performed ten minutes of running-in-place on the living room rug floor...now I am writing out this blog article. i am thinking about how prepared (or not) I"ll be to completing this Saturday morning's 5K Depot Park walk..or walk/run..which will take me four laps to get through[ afterprobably 60-70 minutes.  I do have a stretegy for success here, which consists of me walking most of the race course and slow-running small s stretches that are relatively level. I'm open to the possibility of being surprised with extra energy...looking forward to the shock!  it will be the day when my dear niece Amy turns 42...she was born May 16th, 1984 and is turning 42 years old. As for myself, ii want to stretch out my days to reach 70 years in a sta te of strong physical vitality and realistic hope. Running slowly for 10K distances to 15K to half-marathons,  along with entering and finishing public races of these distances, are strong personal goals of mine.  Bring on the medals!This weekend promises to be yet another challenge as I repeat my attempts to successfully cover [by walking] Gainesville'sDepot Park 5Kcourse...andthen get back in our car and enjoy the rest of the weekendafter the volunteers time me, scan me and post my results online  As for you and yours, why not enjoy it, too...

More Morning Sleeep Plans and Wishes with Melissa's Appointment Ahead

 I  woke up early this morning, at 4:30.  The A.C. seems to be on overdrive, and some more home exercise is in order for me today, as Melissa has some important medical diagnostic activity scheduled ahead.  I think a little remedying for a headacheshould work for me, and today's weather should provide some dry outside surfaces on which to walk, run, or sit and observe with the company of Pewee Daisy,our Big Baby. yesterday evening was a bit frustrating with me lying on the living room couchwaitin for time to pass to enable me to sleep in the chilled air through a significant amount of a night's sleep.  Looks like i'll soon be returning to the back where our little dog can start barking, growlingm shaking...and talking. I may be spending spending some good time tomorrounder the blanket sleeping and resting, hoping an praying that Melissa' appointment goes well and that her procedure goes off well, with a good and promisin diagnosis.  So it's now back to bed, and may you all enjoy a good, healthful amount of quality rest...

Slow Running public Races, overcoming Embarrassment about Awkwardness

 When I was a kid (fifth grade at Nova Elementary) and my class's p.e. instructor had us, as a group, run an extended course,, it would usually come down to a rqce. We'd heqd off campus toward the northern palm trees, which w'ed circle an thenreturn 'home. Brooke, as naurally talented as she was...and hopefully still is...would gracefully run away from the competition; she'd kick eveyone's ass if it were a Parkun!  i was a quick, short-distance sprinter with a long way to go on the endurance running side.  According to slow running (AF) advocate Martinus Evans, running competitively in public, under everyone's gaze, is an integral element of the activity.  This coming Saturday's Depot pqrkrun 5k is basically a publicly staged event.  So if i have any self-conscious issues involving feeling embarrassed over others observing my obviously flawed attempts at running for a sustained distance...forget the palms...looks like no one is in danger of confusing me with Brooke. Training for Saturday will necessarily involve me very lightly running downa dry stretch of qasphalt road,assuming i actually get a dry stretch of road with all this rain we've been having lately. My plan is this:after we've started the upcoming race for about a minute, I kick into slow AF running and see how long I can stand it...there ain't no shame in going back into walking mode, at least for a little while. I can also cut across the park's course to the car should I need to 'drop out' early...Still, unlike the case with our Florida Lottery, it should all be 'good fun'...

Early Rising, Slow Run Training Haibts, Future Races

 This past evening aaai made a point of getting myself back to bed, to allow myself the opportunity to get in a couple of hours sleep before arising early, 4-5 hours before sunrise.  Between 2 and 3 I got up , went to the bathroom and began running in place on the rug for a couple of minutes.  Then I brewed a pot of coffee and ran for eight more minutes while listening to the late jim bohn's podcast on keeppinth changing of habits simple and focused.  I'm sitting here right now producing a blog article, and I discovered that it is raining quite a bit outside!  I have my own strategies for implementing Martinus Evans's Slow AF Run Club for s higher level of endurance, lightly running in one direction while reversing the flow on an equally useful surface, repeated for as long a time as possible.I don' won't to run across the backyard in one direction, changing to a difficult plot in the opposite...and then being forced to relent on my training the minute I detect substantial rainfall. I want to run down long, level and dry hallways, without my soft running being interrupted by people. Empty parking lots and basketball and tennis courts will work quit well, too.  And what about my own immediate home block; just running back and forth down NW 27th Street to get a good workout going?  Now what if, during the start of the next Depot Parkrun 5K, I ran slowly and softly, changing to a walking gait if the running poses too much of a burden, as I mentally react to it?  Then i give myself permission to cut short my Parkrun to one llap or less, and head to the car with wonderful Melissa.  Because with this change i am fundamentally altering the nature of my physical activity to something that is destined to bear productive fruit if I stick with it. If my cancer treatment continues to go well, into the fall, then I'll be equipped to run in three Florida Track Club long distance running races, all the way up to November's Tom Walker Half-Marathon.   This can be the start o something great...

Hagrid and the Harry Potter Books and Movies

 Robbie Coltrane, who passed away in October, 2022 from multiple organ failure, was the actor playing the role of Hagrid the Groundskeeper at Hogwarts Academy, where series protagonist Harry Potter atttended throughout its seven-year imaginary run.  Hagrid was known to own a three-headed sleepy guard dog he called Fluffy, which by nature was benevolent but terrified Harry and his pals by his ferociousness when aroused from sleep. In the first book titled Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid would let on to Harry that he was on 'secret business but would carelessly keep giving away his secrets to young Potter-eventually the kids would figure everything out without the groundskeeper's accidental assistance.  That book bothered me, especially with its so-called "explanatory" ending that only confused me...The Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book, likewise made little sense regarding its premise.  I mean, what really was at stake with this white globe of a prophecy that pronounced death on either Potter or Voldemort?  Anyway, I appreciated J.K, Rowling's great writing in all seven volumes.  I read the first four books in this series by regularly stopping off at Books-s Million before work, purchasing a large flavored coffee, and sitting there reading several pages at a time.  Book Three, The Prisoner of Azkaban,, and the next one, The Goblet of Fire, were loaded with interesting material that the movie versions skipped over.  When i look at the daily listed television schedule, i look for Harry Potter movies.  In spite of what all they left out, to me they were well-acted and directed cinematic masterpieces.My favorite characters?  Draco Malfoy, Professor Lupin and Horace Slughorn. And Emma Watson did a wondrous job portraying Hermione Granger on the screen. But it was that time travel sequence near the close of Prisoner that won over the movie series for me. they're showing it again on Pluto channel this afternoon starting at four...

Happy Mother's Day, My Sweet Melissa

 Right now, about three hours before sunrise, it's five and I'm sipping on some freshly-brewed coffee, about 30 minutes after performing some running-in-place exercises on our living room floor. While watching the news on TV I found a dearth of attention about the serious international hantavirus problem to be remarkably disturbing.  They say this affliction, picked up from rodent droppings and difficult to become diagnosed with, carries a very scary 20-50% mortality rate.  And the cycle from initial infection through to slow recovery is very daunting.  i very much don't want for this pestilence to hit me or my family, considering the medical troubles I'm already facing.  As for the so-called news, CNN seems obsessed with the Iran War and cease-fire negotiations which seem a mixture of Trump's boasting, bluster and speculation about how closed are the Straits of Hormuz to oil transport.  Yesterday afternoon, when a substantial rainstorm broke out over Gainesville, Melissa left me in custody of big baby peewee Daisy while she test-drove new cars...our dog is one monumental crybaby! I managed to rise early, run--in-place for 12 minutes, and get started with this blog writing and coffee. Oh, and my YouTube account seems to be stuck with over-speedy, jumpy posts that interfere with my understanding and enjoyment.  i'd appreciate a little more steadiness there, thank you. May today go smoothly for you and your fqmily.  i'd just like for things outside to be dry enough for meto be able train with slow AF running..I want a better Depot Parkrun next Saturday.  As for this new car in our picture, it looks like i won't be driving it around for a while. And, my dear Melissa, Happy Mother's Day!!!...

Walked Gainesville's Depot Park 5K This Morning

 Again demonstrating that my progress in recovery for both walking and running endurance isn't exactly linear, about 3 hours ago I, for the 4th time this year, successfully completed their 5kcourse, which goes for 3.1 miles.  To accomplish this I needed to cover 4 park laps, which I managed today without too much trouble and suffering.  It took me about 64 minutes to get through it all...click HERE to read the posted results.  Throughout the race I felt weary and unable to keep up with other parkrunners.  I was also frustrated with my Android, which didn't play the music I wanted it to.  The pictures I took didn't transfer over to Google photos, either...i'll need to depend on a different photo source to be able to decorate this blog with a pretty picture.  Looking back on the experience, i am very grateful for Melissa's support and enouragement, and to God for giving me the fitness and physical...and mental...energy needed to complete this course, which I want to be in the habit of doing on a regular basis.  Later today  we're predicted to be experiencing rainstorms for our Gainesville area.  i'll be spending most of that period at home...baseball has loaded up our tv schedule.  If dryness prevails, then maybe i'll try doing some more laps of slow AF running in the back yard. If all I end up doing in the future is slow running for long distances, then that's O.K. with me.  By the way, do you know what "AF" means?...

On This Early Friday, with Regular Routines Looking to Weekend Opportunities (and Storms)

 I have already slept most of the night, and the next day (Friday, May 8th) is about to unravel before me.  We're approaching the weekend, and part of it has me set up to try out yet another Depot aparkrun 5k,along wtih around 100 or so participants, including many seniors and a lot of young folks.  They like to proclaim that this isn't a competition, but you wouldn't know it if you saw it!.  To me, finishing it

with energy to spare is my overriding concern.Tomorrow it will be primarily a matter  of taking things lap by lap,restraining myself from letting my overcautious and comfort-seeking mind from prematurely deciding to quit too early, when my body still has plenty of juice to conquer the course.  Well, this morning, a couple of hours or so before dawn, I mentally wrestled with the idea going ahead, getting up, going to the bathroom, and getting started running in place in the living room while waiting for the coffee to brew.  I finished my mini-workout and am now writing this out.  Then I'll kick on the air conditioning and go back to bed, stirring up Peewee Daisy's excitement. today there should be some baseball action to follow on TV, and I wish you all a wonderful, fulfilling time as we head into what promises to be a rainy and stormy Saturday...

After Medical Consult, Looking Ahead for Fitness Rise

 This morning I had my medical appointment, seeing oncological nurse practitioner Amy at the UF Neuromedicine building off Archer Road.  I first had my blood drawn and analyzed (results encouraging) and provided their customary urine sample.  Knowing beforehand the often fickle, arbitrary and cruel way cancers can intensify and spread, I felt that the best strategy for this meeting was to be talkative and upbeat about engaging in life, particularly focusing on improving my level of physical fitness.  When I'm sitting at our dining room table looking at my reflection on the facing wall, I look a lot like John Lennon of the Beatles from early 1967 when he was making the controversial video for his song Strawberry Fields Forever that revealed how much he had already aged...appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show with Penny Lane and confusing and riling my parents at the time: they wouln't be buying any more Beatles albums after that!. Yet in spite of my more worn-out appearance, I feel that I have the potential to improve my endurance and fitness against the sometimes discouraging conclusions of physicians and their staff assigned to diagnose and treat my brain cancer, which can be aggravated by aggressive glioblastoma.  I can't rightly predict my exact lifespan, but then who can with their own?  My consultation went quite well, and I spent a good part of my time at home exercising, either running in place on the carpeting or emulating running advocate Martinus Evans in our backyard, slowly jogging back and forth across it from privacy fence to privacy fence.  Now, where I stand, I just might be able to transform this challenging athletic activity into something fun.   The morning after tomorrow has yet another Depot Parkrun 5K scheduled.  If rain and storm don't wash it out and the asphalt and concrete surfaces stay dry, I I'll have a good chance to walk the whole course...and get scanned and posted online.  My plan...should weather permit the event to go off and continue to its proper conclusion...is to listen to a lengthy recording of rock music I like a lot: Led's Zeppelin' first boxed set, which was originally released in 1990 and drastically improved my opinion of Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham.  Maybe my Amazon Music account will permit me to listen to many of its tracks while on the course.  And a good degree of self-control is in order.  I won' tbe able to keep others from being irritating during the Parkrun, but I can control how I react to them.  Right now our living room TV is set on a live baseball game, and I just brewed some flavored decaf coffee.  May tonight be enjoyable for you and yours, and that your lives have much in them to be grateful for.  Good night!

On Eve of Tomorrow's Medical Appointment

 I have a medical appointment for tomorrow morning at the UF Health neuromedicine building, right next to SW Archer Road, to see a nurse practitioner relating to the brain cancer trials I am passing through.  Sickness is something that I have, but I don't intend to be governed in my life by denial.  "Tell me something good" is something I feel I have the right, if not my duty, to bring up in conversation during our consultation.  The crucial question I feel that I'm left with regarding this horrible brain cancer situation is what do I do if and/or when the shoe drops about my condition and future prospects.  Feeling some hope and optimism about the future...knowing that I'm not going to physically live o this Earth forever(no one else will, either)...is something that I want to have coming out of tomorrow's appointment.  Well, my body resists but I still have hope.  There are still some baseball games on TV this evening, and before it turns pitch black outside I just might (or might not) do some slow AF running back and forth for a couple of minutes in the back yard.  And...I'm looking forward this evening to some good rest before I go back and get Peewee Daisy to bark and talk at me. Rest well, everyone...

Good Day Today, With Moderate Physical Training

 Well, I'm midway through today's evening, having passed up on early rising.  I was a bit restrained with my running/walking training but managed some Martinus Evans-level "slow AF" brief runs back and forth across my backyard, along with a few minutes of running-in-place.  I'm brewing a pot of flavored decaf coffee, and then I'd like to get through a few minutes more of ipf and/or rock-running.  I still feel like I'm encountering an undue amount of resistance to my workouts, bu I'm sticking to the late Jesse Jackson's immortal quote: "Keep hope alive!" Earlier during the afternoon while Melissa was having her teeth cleaned, I lied down in the back and listened to the entire Sufjan Stevens album (from 2006) titled The Avalanche..my favorite tracks from it are The Henney Buggy Band and Pittsfield and the title song.After 9:30, I'm shutting things down in the front of the house and watching baseball with the sound lowered...and the air conditioning on while I bundle up and hide under a blanket. Getting up early tomorrow morning may well be a "hit" for me, for I could well do some more exercising and writing. Hope you all had a wonderful day as it is now winding down, and that tomorrow carries with it many blessings and things to be grateful for...Sweet dreams!...

Slowness in Fitness Recovery Tied In with Cancer Prognosis Uncertainty

My path to return to my previous level of cardiovascular fitness, as evidenced by my participation and finishing times in a number of long-distance races, has recently been slow, irregular and halting...causing some discouragement.  On Depot parkrun 5K Saturday mornings, I gradually increased my number of laps finished and, on April 25th, managed to walk the whole course.  But I only got through a single lap of their last race, feeling a bit too tired to go the whole distance on that one.  A couple of hours ago today I walked...at a reasonable pace...around my own neighborhood block.  On the backstretch homeward I would deliberately start some very brief, slow jogging.  This helped me gain some confidence about running.  Sometime around sunset today I'd like to try some slow running across our back yard, and see how long i can manage the effort.  i realize that i am being daily reminded of my medical status, and that the struggle to make progress...or even overcome...treatments for this unfortunate brain cancer condition is fraught with concerns about their effectiveness, and possible side effects.  I know that it's probably a good idea to be bold with my athletic training, and one of these weeks I'm going to let go at a Parkrun event and try running for as long as I am able to manage it...maybe this coming Saturday will work that way: if I tire out too quickly, I should be able to hobble over to Melissa and the car.  I don't like this cancer role in life i've been consigned to for a while.  I do know that my life...and my eventual passing through and beyond it...are in my Lord's loving and powerful arms...He brought me in and He's carrying me through it all!  I'd still like to be able to frame my own Earthly future in terms of relations with Melissa, family and friends, and athletic and intellectual pursuits.  And I'm still interested in what's going on in the world!  I can't properly boast about tomorrow(read the Book of James Chapter 4), or about the future in a personal, worldly sense...only God has the power to determine it all.  So instead, to the degree that uncertainty still maintains a vital role on this Earth,,.  I'll hedge my comments about the future with 'if the Lord tarries", recognizing that His timing is the correct timing...

MLB Channel and Rohm Mentor Present Tricky and Confusing Viewing Options

 Yesterday evening I was browsing back and forth with my MLB channel, trying to pick up a game that was ongoing.The Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels figured into it all, producing the sensation of scoreboard dyslexia...that's when I get confused trying to mentally process the part of an inning in which the road team is up at bat.  For today's Sunday lineup, I anticipated their attempt to schedule all 30 major league teams with games.  For today's Bill Irwin lineup, I wonder whether I'll be able to surpass my physical limitations I am undergoing from my brain cancer circumstances.  I would truly like to sense that I am turning a crucial corner in my treatment and that the future actually represents  a real future that I can live through without  a foroboding sense that the END is near.  As for the two of us, we have postponed involved international family travel that is liable to impose undue stress and anxiety, especially on me with what I'm medically passing through. Right now I'm treating each day as an open, unscheduled block of time.  I'm free to read, write, rest, exercise and watch TV during this stretch without guilt that I'm not adhering  to the late Jim Rohm's dictates about how I ought to be living my life. Rohm, with all the good intentions behind his podcasts, comes across to me as sounding like some kind of a dogmatic ayatollah.He expresses the demeanor of someone who has lived out their lives successfully, being very careful to do uncomfortable things very, very consistently while telling me to follow his example...and don't stray from it!  I wouldn't want to find myself seated across from this type of mentor with him expecting me to dissolve my independence of personality just to let him lay his mandates all on me.  So here I am with another day facing me...may it work out well for the both of us.  Hope I don't make any mistakes...

Physical Energy Deficit Greatly Limits My Depot Parkwalk This Morning

 I'd like to believe that athletic progress for me is a linear proposition, that my performance level stands in more or less direct proportion to my workout efforts.  But on a day like today, which was characterized by an energy drought, the best I could come up with at Gainesville's weekly Depot Parkrun 5K was a single, trudgy and slow lap through the park, which was crowded.  Melissa praised my efforts and explained that the cancer medicine I have been taking played a role in my race difficulty.  It was warm, overcast and humid there.  I got through that one lap, and felt I could have extended it.  Shauna, in passing me, near the end, greeted and encouraged me.  I wish her the best.  Melissa and I afterwards went through the Dunkin' Donuts drive-through line and brought home some coffee and breakfast.  Now I'm finishing the coffee and about to start on the donut..their chocolate-frosted donut icing doesn't run sloppily like Publix's does.   This afternoon and evening the MLB channel is showing a lot of live games, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of them.  Hope you enjoy baseball, and if it meshes with your interests, the Kentucky Derby... DOVER<DOVER,DOVER>....C'MON,DOVER, MOVE YER BLOOMIN' ASSS!!!!

Approaching Weekend, Its Rainstorms and Depot Parkrun

This morning I woke up around three, but decided to return to bed after making a bathroom visit. Melissa paid a Dunkin Donuts visit to pick up some coffee and breakfast, something I really appreciate.

Now it's mid-afternoon on this Friday "May the First" be with you, and I'm sitting here at my dining room table Chromebook writing this entry.  It took them long enough to start their day's major league baseball schedule, but now it looks as if the solid-hitting Arizona Diamondbacks have just begun their road contest in northern Chicago against the Cubs  the MLB channel is doing a good job carrying the day's load of games.  Both teams have winning records so far, and are known for their hitting.  I enjoy watching them go through the innings.  Today I have a little more exercising to do before I settle down to rest before tomorrow morning's Depot Parkrun 5K near downtown, Gainesville. Looks like another pot of coffee is in the works for now.  Neither of t best behavior, even for picture-taking. The two of us didn't have any appointments or meetings planned for today, so I suppose we'll be taking it easy for a while.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be raining...even possibly storming...later on into the afternoon and evening.  Maybe some precipitation will help to counteract the drought and wildfire danger...or so I hope.  At the Parkrun...assuming it goes off well and the weather doesn't interfere..my overwhelming goal will be to walk it through to its prescribed finish (and stay on my best behavior).  Then at worst, at least tomorrow's story will be that I showed up and followed through to an extent... 

Could Have Kept Going to Moon in 1973 but stopped for 53 Years

 Back in late April 1973, Meg, a good friend of my sister Anita, took us on a trip down to central Dade County, in its Coconut Grove section.  There we found their museum of science, along with the Space Transit Planetarium.  On that Sunday Star Trek's Mister Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, hosted a show there speculating about what direction we're going with our space program.  I need not mention here that then-president Richard Nixon...who would be run out of office August the following year because of Watergate, felt absolutely no desire to move forward with human space exploration...hence he canceled the final scheduled Apollo Moon missions.  Since December 1972 no human has walked on the moon's surface,only briefly flying around it a few days ago. I believe that on April 30th 53 years ago I happily walked into my Nova High School Planetartum in the afternoon, expecting a pleasant chat with the aging director.  He was in an angry state and sounded like he was chewing ME out..no interest in exchanging any ideas or showing any  respect.  I was informed that he was retiring...and if others didn't share his astronomy interests, then screw them.  I felt offended and insulted by his childish attitude...It' like that of a spoiled brat engaged in a temper tantrum: If you don't always let me win, then I'll pick up my toys and go home.. Later in 1973, I tried joining Nova's astronomy club, but felt excluded because Steve Johnson, its president, was too important and preoccupied grinding mirrors for a new telescope.  So when i went there for meetings I spent most of my time trying to stay out of Johnson's way...he was polite but overly dismissive: I didn't quite qualify in his estimation as a legitimate guy interested in the field...or as a human being for that matter.  As it was, the club leaders cared only about Comet Kohoutek, highly hyped but turning out to visually be a monumental dud. When I was admitted to Hollywood Memorial Hospital in mid-October for corrective left inguinal hernia correction surgery, I was relieved to not be attending any more astronomy club meetings, which included some classes that I hated. Well, we're supposedly nowadays "going back" to the moon (Obama is known for flippantly dismissing that option in 2010), so let's see what the schedules reveal... 

Considering Fitness and Brain Cancer this Very Early Morning

 Praise the Lord and Melissa, since last October when she insisted I go to tht NW 39th Avenue UF Health emergency roombecause of headaches and incoherent behavior, resulting in emergency extensive brain surgery leading to an aggressive brain cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy and radiation. I've been enthusiastic and prompt about accepting my oncologists' prescribed treatment plans. T o be sure, there have been some side effects from all this, including a lowered level o cardiovascular physical fitness that has limited my endurance in general life, especially with regard to Saturday morning Parkrun 5K events. Last Saturday morning I finished walking my first full 5k since January 10th, and This coming event, come rain or shine, promises to be another successful finish.  I like to keep an optimistic perspective on my health and fitness...yet I feel that a  bomb was randomly dropped on me just to thoroughly disrupt my life and hopes for a future self,alive and thriving on this Earth at my ageof 69.  I've heard from doctors and a nurse practitioner doleful predictions of just a few months more life expectancy for myself due to past rapidly growing gbm malignant tumors...will they start up again, escalating to another crisis?  This spring and summer, if I am assiduous in my training and careful about hydration and recovery, promises me a lot of progress with running strength and walking power and endurance, enough to successfully handle upcoming long distance races... including those run by the Florida Track Club, not just the Parkrun organization.  I know that, going through the tragedy of my son Will's passing in 2024, i was then in sound physical shape if you account for my cancer alarms starting to go off.  I know that glioblastoma can come back, and my UF Health physicians need some close consulting in case they decide to embark on a path of further treatments, which could well entail more surgery.. the idea is to fight this scourge and not just survive, but to thrive.  Well, it looks like the back yard is calling me out to run like Martinus Evans.  Gradually  building back up my time spent running (slowly) sounds like a good idea...This morning I arose between 3:30 and 4, and I ran-in-place in the living room for some 16 minutes...then I brewed some coffee and wrote this.  Look like I'll be returning to theback of the house soon, agitating my sweet Peewee Daisy in the process...

The Original Peanuts Characters, and The Peanuts Collection

 At the Millhopper Public library today I renewed Martinus Evans's running guidebook Slow AF Run Club while returning a large book listing and discussing every Beatles song ever recorded.  As we were finishing with our browsing, I noticed some compendium volumes containing very early Peanuts comic strips.  Charles Shulz created Peanuts, and as a little kid I was one of its biggest, most consistent readers. Poor underappreciated Charlie Brown was its main character..."Good Grief" may have been his motto.  For a period in the sixties I procured some of the earliest Peanuts collections and enjoyed going way back in time to the original strips that introduced the early characters.  Over the years some more were introduced, largely in the interests of promoting a DEI culture (diversity, equity, inclusion).  I will always remember the old kids like Patty, Violet and Sally...they fit the TV specials well.  Schroeder, with his toy piano featuring a stern-looking bust of his hero Beethoven, was never a primary Peanuts character but remained a valued member of the series, and he may have been phased out of some series merchandise for the sake of promoting a woke agenda.  I remember that Christmas special when Linus saved the day by quoting the Christmas story out of the Bible's book of Luke.  He was a great kid. I have some books I'm now reading, and The Complete Peanuts figures strongly in that mix.  The strips collections, which go back for decades, can be accessed almost at random, and I have no need for bookmarks here.  I don't intend to do any comprehensive book reviews, but if there is something I come across that makes a good impression on me, then i'm likely to discuss it in an upcoming article.  Looks like I shouldn't have much trouble being able to renew The Complete Peanuts...

Welcome, Month of May. New Parkrun Strategies

 Now that I woke up around 3:30 this morning and have already done my 16 minute routine of running-in-place on the rug on our living room floor, I am now seated at our dining room table, sipping on some freshly brewed coffee in front of this computer console. I'm looking ahead at the day to come.  Some more reading is in order, and it's a distinct possibility that Melissa and I will be heading down to our community pool to hang out and walk (and possibly float on my back) while the country music on FM 103.7 booms in the background on this first of weekdays. We might also just pay a visit to the post office I once worked at to check into a money matter we were contacted about. I intend to do some more slow-as-all Bowie running in the back yard, letting the day slowly envelope me without letting time constraints stress me out.  Reading, a little bit at a time, is something I can easily handle, as long as I bookmark my progress with the chapter and pages read...with today's date.  As for running, I will run my yard laps nice and easy, keeping track of the time i take to accomplish them before my mind counsels me to cut them short before i get too uncomfortable.  There's more live major league baseball in store on television, so I'll be able to groove into that.  I'm keeping up with Mr. Martinus Evans by working on my running without trying to lose weight or pigging out on sweets.  As for this approaching Saturday morning's Depot Parkrun 5k in Gainesville, my plan is to run when I can...slow AF...and be willing to end my run/walk with my head held high.  In other words, I want to show up there and, to my limiting mind's greatest extent possible, follow through and just see how far I can go.  I don't care how long it takes or who the other people are, i'll just try to avoid colliding with them. If my slow running efforts lead me to mentally interpret it all as too stressful to my body, then this will be a successful, albeit learning, experience no failure here.  Looks like I'll be trying some more Amazon Prime music albums, and foreign language and self-help podcasts, perfect for a weekly Parkrun.  And I'll be sure to be amenable to walking a lot of it, practicing a better attitude and keeping properly hydrated carrying a small Propel bottle... 

I am a Runner in the Mold of Martinus Evans

 Martinus Evans wants us to come on out, feel it,and declare openly, "I am a runner!", even if we're a bit reticent on signing up and taking part in races.  I remember how I would use our spacious back yard to design feasible, relatively flat running paths in order to enhance my  endurance.  After 2009, i would get home from work.  Rebecca and Will, at home, greeted me.  but then I'd dress up for a short night run and then go out and tackle it...I did this more or less regularly for several days.  Then, in 2016 after David Bowie's passing in January from liver cancer, I rediscovered his vast catalogue of excellent music and put past albums I liked on my mp3 player.  Then I'd go out into our back yard and spend time (and dry-hacking) running back and forth for months, thoroughly  unpleasant from my irritated throat and esophagus but still able to cover the longer runs (and enjoying David's musical treasures).  And now here we come to mid-spring 2026 and the back yard is now even more open and available.  I'm still struggling to regain my running endurance after surgery and some cancer treatment, and I've found a champion in Martinus Evans, who has informed and encouraged me through his recent book that I just checked out from my public library...and the audiobook version on their Libby app.  Now that I've finally recovered enough to finish a Depot Parkrun 5K and get scanned and posted online, it's time for me to reclaim my identity as a runner.  Running a little during the day will doubtless challenge me, but my intention at this stage is to wear the good Brooks running shoes I've been using and jog on the uneven grass, challenging my mind and body to grow.  Then once Saturday morning rolls around again...it'll be May 2nd...I can strive to maintain progress walking the Depot Parkrun 5K course,throwing in some small jogging stretches at the end.  The worst case scenario? I'll poop out during the race and have to cut it short.  But now I think it's a foregone conclusion that I'm a runner.I'm back in business with my early morning rising, coffee brewing, home exercise and blog writing.  Now it's time to return to the back of the house and rile up sweet Peewee Daisy (who wants to get riled up) after I flick on the air conditioning...

Walked Today's Depot Parkrun 5K

 Up until today I had been "showing up" at Gainesville's Depot Park, with the outstanding and selfless driving of Melissa, who has been very, very supportive of my efforts to recover physical endurance fitness after suffering the limiting side effects of recent brain cancer treatments.  Until this morning's Depot Parkwalk 5K, my previous successful Parkrun 5k effort took place on January 10...I managed to walk it in a little over 78 minutes.  So for the previous few weeks I had gradually been incrementing my distance covered, getting through three of the course's four laps a week ago.This morning I resolved to use all of my mental powers to finish the race and actually accomplished the deed, with Melissa always there to supply needed hydration, encouragement and photos to yours truly, who felt (and probably came across as) a grumpy old cuss.  I prepared for the Parkrun by starting toplay Sufjan Stevens's great 2003 album Illinois (~77 minutes) on my smartphone. My walking pace was slow, but not excessively so, so it was a bit of a surprise when, at the two-thirds point, I suddenly stopped, turned abruptly around, and complained at the volunteer tailwalker that they were following too closely and should have passed me long before...they responded sweetly, saying that their tailwalking assignment mandated that they remain behind in last place.  After I finally completed the course..the first time I did so in 3 1/2 months...I let Melissa prop me up and guide me as I staggered over to the lady doing the scanning.  I finished today with a time o 65:16: click HERE to view the final Depot Parkrun 5K results.  As for photos, I had difficulty uploading some previous ones Melissa took that she tried to send to my phone.  In the races's aftermath, I feel proud that I got mental AF and stuck it out to the end, but a little chastened when I expressed frustration at other participants who seemed to be getting too close to me, especially on laps #2 through 3. Now I'm resting at home and looking forward to upcoming Parkruns. Well, if I only cover the distance,nice and slowly, following the examples and suggestions of Martinus Evans...

Wednesday's Final Book Sale, Mentally Preparing for Upcoming Parkrun 5K

 Retirement for me has given way largely to a lack of time management structure in my daily life, with medical appointments providing a sense of having to be somewhere by a certain time.  Otherwise the day has opened up...that is, until the day before yesterday.  The Alachua County Friends of the Library Wednesday  finished their twice-annual used book sale, hopefully (for them) clearing out their warehouse offering books for a dime each.  Melissa drove us down there near Main Street and downtown Gainesville, and we walked an uncomfortable distance from the car and back.  The foreign language book section had already been completely cleaned out.  I quickly found some Junior-level novels and a copy of Marilyn Ferguson's 1980s' fad best-seller The Aquarian Conspiracy practically lept up at me from the display...it sure has declined in influence and availabilityover the years.  I remember once going to the public library decades ago, picking up a copy, and comfortably sitting down with it, reading for a few hours.  Now it's again in my possession...no telling where I'm going with it.  Tomorrow morning will be the weekend again, Saturday and (at 7:30) time for yet another Depot Parkrun 5K event.  If things go according to design (that is, Lord willing), we'll be there as I try to cover, mainly walking slowly, the park's four-lap course and then get scanned and posted.  My main aim is to show up and give it all a good effort while maintaining civility among the event staff and participants without trying to "beat" anyone.  Just enjoy listening to the loud, silly birds and keep trudging on ahead.  I exercised a bit today, but feel that progress at improving my endurance hasn't been as forthcoming as I have hoped.  Recognizing that there is a huge mental component to giving up during races (Martinus Evans and Andrew Huberman concur), I have decided to take it all one step at a time and to extend my efforts tomorrow long before my mind convinces me to stop.  Well, sleep a bit tonight, get up early enough tomorrow, and keep a positive mental attitude toward things.  And you, too...

Reading, Running, Training, Optimism, Baseball

 I have been enjoying living through the past few days, without pushing an agenda about rising early before dawn and pushing myself to engage in "constructive activities" of the sort that the late personal development coach Jim Rohn would assiduously  promote on his podcasts, many of which I listened to on youube...and still do sometimes, with some anxiety.  I am no bigshot personal achiever, content for the most part with developing new, positive habits that fit into systems that take care of me and my loved ones...no loud publicity necessary!  Martinus Evans is a self-identified runner who pushes this notion, and advises his readers to see themselves as runners, no matter how little or slowly, no matter how embarrassed they fear they would feel under the often critical public observations of others.  I have a humble praise report about my meager running experiences today...I ran back and forth, very slowly, from one end of my back yard to the other...no one saw this but myself, timed at two minutes.  Come this approaching Saturday morning at Depot Park...just a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville, my plan is to cover that Depot Parkrun 5K's course by walking and running the four prescribed laps though that park while enjoying the often very funny and loud bird calls like grackles, crows and red-winged blackbirds.  Still, I know in advance that, compared to the other participants, I will be very slow, with that volunteer tail-walker most likely making a prominent example of himself. I already told Melissa that I won't care how slowly I navigate the Parkrun...only that finishing it is at the top of my  priority list..  I am now feeling the frustration of my feet and legs quickly tiring as I move my body forward, either by walking or light running. Progress in training can seem awfully slow in coming. Martinus Evans has proven to be a genuine inspiration, and I wholeheartedly agree with his disdain for eliitists within the distance running community who seek to marganalize my efforts,passing their own judgments on me as being unqualified for consideration as an athlete.  Well, the die has been cast, for from now on, if the Lord tarries about lovingly taking me back home with Him, I am indeed an athlete in the mold of Mr. Evans. I checked out the hardcopy edition of the  2023 book titled Slow AF Run Club and listened to the Libby Audibooks version, which I just checked out from my local public library. Earlier yesterday Melissa and I went to the Friends of the Library book sale, final day.  All books were ten cents, and I left there with 5 interesting books for a total of 50 cents, hauling that weight to our car. Well, that's all for now.  I'm getting ready to enjoy some evening MLB baseball. Have a good night...

Wednesday Opportunities, Booksale Final Day

 This morning I arose Early, between 5 and 6, ran in place on our living room rug, brewed some coffee...and wrote this article. With no immediate medical appointments ahead of me, I looked for some structure to today's schedule and found one item; our Friends of the Alachua County Library is holding its final day of the first (springtime) event for 2026. It's Wednesday, so patrons will encounter at that event a ten cents/book sale going on...maybe Melissa would like to go, too.  The location is on the 400 block of North Main Street,west side...I don't see us taking too long to transact our business there.  As for walk/run training, I'd like to get in some more today, either on the living room floor or in the back yard. Besides, there's always the Major League Baseball regular season and the channel we subscribe to. I would like to  hear some new self-help podcasts off YouTube and spend some relaxing time with Melissa and Peewee Daisy sitting on the shaded porch...That dog can get a little bit too hilarious. She reminds me of that funny, toothy dog named "Petey"out in the country on the Subaru Outback commercial. Some twenty-odd years ago we also had a miniature poodle, Taffy, who would "tooth up " like that, especially in hotels...

Watching a Little Baseball with Some Exercise

 Well, we've made it so far though most of this day.  Melissa and Peewee-Daisy are already settling down for the night, and it looks like I'm in store for some more hours of live Major League Baseball. I didn't exercise much more than 20 minutes today, but I guess that counts, anyway.  I'm going to post this article and enjoy some baseball.  You have a good night, too...

The Beautiful Mind, a Beautiful Day, Medical Matters

One of my all-time favorite movies is the 2001 semi-fictional biographical thriller A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe as John Naah, the Novel laureate (Nash really won that award) for economics who went through a serious protracted trial with his schizophrenia.  His"friend"of many years, a hallucination, was Charles Herman, played on screen by Paul Bettany.  The way the film portrays this character...one moment he's invisible and the next he's right up in your face...made a formidable impression on me.  If something like this happened to me, I would be very upset about what was going on in my mind...especially if there were a pattern of repetition to the phenomenon. How could I bring this experience up in conversation, possibly risking in the process being called crazy? In the Bible, following the resurrection of Jesus, his disciples were walking around, largely despondent and discouraged. Suddenly the risen Lord would appear to them out of thin air,  this being the part of the text that threw me back a bit.  I will need to be careful about what I observe in life and how to process and react to it.  I do know that, as far as I can discern, my home is relatively secure with any intruders unlikely to make an unwelcome appearance. So the only feasible alternative is...

Today I went with Melissa to consult with her physician's assistant dealing with the oncology following her 2024 cancer treatment and what the future plans are regarding appointments and procedures.  Also, we went to UF Health at the Oaks Mall where I had a lab blood draw and provided a urine sample.  We're dealing with this cancer ordeal arm in arm, loving and supporting each other through it all. I'm praying for complete healing, acknowledging the Lord's supremacy in everything.  Right now it's April 20th, 2026...let's see where the calendar takes us...