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...