Looking for Useful Stuff in Free Brochures and Newspapers

I retired at the end of November last year, but I still get my union's newsletters in the mail, as if I am somehow still listed somewhere as a member.  Let's see...this one is titled "Florida Postal Worker", representing the American Postal Workers Union of Florida.  Good enough, let's open it up and see what's inside. Headline item: Ratification Happens...the new collective bargaining agreement has been overwhelmingly ratified by the rank and file.  On turning the page, there is an article on how to avoid scams, an anti-Trump piece titled "No Kings in America", and an urging for members to contact their elected representatives with their opinions. Then there's list of 30 reasons to thank unions, a section listing general guidelines for emergency preparedness, an article about the APWU Auxiliary, and a few other trailing articles. Overall I found this issue to be informative and potentially helpful, assuming I come back to it and refer to it.  I think this idea of picking up a piece of literature like a brochure or newsletter and determining whether or not it contains anything of value is constructive...future such blog articles are in the works for other publications...

Swimming Between Two Medical Issues

I'm currently swimming between two different health issues that will probably be under medical scrutiny for the remainder of my (hopefully long-term) existence on this Earth.  The first one to crop up was a congenital defective heart valve and accompanying aortic artery aneurysm that was diagnosed in late 2011/early 2012 and surgically corrected through open heart surgery in July 2021.  For this, post-op, I take regular medications and undergo periodic testing and specialist consultations...I just finished one with my excellent thoracic surgeon yesterday, to meet again in two years. The second medical issue is cancer, more specifically that of the prostate, which for me was diagnosed through biopsy in mid-December 2024.  I underwent a robotic laparoscopic prostatectomy in March and seem (so far) to be doing quite well without that malignant prostate.  But this issue also involves periodic blood tests for PSA (protein-specific antigen) levels that might indicate a return or resurgence (or not) of the cancer.  On my second post-surgery PSA test, the level was at .1, which may or may not be significant. The urology department at UF Health has me scheduled for a PSMA PET scan later this month, and thereafter yet another PSA test to be taken at the start of September. Then I'll meet with my specialist physician to determine a constructive course of action with all of this...or in the best-case scenario, inaction. It's during times like these that I can sit back and feel gratitude for the wonderful state of medicine, and my access to it.  I'm looking forward to staying active and positive, taking each day one at a time and appreciating the great people and circumstances around me...

Keeping "Track" of Tropical Storm Erin

It looks as if this weekend the moment of truth will come out regarding what is destined to be Hurricane Erin, which is one of those Atlantic tropical storm systems that developed off the west African coast and traversed the high seas deep into our western hemisphere.  According to the projected various possible paths the storm could take, I'm not too concerned from my north-central Florida home location, but I'm not so sure I'd want to be on a cruise ship anytime in the near future that has the Bahamas and eastern Caribbean on its course.  My own cruise concern is projected for the first couple of weeks in October, when I'm afraid it might be a bit more touchy with the tropical storms during that period.  But we'll see. I'm guessing that Erin probably won't make landfall on the continent, but might threaten Bermuda and cause a lot of warnings about rip current along the Atlantic coast from Florida on northward. In any event, I guess this means we're finally in the middle of hurricane season.  Now that I'm retired and out of school for decades, I'm naturally hoping that they all stay away...

Will Trump Follow in Neville Chamberlain's Footsteps over Ukraine?

So it looks as if our current president will soon be meeting with his Russian counterpart in Alaska to present proposals for peace in Ukraine and try to come back with some hope for the future.  Having studied some history myself, I know that Great Britain's prime minister Neville Chamberlain met with Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler in 1938 to resolve the latter's instigated "crisis" as he threatened neighboring Czechoslovakia under the guise of protecting ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland part of that peaceful country's territory.  And Chamberlain came away from that encounter waving a signed piece of paper, declaring "Peace in our time".  It was nothing more than a capitulation to the Nazi warmonger and sped the international community toward eventual world war as Germany only accelerated its military aggression.  I have a suspicion that something similar will arise from this "summit" between a dictator masquerading as a democratically-elected president and a democratically-elected president masquerading as a dictator.  Only when it comes to strength and integrity, "my" leader, I'm afraid, is an ignorant, weak puppet for Russia's government...but I already knew that for nine years.  Get ready for Ukraine to be sold down the river while Trump proudly waves his own paper in the air and makes like he stood up to Putin...

Feel Excluded By Both Political Parties' Ideologies

It used to be that being a politically pragmatic centrist was a pretty reasonable, popular thing to be in our republic that has functioned through democratically elected representatives comprising governments on national, statewide and local levels.  Nowadays, however, I find myself extremely marginalized as the two main political parties are each practicing ideologies and policies that exclude me and my interests.  I'm repulsed at the increasingly autocratic Republican Party and President Trump on the national level and Florida's Governor Desantis at the statewide level.  On the other hand, I am one of those folks who are put off by a burgeoning Woke movement in this country, very sensitive to how its advocates group and label people while practicing cancel culture as they condemn anything or anyone they see or hear violating their special rules of speech and behavior.  The latest example of this is the furor being whipped up over the clothing company American Eagle and their ad campaign featuring an attractive young woman wearing their product.  Even Rachel Maddox on MSNBC is getting in on it all, lending her politically correct opinions.  In Gainesville we have a leftist news rag called The Iguana, and in all the years I've picked it up and read it I have yet to see anything in their issues that speak to my interests.  No, I seem to belong to all the wrong demographic categories, and not only am I the "bad guy" by default in any diversity/"inclusion" discussions, but I'm now adjudged to be guilty of being privileged whether or not I show any signs of prejudice or compassion.  I know a dude I used to work with who is very proud of his own Wokeness...I realized at a point that I could never talk to him about anything without him coming back at me with some Woke spin on things.  Such people are innately full of their own pious self-righteousness and see themselves as qualified to point their accusing fingers at anyone who uses the wrong pronoun or engages in the healthy, mature habit of playing devil's advocate in a discussion of issues or politics.  So no, I feel no love for either party, and I really feel like avoiding the creepy, stupid people who like to speechify on what is correct and what isn't... 

Comparing Depot Park and West End Community Park Parkruns So Far

I feel blessed at my age to still be fit enough to engage in 5K (3.1-mile) walk/run events.  I'm also grateful that my home town of Gainesville now has two free weekly 5K events, each held Saturday mornings at 7:30.  The older of the two, Depot Parkrun, I've participated in since 2019, finishing so far some 82 races at this writing.  The most recent one, West End Community Parkrun, held its first race on July 12th, and I ran my first race there on August 2nd.  I now have a choice for each Saturday morning: stay in bed at home, get up and do the Depot Parkrun...just south of downtown Gainesville...or travel a bit further west of town to West End Community Park for their event.  I've written before that I prefer the Depot Park course, which consists of four laps on a paved pathway around the park.  They also have park restroom facilities there, as well as plenty of parking.  My only objection is that the town surrounding the park is kind of run down, with plenty of homeless people walking the streets and planting themselves around the businesses that are trying to function there...including the nearby Starbucks, sigh.  As for West End Community Park, the course is nearly impossible to figure out, zigzagging with sharp turns and uneven concrete sidewalks, interrupted by stretches of grassway slickened by the morning dew and in different states of mowing.  Last week I speed-walked the four laps at Depot Park, and following the race I ran an unofficial bonus lap...this is unfeasible at the new site.  Also, West End at this time only has a couple of porta-potties: pretty primitive.  On its upside, though, just across Newberry Road from the park is a classy shopping center, highlighted for me by a branch of Gainesville Health and Fitness Center that opens at 8 am.  I can go there after the race, cool myself down at GHF and change clothes, and then walk a few steps over to Patticakes, a very nice coffee shop that used to be a Starbucks for years.  This Saturday my plan is to try out West End again and see how it all goes...

Walked the Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

I decided this morning to go to Depot Park to speed-walk their weekly Parkrun 5K.  It was warm and muggy...as usual...as I felt my sore legs and decided to give the joints a break with a walk instead of pounding the pavement with a run.  As it was, the walk was easy enough, but with my increased body weight the speed has suffered over the past year and I finished it with a time of 42:42...click HERE to view the posted results.  I did feel energized enough at the end to run an unofficial bonus .7-mile lap...did that in 6:49.  Maybe in the future...at Depot Park at least...I'll tack on an extra lap or two of running following a speed-walk.  In any event, I feel I'm experiencing a sort of reset with my level of speed with the recent walks and runs.  That's all right: for the time being, the main thing is simply showing up. Besides, it's still the dog days of summer, with the temperature at race time 68 degrees with a muggy 94% humidity.  After the race I tried going to Maude's, a nearby coffee shop...wasn't impressed: going elsewhere in the future...

Enjoyed Some Time at Daytona Beach

 

Melissa and I made a somewhat spontaneous decision to go to Daytona Beach for a couple of nights...we just got back this afternoon.  It was pleasant to see the ol' Beach again...nice to be able sit out on our oceanfront room balcony and take in the scenery.  Since we're talking Wednesday check-in and Friday check-out, this stood as the last full weekday stretch for a while in which kids weren't going off to school.  Hence there were a lot of families with children everywhere...and especially in the hotel's swimming pool.  We did avail ourselves of it Thursday...I think our local pool is a lot more convenient, though.  I went on a couple of walks along the beach, each in a different direction.  The weather was a mix of rainstorms and sun.  The tides seemed to come in a bit too strongly, impeding walking paths along the beach...I timed my walks to coincide with receding sea levels.  We also ate out at a couple of our favorite area restaurants.  The whole experience was fun...except for the sometimes exasperating drives from Gainesville to there, and back.  And it's good to be back...

At Doughnut Shop Again, with AlphaSmart

 

I'm sitting here in my nearby Dunkin' Donuts writing this on the above-pictured AlphaSmart portable word processor, which is completely off-line and runs on AA batteries, automatically saving whatever I type in one of the device's 8 built-in files.  Now I do have a cord for it that allows me to transfer my writing to another computer...that's how you're able to read this! This doughnut shop first opened during the COVID-19 era in early 2020...I remember voting that March in the Florida Primary and then going through the store's drive-through, only to be told that the employees were "in training" and that the grand opening wouldn't be for another few weeks.  As I remember, Lord Voldetrump was president back then as well, and I was eager to support Joe Biden in his campaign to unseat him.  I felt that Biden did a credible job in his four years as our president. Apparently, though, you have to be a show-biz whiz in front of the cameras and mikes to make it in this social and mass media-based society we're subjugating ourselves to nowadays.  Biden in his earlier years probably would have come out looking and sounding better, but from 2021 to 2025 his best efforts resulted in a more subdued and less dramatic presidency: it worked for me, albeit not for the attention-deficit general population. Yesterday I was here typing out another blog article when an old friend from a now-defunct church came in and we talked (or more precisely, I listened to him talking).  My church buddies present a kind of predicament to me.  This guy was meeting with a couple of friends regularly on Monday afternoons to discuss "Jesus", but when they did get together they seemed bent on discussing sports and politics, the latter with an built-in presumption that the Democrats were villains. But that's the way it is for me with people I like from church: the overwhelming majority of them are Trump followers who get their information from FoxNews and their opinions spoon-fed by people like Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, Greg Gutfeld and Mark Levin.  If Trump says something it's automatically true and you can't argue otherwise.  Sigh. So with these good folks I have the choice of either consciously avoiding discussing news with them or consciously avoiding their presence, period.  And, sadly, the trend for me has been to just stay away from them and leave them to their own self-imposed feedback loops and cult personality idol worship...

About Texas Redrawing Its Own Congressional Districts

I understand that there's a degree of brouhaha going on in the news about the Texas state legislature's redesigning of their district boundaries, and how it is supposedly all being done in a very devious, gerrymandered manner to deprive Texans of representation by the Democrats.  I viewed the "before" and "after" maps of the Texas districts and, quite frankly, am at a loss to detect any sign of gerrymandering in the new proposal.  The fact is that Texas has become a solidly red, pro-Republican state in the past thirty years.  It's also a known practice in national politics that a state's elected legislature has as one of its functions the periodic redrawing of district boundaries: Texas is no exception.  But now we're seeing Texas Democratic legislators fleeing the state to avoid there being a needed quorum in place to push into law the new map. I'm looking at the world today and ask myself, why should I care about this issue that is being headlined on the television news channels...must be a slow news day.  Although each state is authorized to draw its own district maps, the practice is traditionally done closely following the national census, done in years ending in zero.  This Texas action is different in that Jabba the Trump demanded they do it because he thinks he'll gain five congressional seats in the 2026 election...and, boy, does Trump ever want to stay in complete power!  In response, the New York and California state governors, both Democrats with strong Democratic-majority legislatures, just came out and announced that they would likewise redraw their own state congressional maps to give their own party advantages as well.  Are you indignant about any of this?  Not me, I have better things in my life to be concerned about, and the last thing I've come to trust any more is that the American voter will show any signs of integrity or wisdom in ANY election, no matter how the districts are drawn.  If the right candidate ends up winning one, regardless of where they are on the "map", it's more likely an accident or for the wrong reasons... 

Musical Artists Speaking Ill of Colleagues in the Trade

I was watching YouTube videos about popular music groups of the past and noticed that some of the preferred posts feature what different musical artists think about their colleagues within the trade.  Specifically, I just saw one video that listed five artists who didn't like the Beatles...and of course they explained why they felt that way. They were Lou Reed, Quincy Jones, Trent Reznor, Michael Stipe and Julian Casablancas. To me, all of these "artists" come away from their bashings appearing like musical snobs who think they know better than plain folk like you or me.  Since the only Reed song I've heard and liked was Take a Walk on the Wild Side and he seems to have no singing voice to speak of, I'll dispose of him up front.  Jones was a renowned record producer and heavily aligned with soul and jazz, a stickler for technique when it comes down to playing musical instruments. Unfortunately, I've never been all that into either of those genres.  Reznor, the frontman for Nine Inch Nails, only did one song, Head Like a Hole, that I liked, and Casablancas fronts the alt-rock band the Strokes, which produced a couple of songs to my liking, Reptilia and 12:51.  But Stipe and his band R.E.M. I've long considered among my favorites because their music and lyrics strike a strong emotional chord with me...like the Beatles did.  I think a lot of the divisive rhetoric is being magnified on social media as clickbait to build up user volume and revenue. People can believe what they want, just as I do.  My general view of the aforementioned critics is you can have the music of Reed, Jones and Reznor...no loss to me, and Casablancas isn't talented enough to even enter a conversation about anyone else...leaving Michael Stipe for me to scratch my head about in puzzlement.  But in honesty the Beatles themselves didn't hold back in what they thought about others, especially John and George.  I don't idolize anyone, and I can't think of any musical act that always produced stuff I liked, including the Beatles, which I regard as the greatest popular music act of all time..  

Ran Today's West End Community Parkrun 5K

On this first of five Saturdays in August I woke up to extraordinarily unpleasant weather conditions as I prepared for my weekly Parkrun 5K.  I had expected something like this since, after all, it IS summertime and we've been experiencing a horrendous heat wave.  Still, by the time I arrived at my race destination around 7, the temperature was an oppressive 77 degrees with the humidity just as bad at 100%.  If you've been reading this blog, you know that four weeks ago I drove down to West End Community Park about six blocks west of NW 122nd Street on Newberry Road, just outside Gainesville, to unofficially try out (with others) the course for the city's second Parkrun.  It officially kicked off the following week, and today was the West End Community Parkrun's fourth go at it.  So I headed on down and endured the stifling pre-race heat and mugginess...along with an inordinate supply of gnats buzzing all over everyone...yuck!  I entered this event just as a "workout jog", not focused on beating any special time goals.  The course is a twisting and turning alternation of concrete sidewalks and connecting stretches of grass.  Unlike the Depot Parkrun I usually attend, this course does not repeat...which has its advantages and disadvantages.  There seems to be more hilliness to this course, making it more challenging.  I was able early on to find a kind of slow-paced groove without too much interference from the other runners, and just focused on following the tortuous path, one step at a time, to the end.  As a mental aid I counted the stretches of concrete (26) in the race...I think it helped me since I'm used to counting laps on the Depot Park course.  I finished today's run with a time of 30:16, a good time on a new course that I can look forward to improving on.  You can view today's results by clicking HERE.  I think I still prefer the Depot Parkrun...it's easier to get to and the facilities there are better.  I did like the fact that West End is directly across Newberry Road from Gainesville Health and Fitness of which I am still a member, and a pleasant coffee shop called Patticakes.  If I ever get more sociable, I can go sit there when they meet to finalize the race results and post them...but now I think I'll just take it easy. By the way, the above photo of me tackling the course was taken by Olivia, one of the volunteers there...

About Politics (You're Welcome to Skip Reading This)

A few days ago I wrote a politically-charged article for this blog, but hesitated to post it because, well, it seemed a bit too harsh after reading it over a couple of times.  After last November's presidential election that made me sharply question the intelligence and integrity of the American voter, my political criticisms have alternated between calling out the gullibility and/or ugliness motivating too many people's voting trends these days and calling out the people that they placed in positions of power...the most notable one of course being Trump.  So instead of using pejorative designations like "dumbass", "fraud" or "hack", let me instead just relay that in no way do I feel any sense of trust in my elected leaders...especially the current White House occupant...nor do I think that the American electorate will, in either the immediate or long-term future, do anything to return this republic of elected representatives to a semblance of reason and comity directed toward the public good.  So, therefore, I've lived my whole life in a country that now makes me feel like a "stranger in a strange land".  I also don't think that any expressed political opinion of mine is going to make any real difference other than label myself, to the computer algorithms out there, as belonging to a particular political leaning after which they will concentrate on feeding me social media input that they "think" reinforces what they "think" I already think.  So there you go...let me just stay out of the way of all the crazies I see around me...oops, I think I just used a pejorative...

My July 2025 Running, Walking and Swimming Report

For the month of July I persevered with my running and (speed) walking, cutting back some with the swimming.  I participated in three different racing events, running two of them (Melon Run, Depot Parkrun) on consecutive mornings early in the month. My intent this month...in which we've been experiencing a record-setting heat wave...was to balance my running and walking training while trying to avoid overexposure in the heat (and humidity) of the blistering day: I think it's worked so far. In the middle of July Melissa and I went on a three-night Bahamas cruise, but apart from expected extensive walking I didn't exert myself much, and the ship's pools were too crowded and small to be of any use.  The second half of the month I began to use my gym's treadmill to work on increasing my walking speed.  And the past week saw us using our local YMCA's swimming pool, with me getting in some practice.  At this stage, I am dissatisfied that I have gained some 20-plus pounds since this time in 2024.  Back then I had a built-in daily structure...going to my regular post office job five days a week...with which I could implement habits moderating and spacing my food consumption while maintaining physical activity.  But I retired at the end of November and with Melissa we seem to be focusing more on the next meal we're to eat, while much of the time I'm content with just eating light although I often go along with her recommendations and, quite frankly, have my own high-calorie favorites (like pancakes and hamburgers).  I don't really need that much food to get by, and I think that my general health and fitness (and running and walking speed) would be better were I to proactively assert myself more around eating time.  That said, I'm happy with this past month and have high hopes for August.  During my last two neighborhood 3.3-mile training loops I walked briskly until 40 minutes went by and then I ran the rest of the way back home...I think I'll adopt that pattern into my regular training regimen.  With swimming, my goal is to get myself comfortable using the 25 yd swimming lanes and thereby avoid depending on the shorter and more shallow half of the pool, which can get unpredictably crowded.  August 2025 has five Saturdays, so there should be plenty of chances to do 5K races next month, especially now that there are two Parkruns in town now.  I'm thinking of "officially" running my first West End Community Parkrun in a couple of days.  Although I disliked the course when I test-ran it back on July 13th, I like that it's directly across the street from Gainesville Health and Fitness (Tioga branch) and Patticakes coffee shop...

This Morning at the Lab

After spending more than an hour waiting for my blood to be drawn at my pathology lab this morning, I realized that it's not always prudent to get there the earliest.  Many other folks are following the same reasoning...either to just get it done with or to fit it into their tight schedules...so the "early bird" rush is in effect.  Not only that, but they had only one person to draw the blood in the lab.  By the time my name was finally called, they had three on duty...I think from now on I'll wait a little while before going down there. Despite the wait, the people around me were friendly and patient, as (hopefully) I seemed to be toward them. I tried the "early" route because getting there right after awakening was the most convenient way to get my blood drawn after fasting...now I can enjoy my iced coffee at the nearby Dunkin' Donuts while musing about the month about to end.  Yesterday Melissa and I signed and initialed the contract for the sale of our tragically deceased son Will's house...the closing process is now essentially in the confident and capable hands of our real estate agent, bless him.  Then the two of us made plans for another cruise, this one in early October.  That should be fun as well.  In the meantime, I'm having to continue my follow-up medical visits, in August to check my heart status, in September to my urologist/surgeon following prostate cancer surgery, and in October to consult with a dermatologist.  I guess I'm now in the permanent medical rotation, but I feel fine and intend to continue doing so...   

My Song of the Month for July 2025

Scottish alternative rock band Franz Ferdinand gets my nod in July for my personal favorite "song of the month" with the final track of their January album release (The Human Fear), titled The Birds.  It has a relentless guitar riff/hook to it, and Alex Kapranos, the lead singer and chief creative force behind their music and lyrics comes off sounding quite a lot like the Doors' Jim Morrison...I mean they sound like audio doppelgangers!  This is the second straight month in which I listened to a recent release by a group I already liked, sadly disliked almost the entire album but then suddenly bonded with their final track...for June it was Arcade Fire, their Pink Elephant album and the song Stuck in My Head.  The Birds contains simple lyrics, with Kapranos expressing gratitude to the listener for "accepting him despite what he has done"...that's repeated throughout this catchy tune.  So now here are my songs of the month so far for 2025:

July        The Birds   by Franz Ferdinand

June        Stuck in My Head   by Arcade Fire

May        Walking on a Dream   by Empire of the Sun

April       Nothing I Need   by Lord Huron

March     Under the Rug   by Arcy Drive

February  Starburster    by Fontaines DC

January   Everyone Out   by Diiv

Now, it's onward to August...

Record-Hot Day in Gainesville Today

Looks like Gainesville is going to set a high temperature record for today, hitting three digits.  It's already 100 and there's plenty of time for it to get even higher.  I got up early this morning and did a walk/run around my 3.3-mile neighborhood course, and then went with Melissa to my local pool to do a few laps...all before the sun had risen to any appreciable extent.  Even then, though, conditions were stifling due to the humidity combined with warmth. And now it's all "hunker-down" in air-conditioning for the remainder of the day.  This is when I really appreciate the warnings that go out for employees exposed to outdoor conditions, like letter carriers for example...

Vacation Plans, Gym, Old Starbucks Store

If it's one thing I've learned well over the past two-plus years, it's been that it's fine to make vacation plans, but that whether or not they end up cancelled is another thing entirely.  So as Melissa and I ponder future out-of-town travel adventures, I thought it would be nice to revisit one of my old Gainesville haunts: the Starbucks at Magnolia Parke on NW 39th Avenue, which first opened back in 2000.  Other Starbucks stores in town have closed or moved to other locations to accommodate drive-through ordering, but this one seems so far to have lived a charmed life.  I knew the first store manager, Marty Bower, who was so polite and considerate that he'd give me coffee on the house if he thought there was ever any delay.  He's also the dude who inspired the wonderful Lifesouth Marathon/Half-Marathon Five Points of Life annual Gainesville tradition, begun in 2006 and ending three years ago.  The story is that he had transferred to managing the (now-closed) Royal Park Starbucks on Newberry Road when one afternoon a couple of LifeSouth employees, on a jog from their nearby office, came in and the idea was born with Marty making the suggestion to stage such races.  Marty once again transferred to another Starbucks, the one on 13th Street and 16th Avenue, before I ever got around to entering one of these races in 2010.  But by that time he was no longer around...too bad, I hope he's doing all right.  I used to come by this Magnolia Parke location on weekday mornings after dropping the kids off at school...they had a long counter facing the front window to sit at.  Today may arguably be the single hottest day of an already oppressively hot year, and instead of walking and/or running around my neighborhood I decided to make a rare visit to Gainesville Health and Fitness Center.  That was a pleasant experience as I used their treadmill to speed-walk 3.3 miles, increasing my speed a tenth of a mile every half-mile, starting at 4.1 mph and ending at 4.8.  I remember often stopping off there right after getting off from work at 10 pm, sometimes even venturing into the swimming pool (now nearly impossible to access for its overcrowding).  I probably should cancel my membership to GHF, since the other gym I subscribe to is available...along with a swimming pool...the other six days of the week.  But today was a fine experience.  As for those travel plans, Melissa and I both enjoy the Royal Caribbean cruise line and have used them three different times.  There's another cruise of theirs this October that we might be signing up for if our schedules permit and things come together right...

Volunteered as Tail-Walker in Today's Depot Parkrun 5K

When I pulled into the Depot Park parking lot this morning a little past seven, it was 75 degrees with 93% humidity.  These inhospitable weather conditions were expected, though, especially in the middle of these summertime dog days.  Last Saturday at this time I was on the cruise boat, docked at Nassau in the Bahamas, so of course there was no Parkrun for me then.  And even today, I volunteered as a tail-walker, so I wouldn't exactly be testing my ability to withstand the conditions...this past week I've done the equivalent, though, with my neighborhood walk/runs.  My main concern with being a tail-walker was to make sure I was the last person in the field, so at the start I waited a couple of minutes so that anyone who was going to be in the race was already "in"...and then I started at a slow pace.  Another volunteer was a "regular" park-walker, and she stayed back to photograph the other runners and walkers for their Facebook event photo feature...this was nice, although it also held me up, making me walk even slower than I had planned.  The spirit around this event was sweet, and it all seemed to go off without a hitch.  I finished 82nd out of 82, which of course is what I was supposed to do, at a subdued time of 1:11:38.  If you'd like, you can click HERE to view today's Depot Parkrun 5K results.  One of the nice things about volunteering as a walker is that I get credits both for completing the course and for volunteering.  Maybe next month I'll volunteer again, but I'd like to wait a bit before then...

Oven-Like Conditions Outside in Summertime Dog Days

Early today...real early...I got up and went with Melissa to get one of our Toyotas repaired at the shop.  Returning home, I was very sleepy and didn't wake up until mid-afternoon.  I checked the current weather conditions here in Gainesville at 3:00 pm: 91 degrees, 68% humidity, and "feels like" 108 degrees!  Stepping outside was like stepping into an oven: I promised Melissa I would be doing my exercises indoors, in the air conditioning...