Yawn.

Trying to get out of the 5K rut that I seem to have fallen into, so I made it 4.2 miles for an early run this morning. Hit the gym for a quick 0.5-mile swim after that. Although little was quick about it. That subsidence you may have felt around 8a was probably me, inhaling most of the water in northern New England.

Have done very little good today, although I'm making progress on fixing a laptop.

Windy as hell. Glad I got my run done early.

No great existential thoughts today.

Thank God.

Ouch

Had an OK morning. Took the boys to the bus, then went to the gym and did 21.5 miles on the bike, 0.25 miles in the pool, which has (finally) reopened. Legs are still a little sore from Saturday's 10-K, but no major complaints. My hands, however, are another story.

I slept a little late Sunday and got off my butt with the chicken coop. Dug a foot-long trench around a 50-foot perimeter for the frames. This normally isn't a problem if you have (a) soil or (b) heavy machinery. I didn't have either, so I had to break out the pickax in a few places to get rocks out. Also stapled wire to a few more frames, but hands were too raw to work the staple gun. Finished up around 8 pm.

Wah. Poor me.

Anyway, next weekend, I'll raise and brace the frames, build the door and try to get poultry netting over the top to keep the hawks and owls out. And speaking of birds: We bought a replacement hummingbird feeder this weekend, and they're already coming in to feed.

Which is a good question: Where do hummingbirds migrate in the winter? I'm guessing Florida or Mexico, kind of like half the people who live in our state. Signs of spring include apple blossoms, mud, and Florida license plates. Lot and lots of them.



Got new hiking boots today -- Columbia Frontier Peak GTX. They (allegedly) require little break-in time. Anyway, I'm thinking I'll hike the Long Trail with John in segments. He's hiking almost every day now that the weather's nice. Don't know if it'd be Will's thing or not.

Busy afternoon planned. Taking John to get glasses, Will to get some new clothes, and something else. Can't recall. It'll come to me. Gotta get plugging on the day job.

***

Worked on the day job. Kids got home around 3:30p, so I took John to get his glasses and Will to get some new clothes. Threw in a trip to the hardware store to get braces for the coop (needed that and copy paper!) and made a quick grocery run. John said he wants to hike the trail with me; Will, not so much. I think the concept lost its allure when I told them they'd have to carry their own backpacks.

Fun conversation with John in the car. He thinks he'd be better off living in New York because he wouldn't need a car; they're expensive and pollute and we're going to run out of oil one day. Told him the last place he wants to be is in a large city with 14 million people who've just woken up to find out they can't get food, water, air conditioning, heat, or Starbucks. He said in that case, he'd like a motorcycle.

Great job, Dad.

Currently trying to fix a busted-ass laptop. Damn. Get the Blue Screen of Death every time it starts with a registry error, which generally is not good news. Sigh. Should be entertaining trying to repair this particular electronic fiasco.

I hate computers.

(Except when they tell me neat things. Like, where hummingbirds go for the winter: Southern Mexico and northern Panama. It'd be nice to spend the winter there, but I think it would still suck to be a hummingbird.)

One Small Race

So I've been slacking for a few days. Payback was this morning, in the form of a 10-K race that I thought would be fairly easy. Small crowd -- maybe 200 or so runners. Not heavily advertised -- no chips or any major sponsors. And starting in the mid-morning. I figured, eh, treat it as a fast run.

Ugh.

The first 1.5 miles weren't so bad. But at the third mile, we hit a hill and started going up. And up. And up. I passed a couple of kids in their 20s losing their lunch at various places along the hill. Went back and forth with one guy in his early 30s.

"You're a truck!" he said after I passed him going up a hill for the third or fourth time.

"A 1963 Dodge, I think."

He wound up beating me by about 10 seconds. All things considered, though, I didn't do too badly. I came in third in the 30-and-over group, which wasn't too shabby. The guy who came in first for the "older runners" category was in his 50s. So I was mildly pleased.

Going to work on the chicken coop today and see if I can't get back into the swing of things tomorrow. And not get cocky. Third place ain't bad, but I could've done better than 8:07/mile, even with hills that would've killed a mountain goat.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Glad I got my run done early. It's supposed to hit 81 degrees today. Maybe not so unusual for everyone else in the middle of May, but damn strange here. Another seasonal milestone -- ran in shorts and sleeveless today! Did a 10K to tune up for a race on Saturday, then biked 13.25 miles on the stationary.

In other news ...

*** Stepdaughter is being discharged from the Air Force. Just lost it during basic training. She'll appeal and see if she can't re-enlist at some point, but it ain't good.

*** Dad's having another surgery in late May. Sigh. This one's going to be tough. He's just been through too much. Brothers and I are trying to figure out who can stay with him and when.

*** On the good news front, the gas people are coming today to fix the Rinnai tankless water heater. Sucks to have to heat water in a stockpot in the oven or on the stove. Trust me.

Fuck you, TNT. I know drama.

I'll finish the peep expansion project later this week,. They're getting a bit testy, popping out of the brooder like quail when I water them. I'm also calling around to track down topsoil for the garden. My tomato plants are looking good and big, and the onions are taking off. The thyme, not so much. I think it might be a bit hot in the window for it.

Speaking of gardening, I purchased a new gardening tool. At least, that's how I hope to use it. We go through an awful lot of paper -- probably about half our trash. So Lisa had the Very Bright Idea of getting a shredder and using the paper as rabbit and ferrett litter, and possibly compost.

I'm sure the FBI will believe that explanation.

The leaves are just exploding on the trees this week, and the apple trees are in full bloom. I keep waiting for my sinuses to realize this and close immediately, but no problem so far. It's odd -- growing up in Houston, I never realized that it was possible for humans to breathe through their nose for most of the year.

Daylillies and tulips are starting to pop up, too:


Too much to do today, not enough time to get it all done.

Back in the Saddle

So to speak, anyway.

Ran a quick-ish 5K this morning (8:22/mile) and went to the gym, which has re-opened. Did a quick bike workout there and headed for home, since Lisa had some stomach crud last night and pool will be closed another week. Felt good to be back into exercise/diet mode, though. Had a PowerGel for pre-run breakfast, omelet and toast for brunch.

Lot of things needing attention. Have to go to New Hampshire later this afternoon for the day job, then pick up various coop parts. Motherboard needs replacing on laptop. Thank-you notes for New York conference need writing. John needs more algebra problems, and Will needs some new clothes. Have to take cans by recycling center, trash to transfer station and shirts to dry cleaners.

Ack! More later.

Back in Town

Got back into town around 1 am. Yawn. Needless to say, didn't quite make it up in time for the 10-K or anything else. Slept most of today.

New York wasn't awful. Didn't sleep well, and about the best exercise I got was a 10-K around Central Park with a 7:45/mile average. None too shabby. Then again, it was getting dark, and I was on the north end of the park, and didn't want to look like the weak gazelle in the bunch.

Got to spend some time with some interesting folks uptown at Columbia. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a riot, and Gene Roberts is still a legend.

Family possibly glad to see me return. The hot water heater (a Rinnai tankless) went down again and needs a new part. The chickens exploded like quail when I opened the brooder to feed and water them last night. And the dogs have been following me around. Only the cat is pissed. But I think that's normal.

The gym will be open tomorrow, so I may do a sprint tri. I'll do some repair work on the computer (my laptop motherboard blew while I was in New York) and work on some other things. Hoping to finish the chicken coop and start the garden beds by late this week.

And get back on my diet. Oh, yeah. Had a few hamburgers in New York. If you ever want to beat yourself up dietarily (is that even a word?), go here:

http://bignicksnyc.com/

The menu is about the size of a mail-order catalog. It's all good and all grease, as they say. So I'll be beating myself up over that for a while.

It is good to be home. We went to the grocery this afternoon and were loading up on food. Some woman started helping us, explaining that she likes to bag groceries and that's what she does at the co-op, which is where we were heading next. So we got into a brief discussion of spelt flour, seven-grain flour and grinding wheat for your own bread.

Happens to y'all in New York all the time, right?

Feeling Vaguely Lifelike

Ran a 5K this morning to prove it. Didn't go fast, not at all. Just ran, and didn't even hack up more than half of one lung. It helps that it was a nice morning, in the high 30s. It's supposed to get up to 60 today, which'll be really nice.

(Of course, there's a 20 percent chance of snow on Thursday. Looks like I won't get my garden planted until mid-May, at the earliest.)

Having passed the snot along to my youngest, I felt appropriately guilty when he made a pretty brave effort at getting up this morning. Didn't take much to talk him into going back to bed, although he's a bit crabby about missing another school day.

Spent an hour going over algebra with John this afternoon, felt somewhat helpful. Gotta keep him rolling on this course while he's into it. Still can't get over his volunteering to do some school work on a weekend.

My peeps are going to require a little more patience. I almost stir-fried 46 of them last night. They got out of the brooder and did what free chickens generally do -- make a huge mess. I cleaned up, and then put some cardboard over the top of the brooder to keep them penned. They got the message. For once, they shut up and went to sleep. I think all they needed was a little darkness. But really, it was the first damn time in their two-week lives that they've shut up and slept at night.

Still, I desperately need to get off my butt and finish the coop annex. It'll give them an extra 120 square feet or so (in addition to the 24 square foot coop). It'll also give the bathroom back to Gray Kitten, who's starting to get a bit testy about the whole peep-peep-peeping sound coming from her former domain.

On things animal-related, I need to start taking the dogs out on my short runs. They're getting a bit round. Not much, but a bit. Rather like their owner feels after a week and a half of doing nothing.

I'm off to NYC tomorrow night for a three-day conference. If an honorarium weren't involved, I'd likely skip it. Unfortunately, you actually have to show up to get paid. And this conference, of course, is one of those deals that starts at 8 am and goes on ... and on ... and on ... and on ...

If I'm complaining about peep-peep-peeping, I'm thinking I'll be in a really good mood after two nights of nonstop horns and car alarms (urban crickets). I'll be lucky to get one run, much less two or three. And I'll be staying up near Columbia. I guess I might be able to run in the park, but I really, really don't like running in crowds.

Which is kind of a dumb thing to say and think, since I'm trying to remotivate myself here by signing up for some races. I'm doing a 10-K in Bennington on Sunday and a 10-K in Brattleboro one week from Saturday.

I'm guessing the number of people running in those two races -- combined -- will be roughly half the morning running crowd in Central Park. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, I think I'll wear this shirt running and hope people get the message: