On the run

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

I went for my first run last week since Argentina.  It had been 3 months since my last run, and after many many weeks on the couch I got excited.  So excited, in fact, that I signed up for a half marathon in December with an old colleague from grad school before I even went on my first run.   (And no, we didn’t realize that it was NASCAR theme until after we decided to sign up…it just reconfirmed we were making the right decision.)

So, I headed out on my easy, mellow, slow 3 mile jog pretty amped about being back in the game.  I made it about 15 minutes before I bent over double and almost barfed. Since then, I’ve run 5 more times.  It’s gotten marginally better.  On my four miler today I didn’t feel like barfing until 20 minutes in.

This half marathon should be great.

Oktuckyfest

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Lexington held its own Oktoberfest in a church parking lot downtown (which I’m guessing was basically the same as Molly’s experience in Munich).  There was awesome beer and some pretty fantastic (though not exactly German) music.

Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Country Boys played a free concert the night we were there.  (You’d probably recognize some of their music from the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, for which Dr. Stanley won a Grammy.)   Dr. Stanley is a legend in the bluegrass community…literally.  He was awarded the Living Legend  Award by the Library of Congress in 2000.

The performance had dueling banjos and fiddles (which I had never seen live before, it’s pretty cool), and the crowd was huge.  People were going crazy.

Some additional info on Dr. Ralph Stanley, who told the crowd he has “been sangin’ for about 64 years now”,  and why he is amazing.

  • When asked by the New York Times where he grew up, he told them “in a little town called McClure at a place called Big Spraddle, just up the holler”
  • He has called himself Doctor ever since being awarded an honorary degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee in 1976 (he has a high school diploma)
  • He is 82 and despite having hands that are totally gnarled from arthritis, still plays live
  • He plays a banjo with his face painted on the back

*Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Catch up…

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

So I have my final for my godforsaken online class tomorrow in Louisville.  Things have been busy here with finals, moving, getting back into running, attending free earring making workshops at the local co-op with my mother in law…just so much going on.  But I promise to catch up shortly.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

No guns in lecture

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Don’t see these much around the UC campuses.

I guess recently there’s been a big debate about allowing guns on campus, but not in the classroom.  Because carrying a concealed weapon on campus is totally necessary.  What if there is an uprising by against the government in between Intro to Biology and Intermediate Algebra?   Don’t want to be caught without your glock.

Fall 7 times…

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Nana korobi, ya oki.

~Japanese proverb

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

There is a guy that swims on the Masters team that I coach named George.  George is 55 and his life goal has been to qualify for the Ironman in Kona, Hawaii.  (For those of you unfamiliar with an Ironman, it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run…one right after the other.  Absurd.)   To qualify for Kona you have to either achieve a certain time or place at specific races.  It’s a prestigious race, really difficult to qualify.

2 weeks ago, George completed the Ironman Louisville.   He dropped his time by 40 minutes, won his age group, and will be flying to Hawaii in 3 weeks to race at Kona.  His marathon time was 3:41, over 20 minutes better than his previous PR.

Louisville was his 8th Ironman.

Wildcat Nation

~ meh ~ 3 Comments

The temperature in Kentucky this past week has been 70s with little to no humidity.  It has been clear and dry and gorgeous.  It’s official: Fall is here.  Which excites me for a number of reasons, including:

  • The weather
  • The leaves
  • Pumpkin beer (despite Joe’s recent post, which I will choose to ignore for the time being)
  • Thanksgiving
  • And of course, football

Yesterday I learned that my excitement for football is of a different breed than that of the UK community.  This is a picture of the stadium parking lot:

OK, in downloading that picture I realize it doesn’t really do the parking lot justice.  The lot is full of RVs with UK flags waving, and traffic (on the other side of the lot) backed up down the street and up onto the main road.

The first game of the season is Saturday at 7:30 PM.  This picture was taken on Friday at 7:00.  In the morning.

And the game is against Western Kentucky, not  considered a “big game”.

AND Kentucky doesn’t even have a good football team.  According to Paul, basketball season is a whole different animal.

…+ Denver

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

I was in Denver for a grand total of about 24 hours.  It was a worthwhile stopover, got to see some old friends from high school (who you might remember from a hike earlier this year, one of whom just moved from Santa Cruz out to Denver.)  We had a pre-30th birthday celebration, the first one of our group to turn 30, a scary time in anyone’s life.  I baked brownies to celebrate the occasion, and attempted to decorate it with some frosting I bought from the store, only to realize it was actually frosting dye.  So…yeah.  Fail.

Santa Barbara South

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Santa Barbara, Orange County, San Diego, back to Santa Barbara…over the course of 4 days.  It was a lot of quick hellos and goodbyes and some nice peppers from my parent’s garden.

Totally unrelated to the purpose of this trip, I am including the picture below (even though you can barely tell what is going on) because it was so impressive.

A homeless fellow riding his bike down State Street carrying his life on his handlebars, which included (but was not limited to): clothing, bedding, bags of cans, a boogie board, and an extra bike.  Just in case.  This guy is ready for anything.

This is the house that Jimmy built

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Gonna get me a whole big bunch of grapes off a bush, or whatever, an’ I’m gonna squash ’em on my face an’ let ’em run offen my chin.

~John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

This is Uncle Jimmy:

This is the porch of the house that Jimmy built:

This is the wine from the vineyards you can see from the porch of the house that Jimmy built:

This is the pizza oven that Jimmy built for a friend well, just, because:

This is totally awesome, the life that Jimmy built.

Next stop: Santa Barbara

Note: Pictures for this post were all taken with my Droid, I was too lazy to deal with lighting settings on my phone, which is why they’re kind of crappy.