Really Quite Out of Sight...

Somehow, today I managed to get 10.5 miles in, mostly running, without too much effort getting out the door or keeping my legs in a running pattern, even on the slick streets and sidewalks with sheets of ice and slush puddles.

The days don't have enough hours in them to allow me to get everything done now, but I'm productive nonetheless. Seems like I only have half my work done and my workout, and I'm looking at a day going down in a blaze, like this sunset the other night.

I love nighttime, but it's been so cold and my workdays are so long that by sunset I am ready to wrap it up for the day. Before I climb into bed these days I usually watch things on my iPad, just mindless day-old comedy stuff like the Tonight Show, Daily Show, Larry Wilmore, and so on. And the other night I happened to see a clip of Jimmy Fallon promoting David Bowie's new album and I thought it was strange that he wasn't a guest on the show. And then the thought disappeared.

The next day I saw all these posts on Facebook, RIP David Bowie, etc.

I am not big on popular entertainment culture though I do pay some attention. I haven't been listening to music much because my iPod died last spring and I haven't been running long enough runs to warrant replacing it. But one of my favorite artists has always been David Bowie, and the rise & fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars has a designated spot on every music playing device I own. It's perfect middle of the night ultra music.

But David Bowie has a special meaning in my life beyond his dramatic and creative performances. When I was fourteen years old and still living in Philadelphia, my very first concert was David Bowie.

And it was spellbinding and spectacular in a way that only a 14 year old can perceive it, but I can remember it vividly nearly 40 years later. I remember going with my friend, we took the train to downtown Philadelphia and went to the concert, feeling so independent and grown up. I remember the stage, the lights, the smoke and haze, and the outrageous costumes he wore, so energetic, jumping around, and the way his voice projected. His gender-bending persona was ahead of its time in many ways, and I was grateful for it.

As a teenager I had a difficult time with my own self-concept and figuring out what was an acceptable way to dress and appear in public. Where I went to junior high, it was an affluent community of many spoiled upper-middle class brats, and Mean Girls was hatched in a similar environment. I was not a girly-girl and I didn't "get" fashion, and I didn't dress to look feminine or to impress. Jeans and t-shirts, no makeup, no hairstyle, just long, stringy thick hair, were my thing.

I hung out with a group of similarly outcast girls, and we were not boy-crazy. So we didn't fit in. And David Bowie showed me that it was okay to be offbeat and not tied to gender expectations. At 14, that was a powerful revelation, at least it was for me. And living through childhood with a mom who was all too happy to enforce her gender requirements on my style of dress and activity, it was pure validation.

Anyway,that's my David Bowie story. It makes me want to go get that new ipod today, fill it with my music, get out under the stardust and dance my way through a night run!

So the next time it looks like this outside, I hope to be headed out the door for a while. RIP David Bowie. Thanks for the inspiration.

Firing Up The Old Eight-Track iPod...

I am not a technophobe. But I have a persistent habit of delaying my use of a new gadget for a long time, once it comes out. Why? Because I'm usually happy with how the old one works and I see no reason to change. I also like to wait until the bugs get ironed out. Sort of like not running a new race the first year.

It took me forever to get a smartphone, a laptop, and move from cassettes to CDs, to my MP3 player, which I've now had for 8 years and I still use it, even though the software no longer works with the newer operating systems and the applications on my computer. Plus it only holds 2 GB, so I have one collection of music on the MP3 player that hasn't changed in over 5 years, because I can't load anything else on it.

Dennis gave me an iPod Nano for my birthday and I spent most of the day yesterday playing the thing, trying to figure it out and putting my entire music collection on it. Then I made some playlists, since I have a race coming up I got it all ready to go.

My back feels better and I ran a little over 10 miles today and took the iPod with me so I could practice using it. It's nice, it's a little easier to read than my MP3 player was, but I don't have a good feel for how to scroll through the screen, apparently I'm not touching it correctly- it doesn't respond as well as my iPhone.

I'm hoping I'll get used to it soon. I like that it's small and lightweight and it fits in the back pocket of all my PearlIzumi shorts and tights. I'm not sure about the battery life though. I hope I'll be able to figure out ways to recharge it because with the old MP3 player I could just replace a AAA battery once in an ultra and that was enough.

With this thing, I'm not sure how long it will work. I've seen all kinds of statistics on the battery life and how to maximize it. I'll have to figure that out this week and bring my MP3 as a backup just in case.

There needs to be an ultrarunning advisor for all new technology that runners use. I doubt that the makers of the iPod took into consideration that some people might want to run it for days without easy access to electricity.

If I were Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, I suppose I could make ultra technology like that. But I'm not. I just run. That's all I have to say today.

Summer

We thought it would never arrive but it's here.



The cotton is flying, I'm sneezing, and the grass needs mowing. The rock garden we started last fall is full of wildflowers and I'm waiting for all of them to bloom before I decide which ones I want to weed out.





The Buffaloes love summer. So many things to sniff, lick, and smile about.

















I have things to smile about too. Change is on the horizon. I can't say much because I don't know the details yet, but I'm very excited that some big exciting things are happening. I'm so happy, dancing in circles, smiling so wide I can barely keep the duct tape on my face.

Sometimes change is slower than we want but there's a good reason. I'm trying to be patient this week.

I went for a 30 mile run with Cat this morning. We ran down into Loveland, past downtown, and turned around. We got covered with bugs on the bike path section at Boyd Lake, but it was a nice morning and we felt good. We stuck maple seeds on our noses and caught up about her trip to Spain.

Last week I had a great running week. I did some rock repeats, got sore from that, since I haven't been doing much on hills because the Keys 100 was such a flat run. Now I have to gear up for the hills at Lean Horse and it means tougher runs. I did some pickups to get my leg turnover going again. So far this week has been good too.

I've been in the sauna, which has been repaired, now it's extra hot. When I first came back from the Keys it was not even warm in there. When it's extra hot I don't have to spend so much time in it and other people spend even less time there so I get more time to myself. I am headed to Death Valley in less than three weeks for Badwater as a medical volunteer again, and I hear it's been warm...119 degrees is what I've seen so far. I'm stopping in Phoenix for a couple of days before that to visit my dad and stepmom.

I spoke several times in the past few weeks about my running and raising funds and awareness of the need for cancer-related services in the community. We got a good turnout at the hospital where I work.

I need a new MP3 player. I don't like the design of ipods. I prefer my old AAA battery powered MP3 player, it's durable and easy to use. I have a 2 GB Creative Zen Nano from several years ago and it's worked well, but it's full to capacity and when my old laptop died, the software was not compatible with our newer laptop.

I found one that I like except the battery is rechargable. It's supposed to last 32 hours. The problem with that is I run longer than that and I don't always have access to electricity.

Solution: Get two of them, they're inexpensive and I can double up my tunes. It's 16 GB so I won't run out of space. I have almost my whole music collection on my current MP3.

The other problem is finding a way to clip the new MP3 on my clothing. My old Zen Nano has the perfect clip but the new one is a different size and doesn't come with a clip. Also, I am concerned about waterproofing and heat exposure with the new MP3. What if the battery doesn't work in 130 plus degree temperatures? My old MP3 worked fine in Death Valley. But will the new one work?

As I'm talking to the runners at Badwater this year I'll have to see what everyone is doing for their music. Then I'll invest in something that will carry me through Across the Years and, I'm hoping, next year's run at Badwater again!