Wow, I am proud of my little puppy! I had a fantastic 10 mile run today. I ran from my house to my dad's, then ran with my brother for 3 miles at the park by my dad's house, then ran home. Pepe did the run to and from my dad's house, and made a new distance record of over 6 miles!
My running partner is now at my feet, absorbing all my pride in him :-). When I run with him, he can be so well behaved, staying to my left, not running to far ahead or behind, but today, we saw many birds and lizards. Lizards must have done some harm to Pepe in another life because there is nothing he wants more than to chase one of these devils down and tear them to bits.
My favorite part of my run was when we went off the sidewalk, and ran parallel to a fence, on the other side of which where many lizards who had made nice homes for themselves amidst the trees and shrubberies. I have never seen a dog's eyes light up and ears perk up the way Pepe's did when he realized what was just on the other side of that fence. His head would dart back and forth as lizards would spring out of their hiding places, all the while Pepe's feet would keep trotting along as though only on part of him had forgotten the primary mission. Oh, but then, one made the error of leaving the safety of the fence, and my arm paid the penalty. Pepe strained at the end of the leash, confused, I am sure, as to why I was not as anxious to get the demon spawn. Alas, the lizard got away, and Pepe, disappointed in me for my lack of ambition, returned to his standard trot.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
my long run
The sun is rising as I start my run. I am proud of myself for making it out this early. I start moving my legs, and they feel stiff. I tell myself, "mile one is the hardest, just get through this, and then you'll feel good." Everything starts to fall into place, my heart rate climbs and levels out at 160. The sun is rising in front of me, and I am so happy to be on my run.
At first, time passes slowly, and I feel the impact of every stride. Then, at mile 4, I feel as though things get quiet. My aches stop bothering me, and my mind is free to think of other things.
I begin to feel the heat of the sun, and find it higher than I'd expected. I begin to rethink my route, wondering where I might find more shade. Drops of sweat begin to form, and I wipe them away from my ears, hoping to avoid their interferance with my earphones. I realize that the song I am running to is pretty far into my playlist, and I count up my miles. I have gone 10 miles. Then, the light changes, and I am forced to wait. I become more aware of the heat, and my sweat, and the difference a self-generated 6mph wind can make. Finally, the signal turns green, and my feet are back in sync with the drummer from Coheed and Cambria.
"Only a 5k" to go! "Less than a mile to go!" "Just around the corner now!" I encourage myself to the end.
At first, time passes slowly, and I feel the impact of every stride. Then, at mile 4, I feel as though things get quiet. My aches stop bothering me, and my mind is free to think of other things.
I begin to feel the heat of the sun, and find it higher than I'd expected. I begin to rethink my route, wondering where I might find more shade. Drops of sweat begin to form, and I wipe them away from my ears, hoping to avoid their interferance with my earphones. I realize that the song I am running to is pretty far into my playlist, and I count up my miles. I have gone 10 miles. Then, the light changes, and I am forced to wait. I become more aware of the heat, and my sweat, and the difference a self-generated 6mph wind can make. Finally, the signal turns green, and my feet are back in sync with the drummer from Coheed and Cambria.
"Only a 5k" to go! "Less than a mile to go!" "Just around the corner now!" I encourage myself to the end.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Beautiful Day
Went flying this morning! I was on South Mountain, and the winds were coming in South with some cycles out of the East. It was my third day in a row launching here, and I felt strangely nervous having just spoken to some hikers about reserve parachutes. My lines were a mess, maybe? My dad and I worked on them until we were sure things were sorted out, and at the end, I wasn't sure if there had been a problem from the start :-).
I brought the wing up in a nice lull in the wind, feeling the warmth of what I hoped would turn out to be a thermal. I put my weight into my harness, and started moving backward (reverse launch); bringing the wing up with only a slight correction needed on the left side before I turned around and ran toward the edge. The wing was flying, then, so was I :-)! I was flying into thermals and turning 360s to keep going up (even though I needed some convincing from my dad to complete the first full turn). I do not like facing the mountain before I am over launch, but the lift was strong, and I went up. There was a hawk coring the thermal I was in, and it felt amazing to be looking down on him for once. I looked back at launch, and my dad was taking off. I saw him go thermal searching, but for once he had to follow me to find the really strong lift :-).
After about 20 minutes, I decided to head for the LZ. The thermals had some edges to them, and I worried about things that might happen on landing. My goal was to land without taking an approach over the wash-the bastard got me twice already this week! I set up by the ridge, getting a little flight extending lift before I made my final approach. I landed into the wind with a great flare (thanks to some actual winds in the LZ), kited the wing to a clear spot where I could pack up and enjoy the feeling of a great, safe flight. My dad landed soon after, and we packed up and headed home.
In celebration of our flying, I tried to burn down the kitchen with a new recipe for stir fry! It was delicious, but this oil I was using was not good for cooking.
I also went for a 60 mile bike ride, which was not nearly as exciting to talk about, but I can say that my butt hurts from it, and I was at mile 58 and feeling sad that it was almost over :-(. The sun was setting at this point, and I was listening to "Goodbye Beautiful Day". I could not have planned a better ending to that ride.
I brought the wing up in a nice lull in the wind, feeling the warmth of what I hoped would turn out to be a thermal. I put my weight into my harness, and started moving backward (reverse launch); bringing the wing up with only a slight correction needed on the left side before I turned around and ran toward the edge. The wing was flying, then, so was I :-)! I was flying into thermals and turning 360s to keep going up (even though I needed some convincing from my dad to complete the first full turn). I do not like facing the mountain before I am over launch, but the lift was strong, and I went up. There was a hawk coring the thermal I was in, and it felt amazing to be looking down on him for once. I looked back at launch, and my dad was taking off. I saw him go thermal searching, but for once he had to follow me to find the really strong lift :-).
After about 20 minutes, I decided to head for the LZ. The thermals had some edges to them, and I worried about things that might happen on landing. My goal was to land without taking an approach over the wash-the bastard got me twice already this week! I set up by the ridge, getting a little flight extending lift before I made my final approach. I landed into the wind with a great flare (thanks to some actual winds in the LZ), kited the wing to a clear spot where I could pack up and enjoy the feeling of a great, safe flight. My dad landed soon after, and we packed up and headed home.
In celebration of our flying, I tried to burn down the kitchen with a new recipe for stir fry! It was delicious, but this oil I was using was not good for cooking.
I also went for a 60 mile bike ride, which was not nearly as exciting to talk about, but I can say that my butt hurts from it, and I was at mile 58 and feeling sad that it was almost over :-(. The sun was setting at this point, and I was listening to "Goodbye Beautiful Day". I could not have planned a better ending to that ride.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
