Senior Olympian Sprinter

The state meet is fast approaching and I am working on getting my body ready for a two day meet.  This week I ran two days in a row at a very nice high school track in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.  The football field is brand new sports turf and the track is a very nice synthetic that is open to the public.    On day one, I worked on the first speed work of the season, I did several 50 meters sprints at 95% with spikes and spikeless running shoes.  After the 8th one, the right hammie was starting to whine and that was that.  The next day, I ran on the field at 80% to make sure the hammie got some work but was not too mad.    I worked hard on stretching keep the legs as loose as possible.   For the first part of the workout I did run barefoot which is always  a thrill.   The new turf was a little too prickly and I had to get the shoes back on.  Day three I rested and traveled home and will work out today, which ...

                                  This weekend,  I did the final connections for the new irrigation system that will supply creek water to the gardens and yard this summer.   As the picture demonstrates, it is a long way up the hill to the house, and the digging was an adventure due to rock and limestone shelves that hinder any efficient trenching.   But, it is all done except for the backfilling.   My old trailer that I used to move dirt and debris around, has finally died and when my new trailer gets to the dealer, I can pick it up and finish the job.  I am using some old roadway dirt/stone to backfill and using the nice silt from the trench that is displaced to improve some yard up in front of the house.     I am getting closer and closer to be a ...

      You think you would get to a point in your life that you have done and seen basically everything that you are interested.  Well, I can testify that something new and crazier is around each corner.   I am currently working on a project where I am burying a water line from the stream to our house so we can pump water during the dry season and water the flowers and vegetables without buying stock in the Brentwood water plant. Water is 1.5 cents per gallon by my calculations.   Part of this project is removing an old driveway that ran through the yard (it is mostly limestone) and using this material to back fill the water line ditch.   I then use the material removed for the ditch to replace the road material and make for a much better yard.  I call this process "soil exchange".   During this process I looked up and there was  the world's tallest groundhog or "the beaver"!  Damn, the be...

Finally !!  I finally had a chance to run outdoors and get off the treadmill.   The treadmill work is a great way to get your conditioning in without causing foot injuries or getting dried out by the wind.  When I do my running I typically run with my mouth open--a trice broken nose does not help the situation--and as a result the wind does dry out my mouth and throat and I get pretty raspy.  The treadmill has little air moving so my mouth does not dry out and my voice stays strong.  I will take the weak voice, I finally got to run outside! There is just some sort of freedom to finally get a chance to enjoy the warm air and just have fun running in the grass.   I ran two times in the last couple of days on grass.   Grass sprints are about 100 to 150 meters in length and I get to vary the speed and intensity.  This season,  the ground is very hard already, I am afraid it will be a very dry summer.  I ran in Florence, AL today ...

It is amazing how things can pile up once you reach the "certain" age, say 55 or so when you are officially a senior. I am actually 57 to set the record staright.   I had my semi annual dental check up about a month ago and knew I had a problem tooth before I arrived.  I could feel a 'hole' in a tooth with my tongue and knew it was not good.  My tongue would not lie about something like that.   After the cleaning, the dentist  took a look and showed me a a picture of  the hole and it was finally time to get my first crown.   So, I am officially a mature adult, I am getting my first crown tomorrow.  I have been lucky to not have one to this point because there is a lot of silver in my big teeth. But last weekend, the senioritis, not like in last month of high school or college, hit in a big way.  When I returned from Miami I had a lot of drainage into my throat and then a cough developed.  I take a really strong allergy medici...

Sometimes you have to just have to shake your head or better yet, listen to your wife basically blow material out her nose when precious gem moments occur.    We were going to have a couple over to play some cards, tell stories and eat some Gus's World Famous Chicken last weekend.   Since chicken is slow to cook, I ordered ahead-- 2 dozen wings and a pint of cole slaw. Perfect for a party of four.   Pretty simple  ?? Nope,  it was not that easy.  I turns out that the chicken place did not have any containers that held a pint of slaw-- just 16 ounces!  I repeated this over the phone and Linda overhead it from 20 feet away and something had to have been projected out her nose when she let out some sort of snort.  I couldn't laugh or it would have spoiled the moment.   I said, just give the 16 ounce container and we would be fine.  Whew, got away with that brush with weak math skills.  I asked Linda if I did OK by not ...

Linda and I just finished a week in South Beach for a trade show I attend every other year in Miami Beach-- Tissue World is the show.   Anybody that is involved in the manufacturing of tissue paper or paper towel is there trying to get a bigger piece of the action.   I was working some old relationships  and trying to get some new stuff going and I think overall I was effective in promoting my product lines.  This is the last time we are going to be in South Beach.  In the Spring of 2016 the show will be held in New Orleans.    Changing to New Orleans is not something that I happy about.   I like the warm weather and beach in Miami.   I can run on the beach and enjoy some nice warm weather.   The day this picture was taken, by Linda, we were on beach the in the early morning getting in some running for me and walking for her.  I don't think running will be much of an option in New Orleans.  Hopefull...