Training Log Archive: PG

A proper day of tapering.

A little more in Edinburgh, mostly a really fine visit to the Museum of Modern Art (where "modern" usually means 20th century, so not really modern). But the stuff I grew up with. Spent several hours there.

Then a drive-by of the new parliament and the nearby royal residence. Maybe we'll find time to visit them before heading home, maybe not.

Then off to Sterling to visit its castle, also pretty cool, and we were greeted by the Waddingtons plus Izzy. Mike was amazingly cheerful for being lame (and he seemed sober). They gave us a copy of the castle O map, excellent.

Off to Skye in the morning.

Oh, almost forgot, weather is beautiful today, mixed sun and clouds, 70F. So we won't get 14 days of rain Maybe 13? :-)

C • Peat bogs in Skye 3

So two days of playing tourist -- castles, museums, etc. -- well, pictures of castles and museums are a dime a dozen. So all I will offer are the following. First, for just 250 quid a person, WCOC could upgrade to a really fine club outfit, and that price includes all 11 pieces. Think about it George....



But maybe that's not the look you want. So here is another option, a more traditional look. Note that this is only a small part of the outfit, but it was a public place so I passed on getting into the tights (and fancy shoes, and ruffled shirt, and codpiece one presumes). What think thee, George?



And then one artsy photo, just because modern sculpture is so often really cool....



Now off to Skye. Beautiful morning out. This is Scotland so rain gear will be close at hand.

C • Suits you! 3

Made it to Edinburg with little stress, having a nice cup of tea in the castle.

Supposed to go orienteering on Sunday, guess it's time to taper. :-)

C • So jealous! 3

I forgot that it's hard to taper when you're not doing any training in the first place. So I went for the other end of the spectrum, over-distance, though cleverly broken up into two pieces so my body could handle it.

This was part one, a pleasant jog over to the Scottish Museum of Modern Art just to see what it looked like. Found a nice route over, partly along the "Water of Leith Way" (strange names for things here, though I guess the feeling is mutual when they visit the USA).

Spent a few minutes admiring some outdoor sculptures -- we'll have to make a proper visit tomorrow before heading north.

And then back on a longer route just for variety. Back was starting to ache so glad I wasn't going any farther. And, needless to say, not much energy.

Took a few photos, but can't seem to upload them. Maybe tomorrow.

Leverett loop clockwise, put out a good effort.

Back continues sore but better than a couple of days ago. I'm supposed to be doing some orienteering in another week, will have to see if it is up to the task. Just as good I have no ambitions.

Corn maze O' is a go. Info is here.

Nice, well, mostly nice trip to Litchfield yesterday. Went because mom's doctor, actually I think she's a nurse practitioner, was making a house call to see how mom was doing. When's the last time a doctor made a house call? 50 years ago?

So that was worth being there for, had a nice chat with the nurse. And so far so good with mom. She's just skin and bones, but still eating well and seems quite happy.

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On the way down I spent some time ruminating on life, giving some thought to what I should be doing with my remaining years. I am lazy by nature, so there is a lot of appeal to not having responsibilities. But there also is appeal to doing something useful or productive with my time, not just letting it waste away.

Not that I came up with any answers. I'm certainly not eager to dive back into something as intense as the tax business. But there needs to be something to give a little more purpose to the passing days and months.

At some point it did occur to me that I should at least give myself some credit for the last 5 years of dealing with mom. Unexpected, certainly unplanned, certainly something I was totally unprepared for. Often I am very hard on myself, so sometimes it is good to just allow oneself some satisfaction for something done reasonably well. I beat myself up enough as it is.

Though, of course, snapping back to reality, this 5-year journey still has a ways to run, and who knows how it will play out. Definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

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And then, on the way home, a reminder for those times when you don't feel happy about things, when the day hasn't gone so well, that there is probably someone out there having a worse day. Past the airport, got onto 91 north and boom, traffic stopped dead. The phone showed bad traffic for a mile. Called up Gail, said I'd be later than planned for dinner, and then waited. And waited. And waited.

It took about an hour and a quarter to move that mile. At some point I could see enough ahead to realize that there was a semi that did not seem to be lined up the right way --



And closer, yes, for sure, the driver was definitely not having a good day. How he ended up there I have no idea.





Finally past it, a wide open 91, 3 lanes, not much traffic. It took a moment to realize that this was the most dangerous time -- everyone was late, everyone was pissed, and everyone was driving like a bat out of hell. And I was feeling quite fortunate, no place I had to be at a certain time, no schedule screwed up, just mozy on home where a fine dinner was waiting for me whenever I happened to get there. :-)

C • Thanks 2

Leverett loop counterclockwise. Lower humidity and a little cooler made this a lot more pleasant.

Short ride to Montague. Back is still not good, just a spot lower right that is tight, won't loosen up. Hurts pretty good at times, not at all much of the time.

C • Back 2

Back roads in Deerfield and Whately. As usual, not a whole lot of energy.

Standard loop on a warm and muggy day. Sweating a lot but not moving too fast. Back is still sore, but getting better.