Space Between

Last post I shared the end of my running streak. Now 3.5 years later I am happy to report that I have a new – maybe even healthier- exercise regimen. For roughly two years post running streak, I alternated, albeit haphazardly, between bicycling and running. Then about a year ago I decided to add walking days. Now the regimen looks something like this. Beginning on a Sunday it’s bike, run, walk, and repeat. I usually take Saturday’s off for rest/recovery. Although many Saturday’s I head off on a hike or another activity away from home.

Around the same time that my running streak ended, I modified my pre-run regimen, too. And while I still meditate most mornings, I’ve eliminated daily push-ups, sit-ups, and dumbbells and replaced them with a yoga/stretch regimen. Happy to report that my body has never felt better, and certainly much more flexible. One of the ill effects of running every day for almost 20 years, my hamstrings became dangerously tight, like banjo strings. I pulled a hamstring several times along the way. It took almost two years for them to loosen up some, but they’ll never be as spry as they were 10+ years ago.

And since it’s been a few years, I want to give a special call out to my newest grandchild, Nixon. Nixon came into the world Oct 25, 2017. He’s an amazing little boy and we love him to pieces. Hard to believe that he’s 2.5 yrs. old already.

It’s early May and we’re deep into the throws of COVID-19. Most of us are in some form of a lock-down. Fun-fun! And as a result, I now share my work from home space with Mindy and the kids. We are all home working and schooling. Outside of my bike, run, walk, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve left the house. I’ve driven my car maybe 30 miles dating back to the 2^nd week of March.

Making it a bit more painful has been the chilly, wet, gray weather we’ve had to slog through since mid-March. We’ve had maybe 10 really nice days out of the last 50. At one point I became so discouraged with the weather that I went on a fact-finding mission charting the April weather for the last 5 years. Facts are, that most April’s are a mixed bag of crappy weather with some nice days sprinkled in. This April’s pattern looks eerily similar to April 2018, but with only 4 days over 70 degrees, none reach 80 degrees, and a whole bunch in the low to mid 50s. And most of those included rain and a stiff, chilly breeze.

On a positive note, we’re well ahead of schedule on spring/summer yard prep. But even that has taken a bit of a hit due to the recent rash of extremely wet, chilly weather. After all, I can’t move dirt and mulch freely about the yard for fear of creating ruts in the overly saturated lawn.

Probably not much different than most folks, I have watched more TV in the last 50 days that I have over the last 20 years. And Mindy & I have watched 5 or 6 movies together over that same span, probably equal to the number of movies we’ve watched together in our entire relationship. Add to that my insatiable appetite for everything Corona virus, I have watched CNN & Fox News ad nauseum. Lots of spin on both networks, albeit 180 degrees apart.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

-    Rumi