The big day for Mike and Eileen is Saturday, March 1 in Bennington, Vermont. They will be representing all of Spencerport, NY in the snowshoe national championships being held in the snowy mountains. How snowy you ask? Well, watch this video;
It looks like a beautiful place to take a walk. Check out these photos of the course. Running 3 miles up and back down a mountain on snowshoes with 250 other people (a record number for the race) I'm not too sure about.
Besides the uphill climbs these races get interesting on the two miles or more of single-track that meanders through forests. It really can be a beautiful setting if you can enjoy it through the gasps of air your lungs are seeking.
Let's hope Mike and Eileen keep focused during the race on what is really important;
1. Not falling more than two times in the race
2. Finishing
3. Knowing not many other 50+ year olds in the world could do this activity
4. How enjoyable the Scotch will be Saturday night!
The Erie Canal, Running Paradise
Friday, February 28, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Top Ten Winter Olympics Thoughts
1. Curling is not a sport. Bocce ball and curling are remarkably similar in format. During my long life I have played a lot of bocce ball, which always involved drinking alcohol. The only way I am curling is if a cooler of beer is at the start and finish. Admittedly I am pretty accomplished with a broom, according to Jan, so maybe a curling career awaits me?
2. The USSR is anti-gay. Did they ever look at their curling team? Maybe the USSR is more inclusive than they are letting on. 3. I get it. You can go down a half-pipe on snowboards or skis. Enough already, just choose one over the other.
4. Slalom, giant slalom, some other slalom. Blue pole, red pole, these things hurt when they hit my face. I’ve been watching winter Olympics for 45 years and still don’t know one slalom race from another.
5. Luge athletes are insane. Sure, I’ll lay on my back or stomach and plummet down a tube at 85 miles an hour. Right. How many drunk men and women did it take to come up with that idea?
6. Ice dancing is NOT a sport. Some of you may find it “pretty” to watch, but a sport? I think not. If you conduct an exhibition after your event, it is not a sport. When is the last time the Yankees won the World Series and then a couple of days later played a friendly match against a National League team? Did the Seahawks and Broncos play flag football after the Super Bowl? No. They are sports, ice skating is difficult, but not a sport.
7. I loved the snowboard races with 5-6 people in them going over jumps and down the steep mountain with all the curves. That was exciting to watch.
8. Brothers and sisters should not be partners in ice dancing or skating. That is like going to the prom with a cousin. Some of those routines are supposed to be romantic, the USA brother and sister team was creepy.
9. Someday I want to ride in the bobsled at Lake Placid.
10. The USA media needed to stop bashing Sochi all the time. Like everything always goes perfect in Olympics held in America?
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
When I'm Sixty-Four?
To honor the original Beatles invasion of United States way back in February of 1963 and Mike and Lou, I re-arranged the lyrics of that classic song, "When I'm Sixty-Four". My lyrics also pay homage to the winter Olympics and Valentine's Day.
Go ahead and and sing along. Really, who will know?
Ah, and if you say the word, I could get warm with you
I could look dandy, wearing my skinny tights
When I go running down the road in the morning light,
You could admire me from behind
Waving at me as I go by, while you sit at the fireside.
Bob Costas with his red-eye disease from drinking too much Russian tea,
Curling’s my new favorite pick, I just need a broomstick,
Didn’t the Canucks invent this sport?
Ah, with Teddy on my lap, who says I’m portly?
Go ahead and and sing along. Really, who will know?
When it gets colder, say down to minus four,
Will you still be letting me go outside?
If I'd been out running ‘til six am, would you let me inside?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm frozen to the core?
You'll be colder too, after running on snowshoes,Will you still be letting me go outside?
If I'd been out running ‘til six am, would you let me inside?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm frozen to the core?
Ah, and if you say the word, I could get warm with you
I could look dandy, wearing my skinny tights
When I go running down the road in the morning light,
You could admire me from behind
Waving at me as I go by, while you sit at the fireside.
Sunday mornings, we go for a ride
Doing the grocery shopping, eating at the local IHOP, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?
Every night we can watch the OlympicsDoing the grocery shopping, eating at the local IHOP, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?
Bob Costas with his red-eye disease from drinking too much Russian tea,
Curling’s my new favorite pick, I just need a broomstick,
Didn’t the Canucks invent this sport?
Ah, with Teddy on my lap, who says I’m portly?
Send me a Tweet, drop me an e-card, stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say, you’re sincerely wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever more
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm frozen to the core?Indicate precisely what you mean to say, you’re sincerely wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever more
Friday, February 7, 2014
Bill Cosby: 49
Bill Cosby, one of my favorite comedians, talking about the effects aging has on your body. This is the first ten minutes of seventy minute routine and very appropriate for runners. Mr. Cosby was a runner (sprinter mainly) for years, actually quite fast and competed in the Penn Relays as a masters runner. Enjoy the Kodak commercial in the first thirty seconds, won't see that much anymore.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
On Anxiety
This quote from Scott Stossel's article in The Atlantic magazine is pretty close to how I feel most of the time and think how I present myself (at least in my work life);
"I am, as they say in the clinical literature, “high functioning” for someone with an anxiety disorder or other mental illness; I’m usually quite good at hiding it. This is a signature characteristic of the phobic personality: “the need and the ability,” as described in the self-help book Your Phobia, “to present a relatively placid, untroubled appearance to others, while suffering extreme distress on the inside.” To some people, I may seem calm. But if you could peer beneath the surface, you would see that I’m like a duck—paddling, paddling, paddling."
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/surviving_anxiety/355741/
Surviving Anxiety. Scott Stossel. The Atlantic. 12/22/2013.
I thought this was a great article. I haven't used the medications for two reasons; 1 - I try to stay away from using drugs, even prescription ones and 2 - I'm too anxious and ashamed to admit to a doctor how much this problem bothers me. I don't want to rely on a drug, I should be able to deal with this on my own.
I write that sentence knowing there have been numerous times in my life that anxiety has forced me to alter my course and not always for the better.
Alcohol - well, again, never at work, but in many social situations it can become a crutch. The key is balance, just enough to take the edge off, so to speak.
Exercise is usually my "drug". Running or biking can take care of a lot of issues. It makes me feel better mentally as much as physically. I always bike or lift or run on days I have to teach a class. I can stand up in front of the students knowing I accomplished something today, even if I fail now. Of course I'm anxious before every race, some people reading this may have seen me in a full-blown anxiety state of mind before competing, but that's another article.
"I am, as they say in the clinical literature, “high functioning” for someone with an anxiety disorder or other mental illness; I’m usually quite good at hiding it. This is a signature characteristic of the phobic personality: “the need and the ability,” as described in the self-help book Your Phobia, “to present a relatively placid, untroubled appearance to others, while suffering extreme distress on the inside.” To some people, I may seem calm. But if you could peer beneath the surface, you would see that I’m like a duck—paddling, paddling, paddling."
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/surviving_anxiety/355741/
Surviving Anxiety. Scott Stossel. The Atlantic. 12/22/2013.
I thought this was a great article. I haven't used the medications for two reasons; 1 - I try to stay away from using drugs, even prescription ones and 2 - I'm too anxious and ashamed to admit to a doctor how much this problem bothers me. I don't want to rely on a drug, I should be able to deal with this on my own.
I write that sentence knowing there have been numerous times in my life that anxiety has forced me to alter my course and not always for the better.
Alcohol - well, again, never at work, but in many social situations it can become a crutch. The key is balance, just enough to take the edge off, so to speak.
Exercise is usually my "drug". Running or biking can take care of a lot of issues. It makes me feel better mentally as much as physically. I always bike or lift or run on days I have to teach a class. I can stand up in front of the students knowing I accomplished something today, even if I fail now. Of course I'm anxious before every race, some people reading this may have seen me in a full-blown anxiety state of mind before competing, but that's another article.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Dean the Mouse
Dean was given his name by Bruce Grierson, the author of "What makes Olga run?". Dean resides in a lab at UC Riverside, is slender by mice standards and seldom stays still.
Dean was bred to run, the result of 64 generations of mice who like to run far and fast. In the same fashion as MW and Lou, among other people, Dean likes to wake up in the morning and immediately begin to run.
Dean has run up to 19 miles in a day! Not bad for a mouse, or human. Psychologists believe Dean gets a kind of runners high and when you deprive him of being able to run he is depressed. But it's not just the genetic makeup, Dean (and us) also have to have the opportunities to exercise. When we exercise regularly we become better athletes, and the cycle continues. Regular exercise keeps the dopamine flowing, which makes us (and Dean) feel better.
There can be a downside to this, if the exercise overtakes all else in your life. Balance is important, whether you are Dean the Mouse or a homo sapien.
Dean was bred to run, the result of 64 generations of mice who like to run far and fast. In the same fashion as MW and Lou, among other people, Dean likes to wake up in the morning and immediately begin to run.
Dean has run up to 19 miles in a day! Not bad for a mouse, or human. Psychologists believe Dean gets a kind of runners high and when you deprive him of being able to run he is depressed. But it's not just the genetic makeup, Dean (and us) also have to have the opportunities to exercise. When we exercise regularly we become better athletes, and the cycle continues. Regular exercise keeps the dopamine flowing, which makes us (and Dean) feel better.
There can be a downside to this, if the exercise overtakes all else in your life. Balance is important, whether you are Dean the Mouse or a homo sapien.
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