Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Guillermo and Michael did not actually die on the same day, but you have to admire the complexity they achieved in an era when it is fully acknowledged (even by them) that most were illiterate. I'm pleased that I correctly guessed that an impertinent curiosity was the source of an etymology. I felt that it contained a potentially interesting lesson, but I've forgotten what it was.

Two laps of the airfield. Gotta love midwinter full moons, this was well after dark, but when there was a cloud in front of the moon it was fine, and when there wasn't I could read my watch. Brought a little headlamp, but never turned it on. T-shirt and shorts.

Three trips from the Quest parking lot to SR33 and back, with one of those going back to the end of the pavement. (I did one of these, and the other two later.) I can turn around at the west end, but the pavement is too narrow for me at the east end.

I received jocular advice tonight while eating barbecued pork for the second night in a row, in response to a quip about a vitreous Rorschach triangle. My answer to the followup question seemed surprisingly satisfactory. 1967? I'm not sure that round three is the best idea.

Walked from Quest to Groveland to look for some dinner and find a place to buy groceries. This is the kind of town that has three auto parts stores but only one lame place that's sort of a grocery store with no perishables. There is a supermarket about 13 miles away, too far to walk.

Back with the groceries slung over my shoulder.

Gorka's wisdom, or I should say attitude, varies in his other works. Full of life indeed. Some things are better anticipated than experienced, and reflection can also be superior. But it's difficult to take that to heart and forgo the reality. Maybe the people who send their lives just watching movies have the right idea. That's a green grass notion, for sure.

So you think about unlikely possibilities, and then a cab driver mentions a $25 lottery ticket for a teetotaller. What a stereotype! Nothing doing at the Quahog as far as I'm aware, the action is down with the misplaced kangaroos. If anybody were asking, I could provide legality and prudence and who knows where that would lead, but I'm not going to go campaigning. This is the realm of terrible odds anyway; the revival would probably be better. Or I could just go get some exercise in the dark and maybe end up perforated.

OK, so how did 2014 go? (This seems to be the popular thing to do today.)

Somewhat surprisingly, I appear to have logged more training this year than any previous year. Other than a slight dip last year, it's actually been a steadily upward trend since 2008 (I didn't check against the old log). This probably means that I've been increasingly creative in finding bogus things to log.

2014 actually had something of a target, that being the WRC in South Dakota. My training "plan", which I had indicated to Clint was something that existed, was simply to do something loggable every day, not counting exercises like situps and pushups, even if it was just a run around the block. In this I failed miserably. My first gap was on January 2, and it just went to pieces from there. I did manage some slightly longer runs by starting this effort to run/hike the MidState Trail unsupported, in sections. That's been pretty fun, and I look forward to doing more of it next year. If I've counted right, I've done about 58 km so far, but that includes the section north of the border up to Windblown.

The WRC itself was unspectacular. I wasn't overly thrilled with the map or the terrain, and we ended up bagging it early, not due to fatigue, but foot problems. (Clint had the worst of it, but I was completely ready to be done because of blisters -- I would have regretted it if I had soldiered on.) It was, however, quite pleasant to spend the time out there with Clint and Ernst, and our navigation was damn close to perfect.

Only 29 orienteering races this year, which other than the anomalous 2009 is the fewest since 1987. I ran M35 at all A-meets except for the North Americans, and the one-day DVOA meet, where I ran M21. Silver medals all three times that I ran Red, including the US Champs (Colorado). I missed the Rochester US Champs due to car troubles. One first place result, at the Ratlum Summer Picnic relay.

No Triple Crown this year, because a) I was meet director for the Billygoat, and b) there was no Highlander. The Billygoat went okay. I shortened the course at the last minute, which was a good thing because it was still marginally too much - warm weather contributed to that. It was also touch and go as to whether the shirts would be ready, but they arrived on Saturday morning. (And I have quite a few left over.) Having Mom there (on Mother's Day!) to help serve refreshments was pretty nice.

Compared to hang gliding (and lighthouse hunting), how did things go?
Months: HG: 9, O: 8, L: 7
Days: HG: 20, O: 24, L: 12
Flights/Courses/Lights: HG: 25, O: 29, L: 27
States: HG: 5, O: 9, L: 8
Time: HG: 19:09, O: 46:30
Distance (straight line): HG: 28.2 km, O: 250 km
Distance (path): HG: 686+ km, O: 193 km

Just a little tour around the neighborhood, including side excursions through the middle school parking lot and down Cushing Lane. Perhaps the coldest conditions I've ever done this in; I don't recall ever having to wear warm gloves before. Took a lot of tries to get started, and I had one fall on Oak Ave (dropped the unicycle) and a dismount doing a U-turn. Didn't realize how much north wind there was until I headed into it.

Piano, pizza, unicycle, Autoliv, flying, April, hearts, mac-n-cheese, autolil, breakfast... who's got the line on all this, Riley King or John Gorka?

I'm one of several who had an ambiguous name. My mother says she runs into Mrs. Thaxter from time to time (is she the one who has a car cover?). I wonder how things have been going for Mrs. Bridge.

I had a rendezvous with a young lady who was interested in doing some dancing. We did some prohibited things, and she got my heart rate elevated. Which is all not what it probably sounds like, but was a fine time nonetheless.

C • A fine time 1

Mostly not firewood, but cleanup of limbs that came down at Mom's over Thanksgiving that I didn't get a chance to get to until now. Primarily worthless white pine that I dragged up into the woods, but there were a couple of maple limbs that I'll cut up into stove length when I get a chance.

"What, like all four?" Four?! And from so close a source. I gotta let this go. It's another question of how long you remember things. And maybe a lesson in how easy it is to screw up. Too much caution is surely its own hazard as well, though.