Training Log Archive: Swampfox

A much nicer day, one day too late for graduation.

More snow in the afternoon. Happy Jack was looking like a perfect winter postcard!

C • :-( 1

I don't know what it was, but I was filled with an overwhelming desire today to get up in the morning and dust my broom. Most peculiar!

Snow and a stiff wind led me to throw in the towel on mapping earlier than I would have otherwise, and instead I took a loop around on some of the ski trails--which are still on average better for skiing on that running on.

I had to hurry up on home because I was meeting a photographer for a glamour photo food shoot. Afterwards, it did seem like the pizza tasted better than usual. But maybe it was just the MSG.

Lots of firsts for the year today: first run where I felt like I was moving almost as fast as a fat, farm raised, basting turkey can waddle (yes, training really works!), first rain, first thunderstorm, first run in thunderstorm, first hiding under tree during thunderstorm, and first hail. A few lightning bolts came down within a mile or two of where I was, but I was under a tree by then. Now I think I am re-acclimatized to lightning bolts for the coming season.

Some say never get under a tree during a lightning storm. I say if it's lightning and you're standing still out in the middle of a huge open area and getting pounded on by hail and you're thinking: "Well, at least I'm not under a tree, that might be dangerous," you don't even have the common sense of a flea. I bet the indians never wasted any time looking for cover.

I've read that SE Wyoming and adjoining portions of northern Colorado get more hail than any other part of the country. That may be true, but I wonder if there are certain sections of the Rampart Range that might not be pretty high up on the list too. When I was mapping Saylor Park, I never saw so much hail as I saw then.

Pasqueflowers are out and blooming everywhere!

While I was out running, I thought about, among other things, Buffett's astute observation about Berkshire's significant age advantage, given in answer to a question at the recently held Berkshire annual meeting (paraphrased here):

"On corporate America aging issue, I think we are doing fine. Our average age is eighty, so we are only aging at 1.25% per year, lowest rate of aging in corporate America. If you have a 50 year old management team, they age 2% every year, I think you run bigger risk there."

It was absurdly nice out, and all over town contractors were breaking out their dozers and backhoes and scrapers to dig more holes for new hotels. Hard to reconcile a day like this with the blizzard just last Thursday. That's one of the downsides of a place like Athens, GA. Sure, Athens has pretty much got a lock on R.E.M. and B-52s, but if you're in Athens and you want a blizzard, your only hope is to head for the nearest DQ.