JUST RIGHT

It was about 26 degrees when I began my three mile journey this morning.
I had two mesh layers on top, two layers on legs, two layers of socks inside shoes, one fleece layer over my ears and mesh gloves inside wool mittens on hands.
It was just right.

Early into mile one I was feeling a bit cold on my chest/torso because I was not yet generating a sufficient amount of heat.
The thermal balance tossed back and forth for the next few minutes until the heat generator won.
I know this because I forgot about being cold on my torso.

This was a left leg dominated session.
There were several times that something in my left leg/hip whined.

Near the end of mile one there was a signal from a point just to the inside of my left knee that it was not happy there.
Running Central took note of the distress but no further action seemed necessary.
And, indeed, the complaint disappeared.
Toward the end of mile two, my left hamstring began to bark.
Again, Running Central took note of the complaint, and again did nothing.
And, again, the “problem” went away.

Near the end of the party, my left hip began yelping rather insistently.
This seemed to be a nerve problem because on one stride, my left leg went numb to the extent that it almost collapsed.
This would have caused a fall had it persisted.
But just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.
Running Central takes this problem more seriously and my steps were monitored closely for a minute or so after the incident.
Fortunately, this problem also went away.

The hip/pain/knee collapse event has happened before, mostly near the end of a run.
Falling down is something I am fearful of because it can break things.
One cannot run when things are broken. (and I love to run)

I have only fallen once.
That was caused by a dog silently hitting me in the leg with his shoulder one dark morning when I was running in my neighborhood.
I never saw him coming or going.
Just a split-second flash of brown fur by my bare leg as I went down.
No bark, no growl, just a good dog version of a football block.
The move sent me rolling on the pavement.

Amazingly, I suffered no injuries then.
No pains; no scrapes.
Just two tiny scratches on my hand (I forget which one).

Today, I spent most of my time daydreaming.
At one point in mile two I closed my eyes and started to go to sleep.
I was so relaxed and comfortable.
This may seem strange to you non-runners, but I have done this many times.
(Not go to sleep while running, but close my eyes and almost go to sleep.)
I am not sure of the cause but it must be the result of mental relaxation even during sustained physical effort.
Had I not experienced this phenomenon myself, I would join you in thinking it impossible.

Jesus was having his own good time while watching me today.
As I turned right off of Discovery onto Voyager (many of the streets there are named after U.S. satellites) He lit up the layer of stratus clouds in the eastern sky in brilliant red.
This against the pale blue of the morning sky looked spectacular.
I had a wonderful time admiring His painting skills.

By the time I got to my finish line/crack in the parking lot I did not want to stop.
My time was almost exactly fifty minutes.
I was slow, but I was stronger.
The slowness may have been a result of my daydreaming.
However, if my strength stays up to this level, I may jack this exercise up to four miles.
That would be interesting/fun.

THE PROJECT

The bathroom is slowly coming along.
Now that the tub and toilet are in and working nicely, my motivation has diminished.

I applied oil to the vanity base to waterproof it.
I will prolly install it this week.
Yesterday I installed all of the baseboard trim and scraped paint drips off of the tile floor.
I had drop clothes down some of the time I was painting, but not all the time.
I tried to be careful.
The bad news – I dripped paint in a few places.
The good news – it is pretty easy to clean up.
I scraped excess caulk from around the toilet base.



The living room wall with the hole patched.



The living room wall with "joint compound" applied to the hole.



The living room wall with primer applied.



The east bathroom wall awaiting fixtures.



The new atomic toilet.
Notice the nice new color - "Roasted Cashew".

IN OTHER NEWS

I was disappointed to see Fred Thompson withdraw from the Presidential race.
He basically said everything that I agree with.

I was pleased to see the midget/clown Dennis Kucinich give up in the Democrat primary derby.
He is the white version of Al Sharpton.
A political buffoon.

In case you are wondering, here are my basic policy/philosophical positions:
1 Pursue the war on terrorism – wherever that may take us.
2 Stop the flood of illegal immigration - build the wall, deport all we find here.
3 Scrap the income tax and adopt the Fair Tax.
4 Reverse Roe v. Wade.
5 Fix Social Security by changing the way COL increases are calculated (use cost increases rather than wage increases). This will fix the coming shortfall.
6 Make health insurance like car insurance – allow individuals to buy it from whoever they want. Get employers out of the health insurance business.
7 Repeal McCain-Finegold – expand freedom of speech.
8 Allow oil production in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.
9 Move the United Nations headquarters to France.