two days in the life of.....

plans for yesterday changed as the rain roared in and we ere up and out of the house by 5:40am so gail could take the bus to london and meet a colleague and do some research. i ended up staying here and as i walked her the mile to the bus station in my running clothes i went for a run in the rain, a cold rain. had planned to take the day off, but figured since i was up that early i would reverse my days and take thursday off instead.

so on legs that need a break i left the bus station and went east and up through the market area and headed north to the university parks and went in on the bike path side and ran the trail down to the mosque and turned back and went back to the main park. was light out and several people were commuting to work on their bikes and even said good morning.

into the main park and did two big loops around the outside of the park and pond area. the rain had lessened by now and i felt like i was barley moving but i was moving. headed out of the park and reversed my usual path to the park and ran back down walton lane where beth and i had come when she was here and all the way down towards port meadow. went up the canal path just before entering port meadow and headed north towards wolvercote with no intentions of going that far, but i did end up there and turned around and headed back down south. didn't want to deal with even the shortest piece of road as tired s i was and it was really pretty along the canal
and except for the occasional bike or dog walker there was nobody out.

on the way south i decided to really kill the legs and i got off at the bridge into northern port meadow and went up a little bit and into burgess park. i just absolutely love running in this nature park. and even the somewhat heavier downpour now didn't ruin it. it was so foggy now that the entire outside area of the meadow beyond the park was foggy gray and inside the birds were still singing and there was a little more light in the open fields.

i cut across the field headed from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock diagonally and on the grass trail. less muddy than the usual outside loop we take and it took me into the heart of the nature reserve. at one point after running for awhile i stopped to look around and it was just gorgeous- if you like standing in the middle of a nature reserve while it is raining with birds singing and trees budding and some yellow and white flowers blooming. what can i say?

went all the way to the end and then did a short loop around the northern end and turned back south on the grass trail. about 7-8 miles into the run now. my second and third wind had passed and i was running on memorex as i like to say. just keep moving and focus on the scenery. i heard a woman yelling for her dog but i saw nothing. some goldfinches went by me and way over to my left i saw three deer going the other way and not bothered by me at all.

down the trail and finally outside the gate and headed south back towards home. funny sight as i watched a gray heron and some geese fishing in the water of the meadow- it is almost always flooded over, but i couldn't imagine there were lots of fish in the water. i was now running over hoof prints of the horse who were not out today. decided against the train trail and went south and down the thames trail. the tree cutters were still out cutting down stuff. eventually the trail will be easier to run and there will be more light, but i know the runners will miss the naturalness of the trail and i am pretty certain that there will be more bike use. i still hope they don't make it all too sterile. they were to be finished in march ha ha. hope i get to see the finished product.

and then finally i was back down on botley road. close to ten miles i am guessing. not even my usual pace so hard to tell but long enough and good enough to rest tomorrow-which is today as i type this.

turns out the blog page was down for maintenance at the only time i had to type it up so that got a rest also.

after the run yesterday now, i did get to hit some balls at the range. have drawn up a little practice plan and have stuck to it for three days now. lots of drills and focus. i can do this i tell myself. will work on basics and the last two lessons i had and not waste the time left here. seems to be helping. i know so much more than i can do it is funny. i even spent some time watching mark the pro hit to help hm stay on plane. nice swing. was fun watching and it always helps my own tempo later.

jumping ahead now as it is late here and i have lots of bank stuff to do yet- i did take today off. so did gail and we went to the town market and bought a few treats - framed pictures, some used books, and a little hand painted vase. then we went over to the department store to spend some of our xmas gift present from gail's brother and i got a nice little golf vest and gail picked up some nice pants. a nice treat to have xmas extend out into april.

then off to the bank and post office to mail bills back home, pay $600 more dollars in council taxes here, and withdraw from va banks money to deposit here to cover the council taxes. interesting system i must say. all done and as a reward we stopped at the coffee house for gail's morning coffee and i even tried one of their soft pretzels. $2.20 for an ok sized pretzel, but not a philly pretzel for sure -the five for a dollar kind. won't do that again.

and then home while gail headed off to the bodleian library. did house stuff and eventually headed up to the range. worked on my drills again. y and l drills mostly and sternum turn drills i made up- all seemed to be helping when i do them right. worked with irons up to the 6. no woods yet. why ruin a fun day?

also got to help two nice brooke's college students who were just starting out their golf ventures. got them up into the air and straight sometimes. always will argue that teacher training was worthwhile. i am far from good but i can help a beginner and i never fail to mention that they should start right then with lessons from the pro- 2 kids together can take a lesson for 30 pounds here-includes two large buckets of balls. in us dollars that would be $60 with $28 dollars worth of balls included - 32 bucks for two people for a lesson- worth it in my book. this is a hard game to teach yourself. even cheaper in their money. they were telling me they had visited calif-LA and also las vegas and thought everything was so cheap-especially the food and gas.

and so another day is over. almost- still stuff to do here. and the penna primary is behind us now. would be funny if this were decided by the puerto rico primary. i must have mentioned this before, but how does PR get more delegates than 26 states and then not be allowed to vote in the national election? how does the district of columbia not get representation. why does condi rice lie about jimmy carter? and most things? i know the answer to that one.

way to go joanny on her great marathon run at the trials. and also a big best wishes shout out for billy rodgers-the father of american marathon running as he battles his prostrate cancer. haven't talked to him since my last cape cod marathon, but people don't come any nicer. i will always be grateful to him to allow me the opportunity to run with him after the cherry blossom race-what a treat. like playing horse with michael jordan or nine holes with tiger woods. get well boston billy!

will deal with the backlog of emails in the next couple of days. i know that not all of my emails are being delivered as i sent mysef two emails and never got them, but tonight i got one i sent tonight so maybe it is working again.

stay well everyone--- i know i should go back and proofread this but i hope it isn't too bad. 97 days to go.