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Yesterday I met a young boy
I couldn't see his eyes
under the shock of flaming red hair
that sparked in the sun
I hoped they were green
with his ivory skin
His name was Kalen
and I told him that was
also the name of my son
Then he deftly mounted his unicycle
and rode away.
I enjoyed this poem by Neil Gaiman so I am passing it on. Read it aloud to someone -- your beloved, or perhaps someone who pines for you.
THE DAY THE SAUCERS CAME
That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and
stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed, to find what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn't notice it because
That day, the day the saucers came, by some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because
On the saucer day, which was the zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-men's nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold,
and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because
On the saucer-zombie-battling-gods
day the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true
brave hearts and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across
the land, and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because
That day, the saucer day the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day, the
day the great winds came
And snows, and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
Computers turned, the screens telling
us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes and arrival of
the Time Machine day,
You didn't notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.
Plan A
It's hot outside, but there's a gentle breeze. It swirls up some dust and layers it on your damp skin. You put your hand on your mp3 player, start running, and hit play:
Crazy - Alanis Morissette's version of Seal
Love Stoned - Justin Timberlake
So Excited - SRV
Used to the Pain - Keith Urban
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Here Comes - INXS
Come As You Are - Nirvana
Show Me How To Live - Audioslave
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
In The End - Linkin Park
Plan B
It's calm and overcast. It has just finished raining, or it might still be drizzling lightly. You surge out into the clean air, start running and press play on the mp3 player:
Whirlpool - Seal
Un Amor - Gipsy Kings
Let's Dance - David Bowie
Fall at Your Feet - Crowded House
Dream On - Aerosmith
Little Wing - SRV
All We Are - Kim Mitchell
Dust in the Wind - Kansas
Saved By Zero - The Fixx
Like a Stone - Audioslave
Plan C
It's dusk and there is no one around. You decide to have a conversation with your thoughts. Maybe you just forgot to charge the mp3 player. You will try not to play the what-if-game in your head. The past is the past. You start running, remembering to return home before the werewolves come out.
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?
Even when the sun is shining
I can’t avoid the lightning…
That’s from a catchy song by the group Travis, and somewhat fitting for me today. It’s been raining in
On the day that had the break from rain I was unable to run. So today I decided to just go out and do it. I’ve been pelted with snow and sleet during runs before and this wouldn’t be as bad. I waffled between a neighbourhood or park run, and opted for the park. The river was far enough away from the pathway that I couldn’t foresee any flooding.
Spring is my favorite season because I love to see the environment greening up. This was really evident in the park today from all the rain we've been having. Colours everywhere are accentuated on overcast days. A Red-Winged Black Bird swooped down and flew in front of me. Everything about it was so vivid. All Along The Watchtower (Jimi's version) was playing on my mp3 player. Things were good.
No less than 2 km into the run I came upon a huge, swirling mass of water covering a dip at an intersection in the pathway. I detoured onto another route, jumping through some brush on my way there. Things were much wetter than I had anticipated. My right shoe got halfway soaked. I continued along this pathway, crossed over a bridge and looked at the angry, muddy water gushing beneath it. A week of steady rain was starting to flood parts of the park. I should have realized this fact earlier.
Ahead I could see a steady torrent of water flowing over the pathway. Great, I thought. I didn’t want to turn around, and I was pretty sure things would be fine further on. Since I was already wet, and wearing my old pair of Asics, I splashed through the deep water and continued on my way towards a barricade. There was no barricade on the other side where I came from. I must have been going against normal traffic routes. I passed a group of giggling, wet teenagers. They were unaware of what was up ahead for them. They would probably think I was nuts seeing as I had just come from the other direction looking like nothing had happened. There were a couple of other runners in the park. One fellow was on the road, another route I hadn’t thought of in time. There were also a few people out for walks, some with human companions and some with canine ones.
I decided to make my way out of the park and take the second half of the run back through the neighbourhood. I love getting freebies at races. In the last race I was in, on New Year’s Eve, every participant received a hat and a jacket. The jacket is a nice, lightweight shell and it fits better than my other running jacket. But as I started running back toward my home in the neighbourhood, I realized that the shell was not waterproof. I started feeling pretty clammy. At least the hat was keeping the rain out of my eyes. As well on the plus side, the annoying stitch in my diaphragm was finally gone.
During the final km of my run I was soaked to the bone. The whole situation was ridiculously annoying. How many mistakes could I possibly make these days? If I wrote a proper training log it would read like a comedy of errors. What can I say except live and learn. I often learn things the hard way it seems. I guess I’m a hands-on person -- I bumble on 
.
Sadly, yes. My body can't keep up to my brain. But I guess it's really my brain's fault for even thinking of doing such ridiculous things.
In an effort to do some cross-training for my upcoming 10K run, I strapped on my new inline skates and headed out to the park. I live within minutes walking distance of a large provincial park. The only way to get into it is to go down a steep 500m hill, but I like that hill. It provides a good challenge when you run, bike or inline skate up the thing, and it's great for hill training.
Spring always brings about a lot of family commitments, and that coupled with a bad flare-up of lower back pain, has set my training behind. I'm only doing this run for fun, not competitively, but still, a person just wants to do well. I hadn't been ice skating or inline skating in eons, but that factor didn't seem to bother me. I rode the brake most of the way down the hill (the pathway meanders a bit). They sure make brakes small these days, as it's only about half the size of the brake on my old pair of inline skates. Sheesh, don't they know there are wussies out there that like leaving trails of rubber? Oh well.
The skate felt pretty good. It was a warm, sunny day with a slight breeze and I didn't expect much of workout really. I didn't even bother changing out of my black polo shirt before leaving the house. Oh, big mistake. It was hot, and I really was getting a workout there on the pathway. Why didn't I wear a Dri-fit-T?
The pace of an inline skate is nice -- faster than a run, but slower than a bike ride. It still enabled me to view the shirtless guys skating by me in the opposite direction. I decided to forge ahead and try some new pathways, without knowing where they were leading to. I knew the general area, and it seemed fairly flat, and the few hills that popped up were all downhill...
Common sense kicked in and told me to turn around after about 30 minutes. I headed back and tried to gather speed before each ascent. It wasn't a pretty sight getting up those hills. I was really wishing I took some ballet as a kid at this point. There was no grace about me.
As I made my way back to the entrance of the park I could feel some tightness in my quads. I had a flashback to my highschool years. I was a 16 year-old in ringette camp, trying to get in shape for the upcoming season. After my first day of camp I couldn't walk without looking like I had a full suit of armour on. It took a few minutes just to get out of my chair at school. That was the first time that I realized groin muscles could be pulled like taffy at a candy factory.
By this time I was drenched with sweat. Not only did I manage to wear the wrong clothes, but I also wore the wrong sunglasses. My Burberry shades kept sliding down my nose in a sea of sweat. I have another pair that I wear running that stay in place. Oh right, I didn't think I would be sweating, hence the poorly made choices. I was just about back at that 500m hill now, and already getting an inkling that my groin would be hurting the next day.
I never skated up such a steep hill before. It really wasn't bad once I developed a stroking technique. I'm just glad there was no one around to see me (maybe it's not too late for ballet lessons). It was good cardio, pretty much pain free, and easier than biking up the hill. I think running is, by far, the easiest method to get up the hill.
The next day I was delighted to discover that my thighs felt great. The groin, however, did not. Still, the pain was not the intense fire that I felt long ago at ringette camp. Maybe the saying no pain no gain is true. I must be gaining a lot then. A lot of what I'm not sure yet...
