Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Moon Shadows and Skunk Adventures

The moon was totally an awesome thing of beauty yesterday morning. I started my run at 4:50 and when I started down the hill on Berkshire's entrance, I noticed the moon was huge, down close to the horizon, and yellow gold. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of it, but I doubt a camera could capture that much splendidness.

This morning, I slept in, and didn't get out on the road until 5:10. The moon was again full, but higher up. It was lovely but it's usual silver/white color. It was kind of neat making a shadow all the time. I like watching my shadow when I run, and since it's always dark, I only have shadows when I'm near a street light or somebody has their porch light on. With the moon, sometimes I made two or three shadows.

I have been seeing (and smelling) lots of skunks this past week. One morning, I very nearly kicked one, and thank heavens he tolerated me sharing his space. It was a dark stretch of sidewalk and he ambled onto the sidewalk right in front of me. I stopped abruptly and he stopped and stared at me. I took a few steps back and he ambled on across the road. Skunks must be either dumb or hard of hearing, or maybe the city skunks are used to people and not all that afraid of us.

I am ready for a race and have picked the Holy Family 5K run as my first race ever. It's in downtown Ashland so it should be flat, and it's only 5K, so it should be easy (oh, does that sound like famous last words or what!). Jerry says he wants to run it with me. My only goal is to finish the run, I don't need to compete with anybody. I figure he'll be way out in front of me after the first 100 yards. I hope there are little old ladies who just walk it, so I don't have to be the person finishing last. I have no idea how long it'll take me to finish 3.1 miles. I always run farther than that, so in theory, I should be able to run the shorter distance at a faster pace. I think when I'm running 4.5 to 5.5 miles, I'm running about a mile every 10 minutes. There are a couple of big hills I take too (up and down), so it's hard to say what I'll do with a flat 3 miles course. I might figure out a 3.5 mile course for myself this weekend and start timing myself to see what my time is, and work on improving it.

Shall I blog about karate? I'm still not sure I'm into it. jerry is definitely into it. I have to admit, I was pleased to get my first 4 tips - all in one day. I think the self-defense aspect of it is good to know...I can think of a few times in my long lifetime I wish I had been able to defend myself better. I think sparring will be fun (as long as I don't have to touch sweaty, gross people). As for the forms and all those ethics to memorize, it's going to be a chore. I like hobbies I can do without thinking. Maybe that's why I like running, gardening, and golf so much - I can just daydream the whole time.

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