While out for a run in Carroll County, Maryland, we saw the cutest little kids. Baby goats, that is.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Friday, July 29, 2016
Ten Mile Trout Run Trail in Decorah
Yup, we ran the entire 10.5 miles of the Trout Run Trail in Decorah, IA. Decorah is in the northeast corner of Iowa, not far from Wisconsin and Minnesota. The trail circles the town and has several little connector trails heading off to Luther College, into downtown, or to sweet little parks.
We stayed on the main loop after accessing it from the Pulpit Rock campground where we had our RV parked. It was a beautiful morning, a beautiful day for a long run.
As we were running, I realized that Decorah is where some of the bald eagle real-time cameras are located in trees, where you can watch an eagle's nest on line 24/7. And not just eagles. Other raptors, too. Check out http://www.raptorresource.org/
I've watched eaglets being hatched with these live cams courtesy of the Raptor Research Project. The trail went by some eagle's nests, apparently. I looked up into the trees and didn't see the nests (eagle's nests are hard to miss - REALLY BIG) but they are probably tucked in the trees a bit further off the trail. Eagles aren't dumb. But I did see signs saying to leave the eagles alone. A bit later, when we ran by the Decorah Fish Hatchery (makes sense that the eagles would nest near that, doesn't it?) there was a story board describing the areas where the eagles nest. We didn't stop to examine it, though.
A dozen or so people were out bicycling Trout Run Trail while we were running, and one guy was walking and reading a book. Stop trying to multi-task, I wanted to tell him, though I knew that wouldn't go over very well, and am used to seeing lots of runners and cyclists (as well as hikers) with earphones listening to music or audio books. But someone actually carrying a book and reading while walking just isn't as common as it is comical. Just be in the moment and enjoy nature, I thought. Enjoy the feeling of exercising your body, feeling and being grateful that it works mostly pain free, or at least pain free enough. I think these things often after taking care of my older (one year older) sister for several months when she was dying of stage four lung cancer. But when she was still mobile and mostly pain free, my husband and I took her to lots of places where we could all commune with nature. She wasn't reading a book or listening to music through earphones as we pushed her in her wheel chair on trails through the woods, along rivers and lakes, through fields of prairie grasses. She was enjoying every bit of the NOW that she had left.
The story about my sister may be a bit heavy, though real, and true, and some people may prefer to pretend none of us will die any time soon. But for me, not a day goes by that I don't think about our mortality in this world. Not in a scared way, though. In a better-enjoy-it-now way.
But, I also, i thought as I ran by the guy with the book, that if you have to read while walking, you should read one of Eckhart Tolle's books, like The Power of Now. One of the quotes in there is, "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make NOW the primary focus of your life."
Actually, I confess that I haven't read that particular book, The Power of Now, though it was offered to me by a young woman whose mother had bought it for her but she hadn't yet read it and was going to loan it to me to read first. Ironic, I know, that she will hopefully read it (not now) but later.
BUT, I am reading Tolle's book, Oneness with All Life, Inspirational Selections from A New Earth, which was loaned to me by one of our sons. It includes some of the same thought process of The Power of Now. I am really enjoying it. I read it for a few minutes before and after I practice meditation. I re-read sections of it, letting it sink in, reading it when my mind is ready to absorb it.
Speaking of meditation. As with exercise, it is beneficial for mental and physical health. Many studies show that. You just don't hear that much about it because no one makes money off of something that promotes health but doesn't cost ANYTHING AT ALL to do. No equipment is needed to meditate. Not all that much time is required to meditate. Five to 15 minutes will do. No particular place is required to meditate, though a quiet, comfortable spot where you can sit is really helpful. And, meditation doesn't cost anything to learn. Like yoga, you can pay people to teach you, and you can practice it with others, but you also can learn it and do it on your own (though yoga positions, demonstrated first, then having your pose critiqued by someone else, is actually quite helpful whereas meditation is pretty much up to you. No one can see your thoughts (without biofeedback, that is). The hardest part about meditation is just trusting that you will get "better" at it as you go, whatever better means. Most people think that getting better at meditation just means that your mind doesn't wander quite as much as when you start. But being OK with not being perfect is part of the process of meditation.
Long distance running and hiking, are for me, another variation of meditation, a kind of hypnotic fix. I'd never want to ruin that with multi-tasking.
Here's some pix of our 10.5 mile run on our first morning in Decorah, IA.
We stayed on the main loop after accessing it from the Pulpit Rock campground where we had our RV parked. It was a beautiful morning, a beautiful day for a long run.
As we were running, I realized that Decorah is where some of the bald eagle real-time cameras are located in trees, where you can watch an eagle's nest on line 24/7. And not just eagles. Other raptors, too. Check out http://www.raptorresource.org/
I've watched eaglets being hatched with these live cams courtesy of the Raptor Research Project. The trail went by some eagle's nests, apparently. I looked up into the trees and didn't see the nests (eagle's nests are hard to miss - REALLY BIG) but they are probably tucked in the trees a bit further off the trail. Eagles aren't dumb. But I did see signs saying to leave the eagles alone. A bit later, when we ran by the Decorah Fish Hatchery (makes sense that the eagles would nest near that, doesn't it?) there was a story board describing the areas where the eagles nest. We didn't stop to examine it, though.
A dozen or so people were out bicycling Trout Run Trail while we were running, and one guy was walking and reading a book. Stop trying to multi-task, I wanted to tell him, though I knew that wouldn't go over very well, and am used to seeing lots of runners and cyclists (as well as hikers) with earphones listening to music or audio books. But someone actually carrying a book and reading while walking just isn't as common as it is comical. Just be in the moment and enjoy nature, I thought. Enjoy the feeling of exercising your body, feeling and being grateful that it works mostly pain free, or at least pain free enough. I think these things often after taking care of my older (one year older) sister for several months when she was dying of stage four lung cancer. But when she was still mobile and mostly pain free, my husband and I took her to lots of places where we could all commune with nature. She wasn't reading a book or listening to music through earphones as we pushed her in her wheel chair on trails through the woods, along rivers and lakes, through fields of prairie grasses. She was enjoying every bit of the NOW that she had left.
The story about my sister may be a bit heavy, though real, and true, and some people may prefer to pretend none of us will die any time soon. But for me, not a day goes by that I don't think about our mortality in this world. Not in a scared way, though. In a better-enjoy-it-now way.
But, I also, i thought as I ran by the guy with the book, that if you have to read while walking, you should read one of Eckhart Tolle's books, like The Power of Now. One of the quotes in there is, "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make NOW the primary focus of your life."
Actually, I confess that I haven't read that particular book, The Power of Now, though it was offered to me by a young woman whose mother had bought it for her but she hadn't yet read it and was going to loan it to me to read first. Ironic, I know, that she will hopefully read it (not now) but later.
BUT, I am reading Tolle's book, Oneness with All Life, Inspirational Selections from A New Earth, which was loaned to me by one of our sons. It includes some of the same thought process of The Power of Now. I am really enjoying it. I read it for a few minutes before and after I practice meditation. I re-read sections of it, letting it sink in, reading it when my mind is ready to absorb it.
Speaking of meditation. As with exercise, it is beneficial for mental and physical health. Many studies show that. You just don't hear that much about it because no one makes money off of something that promotes health but doesn't cost ANYTHING AT ALL to do. No equipment is needed to meditate. Not all that much time is required to meditate. Five to 15 minutes will do. No particular place is required to meditate, though a quiet, comfortable spot where you can sit is really helpful. And, meditation doesn't cost anything to learn. Like yoga, you can pay people to teach you, and you can practice it with others, but you also can learn it and do it on your own (though yoga positions, demonstrated first, then having your pose critiqued by someone else, is actually quite helpful whereas meditation is pretty much up to you. No one can see your thoughts (without biofeedback, that is). The hardest part about meditation is just trusting that you will get "better" at it as you go, whatever better means. Most people think that getting better at meditation just means that your mind doesn't wander quite as much as when you start. But being OK with not being perfect is part of the process of meditation.
Long distance running and hiking, are for me, another variation of meditation, a kind of hypnotic fix. I'd never want to ruin that with multi-tasking.
Here's some pix of our 10.5 mile run on our first morning in Decorah, IA.
Outrunning Crop Dusters in Iowa - NOT
When running in farm country in southeast Iowa in the summer, you may have to dodge crop dusters. Crop dusters are the cute little planes that drop poisons on farm fields to kill off weeds or unwanted bugs or both.
I didn't do such a good job dodging them. It's actually hard to do when you are running several miles at a time in farm country. I wasn't running on a high school or college quarter mile track. I was doing about 5-6 miles almost everyday we were there on the country road system that connects farms and small towns near where our RV was parked on my sister's farm. On the two days that I got dusted, once the plane showed up after I was already out running, I didn't have the choice of of just turning around and retreating from the reach of the poisons dropping out. I couldn't run fast enough to do that. Each of those days, unfortunately, I was already halfway through my run and whether I turned around or kept going, my path was within the dusting range.
Each day I varied my path too, and both of those days, the plane varied it's dusting route. No, I know it wasn't trying to to "get me". But the pilot certainly wasn't worried about my health. I guess I was just one more pest in the way of someone wanting to make money. Or maybe the pilot has become immune to the idea that he or she is spraying poisons not meant for humans. I grew up on a farm in Iowa, not far from where I was dusted and I can tell you that we didn't give the pesticides and herbicides the respect that they deserve as the deadly poisons that they are. As kids helping on the farm, we'd handle bags of poisons clearly marked as such, clearly marked suggesting gloves and masks. We didn't use them. I remember doing it on a windy day too. Dumb. But I guess if it doesn't kill you right away, you can rationalize that a little bit here and there won't hurt too much.
On my running days where I was crop dusted, if it matters, I was there first, already out running on both days that the plane showed up. On a couple other days when I heard the plane before I started my run, I didn't run. I'm not as stupid as the pilot is rude, ignorant, or worse.
I didn't do such a good job dodging them. It's actually hard to do when you are running several miles at a time in farm country. I wasn't running on a high school or college quarter mile track. I was doing about 5-6 miles almost everyday we were there on the country road system that connects farms and small towns near where our RV was parked on my sister's farm. On the two days that I got dusted, once the plane showed up after I was already out running, I didn't have the choice of of just turning around and retreating from the reach of the poisons dropping out. I couldn't run fast enough to do that. Each of those days, unfortunately, I was already halfway through my run and whether I turned around or kept going, my path was within the dusting range.
Each day I varied my path too, and both of those days, the plane varied it's dusting route. No, I know it wasn't trying to to "get me". But the pilot certainly wasn't worried about my health. I guess I was just one more pest in the way of someone wanting to make money. Or maybe the pilot has become immune to the idea that he or she is spraying poisons not meant for humans. I grew up on a farm in Iowa, not far from where I was dusted and I can tell you that we didn't give the pesticides and herbicides the respect that they deserve as the deadly poisons that they are. As kids helping on the farm, we'd handle bags of poisons clearly marked as such, clearly marked suggesting gloves and masks. We didn't use them. I remember doing it on a windy day too. Dumb. But I guess if it doesn't kill you right away, you can rationalize that a little bit here and there won't hurt too much.
On my running days where I was crop dusted, if it matters, I was there first, already out running on both days that the plane showed up. On a couple other days when I heard the plane before I started my run, I didn't run. I'm not as stupid as the pilot is rude, ignorant, or worse.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Carroll County Country Roads and Rails
Some things I see while attempting to out-run my fork the last couple of weeks on the roads and rails in Carroll County, Maryland.
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| Licking my scaly lips. |
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| Meet Chris Crinkle. |
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| I dare you to come any closer. |
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| Not just for trains. |
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| Reflecting life and forgotten times. |
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| Looking at me looking at you. |
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| Holy fungi. |
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| Weeds to you, maybe. |
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| Magenta filtered light. |
Saturday, April 9, 2016
No Jogging Bicycle Riding Rollerblading
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| This picture is taken less than two feet away from the sign. |
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| This picture was taken about ten feet away from the sign. |
I was on the last mile of a ten mile run when I was coming through this stretch of road, the area of no jogging, bicycling or rollerblading. A car stopped alongside me and the driver, on the surface, polite, but underneath was sarcasm, informed me that there was a sign "back there" that said, no jogging, biking or rollerblading on this section of the road. Thanks, I replied. I didn't see it. And this is the only way back to my start point.
I didn't bother to tell him I was on the last mile of a ten mile run and was not about to about-face and retrace even one foot. I envisioned my environment and quickly realized where the sign must have been and the detours I would have had to take to avoid this section of the road that was supposed to be no jogging, bicycling or rollerblading. The only way around, to get back to where I needed to be, would have added (whining now, whaaaa), another mile. I know. Only a mile. But that's a lot when you think you are on the last of a ten mile run. And I am an old horse. When I'm runing home, I take the bit in my teeth, put my head down, and go.
To continue with my whine, did I say it was windy? Really windy? With that crisp, spring air?
Did I say I was on Joint Base Andrews (AKA, Andrews AFB)? Ooooh, maybe an MP will drive by and chastise me like the driver who informed me I was in the wrong. So scared. I was breaking the rules!
The MP would have offered to give me a ride.
And do you know why there is supposed to be no jogging, bicycling or rollerblading on that section of the road? A freaking golf course is on both sides, and there are signs that I did see that said, Warning, Errant Balls. It's a golf course, for Christ's sake. Of course there would be errant balls. And like winning the lottery, I was not particularly expecting I would be the one that won. I guess cars can go through there and drivers take their chances on not getting dented or cracked by an errant golf ball. And let's hope they have their windows up. And if motorcycles go through there they would be wearing helmets because it's Maryland and it's a military installation. We care about you not being an organ donor, at least in this circumstance.
But wait. Can you imagine being clocked in the side of your helmet with a golf ball, or an "errant ball" whizzing in your open car window and bloodying your nose or replacing your eye? The keepers of the signage apparently aren't concerned about that. And neither was I.
To be totally truthful, there is one more reason why the sign might have said no jogging, bicycling or rollerblading. There wasn't much shoulder on that section of the road. In my opinion, it wasn't much of a problem, really, since there were no ditches to speak of and as I pointed out, there's a golf course on both sides. You know, flat and open so you can step off when a car approaches. The traffic isn't heavy through there and the speed limit is 25. Drivers know to yield to runners or formations on military installations. So why not on this particular section of the road?
I promise not to run through there again. But seriously, let's lighten up you rule makers and those who get excited if someone is breaking one.
Damn, I'm sore today. That ten miles kicked my ass.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Little Runs and a Big Walk in Key West
While in Key West, I ran several mornings for about 50 minutes to an hour.
I'd planned to run the circumference of the island, but didn't quite make it. We walked it though, most of it, in flip-flops. We headed out from Sigsbee Road, at around mile marker 4 and went clockwise, walking along the water on the promenade on the Florida Bay side, and past where Rt 1 heads north up the Keys, and along the Atlantic side heading south. We had dinner at Santiago Bedega, but by that time our feet were sore. After dinner we cut as directly back towards Sigsbee as we could, walking north on Truman Street and hitting some other smaller streets before the promenade again, going past the VFW and the Key West Yacht Club. All in all, I think it was at least 10 miles.
Not that much of a walk, distance-wise, really, but a record for us in flip-flops. Craziness.
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