Cheerful Curmudgeon

It does not seem like a month since I started running but, sure enough, I wrote Now I’m a Runner back on July 20. This week I am up to running five minutes then walking five minutes (repeated three times, for a total of 30 minutes). A month ago, I could not have run for five minutes, let alone 15 minutes out of a 30 minute span. In a few more weeks, I should be up to jogging 30 minutes non-stop. That will be a first for me.

I spent yesterday at the airport, washing and waxing the plane with David’s help. It was hot, hard work but we got it done. We then verified that reduced air friction from the smoother paint truly does improve performance; the glistening plane is at least 5 knots faster while parked in the hangar. I woke up this morning with my body tired and achy. After all that work yesterday, I figured that I would take it easy and skip my usual Monday run. Imagine my surprise when 7:00am rolled around and I found that I wanted to get outside and at least walk for half an hour or so. Heck, it was just 68° outside; I could not waste a cool morning. I was doubly surprised when I had walked to the point where I usually being to run and I felt like running, not walking, so I did. The half hour run/walk felt great. A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would actually be looking forward to my next chance to get outside and run.

I had my annual physical exam last week and got the best surprise of the day came late this afternoon when I called the doctor’s office to learn the results of the blood tests. Not only was everything “OK” but my cholesterol numbers have continued to drop. When I started walking in May 2009, I was taking both Zetia and Lipitor to keep my cholesterol under control. The walking and weight loss helped enough that I was able to drop the Zetia on February 8. This afternoon, my doctor agreed that I can drop the Lipitor as well. I will do another blood test in six weeks to confirm that my numbers stay within the desired limits but I have high hopes.

If you have a lawn, check out Out of fashion: Green lawns at USA Today.

Jonathan Trappe has discovered real flying, under a cluster of helium balloons. He took off from Oshkosh, Wisconsin last month, flew across Lake Michigan (overnight), and landed in Michigan, near Kalamazoo.

Sign me up! This looks like more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

[Updated 8/19/2010 to insert a missing title.]

I spent most of my time at AirVenture 2010 hanging out in the ultralight area. I headed down there first to learn about weight shift trikes, after talking to the folks from Evolution Trikes while on a fuel stop in Juneau, WI. I had been impressed with the versatility of these craft. With completely open cockpits, they are perfect for low ‘n’ slow flight on warm summer evenings while still being capable of cross country journeys. The Evolution people were flying a trio of trikes from Florida to Wisconsin for AirVenture. At one point, they had been as high as 9000 feet. They were kind enough to give me a quick ride in a REVO trike, up and around the circuit and back to a landing. It was a most excellent experience in a very fine airplane but it was not quite what I was looking for.

Since I have a Piper Arrow for flights where I want to “get there,” I am just looking for a fun, economical ride-in-the-sky. My obvious next choice was a much more bare-bones trike, perhaps even a single seater. (Click any photo for a larger version.)

A single seat weight shift trike approaches a landing at AirVenture 2010

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I guess all this running and walking is good for me after all. I had my annual physical today and learned that my resting pulse rate is down to 50.

The new hybrid cars like the Ford Fusion shut their engines down completely at stop signs. I wonder if I can do that, too.

Getting to AirVenture this year proved to be much more difficult than I ever would have dreamed. Chris Seto, who is also in EAA chapter 32 with me, and I planned to  fly up to Oshkosh on Sunday morning, July 25. This is not a very difficult trip in my Arrow, especially since I have made it three times before. You just take off from home (St. Charles County Smartt Airport) and fly north for about 2½ hours to reach the greatest airshow on earth. (Click any of the pictures in this posting to view larger versions of the images.)

Route from St. Charles County, Missouri, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin

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As I was running the other morning, I jogged past a mom who was shepherding her little ones out the front door and over to the school bus stop. The mother was a few steps behind her young daughter and I caught this snippet of conversation:

Mom: You have a spelling test today, Susan. I don’t know where your words are.

Susan: I know them, Mom.

Mom: You sure?

I was stunned; this mother had had the chance to build her daughter up by responding, “That’s great, Susan! I’m so proud of you.” Instead, she told Susan that, not only was her word not to be trusted but that her ability to actually learn her spelling words was in doubt. With those double blows to her ego, it was no wonder that Susan had no answer to her mom’s question.

You can spoil a child with too many material things but you cannot spoil a child with too much love. Legitimate praise for a job well done, legitimate recognition for honest effort, is always in order. Imagine how good it feels to have someone tell you that they believe in you, that they believe you did something well. Give the gift of that feeling to your children as often as you can. Be your kids’ biggest cheerleader. I know you can and I know that you will be great at it.

Hamstring stretch

I got there! When I first started running and stretching, I started doing the canonical hamstring stretch after each run. Close your eyes and picture, if you will, graceful and youthful me lithely stretching toward my oh so distant toes and failing miserably to achieve that oh so distant goal. My fingertips lingered in mid-air somewhere past my knee; you could even have imagined them at mid-calf if you had been generously inclined.

But today, ah joyous morning, I was able to reach my toes with both hands for the first time. Photo attached. Whoo hoo!

I have been running for two minutes and then walking for eight (repeating for a total of 30 minutes). Next week, I advance to run three, walk seven.

I love to start my day with an uplifting tidbit of news like this: Barack Obama is bringing all but 50,000 US troops home from Iraq at the end of this month.

US President Barack Obama has confirmed the end of all combat operations in Iraq by 31 August. Some 50,000 of 65,000 US troops currently in Iraq are set to remain until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and protect US interests.
<snip>
The remaining 50,000 troops will stay in the country in order to train Iraqi security forces, conduct counterterrorism operations and provide civilians with ongoing security, said Mr Obama.
[via BBC News - Obama confirms plan for US troop withdrawal from Iraq]

I am not naive enough to believe that none of our men and women will be injured or killed after the “end of all combat operations.” I am not concerned (for the moment) with whether or nor we “won” or “lost” this war or whether we should or should not have invaded in the first place.

As these vets come home, we should welcome them with gratitude and appreciation for doing their jobs bravely and well. Each one served our interests as expressed by our freely elected federal government.

I am optimistic enough, and I invite you to join me in this, to look forward to the end of 2011 when the last of our troops come home from Iraq. Beyond that, I look forward to the day (not too far off, I hope) when we are not involved in any wars anywhere.

I ran again, yesterday; third time this week. All is still going well. I can sure feel the workout in various parts of my body but no pain, just aches from working parts of me that have not worked since dirt was new. This one was longer. I ran/walked for most of an hour and determined that downhill is still easier than uphill.

Having done this for a week, I know that I can continue with the program, that I will not need to drop back to solely walking. So, here is my first goal: to be able to run comfortably for 30 minutes. I am nowhere near that yet; running 1 minute then walking 1 minute is still tough but give me a few weeks. I’ll get there.

Lesson for the day: If I am sweating, I am working hard. If I am sweating like a pig and water is pouring down my arms and off my hands faster than it flows out of my garden hose then I am running in St. Louis on a summer morning. Gotta love this weather!