I accomplished two of my goals.
Today: 5K walk and I saw the new Bradley Park sculpture by Preston Jackson.
The walk was at 15:29 mpm and went down to lower Bradley Park, and so had one hill.
At the back of the base lay cigarette butts, empty bags of chips and a discared 2 liter soda bottle. Yes, you can change the statue (the former one was of Columbus) but not the people.
Lifting (before the walk)
low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 230
4 inch: 4 x 300, 4 x 300, 5 x 300
Make no mistake about it: Pete Hegseth is unfit for his job. But he did publicly take the stand that militaries exist to be good at fighting, and there is a “warrior ethos.”
And so it goes, I think: when an institution abandons or downplays something essential to the institution, it leaves a vacuum to be filled.
I see this in academia and science. Some abandon rigor in the name of some social justice cause and opens up the academy to legitimate right wing criticism. It leaves a vacuum to be filled…often by people even worse (e. g., anti-intellectuals, creationists, etc.)
We are really doing ourselves no favors.
I admit that I am excited about my upcoming half marathon: Saturday April 11. This means that I won’t walk long on April 4 but will on March 28 (next Saturday).
Today: my 11.2 mile course (same as the last few weeks) to the River and back in 2:53:51: 15:31 pace. It went ok, even if it was nothing special. I had 3 lazy miles (slower than 16) but overall it was fine.
Barbara managed to make it to the gate of Bradley U and back. She is having a rougher than average day today. Two days ago, she went 4 times as far. It will be a long road back for her.
And I accomplished two goals: clean up and a hair cut. LOL Ok 3: I made a math video.
As far as workouts, I have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to report.
Wednesday: 2 mile commuter walk. Weights: mundane:
pull ups: 3 sets of 10, one of 8, one of 3, two of 5 (chin up style for the last 2)
bench: 10 x 134, 8 x 154, 10 x 150, miss at 184
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110
dead (straight bar) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225
Thursday: 10k course in 1:24:36 (13:39 pace); 10 seconds slower than in November, 2023. Best in a while though, on this course. Then 2 more mile to Walgreens and back.
Friday: 2 mile commuter.
pull ups 10 singles, 5 chin singles, 5 chin singles, 5 mixed, 5 mixed, 10, 1, 2 sets of 5 chins.
bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 160, 6 x 160, 5 x 160
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110
Bradley Basketball: it was a small crowd to watch Bradley host the Dayton Flyers. Frankly, Dayton should have been an NCAA team, and they had a better record vs stiffer competition. They built up a 21 point lead and cruised 80-66.
The Women played at George Washington in DC. They built up an 11 point but couldn’t hold it; it was close until the final seconds. Final GW 63 BU 60. This was really a 50/50 game.
First the mundane: I voted and my Senate candidate is trailing by a small margin as I type this. And we had an Indian lunch.
All of this came after a kind of wild 6.35 walk on campus (almost totally snow free) in 1:29:25 (14:05 pace). It was cold: 9 F when I started.
Last weekend was our 30’th wedding anniversary. It was painful for many reasons. My spouse posted photos from it (and warned me that she would, and it was her right to do so). I untagged myself and declined to participate on her wall.
Previously, I had deleted all photos of her from my FB accounts. While I am NOT totally over the issue (which will remain private, but it does not involve infidelity, abuse nor financial dishonesty)
Today I wrote this:
My spouse posted photos from our 30’th wedding anniversary on her wall this past Sunday. If you go there, notice who did NOT react and who did not comment. I could not bring myself to do so.
Those photos brought back some very uncomfortable feelings for a variety of reasons, and I shall keep those private. What I can say is that few of our closest friends expected our marriage to last and, to be honest, our marriage got off to a Keystone Cops caliber start.
I reread some of my diary entries from that time period, and yes, there was a lot of good stuff too, but my brain tends to focus on the past pain; that is just the way I am wired.
Needless to say, a lot of time has passed between now and then, and the vast majority of it was good. But not all of it. In the comments, I’ll post the link to a pithy little article about long term marriage, but here is the money quote:
“here’s the hard truth behind lasting marriages that no one really wants to say out loud: in order for marriages to last, at some point, one or both partners will be required to forgive the unforgivable and put up with crap that no one else would put up with.
We are not perfect beings and if we’re going to last in a marriage, our partners are bound to see us at our worst, most weak and most ignorant moments. We’re going to, at some point, also likely see our partners in theirs too.”
And humans who try to live together are, from time to time, likely to hurt each other badly, unintentionally. And the hurt is sometimes harder to overcome when the usual challenges of aging drain from the reservoir of patience.
These rough patches remind me of the late stages of an ultramarathon, where one has gone far enough to be bone tired but not far enough to imagine finishing the race. Quitting can look soooo inviting, so easy.
They are also a bit like the “white knuckle” periods where those trying to stay sober from an addiction (excessive eating, alcohol, smoking, etc) where the minutes feel like hours.
But, ultimately, if one does not panic, if one deliberately looks at all the good that attracted you in the first place, the bad patches eventually end. And you’ll realize that, on a daily basis, you get to come home to and live with your favorite person in the world.
It is more than worth it. But it isn’t always easy. Nothing good is.
Not much going on today: I drove B to get her hair done (unnecessary: the roads turned out to be fine, but we didn’t know that before we went out) and I picked up tickets for the Bradley NIT game vs Dayton. Unfortunately, the Navy at Wake Forrest and the Kent State at Illinois State games are the same night. So, no double header for me.
And the women are playing at George Washington on Thursday; they might well win that game.
We did have some snow and ice but much of the road ice is gone.
My workout: 3 miles from the YMCA to Pioneer Parkway and back; some slush. Weights: 5 (of 6) sets of 6, 8, 2, then 2 sets of 5 chins. In between: shoveling and clearing. I did my PT before the weights.
Then: bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 6 x 160, 5 x 160 (6 reps is a recent best)
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110
curls: 1 set of 10, plus a 2 minute plank.
I’ll say it: this was a bad weekend for me.
The walk: 11.06 at 16:15 (Bradley out and back, then the 2 mile loop and another 1.3 Corn Stock loop, then the 3 mile course plus a few 10’th. Good enough, and the left hip/leg did not bother me.
Today: 2 miles Moss course, then deadlifts:
low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225, then 3 sets of 5 x 300 with the 6 inch handle. Good enough.
Ok, the workouts were fine. But this was our 30’th wedding anniversary. And so she posted photos from the wedding and all I can remember is the fight before the wedding (so many idiotic mistakes then) and then a very similar issue coming up recently. This just rekindled old wounds.
I’ve really become divorced from the news. I need to do better. I still do not know who I will vote for in a couple of days.
The “dumpster fire” is a reference to my personal life and I’ll leave it at that. Nothing is life-threatening
Workout notes:
pull ups: 6-6-6-6-8-6-5-5-5 which included some chin up style and some scapular plus regular
bench press: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 5 x 160
high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 105, 5 x 110
Doesn’t seem like much, does it? And I had a 2 mile walk.
I walked my 5 mile course later in the day (due to B’s eye appointment) and was about 1:09 for 5 miles; I had accidentally stopped my watch at 4.8 (the crossing) and it was 1:06:xx there. I was 33:xx at the lower part turn around at 55:27 at the park exit. Weather was perfect.
Pace: 13:48 average. That is good compared to recent months, and I have to forget that my 50 mile pace was faster than that..22 years ago.
Time takes its toll. And I have a small left glute pain (noticed yesterday afternoon) and very “heavy”, tight calves. I think that it is the push off motion.
We have elections coming up and, frankly, I’ve given it little thought. I probably should since I will almost certainly vote for the D in the fall. So, this primary is probably more important but I have a tough time making myself care. I’ll do some research this weekend and try to figure it out.
And now onto today: I walked in the evening and was very stiff. I need to stretch my back again. 2 miles for that.
Now the lifting: pull ups: 5 sets of 6, 4 sets of 5. Some were chin up sets, some were “pause at the top” sets. I kind of rushed through.
bench: 10 x 134, 11 x 150 (miscounted), 10 x 134
low trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225
high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94
Life of an old goat 