Cherry trees in bloom
At the recommendation of my supervisor, I took a short walk over to the Capitol Mall to snap a few photos of the blooming trees.
Another story must begin
Today was Catherine’s first day at her new job. She’s been very excited about this place, especially after the difficulties experienced at the last one.
To help get this chapter going on a strong footing, I had flowers delivered to her at work.
I am happy to report that she loved them. I, too, am very pleased with the good job the florist did.
Mid-week hike
Went to Silver Falls yesterday for a make-up/second chance hike. Actually, here’s what happened. A woman in the meetup group was supposed to go with the group to Silver Falls on Saturday. She asked for a ride, and the guy who agreed to pick her up was quite late. So when the two of them got to the State Park, the group was already out on the trail. She called me that afternoon sounding pretty upset at the whole situation. I felt bad for her, but what could I do about it? I suggested that, as she doesn’t work during the week, we could take a trip to the falls on Wednesday. She seemed to think that was a swell idea, so I began arranging a group to go to the falls during the week. At one point, I had 4 people planning to come with me for the hike.
Well, in the end, the aforementioned girl ended up not wanting/being able to come (why did I go to all this trouble anyway??) and another friend dropped out. Three of us ended up driving to the park but one woman anticipated that she wouldn’t be feeling too well and didn’t plan on staying long. That left 2 of us to make the hike.
Our plan/goal: hike the Trail of Ten Falls. As the two of us remaining had already seen the South Falls, we decided to walk the loop in an anti-clockwise direction. We passed by Winter Falls and arrived at North Falls (at 3 on the map below) with no problem. But thereafter, we ended up going completely in the wrong direction.
We didn’t notice any trail other than one marked Perimeter Trail, so that’s the one we took. Rather than loop us back around to the north and west, we traveled south and east (as can be seen in the map).
So, we didn’t get to see many waterfalls, but it was a pleasant hike. A touch warm for my taste, but mostly under canopy.
This just means we’ll have to give it another try.
Running route (for all my stalkers)
Here’s a visual on the route I run every day. The runs are of different durations, but this is fairly representative.
Catch up #1
Ok, so what have I been doing?
Well, as promised, I have been laid off. It was harder to contemplate when I first was told of it than when my last day came. Although there were some very sad moments towards the end, particularly on my last day. That last day was scheduled to be Thursday, but I had already decided that Wednesday was going to be the actual day. I took my inspiration from The Office. Michael Scott avoided the awkwardness of the farewell party by not coming in that day. There was a very moving and touching moment with Jim.
Wedding pics
Here are some photos from Saturday’s wedding.
The groom getting ready.
The bride getting ready.
Bullfights
As promised, here are a couple of photos from last night’s bullfights.
The first Cavaleiro
The Forcados (Suicide Squad) biff the first attempt
The Matador
The second Cavaleiro (Cavaleira?)
It’s not WoW
The topic of running gear/apparel has come up a couple of times recently. Here’s what I use.
Why do I use these? They were on sale and in my size at the shoe clearance warehouse.
Cost – $30
Socks – Hanes Classics ankle socks
Why do I use these? Well, when I buy socks, I make a point of purchasing something that I can wear with just about anything. So I can use these for work or running. Versatile.
Cost – No additional cost as I already owned.
Shorts – Denim shorts
Why do I use this? Well, I already owned the shorts so it seemed so damned convenient.
Cost – No additional cost as I already owned (for like 15 years!).
Shirt – T-shirt
Why do I use this? Well, I own dozens of them and I’d rather not run shirtless.
Cost – No additional cost as I already own many, many t-shirts.
Electronics – iPhone
Why do I use this? I listen to music on it and I have apps that I use for training. I’ve had the phone for a long time and it works for most of what I want.
Cost – I already owned the phone. The app was $3.
So the grand total for all my running gear was $33.
One more race shot
Here’s a shot of me coming up on the finish line in yesterday’s race.
I’m just glad I safety pinned my shirt to my shorts or else you’d be seeing way too much belly.
Modesto Classic
Ran my 5K today. My goals were to run the entire race without stopping to walk and come in with a time of no more than 35 minutes. Mission accomplished on both fronts. There were many, many times that I wanted to stop running and just walk for a bit. I was bargaining with myself constantly! But in the end, I ran the whole race. My time was 33:46.1. I’d like to do the next one in under 30 minutes.
It was nice that there were several of us MJC types out there. Me, Vee, Tonya, Donna, Rita, Erik, and Laura.
Good job to all of us!!
Here are a couple of photos.
Me and Vee before the race.
Me and Tonya.
My race results.
