Category Archives: Quad Rock 50

Air Quality, Alien Life, Art, Book Review, Climate Change, Colfax Marathon, Colorado, Covid 19, Denver, Dogs, Environment, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, PurpleAir, Quad Rock 50, Science, Science Fiction, Space, Trail Running, Wildfire

MUSINGS FOR MAY 2023

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“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” – Joshua Becker

This is an image from the Hubble Space Telescope of two galaxies interacting due to a super massive black hole at the heart of the pair. The galactic structure is called AM 1214-255. The swirling gas that is being pulled in to the black hole creates a much higher level of luminosity and is referred to as an AGN or active galactic nucleus. These areas create a huge amount of electromagnetic radiation as they pull in material. There are many different subclasses of AGNs based on the observable characteristics. The most powerful AGNs are called quasars and when you have an AGN with a jet of electromagnetic radiation beaming toward earth it is called a blazar. Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and J. Dalcanton (University of Washington); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-captures-extraordinarily-bright-interacting-galaxies and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus and https://www.britannica.com/science/active-galactic-nucleus

“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” Nathan W. Morris

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 5283 and it too contains an AGN or active galactic nucleus. NGC 5283 is called a Seyfert galaxy because the amount of luminosity is just a little bit less than the typical AGN. Here due to the decrease in radiation you are able to observe the structure of said galaxy, whereas with the typical AGN the prodigious amount of radiation outshines the galaxy structure itself. NGC 5283 is located in the constellation Centaurus and is approximately 168 million light- years away. It was first discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Louis d’Arrest in 1866. Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and M. Revalski (STScI); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2023/hubble-views-a-beautiful-luminous-galaxy and Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 5283 | Sci.News

“More is better” turns out to be a formula for dissatisfaction. If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.” Joe Dominguez/Vicki Robin

This May is the 50th anniversary of the first US space station – Skylab, and it was operated by three different astronaut crews. The top picture is of the Saturn V launching with major components of the space station, which included an orbital workshop, a telescope mount, docking adapters and a airlock module.

On May 14th, 1973 a Saturn V rocket launches with the components of the first US space station – Skylab. Image credit: NASA
This is an image of Skylab by the fist crew to the station, June 22nd, 1973, just before they departed for earth. The crooked golden blanket was a parasol sunshade that was used by the crew to protect the lab from solar heating. The original sunshield was lost during the launch along with one of the main solar arrays. Image credit: NASA/MSFC

Over the course of it’s lifetime three different astronauts crews visited the space station (May 25th, 1973 to February 8th, 1974). They were able to carry out 270 scientific and technical investigations in the fields of physics, astronomy, and biological sciences. There were plans to boost the lab with the Space Shuttle to a higher orbit and give it five more years of service, but unfortunately the shuttle was not ready in time and Skylab came to an end in July 1979. The early re-entry of the almost 200,000lb lab created a lot of criticism of NASA and generated an international media event.

An interesting note is that Skylab was not the worlds first space station, that honor belongs to the Soviet Union. Salyut 1 was launched into low Earth Orbit by the Soviets Union on April 19th, 1971.

If you would like to learn more please see these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/50th-anniversary-of-the-skylab-1-launch and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/gallery/msfc_iow_18.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_1

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!!

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19 and so have I!! Yea for both of us again!! Hopefully you are not one of the 16 million Americans with some form of long Covid. It is estimated that one in 10 that had the variant Omicron will have some kind of long Covid symptoms.

So where are we with Covid? The honest truth is that no one really knows for the moment. The federal COVID 19 public health emergency declaration ended on May 11th, 2023. Does this mean that the virus is done and it is over with? Nope. It just means that most of the official data collection, reporting and surveillance has ended. Fortunately, there are going to be some metrics that will still be reported on but just not as frequently. The best place to see if it is increasing or decreasing in your area is the CDC wastewater surveillance system. Hospitalizations and deaths are not a good indication of what is going on in the country due to faulty and ambiguous reporting from each state. And of course, home testing does not give an accurate count of what is going on. It might at some point be a good indication if you can track where the demand for home testing kits is rising or dropping based on individual internet searches. But not yet.

So why should we still be interested in what Covid is doing? Isn’t it over? Nope. And to add a little weight to that “Nope”, the Chinese public health ministry issued a statement, at the end of May, that says they are going through a second wave of the virus, XBB variant, and the peak is forecasted to be in late June at 60 million new cases per week.

So how do you stay safe and make the best decisions for this busy holiday and summer travel season. First, find out what the virus is doing in a particular area. The best way to do this is the CDC waste water surveillance web site. See the link below. Second, if your over 65 or have an autoimmune disease, think about getting a prescription for the antiviral Paxlovid. It is now fully approved by the FDA and this should make it easier to get a prescription. If you are traveling overseas you might want to prefill a prescription or find out the availability before travel. Some countries have not been as fortunate as the United States for access to this antiviral meditation. Of course you have to check with your health care provider to make sure you can take this medication due to it’s potential interactions with other meditations. Third, choose actives that are outdoors as opposed to indoors if possible. And if it is indoors, look at the size of the room, the number of people and ventilation. A small overly crowded room with poor ventilation is going to be much more of a risk than a larger room that is lightly crowded and has good ventilation. Fourth, if your planned activity is something that puts you at high risk and you cannot avoid it, consider wearing an N95 or KN95 mask. Yes, they do work, ignore the social media hype. Last, but not least, if your not vaccinated, get vaccinated and boosted before travel. This one should be a no brainer but for some reason, it continues to be issue. We are so fortunate in this country to have access to mRNA vaccines. Not everyone in the world has had this access.

Here are the links if you are interested in more information from the remaining reliable sources. I have included the CDC waste water reporting section. It give the best estimate if Covid is increasing in your area, but remember it is a week or two behind what is actually going on: https://www.youtube.com/c/OsterholmUpdateCOVID19 and https://www.youtube.com/c/VincentRacaniello and https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/wastewater-surveillance/index.html

May was a somewhat good month for getting outdoors. If you got out early, the air quality was pretty good and the winds for the first part of the month kept the early season wildfire smoke away.

Of course this did not last last. By May 20th, there were more than 200 active wildfires across Canada. Over 90 of those were in Alberta alone. Around 3.2 million acres as of now and counting. Just in comparison, their yearly average is about 55,000 acres per year. I find it crazy that parts of Northern Alberta are already having wildfires. And this does not include a significant fire events going on in Central Mexico, fires in Spain, the Middle East, Nova Scotia, etc… And all of this can be attributed to climate change. Oh well.

Fire and smoke from a wildfire are shown in Hay River, Northwest Territories in a handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/James Cardinal Jr.)

So during the last 10 days of the month, things got a little more interesting here on the Front Range as a strong cold front ushered down significant amounts of smoke into the lower 48. Especially, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. By Friday afternoon (May 19th, 2023), Fort Collins was measuring one of it worst air pollution days in years due to the smoke. What this means in more scientific terms is that particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less was very high. Some readings on Friday afternoon around the city were in the 200 range. Denver was said to have had the worst air quality than any other city in the world on that day.

Image of the Denver’s skyline from Friday, May 19th at approximately 6:30am. Image credit: CDPHE (Colorado department of public health & environment)

And we really did not get a break in the smoke until late Wednesday afternoon. The picture below is from our neighborhood lake on Tuesday 23rd, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening.

This picture was taken on Tuesday 23rd, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening. The AQI was still in the 100 range.

The picture below was taken on Thursday 25th, 2023 about the same time as the above picture and location. Here the smoke has totally cleared. The AQI was down to less than 30.

This picture was taken Thursday 25th, 2023 at about 7pm in the evening. What a difference two days make.

So you may ask, why am I so concerned about the wildfire smoke. Well, it has to do particulate matter less than 2.5 microns or better known as PM 2.5. I have written about this kind of particulate matter before but let me review a few facts. These tiny particles are so small that they can get deep down into our lungs where they can cause damage, but it does not stop there. They get into the blood stream and travel to pretty much every part of the body and they are highly inflammatory (think disease causing). They have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier and can even be found in the fetal circulation of the unborn. Long-term exposer to pm 2.5 is considered the largest environmental risk factor for human health, with an estimated 4.1 million attributable deaths worldwide.

This graphic gives you some idea of size of PM 2.5

With that said, I check air quality every time I go out to exercise. It is not just caused by wildfire smoke but by coal fired power plants, wind blow dust, industrial processes, automobiles, etc… And it can combine with other types of urban pollution to really make a toxic mix. If the levels are high in my area I stay inside, close the windows and turn on the air purification system in the house and use the treadmill, rower or spin bike. Why do I go to great lengths to avoid this pollutant? Because it is like cigarette smoking and the damage to your body is accumulative. Just like smoking. The pictures below are from the Denver Colfax 5K race that occurred Saturday 20th, 2023. There are approximately 6000 participants that have chosen to run in this very polluted air. None of them are doing themselves a favor. From a public health perspective this is not health. They would have been more health conscious if they had stayed home and smoked cigarettes. I love it that race directors will talk about what to do if you feel symptoms running in polluted air, but leave out the most important part, what happens years down the road when you develop adenocarcinoma of the lung or cancer in another part of the body due to the accumulative effect of PM 2.5. Or some kind of autoimmune disease. It’s not the short term exposure that is the issue, but what happens long term. In my opinion events that require exercise should be canceled or better yet, have a built in “make-up” day when air quality exceeds standards. Would this be inconvenient? Yes. Would it cost extra money? Yes. Would it be a headache for race directors and organizers? Again yes. Would it be much better for your long term health? Absolutely.

Of course there are races now that allow participants to do the race “virtually.” This is where you run the race at home or at some other time when the air quality is better and send in the results and get your finisher medal. This is left up to the race participant on whether they choose to do this or not.

This was the start of the Colfax 5k on Saturday morning the 20th. AQI was in the high to very high range. Over 150 in some parts of the city. Very unhealthy. When local veterinarians are telling the public to keep their pets indoors due to the air quality, humans should probably do likewise.
Very dirty air during the Colfax 5k with around 6000 participants.

Well enough about the wildfire smoke and PM 2.5 but if you’re interested here are a few links for great articles on the subject and why it is so potentially detrimental in the long term to exercise when the levels are high: https://www.howardluksmd.com/pm-2-5-levels-air-pollution-and-our-health/? and https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-decades-air-pollution-undermine-immune.html? and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33198760/ and https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution/index.cfm

On a much more positive note, I was able to run the Quad Rock 25 on May 6th, 2023. I had signed up for the 50 back when registration had opened last December but due to a nagging knee injury, I did not push my luck in making things worse and ran the 25 instead. This was my 7th time to be in the race since 2013. I missed two races due to injury and one due to Covid. This has been and continues to be a great trail marathon and ultra put on by GNAR Runners. It is a loop course, through Horsetooth Mountain Park and Lory State Park. You get the 50 mile distance by doing the loop twice, once in reverse. It is a challenging and scenic course and well worth your consideration if you want a tough early season trail marathon or ultra in Colorado. The nice part is that it is very close to Fort Collins, about 20 minutes from downtown, and this provides great post race opportunities to kick back and enjoy the finer things in life. Next year’s race is already schedule for May 11th, 2024 and registration opens December 15th, 2023. Here is a link to the race and GNAR runners: https://gnarrunners.com/quad-rock-50/#register and https://gnarrunners.com/

The pictures below are from the race that was held on Saturday 6th, May 2023.

This was the start of the 50 mile race at 0530 in morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day this year. Nice and cool for the first part of the day with gradual warming into the afternoon. The starting temp was somewhere in the upper 30s to lower 40s for the start. And I believe the high for the day was somewhere in the low 70s.
This view is looking East across Horsetooth lake and toward Fort Collins. Besides the views, the volunteers, and the location of the race, the one thing that I love the most is the ability to start the 50 mile race but still get credit if you only do the 25. On a personal note, I have never completed the 50. Lol. I usually time out at the turn around point. Part of the reason is that it is a little early in the season for me. I seems to be in better running form by middle to late summer. (that is what I tell myself – Lol) This year, it was due to an injury which caused me to be really slow on the downhill sections.
This is looking West in Lory State Park at the iconic rock formation called Arthur’s Rock. It is named for one of the previous landowner’s that sold the land, Arthur Howard. If your interested, a short history of the area from Colorado State Parks can be found here: Colorado Parks & Wildlife – History (state.co.us)
This is one of my favorite views in the race from Horsetooth Mountain Park. Here I am looking South towards Denver.
The icon rock formation that gives Horsetooth Mountain Park and Horsetooth Lake their names.

Again, this has been and continues to be a great trail marathon and ultra put on by GNAR Runners. It would be worth your time to check it out for next year.

This picture was taken on Saturday 27th, May 2023 at about 11am in the morning. Here Janet and Marvin are enjoying a nice walk in the park.

The last few days of the month were pretty good as far as air quality goes. The smoke had shifted further east and the Front Range of Colorado was spared the added air pollution. Of course, like any spread out metropolitan area we generate enough on or own. Lol.

If was another good month for reading and I would like to share a few book recommendations.

The first book I would like to review and recommend is called “The Possibility of Life” by Jaime Green.  The book is about the likelihood of alien life in other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy. 

Now, before I leap into the review, I would like to give a little background why this book appealed to me in the first place.   I became significantly more interested in books on the subject of life in other part of the galaxy after learning that every star you see in the night sky, almost without exception has at least one exoplanet.  And this idea was sealed for me after reading the book by the physicist and astronomer Adam Frank.  His book is called “Light of the Stars:  Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth.”  A quote from his book:  “From the exoplanet data, astronomers can now say with confidence that one out of every five stars hosts a world where life as we know it could form.  So, when you’re standing out there under the night sky, choose five random stars.  Chances are, one of them has a world in its Goldilocks zone where liquid water could be flowing across its surface and life might already exist.”   

Think about that for a moment.  Hard to get your head around.  And that is the very reason I feel that books by Jamie Green and Adam Frank are so important. 

Jamie Green is a Science writer, among other things and she approaches the philosophical questions about the possibility of alien life in a somewhat different perspective.  She uses Science Fiction.  Yes you heard that right, she uses the imagination from SiFi writers to weave an interesting narrative about how humanity will react when alien life is discovered.  In the process she intersperses real science in with the creative writing to tell an interesting story.  Now some might be turned off by this style because it is not all hard and fast science, but what was the quote by Einstein?  “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Meaning the most important thing to have is the ability to imagine and embrace novel possibilities with the search for alien life and what to do when we find it.  And for the time being, until we have hard scientific data on the subject, what a better way to prepare for the inevitable first contact, than by tapping in to the years and years of creative and imaginative writing on the subject from SiFi.

I got this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.  You can probably find it at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here is the amazon link:  https://a.co/d/8qU6DOX 

The next two books I would like to review and recommend are part of a series written by Daniel Suarez. They are Science Fiction but are in the realm of possibility.  I call these books “brain bubble gum books”, fun to read but not always a lot of real world substance. These books are a little different and have an important message for humanity.  It is the argument that getting off the planet and starting to make a permanent human presence in space is the only way for humans to survive the existential crisis of climate change. 

The first book is called Delta-V and the second book is called Critical Mass. 

It all starts off when an eccentric billionaire that sees where humanity is heading on an overcrowding and warming planet with dwindling resources is inevitably heading.  And he comes to the conclusion that the only way to save humans is to get off the planet.  Of course, even a billionaire does not have that kind of money.  So the big question is how do you pay for it all.  And this is where the story gets interesting.   What if a private company could create the first near asteroid mining operation?  How much would that be worth to the world economy?  What technologies would be developed to make this happen? Would there be people on earth that would try to stop it and why?   

The first book introduces us to the main characters and their struggle to make the team and eventually survive the harsh realities of space.  The second book picks up where the first book leaves off.  Now that you have shown commercial asteroid mining is possible, what is the next step?  How do you start the process of getting large numbers of humans into space?  Is control of such a potentially lucrative space operation better left in private hands, or existing world governments? Set all of this against a world that is starting to come apart and you have the makings of a very interesting story.         

All these questions are what makes this series of “brain bubble gum books” such a great read.  It is one of the rare opportunities of getting to read for the sheer enjoyment of the story but you might learn something in the process.  Good food for thought.  

I got both of these books as audio books but they would work in any format.  You can probably find them at your local book store or on Amazon.  Here are the Amazon links:   https://a.co/d/jl0LIGs and  https://a.co/d/ji2hpsX

The last book I would like to review and recommend is called “The Long View:  Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time” by Richard Fisher.  In a world where the old saying “time is money”, a book like this is more relevant and urgent than ever.  The author argues that this is one of the very reason that we need to slow down a bit and take a much longer view of things.

What would happen if we were all taught from a young age to look at things in the long view?  To really see the results of our immediate actions ten, twenty, thirty or more years down the road.  It is an interesting idea.  There are so many examples of this idea being explored throughout history, even in our current literature, musical art and life.

The first example that came to my mind, was the quote in the second or third movie of the Lord of the Rings.  When King Theoden says: “To whatever end.  Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?”

The second one is the music from the Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime. Part of the lyrics are: “And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack, And you may find yourself in another part of the world, And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile, And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

A third one that is personnel for me, was when I worked in the ER.  And I would see people in their 60s and 70s or sometimes much younger, their bodies permanently wrecked by poor life style choices, on death doorstep and wonder; did they as teenagers and 20 year old’s, see their lives ending like this.  Ten, twenty, thirty years down the road, in a wretched state of affairs.

A lot of the book is all about how we operate half-awake most of the time, not seeing where our actions are taking us down the road.  Again a short view of time.   

This is a very thought provoking book and well worth the read.  It is about slowing down but more importantly it is about taking a longer view of all things in life.  Maybe if we looked at how our immediate actions would influence things much further down the road, than tomorrow or next week, we might create a much happier and friendlier world for us all.

Richard is senior Journalist with the BBC in London and now an author.  If you would like to learn a little more about him check out his webpage: https://richardfisher.carrd.co/

I got this book as an audiobook but it would work in any format.  You can probably find this book at your local bookstore or at Amazon.  Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/44gAK9j

Last but not least, I would like to show case one new piece of artwork that I finished at the first of May. I call it “Painted Chicken Boy.” It is 9×12 inches, acrylic paint on canvas paper, mounted to a cradled wood panel and sealed with archival varnish.

“Painted Chicken Boy”

This piece and other types of my art work can be found at my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

In support of Prochoice and Separation of Church and State, I will donate 10% of any sales to Planned Parenthood or the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but only if you wish me too. If not, I will be more than happy to keep money! Lol

Well I have come to the end of another blog post. Yea! And I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

So take care my friends and if you have not gotten vaccinated or boosted, even if you have had Covid, then get it done. It would be a damn shame if you were to die or suffer significant disability with this virus when vaccines are readily available in this country. So until next time Adios!!

“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” Carl Sagan

“Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.” Yuval Noah Harari

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, Pandemics, Quad Rock 50, Science, Science Fiction, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 28TH, MAY 2021

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“Its very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.” George Sheehan

When the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977, it featured the now-iconic two-sun, “circumbinary” planet Tatooine. At that time astronomers didn’t really know if such solar systems existed. Indeed, the first extra-solar planet wasn’t detected until the early 1990s. And, the first actual circumbinary planet was detected in 2005 – it was a Jupiter-size planet orbiting a system composed of a sun-like star and a brown dwarf.  Fast forward a few years and researchers working with data from TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) discovered another circumbinary planet in 2020. The planet is called TOI 1338b and is about 7 times bigger than the earth and is about 1300 light-years away. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. If you want to learn more about his planet and other possible habitable binary star systems please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/discovering-circumbinary-star-systems and Researchers identify five double star systems potentially suitable for life (phys.org)

“There are those of us who are always about to live. We are waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down / until, until, until. It always seems as if there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living.” George Sheehan

This image is a picture of what is know as the “Necklace Nebula.” It is about 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Sagitta (The Arrow.) It is created by the interaction of two stars that were orbiting close together. One of the stars expanded and engulfed the smaller companion. This created what astronomers call a “common envelope.” It increased the larger star’s rotation rate until parts of it spun outward into space and formed the “Necklace.” The above image, using newer processing techniques, is an updated one from the original Hubble image. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll. If you want to learn more about the above Nebula please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-views-a-dazzling-cosmic-necklace and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necklace_Nebula

“For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and look to the day when it is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight.” George Sheehan

This image, taken by the Hubble telescope, shows a galaxy cluster called Abell 3827 and was made during a study tasked in trying to figure out what “dark matter” might be. I find it amazing that 100 years ago, astronomers believed that the Milky Way was the only galaxy in the Universe. It was finally put to rest when Edwin Hubble confirmed that the Andromeda Nebula was in fact too far distant to be part of the Milky Way. This was in 1924 and it forever changed how we view the Universe. Until then the Milky Way was thought to be the entire universe. The implications, like the more recent discovery of exoplanets, has forever changed how we view ourselves in the cosmos. NASA honored his achievements by naming the Hubble Space Telescope after him. Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA). If you want to learn more about his image or Edwin Hubble please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-gazes-at-a-cluster-full-of-cosmic-clues and Our Giant Universe: Hubble Spots Massive Galaxy Cluster With a Wealth of Exciting Possibilities (scitechdaily.com) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble

“The distance runner who accepts the past in the person he is, and sees the future as a promise rather than a threat, is completely and utterly in the present. He is absorbed in his encounter with the everyday world. He is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in the divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace, unique; the everyday, eternal.” George Sheehan

This is an image of the galaxy cluster MACS J0416 (The Massive Cluster Survey). This is one of the 6 galaxy clusters by the Hubble Frontier Fields program. It has produced some the deepest images of gravitational lensing ever made. Astronomers believe the light they see is within 500 million years of the Big Bang. The thought is that most of these stars likely formed from hydrogen, helium and lithium, as those were the only elements that existed before the development of heavier elements like oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and iron. The blue light you see is called intracluster and was used by scientists to study the distribution of dark matter within the cluster. Intracluster light is a byproduct of the interactions between galaxies. In the course of these interactions, individual stars are stripped from their galaxies and float freely within the cluster. Once free from their galaxies, they end up where the majority of the mass of the cluster, mostly dark matter, resides. Image Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Montes (University of New South Wales). If you want to learn more about this image please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/looking-at-stars-in-the-early-universe and https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/galaxy-cluster-macs-j0416-early-universe/

“Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.” George Sheehan

This is a picture (captured by Hubble Space Telescope) of what is called an emission nebula. It is formed by clouds of ionized gas that emit light at optical wavelengths. The nebula above is known as NGC 2313 and is located about 3,750 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros. The clouds of gas are illuminated due to the stars located inside them. The stars give off radiation, which ionizes the gas and makes it glow. The bright star V565, which can be seen in the center of the image, is illuminating the nebula and giving it its distinctive appearance. Image credit: ESA/Hubble, R. Sahai. If you want to learn more about this nebula please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-spots-a-cosmic-cloud-s-silver-lining and http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-emission-nebula-ngc-2313-09636.html

“Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you’re thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you’re already hurting more than you ever remember.” George Sheehan

This is an image that was posted on Twitter, August 9th, 2015 by astronaut Scott Kelly. It was during his year in space. It showcases all the places humans live – the Earth, the ISS and the Milky Way. Image Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly. To learn more about his image and other images taken by Scott while on the ISS please visit these links: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-places-we-call-home and https://twistedsifter.com/2016/03/nasa-shares-best-pics-from-scott-kelly-year-in-space/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/sets/72157658205964848

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” George Sheehan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19, so far, and so have I!! That my friends is a very good thing for both of us. And I will keep crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

When I started to write this blog on May 6th, the death count stood at approximately 593,000 deaths. That was an increase of 26, 000 deaths in 34 days. While this is a lot, it does reflect a downward trend and that is a good thing. Hopefully, we will continue this downward shift.

By the middle of the month, we unfortunately broke the 600,000 death barrier. But, while this is a huge number, we were still in the downward trend of new infections and subsequent deaths.

Two days before the publication of this blog on May 26th, we were sitting at approximately 606, 000 deaths total. So in 20 days we added 13,000 Covid deaths. While this is a large number it is no where near the 80 to 90 thousand deaths in a 24 day streak back in January of this year.

If your interested in looking at the numbers yourself, check out these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

On a much more somber and unsettling note, a study out of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that the number of people in the US alone, who have died of Covid is more than 900,000, a number much higher than official figures, almost 50% more. And, the worldwide death count is more than double, 7 million as opposed to 3.24 million officially reported. The UW team came to these staggering numbers by calculating excess mortality. While there are other researchers that do not agree with the University of Washington’s conclusions, they do agree that there has been an excess of deaths far exceeding the official Covid death toll. What they disagreed on was that it could all be blamed entirely on the virus.

To read the article for yourself please visit this link: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/06/994287048/new-study-estimates-more-than-900-000-people-have-died-of-covid-19-in-u-s

Well it has now been approximately 20 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me. Yea!!

As I started to write this months blog I was looking at some of the misleading and false claims about problems after getting the vaccine. Things like, increased deaths due to the vaccine, shedding the virus after getting the vaccine, getting Covid from the vaccine, the vaccine will alter my DNA, it is a government conspiracy, etc… I especially loved the one about “shedding the virus” in that if your female and unvaccinated but are around someone who is, you can have your menstrual cycle impacted because the vaccinated person will “shed” the virus. Maybe some of this fear comes from very early vaccine development with “live” virus vaccines like the polio vaccine (1950s). The thought, when this occurred, was that it actually helped people because it might create a “contact immunity” which played a role in helping to eradicating polio. Unfortunately, a few individuals at that time, actually came down with a case of polio. This was very rare but it generated a lot of fear. Rest assured NONE of the Covid vaccines authorized in the U.S. are live-virus vaccines.

A great website to start with, to help dispel these myths is the good old CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.html and another one from the Mayo Clinic: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/covid-19-vaccine-myths-debunked/ and a good one from Psychology Today on why people believe these myths: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-speed-life/202104/unbreakable-myths-covid-19-vaccines and a good one on live virus vaccine types can be found here: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-a-live-virus-vaccine-200925

Another big thing that occurred in May with Covid was a relaxing of the mask rules by the CDC. And of course it has been controversial. One of the large nursing unions has come out against it but there are other experts that have felt it is OK. I feel the quote by Colleen Kelley, MD, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine said it best:

“We don’t have as much data yet with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but it also does look to significantly reduce transmission. So, I would say you can confidently go back to most activities. We still want to be mindful in crowded spaces, in spaces with poor ventilation indoors. We still want to be mindful of the very small possibility of transmissibility. But, in general, if you’re vaccinated, if your friends and family are vaccinated, life should look pretty much normal outside of crowded settings.”

If you want to listen or read an interview about this check out the link: https://www.medpagetoday.com/podcasts/trackthevax/92526?

Ok that is enough about Covid. Time to write about something else. April was another good month for running in general. The temperatures continued to warm and the air quality was much better.

This picture was taken April 5th, 2021 at about 3:45pm in the afternoon. It is at the top of Towers Road in Horsetooth Mountain Park. What a beautiful day for a trail run.

Of course like March, April had it’s share of weather “hiccups” that created some issues. Historically here on Colorado’s front range, March and April are when we get the most snow and / or rain in general. And April lived up to it’s reputation. While there were some beautiful days for being outdoors, there were a number of days that it either snowed, rained or did both. Lol.

This picture was taken April 7th, 2021 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. It is looking South along Horsetooth Reservoir. The lake sits just West of Fort Collins. Another beautiful day along the Front Range of Colorado.

Either brilliant sunshine or overcast with rain and snow. At least that is how it seemed. I noticed when I was deciding what pictures to post for this blog, there were just a few sunset photos. For me that was a little strange, until I really thought about it. And I think, part of it had to do with the on again and off again weather.

This picture was taken April 15th, 2021 at about 4:45pm in the afternoon. Another day of snow for the month of April.

While it was great to get the moisture, it did create some issues with running in the foothills in the form of Mud. Some of you may have heard of “Mud Season”, but it usually is in reference to the high country. Think Ski Resorts. It is a period in spring when dirt becomes muddy from the melting of snow and ice. Another words, any path with dirt becomes a temporary muddy mess. This year along the Front Range, we had an April Mud Season.

This picture was taken April 18th, 2021 at about 6:30pm in the afternoon. It is from one of the bridges along the Poudre River Trail . Here, Marvin and I were enjoying another beautiful spring day along the bike path because the dirt trails were closed due to mud.

This picture was taken April 19th, 2021 at about 7:15pm in the evening. This picture was literally the very next day from the one above and a total change in the weather. I think by this time, the off and on again pattern we were experiencing even had Marvin unhappy. Here he reminds me of the frozen Jack Nicholson from the Shining. Lol.

Another reason that there were fewer sunset pictures for the month of April, especially towards the end, was the length of daylight – it was getting much longer as we moved toward the start of Summer. By the end of the month sunsets here in Fort Collins were much closer to the 8pm mark. And by this time, we were eating dinner and not out running or walking.

Yea a sunset picture! This picture was taken April 24th, 2021 at 7:15pm in the evening. It is looking West along the Poudre River. In this photo you can see that the river is down quit a lot. The city was still diverting water to fill up the reservoirs. It was not until about the second week of May that the river was allowed to run free.

This picture was taken April 25th, 2021 at about 4pm in the afternoon. Another beautiful day for a trail run. There was a string of snow and rain free days at the end of April but it did not last. The first week of May was a different story.

This picture was taken April 29th, 2021 at about 6:30pm in the evening. It was my youngest daughters birthday. So we did something a little different and took a selfie of all of us, minus the two older daughters.

Well the 10th running of the Quad Rock did not quit go as planned for me. I ended up doing the 25 mile version again but that was OK. The weather and trail conditions turned out to be perfect. The organizers of the race, https://gnarrunners.com/ in my opinion, did an excellent job in the management of the event.

My only excuse was the snow and mud season conditions in March/April leading up to the race. I did get in a lot of running, just not the kind that I was hoping to do. With the Quad Rock, I needed to get in as much elevation training (running up and down the mountains) as I could. But due to work conflicts and / or weather this did not happen.

This picture was taken in Lory State Park, May 8th, at about 5:20am – just before the start of the 10th running of the Quad Rock.

But… don’t misunderstand me. Even though I had planned to run the 50 miler, I was not disappointed that I was a little too slow at the 25 mile mark and timed out – again. Not having run an ultra in that type of terrain in about 2 years due to Covid, I was not quite prepared for the elevation changes. I know, I know, I am making excuses for myself but it really did kick my ass – so to speak. Lol. So I have now done the 25 miler about 6 times? I think. And each time I learn or relearn something new. Oh well, it is what it is and I plan to enter the 50 miler again for next year.

This picture was taken during a quick stop while running the Quad Rock, May 8th, 2021, at about 7am in the morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Here I am looking East across Horsetooth Reservoir and Fort Collins.

Besides having great weather and race management, another fantastic aspect of this event was the volunteers. They create the “gestalt” that makes a race like this special. So I would like to give a Big Thank You to all the volunteers who made the Quad Rock possible. They are the bedrock of what makes races like this memorable and in a good way. Your efforts in this year’s race were greatly appreciated.

So, even though I did not do the 50 miler, it felt great to just be out and running again with a group of other like minded people. If you ever want to try your “running legs” so to speak at a trail event. Check out Gnar Runners. It would be a great place to start. You can find them at this link: https://gnarrunners.com/

A couple of book reviews and some art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is The Fall and Rise of China by Professor Richard Baum. It is from the Great Courses and can be watched in video format or as audio only. I got it with my Audible membership from Amazon. It worked great in this format and I would suggest it to cut down the cost. The course is divided up into 48-thirty minute lectures. Each lecture is part of a time line so that you get a good picture of how China developed over it’s history. Professor Baum gives us a good over view of what has drove dramatic events in the story of China. I got this course to help me understand what might be happening in China now and in the future. If you have never had any exposure to the history or culture of China this would be a great place to start.

Professor Baum was an American China watcher, professor emeritus of political science at UCLA, and former director emeritus of the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies. He passed away in 2012. If you want to learn more about Professor Baum please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Baum

This course can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-and-Rise-of-China-audiobook/dp

The next book I would like to talk about is part of a Science Fiction series called the The Murderbot Diaries written by Martha Wells. I reviewed this series back in February of this year but at that time I was only on book two. I have now finished book 5 of 6 and my original review still stands. This is a fantastic series. There are many books that have been written in SiFi on A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and the search for “meaning” by said A.I. This ongoing story is done in a similar vein. In an nutshell: “A robot searching for the meaning of life and in the process casting light on what makes us human.” I got this book as an audio book but it would work well in any format. Now be warned, the fist couple of these books are short novellas, not full novels. But this book is the first full length novel in the series and is well worth the read. Looking at the prices on Amazon, downloading them on to your Kindle would be the cheapest way to go.

Martha Wells is an American writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy. If you want to learn more about this accomplished author please visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Wells

Book 5 and can be found on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Network-Effect/dp

Well last but not least one piece of art work before I go. I have a love with the TV series the Simpsons and one of my favorite characters is Mo Szyslak. The proprietor and bartender of Moe’s Tavern. I love the disagreeable personality of Moe. His rough character is what you see or remember the most but the writers of the show have given him a sentimental and caring side to his personality. A perfect combination for your bar tender. I have set Moe’s portrait on a background of LGBT colors because I feel he would welcome everyone in his bar. If you want to learn more about Moe’s personality check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Szyslak

This painting is large. The diameter is 38 inches. When hanging it is about 46″ from top to bottom (includes hanging hardware). This painting is done on Oriented Strand Board with Acrylic paint by Liquitex and sealed with Liquitex professional gloss varnish.

Moe would be a great addition to any basement or garage bar! Lol.

This piece is for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Before I close, I want to put another shout out to becoming minimalist. It really can make a positive change in the world. Imagine being able to make a difference with just a change in mindset. Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current levels. And you could even say that part of the severe morbidity and mortality of the pandemic in the USA is due to this consumeristic culture we have created. I remember a biology professor I had way back in college that would give a quote about the destruction of our natural ecosystems due to economic profiteering: “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of cancer.” It does not mater if it is in the human body or the destruction of natural resources or a form of unfettered economic growth for profit and profit alone. It all leads to the same conclusion if it is not checked -death of the system.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to by, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in “crowded” indoor situations and practice physical distancing when appropriate. And when a vaccine becomes available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Book Review, Colorado, Covid 19, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Minimalism, Pandemics, Quad Rock 50, Science, Space, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 30TH, APRIL 2021

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“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” Pema Chodron

This is an image of a blast wave heating dust as it moves through interstellar space. The blast wave was caused by a supernova in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia. The light from this supernova first reached earth around 1667. The image above was taken by the NASA space telescope named WISE or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Some of the coloring in the image is false but represents different wavelengths of infrared light. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye and hence the coloring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA. If you want to learn more about this image please visit this link: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/vision-of-a-stellar-ending If you want to learn more about WISE please visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

This is an image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and it is part of the Veil Nebula. It is a section of a supernova remnant and is present in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). The source of the supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded 10 to 20 thousand years ago. There are some estimates that the light from the explosion would have been brighter than Venus in the sky and would be visible in the daytime. The Veil Nebula lies about 2,100 light years from Earth. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Levay. If you want to learn more about this image please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-revisits-the-veil-nebula and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Nebula

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” Pema Chodron

This is an image taken by the NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is of sand dunes inside a 3 mile wide (5-kilometer) crater on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. If you want to learn more about this image or the Orbiter, please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/frosty-sand-dunes-of-mars and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter

“The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.” Pema Chodron

This is an illustration of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. It is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is about 120 miles or 200 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis in 1852. It is thought that it is mostly composed of metals that could eventually be mined and brought back to earth or used to create future structures in space. NASA’s “Psyche” spacecraft is set to launch next year curtesy of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. The orbiter is set to arrive at the asteroid in 2026. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU. If you want to learn more about Psyche please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/exploring-the-metal-rich-asteroid-psyche and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche and https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-nasa-mission-to-help-us-learn-how-to-mine-asteroids

“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air. There’s no room for something to come in and interrupt all that. We are killing the moment by controlling our experience.” Pema Chodron

This image was taken on march 5th, 2021 and is NASA’s astronaut Kate Rubins. Here she is working on installing modification kits for a new and more powerful solar array. Kate is a microbiologist by training and has done research on viral diseases affecting Central and West Africa. In July 2009 she was selected as one of 14 members of NASA’s Astronaut Group 20. She is the 60th woman to fly in space. Kate just came home from the ISS on April 17th, 2021 after spending 6 months in space. She traveled more than 78 million miles on the ISS and circled the globe nearly 3,000 times. Image credit: NASA. To learn more about Kate please visit these sites: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/kate-rubins-works-to-upgrade-the-space-station and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Rubins

“There is a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.” Pema Chodron

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19, so far, and so have I!! That my friends is an excellent thing for both of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

When I started to write this blog on April 2nd, the death count stood at approximately 567,000. That is up 7,000 deaths since March 26th, this is when I published the last blog. Only 7 days between the two dates?? Wow!! And again, not in a good way.

At the start of April the number of new positive cases had started to rise with New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Texas all in the top 10 and nationally this increase continued for the entire month. Even with vaccination. The daily positivity rate was about 60 to 80 thousand new cases each day.

By the middle of the month the death count was about 581,000. An increase of 14,000. While this is a lot, the good news is that the number of deaths per week had plateaued. By the end of the month it had actually dropped to around 5,000 deaths per week. A decrease of 2,000 deaths per week. While that is still way too many deaths, at least we are heading in the right direction. The interesting part from a scientific point of view will be to see if the death rate increases again in the next 30 days after the current rise in positive cases during the month of April. The month of May could turn out to be a very different story.

By the time of publication the total death count for the nation was about 590,000 – an increase of about 23,000 deaths for the month of April. While this number is much, much better than what was occurring in January of this year (2000 to 4,000 extra deaths per day). That is still to large a number. 23,000 extra deaths due to Covid. Way too many.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it has been approximately 16 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me. But the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, has had some reported serious bleeding / clotting issues and will need to be investigated further to work out who should get this vaccine and who should not. So far I believe that out of 6.8 million doses given of the J&J vaccine only 15 cases have been reported. So it is a very rare side effect. If you interested in Johnson& Johnsons statement on this, check out the link: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-statement-on-covid-19-vaccine-updated

By April 2nd the United States had approximately 58 million people with full vaccination. At the end of the month that number was around 90 million plus and climbing. A very good thing. To see the numbers yourself check out this link from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/map-covid-19-vaccination-tracker-across-u-s-n1252085

Interesting to note and a very good reason to keep wearing a mask and social distancing while in public was the number of “breakthrough” cases after full vaccination. Several states, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and New Orleans, started to report these cases by the first of March and that trend continued to grow in other states through the rest of the month and into April. But this was not unexpected. Take for example the Pfizer vaccine, which per the manufacture is 95% effect, this means that theoretically if 100 people get vaccinated, there may be five who do not have the same level of response to provide protection. Clinical trials of all vaccines in use included breakthrough cases. What does all this mean? Even though the numbers are small, the bottom line is you still need to take precautions. Thinking about this information would I still get the vaccine? Absolutely! It has been shown that most of the people that were part of the “breakthrough” groups have had a much milder form of the disease. Some did not even know that they were sick. A good general rule of thumb after being vaccinated is to remember that most transmissions occur “breathing the concentrated air of others.” With this knowledge, one of the things to avoid would still be indoor restaurants without good ventilation and physical distancing. Eating outside would be OK, but not inside. We are not there yet. Movie theaters are another example of a place to avoid. Bottom line, if you are going to be sitting or standing in one place for longer than 15 minutes, breathing the air of others, either avoid it or everyone needs a mask on. The only exception, following CDC guidelines, would be if you and the other people around you all have been fully vaccinated.

A great link to check out on Covid is at the CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Well that is probably enough about Covid. I am really getting tired of talking and writing about it but I feel it is worth while to help put some facts out with no political intentions or spin. I am not an expert in infectious disease, but I do have an extensive medical background in Emergency Medicine. All the information that I put out is from reliable and trusted sources – most of it verbatim or close to as possible from the source.

Now on to something better, while February was a challenging month for running and exercising in the great outdoors here on the Front Range of Colorado, March was a whole lot better. The temperatures warmed up, the wind picked up and the bad air quality moved out! Yea!

This picture was taken on March 2nd, 2021 about 3:30pm in the afternoon. It was a warm spring like day which made for a very nice walk with Marvin and Janet. The water in the background is the Poudre River. I know, your probably thinking that is not a river, that is a puddle of water. Lol. But let me assure you it is the river. There is spring run off occurring in the mountains west of town but the water is being diverted to storage for the coming summer. By May there should be a significant increase in volume through town. The front range of Colorado is called a “High Plains Desert” and gets very little moisture over the entire year. In Fort Collins we get about 13 to 14 inches of moisture each year and this includes snow melt! So any water than can be stored during spring run off, will be. Otherwise… It would not be a good scenario. Especially with the explosive growth along the Front Range in the last 20 years.

This picture was taken March 7th, 2021 about 7:45pm in the evening. Here I was finishing up a trail run and thought the city lights made a beautiful back drop to the night sky. I am lucky to live in Fort Collins. The city and county governments of the past were very proactive in securing land in and around the city and county when it became available. I don’t think that most citizen’s at the time really thought much about it or how important it would become in making Fort Collins an incredible place to live.

This image was taken on March 9th, 2021 at about 3pm in the afternoon. While it looks cloudy and cold it was still in the 50s and another wonderful day for running. Here I am looking South from an Open Space in Fort Collins called River Bend Ponds. It makes a nice turn around point in an 8 mile loop from my house in Fort Collins and can be accessed by bike path, only having to cross one major street that has a pedestrian stop light. I really cannot complain at all. The one thing the Pandemic has taught me is that all cities need this kind of access with open space. I am wondering how many infections and deaths during this pandemic would have been prevented if city design was more geared to open space instead of the usual profit motivated pursuits??

Of course March would not be complete without one hiccup in the weather. Some people think that Colorado gets it biggest snow storms during the winter months but that is not the case. While there have been some big storms in the fall and winter, the trend over the long term, is that most of our moisture and snow comes during the spring months of March and April. Of course that is changing a bit due to global warming. We will still get most of our “moisture” in March and April but it might not all be in the form of snow due to the increase in temperature.

This year March did not vary from it’s usual path of spring storms. On March the 13th into the 14th we got a huge snow storm that dumped anywhere from 12 inches to over 3 feet of snow in and around Fort Collins. The closer you got to the foothills, the higher the totals were for snow.

This picture was taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 in the morning. It is looking out our front door. The big pile of snow came from the roof.

This picture was also taken March 14th, 2021 at about 8:45 am and it is a view of our backyard. I think it really gives you a good feeling for how much snow fell over night. It was a heavy wet snow that broke a lot of tree limbs in the city. Because the snow storm occurred in the middle of March the trees had not “leafed” out yet otherwise there would have been much more tree damage.

This picture was also taken on March 14th, 2021 about 5:30pm in the afternoon. This was the top of our picnic table in the back yard. The snow depth was about 16 inches. Earlier in the morning the snow depth was closer to 18 inches. By the afternoon there had been a lot of “settling” in the snow pack.

While we needed the moisture, the snow storm put a damper on trail running in the foothills for the rest of the month. That is unless you want to run in snowshoes or posthole quit a bit. It did melt down pretty quickly but it created some very muddy conditions and in order to prevent trail damage a lot of popular routes were closed until they dried out. Luckily the City of Fort Collins has a great bike path system and once the paths had been plowed you could get in a good run or ride without too much difficulty. Again I really cannot complain about living here too much. The access is what makes all the difference.

Post storm weather brought multi days of cooler temperatures and the occasional rain / snow shower but we had some wind and the “high pollution days” of February did not reoccur. The other benefit were some spectacular sunsets.

This picture was taken March 15th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West from the Poudre River Trail.

This picture was taken March 18th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. It is looking West by North West along the Poudre River. In this picture you can actually see more water in the river from the melting snow in the city.

This picture was taken March 27th, 2021 at about 7:30pm in the evening. It is looking North West from the Poudre River Trail. Besides showing a beautiful sunset it gives you a glimpse of a portion of the FOCO White Water Park. There is not much water in it at this point but I am guessing by May or the middle of May, with most of the water storage accomplished, the river will again be allowed to run free and the park will be a playground for lots of kayakers, tubers, etc…

This picture was taken April 4th, 2021 at about 7pm in the evening. Here I am looking across a portion of the Poudre River next to an old irrigation bride. The sunset lighting and the bridge structure made for some interesting effects.

So in summary, the last part of March was a little bitter sweet in that the snow storm made running in the foothills nearly impossible, but it provided a much need shot of moisture and gave us some beautiful sunsets.

This picture was taken March 22nd, 2021 at about 5:30pm in the afternoon. I really liked this shot of Janet and Marvin. Because we are around him all the time you forget how big he is until he is next to one of us. Lol. Here we are on the bank of the Poudre River, looking up toward the bike path.

Training for the up coming “ultra running season” here in Colorado is progressing along nicely. The first race I am attempting is one that I have done before but not the 50 mile version. It is called the Quad Rock and it is right here behind Fort Collins on trails that I have run before. It is an early race for me and I usually end up doing the 25 mile option but this year I would like to see if I can get in the 50. This will be the first race for me since the start of the pandemic. I feel much more comfortable now that I have been fully vaccinated. While there is still a risk of contagion, I feel it has been greatly diminished due to vaccination. The biggest concern I have now is will the trails be clear of significant snow by race day. The race is scheduled May 8th (three weeks out) and as I am writing this it has still been snowing off and on here on the Front Range. Oh well, welcome to spring time in Colorado!! Lol.

The race is put on by GNAR Runners and in the past they have done an excellent job of race management. They host several different events during the season. If you interested check out their website here: https://gnarrunners.com/

A couple of book reviews and some art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb. I have to be truthful in that I would not have picked this book to listen to or read on my own. It was Amazon that suggested it for me and as I read through the reviews and what the book was about I became more intrigued. And I have to say I am really glad that I did. On Amazon this book has almost 12,000 reviews and more than 75% of them are 5 stars or better. Lori is a therapist and a writer in real life. She starts the book at a point when her own life looks like it is going to implode. And finds herself in the predicament of needing her own “therapist”. She invites us into her world as a practitioner and as a patient using humor and real life drama to examine the truths and untruths in her life and the lives of her patients. I have to admit that I have never been to a therapist but there was a time that I probably really needed to do just that thing. My saving grace was journaling and so far that has kept me off of the therapist couch. In listening to Lori’s book I found bits and pieces of the stories she tells resonating with my own life. It has caused me to go back and reexamine some of the issues I have previously written about and to see if there might be deeper meanings. This is an excellent book and a joy to read. I listened to it as an audio book but I believe it would work in any format.

If your interested in who Lori Gottlieb is check out these links on Wikipedia and Lori’s website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Gottlieb and https://lorigottlieb.com/

You can find the book on amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Maybe-You-Should-Talk-Someone/dp

The next book I would like to review is a fictional geopolitical drama that is called 2034 – A Novel of the Next World War, written by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis. I first heard about the book when the authors were interviewed by Mary Louise from NPR. You can listen yourself at this link: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978832042/years-of-military-service-helped-inform-2034-a-novel-of-the-next-world-war

The authors, who both have military backgrounds, have written an entraining story of speculative fiction of what could happen when those that are in charge make miscalculations–thinking that they know how another country’s government will respond to a threat or a potential act of war.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who’s father worked in developing the first atomic bomb, told me that his dad thought the world was entering another dangerous period of “nuclear armament” in that the people that have actually seen the destruction caused by an atomic blast first hand were all dying off of old age. His fear was that unless you have actually seen the destruction caused by a nuke, in real life, you don’t really “know” the severity of one and therefore you might be more likely to order it’s use. The last above ground nuclear test was about 60 years ago and most of those “old military and science guys” have died off.

Another major part of the book is based on “who” has the best cyber tech and if your not evenly matched, your at a significant disadvantage. To the point that you might as well take you planes and ships and go home so to speak. The authors argue that the next war will be won or lost based on who has the best offensive cyber tech and the best defensive cyber security.

In summary, I liked this book, but if your someone that wants more of the “Tom Clancy” type of ending or a book full of the “techno thriller details”, you are going to be disappointed. In the above interview with NPR, the authors state they want this book to be a cautionary tale, a wake up call to America and anybody else in the world that reads it. And in that regard I believe they have succeeded. This book would work in any format. I listened to it as an audio book. As a bonus, at the end of the audio book, there is a question and answer section with Admiral Stavridis and his reasons for cowriting the book.

You can find the book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/2034-Novel-Next-World-War/dp

The last one I would like to give a recommendation to is called Exercised and is written by Daniel E. Lieberman. Like the above book I first learned about this one from an NPR interview with the author and Terry Gross. You can find the link here: Scientist Author Busts Myths About Exercise, Sitting And Sleep : Shots – Health News : NPR

I found this book thoroughly entertaining, especially since I am an ultra runner. I probably fall into the category of being addicted to exercise. Lol. All kidding aside this is a great book to help you ponder the questions of our “current culture” of exercise and physical fitness. Some of the questions Daniel looks at are as follows:

  • If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
  • Does running ruin your knees?
  • Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
  • Is sitting really the new smoking?
  • Can you lose weight by walking?
  • And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

Note: the above questions are right out of the Amazon description, but there are many more he takes a look at that are not listed.

Daniel Lieberman is a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and is well qualified to answer these questions and to give more food for thought on the subject matter. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.

You can find the book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Exercised-Something-Evolved-Healthy-Rewarding/dp

Well last but not least a few pieces of art work before I go. All are pen and ink, mounted on painted wood, coated and sealed with Mod Podge. These two are 9 1/4 inches by 12 1/4 inches. When hanging they are about 16 1/2 inches tall.

I have always liked the Simpsons and when I saw the episode called Goo Gai Pan, where Homer poses as a Buddha to gain entry into an orphanage in China, I knew that I had to incorporate it into art. Lol. I am an atheist but if I had to pick a religion it would be Buddhism. I do practice meditation everyday because I have found it helps me to deal with the conflicts of everyday life and work.

Meditating Homer with Skittles

I would like to believe that if “Homer” was doing any kind of meditation he would not be concentrating on his breath but on candy like Skittles. Lol

In my practice with meditation, I have found that I can create a space that allows me some breathing room before facing the stresses in the world and work. I started this piece not really knowing how it was going to turn out. I just started drawing after a stressful shift at the day job. Initially I was not even going to include “Meditating Homer” since I just finished the above one but as the drawing evolved I knew I had too. Lol. The yellow jackets if you have not guessed represent all the craziness out in the world. Here Homer has created a bubble before he has to deal with it. I used the same colors both inside and outside the bubble to show that all of life, all of its issues, all the troubles, all the conflicts and all the joys are connected.

Homer’s Meditation Bubble

If you interested in the clip where Homer plays the part of the Buddha then check out his link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03IteC82Vo The episode in question is from Season 16 and is episode 12.

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again. I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. It is something that we can all do on an individual level, based on our own comfort zones, to help make this world a better place to live. Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current level. You could even say that the death and destruction caused by the current pandemic is just a foreshadow of things to come because of our rampant “consumerism” in the world view of things. What is the old saying “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of Cancer.” If your not happy with the current social and economic order then this is a way to protest.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. And when a vaccine becomes available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Horsetooth Half Marathon, Politics, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Religion, Run Rabbit Run, Science, Science Fiction, Sociology, Space

MUSINGS FOR FRIDAY 28TH, FEBRUARY 2020

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“Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.” Issac Asimov

Soul Nebula

All of these images are courtesy of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. It was launched in 2003 and was recently shut down in January 2020 due to mechanical issues. A 16 year mission. Pretty cool if you ask me. For more information on these images visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/infrared/index.html

“The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.” Frank Herbert

The Helix Nebula

“Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.” Ray Bradbury

The Triangulum Galaxy

“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes which it is useful to make, because little by little they lead to the truth.” Jules Verne

The Swirling Core of our spiral Milky Way Galaxy

“Blessed are those who read science fiction for they shall inherit the future.” Thomas M. Disch

Large Magellanic Cloud. This image shows a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy.

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

I hope that everyone had a great February. I sure did. For most of the month Old Man Winter made a comeback on the Front Range and in the mountains. It does make it a little difficult to run outdoors but we live in a high plains desert, so all moisture is welcome.

In January, I again did not get into the Leadville 100 Run. But I will try again next year. Lol. Probably if I did some volunteer work for them it would up my chances in the lottery. I did sign up for a few other races in the process though. The Horsetooth half marathon here in Fort Collins. Always a great race and fun to do. The next one was the Quad Rock 25 / 50. Which is in Fort Collins too. I have done the 25 mile version of this multi times but I always sign up for the 50. Unfortunately I have never been able to complete it. Usually I time out at the 25 mile mark and last year was no different. Of course my goal this year is to complete the whole 50 miles. So we will see!! The third race I signed up for was the Run Rabbit Run 100. I will try it again. It is tough. I think the Leadville is an easier race but don’t tell Ken Chlouber! For those of you who don’t know him he was the founder of the Leadville 100 Run. I would probably never get in again if he knew. I will probably add a fourth race. The Silver Rush 50 in Leadville to have one more 50 miler in prior to the Run Rabbit Run.

This picture was taken January 2nd, 2020, around 4:30 pm, up by Cameron Pass. It was Marvin’s first ski trip into the back country and he learned very quickly that it was best to stay on trail and not to wonder off or he would sink up to his ears in snow! Lol.

In this blog post I want to continue with the theme of Space and to add Science / Science Fiction. Now you might be wondering why I am continuing on this path of “Space” and getting off the planet? I mean it seems like I might be pounding on the soap box too much? Right? Well recent events this past January and February have me thinking otherwise. The out break of the “new to humans” Corona virus in China is a very, very good reason for getting off the planet in a big way if we are serious about the survival of humanity. As the world population continues to grow you can expect more outbreaks like this, especially with the ease of international travel. There is always the chance that the next one will be even worse, higher fatality rate, easier transmission, etc… Humans need a second home. Not to abandon the first one but a second one in which we can establish a firm foothold, so when the next pandemic hits, we have insurance to prevent extinction.

This picture was taken January 7th, 2020 at about 6 pm. Here I was looking West and the bright star in the sky was Venus. Marvin and I had just come down from skiing. When we got to the car I happened to look across the parking lot. Wow is all I can say! The moon was behind us to the East and shining brightly. With the snow, it was providing a ton of back lighting. Just beautiful. Again this was just “luck” in being in the right place at the right time.

Another aspect of getting off the planet is part of what you see going on with politics right now. Specifically I am talking about the isolationist tendencies of our current government, among other things. There was a time in history in which our country welcomed immigrants. Truly welcomed them. We needed them to help “tame” the West so to speak. Western Civilization was expanding and people were desperately needed in this expansion. To build the railroads, to open up new towns, to mine resources, populate the vast open stretches of the Western United States. Now, what do you hear and see: Keep them out, go home, we don’t need you, we’re building a wall, etc… The truth, this will get worse. And not just here in the United States. We have tamed the West and the world. Humanity needs a new place to build and grow AND more importantly to explore! And the only viable alternative is up. What was the line that Captain Picard stated at the first of every “Next Generation” Star Trek episode? “Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It’s continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

This picture was taken January 16th, 2020, at about 4 pm, looking West across Horsetooth lake. Compare this picture to the one below. They are only about an hour apart on the same day! Crazy colors and lighting with Colorado sunsets.

Now to get to the other part of this blog post. I want to talk a little bit about Science / Science Fiction and in the process, religion. To start, I want you to know Science and Science Fiction are one of my favorite types of literature. So I am a little biased towards the genre. I see both as a “literature of ideas” that explores how scientific and technological innovations affect our psychology and more importantly the sociology of humans. When you look back at the history of the last 10,000 years you can see how warfare, religious movements, famine, natural disasters, disease, etc… caused significant change in human society. These events were the original drivers of transformation. That was until about the seventeenth century. A switched occurred at this time and it was all brought about by revolutions in science and technology. Think Galileo, Rene Descartes, John Locke, Blaise Pascal, Robert Hooke, Pierre deFermat, Thomas Hobbes, Edmond Halley, Sir Issac Newton, etc…. The scientist of the 17th century and later have greatly altered humanity’s knowledge base and with it, changed our understanding of our place in the natural world and the universe.

This picture was also taken January 16th, 2020, looking West about 5pm. It was on the same trail run with Marvin. But about an hour later!! What a difference in the light from the above picture.

This “Scientific and Technological” transformation has continue all the way up to present. But there is a difference. Now we are fast approaching a time in which changes in techno-science, that once took years, decades, and even centuries to develop are happening in months, even days sometimes. The question becomes, how will humanity continue to adapt to this rapidly changing environment? What framework do we have to help with this adaptation? Our mythologies, our religions, our current framework, without a corresponding transformation, will not adapt to this rapid pace of technological advancement. We need something different. A new philosophy that is based on the religions of old, except for one big change.

This pictures was taken January 17th, 2020 with Janet (my wife) beside Marvin. He is 11 months in this picture. I forget how big he is until Janet is beside him. Lol

And here is the idea. Imagine if you were to take all the religions of the world and condense them down by removing all the “godhead” mumbo jumbo of mythical beings and just set it aside. In my humble opinion it is a detriment to world harmony and is not needed. Imagine that. No more “my god is the only true god, my god is better than your god, my god told me to…, blah, blah, blah, blah….. You get the picture. So what are you left with? The lessons, the parables. All the things that humanity has painstakingly learned and relearned over 1000s and 1000s of years. Sounds good right? But we are not done yet. Now go through all that is left and only take the best. Anything that is derogatory to women, race, color, sexual orientation, etc… Throw it out. If there is something that promotes slavery, violence, hatred and/or divine right, then throw that out too. And keep doing this process with each religion until you have the core essence of the best parables and lessons on humanity, philosophy, morality and love, etc…

This picture was taken January 18th, 2020 at about 4:52pm. What a beautiful afternoon in Fort Collins. I believe that the temperatures were in the 40 to 50 degree range and a very light breeze was blowing to keep the smog away. Very nice indeed!

Now combine them and rewrite it. After that is done, go back through, read it, review it and rewrite it again. And again. Combining the best of each religion with each other by writing and editing and rewriting. Over and over again and again. Until you have a cohesive whole. A new manifesto. A new world philosophy without a godhead but based on the old religions. A philosophy that all of humanity could get behind because all parts of humanity had a “part” in its creation. Wouldn’t that be cool? No justification for the subjugation of women. No justification for war, violence, hatred of one race over another. No justification for slavery. No justification for “one sexuality” over another. And on and on it goes. That would be pretty cool and you might think that would be it. That would be enough? You have this great philosophy that everyone can get behind, what else do you need?

This picture was taken January 23rd, 2020 at about 4:13pm. This one is looking West across the Horsetooth lake but at the shoreline level. It was another beautiful day in Fort Collins with temps approaching 60 degrees.

Good question. What else do we need? We need a way that the new “philosophy” can be tweaked a little bit when needed. As our tools change so does our reality. And this is what is happening to the “Old mythologies” or religions. Reality changes but they don’t. So the idea is not to write it in stone but to make something that is a little more malleable. The rate of world change is heating up. What was once “SiFi” yesterday is tomorrow’s reality and it is only going to get faster. We still need the lessons from the old religions. After all for now, we are still “human” and destined to make mistakes. Hubris is part of the human condition. The atomic bomb was the first real scientific development that put all of humanity at risk for extinction. But it will not be the last. How will we manage these emerging technologies for the betterment of humankind? And what framework can we use to analyze them with in order to make intelligent choices? The old religions with the godhead figures are at best passe, at worst dangerously inadequate. It is time for something different.

This picture was taken February 1st, 2020 at about 5:33pm. Again this was one of those times that I was in the right place at the right time. Lol. This one is looking West across our neighborhood lake. It only lasted for a few minutes but unreal colors for the sunset.

Well that is going to be about it for this soapbox. I think that it was long enough! Lol. I am hoping that I have given you something to think about. All I can say is that it is more important than ever to do your own research on this subject. Again there is that technology thingy – changing your reality. You have sooooo much information at the tip of your fingers. All you have to do is access it. Unreal when you think about it. REMEMBER at one time it was just Science Fiction. Oh and one last thing before I finish, I want to include a YouTube video by Alain de Botton. He does a pretty good job on this subject. It is well worth the watch no matter what your beliefs are. https://youtu.be/2Oe6HUgrRlQ

I am excited to see what the next 10 years brings in scientific research and understanding of our place in the Cosmos. I feel that we are just on the verge of some truly amazing breakthroughs. Of course only time will tell. So take care my friends and I hope to see you out there!! Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Quad Rock 50, Trail Running

MUSING FOR SUNDAY 19TH, MAY 2019

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“If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it. Any other form of existence will be yet another dull book in the library of life.” Charles Bukowski

Well it has been a good week. The weather the past few days has been beautiful. This is one of the reasons I moved to Colorado a long time ago. I do like to visit other places that have a lower elevation and a higher humidity, but that’s it. Just visit. Unless of course it was on the beach, say like Hawaii, or some place in the Caribbean. Now that would be pretty cool. To be able to live in both locations. Colorado for part of the year and the beach and “warm” ocean water for the other part. Some would say just move to the Pacific Northwest, but I never totally understood the appeal of the PNW. I have been there a few times and the forest are fantastic and the mountains beautiful. But I don’t think I could do the humidity, clouds, and rain for a majority of the year. I did grow up around water, whether it was in a pool or lake and did a lot of swimming. So that is another reason you would not find me long term in the PNW. The ocean water up there is cold. Too cold for me.

This picture was taken Sunday 14th, April 2019. Marvin at 8 and 1/2 weeks.

Marvin is growing as expected. Not sure how big he will be, but Janet and I are thinking some where in the 100 lbs plus range. Or maybe bigger? Lol. Puppy class is progressing along as anticipated. What was not expected is how he has changed in behavior from week to week. Thinking about it now in hindsight it does make a lot more sense.

This picture was taken Sunday 21st, April 2019. Marvin at 9 and 1/2 weeks.

At the very first class he was a little shy but now he is like one of the pack, running, jumping, playing with all the other puppies. Each week has been somewhat of a new experience to see how his confidence grows. Just like it would be in a human child but on a much shorter time frame. We are continuing with the socialization as much as we can.

This picture was taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019. Marvin at 11 weeks old.

He seems to be a very easy dog to work with in my experience. Pretty laid back most of the time. The only issue that is ongoing is the puppy bitting. But even as I write this, it seems like we have made progress in shifting his attention to chew bones and dog toys and less to his human companions. Lol

This picture was taken Tuesday 14th, May 2019. Marin, just one day shy of 13 weeks and already at 38 lbs. I can already see the adult dog he will be. Not sure what it is but he always seems to have a serious look on his face anytime I take a picture! Lol

Well I did not make the 50 miles in the Quad Rock again this year but I did do the first loop for 25 miles. It was a great run. The trail conditions and weather were much better than last year. Actually I don’t think you could have asked for better. Of course if you had tried to predict this on Thursday 9th, two days before the race, it would not have been easy. Rain and snow, and rain and snow. And did I say more rain and snow…. Lol.

This picture was taken on Saturday 11th, May 2019. Just before the start of the Quad Rock 50. Temperatures were in the 30 degree range and no wind. Here I am looking east towards Fort Collins. Clear skies can make fantastic running weather.
5 minutes before race start and we are all getting lined up. I am more of the plodder and not the gazelle. So to the back of the pack I go! Lol

Cold morning but a very nice afternoon in the high 50s and low 60s. Perfect for running. They did have to reroute some of the course to avoid a few very wet areas. Funny thing, I liked the reroute better than the original course. It did add a little more elevation gain/loss but not too bad.

Again, what a beautiful day for running the Quad Rock. This picture is looking South towards Denver.

As far as not finishing the whole 50 miles this year? I am not too disappointed. It is a hard route. Lots of ups and downs. 5000 ft plus of elevation gain and loss in each 25 mile loop. And as I have stated before, it is a little early in the year for me with the 50 mile distance. I was happy with my time compared to last year. This time I was about an hour and ten minutes faster or 6 hours and 40 minutes total.

This picture from the Quad Rock was about 20 miles in, close to the end of the first loop. It is looking West towards Rocky Mountain National Park. Lots of snow still up in the high country. The two large mountains in the back ground are Mount Meeker (13,911 feet) and Longs Peak (14,259).

A surprise that I got while running the revised route was to run the Westridge Trail in Lory State Park. As many times as I had been in the park this was the first time for me to actually run this trail. The views of Mount Meeker and Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park were beautiful. See the above picture. In my opinion, even if the lower valley trails were not wet, this was worth the reroute.

This picture from the Quad Rock is looking East toward Greeley, Colorado. The winds were such that most of the “brown cloud”, you can just make out in the distance, stayed there.

Well before I go I would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsors for supporting the race. Especially the volunteers. Without you this event would not happen like it does. Also this year I would like to thank the land managers for allowing the race to be run even with some of the marginal trail conditions. The conditions on race day were next to perfect but it would have been easy to cancel the event based on the weather occurring on Thursday. Thanks again for allowing us “nutcases” to run on Saturday in a very beautiful place. And last but not least I would like to thank Nick Clark and Brad Bishop (Gnar Runners Event Management) for putting on another fantastic event. If you would like to read and learn more about Gnar Runners and their future races, check out their web site: http://gnarrunners.com/

This picture was taken looking West with the morning sun shining on Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog Post. The next race I plan to run is on June 15th. The Leadville Trail Marathon. I have done the half marathon in Leadville in the past but not the full. Should be fun?! Right?! Lol. So the training continues for working my way up to the bigger races in July and September.

Take care my friends and I hope to see you out there whether it be hiking, running, biking, or skiing. Adios amigos!!

Colorado, Exercise, Existentialism, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Meditations, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 5TH, MAY 2019

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“Relax enough, and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle rocking rhythm that you almost forget you’re moving. And once you break through to that soft, half levitating flow, that’s when the mooonlight and champagne show up.” Ann Trason (From the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall)

“I thought, man, if you could run 100 miles, you’d be in this Zen state. You’d be the f**king Buddha. Bringing peace and a smile to the world. In my case, it didn’t work. I’m the same old punk ass as ever. But there’s always this hope that it’ll turn you into the person you want to be. You know, like a better, more peaceful person. And when I’m out on a long run, the only thing in life that matters is finishing the run. For once, my brain isn’t going ‘bleh bleh bleh bleh.’ Everything just quiets down, and the only thing going on is the pure flow.” Jenn Shelton

“But the longer and further I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind – a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.” Scott Jurek

Wow another great two weeks. Marvin is getting a lot bigger!! When we first got him at 8 weeks he was 19lbs. This past Wednesday he was around 30.4lbs. We figured that he would grow but dang, always amazed at how fast it occurs. The socialization is continuing. He has probably surpassed the magical number of 100 different humans that he has met and countless numbers of other dogs. So I am hoping that this really pays off in the long run. It is interesting in that the fear factor seems to ebb and flow. One day he is fearful of the trash truck, or the Geese. Then the next day, they are not a problem. And vise versa? If Janet and I are both out walking him things are a little better. Not sure what that is about?

This photo was taken on Wednesday 1st, May 2019. Now 11 weeks old and 30.4lbs. I think that he has the sitting thing down for the moment. Lol. They say repetition and consistency are the key!

Finishing up some training ,in preparation for the Quad Rock 50. If I can do this it will be earliest in the year that I have run a 50 miler and that would be pretty cool. The last couple of weeks have been a slow taper so that I am fully rested and ready to go on May 11th. I have been fortunate to experience some wonderful afternoon weather the last 2 weeks. Just beautiful. Of course each week is different and it is Spring time in Colorado, so you still have to throw a little snow into the mix. Lol

This picture was taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. What an afternoon. Warm but not too warm. Clean air from a little bit of wind. Beautiful!

Watching the news over the last couple of weeks. There were two events that got me to thinking about the meaninglessness of life in general. One involved a person going to work on his motorcycle, just the average guy on his way to work, enjoying the beautiful morning, and bam, hit by a car and killed. Game over. The second one involved a wreck down by Denver on I-70 eastbound, coming out of the mountains. Guy driving a semi loses his breaks and plows into multi other cars, killing four people. Again, these were people on their way home, from work, from the store, from whatever. But again, bam! Game over. Both events awful. No meaning, no redeeming quality what so ever. A senseless loss of life in every respect.

This picture was also taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. It is looking West at the Prospect Ponds open space in Fort Collins.

At first I got depressed just thinking about them. And while this would not be unusual for anybody to feel this way. I started to obsesses about them a little bit. I think it had to do with the fact that both of these hit close to home for me. I have been that guy on the motorcycle, riding to work, enjoying the morning, but did not get hit by the car. And I have been that guy driving down I-70, coming back from a wonderful day of skiing, looking and seeing the semi’s in the rear view mirror and wondering if their breaks would hold? And they did.

This picture was taken Friday 26th, April 2019. It is from an open space called Pineridge. It is just west of town but still in town. I think that it gives a beautiful view of Fort Collins.

I know that there are those that would say it was some “supreme beings will” that it was not my time to go. But I don’t believe that. I believe it really is just a matter of chance and luck. A quote that sticks in my head from when I first moved to Colorado and took my first Avalanche class was by the director at the time, Knox Williams. And it goes something like this. “Remember the mountains are full of dead experts. You read about it all the time, he or she was an expert skier, hiker, biker, snowshoer, etc… and they are all dead. The mountain does not care.” To extrapolate this further. I would say that the “Universe does not care.”

This picture was taken on Tuesday 30th, April 2019. Hate to use an old cliche’ but dang, “What a difference a day makes!”

Some might find this really depressing, and I did for a very short period of time. But it soon gave way to a kind of liberation. To realize that all our worrying, our anxieties, our fretting in whatever we are doing to get all the “details” just right. Does not really matter in the end. You could have been the model employee for the corporation, the faultless parent, the ultimate spouse, the quintessential neighbor, etc…. And bam! Game over. None of it mattered, your dead. Wow! That does sound depressing, but is it?

This picture was also taken Tuesday 30th, April 2019, but in the afternoon. And that is what I love about Colorado. Most of the snow had moved out. The bike trail was clear and it was another beautiful Colorado afternoon.

I for one don’t think that it is. I put forth that it is liberating. There is no deity, no person, no organization that you are beholding to. No provisos, no dogma, no limitations that are written in stone. You are free to determine your own destiny. For good or bad there is no “big eye” in the sky watching you. At least not a made up “magical one.” At some point technology will allow this to occur but that discussion is for another story. Of course what I am describing here is Existentialism. And some may say that I am having an “Existential Crisis.” Lol. And I guess that could be the case. But I don’t believe so. I think last weeks events were just a reminder of how I have felt for a long time, down deep. This coming May I will have been in the health care field for 40 years with the majority of that time spent in Emergency Medicine. And it has shaped my perspective on life to say the least. I truly believe that there is no meaning to life. It is just a jumble of random events that happen to us. If you want meaning you have to bring it. You have to create your own story. Not the other way around. And with this comes freedom but at the same time a considerable responsibility. Some can handle this responsibility and some can’t.

This picture was taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019. What a beautiful evening. Had no idea that the sun and clouds were going to give such a beautiful sunset. This picture was taken from the Powerline Trail in Fort Collins and usually does not have such fantastic views. Being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference.

Finding our own meaning takes some significant digging. It is not for the faint of heart. The first step is taking the time to find out “who you are” and this takes a lot of inner work. But one place to start this process is with meditation. I know, I know. I can hear it now. “I am not going to do that new age bulls**t.” But in reality, this tool, and that is all it is, goes back 1000s and 1000s of years. You don’t have to become Buddhist, or sit for hours chanting “OM”. You can start the process in as little as 5 minutes per day and build up from there. I keep track of my time spent meditating with a phone app. Somedays it is a long one, depending on the time I have available and others it is just 5 minutes. Meditation helps to open a door or window into who your “real self” might be. And that my friends is powerful.

This picture was also taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019, but just a few minutes later from the one above. Unreal that the colors could change so dramatically.

Well I think that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Time to move forward off of the soapbox and on to other things. Existentialism Crisis solved?! Lololololol. No, I don’t think so and that is part of the “struggle” in being human. Let me know if you have had these same feelings? And what your solutions might have been. I would love to hear from you.

I hope everyone has had a great two weeks and I am looking forward to the next two. I will let you know how the Quad Rock goes. Take care and I hope to see you out there! Where ever “out there” may be. Adios amigos!!

This picture and the one below was taken on Friday 3rd, May 2019. What a beautiful afternoon here in Colorado. A good breeze in the right direction so the air was clean. This picture was taken looking southeast from Horsetooth Mountain Park.
Again, same day as the one above, but looking West towards Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Beautiful!!

Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fort Collins, Quad Rock 50, Run Rabbit Run, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 10TH, MARCH 2019

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“Running isn’t a sport for pretty boys…It’s about the sweat in your hair and the blisters on your feet. Its the frozen spit on your chin and the nausea in your gut. It’s about throbbing calves and cramps at midnight that are strong enough to wake the dead. It’s about getting out the door and running when the rest of the world is only dreaming about having the passion that you need to live each and every day with. It’s about being on a lonely road and running like a champion even when there’s not a single soul in sight to cheer you on. Running is all about having the desire to train and persevere until every fiber in your legs, mind, and heart is turned to steel. And when you’ve finally forged hard enough, you will have become the best runner you can be. And that’s all that you can ask for.”
― Paul Maurer, The Gift – A Runner’s Story

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― haruki murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
― Dean Karnazes

“The pessimist is not guaranteed a tomorrow.  And, if tomorrow does come, the pessimist does not expect to feel better at the same point in the race…. indeed, it might feel even worse.  So, the pessimist plugs on and accomplishes their goals today.  And today is the only day that counts.” – Gary Cantrell

This picture was taken Wednesday 27th, February 2019. It was a couple of days before the weather really changed to a much more wintry mix. Still looks pretty cold out, but I think that the temps were in the 30s that afternoon. So not too bad for running. The photo is of Horsetooth Reservoir looking South towards Loveland. In this picture I am at the North end of the lake.

Well it has been another good two weeks!! Winter has made a comeback to the Front Range of Colorado and the mountains have gotten a lot more snow. That is always a good thing, both from a skiing perspective and from a water/moisture perspective. In Colorado we are considered a “head-water state”, meaning that the water we get only comes in the form of rain or snow from the sky. Nothing flows into the state. So the more rain and snow we get the better. It can be really dry here on the Front Range, but as long as the mountains get a significant amount of snow and rain, everything else can be irrigated. This snow/rain scenario also plays a role in fire season. I am hoping that this year will be better than the last. But you never know. Until long term weather prediction gets a lot better it is always a kind of guessing game.

This picture was taken Friday 1st, March 2019. Again this is Horsetooth Reservoir, but at the shoreline. In this picture I am looking West. The sun was just starting to set and the reflection off of the water was beautiful. Maybe it was the combination of light, clouds and silence. No lapping of waves due to the ice and to get to the shoreline you have to drop down off the trail and go down a little bit. Just beautiful. It was the quite before the storm. The next day the weather was very different as seen in the picture below. Lots of Mountain Bikers on the trail this day. Getting that last ride in before the ice and snow. Temperatures were in the 30s.

Running has been coming along nicely this year so far. No injuries and I do seem to be getting a little faster. I have three main ultras planned this year. First is the Quad Rock 50 in May. This is a hard run I think. I have done the 25 mile version multi times with the intent to do the 50, but I have either chosen to stop at the 25 mile mark or timed out. The location of the run is very nice for me because it is where I live and run. Just behind Fort Collins. It takes place in Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park. Very convenient. It is put on by the http://Gnarrunners.com. They always seem to do an excellent job every time I have competed. Weather can be a little iffy this time of year on the Front Range. Which in my opinion always makes the race a little more interesting. You can have mild temps with clear skies, heat and sun, cold and rain, or you can have snow. The best part, you can have all four in one day! Lololololol. Some might complain about this but I just see it as an added challenge. You make the 50 mile mark by doing two 25 mile laps. I am hoping that everything will come together just right so I can make the 50 this year!!

This picture was taken Saturday 2nd, March 2019. Wow, what a difference a day makes. I think we had 5 to 8 inches of snow and the temps were down in the single digits when I took this picture. Cold!! Oh well you make the best of it and as a instructor in a survival school once told me “It’s a character builder.” Lol This picture is of the Poudre River looking Northwest. You can see the bike trail on the left hand side of the picture. There were not a lot of people out on this day, but that came with the added benefit of solitude.

The second ultra planned this year is also put on by Gnar running. It is the Never Summer 100k. This one is located about 80 miles from where I live and is in the Cameron Pass area and the Colorado State Forest. I have signed up for this one a couple of times but due to other issues, injuries, work commitments, logistics, etc… I have not been able to even attempt it. Again I am hoping that this year will be different. The trails in the area are beautiful. Not a lot of development in the vicinity. Which has its own appeal. The race description from the web site says it best: “This is a mountain race in the truest sense of the term, with extended periods of high alpine ridge running, two alpine peaks, and five alpine lakes visited along the way. When above timberline, you will enjoy huge views of the northern Never Summer Mountains to the south, the stunning peaks of RMNP to the southeast, expansive vistas across North Park to the Park Range above Steamboat Springs to the west, and even north out to Wyoming’s Snowy Range.” If you want to check out more here is the link to the web site: http://gnarrunners.com/never-summer-100k/

This picture was taken Monday 4th, March 2019. It highlights what it is I love about Colorado. Two days later from the prior picture and the sun is out and shining. It is cold, in the teens, but the sun is out and trail is pretty much clear. I love this tree shot. Just the size and the shape with the sun shining on it. Beautiful. Lot of bikes out today even with the cold temperature. And of course a few brave souls out running.

The final ultra I plan for this season is again the Run Rabbit Run 100. I attempted the 100 mile distance last year but timed out at the 50 mile mark. It was a really good experience and I learned a lot. Up until last September (2018) I had only competed in one other 100 mile race. The Leadville 100. All my other races have ended at the 50 mile mark. In the Leadville, I did make it to Hope Pass but was short of the cutoff by 12 minutes and by the time I got back down to Twin Lakes, the distance was again 50 miles. In all, I think that I have done the 50 mile distance, on purpose or inadvertently, 6 times now over the last 7 years. I turned 57 this year and I am not getting any younger. So I want to get that 100 miler done. Lol. The people that put on the RRR in Steamboat Springs do a really good job each time I have competed. And I am guessing that it will be the same this year. Here is the link to the web site: http://runrabbitrunsteamboat.com/ The 100 miler is filled but I hear there are some spots open for the 50!

Well, the search continues for a new dog. We are now looking at King Shepherds out of Boulder. They seem to be a cross between Great Pyrenees, Alaskan Malamute and German Shepherds. Which makes for a fairly large dog with not as many genetic issues as the typical GSDs. This is a picture of one of the pups from the current litter at 3 weeks old. Big already!! Lol

Well this is going to be about it for me this week. I hope everyone has had a great weekend. These last few days I have felt a little bit under the weather and decided to take a few days off from running. But hope to be back in full form by Monday. Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or the ski slope!!

Exercise, Genetics, Quad Rock 50, Trail Running

MUSINGS FOR SATURDAY 19TH, MAY 2018

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“Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly…but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friends, for it is all we are given.”  EB

Well another good week.  RAN the Quad Rock 25 and not the 50 last Saturday and that was an experience…  This was my forth time to run the 25.  And each time it has been different.  This year was no exception.  True to course the weather did not fully cooperate….  Yes it was cool (good for running), yes it did not rain hard (just a light mist), yes there was really no wind, and all of this was fantastic for running…. but it made up for these by giving us runners and spectators a taste of MUD…. REAL MUD!!  Not quite the “Wrath of God” type of mud but close to it.

I have never had the experience of running in mud like this for a long distance.  And what I learned:  It is one thing to just run a mile or two in mud but quite something else to find it on about 40 percent of the course.  Now I am probably exaggerating a little bit because when you are out there in it….  Well it just seemed like it was everywhere.

Think of chocolate cake icing about 3 to 6 inches deep.  Slippery, somewhat sticky to real sticky, and did I say slippery… you get the trail conditions.  Halfway through the first 25-mile lap I was already thinking that one lap of this Mud Fest was enough.  I am a “slow runner” and my best time for this course is 6 hours and 10 minutes.  This year’s mud slowed me down enough that I finished the first lap in 7 hours and 30 minutes.  An hour and 20 minutes longer…. Oh well, that is what I am blaming it on.  It is all EXPERIENCE.

A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers that hung out in the cold and wet.  Without your help and dedication this would have been a much less enjoyable race.  And a shout out to GNAR runners for putting on the Quad Rock.  As always, they put on a great show, no matter the weather.   Will I be back next year??  Absolutely!!  Will I be shooting for the 50 again??  You bet!!

 

Well on a different note this week, I noticed that I have been using an app on my phone to track my calories and food choices among other things, called Lose it!  I have been using the app for about three to four years now. And for me, this is a long time to be using the same phone app.  Wow!  Now you would think my first thought would be I really like this app.  But you would be wrong…my first thought was “WTF” – Where did the time go!!  The “really like part” came as the second thought….

Now, you may be wondering if I have been that “anal” to log every calorie and food choice since I first started using the app….  The answer is no, a resounding no, but at the same time it has really helped me to see trends in how and what I eat and where I could do better.  It can tell me how many calories for the day or week, what are the ratios of fats to carbohydrates and protein.  And one that I have really started to pay more attention to but is not directly related to nutrition.  That one is sleep.  A good way over time to see what your averages are for sleep which can lead to better recovery after those long trail runs.

One of the best features with this app is that it syncs with several other programs.  As an example:  It syncs with Strava, which syncs with Movescount (Suunto Watches) so that my exercise data transfers over in calories burned for the day.  It has helped me to lose about 20lbs since I started ultra-running.  When I turned 50 I was right at 183lbs.  Then over the course of a year I lost down to about 155lbs but became stuck.  I stayed at this weight for about two years.  I would gain a little bit, then lose a little bit.  A kind of Yoyoing back and forth.  Which became very frustrating.

Then I discovered the Lose It app.  Which allowed the better tracking of calories and helped me to drop another 20 lbs.  But, it was not just about the tracking of calories that helped, it was the amount of protein, fat and carbs and the ensuing “change of habits” that really helped.  One of the things that astonishes me now and still does at times, is the amount of food you can put away if you are not being a little more mindful.  As an example, I would come home from work (working night shift) and think nothing of adding a “small snack” before going to bed.  When I started tracking this, the small snack was anywhere from 500 to well over 1000 calories!! Do this a few nights every week and it adds up…. Way up…. It also can give you calories for various types of day to day activity or you can add it after looking up calories burned for a specific activity.   There are also informational sections of the app about food and nutrition.

The developers have recently added one on genetics called embodyDNA.  If you have already had your DNA sequenced by Helix, the National Geographic sponsored one, then for an extra 50 bucks embodyDNA will use it to let you know things about DNA-based insights on BMI, Low Fat Diets, Saturated Fat, Sugar, Exercise and Nutrition.  Also, possible sensitivities like lactose tolerance, gluten tolerance and caffeine metabolism.  I think if you want to get serious about your nutrition and create a food environment to let your body run as efficiently as possible this is one way to do it.   Here is the link to the Lose It! Website:  http://www.loseit.com/  and the embodyDNA site:  https://embodydna.com/

Check them out and let me know what you think!!  Well that is all for this week.  See ya next Friday.  First Columbine Flower for the yard bloomed a few days ago.  Always beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review, Exercise, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Trail Running

Musing for Friday 11th, May 2018

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Well it’s has been a good week. Lots of resting and waiting and wondering what ifs!!?? The Quad Rock 50 is on Saturday. Did I do enough training, did I do enough specific training… hill work, long steady distance, Aerobic Threshold, Lactate Threshold, and Aerobic Capacity, etc.…. Did I do enough so that I can finish?? Again, I think back to the Ajahn Brahm quote:

“Doing a task is usually easy. Thinking about a task makes it hard.”

So true and add to this the weather change that could be an issue on Saturday AM. Colder and wet? 10 days ago, the forecast was going to be 75 degrees and dry, but now as the time approaches it looks like the best models show a low in the 40s with a high in the 50s and rain? Oh well at least it will be cool but I would prefer not to run in the rain. The muddy trails add some issues but I think this is something to get use to. The unpredictable nature of Ultra Running in the mountains. I do know that once I am doing it……then all this thinking, thinking, thinking and more thinking becomes academic… I am out there doing it.

One of the books that I have read this year is by Matt Fitzgerald called RUN – The Mind-Body Method of RUNNING BY FEEL. I liked the book a lot. For me there were some very useful sections. Chapter 10 was one those. It is titled Anger, Fear, and Speed. Specifically, it was the section that talked about the “Fear of Failure” and the anxiety that it induces. I used to think that the anxiety I experienced days before an event was a bad thing. I would spend countless hours in the days leading up to an event trying to find ways of lessening the anxiety. Not really facing it. And the anxiety would get worse, to the point that I would talk myself out of running. Even after spending countless hours training and planning.

Matt helped me to see the anxiety from an Existentialist view. It is just a symptom or sign that you are challenging yourself. The anxiety is about you pushing yourself into this situation. It is a call to work through the anxiety, fully embracing it, instead of taking the easy way out and just trying to make it go away. By facing the anxiety, the challenge of the race, the pain, you strengthen the core of who you are. It is a chance to step up to what sounds impossible, run 50 miles in my case, and make it possible. The opportunity to move beyond where you are now and become who you see yourself as being. To become more authentic so to speak. And you do this by facing the anxiety, struggling with the anxiety, wrestling with it, and in the end make your decision to race. Success or failure, win or lose, does not really matter, it is that you went to the “abyss” and returned a different person.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/RUN-Mind-Body-Method-Running-Feel/dp/1934030570

On another note I have been working on getting the garden planted. Always a little iffy at this time of year. Colorado weather this time of year can be a little schizophrenic. Warm and dry one day and cold and snow the next. Last year we had a late spring snow. That caused me to have to replant a lot of things. Usually if the forecast is good through Mother’s Day then you are good to go. Last year I believe it was after Mother’s Day that it snowed. I am risking it again this year but except for the rain and cold on Saturday it seems that the temps will stay above freezing.

Tomatoes and peppers

 

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries – hard to see them with all the other vegetation.

I moved all of the garden plants to the front yard this year. Not enough sun in the backyard when the Ash tree is all leafed out. So hopefully we will get a good crop of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries. I also planted several raspberry bushes and black berry bushes. So, it will be interesting to see how it all grows this year.

More peppers with cucumbers and lavender and you can just barely see catnip.

I did plant more lavender this year to attract more bees and winged insects. The catnip plant is coming back with force again this year. I had to prune it back multi times last summer.

The Yarrow and Russian Sage is starting out nicely too.

Well that is the start of the garden this year. As things progress or not I will post more photos. I am hoping that I can coax it along and get a pretty good crop. Now I know it is a lot easier to just go to “Whole Paycheck” or one of the Farmer Markets in Fort Collins to get vegetables. But there is something satisfifying about growing your own food. My parents for several years had a garden and I remember picking peas and green beans as a kid. Maybe that is part of the draw? I am not sure. Or maybe it is just my way of being different… putting it in the front yard for all to see?? Never liked mowing grass and if I could I would cover the entire yard with raised garden beds. I am sure that the homeowners association would love that… Oh well I think that is it for me this time. See ya next Friday.

One last picture….How I feel about running right now!!

 

 

 

Dinning, Exercise, Life and Meaning, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Religion

Musings for Friday 4th, May 2018

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Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.

Joseph Campbell

It has been another good week. Cathryn and Janet both had Birthday’s this past week. Cathryn turned 20 and Janet turned 57. Or as she likes to call it…she has reached “Level 57”. I think that is pretty funny. Myself at the moment, I have reached “Level 56”. When you say it that way, it doesn’t sound so bad. Like you’re in some kind of video game and the object is to reach the highest level. LOL. Now that is funny.

The restaurant for Cathryn’s Birthday is called Café Vino and I would recommend as very good. It is in Fort Collins. Check out their web site at: http://cafevino.com/

The one that we went to for Janet’s Birthday is in Windsor and is called Chimney Park. And it is very good too but has a little different ambiance. Café Vino is a little more relaxed in my opinion and Chimney Park is something I consider more formal. The difference in food quality is minuscule. There are things I can get at Café Vino but not at Chimney Park and vice versa. Of note there is a better beer selection at Café Vino. For me it really comes down to what I am hungry for and whether I want to drive to Windsor or not. The web site for Chimney Park: http://www.chimneypark.com/

My suggestion is check out the menus online and decide from there. I don’t think you will be disappointed by either.

 

On a different note, I have been watching a video series called the “Human Universe.” It is hosted by Physics Professor Brian Cox and it is on Curiosity Stream. The link for the web site: http://curisotystream.com

The series is composed of 5 one hours shows and are listed as follows:
1. Ape-man – Spaceman
2. Why Are We Here?
3. Are We Alone?
4. A Place In Time And Space
5. What Is Our Future?

It was filmed in 2014, so it is about 4 years old, still fairly recent in the scheme of things. They are all pretty good. But the second one raised a few questions. From the closing scenes of the second show:

“If the Theory of Inflation is correct it explains how our universe appeared apparently from nothing. And it also strongly suggests that there is not just our universe but a vast number, perhaps even an infinity of them.”
“We have known for a long time that we are infinitesimal specks in a vast universe, but now the suggestion is that we are infinitesimal specks in a vast infinity of universes.”
“Our current best theory for the origin of the universe, backed up by experimental evidence, suggest that there are an infinite number of universes. An infinite number of copies of you and me and the existence of the whole thing is inevitable, no purpose, nothing special, you are because you have to be.”

 

Now I don’t know about you, but damn that gives me chills just thinking about it. If this was to be proven at some point. It would be a radical change in our cosmology. “An infinite number of copies of you and me and the existence of the whole thing is inevitable, no purpose, nothing special, you are because you have to be.” Wow! Watching this film series reminded me of the quote that I placed at the start of this blog by Joseph Campbell.

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”

I think that the quote fits in very nicely with the above idea of an infinite number of universes. The Universe does not need a purpose to exist. We do not need a meaning to act. The actions that we do, give us the meaning. And you don’t need to have some kind of “mystical being” overseeing it all. The quality of our world is made better by US. We are our own validation, we are our own authority. The power to make the world a better place or not resides in us. Again, Wow! A little scary, and to some degree liberating. Definitely something to ponder……

OK, OK enough of the soapbox for now. The film series is a good one to watch. Here is a trailer from the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF53SrCIQRI&list=PLrBWchMkYBlD6Dg53t3KGdx2AonTwo_Zq&index=6&t=0s

Last but not least just a quick note about training for the Quad Rock 50. In a nut shell it is going well. No injuries so far this year. And I feel pretty good after a 20-mile training run, as if I could continue on without too much difficulty. I believe this to be a good thing.
I am lucky to live where I do. First it is Colorado, second it is Fort Collins, and third the city of Fort Collins has had a great open space and trail program for about 40 plus years. A few blocks from where I live I can pick up a trail called the Powerline Trail that connects with the trail system in Loveland and to the trail system in Fort Collins. Truly I can get in a very long run just from the house with what I call minimal traffic interference, except for one road crossing. The section of the Powerline trail that I like to use most for running is a 5-mile dirt section next to the concrete path. I have nick named it the treadmill. It is useable in almost any weather, 150’ of elevation gain or loss and it is very close. I think that it beats running in the basement with the TV on hands down expect in the most inclement weather. Well that is it for me. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Powerline Trail looking North

Powerline Trail looking South towards Loveland. Lots and lots of crab apple trees in this section.