a long long day

This is gonna be a long day....I "stepped on a landmine" yesterday, and this is how I feel now......

A Tout Le Monde---Lyrics included at the end...with translations.

On September 9, 2009 I wrote the following:
"So, this is the first post to a new blog. What is the point of this blog, not much. I will post my daily workout and my progress towards getting into shape to run as a team member for the world-famous Hood-to-Coast relay in Oregon next year. It has been a long time since I ran, and it has been a year and a half since I had hernia surgery. We shall see how my 41 year old knees and shins do. I have been to the gym pretty solidly over the last few weeks on the eliptical trainers trying to get some cardio work in and some leg strengthening in before *actually* starting in on the running. That will begin next week along with some weight training.

I hope if you found this blog looking for inspiration or training advice, I can help. Well, we shall see how that goes. I have a few ideas about how to get from 0 to 3 miles in 9 weeks, we will have to take this one day at a time and see how we do."

As the Greatful Dead once said..."What a long strange trip it's been." 

Pack a lunch...this is gonna be one for the record books in length.

Seven days

In a mere seven days I will be a retired racer.  It doesn't look like I will hear positively from the Hood-to-Coast folks, so this is it. My final race.  And taking a page from my friend, I have already picked out my "outfit" for the race.  I ran my very first race in a kilt, and I see no reason to not run my very last race in one.  As for my shirt, well, that was actually very simple, this is the inaugural Pikermi in Portland for the Rock and Roll series, so I will be wearing my Charter Member Team Pikermi shirt.  That's it..there is my outfit. Socks and shoes, of course, but hey, I'm a dude and I don't need too much beyond that.  I am completely not ready for the distance, I am gonna be slower than molasses running uphill in January in Alaska, but I'm gonna do it.  I signed up for it back in May...May 1 at 1:45 am to be exact, well over a year ago.  Before all the wheels on my cart fell off, before all sorts of things happened.  Things that have helped bring me to here...the end.  I will have but one more post after this, unless the HtC thing comes to fruition...in seven days, I will fade into the recesses of your minds and become a distant memory.  I already have for many of the "34 followers" listed on the right.  Thanks to Google Analytics, I can honestly say, I am down to 14 people that read this site whenever I post anything new.  I appreciate your readership, and your support---even if none of the 15 people that read it liked my poem. 

seven days to the
end of my journey as a
running blogger.....peace

I wrote a song...now to find music.

If you know the poem from which I borrowed heavily the ideas from....you get bonus points...unless I have told you.  C2--I suspect you know this poem as well as I do.







Here it is in all its glory(?).  Be kind with your comments.



Uncertainty

I am uncertain
I have no clear path
No destination decided upon

The place I want to be is denied
The home I have is desolate and alone
The friends I have are far removed
They are in their homes and worlds away from me

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

My desired place is not for me to choose
It is left to someone else to decide
It is left to the person I desire most to pick
Life with me or life without me

I am lost at sea, and trying to stay afloat
The albatross around my neck was mine to pick
Chosen and borne until I solve my own riddle
And reach the shores of my homeland

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

My boat is small and my paddle lost
I am forced to propel the craft by hand
To push with cupped fingers the waters of my soul
To find the shores where I will be welcomed

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

How far away
How near the quay

Copywrite 4/19/2012  Nat Strickland

This page will be retired soon...mkII

I have been thinking about this for a while, and I have even told a few people I know that even though I have only been running races since December of 2009, I am going to retire after the Rock and Roll Portland Pikermi.  That race report will also be my last blog entry.  I will continue to write about my trials and tribulations of running (yeah, gonna keep on keeping on with that, just no more races) in a journal that will be kept by my bedside.  Another runner I know is working through some changes in his world, and I am as well.  I have re-opened comments for the next few posts, but you have until sometime in June before I close this thing down.  The only possible other race I might do, is the Hood to Coast, and that will be only if I can get on a team this year.  I am only giving myself this year to do it.  I will likely volunteer for races, as I think that is a great thing to do, but I am not going to lace up and run one after May 20th.  So to all of you that read my blog, I think that there are 7 of you left after the year I've had, I hope that your running goes well.  I will continue to read your blogs and comment from time to time, but blogging has become tied with some negative vibes in my world, and I need to end it.  And rather than do so with no explanation to the seven of you, I am posting this "goin' out of business" post.

Cheers.

editied to actually allow comments...oops.

Well that was fun?

Turns out, moving is bad for all of your activities.  Work, exercise, eating, sleeping, school, yeah, all of 'em.  I haven't run much in the last couple of months, and May 20 is not staying away, so I need to start back into the routine with vigor soon.  I have moved to a farm that has NO Internet access.




I'll wait while that sinks in.  NO INTERNET ACCESS.


Oh, and if you notice, there is a new activity up there...I'll let you find it.  I will need to work on getting access soon due to that new activity, but that will have to wait a little bit.  The move ate my meager reserves entirely.  I needed to get a heater for my room.  Sleeping in a hat is only fun for a couple of days.