Spring fever is alive and well all across the land.

Garden:
I’m a little jealous of them over at House Made with their winter veggie crops but I think I might get away with planting some of my own potatoes this coming Saturday if I hike over to the garden patch with a shovel. It is definitely way to wet still for the tiller but I might try putting in some hills. I think this summer's garden is going to be about the same size but simpler with less crops types and more hardy species - mostly corn, tomatos, potatoes, and beans.

House:
I really like our contractor/master carpenter. He does very high quality work at a rapid pace. The problem is that he is always booked up for months. How long do you, dear readers, think we should wait for him before hiring someone else to help finish upstairs?

Running:

I had to do a six thirty orientation tonight at work. I snuck out of the office a little before five and went to run the lake. The sun was out, no clouds and it was pushing 68 degrees. There were pasty people staggering around the paths, looking about in startlement like people coming out of a fallout shelter after 20 years. Almost as soon as I started I ran into (literally hid behind a tree and ran into..) an old friend I’ve known since the six grade who still lives in town. He is definitely one of my best friends in the world and always will be even if we don’t keep in regular contact. I could not talk to him for five years and then donate an organ if he called up needing it – that kind of friend. Anyway, over the past 10 years my friend, through determined eating of crap and lack of any exercise had put on the pounds – pushing 250. He had become the kind of guy who breathes hard going up the three steps of the front porch after walking from his car. I last saw him at Christmas time and that was the state of affairs then. I was really surprised to find him jogging – slow, but jogging none the less. He described to me how he and his wife had just finally gotten fed up with being fat and out of shape. He felt constantly ashamed of his appearance and was bored with having only enough energy to make it from bed to his desk at work and then back home to the easy chair. She quit smoking. They stopped drinking beer, and cut the junk and high calorie foods out of their diet and started walking every night. At first, even once around the block was a task. He could not run once around the track at the local middle school – this is a guy who competed in sports at the national level in high school and who could run my ass off six ways to Tuesday. Every night he went back to the track and got to where he could add one time around the track per week. He has lost 20 pounds so far and has 25 to go. Tonight was his first time at the lake. So far his longest run has been 2.5. The lake is 3.7. He made it all the way around. I did most of the talking and we went really slowly but he made it. Afterwards he kept saying how much easier it is with a partner and we agreed that in a couple of weeks we’ll start running it regularly together. Woo hoo! Go man go!

Also in Running:

I’ve decided my new, post-Vegas goal is to get back up to where I’m regularly running the second or third week before the taper starts of a half so that I can run a fun or competitive half whenever I want but still not spend too much time on the trail.

posted by Scott in Washington at 8:55 PM |