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A Welcome Chill
Nov. 29th, 2022 07:20 amThe weather finally broke and it's now in the low 50s overnight, sunny during the day. November had several long stretches of really gross weather. It has often been very overcast, meaning our solar panels don't generate much power, but the cloud layer also keeps the temps relatively stable, so it would be 70-60-70-60-70-60 day after day after day, with high humidity to boot. I'm glad that's over with. It even dips into the 40s just around dawn, and I typically wake up with at least one cat on my bed. Once it starts getting colder, I'll have both fluffy lumps huddled up for warmth. This morning though, they both had zoomies. The colder weather makes animals feel frisky, and if I go out towards some of the horse ranches on my daily run I can sometimes see horses running and playing, rather than standing around.
I'm slowly making my way through the omnibus edition of Thermae Romae, not wanting to just devour it in one or two sittings. Fox says someone made an anime of it, so I should probably check out my Crunchyroll and look for it, but I don't sit around watching TV much. Anyway, it's a very unique story, if you're into both modern Japan and ancient Rome it's a lot of fun.
We also picked up a copy of The Walt Disney Film Archives, covering 1921 to 1968 and it's been a fascinating read. I've been interested in early Disney since an art teacher lent me his copies of The Lost Art of Heinrich Kley, and told me about people like Ub Iwerks. Up until then, as a modern kid I'd written off Disney as producing formulaic movies in order to make tons of money merchandising them to people like my school peers, some of whom were rabid Disney fans. I mean, that is kind of what they do, but the early movies interested me because the point wasn't yet to sell toys and clothes. Anyway - I ramble.
My toes stopped hurting. They're still kind of horrifying to look at - not ballet dancer levels of scary, but "what the hell did you do." Just now, for whatever reason, the pain under the nails and in the joints has subsided. I went for an eight mile run yesterday with minimal discomfort, went about the rest of my day with no flares of pain, and when I got up this morning I felt fine. YAY! Needless to say, this has been preying on me mentally, and I now feel free to pay attention to last-minute ultra preparations.
Fox says he's going to be using me as his pacer, since he knows I'll go out slow and stay slow for a good long while, where he often will take off across the start line and burn out quickly. He's run these longer distances in training, but not on this kind of terrain. I also need to look at stocking us up on gels, chews, packing drop bags, and all that good stuff. I think a big part of my problem at Skunk Ape was fueling. I didn't bring any gels, and the ones they were handing out on the course were awful. They were some "natural" ones with chia seeds. Normally I put chia seeds into granola or bread and they're great. But when you soak chia in a liquid they start producing a slippery gel substance, which can act as a thickener - see any chia seed pudding recipe. But I grabbed one of these, ripped the top off, and suddenly felt like I'd just sucked down a pouch of frog spawn. I didn't finish the one I had, and didn't take another one for the rest of the race.
They're probably great if you don't mind the texture, but I'll stick to Honey Stinger gummies, thanks.
"You always got to be prepared, but you never know for what." - Bob Dylan
Today's plan - finish cleaning out the camper. I blanked on this when we got home because I got sick, and with me, out of sight is out of mind, so the moment I can't see the camper, it ceases to exist. But I've put it on my Habitica to-do list to make sure I don't forget.
I'm not really a person, I'm three productivity apps in a trenchcoat.
I'm slowly making my way through the omnibus edition of Thermae Romae, not wanting to just devour it in one or two sittings. Fox says someone made an anime of it, so I should probably check out my Crunchyroll and look for it, but I don't sit around watching TV much. Anyway, it's a very unique story, if you're into both modern Japan and ancient Rome it's a lot of fun.
We also picked up a copy of The Walt Disney Film Archives, covering 1921 to 1968 and it's been a fascinating read. I've been interested in early Disney since an art teacher lent me his copies of The Lost Art of Heinrich Kley, and told me about people like Ub Iwerks. Up until then, as a modern kid I'd written off Disney as producing formulaic movies in order to make tons of money merchandising them to people like my school peers, some of whom were rabid Disney fans. I mean, that is kind of what they do, but the early movies interested me because the point wasn't yet to sell toys and clothes. Anyway - I ramble.
My toes stopped hurting. They're still kind of horrifying to look at - not ballet dancer levels of scary, but "what the hell did you do." Just now, for whatever reason, the pain under the nails and in the joints has subsided. I went for an eight mile run yesterday with minimal discomfort, went about the rest of my day with no flares of pain, and when I got up this morning I felt fine. YAY! Needless to say, this has been preying on me mentally, and I now feel free to pay attention to last-minute ultra preparations.
Fox says he's going to be using me as his pacer, since he knows I'll go out slow and stay slow for a good long while, where he often will take off across the start line and burn out quickly. He's run these longer distances in training, but not on this kind of terrain. I also need to look at stocking us up on gels, chews, packing drop bags, and all that good stuff. I think a big part of my problem at Skunk Ape was fueling. I didn't bring any gels, and the ones they were handing out on the course were awful. They were some "natural" ones with chia seeds. Normally I put chia seeds into granola or bread and they're great. But when you soak chia in a liquid they start producing a slippery gel substance, which can act as a thickener - see any chia seed pudding recipe. But I grabbed one of these, ripped the top off, and suddenly felt like I'd just sucked down a pouch of frog spawn. I didn't finish the one I had, and didn't take another one for the rest of the race.
They're probably great if you don't mind the texture, but I'll stick to Honey Stinger gummies, thanks.
"You always got to be prepared, but you never know for what." - Bob Dylan
Today's plan - finish cleaning out the camper. I blanked on this when we got home because I got sick, and with me, out of sight is out of mind, so the moment I can't see the camper, it ceases to exist. But I've put it on my Habitica to-do list to make sure I don't forget.
I'm not really a person, I'm three productivity apps in a trenchcoat.
