The Happy Gardener

And I am back. Bay State Marathon : check I might have frozen the bajeezers off my crooked hobbity fingers but I made it to the finish line. The weather brought it on - cold temps, high winds, rain, freezing rain, etc but Goofy did it again. He pulled through and saved the day. Goofy is my guardian angel, FYI. And a big shout out to all my fantabulawesome friends for showing up and cheering for me and occasionally running with me in such horrid weather. You are fantabulawesome. All in all, it's been a good day today. Great weather, beautiful colors. I packed off at work pretty soon and got home, all inspired to paint. Begin Tangent : I realize that most of my interests/activities in my adult life revolve around some stuff that I felt cheated out of as a kid or had the most fun with as a kid. Running for example is my way of clinging on to play time. I was serious about play time as a kid. School was out at 3 and I'd barely manage to get home and change and have a snack and I...

I cannot finish my poems. My paintings don't get done. But this hardly seems complaint worthy when nature's working on a grand masterpiece alongside - Fall. A well worn, open book. The green and gold of the long stalks of corn. The glass like surface of a calm pool of water. The crimson, yellow and gold of the leaves of Fall. What makes all of these even better? Sunlight. Open, warm, life-giving sunshine. You can tell it's one of my favorite things. On to other things. Let's take a look at the good and bad decisions that I've taken regarding the marathon training this year : 1. Skipping multiple runs (sometimes for up to 10 days) to travel for pleasure : Bad (for marathon training) Good (for pleasure :-) ) 2. Letting my legs, and not the coach, decide how many mid-week runs I did and how long they were. Good (for MT) Good (for quality of life) 3. Waiting until I was able to run a good 25K road race after all the traveling before committing to running the full marath...

Blogger informs me that this is my 100th post. I refuse to cave under pressure and produce a scintillating post. I'll stick to my usual unique style - rambling and largely pointless. It's been an interesting couple of weeks and weekend. I ran a pretty bad 15 miler yesterday. My quads were sore to begin with and I had to stop around 13-14 miles and just walk the rest. It probably did some good for my quads but not my morale. But no worries - that's what good food and afternoon naps are for. Anyways, after a truly tasty, filling and more importantly, hilariously entertaining lunch with the gang, and a long drive home (Thank you Massachusetts for the ubiquitous construction!), I walked into ye olde homestead. I automatically flicked the TV on while I did the basic pottering around routine that is standard and 10 minutes later I heard a phrase that I never dreamt I would hear : " .. I started juicing and the rest is history ". What!!?! Apparently, this was an infomerc...

Ah! The crisp air, the slightest invigorating chill, the early dusks of Fall. The time when the lights at home seem warm and welcoming as you drive back from work at night. Well, in my case, the lights are all switched off until I actually get into the house and switch them on but you get what I mean. I am a happy camper. Have had a blissful set of days lately. From Mississippi to Reykjavik to back home in Boston. All those fantastic and wonderful sights and experiences. And just in time for that transformation from summer to Fall. Yes, things are good. The only fly in the ointment when I got back from my vacation was my worry about the upcoming Cape Ann 25k on Labor Day for which I felt woefully under prepared. But Goofy pulled it off yet again (Goofy is my guardian angel. Yes I have a name for him and yes there's some history to this but we'll get there later). Anyways, after just a 6 mile run the day after I got back and a 4 mile jog-walk two days after that, I was able to f...

** Wrote this up while traveling during the day yesterday and only got a chance to post it this morning. From sunny Mississippi!! Occasionally life gives us that one beautiful day. A very pleasant day when everything seems just about right. Like yesterday for instance. It started like any other day with me realizing when the alarm rang that 6 hours of sleep is really not enough and ignoring it - the alarm - to nap for another hour. I worked for a little and then decided to do a short run on the apartment gym's treadmill. I am not very fond of this gym but I figured this would be the most convenient time and setting. Anyways, off I went. After spending 10 mins trying to figure out where the remote for the TV was and running half a mile, I realized the following (yes, it was a great day for realizations) : - I really did not like this gym. - It's annoying to try to watch TV while running especially when the treadmill puts a steam engine to shame with its noise. - My shins hurt...

The thoughts that haunt me as the weary sun dips are the words that never will reach my lips. That though we might have lost our way my helpless love is locked in me and I wish my jaded heart believed that what we were, we still can be. finis

So I've been listening to this song "1,2,3,4" by Feist for the last week or so. If you've heard it you know that it's the kind of tune that gets ingrained in your brain and never lets you go. You'll be doing something totally random or not doing anything and you'll hear it in your head. Like I was running last evening and didn't have my ipod on me and guess which song my head automatically starts playing? The last straw was when I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago to get some water - there I was padding my way to the kitchen, eyes still half closed and going "dum dum dum dum dum dum dum de dum....". Insane, I tell you. So anyways, the tune was still in my head last night and so I did the only thing I could do. I wrote a poem. Along the same tune. Here it is. Soul mates, mind games reading into everything Sun signs, star signs telling me what my future brings. Oh! I'm so tired of counting the days. I'd rather smile at t...