Festival of Lights - Part Two

A couple of days ago, I went out for my [now regular] Tuesday Night CCD Run.

THIS WEEK I remembered to make the RIGHT coming out of the Development to get the Holiday Light Tour of the adjacent neighborhoods. I'm glad I wore the Reflecto-Vest, as I kinda forgot that there's about 600 yards of deep dark bridging the gap between our streets and my destination. Even in the black, though, I could tell that there was some Baking going on; I picked up a definite whiff of peanut butter & slightly burnt brown sugar.

The first part of the first loop is all townhouses, so people are pretty conservative-slash-considerate with their displays; except for one pair who pooled resources and went for the Full "Price is Right" with synchronized strings surrounding doors, windows, garages and so on.

However, I still hadn't seen anything like the "WalMart took a Dump on their Yard" extravaganza D'Wife had observed last week. There was one house that flanked itself with inflatable Santa's [12' to Starboard and 16' to Port]; another that looped ONE 50-foot string of multi-colored rainbow lights down the middle of their ONE tree .... from 200 yards away, it looked like Gay Lightning [NTTAWWT].

Midway thru Mile Two, however, I saw it ... Actually, EVERYONE could see it ... FROM SPACE!!! Words ... just can't ... pix, to come. After that [and once my retinas re-set] ... it was just another jog in the dark.

Tonight, I brought D'Kid along with me so she could get pix of the "I Can See My House From Space" extravaganza ... as well as we could do with our SONY Cyber-Shot, we couldn't quite capture the retina-wrenching glory of this display .... Oh, did I mention that there's music too??? The whole way home, my foot-strikes were to "Oh Come All Ye Faithful." I guess there are FAR WORSE Earworms to get, if need be.

Festival of Lights - Part One

First night time run of the 2011-12 Xmas Light Season.


I've done a morning run or two since Thanksgiving, which is when folks traditionally fire up the Yuletide decorations, but ITTET not many people are leaving them on all night long. So, I figured that hitting the road at 7PM would be PRIME viewing time!

For whatever reason [the seven concussions maybe] I don't remember taking this route last year ... frankly, I was disappointed.


I expected that the houses "back there" would have been lit up a lot more severely; being set further off the road, a lot more wattage would seem necessary to say "HEY!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" but no ... they were - for the most part - rather tame, conservative and quite nice.

Only ONE house went for Full "Game Show" but just missed, since the dozens of strings of multicolored lights, which highlighted every edge, bend or random architectural detail of the home, failed the "Price Is Right" Test my not blinking in sequence ... they didn't even blink AT ALL!!! Why Bother, people???

The only other house of note had so many illuminated deer, angels, snowmen and polar bears on the lawn that it looked like a Harry Potter Patronus Convention.


Anticipating some more rainy weather, I wore a L/S poly shirt which finally paid off when the wind kicked up and the drizzle ramped up in my final mile; until that point, I was pretty overdressed [with the addition of the Reflecto-Vest] and kinda toasty. I got damped enough to feel kinda badass coming back into the Development.


Y’know what, though? I really gotta get a headlamp


I thought I knew my way around back there between developments pretty well, even in the dark. A car was approaching, so I drifted myself a little closer to the edge of the road. There are no curbs or sidewalks out that way; the street gives way to an uneven boundary of gravel before the folk's lawns start. It was a rainy night, as I said, so I had to hop over a sandbar that had shoaled up in the stream along the shoulder. I kinda shorted it and stepped about a foot from the end of the "island."

There was a surprising CRACK! and I skidded a little bit [didn't fall, though]

It was a deer carcass ... I'd landed on her rear leg.


I really, REALLY gotta get a headlamp.

Well, THAT Didn't Last Long

December 1, 2011

Dear Member:

Bally Total Fitness® has made the decision to focus our portfolio of fitness centers in certain key markets. As a result, we will be transitioning ownership of a number of our clubs, including your home club, to Fitness International, LLC, an affiliate of LA Fitness International, LLC ("LA Fitness").

LA Fitness will take over the clubs it is acquiring and assume your membership agreement effective December 1, 2011. As a result your payments will be collected by LA Fitness going forward using the same account as did BallySM. You can find more details on our website and at www.lafitness.com.

It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we thank you for your loyalty to Bally Total Fitness through the years. We wish you continued success in pursuing and achieving your fitness goals.

Yours in Health,

Bally Total Fitness

***

Granted, all of my running and cycling is done en plien air, until just a month ago when I renewed my long-lapsed Bally membership at the low-low price of $99 a year.

When a friend of mine told me about the buyout of Bally locations by LA Fitness, I got on the phone to my "home" club and was reassured that my Bally membership would be grandfathered in to a LA membership and only the signs on the club would change

Unfortnately THIS is my "home" club:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Gym-Closure-Leaves-Members-Workers-Out-in-the-Cold--134943983.html

Now, I'll get my $99 back from my company's Fitness Reimbursement and I'll be out nothing, but if I have to upgrade to an LA Fitness ... I have to wait one calendar year to re-submit

All I wanted was access to the pool, so D'Kid & I could swim on Sundays

Oh well ... outside is very nice, can be quite challenging, AND it's free

It's a shame, because I had some really great times at Bally's ... Lots of good stories

"Trackside"

"Not in the Plan"

"How to Count from A to Z"

"Spring Training"

"Jump Little Bunny"

Return of the Gym Rat?

D’Wife and I agreed that it was time to renew my Bally’s membership. Training alone outside is all good from a Zen standpoint, but sometimes you need to get out [in?] where the people are, for a change of scenery [or lack thereof]. Plus, there’s always that chance you might get into a little friendly competition out of the blue, just for fun..

And to be honest; I sorta missed chasing the Ponytails.

Since I’d get comp’d back for it from work, it was just a matter of having some extra cash on hand to put on the table. With a sudden surplus thanks to some Birthday Money from The Moms, I just happened to have an extra Hundred I didn’t know what to do with.

The plan was for me to hang out at home to meet up with one of D’Wife’s friends from the Bank, who we hadn’t seen in ages, then skip on over to Voorhees to re-up.

I had my gear all packed up for a run, a ride, a swim, whatever might present itself, but I was REALLY looking forward to getting into the pool. Sometimes, a dude just needs some chlorinated weightlessness to recharge the surfy-ness; know what I mean? Probably not, sorry.

The pool was already hopping when I completed my renewal. Two people to a lane, all dudes, too. Not the way I’d planned on making my “comeback” To tell the truth, I was a little bit uncomfortable about this. I can swim fine when I’m out in the waves and only have to stroke-stroke-stroke while kicking to catch a wave, then glide in. The idea of continuing for 25 yards at a time always brought a bit of anxiety with it.

To kill some time, to give the fish some time to thin out, I started out like I usually did: on the track.

“We all lost one helluva guy in Joe two years ago. I had the idea of doing a 40 mile bike ride on what would’ve been his 40th birthday on Nov 4th. While we all knew him from running, I wasn’t gonna run 40 miles lol. So however you see fit to honor our friend so be it. You wanna run 4.0 miles, a 40k, ride 40 miles or swim 40 laps, I think he would be proud in whatever we choose individually. It also doesn’t have to be on that Friday if it’s not convenient for you, it could be over that weekend. Whatever works for you. VTFU!”

Oh No … I HAD forgotten. I would do 40 laps on the 12 lap/mile Track at Bally's in honor of Joe "Voodoo" Truini's 40th Birthday.

Kept my pace nice and even at 42 seconds per lap [8:24 pace] until some kid came by - understand this, the place was practically empty so having company was both welcome and sort of an annoyance. I mean, he certainly could have run on his own, once I was on the other side of the track. But, no. He ran with me for a lap & a half or so, then he gave me this look ... not once, but twice ... and took off. I countered and followed him, right on his shoulder. I couldn't believe it, but the little punk pulled me through 3 laps at 37sec per [7:24] before he blew himself up. I eased back, stopped checking my splits and completed my 40 circuits for Voo'sDay.

Mostly out of habit, once my run was done I hopped on the Bike. The Bally's LifeCycle bikes limit you to 30 minutes at a time. And, no matter how fast or slow you pedal, after ½ and hour, it's always the same distance. The calories and wattage change depending on your cadence and resistance, but the mileage never does. Odd.

UFO Expert: I've been coming to this circle for about five years, and measuring it. The diameter and the circumference are constantly changing, but the radius stays the same. Which brings me to the number 5. There are five letters in the word Blaine. Now, if you mix up the letters in the word Blaine, mix 'em around, eventually, you'll come up with Nebali. Nebali. The name of a planet in a galaxy way, way, way... way far away. And another thing. Once you go into that circle, the weather never changes. It is always 67 degrees with a 40% chance of rain.

I turned my iPod on and cruised for 10 miles [there's some weird km/minute x some factor math going on in there, if I remember correctly].

The whole point of GOING to Bally's and renewing the Membership was to get in the Pool, right??? Well, it was kinda crowded when I got there so I killed some time on the Track and doing the Bike. But I REALLY wanted to get in [and come home with that chlorine smell in my hair] so after a quick change I flip-flopped over. Timidly, asked the only dude who had a lane to himself, if I could share. He was very welcoming and once he had pushed off from the wall, I dropped in. I made some adjustments to the goggles that have been sitting in the bottom of my back pack since forever, hoping to get a good seal. As it so happened, the foamy gaskets around the lenses were pretty beat and there was no way to get a good watertight seal on them. Things being what they were, though, I tried my best. Let me just say, I STILL swim like a brick. I did 8 trips down and back JUST in time for the Pool Attendant to say “9:30 sir, pool is closing now”

Thank goodness. 400 yards in 18 minutes; just about the same time as my first EVER triathlon!!! If I'm gonna keep this up, gotta get new goggles. And practice. A lot. I even thought “Swim Coach” for a minute there, but there’s no way I’d find one that would let me get away with the crap I’d pull on my running coaches.

Add it all up, and I did a Reverse Indoor Sprint Triathlon, in about an hour and a half. Darn that Fatty for putting the idea in my head!!!



With a 10K on Sunday, that may or may NOT have been the best judgment. But we’ll see.

Third Quarter YTD 2011 Results

Running: 454 Miles – A little bit behind pace for 620M = 1000Km. As it stands right now, I need to Average 56 miles or so for October, November and December to make it; figuring that as 4 miles every other day, I can see success within reach. I just missed 50 miles per month in each month of Q3 – one more run on that last day would have gotten it. I just need to stay focused and not get too gappy.

My "easy" training pace continues to drop. I’ve been living in the 8:30 neighborhood, and occasionally go sub-8:20 without much effort [must just be a matter of catching the stoplights at the right time]

Cycling: 269 Miles – 191 of that in Q3; with nearly 72 in July alone. Of course, we dropped 46½ on one day with Bike MS