I started week four of the Watch to 5K program today and that meant longer run intervals. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that if it wasn’t for the preceding weeks, today would have been impossible…or at least very difficult. I covered a total distance of 3.43km, and within that 2.97km was running. The first five minute run interval I was 0.04km short of running 1km.
As I ran I was reflecting on how I was running forty years ago. I was a cross country runner when I was in high school, though I didn’t train out of season. I stopped running altogether when I went to college. Since then I have had no formal exercise regime. I had an informal one during my years living in Portland, OR. I bicycled everywhere, and if I didn’t cycle, I would walk.
Still I can’t be hard on myself. I am pleased that I am sticking with this program and seeing the results of my efforts.
Monday March 18, 2024 Hello there. It is David Johnson here with a weekly roundup of posts to my blog.
It has been a wet week here on Maui, especially in the area of the north shore where I live. This region is one of the wetter parts of the island, but even so this week saw more low cloud and persistent drizzle than we normally have. I love the moody weather, probably because of growing up in England, and anyway sun is not in short supply here on Maui - the change is welcome.
I was taken to an event last night launching an event that I had no idea was in the works. Epic Swim Maui, a planned swim this summer - sometime between the end of the July and mid August - around the island of Maui. The swimmers, some of the world’s best open ocean swimmers, will swim in relay around Maui. In doing so they will have to navigate some of the most powerful ocean that there is. They will have to deal with strong currents, huge larva cliffs, and beneath the ocean’s surface, sharks.
The swim is being undertaken along with scientific research as to the state of the oceans, how the reefs are holding up with global warming, and the effects on the water following the Lahaina wild fire which took place right on the ocean’s front door.
Huge respect for those who will be swimming this summer. This circumnavigation of Maui, undertaken solely by the human body, has never been attempted before.
Today hasn’t quite gone to plan due to a small plastic container that my wife uses to keep vitamins in being hidden at the back of the oven.
She was baking a couple of apple pies for dinner tonight with friends, when the kitchen filled with smoke. Out came the barely cooked pies along with the oven shelves, and there at the back of the oven was the melted remains of the container and a few vitamins. I’m not sure where the container had been sitting as bits of it had also dripped onto various other shelves of the oven. We can only think that one of grandkids hid it in there for a joke. They are away skiing right now and so we will probably never know.
Anyway, I have spent most of the day scraping and rubbing dried melted plastic off the shelves and fittings of the oven. Then I heated up the oven to a high heat to melt the main congealed lump that was sitting on the oven floor, so that I could first scrape it off with a trowel and then use wet iron wool to wipe off the remainder.
Well I am finally ready to move onto week four of the Watch to 5K program. Because of illness and various other road blocks, I have been redoing weeks two and three, or parts thereof in order to get back into the program after a period of not running. Yesterday saw me reach the end of week three (again), and so now I can move on.
Yesterday’s run had the added bonus of having the accompaniment of the sound of bagpipes. Someone was playing them in the park where I ran. However, it was not an easy run (how often have I said that?). With the increase in run times with each progressive week, I look forward to week four with some trepidation. I must remind myself to go steady, that I’m not out to beat any records and that I am the only one setting the standards. If I set them too high, I suffer and the running no longer becomes fun.
🌧️ Well the sun’s appearance this morning was brief and short lived. Today it has rained and rained and rained. That’s two days now of steady drizzle interspersed with the occasional downpour. More tomorrow or a change?
A rallying call since the devastating fires here on Maui last year has become “Maui Strong”. The words have lended themselves to multiple funds to help raise financial help, material supplies and volunteering possibilities, all for the immediate and long-term recovery needs of those effected by the fires. These include,
Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Maui Strong Fund, which as of the State of the County address by Mayor Richard Bissen, Jr.
🌥️ “Here comes the sun,…” 🎶 Hopefully it will continue to make an appearance through the day, and dry things out. That’s a plus of living here in Hawaii. If it rains, once the sun is out the everything dries out pretty quickly.
😶🌫️ The last twenty four hours have been overcast and seen more rain than I was expecting from the forecast. Low cloud, mist in places, localized flooding - driving home last night was no fun. And it looks as though we have woken up to more this morning.
I love this overcast, wet weather. I have the French windows open so that I can listen to the sound of the falling rain, and as it trickles down the down pipe from the gutters.
There is a bird singing its heart out as I sit here and drink my early morning coffee. I wish I knew what species it is. The bird’s song is close to a British Song Thrush. Sadly I still don’t recognize all the bird calls here in Hawaii. For that matter I don’t know them all in Britain, but I am a lot more familiar with them there.
A lot happened during my short time in Bodhgaya, and so I am spreading this section of the travels over a couple of posts.
Arriving into Bodhgaya with the top of the Mahabodhi Temple peeking above trees
One of the first things that we (myself and Ray, an American who I had met on the road and was currently traveling with) noticed on arrival in Bodhgaya was the number of people who walking around with patches over one eye.
Well the prep wasn’t too much fun yesterday, but the friendly doctors and nurses this morning made my start of the day colonoscopy so much more easier. Much gratitude from me to them for their work today. I’m taking it easy for the rest of the day as I slept little last night, and I’m feeling a little spacey from the fasting yesterday…and maybe the anesthesia as well?
Maui has so many microclimates, and with that the weather can vary in a very short space of time. Yesterday from what I could see most of the island was covered in cloud. Where I live there was a lot of wind, but I had to run Upcountry and there the air was very different. It was still, so still. Even the landscape felt still. Being March there was a little chill in the air as well.
I don’t know why I expressed concern over the way switching to Daylight Savings time in this post? I live in Hawaii. In Hawaii there is no move to or from Daylight Savings time. The clocks just stay the same through the year.
Perhaps I had some cellular trauma from when I did live in countries and States which observed the time changes? Perhaps the effect of the jump forward of one hour played havoc enough with my sleeping patterns for my mind to just jump to fear, blanking out for a moment where I actually am now?
Anyway, for now all is good. The US crossed into Daylight Savings time just over a week ago and I would have been none the wiser had I not been reading the news.
Following my earlier post about my woes with Safari’s Hide My Email feature, I have finally tracked down the problem. I had disabled AutoFill, under Safari -> Preferences -> AutoFill, specifically Using information from my contacts. This is from using 1Password which I found rendered this feature in Safari unnecessary for me. I am slowly moving away from using 1Password and so reenabled ‘Using information from my contacts’ and Hide My Email showed its face again.
I was back out running today, and I was looking forward to doing so…which I will take as a good sign. I found myself Upcountry here on Maui and so I went to a playing field up there to complete the next run in the Watch to 5K program. The weather was just right - overcast, next to no wind and a comfortable temperature that cooled me down as I did my circuits. The first run felt stiff and then I eased into it, not going too fast so as to exhaust myself, but keeping a steady pace.
I won’t be running again until Thursday. I have a colonoscopy on Wednesday and so my time will be taken up with other things before then…💩
