♻️ I wouldn't mind restarting today afresh. I've got things done, things that needed to be done, but I'm sitting here now at the far end of the day feeling a little dissatisfied, maybe frustrated as well? Such is life....up one day, down the next.
♻️ I wouldn't mind restarting today afresh. I've got things done, things that needed to be done, but I'm sitting here now at the far end of the day feeling a little dissatisfied, maybe frustrated as well? Such is life....up one day, down the next.
🍃 I’m waking up to wind and rain, hard showers followed by a wait for the next one, this morning. Yesterday’s sun appears to be an anomaly at the moment. It appears that we have a little longer before the winter rains recede.
🍃 I’m waking up to wind and rain, hard showers followed by a wait for the next one, this morning. Yesterday’s sun appears to be an anomaly at the moment. It appears that we have a little longer before the winter rains recede.
🌱 Clearing in the garden today. Pulling out an invasive plant. There is still some to move, but it just got too hot….so I started work on a new blog post.
🌱 Clearing in the garden today. Pulling out an invasive plant. There is still some to move, but it just got too hot….so I started work on a new blog post.
I’ve said it many times on this blog…in essence to myself…that not doing something will not get it done.
This time I will add that the satisfaction of getting that something done is enormous. To see it in the rear view mirror as opposed to constantly looming over me.
Yesterday I ran the furthest to date. It was only by 0.1km, but at 3.51km this was the further distance that I have covered so far in the Watch to 5K program.
Last night I was feeling it. The glow of exercise was accompanied by a tiredness in my legs and by the time that I went to bed, I was exhausted.
I’m in the middle of week four. At the moment the routine is walk, then run, then walk, etc, with the run times increasing and walk times being commensurate recovery periods. However in four runs time, the end of week five, I am going to be running for twenty minutes. Apart from the warm up and cool down walks, there will be no other walking. Just twenty minutes of running. Right now, I don’t know how I will do it? I am wondering whether to repeat week four before moving on?
Keeping the Company of Good Friends
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Every Thursday night I sit in a weekly men’s group. I’ve mentioned before the value that I get from sitting with this group, but of late I have been reminded of something else. Maybe it’s the same thing but I am just now finding words for my experience? It’s simple, common sense advice to “keep the company of good friends”. That is, the influence of those around me, rubs off on me.
Jacoby asks how far you live from where you were born? So I thought that I would take a look. It turns out that I’m currently 7,191 miles (11,572 km) from where I was born. That distance has varied over the years from just round the corner, to now halfway round the world. None of this was expected, so while I see no change anytime soon, who knows?
The Story Behind the Photograph: Fellow Travelers in Northern Pakistan
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Waiting at the border crossing I was going through some more slides of my travels last night and this one has stuck with me through the day. Taken in July 1989, I recognized most of the faces, as well as the nationalities of some of those standing there, but could not put names to them. I found myself wondering where they are now? What happened to them after we parted ways on our respective travels?
🌞 Hey, no rain today. That’s a first for a while.
🌞 Hey, no rain today. That’s a first for a while.
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 Newsletter letter
Monday, March 18, 2024
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.
And now it is late afternoon…
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.
Onwards and upwards…🏃♂️
🌤️ Sun, blue sky and scattered clouds this morning. The world below can now dry out.
🌤️ Sun, blue sky and scattered clouds this morning. The world below can now dry out.