First Run of the Year

It was record cold in the District yesterday morning, in the single digits with up to 30MPH winds which made it feel like it was well below zero.  Just like in the old days in Boulder County when I used to be outside (albeit in my car for long stretches) for eight hours each shift covering wrecks, arresting drunks and stopping speeders for the Colorado State Patrol when it was sometimes 10 degrees below zero or even colder during the winter months.

At night, up in the mountains.  I wore thermal long johns and polar leggings under my wool uniform pants, and the same sequence upstairs under a bulletproof vest, wool shirt and padded CSP windbreaker, and I got by.

The real problem is the wind.  It cuts through everything and takes any residual warmth right out of you.

Today it was in the twenties with low wind and I went out for a noontime run on the Mall with two co-workers.  I wore leggings, a tech t-shirt, a long-sleeve shirt and a windshirt, gloves, earband and a ball cap.

I was hot after two miles, but it was a good run.  I hadn't run since last year, because of the holidays, but I was gratified to see that I'm still under 200 despite the inactivity, achieving that milestone finally in December having worked towards that goal for three years and having dropped almost half a C-note during that time.

We ran by an outside water fountain outside the American Indian Museum that had been left on (DUH!) that was frozen into an ice sculpture of rising and cascading water.  Workers were scraping away at a thick slab of ice extending all along the sidewalk from the fountain to the curb.

I didn't go running yesterday because, as a running friend of mine at work said, "There's a fine line between being a hard ass and a dumb ass."  Of course, he went running yesterday, but then again his best marathon is 50 minutes faster than mine and he's not even fifty yet so he's young and good.

I enjoy running with my work running buddies because they all think I'm fast and they force me to get out to run when I don't really want to (the commitment thing) and I get to show off my history trivia knowledge as we run by things (which "martyred president" is that a statue of?).  Plus that 50 pounds thing; the comeback from that started on a horrible noontime run three years ago when I finally got back to running regularly at noontime with a co-worker returning from maternity leave, after letting the onset of my chronic ankle injury dictate my inactivity for the two prior years.

Happy Birthday, Johnny. I feel like I hardly knew ye.

ca 1999.

Out With the Old, In with the New

For years, as my three children have eschewed all contact with me, thanks to their Mother actively involving them in the divorce litigation as minors in a narcissistic expression of her personality, I have spent all holidays I've been in town for at the same restaurant here in Northern Virginian at noon, hoping one or more of them would join me for lunch.  It's always a quiet lunch, with no company but with good food.

Again on New Year's Day, to no avail.  For the last time.

Lessee, the last time I laid eyes on any one of my children was in 2003.  The last time I heard one of their voices was in 2007.

Jimmy, Johnny, Danny, fare thee well.  I live in your childhood home, I'm in the book, and my work number hasn't changed for two decades.

Christmas tree run

Every year I take a group from work out on a run to see the Christmas lights.  In years past we have gone out at 6 pm when it is more colorful because the lights are shining.

There are other things to see on this run too.  This year we saw a moose, but I kept my companions safe by keeping it at bay.

This year time became short so we went out at noon, two days in a row because some people couldn't make it the first day.  Even though the lights weren't shining, each Christmas tree around the Mall has a story.

The tree with the best story is at the DC Peace Officer Memorial.  Its ornaments are pictures of fallen area officers.

The National tree seemed small this year, in comparison with other years.  Inside the little fence, electric trains were running around and a little girl standing wistfully at the fence asked her Mom, "Can I go in there and play with the trains?" which cracked me up.

We went by a harp player who was singing beautiful Chritsmas carols.  How cool is that?

I like the tree at the Capitol the best.  The tree inside the Botanical Gardens is nice too, plus they had a chorus in there.

Every year we end at the tree at Union Station.  It used to be inside but a few years back they moved it outside.

Call Me

So I have three sons.  I'm not the only dad in America, nor even among my friends, whose ex-wife has served a death penalty upon any paternal influence by him through her insidious pernicious overbearing influence on minor children during the divorce.

Whatever.  What a society, what a gender.

Bad ol' me has a prepaid Virginia tuition plan that I own that has my oldest child as its beneficiary.  It pays 100% of the lad's (he's well into adulthood now) tuition and fees at any in-state public university.

The IRS is going to vacate this plan in 2014, ten years after he graduated from high school, due to its tax-preferential treatment for all these years.  I sent Jim's mother a letter a year ago asking for Jim's address so I could communicate with him about this but she blew me off as usual, and she's a teacher of little first-graders!

Anyway, Jimbo, I sent you a Christmas card at your mom's address, and it hasn't come back (yet), telling you all this in addition to wishing you a happy holiday.  I know you live or lived there, or were there for an extended period this summer.

Check it out.   Call me, I'm in the book and my work number hasn't changed in over two decades.

And all's right with the world...

A Seasons Greetings card to my friends and relatives for 2013.

peace

Actin' funny
But I don't know why
'Scuse me
While I kiss the sky

Jimi Hendrix

New River 2013

Merry Christmas, boys.

A special Christmas greeting to my three sons:

I miss you & love you & hope you are all well & happy.
However, I have no idea if you're alive, well or have provided me with grandchildren. What's that all about, young men?

When Daddy Went Away,
he said, "Try to be a man,
And, Someday you'll understand."
John Fogerty
New River Gorge WV 2013