Author Archive for Phil

Ohio Falls Bridge Painting, Part I

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/17/
in painting and photography
. 2 Comments

Ohio Falls Bridge Painting, Part I

This is the beginning of the first painting I have done in a very long time. It was the number one goal I mentioned in an earlier post on my goals for the year to create a painting to hang over my mantel by the beginning of spring, so today I started it. I decided to use a photo I took on December 26, 2007 of the Ohio Falls Bridge, also known as the Fourteenth Street Bridge, at the Falls of the Ohio.

The canvas size is 36 x 24 inches, and I am working in oils. For the first step, I created a very light pencil drawing, and chose some rudimentary colors for a very thin wash. I will build up more color, detail and paint as the painting progresses, and post photos here of the progress. It’s great to be painting again. It may not be much to look at now, but hopefully by the time I am done with it, it will be. Regardless, the joy is in the doing. Oh, and reading my fellow blogger Michelle’s wonderful articles on her landscape painting has been very inspirational to me this time around. She is a fantastic artist. So thanks, Michelle!

Here is the original photo I took:

Ohio Falls Bridge

If you want to read more about the bridge, you can click this Wikipedia link.

 

Twelve

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/17/
in Running
. 0 Comments

No words but these, and some numbers.

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:07:51 10:39 pace
Distance (mi) 12.00  
Moving Speed (mph) 5.6 avg. 8.1 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +853 / -847  
Temperature (F) 36.5F avg. 37.4F high

Juno

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/12/
in movie ratings
. 2 Comments

Hmm, this is only the second movie rating I have done since I started this blog, but I know I have seen more than Juno and No Country for Old Men recently. I will have to think about it and get back to you on the others, but these are the only two I have bothered to rate here so far. Two extremely different movies, but both are excellent. I just love movies. Soon I will post a list of 100 movies I have enjoyed. In the meantime, if you have not seen Juno, I very much would recommend it. No need to review it or provide a synopsis; there are plenty of sites on the internet that do just that. Nope, this is just a rating, and I do so thusly:

Rating: ★★★★★

And here is my favorite quote from the movie, spoken to the title character by her father:

“Look, in my opinion the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what-have-you. The right person is still going to think the sun shines out of your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.”

Eleven

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/9/
in Running
. 0 Comments

Today, in accordance with my training plan for the miniMarathon, I completed 11.25 miles. I followed the route below. I only had a general plan before I started out; I just added on some streets to a pretty consistently run 8-mile route to give me more miles.

Today's route

I enjoyed the run. For me, there isn’t such a thing as running “junk miles.” I don’t run enough miles every week to warrant any such classification. Nor am I a speed demon. I do have specific goals in races, but those are mainly just side benefits to be out there, running. Here are my Garmin watch numbers for the day:

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:54:40 10:11 pace
Distance (mi) 11.25  
Moving Speed (mph) 5.9 avg. 11.4 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +940 / -941  
Temperature (F) 42.8 F avg. 42.8 F high
Wind Speed (mph) W 14.4 avg. W 14.9 max.

The miles went a lot better for me than on last week’s 10 mile run. However, I am still inconsistent in my pace. Since I run alone, I think I have a tendency to not be as aware of an ideal, efficient pacing. Maybe I should advertise in the want-ads.

Wanted: Running partner to train for half marathon. Desire to run the mini in under 2 hours, so an experienced training partner who can help me achieve that goal would be a plus. Buy you a beer after.

Here is a table of my lap times today:

Lap # Time (m:s) Distance (mi)
1 7:57 1
2 9:19 1
3 10:02 1
4 11:56 1 (messed with earphones)
5 10:05 1
6 10:06 1
7 10:02 1
8 10:12 1
9 11:17 1
10 10:30 1
11 11:02 1
12 2:06 0.22

Oh, a final, humorous side benefit of today’s training run. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I track my running on FitLinxx, a website that shares data with the Downtown YMCA where I work out. After I logged the humongous amount of calories I burned on the run, it put me into the number one spot in males my age there, as you can see in the graphic below. Eat your heart out, “Facility Users” and mwebster52, whoever you are. :)

Eat your heart out, please!

You love the thunder

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/5/
in Running
. 2 Comments

This morning I woke up feeling kind of blah. I didn’t sleep very well last night, and I feel like my energy level is low. I dallied a bit, checking email, etc., before I got out the front door to run. The weather was an improbable and incredible 66 degrees, and there were lightning flashes and several minutes of gentle rumbling thunder. It made for a great run. My body feels better and my spirits are higher than when I woke up.

I am not posting the numbers from my Garmin watch in a tabular format like I sometimes do (I am thinking I will only do that for longer runs from now on), but I did my normal 3.01 miles at a 9:25 pace. The rain is coming down heavier now, as I type this, and the thunder is picking up. I should have dallied more this morning. :)

Ten More Miles Down the Road

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/February/3/
in Running
. 0 Comments

Yesterday I completed a ten mile training run at Seneca and Cherokee Parks in Louisville, KY. I started out the run feeling a little out-of-sorts, a tad sluggish, and an hour later than I had planned. The rest of the run I felt somewhat fatigued. I am old enough to know–plenty old, in fact–that not every run is going to be a stellar experience. But I need to manage my running more efficiently. My laps have always been not as consistent as they should be, and yesterday it was quite evident that I need to pick a steady, workable pace and stick to it. By mile eight, I was totally out of gas. I ran on vapor from then on out. Those last two miles, I ran a 10:55 pace, but let me tell ya, it seemed a heck of a lot slower.

After the run, I went home, took a hot shower, and quite frankly, I have been lazy ever since. Tomorrow is another day. Obligatory training numbers from yesterday’s run:

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:41:04 10:01 pace
Distance (mi) 10.08  
Moving Speed (mph) 6.0 avg. 10.3 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +702 / -700  
Temperature (F) 30.2 F avg. 32 F high
Wind Speed (mph) SSE 7.5 avg. SSE 8.1 max.

Deep Space Nine, Miles That Is

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/January/27/
in Running and life
. 0 Comments

Yesterday I completed a nine mile training run through Seneca and Cherokee parks in Louisville KY. What a great ending to a not-so-great week. I did the nine in accordance with my training plan for the 2008 Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon that I posted earlier. I had not been feeling good physically all week, fighting off a cold and flu-like symptoms that still have never seemed to fully hit me as of writing this post. I did not do a three mile outdoor run Thursday morning, but instead, opted for the misery of a treadmill at the YMCA on Wednesday evening. Oh, the horror. But it must have served it’s purpose, because yesterday I felt great.

It was one of those zen runs for me, where my mind seemed to wander in “deep space”while my body just stayed in a groove. I began the run wearing my recently purchased Mountain Hardwear Ascent mittens, even though the temperature was nowhere near as cold as the previous week. I just did not want to repeat the 20 minute painful hand thaw that I had endured last Saturday. (By the end of this run, my hands were drenched in sweat, but perfectly toasty, which was fine with me!)

As I ran along, I went into deep reflection mode. I began thanking people in my mind. I was thanking all the bosses who had ever hired me to do a job. There is nothing quite like looking for a job, applying for it, and then getting it. I continued on that vein, thanking all the people who had ever cut me any slack in my life. All the times I goofed up in something, and despite my error, the people who have stood by me stood out prominently in my mind at one point during the run. I thought about all the women who had ever kissed me. (Alas, so few!) I don’t have to say to anyone how wonderful a kiss feels. Anyway, off and on through the duration of the run, I would think of someone to thank. Even people I had never met. Thank you, Mr. Jeff Galloway. Because even though I did not come to that park to walk, the walk breaks you advocate allow the running portions of my training to be just that much sweeter. Thank you, nice woman running toward me in the opposite direction, for looking at my face and my eyes and smiling a knowing smile, for it’s good to see others sharing in the same experience.

When the run was over, there was the usual hip flexor pain I have been experiencing the past couple months, but it didn’t matter. For me, it’s part of the territory. I made my way back home, ate some real eggs and had a huge glass of orange juice, turned on the ridiculous commentary on the South Carolina election results and shortly after, turned them off again, and then soon crashed on my sofa with my cat, Starlight. A final thought of gratitude: Thanks, body, for giving me at least one more nice run.

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:28:28 9:45 pace
Distance (mi) 9.06  
Moving Speed (mph) 6.1 avg. 9.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +598 / -595  
Temperature (F) 31.6 F avg. 32 F high
Wind Speed (mph) SW 8.3 avg. SW 10.4 max.

Snow falls

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/January/22/
in Running
. 0 Comments

Well, I definitely do not feel so hot today. I have been fighting off something for a week or more. Sore throat, and now I feel more symptoms all over. I just feel really awful at the moment, physically. I laid in bed when I woke up thinking that I might not feel well enough with fighting off this bug to even go into work, yet alone go out for a run. I did something I rarely do since I have started running again, and that is, think up excuses not to go out this morning. The snow that fell overnight was hardly substantial; certainly not enough to keep me from running. Slowly, I got it together enough to get out and do a once-around jog in the neighborhood. I won’t even bother with the Garmin numbers…it was just two and a half miles in the snow at an 11 minute pace. I just feel under the weather, unfortunately. To top it off, my hip flexor pain is really, really bad for some reason today. I felt it the entire time and really feel it a lot now. I am not discouraged, just feeling a bit low. Hey, not every post is gonna be upbeat. But at least I still have a beat.

Eight Miles High

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/January/19/
in Running
. 5 Comments

Wow, it was cold today. The wind chill was something like 9 degrees Fahrenheit. As mentioned in a previous post, I am training for the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon in April. Today was the day to do eight miles–rain or shine, buddy. I started at Seneca Park, ran to Cherokee Park up and around Dog Hill, and then back. Okay, time for a little whining. Despite wearing three pairs of gloves [Patagonia inner layer, Seirus middle layer and standard Asics running gloves outer layer], somewhere around two miles, while I was running up Park Boundary Road near Big Rock, my hands sent me the signal. They were going to make me pay for today, big time.

Around the time I got to Cherokee Park Road, I realized there was a running event going on. There were streets cordoned off and lots of runners. I am not very plugged in to the local running community in Kentuckiana, being a returning runner and a sort of lone one at that, but I found out after doing a search when I got home that it was a four miler, something called the Snowman Shuffle. Hah, no snow but it was sure cold enough for it.

So with the race runners accompanying me for a while, all the way to Hogan’s Fountain, and the music on my iPod, it was enough of a distraction to keep my mind off my hands. I took walk breaks at intervals of nine minutes, and each time, tried making fists, squeezing some blood into fingers, etc. But it wasn’t until I was finished and in the car that the real pain came. Extreme hand pain. For a solid 20 minutes. I could not drive; I just had to sit and squirm and take it until the pain left. I am not a brainiac or a scientist or an expert on cold weather training gear, but I figured the three layers would do it. I have to think again. And why do they hurt so freaking bad immediately after a run, but the pain is not so bad during the run?

Well, once the pain subsided, I was able to better enjoy the runner’s high. An eight miles high. [Some of you may get the reference.] I feel okay, like I am on track for a decent time in the mini (decent time for me), barring no further injury. And I know, no matter what, it’s going to be fun trying.

Here are my obligatory numbers for today:

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:18:12 9:38 pace
Distance (mi) 8.1  
Moving Speed (mph) 6.2 avg. 9.5 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +603 / -603  
Temperature (F) 22.5 F avg. 24.8 F high
Wind Speed (mph) NW 12.1 avg. NW 13.8 max.

Continue reading ‘Eight Miles High’

On top of Cowger Parking Garage

Published
by
Phil
on /2008/January/17/
in photography
. 0 Comments

On top of Cowger Parking Garage

Since it snowed a little this morning, I thought I would take my camera with me so that after work, I could take some interesting downtown night pictures with some snow on the ground. By the time I left work for the day, the snow was nowhere to be found. So I walked up to the top of the parking garage and decided to take a few shots in the cold misty rain. I don’t think this one came out too bad, but I wish I knew how to take really good night photographs. One of these days I am going to read the manual that came with the camera. :)