Dave's Virtual World

Florida: December 2024

Better late than never? I guess. Two months ago, I spent a week in Florida, letting my body recover from the November Ironman Race and my mind to have a brief break from the election results and my personal issues. I am on day 4 of an awful bout of Influenza A and had to cancel working today, so I decided to get this out of the way. Alex and I leave for Japan in 2 weeks, and I don’t want any “old” blogging to linger. I will leave the grisly and over-detailed saga of my illness to the end of this post so you can choose to look at the pretty Florida photos and then bail if you are not interested in medical stuff.

My iCalendar reminded me this morning that November 12th is one of my favorite days of the year. Not only is it the birthdate of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, but they were born on the same day in 1809!!! Lincoln is far and away my favorite president. As I wrote in a recent blog, I visited his birthplace in Kentucky on my drive home from Florida in November.

I vividly remember reading the inscription the first time I visited DC as a child. While the Washington Monument is taller and the Jefferson more architecturally beautiful, they were both slave owners who set up a government “premised” on “all men are created equal.” They meant, of course, ONLY white men (not blacks or native Americans, and forget women!). The 3/5 compromise, the Electoral College, and the Senate being more powerful than the House made the slave states more powerful and have made true democracy impossible in the USA even now.

England, whom we broke away from to be “free,” outlawed slavery in 1833 and France in 1848, but it would take another 20 years and the bloodiest war ever before Lincoln succeeded.

Meanwhile, Darwin (22 years old) circled the entire globe on the 5-year Voyage of the Beagle in 1831. In 1839, he published his amazing book about the journey. I read it when I was in Ecuador with Alex in 2018. It is an amazing book; it is very well written and entertaining, and Darwin showed very advanced views of “primitive” societies for the time.

While we all know about the Finch beak variations from island to island in the Galapagos, which were the core basis for The Origin of Species (1859), he visited and described places, nature, and peoples from all of South America, as well as Africa and Australia.

Here is an article from 2009 (their Bicentennial) about Darwin’s strong anti-slavery and pro-Union beliefs; Lincoln does not seem to have read Origin of Species (but he was busy in 1859…. and didn’t enjoy a long life like Darwin).

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/darwin-on-lincoln-and-vice-versa-48151291

Florida. December 2 to 9, 2024: a quick photojournal.

It was snowy and cold in Buffalo on December 2nd, so it was a good week to head south.

NYC was cold but Sunny.

I stopped at the mural in front of the hotel for a selfie! I am wearing my Sea Turtle earring from Costa Rica. The Lido Beach Resort was on Siesta Key, which is part of Sarasota. Sarasota is just 30 minutes south of St. Petersburg/Tampa.

My room was ready early, so I went for a run with some appropriate music.

Siesta Key had been hit very hard by the earlier fall hurricanes, and I had called a few weeks before to make sure the resort was open. The first-floor rooms were still undergoing renovations, but the pools, lobby, and fitness center seemed unscathed to me. Just a few hundred yards south, though, there were several older buildings of only 2-3 stories that had been totally trashed. They had boarded-up windows, huge piles of sand that had been removed from condos, and were totally closed.

For the whole visit, there were blue skies and perfect sunsets. I was planning to drive to Boca Raton for a day to see my mom and uncles so I had a very short list of sightseeing plans. I skipped the Ringling because the main museum was still undergoing storm repair.

I swam in the pool in the morning (all to myself at 8am) and soaked in a jacuzzi, the gulf of MEXICO was “only” 67, I would swim in it a few times but the pool was a toasty 85.

I drove 20 minutes north to visit the Mote Aquarium, but as I parked, I saw that there was a bird rehabilitation center adjacent (and free), so I spent 30 minutes drinking my coffee and meeting the birds. About one-third of the pens were empty; they sadly lost a lot of birds during the hurricane.

I missed the frenzy, maybe some other time.

It was very hard to get good photos because the wire mesh of the cages was very small, I assume, to keep out any random small birds. They had a great variety of raptors and shore and sea birds. I had never seen a Caracara before!

I bought a hat and a book to support the charity. If you are ever in Tampa/St. Pete/Sarasota, be sure to visit them! It’s a nice addition to the Mote.

I had never heard of Mote but he made his fortune by inventing the shipping container to allow quick movement of goods between trucks, trains and ships. He then gave all his money to the Marine Center and Vascular Surgery research.

More than just a tourist “aquarium” it is a major oceanographic research institute. I was lucky as it had been closed for 6 weeks after the storms and had just reopened. It had two big buildings with a variety of marine life. There were lots of volunteer docents who explained all the exhibits.

While many of the creatures on display were rescues, I was told by a volunteer that these 2 sea turtles were 50 years old and had lived since hatchlings at the institute in a study on aging. They get fed at the spot he was standing at, so they thought maybe a second breakfast was coming.

I got to pet these cute Indonesian sharks.

This Moray Eel was about 8 feet long and lived in an artificial reef structure, just like the ones I snorkeled around in Puerto Rico. Luckily, those just had colorful fish.

I was going to grab some groceries as my room had a real kitchen, but sadly, the hurricane trashed that building, and it was out of business. I think it was a second night of GrubHub ramen.

The next day, I was driving across the state to Boca Raton. I knew there was no fast straight way across from Tampa, but I didn’t realize the fastest route would go south all the way to Naples.

I had lunch in Naples as I wasn’t in a big rush and was glad for a break after the heavy traffic on the 75 South.

These can be rented by the hour with a driver/bartender!

After Naples, it was a quick straight shot west through the Everglades with the cruise control at 80.

My rental car had a cool feature: when you turned on the blinker, the right or left dashboard screen gave you a side view—no need to turn your head!

It was partly cloudy in Boca (view from my mom’s apartment) but much more pleasant than it looked on my doorbell camera at home.

I had a pleasant dinner with my mom and my Uncles (and also, no photo, my “cousin” Bob, actually my mom’s ? second cousin once removed, who somehow I hadn’t ever met before).

It was perfect running weather in the morning, and I ran almost 13 miles. I also saw a bunch of cool birds.

If you squint you can see my uncles’ building on the beach, 5 miles east as the Caracara flies.

My mom and I did some window shopping and had lunch in Boca Raton.

I did the drive back quickly but just missed the sunset. I did see the moon later, though.

It was a warm, calm morning, and I did a quick warmup swim in the pool, then 20 minutes in the Gulf of MEXICO (its name for the last 500 years!) and a soak in the jacuzzi.

I had a phone call scheduled with my lawyer, and the depressing 90-minute ordeal at least had a nice setting.

Afterward, I had a relaxing poolside lunch of grilled fish and churros. The wind had picked up a lot and the water was better for kitesurfing than swimming.

December 6th was my late dad’s birthday, and every year since he died in 2018, our family friends, the Samuels (Phyllis and Jerry) and the Grusds (Velma and Neville), have dined at Ed’s favorite restaurant. It was so nice to get the photo Jerry sent me.

During the week, more and more Christmas lights went up. Palm Trees and Christmas lights bring back memories of holiday breaks in Hallandale, FL, every year of my childhood at my dad’s parents’ (and then just my nana Bertha after Joe died in about ’72) condo.

I went for an early morning interval run workout, stopping on each short loop for water at a nice nature reserve on the mangrove-lined bay.

There were only a few old houses from the 1960s, as almost all had been replaced by megamansions. They were on sale because they likely had severe water damage and were not worth fixing.

I visited the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. It was as great as I expected. I have always loved Dali and surrealism in general. In my freshman year in college, I had “The Persistence of Memory” poster on my wall and loved the Dali portrayal in “Midnight in Paris.”

OMG! Fuck!

This is from December 1982 at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and I immediately saw it was NOT as I remembered!

Despite being obscured, it is clear (and I have a better poster photo to confirm) that it is actually “The Birth of Liquid Desires,” painted a year later (1932) and much less well-known.

The Birth of Liquid Desires (1932) In this work, fluid, organic forms intermingle, evoking a sense of primal creation and desire. Dalí’s intricate detail and dreamlike imagery explore the depths of the subconscious, representing the flow of human emotions and desires in a unique and thought-provoking way.

The Persistence of Memory (1931) This painting is also known by the name Melting Clocks. The theme of this painting is time; which is painted in different meanings representing that time is melting.

The Persistence of Memory” demonstrates that what is beauty in art can extend beyond traditional notions of visual appeal. It showcases the beauty of the unexpected, the unconventional, and the thought-provoking.

Sorry, I am letting my mind and fingers type off on a tangent. So much for a quick travelogue post, but I want to add that MY “remembering” and telling people that I had “melting clocks” on my wall in college is an interesting psychological error.

Proust’s 5000-page multivolume masterpiece “In Search of Lost Time” (previously translated less accurately as “Remembrance of things past”) deals in enormous depth and length on the topic that anything we “remember” is not exactly what happened but how we view the past NOW in the context of everything else we have experienced since then.

Okay. Here are photos of the museum. I enjoyed it. The building is an amazing work of art, the setting is perfect, and there is an amazing 360-degree audiovisual movie about Dali’s life and art.

There was an amazing VR headset experience. The first one I have done that didn’t seem jerky or dizzying. Being inside a Dali landscape was…. surreal. It actually made me think it is time to get one of those Apple VR sets when the newest model is released.

The next morning, I walked on the beach at sunrise before swimming in the pool. The shells were amazing at Siesta Key.

I went for a 2 hour guided kayak tour of the bay and mangrove swamps. It was fun, lots of birds and jumping fish but didn’t see any porpoises or manatees.

We stopped on a sandy island to visit some birds and mollusks.

A cute Cormorant followed us across the bay, in the shallow water our boats would disturb small fish on the bottom and the bird knew to stay near us. It would pop up a long way from where it went under each time and surprise us. There were also a few Ospreys overhead but too far for a good iPhone photo.

The mangrove “trails” were so narrow at places that it was easier to pull on roots and branches than to use the paddles, but I had to be careful not to touch the sharp oysters on the roots.

My last tropical sunset of 2024. And the moon now full.

I snuck in a long run before heading back to the frozen tundra.

There was another gorgeous little nature preserve I found, but its boardwalk was badly damaged by the hurricanes. I enjoyed driving by the sexy statues every day and realized I had better get some photos before they were wrapped up by the moral minority now in power.

While doing my post run Yoga I saw motion in the water and it was a Porpoise!! If I wasn’t on a tight time table to the airport I would have totally run down the beach and swam out to her. She was very close to shore in only 3-4 feet of the clear water.

I carefully packed my treasures! Because the gulf is so much calmer than the Atlantic Ocean the shells are nicer than in Miami.

My flight home was on “California Blue” so my music choice was obviously…..

It was cold and rainy back in Buffalo.

Fifa enjoyed her stay at the spa but was happy to see me!

Okay. I guess you will be spared hearing about my having Influenza A recently. Today is day 4, and as of now, I don’t feel like I am going to die anymore. It doesn’t seem as interesting. But … here are some photos! I did a lot Saturday but wanted to get a short run in Sunday…

Post IM Roadtrip: Florida-Buffalo

If I finish and post this, it will be my second one of the day. I don’t think that has happened before! But before I can start writing about November, I must share the amazing birds I saw on my beach walk. I bundled up well; it was only 39 degrees and very windy. Walking with the wind in my face was just bearable. It was pleasant coming back with the wind at my back and the bright sun warming my face. I was planning to just listen to my

and…. that was all I wrote on Monday evening. Not sure why I stopped mid-sentance but I know that after I ate dinner and called a friend (I realized I had not spoken to anyone all day and wanted more human connection than just texting) I was exhausted and went to bed without even packing. Here are the promised bird photos. An amazing feeding frenzy of many varieties of gulls, terns, and pelicans and then a precious one-legged Sanderling.

I also saw a Sanderling dining on a Cannonball Jelly. The jelly must not be very tasty, though, if the seagulls don’t eat it.

It was so cold despite the sun that I only saw two other people on my hour’s walk.

Yesterday, after my early run in the 26-degree windy dark, I packed and then drove to Savannah, GA, spent 3 hours there, and then drove to St. Augustine, where I am this morning. I just barely kept ahead of the weather. This morning, I ran on a hotel gym treadmill and will do some touristy things here for a few hours (it has stopped raining, but it is only 34 and very windy) and then drive to Boca Raton this afternoon. Will have lots of writing time there tomorrow.

It just starting drizzling as I left Savannah and was raining hard when I arrived at my hotel at 6pm in St. Augustine. The Weather channel news is unreal, 7 degrees in Louisiana, serious snow accumulations in Florida!!!

I’ll do a real blog about Savannah and St. Augustine soon, but back to November! Before I write, though, look at these photos from the Pier where Ironman Florida was on Nov. 2. It was 84 degrees, and the Ocean water was 74 degrees.

Tuesday, November 5th, 2024:

Alex had flown back to Brooklyn on Monday and after a short peloton bike workout (despite my watch’s advice) I said goodbye to my beachfront VRBO for the drive home.

With the race a few days ago, there was a lot of data on the Triathlon sites. The DNF rate was higher than the 7% average because of the 84-degree sunny weather. I was very proud of myself to finish 11th in my age group out of the 59 athletes.

I said goodbye to this cute visitor to my patio and drove the 300-mile distance to Birmingham, Alabama.

After driving from the panhandle back into Alabama, it was a straight drive north past the farms, swamps, and cotton fields.

I guess this huge flag along the interstate reminds people of the evils of slavery? Well, some people. I was excited to visit Birmingham on Election Day. I knew there was a lot of civil rights history to see.

There is a lot of history about Rosa Parks (and the many others whose names are forgotten), the bus boycott, and the cell where MLK wrote his “letter from jail” to the clergy of Birmingham in 1963..

AI Overview

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a powerful letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was protesting segregation; in the letter, he defends the use of nonviolent direct action against unjust laws, criticizing a group of local clergymen who had publicly condemned his protests as “untimely” and urged him to wait for change through legal channels, arguing that a moral obligation exists to break unjust laws to achieve racial justice.

Key points of the letter:

Response to criticism:King directly addresses the clergymen’s criticism, arguing that as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, he has a responsibility to act against injustice wherever it exists, including in Birmingham.
Justification of nonviolent direct action:He explains that nonviolent protest, including civil disobedience, is a necessary tactic to create tension and force a community to confront the issue of injustice.
Unjust laws vs. just laws:King differentiates between just laws, which align with moral principles, and unjust laws, which should be disobeyed.
Appeal to conscience:He urges white moderates to actively support the Civil Rights movement, criticizing their complacency and stating that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Historical and religious references:King uses biblical examples and references to philosophers like St. Augustine to support his arguments about the moral imperative to fight against injustice.

Every year on MLK Day, I would watch his speech with my kid as a little reminder of the past, so it was not just a “day off school” to play in the snow or go skiing.

While listening to his voice in the room devoted to “I Have a Dream,” I mused about how I could blog after the trip about how great it was that America had elected a black woman as president. That would be a testament to our nation not having forgotten the sacrifices of King and all the others who were beaten or killed in their quest for freedom and equality.

My grandmother was a teacher in NYC, and one of the three white freedom riders who was killed was a student at her school.

While the bombing that killed four young girls at Sunday school is well known, it was just one of many bombings, burnings, and abductions/murders that occurred in Birmingham.

And being in Birmingham made me think about Ani DiFranco’s song “Hello Birmingham”. Which is about Voting Day!

Hold me down
I am floating away
Into the overcast skies
Over my home town
On election day

What is it about Birmingham?
What is it about Buffalo?

Did the hate filled want to build bunkers
In your beautiful red earth
They want to build them in our shiny white snow
And now I’ve drawn closed the curtains
In this little booth
Where the truth has no place to stand
And I am feeling oh so powerless
In this stupid booth
With this useless little lever in my hand
And outside
My city is bracing
For the next killing thing
Standing by the bridge
And praying for the next Doctor Martin Luther King

It was just one shot
Through the kitchen window
Just one or two miles from here
If you fly like a crow

A bullet came to visit a doctor
In his one safe place

A bullet ensuring the right to life
Whizzed past his kid and his wife
And knocked his glasses right off of his face

And the blood poured off the pulpit
Yeah the blood poured down the picket lines
And the hatred was immediate, yeah
And the vengeance was divine

So they went and stuffed God down the barrel of a gun
And after him they stuffed his only son

Hello Birmingham; it’s Buffalo
I heard you had some trouble down there again
Just calling to let to know
That somebody understands

I was once escorted
Through the doors
Of a clinic
By a man
In a bulletproof vest
And no bombs
Went off that day
So I am still here to say
Birmingham
I’m wishing you all of my best
Oh Birmingham
I’m wishing you all of my best
Oh Birmingham
I’m wishing you all of my best
On this election day

She is an amazing artist and person. I recently listened to her audiobook memoir, and it was wonderful to hear how open she was about her challenging youth and her lifelong commitment to rights for all.

Here is her most “mainstream” “hit”.

I will see her live in Brooklyn for the first time in April, and she plays only a few blocks from my kid’s apartment there. Tickets are still available. It says there will also be a band called “TBA”, I haven’t heard of them 😉

https://www.bowerypresents.com/shows/detail/687439-ani-difranco

Even though she has a recording studio and performing space (in an old church she saved from demolition), she rarely performs here. She lives in New Orleans; I bet she enjoyed the SNOW this week and told her kids, “We used to walk in snow that was measured in FEET, not inches.”

Wow, that was an unplanned and lengthy tangent. Yes, the struggle continues; there were displays about how far our country still has to go and civil rights history in other nations.

After finishing at the museum, I visited the park across the street, took some photos, and thought about history. There was a long “freedom trail” to follow, but it was getting dark, and I wanted to get to my hotel.

I appreciated the dog and gun monuments for their blunt truth.

I know that MLK was a minister and Christian, but I don’t really see how anyone now can believe there is an actual god. The cycle of man’s inhumanity to man (I guess one should say “humanity’s inhumanity to humans,” but really, it is mostly men) continues unabated despite our improvements in science, technology, etc.

I listened to some “regionally appropriate” music on the drive to the hotel.

Although I guess that, as CCR was from L.A., this might have made more sense.

Okay. I am not sure why, but many YouTube links are not embedding now. Maybe WordPress and YouTube are fighting. But it was a link to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama. ” In Birmingham, they love the Governor….” (segregation now, segregation forever -GW).

Wednesday, November 6th, 2024. I woke to the news. The apocalypse was upon us. Trump/Musk won and would have a subservient Congress and SCOTUS.

That was enough news for one day. I went into blackout mode, hit the gym, and then hit the road. I was still wearing my IM wristband and had decided to keep it on until the end of the year, as it was my A race of 2024.

I knew I wanted to visit the Civil Rights Institute weeks earlier when I saw I would drive through Birmingham. But there were other sites I only noticed while driving south a week ago. I wanted to visit Mammoth Cave National Park and Lincoln’s birthplace. Both were in Kentucky (yes, Illinois is the “land of Lincoln,” but he lived his first seven years in Kentucky).

I had not accounted for being near Nashville during the morning rush hour. The Waze app took me on a weird loop on very small, rural roads to get around it. I was excited to see a nice horse, and then…so much for my “news blackout.”

I have heard of Carlsbad Caverns and been to Howe Caverns and some smaller ones on trips to PA and other places, but I hadn’t realized that Mammoth Cave National Park existed. It is the most extensive cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of mapped caves. It is a huge NP, like the ones out west, with a lodge, camping, lakes, rivers, and many other things to do besides the many different cave tour options.

https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

My time was limited, so I had just booked a 2 hour cave tour. I had enough time before it started to spend a little time on the visitor center exhibits.

It was cool and drizzly, which was fine as underground, it would be a pleasant dry 50 degrees with no wind. After our safety talk, we had a 5-minute bus ride to the cave entrance. The history of how the caves were discovered in the 1800s and then became a tourist attraction was fascinating.

The Ranger guide was excellent.

At our first stop, he turned off the lights for a while so we could experience total darkness.

These “flat” ceilings look artificial but are created as different layers collapse when the water leaves the chambers.

Someone who had seen a wintery NF postcard long ago named this section “Frozen Niagara Falls.”

Cave Crickets have very long antennas as they live in complete darkness. Small, blind, translucent fish also live down there.

Tourists used horse-drawn stagecoaches until this railroad was built in the 1870s. It became obsolete when paved roads and automobiles arrived.

It was only a 30-minute drive further north to the Lincoln Birthplace.

As it was now the day after America elected Trump, I had to reflect on the fact that his supporters somehow believe he is the “best” president we have had.

It is so amazing that in 1900, the citizens of Kentucky wanted to commemorate the birthplace of the man who saved the Union, while today, they don’t even want slavery taught in their public schools.

“With Malice toward None, With Charity for All”. Wow, that’s almost an exact description of Musk/Trump…NOT.

Lincoln’s family built their cabin on a hill near the spring. That way, they wouldn’t have to trudge a long distance for water like so many pioneers. I wish they had an option to drink from the spring (in St. Augustine, you get to drink from Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth).

I spent the night at a hotel near Cincinnati and the next day drove home to Buffalo.

The best part of any journey, reunited with my precious Fifa, she had a fun time at the kennel/spa.

Please share, subscribe, “like,” and comment.

My meme today is from an old friend.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had much to say about disobedience of immoral laws. So please DO support the rights of your LGBTQ, black, brown, female, Asian, and non-christian citizens to be treated EQUALLY despite whatever laws seeking to establish a white/male/Christian oligarchy the Evil Trump/Musk government pursues.

Imagine….

It is January 20th, 2025. Of course, I am on a full news blackout and won’t even venture onto social media. I did post a photo to Instagram this morning as I sipped coffee and read my Kindle on the couch of my VRBO in South Carolina.

As I mentioned in my last post, I still haven’t written about my drive from Panama City Beach to Buffalo (November 5th to 7th, 2024) or my December week in Siesta Key (Sarasota). I have plenty of time to write today with the news avoidance plan and today is a rest day on my Tokyo Marathon training plan (after a fast 13.1 miles yesterday). I thought about a swim, but the temperature is only up to 36 today at 10 am (it was 60 yesterday, but the freeze is coming), and it is getting windy. I’ll settle for some Yoga and a walk on the beach later. I can do some serious swimming once I am down in Boca Raton. I was planning to be there only from Friday to Monday when Alex is flying down to stay with my mom and see my uncles, and some cousins. With the Arctic blast that will have nights below 30 here, I’ll be fleeing south tomorrow instead, doing some sightseeing, and getting to Boca on Wednesday. It will only be 27 and windy for my morning run tomorrow, brrrrr.

I was only going to write about November, but I realized that I should also do a quick recap of the three days since my last post. That way, I can write a post next week covering only my Florida trip.

Even before that, let me share this wonderful work of art that I had saved on my MacBook desktop but forgot to put in previous blog posts.

It is “The Ghent Altarpiece” or “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” by Jan van Eyck (and his brother Hubert) in 1430. The author of the recent Middle Ages book I read described it as the first Renaissance Painting. Jan van Eyck was not only an amazing artist but also developed the technique of modern oil painting.

The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” may often be misused (and misattributed to Confuscious, actually coined in 1911 by an American newspaper editor referring to advertising copy). But in this case, it is perfectly correct. The altarpiece is 17 x 12 feet; look at the lamb panel details.

Wikipedia Entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent_Altarpiece

Ghent Museum Entry: includes a history of its recovery from the Nazis after the war and still unsolved theft of panels, one never recovered.

https://visit.gent.be/en/see-do/ghent-altarpiece-supreme-divine-art

Friday, January 17th, I had a stunning ocean view after the sun got high and some sad news. His Twin Peaks TV series started in 1990 and was SO different than anything on TV until then: surreal and mysterious. He even did a Dune film in 1984 (with Sting!) that was poorly reviewed, but I enjoyed it.

Friday was a “rest” day on the marathon plan, so I planned an easy hour or so on the bike. I had been running north on the bike path but decided to explore south and stop at the Starbucks the bike rental guy told me about. In the morning, I drove 30 minutes north to the nearest Massage Envy location. They are like the Starbucks of massage spas—nationwide and reliable but not as good as your favorite local spot.

It would have been just an hour of riding if I had gone straight to the Starbucks and back, but I added in some side trips. It was 50 and slightly breezy but perfect for shorts and a fleece.

Including my snack break and photo ops, it was over 2.5 hours but so relaxing. I saw about a half dozen other cyclists (one on a real road bike), a few dozen golfers, two yellow labs, and no alligators.

Here is the quicky Relive movie I made (no comments, just the photos that the app loaded automatically).

https://www.relive.cc/view/vrqowB5kGyq

I continued binge-watching The Squid Game on Netflix. The recent ads for Season 2 that just dropped reminded me that I had never watched Season 1.

It was interesting, but like some other South Korean action series I have watched, it is a few steps below Western quality. The dialog, acting, and plot flaws are annoying. Season One ends with a clear message that there is a season Two (but… minor spoiler….why couldn’t he have visited his daughter and then continued onto season Two???). And then I was confused as to why Season Two had only 7 episodes until it said “Final Season 3 coming in 2025.” I’ll watch but there is a lot of better stuff out there. I went to sleep early as I wanted to get in my 3-mile Saturday run before the rain came.

When I woke up, I saw a missed doorbell camera notification on my phone… I thought it was the cat who had triggered it a few times this week but… so cute!

I got my pitch-black beach run done in time……

By late afternoon, the skies cleared. I multi-tasked by watching some football playoffs and taking a SportSafe course, which is required as I am now on the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Triathlon Club.

Sunday I had a long run scheduled but didn’t need to wake up early as I had to wait for the overnight rain to end.

But I was awakened by my iPhone siren with an Amber alert.

I spent the time waiting for the rain to end reading about Japan and making some notes of things to do while there.

The plan for yesterday (Sunday) called for 13 miles at a 9:30 pace. I wasn’t sure I would be able to maintain it, but at least my Garmin watch said I was at a “moderate” recovery level. After the 20-mile slow bike ride on Friday and the short, easy-paced run on Saturday, I guess I was well rested.

I set my watch for 9:10 to 9:40 alerts and had no problem for the first hour. It was almost 60 degrees and very humid, so I drank some Pocari Sweat (Tokyo’s official drink) every two miles. I refilled my water bottle at mile 7, and then suddenly, I was at 10 miles and having no problem maintaining the pace. I ran the last mile hard and clocked an 8:15 mile.

The sky cleared again late in the afternoon. I watched the Eagles win their snowy playoff game (I rooted for them since my cousin’s husband is from there and a diehard fan) and then the Bills game. I actually fell asleep in the 4th quarter when the Bills had a “safe” lead so I didn’t have the stress of watching the dangerously close finish. Next week we get to visit KC and….

I had been planning to finally start writing about the November road trip, but this is already a long post. I Will stop now and go for my beach walk since it is 39 degrees, and this may be as warm as it gets.

Please share, subscribe, like, comment….. Thx

Vacation Week 1/3

I’ve been in SC for a full week, and I am finally feeling somewhat relaxed.

I know it has been a week because my “desert island calendar” said 7 days this morning. And it is even a diary of sorts because I know I got the oyster shell on my 20-mile run day.

The beach here has many shells, but they are boring compared to the exotic ones I collected in Siesta Key (Sarasota) last month.

It may be one of the coldest Januarys recorded here (and there will be another arctic blast in a few days), but it has been so sunny compared to the constant gray at home. Here are photos of the Atlantic from my balcony after I got to my VRBO and the marsh from the other (smaller) balcony looking southwest.

And my first vacation sunrise.

I headed out to run early even though it was only 32 degrees, as there was weather on the way!

This storm brought 10 inches of snow to Nashville and 4 to Atlanta.

Just as I was finishing up I felt, rain? No, it was sleet!

The boardwalk from the beach and sidewalk was a little slippery, but it all melted in about an hour or two. I watched the Weather Channel to see news about the fires in L.A. and the Nashville snow, and there was a constant “possibly icy roads” banner on the bottom of the screen. I assume there were “falling iguana” warnings in Florida.

Saturday I got around to unpacking and just did a half hour of Yoga/Core exercise. I would have liked to swim in the gorgeous pool but it is closed for “winter”, WTF. Even the hot tub is closed. Most ski resorts have heated outdoor pools and spas so I don’t understand why not here. These condominiums are all 1-2 $M, so it seems very stingy to at least not have a hot tub. I have finally come to terms with the situation, but it was very hard the first few days to constantly see it from my balcony and living room. And, yes, it was in the VRBO property “description” but only buried way back in the “Litchfield complex rules” after parking, recycling, quiet time, info, etc. that I did not read thoroughly until actually getting ready to visit.

I “stocked” my refrigerator and pantry. I could live just on Clif bars, David bars, coffee and fruit but that would not be good for my physical or mental health. Pocari Sweat is the drink for the Tokyo Marathon course, so I have been training with it. It actually tastes nice (a subtle, not too sweet, grapefruit flavor) and has a good amount of calories and electrolytes.

Before leaving home, I read about the planets aligning in January and the Wolf Moon passing over Mars. Since I had a good view of the clear sky here, I looked out for them. I didn’t really spend enough time to see Mars get occluded, but I got a great photo to the east at 8 p.m. of a moonbeam pointing at Orion and then in the early morning of it getting ready to set in the west.

Sunday morning, there was another beautiful sunrise. It will take me a few days to stop taking sunrise photos.

The first day I did NOT take a sunrise photo I was proud of myself and almost called Alex to say “sometimes….if it is really special….I DON’T take a photo, so it stays real in my head for me”. It is a running joke we have of a quote from the Sean Penn character in “Walter Mitty”. I actually ALWAYS take a photo. Alex and I both loved that movie. In fact, when we went to Iceland, Alex made sure we stopped at the bakery on the edge of the sea that was made up as a Papa John’s Pizza for the movie. We did not skateboard down a volcano, though.

Oh, Uh, the clip is from TikTok!!! Watch it quick… or, hmmm. I’d better videotape it unless I can also find it on YouTube. Oh, good, it was on YouTube. Here you go. I guess I was always misquoting him a little, but the idea is good.

It really was a great movie if you’ve never seen it.

For Sunday, my marathon training schedule required me to go 20 miles. After Ironman Florida on November 2nd, it was about 15 weeks until the Tokyo Marathon. I had run 26 miles, of course, on November 2nd (at a slightly slower than normal pace due to having broken my ankle in July, not because of pain, but because of limited training time once I was cleared to run in September). I had NOT for the 7 weeks since IM kept anywhere near the recommended running volume. With my treadmill (and other exercise equipment) being “held hostage” since I moved to my own home, I could only run outside (when it was not too dark, cold, or icy) or on a treadmill at the UB gym (with its limited hours on weekends and school vacation).

For the first 17 miles, I was able to maintain a 10 minute/mile pace as recommended, but for the last 3 on the sand, my legs felt like cement. I made a minute-long Relive app movie of it.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vWqBZDRDeYq

Most of my run was in or around Huntington State Park. It had wonderful marshes and forested dirt trails, paved paths, and roads to run on. The campgrounds also had very nice restrooms where I could refill my water bottle. The dotted red line on the left is the 20-mile bike path that I used for running the 3 miles north to the park from my VRBO.

The birds were great, but sadly, there were no alligators. In winter, they bury themselves in the mud or in hidden areas just below the surface.

It will hit 60 on Sunday; hopefully, some will come out to bask in the sun. I basked for a while myself.

I relaxed on the couch all afternoon and watched the Bills playoff football game. I slept late on Monday morning, so no sunrise photo for that reason. I wanted to try a swim, but it was still cold when I woke up, and by the time it warmed up past 40, it was beyond my usual AM exercise enthusiasm window. My Garmin watch also suggested taking a full rest day.

I spent much of the day finishing the book about the Middle Ages I was reading on the Kindle.

It was getting a little long even for me, but after the Bubolic plagues and Leonardo, I knew the Middle Ages were almost over, even if the Kindle said it was only 65% complete. It had some photos at the end and lots of endnote pages.

I can put this at the end of most of my blog posts…..

It was interesting that the Black Death led to a social revolution in Europe as the huge loss of laborers made labor a more valuable commodity than in the past, giving them more power. And while the 1300s were marked by repeated plagues and awful weather they also produced Chaucer, Dante and Petrarch writing in not Latin but common languages and then the printing press came along and Martin Luther. I did not know that in 1527 Charles V sacked Rome with an army including many anti-catholic protestants. I learned a lot from the book. In fact I had a dream one night that I was in college and I think it was because of all the history I was reading and at the same time I am learning to speak Japanese (won’t ever try to learn to read it unless I live there).

By evening I was going a little stir crazy and it was still in the 40s so I went for a walk on the beach.

It was very relaxing. I saw one person in the distance walking a dog but otherwise just me and the waves. It was overcast but the moon peaked out at one point.

Afterward, I saw a cute cat, but she was shy and scampered off. Then I relaxed on the patio for a while, listening to the waves with a comforter on me, listening to my audiobook, and actually dozing off.

For Tuesday, my calendar called for a 50-minute Fartlek workout.

Because it had been overcast most of the night, it was still fairly warm at 6 a.m. Thanks to the full moon, it was light enough not to bring a flashlight.

I ran 3/4 miles at an easy pace and then all out for 1/4 mile and repeated. I was able to run almost as fast on the hard sand as on pavement. My only fear was stepping on one of the giant cannonball jellyfish, but I think I would have seen one in time to avoid it. Luckily the only two I saw were quite a bit off to the side of my course. Here is the photo from the other day in case you didn’t see it. About a foot across!

And, another sunrise photo, hadn’t stopped yet. But this time, after running and Yoga.

I finally felt relaxed enough to start working on my to-do list for the week. I still had to arrange travel from Tokyo to Kyoto (bullet train) and from Kyoto back to Tokyo airport (short flight).

I accomplished those tasks, I still need to arrange for two day trips out of Tokyo I want to do but will get to those soon. I needed to adjust a hotel stay and the website wouldn’t let me do it. As they are 14 hours ahead of us in Tokyo, I called later at night once it was past 9 am there. When the woman answered in Japanese I quickly responded “eigo ga, hanashimas ka?” (Do you speak English). She said “skochi, skochi” (little, little) which worried me, but then proceeded to be 100% fluent. Just like most of my “Spanish only” speaking patients who quickly reveal that they speak MUCH better English than I do Spanish. I snuck in a few “Hai, arigato” (yes, thanks) to her polite requests to wait and then a Ja Mata (goodbye) at the end. I am doing DuoLingo as well as Pimsleur and I recently got up to my “go to” phrase for foreign travel.

After running on the beach so early, I realized that if I was going to finally swim in the 54-degree water, I should just do it early in the morning. Although cold, there would be no wind which usually picked up a little by the time it warmer.

So on Wednesday morning, after yet another sunrise photo, I bundled up in my wetsuit, hood, and booties (no gloves, they are still being held hostage also, but I should have just ordered some on Amazon).

It was 37 degrees so warmer than some recent mornings and there was no wind so the ocean was as calm as a pond. I did my usual cold water tricks of jumping jacks to get my heart rate up and pouring a bottle of warm water into my wetsuit and then in I went.

The NOAA site had said the water was 54 but…. those buoys are usually a few feet down and on summer days tend to be lower than the surface and on winter days higher. With it being so cold and calm I think the surface water was possibly below 50 but I didn’t bring my pool thermometer with me. It didn’t feel that different than my last Lake Erie swim of the season when the water was only 47 and I didn’t last even 10 minutes.

I starting swimming when the water was less than 4 feet deep and went 10 strokes, stood up, another 10 strokes stood up, then 20, 30 and then my face didn’t hurt anymore and I was actually swimming. After about 15 minutes I felt great but my hands were starting to get very cold (as they were in the cold air so much). I stopped at 20 minutes and was VERY satisfied and proud of myself. By the time I walked to the boardwalk to towel off my hands and face my fingers were so numb I could barely get my gloves on. But … anything that doesn’t kill you….

The water is only 4 or 5 degrees below normal but the air temperatures being 10-20 below winter normal here make that even more significant. I had been thinking of having no problem swimming in 58 degree water and 58 degree air.

Just like the author of the Middle Ages book I am making this too long. Today I ran 10.5 miles at exactly a 10 min/mile pace. In shorts! It was almost 60! Then some balcony Yoga and I went a rented a bicycle. I watched Manchester United (Chelsea is “my” team but I also support MU as it is a close friends fav) amazingly win 3-1 after being down 0-1 with only 10 minutes left. And one guy scored the hat trick himself! Then I watched the last episode of Season 1 of “The Squid Games” on Netflix, mixed feelings about it but I’ll watch season 2 also.

And here is my meme for today. I joked to someone recently that I was just trying to live my life according to memes now.

Please subscribe, share, “like”, I only got one “like” for my last post but it meant the world to me! No comments though…. If a blog falls in the forest but no one comments did it make a sound?

A change in latitude.

WOW. It is already January 10th, and I never even wrote a 2024 wrap-up post or one about my drive home from Panama City Beach (Ironman Florida) in November or my vacation in Siesta Key in December! Will get around to those later but for today will just write about the last few days.

I saw this New Yorker cartoon on Instagram today…

Yesterday, I flew from Buffalo to Myrtle Beach (via BWI on Southwest) and drove 30 miles south to Pawley’s Island, where I will be for the next few weeks. I need to tune out the world and get into my Zen.

It has been awful: the fires in L.A. (my aunt and uncle were almost evacuated but got to stay safely at their home in Calabasas), the winter storm paralyzing Nashville and Atlanta, Trump getting no punishment for his 34 felony convictions (why couldn’t they have at least fined him $1M for each?), I was very sick for over a week at the end of December, Jimmy Carter is dead, my divorce is very stressful; international news is just as bad, and Muskhole and Fuckerberg are on a disinformation frenzy. I am done with the news for a few weeks. I’ll train for the Tokyo Marathon (March 2nd), read books on my Kindle, and watch some movies and series (definitely Shogun, The Substance, Megalopolis, I’m Still Here, and White Lotus; any other recommendations are welcome). Quiet walks on the beach with audiobooks or music will also help me relax. I am learning Japanese via Pimsleur and Duolingo, which I really enjoy and luckily I have a swimming friend who is conveniently a Japanese translator, I’ll call her occasionally to practice.

I am currently reading a very well-written and NOT boring history of the Middle Ages.

It really explains in easy-to-understand but great detail the fall of the Roman Empire and then fills in all the history that is so poorly taught in school about Charles Martel, The spread of Islam, Charlemagne, the Vikings, how monks and knights got started and affected the world, El Cid, the Crusades, Byzantium, and Genghis Khan, etc. And I am only halfway through the book! Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure really left out a lot! Genghis Khan’s empire stretched from Poland to South Korea! Although an atheist, I am always intrigued by the history of religions. I read this great book before visiting there many years ago. I made sure to visit the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as well as the Jewish sites.

I just finished a fast paced, weird Sci-Fi audiobook about the near future, when AI, bioengineering, and robotics produce hybrid animal/AI soldiers. Of course, they become sentient at some point.

I posted this to Instagram today as I watched the weather channel.

It is about 20 degrees colder than normal here in SC, but still 30 degrees warmer than Buffalo so I will not complain. And no wildfires or hurricanes, either!

Travel recap:

My friend Mark picked me up at 5 am and drove me to the Buffalo airport. I have Clear now so I was able to skip the already long TSA pre-check queue.

I was one of the very few people wearing a mask but I didn’t want to get sick AGAIN.

I was glad and lucky to be traveling between the two big winter storms and not have any delays as I only had an hour layover in BWI, there are no direct flights from Buffalo to Myrtle Beach this time of year as it is off season.

It was less than an hour in the air to Baltimore. It was so strange to see all the snow there. In the four years I lived there during my time at Johns Hopkins, we had one 10 inch snow storm but otherwise just a dusting here and there.

Sunrise over the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, PA

And only 5 degrees warmer in Baltimore than Buffalo! Remember, global climate change creates overall warming but also greater extremes of everything. Ironically the warmer air at the North Pole in the winters allows for arctic blasts to travel further south than historically normal.

I spent the whole layover walking the airport’s terminals. Got in 1.2 miles. I saw the yellow lab service dog 2 more times but knew I couldn’t pet him as he was working.

It was reassuring to see that my luggage was on the plane to Myrtle Beach with me thanks to my apple airtags. Looking out the airport window at the snow covered ground I felt like I was in Minnesota, not Maryland!

It was another quick, smooth flight to Myrtle Beach. This plane was quite empty and we were told to spread out so as to distribute our weight! “Only 2 people per row, move to the back…”. Of course as it was Southwest I still only received a small paper cup of diet coke, JetBlue gives you a WHOLE can 😉

When I first saw no snow on the ground I checked google maps and we were almost in NC!

The beach and airport were quite deserted. I quickly got my luggage and rental car and as it was not even noon yet (and I couldn’t access my VRBO until 4pm) I drove the 10 minutes from the airport to the beach.

It was 40 but very windy! The beachside Myrtle Beach tourist strip was so empty and quiet it felt like I was in a post-apocalyptic movie and a zombie would appear from an alley. Wasn’t there a ferris wheel scene in “Zombieland”…. , great movie and cast and AMAZING they got them all to come back for Z2. And these are FUN zombie movies, not depressing like “the walking dead”, I highly recommend them.

The only other time I had been to Myrtle Beach was in December 2005 when we went there to visit my Dad who was living at the time in Marion, SC (about an hour inland). We stayed at an oceanfront hotel at dirt cheap off season prices and had a HUGE indoor water park to ourselves! Alex was 3 1/2!

This was in the years before I became a cold water, open water swimmer so I hadn’t thought about bringing a wetsuit and swimming in the 60 degree ocean.

My dad’s house had gorgeous Spanish moss on the Live Oaks.

It was “cold” for the locals but shorts weather for me. We did some fun touristy activities.

Despite the “cold” and me being the only one there, about half the shops and attractions were still open. I had googled for a coffee shop and picked a local one “Lo-Fi Coffee” rather than Starbucks. There were three young women working there despite me being the only customer for the 30 minutes I sipped my Caramel Macchiato. The coffee shop was a “retro” theme and had “Back to the Future” playing on a small TV. I was a little spooked by seeing a second PacMan console in just 2 weeks (for some inexplicable reason there was one in the lobby of the Urgent Care center I went to for my cold at the end of December).

I had thought I would find a place to eat lunch outdoors and watch the waves but it seemed like most of the restaurants were closed or had their outdoor patios shut down. I drove south the 30 miles to Pawley’s Island and then a little further south to a parking lot with both ocean and creek access. The beach was beautiful with lots of pelicans and gulls in the air, I found a cool shell, it was not fully intact but very nice.

It was very windy so I only walked for about 20 minutes, I saw one other bundled up walker. Back at the parking lot the wind was much less strong so I decided to walk some more on the marsh side of the parking area. It was low tide and the sand was nice and firm. I saw a huge (one foot wide) blob that after poking and flipping with the tip of my shoe I realized was a BIG jelly fish. I “helped” it back in the water but it was sadly deceased. Probably cold shock. I ran the photo through my iNaturalist app (free, get it!) and got my answer. I had never even heard of it before.

I looked for alligators as I walked but didn’t see any. I don’t know if they head further south in the winter (I know they have them here in the summer) or if they were all in semi-hibernation with the cold spell. I saw several nice birds, lots of vultures and gulls.

I was actually cold enough that when I drove back into town I chose a Chinese restaurant for lunch and had some Wonton soup and noodles. I grabbed some groceries and headed to my VRBO. It had a perfect view of the Atlantic to the east and also the sunset over the marsh to the west.

It had been a long day and I went to sleep early. There was a gorgeous sunrise. It was only 32 degrees but compared to the several sub 20 degree runs I’ve done recently at home it was very nice! And barely any wind despite a storm on the way.

I explored the Litchfield by the Sea community and then ran on the amazingly firm low tide sand (my pace was the same as on pavement but much less jarring). I saw a few walkers and one nice yellow lab. And some more pelicans including several diving in for fish.

they are so low here, they are a little hard to see even with me holding the camera at sand level

I ran 7.5 miles at a 9:20 pace, Sunday will be my long slow day and then I will follow my training plan exactly for the next 3 weeks.

To the north, after the houses end, is Huntington State Park which I plan to use for my longer runs, it also has a zoo and some other things that I’ll check out once the weather is back in the 50s.

A VERY relaxing, VERY enjoyable run. I had originally (almost a year ago) booked this vacation as a chance to see if I might want to buy a condominium here. I know a couple I went to medical school with who have a place down here. It is a wonderful spot, I like that it is not insanely busy like Myrtle Beach or South Florida. But after my recent trips to Panama City Beach and Siesta Key (Sarasota) I have realized that I’ll just be wintering in various locales during the winter months. If I can be somewhere warm for a week or two every month between November and February that will be good enough for me. Florida, Arizona, Costa Rica, etc. And it will be sooooo much cheaper to do that than buy an oceanfront place that I then have to worry about being hit by a Hurricaine, rising insurance costs, etc. etc. etc.

This meme describes where I feel I am right now.

As difficult and confrontational as my divorce has become (despite ALL my earlier efforts to seek counseling or mediation) it will be over eventually and then I can move onto the next phase of my life. I don’t want to re-marry or live with someone but am hoping to find someone that I can spend time with exercising, hiking, kayaking, camping and traveling to the many places I still want to visit. I am settled into my rented house with Fifa and look forward to Alex being with us for the summer while they work in Buffalo.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to subscribe (free, easiest if you download the FREE Jetpack for WordPress app), comment, share. I enjoy writing, I find it cathartic and if nothing else am leaving a journal for Alex to have in the future. I read a lot of stuff now on Substack, Medium and WordPress both by famous authors and thinkers but also by “casual” writers. I am not at the point of some of these people who fully disclose their innermost emotions and thoughts but I am slowly doing better I think at not JUST writing about travel.

Florida, then and now

As usual, I didn’t get much (well, ANY) blogging done while on vacation in Florida for the last 7 days. So today with 90 minutes of time between Sarasota and JFK I WILL write about my drive (3 WEEKS ago) from Buffalo to Florida (Panama City Beach for Ironman Florida, I DID, at least, already write about the race and the day after). The free JetBlue wifi is a little slow, hopefully, it will have no problem with just saving simple text, photos, and links.

Once back in Buffalo, I’ll need to do a blog about the drive HOME from PCB (Panama City Beach), I did some cool touristy stuff on the way. Finally, I’ll be able to do a blog about my last 7 days in Florida (Siesta Key, Sarasota, Naples, Boca Raton, St. Petersburg). As a teaser here is the link to a 2-minute Relive App video of my 10-mile run this morning.

https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vjYyB7nJq

OK. Let’s get to work! The map says we just went over the Okefenokee swamp.

Oh, FYI, as our plane is called the California Blue, I HAD to listen to this album while writing 🙂

I had made my travel plans for Ironman Florida almost a year in advance, so it wasn’t until closer to race time that I realized I would be driving north from the Florida panhandle and through Alabama on election day. In the month before the election, Trump seemed so senile and deranged (and JD Vance such a mistake and liability) that a Kamala victory seemed certain. So I was concerned about driving home on the first days of the likely Civil War (through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio with my NY license plates and my “liberal” plug-in hybrid Toyota). I totally tuned out of all political news a few weeks before the election and for my drive south (October 26-28) I listened to only music and audiobooks while driving and read on the Kindle or watched Apple TV and Yankees World Series games.

I could have easily made the drive from Buffalo to PCB in two long driving days.

But 2 days of 600 miles each seemed like a lot for someone trying to have a relaxing trip to an Ironman Race. I had chosen to drive as I REALLY did NOT like flying with my bike and all the other IM gear to Arizona 3 years ago. It all went fine on that trip but I didn’t want to push my luck again and be as stressed as I was then. Definitely, with a second person it would be an easy two-day drive, and with a third, we could have gone non-stop like Baltimore to Ft. Lauderdale when I was in college. I had some free Hilton nights and picked out a Hampton Inn near Cincinnati and Montgomery for my overnights.

I had originally planned to drive Scrat (my micro-camper) but then realized that my Toyota Rav4 Prime was plenty big as I had flown with all my gear to my last IM so with just me the small SUV was plenty large. The Toyota has a much nicer highway lane detector for brief hands-free driving, it is also quieter, gets much better gas mileage, and has a huge screen for Apple Carplay compared to the tiny one on the van.

October 26, 2024: Amherst to Cincinnati (Wilder, Kentucky actually, south of the Ohio River)

Wow, my car hasn’t even left home and I had to shut down the computer after we passed Baltimore. The flight landed on time and I barely had 45 minutes to write after eating a banana and some pretzels for “dinner” (and a caramel macchiato in a Holiday cup). Of course, the flight to Buffalo is at Jetblue’s gate 2. Gates 1-4 are the WORST at JFK’s Terminal 5. They are at the end and as not nearly enough seats, it is always a crowded mob scene. I was lucky to get a stool at the “outlet bar”.

Rainy and gray at JFK…..

The weekend before the trip I organized and packed ALL my race gear.

With the luxury of driving, I could take extra things without worrying about squeezing into a suitcase or bike bag/box and the associated weight limits.

I just needed a small carry-on suitcase and a laptop bag for the drive itself.

I got to enjoy some quality time with Fifa before leaving. I made sure to brush her fur and teeth a lot and we went on some extra-long walks. I am lucky to know that at the kennel she is well cared for and has a good time. Because she is good with other pups, she is allowed to hang out during the day with the doggie daycare pack. The young people who work there all know her by name and she likes them all.

Here is the video of them “dragging” her away from me at drop-off…….

So many friends for Fifa!

When the weather is nice they all play out back in the kiddie pools and sprinklers.

From the Kennel’s FB page.

I didn’t have to leave early since hotel check-in wasn’t until 3 pm anyway. I was on the road by 8 am. It was a perfect crisp, clear fall day. There were still some nice colors on the trees. I took the NYS Thruway (I90) West and South to Erie, PA.

Then there was a brief section westward in PA along the south shore of Lake Erie to the OH border.

I had a Garmin dash cam that took all these photos safely for me.

In Ohio, I reached the Eastern suburbs of Cleveland (we lived there in Beachwood for the year I did my cardiac anesthesia fellowship at the CCF) and then headed south.

After Columbus, it was very rural until Cincinnati.

In OHIO I listened to The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde’s lyrics are soooo great. If you like her music at all, you should read her memoir “Reckless” (she doesn’t read for the audiobook for some reason). She was VERY “reckless” as a teen living with a hell’s angel boyfriend! It is a sad story as it took her a very long time to get any respect as a woman musician and when she finally got the Pretenders together it was only a few years later that 2 of the men died and that was it for the band. The TV mini-series “Pistol” about the sex pistols has her as one of the main characters, she taught Johnny Rotten to play guitar and almost was the guitarist for The Clash when it formed but… a man named Joe got the job instead.

I have never spent any time in Cincinnati but can’t hear its name without thinking of WKRP.

WKRP was on from 1978-82, the four years I was in H.S. It became even more popular in the decade that followed as it was heavily played in syndication.

Any fan of the show will remember my favorite line; “As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”.

My hotel was in Kentucky just a few miles south of the Ohio River and a view of Cincinnati from my window. The trees here were in full fall foliage colors. My hotel did not have a charging station but the one next door did so I parked my car there for the afternoon and moved it back to my hotel after dinner. Free electricity!

I ordered some Ramen from Grubhub and watched the Yankees go down zero games to two, the Dodgers had the best record in 2024 and it showed.

October 27, 2024: Cincinnati, OH to Montgomery, AL

There were still 10 days until Ironman Florida so I had some scheduled one-hour run and bike workouts. In the morning I went to the small gym and it was a toasty 73 degrees. Usually, I turn the temperature all the way down in hotel gyms but I was glad to have a chance to start acclimating to heat. It was forecast to be in the 80s on race day.

After a quick shower and breakfast, I was on the road again.

In the lobby I was looking at a screen with interesting Ohio River tourist attractions and of course…. as it was Kentucky…. I don’t have the energy now but I do want to someday take the time to see how they explain Noah not letting the dinosaurs on the Ark.

I was surprised by the morning rush hour traffic as I was heading away from Cincinnati.

I quickly saw signs for the Kentucky Distillery Trail along the highway and for the individual brands.

Several of my medical school friends are serious whisky and bourbon drinkers, so I texted them (Siri/car play/safely) as I passed some and offered to be the designated driver if they wanted to go on a driving tour someday.

Pretty roses at a rest area. I saw lots of horse farms but the dash-cam didn’t get any good photos of them, it couldn’t miss this GIANT Trump sign though.

I lived in Jackson, TN from 1995 to 2000 after I finished training (when jobs in anesthesiology were hard to find). I liked the weather there and the job was very lucrative but West TN was a lot like Mississippi or Arkansas socially. Central and Eastern TN (Nashville, Chattanooga) are much nicer as I now know.

There was a lot of traffic approaching Nashville and I wondered if maybe there was a football game as it was a Sunday. After getting around the city the traffic thinned again. The trees here were very colorful.

Alabama was very pretty and I saw the signs for Huntsville soon after passing the border. I was in the middle of watching the 4 seasons of “For All Mankind”, an excellent series on Apple TV, and it made think of the fact that Wernher Von Braun lived there in the 50s and 60s while developing ICBMs and the Saturn rockets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Great! I see that there will be a season 5 coming next year.

I passed over a very wide river near Decatur, Alabama and later realized it was the TN river which confused me until I looked at it’s meandering course. I swam in the VERY muddy water while volunteering at Ironman Chattanooga 8 years ago.

A little bit past Decatur I saw this sign!!!

I was SURE it said The Squirrel Cooking Museum! Having lived in TN I knew that Squirrel brains are an old-fashioned delicacy there. They also eat Raccoons but make a point of feeding them corn for a week after trapping to make them taste less “trashy”!

That night I had no luck finding a website for a Squirrel recipe museum, it turned out the billboard was for The Cook Museum of Natural History.

Birmingham was the last real city on my journey.

My hotel was in a suburb south of Montgomery. It had car chargers! I only get 42 miles of EV driving with my hybrid but….FREE.

It was a pleasant 70 degrees at 3 pm so I hung out by the pool with a new friend.

Places were starting to be in full Halloween decor. I saw this post on Instagram.

It was a travel day for the World Series with the Yankees down 0-2 so I probably watched a few episodes of For All Mankind and then read my Kindle.

October 28, 2024: Montgomery, AL to Panama City Beach, FL.

It was only a few hours to PCB so I had a non-rushed morning. I did an hour on the treadmill after cranking up the heat in the gym.

Southern Alabama started to feel like the REAL south. Shoney’s, Trailers, and Coca-Cola.

Definitely not an interstate highway anymore in the area approaching Florida. Florala is the town on the boarder.

It looked like the 1950s except for the modern cars.

I started looking for Gators but just south of the border it was mostly cattle ranches. And also a marker for the “highest point in FL”, elevation 300 feet.

Most of the panhandle seemed to be pine forests. I could tell I was getting close to civilization again when I saw a Dunkn Doughnuts and then a multi-lane road heading into PCB.

I did a quick drive to the Eastern outskirts and then looped back to my hotel. Here is a time-lapse video.

Ironman Florida 2024

I am blogging at the beach! It is February 4th and after a great Waffle House breakfast, I dropped Alex at the tiny airport for their trip back to Brooklyn. They were my Sherpa for the race and also volunteered for 7 hours at a run aid station; handing out water, electrolytes, ice, and food in the hot (84) Sun.

After resting yesterday I swam for 15 minutes (much rougher than race day) and ran barefoot in the sand for 15 minutes. I also did some Yoga and will have a massage this afternoon so by tomorrow I should be good for the drive to Birmingham on Election Day. Even though I got down here on Monday, I did not find any time to Blog about my road trip before the race on Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll get that done in the next few days, and then I can Blog later about my pre-race time in Panama City Beach. But I want to write about race day while it is fresh in my mind.

I am sorry this is very long but it was a very long day/race. You can read it in pieces if you want.

Here is the GREAT race recap video they played at the Award Ceremony yesterday (amazing that they produced it between midnight and 7 am). 9 minutes in you will see me running from behind with my shark hat and pink flamingo racing kit. But… the official Video is almost 20 minutes long so you might want to read my blog now and when you have time later watch the YouTube video.

On race day I had my alarm set for 5 am but was up before 4. This is not unusual on race day and I had gone to sleep early and slept well and long for several days before the race as I arrived Monday for a Saturday race. Many people don’t come down until Thursday (a few even Friday) which makes things very hectic. As it is the “off” season here (July and August are prime PCB PARTY BEACH time) the condominium I stayed at was virtually deserted on Monday, had a few people on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday and Thursday was maybe half-occupied. It was the one closest to the swim and transition areas.

As I had dropped off and racked my bike and gear bags the day before, all Alex had to carry for me on race day was some personal needs bags for the run and bike (you have access to them halfway through the courses). We left at 5:30 am and It was only a 5-minute walk from our hotel to the bag drop areas and transition. It was so special to me to have Alex travel from Brooklyn for the race. I had told them that if it was too hard with them getting time off work I would be okay but it would have been sad having no one there for support. AND… Alex is an experienced Sherpa (doing double duties in Arizona in 2021 for me and my friend Mark) and a professional photographer so I got lots of photos and videos!

I got many compliments on my IM tattoo and my pink flamingo race kit.

Alex waited outside the fence while I filled my water bottles with Perpetuum (carb/protein/electrolyte blend). I would switch to the “official” race nutrition of Mortal Hydration and Maurten Gels once I used up my initial bottles.

The race was on the Day of the Dead so when I saw some cool orange PCB Day of Dead stickers I bought a few and put one on my car and 2 on my bike (even though the extra weight would slow me down, LOL).

At 11:30 now it is already 82 degrees and I have lost my sliver of shade on the deck, I will have to retreat inside to A/C but I’ll still have the same gorgeous view.

It was easy to find the transition area as it was “behind Margaritaville”.

It was only a 5-minute walk from transition to the beach (but it would be a longer run out of water to the changing tent without the shortcut we used). It was still pretty dark when we got there at 6:15 (the clocks hadn’t turned back yet) but it was light by 6:45 when the swim started.

I tried for the “proud Aztec” pose perfected by Daniel Leon of Puerto Rico.

As I was wearing my Shark earring and would wear my shark hat for the second loop of the run I was VERY excited to see a shark on the beach! I ran over to high-5 him/her and then the video guy asked me to stand still and pretend to be surprised when the shark touched me from behind. I must not have been a good enough actor because it didn’t make the official video. There was also a big white and rainbow-colored blow-up Unicorn in transition and then at the swim exit.

It was cool that families could come right down to the swim start area as we arranged ourselves by the signs for our “estimated” swim times. I chose around 1:20 (and did 1:13) but a LOT of people try to start “earlier” even though EVERYONE has 17 hours exactly to finish from the time you enter the water. I passed many slower swimmers, especially on the second lap but was not passed by many people. Alex gave me a hug and then headed up to the pier at 6:37 to watch (I had purchased a VIP pier pass for $35 for them) so they were one of very few people who got to watch from there.

For the past week the water temperature had been bouncing between 75 and 77 degrees. Anything over 76.1 is NOT wetsuit legal. Wetsuits make you swim faster (once you train in them and get used to it). I get about 2 minutes per mile faster. On race day at 4 am the Ironman app alerted that the official water temperature was 75.8 so everyone was happy except for the few really good swimmers who don’t wear wetsuits even in races.

When I got to about 50 feet from the start chute (the sent 3 people at a time every 5 seconds or so) I spotted Alex on the pier. Even though it was a good distance there so few people there it was easy to recognize their outfit and hair. The first people started at 6:45 but I didn’t enter the water until 7:08 and the last people not until around 7:30.

I started waving and yelling (I had told them to look for the orance on the ends of my sleeves), two volunteers also started yelling “ALEX” but they couldn’t hear over the crashing waves. But after I crossed the timing mat I took a few more seconds of trying to catch their eye and they waved and got this great video!!!

Alex followed “me” around the swim course (it was two loops with an “aussie exit” on the sand between loops).

I swam every day from Tuesday to Friday to practice. Tuesday and Friday in my wetsuit and the other days just in my tri kit in case the water was too warm on race day. I felt totally comfortable on the swim as it was calmer than any of my practice swims. Even with some chop and swells it was easy to sight the buoys being so buoyant in salt water and wetsuit. The current did push me off course a little, but I think I did better on the way in each time than going out. And I tried not to swim too close to the buoys where it was more crowded.

The fastest swimmers were already done with their second loop as I exited my first one but they had started 25 minutes before me.

I was totally happy with my swim and felt good, I ran on the sand between loops (a lot of people walked) and ate a gel I had tucked in my wetsuit with the water they had in cups on the beach. I also ran up the beach and along the boardwalk. For the first time in a triathlon I laid down on the ground and let the wetsuit “peelers” yank it off me. Since it was a long run to transition I knew I would run faster without the wetsuit on. They had some showers on the street and I washed some of the salt water off my head and body. A volunteer handed me my bike bag and in the changing tent I just needed to put on my socks and bike shoes and glasses and helmet and bike gloves as I was already wearing my tri kit under my wetsuit. In previous races I changed into real bike shorts and shirt and later into running shorts and a shirt but I wanted to be more efficient this time. I had done my 120 mile training ride in my tri kit so I knew it was as comfortable for me as thicker bike shorts.

Sorry for the non-triathletes out there if this is getting too technical but….

Please just at least look at the rest of the photos if you don’t have the time or inclination to keep reading.

Despite being perfectly positioned Alex missed my bike start somehow. I think I did transition much faster than they expected. I was the only one on the course with a pink helmet so I was hard to miss.

I tried to smile for the photographers 🙂

I felt great heading off on the bike course. I had not forgotten anything and my bike computer, power meter pedals, Heart monitor, etc. were all working. I made sure to NOT bike too fast as it would be a long hot day out there. I knew that on my longest training ride of 120 miles, I had averaged 126 Watts of power. But that was not after a long swim and before a marathon run, or on so hot a day, so I tried to stay at about 110 Watts. By being very consistent and in control on the bike I was able to run the whole marathon versus all the people who overdid it on the bike and then walked the whole 26 miles.

Being Florida of course the course was flat but it did have some small hills here and there. The winds were less than 10 mph and not a big issue except on the out-and-back 10-mile stretch between miles 60 and 70. It was directly into the wind and ALSO the worst section of road, so bumpy that I was only doing about 14 mph, and even with the wind at back on the 70-80 mile segment speed was not great. I thought that anyone tracking me would be thinking “uh oh, Dave is bonking”. I took in a huge amount of fluids and about 2000 calories on the bike. I pushed the high electrolyte mortal fluid and had a pickle juice shot at mile 50.

Less smiley here! It looks like my helmet was tilted to the side a little the whole race, it felt fine.

At the end of the bike, there was a nice segment of a few miles on a bike path through a forest. For most of the race, we did not have our own lane like at Lake Placid or Arizona. Even when it had 2 lanes in EACH direction cars were allowed in our lane. Some places had a big shoulder or bike lanes but most did not and there were a lot of rumble strips and reflectors in the pavement. Here are some bike course photos Alex took on the way to the airport along the course.

Also at around mile 110 for no reason, the course went through a small park along the Intercostal. Parts were paved but there were also boardwalks and plastic boarding on top of sandy sections. We went slowly in a single file and were all careful on the turns. The last stretch was a few miles east on the beachfront road. With a mile to go, I stopped my bike computer so I could save the data before a volunteer took away the bike after my dismount. I did NOT like the run on the pavement in my bike shoes after the first transition so this time I used the pro trick of taking my feet out of my bike shoes and then riding the last half mile with my socked feet on top of the shoes. It felt glorious running to the changing tent in my socks while other people slowly walked in their stiff bike shoes.

I did a super quick transition into clean socks, running shoes, race number belt, and hat and felt GREAT running onto the course through the cheering crowds. I had set a “fast alert” on my watch for a 9:30 pace and for the first few miles, I had to make an effort to slow myself. But after a few miles, the heat, my lack of run training, and my mild ankle pain slowed me to between a 10 and 11-minute pace.

Alex had signed up for the mile 1/14 run aid station but ended up at the mile 13 one so I only got a distant wave at them at the start of my run but took the time for a sweaty hug after my first lap on the run.

I saw NO photographers on the course. Usually, there are a few or at least a mounted overhead video camera to wave at. I think the one official photo was taken by someone on a motorcycle following one of the “featured” athletes. It was probably about mile 10 and I looked so happy as by then I realized that I would likely beat 13 hours. Before my ankle injury, my goal was to beat 13 hours (I had done Lake Placid and Arizona in between 13 and 13.5 hours). After the ankle injury, my goal was just to finish and get a spot to go to the World Championships in Nice next year (assuming they took ANYBODY who finished as they had for both the men and women at Lake Placid the last 2 years).

I walk through all aid stations for marathons and triathlons because it is impossible to drink a full cup of liquid while running. And with the 84-degree heat and sun, I drank 2 or 3 of the cups of Mortal hydration, put ice in my shirt, poured water over my head at EVERY rest stop, and ate a Maurten gel at almost every mile. I took in around 2000 calories on the run.

At the run special needs, mile 13, I put on the shark hat I had worn when I ran the NYC Marathon last year with Alex. It made me run a little faster whenever someone yelled “go sharkie”, “great hat”, or sang the “baby shark” song.

This is a screenshot from the official video. It was probably about mile 16 of the run. The run was a two loop out and back so basically four 6.5 mile segments. We only had that small bit of shoulder to run on which got crowded when there were lots of walkers. There were 3 Waffle Houses on the 6.5 mile piece of road so 12 times I remembered that I wanted to take Alex there. There was also one Hooters and one strip club.

I felt good on the run except for the mild constant ankle pain. I got no blisters despite the soggy socks from all the ice and water I dumped in/on my clothes. Occasionally my quads and hamstrings threatened to cramp, I think more from the heat than lack of electrolytes. At mile 21 though I really slowed down a lot, my legs felt very heavy and my pace slowed to over 12 minutes per mile. I had to push to keep it at 11 and started to worry I wouldn’t make it to the finish line by 8:10 (I thought I had started the swim at 7:10, actually it was 7:08). This was surely due to my very abbreviated and limited run training and the fact that my longest brick (bike-run-ick) run off the bike had been just 3-miles and my longest training run a 3 hour, 18-mile one. But when I hit mile 23 I perked up a lot mentally and started to push my pace hard. I got back under 10 minute miles for a few miles but then slowed down again although of course, I sprinted the last few hundred yards. I made sure to NOT look down at my watch for my finisher photo!

Alex was waiting for me at the finish line to shoot this video while screaming in excitement.

I felt very good and strong at the end. I didn’t need to lean on a volunteer for support or sit down.

I just grabbed one slice of pizza and a coke and rushed out of the athlete food area to hug Alex. They helped me get my bike and gear and we walked back to the condo.

There was a high DNF (did not finish) rate (it is usually 5-8% for most IM races) and very high for my age group.

Back at the condo I had a quick shower, and changed into my clean backup race kit (I was planning to go back to the finish line to see the last finishers from 11-12 pm but Alex was wiped after being on their feet all day as opposed to me having out of control endorphins surging). I enjoyed a massage by my Normateks while we watched a few episodes of “The Regular Show” (our official current Dad/Kid show) and then went to sleep at 10:30 pm.

Buffalo Triathlon Club

After 20 years in the Buffalo Triathlon Club I got “featured” in the newsletter in August. I forgot to add this to a post earlier, but just found an old “note” in my calendar. And, yes I do still need to blog about my drives to/from Florida for the Ironman but don’t have time for that much writing now.

Also I just recieved my “video” of Ironman Florida. Just a few small clips. I think I looked great running out of the water past walkers, it is only 3 minutes. I am in the pink helmet and tri kit on bike, shark hat for the second loop of run. 12:48 (Personal Record by 20 minutes despite 84 degrees!); 11/50 in my age group.

A week after the race was the Buffalo Triathlon Club banquet. It had a great turnout, I got to talk/brag about my almost perfect race (no World Championship trip to Nice, France though).

I, of course, wore my Ironman Florida finisher shirt. I brought my cool medal but did not wear it (a friend said I should).

I wore the cowboy boots I got in Arizona at the Ironman there 3 years ago.

I got an award for my organizing extra lake swims and swimming extra mileage. AND I was appointed to the Board of Directors for 2025. Since I am “only” doing half-Ironman races next year, I decided I had time to do more volunteering.

There was a basket raffle and even though I am sober now, I had to bid on the Jim Beane as I had driven past the “James” Beane Distillery on the way to and from Florida and know many people who will be happy to drink it. I even won a coffee basket too and it had Jim Beane coffee (that I will drink!).

Good return on my $20 raffle ticket investment

My friend Mark won the Spirit Award! He goes to almost every club practice and event and made an amazing recovery from a torn achilles (and surgery) last fall to completing a half-Ironman race this September at age 70!

Every year our members vote on nominations for a local charity. For 2024 it was Big Big Table which is a pay as you can cafe. Free for those in need. I have gone a few times and donated some food as well. We raised $1400 for them at the banquet!

https://www.bigbigtable.org

Having become pescatarian after Ironman Florida the banquet was my first “no chicken” event; luckily they had lots of non-meat options.

On the way out afterwards I got a great photo across the water of Riverworks.

And I saw this post on Instagram today! How is it that close already ? !!!

I’ve started working on both Duolingo and Pimsleur but it is harder than other languages. At least I won’t go totally hungry….

The day after…

It’s been almost 2 weeks since IM Florida but I am just getting to my second post about the experience. My friends and family know about the big personal issues going on for me. It was a lot to deal with while training for Ironman with the broken ankle. But I am finally starting to have some free time (even though I worked TWO days this week) …. And will hopefully get all caught up on my Florida adventures before Thanksgiving! And … I WILL keep the rest of these posts about the trip short. The one previously about Ironman had to be long …

I only slept from about 11pm until 3:30 am and then had some coffee and started putting away all my triathlon gear. I really felt physically great (and very happy about my great race), just a little quad soreness when going down steps. Walking on flat ground felt fine. The Ironman store at the Athletes Village would open at 7 am with official “finisher” gear available. I really liked my shirt/hoodie and hat I got at the finish line but wanted to see what else was available.

It was less than a mile walk from the condo and it was another perfect day.

I bought a shirt, hat and mug, and for the first time ever got my medal engraved (it was included in my Nirvana package).

There wasn’t the “rush” for merchandise I was warned about so I didn’t really need to be there at 7. The awards ceremony breakfast wouldn’t start until 9 but I was very content just sitting in the shade and resting.

I was VERY excited to have finished as I wanted to claim a spot to go to the World Championship in Nice, France in September, 2025. For the last 3 years the men’s and women’s WC has alternated between Nice and Kona, Hawaii. The Kona spots are very desirable as that is THE race even a non-sports fan has heard of (or even seen the annual NBC broadcast).

For the last 2 years when I have volunteered and gone to the awards ceremony and WC slot allocation the Kona spots went very quickly but the Nice spots did not. In fact, after the roll down thru the age groups there were spots still left even after the “any finisher who wants to go to Nice … ?”

As there were 75 spots available for the men for Nice (only 45 for women for Kona). I Assumed I would get one. But…. As soon as they started offering them…. They were snapped up very quickly. In my age group there were only 4 spots and they only went down to the 6th finisher. In the bigger age groups with 10 spots none went below 20th finisher. I did note that most were taken by Europeans and South Americans who made up a much larger percentage of IM Florida than at Lake Placid where it was almost totally Canadians and Americans.

Alex felt very badly for me … they said “why not do Lake Placid next year to get a spot to Nice!” Ah, the endless optimism of youth.

I really was not planning to do another full Ironman for at least 3 years until I realized Nice was possible (I won’t be able to ever qualify for Kona unless I am still racing at 75).

The only 75 year old at IM Florida to finish … winner!

It is ok though. I have a busy race season for next year anyway. I have the Tokyo Marathon in March, Buffalo Marathon in May and then 2 long course AquaBike races and 2 Ironman 70.3 races.

The best part of the awards ceremony was that the 2 super fluffy huskies I had seen on the race course were there and I got to pet them.

It was only 1pm when we got back to the condo but I was exhausted and napped for 3 hours.

Then we did GrubHub and watched the sun set!

It takes a village! Really! I want to thank my Coach Mark Wilson , my massage therapist Nick, My swim coaches at Nickle City Splash, the people at StretchLab, my personal trainer Melissa, and my therapist.

Without their help I don’t think I could have finished IM Florida, much less a PR and 11 of 50 in my age group! Especially with having to deal with no running until September after the ankle fracture.