Ornamental Grass in my back yard being buffeted by 30 mph gusts today.
Nice week of running. The weather was, for the most part, in the 60s and 70s. For late January in Kansas, that is pretty good - thanks global warming. While it was wonderful to run in shorts on three separate occasions, the best runs were done kitted out for rain and snow. Hey it's Kansas, so the weather changes. Yesterday, for example, it started to feel like winter again. I donned tights (actually they're kind of loose), a couple of long-sleeve shirts, and a waterproof jacket, and hit the pavement with my normal Saturday running buddy, Adrian. We cruised on asphalt, pavement, chip and seal, and pavement until we got to the north end of the SLT pathway. On the return we popped into the trails behind Rock Chalk Park to add just under 2 miles to the run. I should've said 2 really hilly miles. The trails at RCP are amazingly short and steep. And there are a lot of them. Once you do a circuit of the outer loop, you have done at least 7 crazy steep little hills that mandate a slowdown to overcome the oxygen debt that you're now in.
Anyway, we finished soaked to the bone but with a pretty solid time. An afternoon spent watching Jayhawk basketball with Adrian and his wife, Tara, drinking a couple of bourbons and Coke Zeroes, went a long way toward our run recovery.
Today I took a short recovery run in the snow (no bourbon afterward). As I ran north and west, it was hugely unpleasant, with flakes slamming into me in a sustained 20 mph wind (with gusts up to 30 mph). But, like almost any run, I found the simple act of running in the elements to be invigorating. I was listening to the book, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail. The author was nearing the end and the part I was listening to involved hiking in the rain, and being cold and underdressed for the summit of a mountain. While I was not underdressed, I could certainly relate.
In other news, books... I finished reading Carl Hoffman's, Savage Harvest, a historical account, told by an anthropologist, of the demise of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea in 1961. It is an interesting story. Rockefeller was killed and eaten by cannibals, where it was claimed, there were none. The story begins with a description of the murder. I found it so difficult to stomach that I almost put the book down after the first chapter. I'm glad I did not. Because by the end of the narrative, I felt very differently about what had occurred. It was a terrible tragedy for the Rockefeller family, but what happened can't be viewed only in terms of our culture, our norms, and our basic understanding of the life and of how the world works. Much like Jeremy Narby's Cosmic Serpent (se earlier blog post), about understanding a different culture in the Amazon, Hoffman's Savage Harvest does a good job of explaining how the terrible incident could've taken place, and how the people who live in the region viewed it (and view it to this day).
Finally, I signed up for the Rockin' K trail marathon in early April. I have enough friends who are doing it that it should be a fun day spent running in the sticks (and I truly mean that respectfully - rural Kansas can be beautiful). I've been averaging 30+ miles a week (35 for the past couple). I plan to move that up to forty starting next week (this week may simply become to cold or icy to log decent miles). By April, the Rockin' K will be a good base to have for solo runs I am hoping to do in the western US this summer.
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