Tag: running partner

4 miles
marshall loop to prior
65 degrees

Keeping up the weekly tradition of running with Scott. Today we added a few blocks before turning off of Marshall. A great run. My IT band didn’t hurt at the end of it — hooray! 65 felt almost hot, but only in the sun. In the shade it felt like fall. The leaves by the gorge are already starting to turn — a little red, some yellow.

Scott and I didn’t talk much as we ran, which I think helped us to not tire out too soon, but I do remember one conversation. Scott was talking about trying to focus on those brief moments when neither foot is touching the ground and he’s flying. Of course I had to bring up my Haunts poem. The first lines —

I go to
the gorge

to find the
soft space

between beats,
before

one foot strikes,
after

the other
lifts off.

When I float.

Running on the bridge, 2 bikers kindly alerted us that they were passing —

on your left…there’s 2 of us…
thank you!
have a wonderful day!
you too!

Such a small thing, but so generous and thoughtful. I hope their bike ride was as good as our run was.

10 Things

1. running over the bridge, a cross wind — hold onto your hat!
2. the river was blue and empty — no rowers this morning
3. continued construction on lake street — a blocked sidewalk, orange cones
4. running around, sometimes over the little wooden bridges protecting the hoses/pipes/yellow tubes that the entire neighborhood is using to get water while the city is working on the sewers — almost done, Monday we get our water back!
5. standing in a temporary trench at Marshall and Cretin because the sidewalk is being redone, waiting for the light to change
6. a grand old plum-colored house on Marshall — I thought it was red, but Scott told me it was plum
7. another, even grander house on the corner of Prior and Summit — we encountered the giant backyard first. I could see a net for a trampoline just above the fence line
8. deep voices rising up from the ravine near Shadow Falls
9. flowers placed next to the railing on the hill just above the lake street bridge — was someone else killed by a car, or is this in memory of someone who died years ago?
10. Walking through the Minnehaha Academy parking lot at the end of the run — a girls’ soccer game — penalty kick — thwack! Hooray! some boys watching from the parking lot were impressed

reading with ears and writing without eyes

After reading her article in The New Yorker about Dickens and finally writing a historical novel, I put a hold on Zadie Smith’s new novel, Fraud. I started listening to it yesterday. Zadie Smith is reading it, and she does an amazing job — so much fun with her accents for the different characters.

Speaking of audio books, I just finished listening to A Marriage Portrait. Excellent. I loved Hamnet too. I’ll have to read more of Maggie O’Farrell’s work.

In my recent round of requesting books using the Libby app, I’ve been choosing mostly audio books. Reading with my eyes is getting harder. It really doesn’t bother me that much because audio books are amazing. So many choices, with highly skilled narrators.

Gradually over the last several years, I’ve been building up my listening skills, learning to read with my ears instead of eyes — but only through audio books and podcasts. Reading for fun. I have spent very little time learning how to read with my ears in practical situations. I’m not using a screen reader. I don’t listen to my text messages. When I’m writing on this blog, I only use my eyes to proofread what I’ve written. This eyes-only approach has led to an increasing number of typos.

Every so often I worry about how I’ll use this blog, which has so many words, when I can’t read what I’ve written. Over the years, I have experimented a little with dictation — dictating my log entries into my phone — but these experiments have been limited and don’t usually last that long. I think it might be time to step up my efforts, to experiment more, to start developing new habits that can ease me into life without central vision, both practically and creatively, helping me to navigate the world better and to create art that better reflects/communicates how I see and don’t see.

I’d like to return to this book excerpt from Andrew Leland and The Country of the Blind soon, taking up some of what he discusses about Borges, dictation, and writing with screen writers.

A few things I have been thinking about which translate practically, but are about my art, one is about seeing in new ways, the other about not relying on sight.

seeing while writing in new ways: Instead of keeping my writing style the same but accessing it with new technology, like a screen reader, I’m changing my writing style: shifting to the sparseness and blank spaces of poetry, dramatically reducing my word count, experimenting with how many words I can take out and still convey/create meaning.

writing without seeing: In addition to memorizing poetry, I’m interested in exploring/pushing at the sound of poetry and thinking about/studying oral traditions. I’d like to try to find some resources for this. In a quick google search, I found out the oral tradition of cowboy poetry.

2.1 miles
the falls coffee
77 degrees

Another run to the Falls coffee with Scott. So hot this morning! Today we ran a little farther — up the mustache bridge hill to Longfellow Gardens. Back in May I had run here, hoping to see the purple flowers but they hadn’t been planted yet. This morning the garden was full of color — purples, reds, oranges, yellows.

10 Things

1. 3 turkeys on the part of the dirt trail we call the gauntlet because it’s so narrow and near the road. The turkeys didn’t care we were running by; they were too busy pecking the grass. What are they eating? we wondered*
2. a bunch of barricades and a cluster of construction signs with flashing lights lining edmund bvld — uh oh, what are they planning to do here, and how will it impact my running?
3. more sun than shade — so hot!
4. lots of bikes over on the river road trail, not too many walkers or runners
5. click clack click clack — a roller skier! said to Scott: I bet they’re excited summer’s over Scott (with some bitterness): good for them
6. the falls were quiet — I forgot to look as we ran by — with the very low creek, were they even falling?
7. Hi Mr. Longfellow! — checking out the Longfellow statue in the field below the garden
8. Crossing under the mustache bridge, noticing the stagnant creek water — so low!
9. songs overheard at the Falls coffee: an acoustic (asmr-y) version of “I’m So Excited” and a techno, poppy version of “Wonderwall”
10. checking out the empty Riverview, wondering when the new owners will finally do something with the space; we’ve been waiting for about 2 years now

*a quick search for what wild turkeys eat:

Wild turkeys are opportunistically omnivorous, which means they will readily sample a wide range of foods, both animal and plant. They forage frequently and will eat many different things, including:

Acorns, hickory nuts, beechnuts, and walnuts, either cracked open or swallowed whole

Seeds and grains, including spilled birdseed or corn and wheat in agricultural fields

Berries, wild grapes, crabapples, and other small fruits

Small reptiles, including lizards and snakes

Fleshy plant parts, such as buds, roots, bulbs, succulents, and cacti

Plant foliage, grass, and tender young leaves or shoots

Large insects, including grasshoppers, spiders, and caterpillars

Snails, slugs, and worms

Sand and small gravel for grit to aid proper digestion

from The Spruce

I found this writing prompt from @sundresspublications the other day. I’ll have to try it and recommend it to my class!

Go for a walk around your neighborhood and write down any words you see- words on street signs, buildings, bumper stickers, etc. – and try to arrange them into a poem.

@sundresspublications

3.5 miles
marshall loop (cleveland)
71 degrees / 71% humidity

The Saturday tradition continues. Running up the Marshall hill with Scott. Today we barely stopped. The goal for next month: adding a few more blocks at the top and turning at Fairview instead of Cleveland. We talked about Spirit Island and visiting dying grandfathers, maybe for the last time, and old lady assassins and doing a survey of how many people greet with morning vs. good morning.

10 Things

1. half a dozen thin white streaks on the water under the bridge left by rowing shells
2. a single rower
3. the coxswain’s bright white boat, first below the bridge, then parked at the dock (moored?)
4. red — a passing runner in red shoes and red shorts, no shirt
5. DING dong DING dong DING dong — 8:45 from the St. Thomas bells
6. a woman walking with 2, or was it 3?, white dogs
7. thump thwack falling acorns
8. green — all the traffic lights we encountered — no need to stop!
9. the light on the bridge steps was off today
10. no sprinklers on Summit to dodge

3.5 miles
marshall loop (cleveland)
66 degrees

Continued the Saturday tradition of running the Marshall loop with Scott. This morning we ran up the hill between the river road and cretin without stopping. We talked about hospice and last stages of life and Project Runway and band board meetings. Hospice is amazing, by the way. Passed other runners and walkers, tried unsuccessfully to avoid acorns and mud from yesterday’s storm. We weren’t home when it hit, but according to FWA (and many other people on facebook) we got hail the size of quarters. No major damage, but tons of leaves strewn all over the deck, the sidewalk, the road.

10 Things

1. so many acorns on the sidewalk and the trail! some crushed, some whole — dangerous. Already I’ve rolled a few times on them
2. a weird whiny bird near shadow falls. Scott wondered if it was a grouse. It might be. I looked it up and listened and the Ontario, 1963 call sounds similar to what we heard today
3. bright sun, broad daylight, yet the street lamps on the trail are on and so is the lamp on the bridge steps that neither of us have ever noticed before
4. avoiding sprinklers on Summit
5. the warning beep from the crosswalk sign in sync with the beat of a song coming out of a car’s radio
6. on marshall between cretin and cleveland: more shade than sun
7. the unpleasant whiff of the sewer as we passed near shadow falls
8. a shell with a single rower in it — watching the oars gently enter the water and leave a trail
9. getting dripped on once when the wind shook the tree we were running under
10. crossing the bridge, looking down at the river, seeing a part of the old meeker locks and dam poking through the water

3.1 miles
porcupine mountains, michigan
68 degrees

On vacation with Scott, FWA, and RJP. Scott and I ran from our hotel in Silver City towards the Lake of the Clouds entrance to the Porcupine Mountains. For much of the run, we could glimpse slivers of Lake Superior through the trees. At the half way point we reached a sandy beach. What a lake! I love this remote spot in the UP. Yesterday, RJP and I took a quick dip in completely calm water. Today, waves, whitecaps.

10 Things

1. avoiding scat on the side of the road, loaded with berries — too small for a bear, too big for deer — coyote? fox? wolf?
2. wind through the aspens, shimmering or simmering
3. soft, sandy grit at the edge of the road
4. a few big trucks barreling by
5. a landscape dotted with septic tanks
6. rolling hills — a constant running up then down then up again
7. a hot sun, beating down
8. still, then wind from every direction near the water
9. queen anne’s lace
10. a screeching blue jay

3.8 miles
marshall loop
70 degrees

Ran with Scott up to Cleveland, over to Summit, beside St. Thomas, down to the river. Stopped and hiked around the Monument before starting to run again. A nice, relaxed run — we talked about the difficulties of taking care of aging parents, terrible comments online, being able to still smell bland smells but not intense ones, swift carrots in Zelda, and whether or not a person who is completely blind (seeing no light) could run if they were tethered to a guide (pacer).

10 Things

1. dodging sprinklers
2. the sound of falling water
3. wooden ramps covering temporary water pipes on the sidewalk making a dull thud when I ran over them
4. rowers on the river — 2 8 person shells lined up like they might race
5. a new favorite view of the river from the east side — under the monument on some jutting rocks, a wide view of the lake street bridge, the blue river, longfellow flats on the west side
6. roots as makeshift steps
7. mud on some limestone, small gravel and dry dirt on other limestone
8. the shshshshuffle of a runner’s striking feet from behind
9. a woman talking on a phone outside — I support all sorts of things in Minneapolis and I’m a SENIOR!
10. small decals on the lower corner of an out-of-business restaurant: wine glasses and plates and beer mugs? — I can’t quite remember

While I drank my coffee this morning, I memorized a delightful water poem by Tony Hoagland — The Social Life of Water.