The Encore

I have been training for a half marathon since the middle of June.

The half marathon went virtual as I have indicated previously, I have until September 13, 2020 to complete it using the app the sponsor sent – originally the race was in Bethlehem, PA on that September 13 date.

My son Paul will come out and run it with me on the 12^th of September.

I discovered I made a miss-labeling of the weeks on the training schedule and I am actually a week ahead of schedule for the target date.  So I will add a week training repeating next week’s run with a modification lowering the long run from 9 miles to 6 miles. 

So I will have 13 weeks of training instead of the 12 I have been talking about since I began the training.

Today, August 23, 2020 I ran 10 miles, 22 miles for the week, at Horseshoe Lake, here in Succasunna NJ. 

Today I found a side path that feeds off of the regular path, it is gravel, hard packed, for a total of 1.5 miles out and 1.5 miles back. It is shaded and level, except for a small hill at the beginning.  I have been running on the beginning of the path but always turned around when it reached Righter Road (one of two roads that the path crosses). I could see the small hill – and avoided it but then thought I would see what was beyond..   I was glad to see that it was flat for such a long stretch and very well shaded.

I think for the half marathon we will do the part of the path after the hill twice – that will add up to almost 6 miles, could even do it three times or more as it is shaded which makes running much more pleasant.

I am very glad I started down this path – it has been a challenge, very difficult at times but is a tremendous accomplishment.

To think that I have reached this point after being an unathletic person for so many years.

I say that because I want to encourage others to try to be a little more active – you will find your own individual level of activity that you feel good at…. It does not have to be running – it can be taking long walks or bike rides or swimming.

When I run I see other people running – many running faster than me – I also see many people walking either alone or with someone else.

The fresh air is wonderful as you move about.

So in about three weeks I will be reporting on the results of my first half marathon.

Be well, stay healthy and stay safe.

The Encore Career – almost a year into it.

• So how is it? I was skeptical from all people were telling me that retirement is the best thing since sliced bread.

We took a trip to California in November, toured all the way from San Diego to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast Highway, that was a wonderful trip. The sights were just beautiful.

I ran my first 10K race in December when we were in Florida for the Christmas Holiday.

Then in the early part of 2020 the world got hit with the coronavirus – and the country had to shut down.  The information overload and confusion abounded throughout and continues to this day.

I did grocery shopping for people who could not get out during the pandemic and since the support group was not meeting in person I started baking cookies and delivering to the neighbors on a weekly basis, I met all the neighbors and enjoyed speaking with them.

As I write this I am there quarters into my training for my first half marathon in a few weeks, because of the pandemic this has been turned into a virtual race – that is a bit disappointing but I really want to do this so this is how it has to be.  I have been running at the Horseshoe Lake complex here in town, except when we were down in the Outer Banks, I ran on the path along the main road.

I think that is important at every stage of life to build resilience / adaptability – I think that is what has gotten me through the many challenges we have faced over the years and even these special challenges of 2020.

I think retirement is a poor word to describe this next stage of our lives, in my case I called it Encore Career (a suggestion from my son Paul).  I continue to work for my company in a part time / advisory capacity which works very well.

So how is the Encore Career*?

• Yes – I think it is GREAT….

            *Traditionally known as Retirement

Life is Good as the T-Shirt company presents to us..

We have been home for our first full day.

I put the vacation gear back on the top shelf in the basement, did some repairs on puzzles that had fallen off the wall.  Did not succeed at fixing the clogged soap dispenser.. called on the handy man to see if he can get it back together.

Got most of the food staples we needed to get us through the start of the regular week.

Checked out my garden that has been producing a lot and took three eggplants and a few cherry tomatoes… many more getting ripe..  and a bunch of cosmos.

• Made Eggplant Parmesan for dinner tonight, store bought eggplant, I have eggplants in the garden but they are the long skinny kind.

The trip back from Duck took us ten hours (keeping to the speed limit in all areas of the Del Mar Va. I got a ticket on the Virginia portion going down so did not want to repeat that.

The trip was 475 miles one way…. As I am the only one that drives stick shift car… all the driving fell to me..  I don’t mind, I love to drive.

This week is Week 8 of my training for the half marathon… Three runs this week – 2 miles, 7 miles and 8 miles..   I will probably run tomorrow to get acclimated to the climate here in NJ with the 2 mile run.

Then do the 7 miles on Wednesday and the 8 miles on Friday or Saturday.   I also need to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week because we are supposed to have rain on Tuesday.

We had perfect weather during our three weeks on the Outer Banks.They are supposed to get remnants of the tropical storm this week but not full force. It was hot which made the training a little harder… but made the pool that much more enticing.

At the end of this month I will be completing my first year of phased retirement.  I will write my thoughts on that in my next post.

Until then, be well!

Our third and final week on the Outer Banks is coming to a close!

It has been a wonderful time here…. We enjoyed ourselves very much.

The weather has been spectacular a bit hot but very pleasant.I read five books… did my three times a week training for the half marathon…

• I have been very successful in my training to date.. I learned to be slower in the beginning and varying my pace – I am still getting the hang of that but I am better than earlier.

• Update 7/31/2020 – I modified the training schedule and ran 4 miles today (Friday) instead of the 6 miles per the plan – it was 81 degrees with 88% humidity at 6:00 am.. so this was good to modify… The 6 mile run on Wednesday was very rough so I took it easier today. I look forward to completing my training back home in New Jersey.

I went cast fishing for my first time, my friend Ken showed me how. I caught about a 12 inch flounder my very first cast off…..It is hard to get the line out far enough over the waves… and avoid tendency to keep reeling it in.

In the pool I do laps either breast stroke or back stroke… when I sit in the lounge float many times Megan will push me around the pool which is always fun…

Today we will visited our friend Ken and his wife, we kept a 6 foot distance but enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs and the conversation.  They have a summer house here in the town of Southern Shores.

It would be nice to have a house here to go to anytime we want, but the expense of upkeep can be high plus the splitting of time between the home in NJ and here would be difficult to handle I think…

I am looking forward to being home and seeing my garden and the flowers around the house.  Plus my volunteer work with the Food Pantry.

Our second week on the Outer Banks….

Weather has been spectacular – well not perfect…. It is hot with some humidity.

• The weather reminds me of the first year we were here… beautiful blue skies but hot and humid.

I ran 6 miles this morning – I get out there very early – like 6:00 am or a little before to beat the heat.  I ran the 6 miles in one hour and 13 minutes.   It was a good pace considering the heat and humidity…. 12’14” per mile..  about the pace I had last December in a 10K race in Florida.

I have one more six mile run on Saturday to complete this week and then I have six more weeks of training to my half marathon around September 13.

It is wonderful to be aiming for a goal..  It is still incredible to me that I am actually going to run 13.1 miles in about 6 weeks….  That will likely be in NY with my son Paul..   he is a great encouragement to me as I train…. He has given me tips and helped me adjust my pace at the beginning last week when he and Gretchen were here…

Yesterday we went to the beach.  It was hot and we got there about 10:30 and left about 2:30… it was a bit rough coming back and Megan fell over onto a sand dune..  a kind life guard helped her up…. Next time I will drive the umbrella and chairs down there so she does not have to carry it up to the hill and to the beach.

In the evening I did laps in the pool.. it was nice and good exercise to close out a non-running day.

I was communicating with an old friend on Linkedin, I told him about my running and he said he wished he could do that..  I told him that I started running when I turned 60 – 8 years ago.. I was a little better than a couch potato back then..  about two years ago I decided I wanted to be more fit and not have to by a bigger waisted set of pants… so I started walking every day and I did that through rain, snow and bright skies for an entire year.. after that I joined Planet Fitness..  then I saw a sign for a race..  and practiced on the treadmill and ran my first 5K…

Since then I have progressed and am where I am today.. my hope is that I can encourage you to be more fit..  it does not have to be running just a regular schedule of moving – walking, biking, swimming.. just a little more than you are doing today… you will start to feel good about it and yourself and want to do more….  

The fun is discovering what this desire to be fit will take you…..

I am thankful and proud for where it has brought me to this point… and anxious to see where it takes me..  I hope you can join me….

I write this today sitting by the pool at our vacation rental in Duck, North Carolina – it is 8:45 am and I am in a shady spot in a corner by the pool. We have been here a week and have two more weeks to go.

Our son and daughter-in-law spent last week with us, they departed yesterday and are now safely in their apartment in New York City.

We had a wonderful time together – we went kayaking on Pea Island and had a great time and lunch at a place along the highway called Fish Heads… the tables are along the beach which is very nice.

Paul ran with me during my three training runs this week and he showed me how to start out slow the first mile or two.. that was very helpful because I never really knew what it meant to start slow… so this will be my mode as I complete my training for a half marathon in about 9 weeks on or about September 13, 2020 – since it will be virtual there the time frame to complete it is wide…. However my training plan had already been established so I can not be too far off (or far before) to complete it virtually.

I ran 7 miles yesterday, my longest run to date – and more than halfway to the 13.1 miles that  will count as my first half marathon.

I am in awe of my accomplishment and my challenge – I am enjoying the training – the progress being made.. it is hard in the heat and humidity here, but I compensate for that with the frequent drinking of water and the adjustment to the pacing… I know I can do this and I know it will be hard but I have no doubt I could succed.

We will continue to enjoy the pool, the ocean, reading our books, relaxing and enjoying the change of scenery.

The week before we left for Outer Banks was my birthday, Tuesday, July 7.  I got so many messages of Happy Birthday via Facebook, LinkedIn,  texts and phone calls..  a highlight is my Mom singing Happy Birthday!! So wonderful.

We had dinner at the apartment of our Son, Paul and daughter-in-law, Gretchen…. We had NY Pizza (yummy) with salad (had chicken and salami in it) as well as meatballs….

Gretchen made a beautiful cake, it was decorated so nicely with sprinkles and tasted delicious….

I had a very nice day and felt the love from so many people but of course especially my family. We look forward to our time here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

From the Declaration of Independence:

Happy 4^th of July Everyone..  this country was built on these and other principles.

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,“

I have lived through many good times and some bad and rough times but this country has always come back stronger and brighter with a great future.

I am happy to be an American, I have visited several other countries and the people I have met are the same as you and I.. but they have very different forms of government.   The countries I visited have free societies, but not the self-checking government that we have, nor the test of time – 244 years to prove that what we have works.

Today I completed week 3 of my 12 week training plan for the half marathon in September (to be run virtually).  That makes my training ¼ done…. Each week the run mileage and weekly total increase by a few miles.. the runs during the week are starting to get longer.

I have done very well with the training so far..  I am not worrying about this at all, I know it will be hard.. but as I continue on the plan the distance will take care of itself.

This coming Saturday we will be on our way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina – this is our fifth year going there for vacation, the first time we are going for three weeks.  We enjoy it down there very much and felt that it was a good time to extend the stay in celebration of my transition to retirement. 

My garden is coming along and will provide vegetables for the season starting in a few weeks.  While I am away the garden manager will look after it and anything that needs picking can be donated to the Food Pantry. 

Today the family with two little girls down the street came by to drop off a little token of their appreciation for the cookies I have baked.. it was made out of a plate with the center cut out.. in the center was a picture of the two girls dressed in flag dresses eating the Memorial Day Cookies I had given out for that holiday…. It was decorated with red and blue stars made of construction paper.. It was so nice of them to do that and such fun to see them – the Dad was holding three American flags.. they said they were going to their Uncle Rick’s for the celebration of the 4^th…

HAPPY 4^th of JULY – Everyone!!!!

I just completed week 2 of my 12 week training for the half marathon on September 13. The live event was cancelled but they are offering a virtual race. Sign up for that starts in a few days on July 1^st.

I will sign up for that and probably run with Paul, our son in Central Park, he had signed up for the race with me.

The training plan includes two runs during the week and a long run on the weekend.  Yesterday was 5 miles for a total during the week of 10, the mileage increases gradually over each week.

So far I am doing well with the training and not getting too far ahead of myself.

I am amazed and pleased that being a non-athletic person most of my life and now I am training for a half marathon.  I know I can do it, will take sticking to the plan and gradually building those miles.

As I have said before, it is important to start with a drive or mission, my goal some ten years ago was wanting to lose weight and I started walking every day 30 minutes and monitoring my diet… that led to running and entering races..  with a second place finish in my age category win my very first race!

I had been doing 5K’s for about seven years and then last year I challenged myself to a 10K last December, I trained for it and ran it successfully.   It took me a while but I started to think I could do a half marathon..  and here I am.

We have two weeks to go before our trip to Outer Banks, NC.  Right now NY, CT, NJ are saying 14 day quarantine after entering from North Carolina….  How would they possibly know.. that is just ridiculous… we shall see how it all goes and deal with whatever we have to deal with.

I wrote a short note to the ladies I do grocery shopping for – telling them I picked the grocery shopping and cookie baking as my silver lining for a challenge the company put out to employees.  See my post from last week for the picture.

Silver Lining

This weeks I baked a lemon cookie with lemon glaze, it is quite tasty.

Next week will be the last for the cookies because we will be away for three weeks.

Try to get outside during this nice weather, stay safe and healthy!

My company asked us to submit a picture of a silver lining that we experienced during the coronavirus pandemic this year.

I immediately thought about my grocery shopping for those that could not get out and the cookies I baked weekly for the neighbors.

When the pandemic started I asked my food pantry contact if there were people in town that could not get out for food shopping, she put me in touch with the dial-a-ride driver who gave me the name of person that needed that, that led to 4 others that I was shopping mostly weekly for.

So I developed a sign to say that this was my silver lining – and it was, even though it was difficult at times finding the right item and especially since I was unfamiliar with some items them and it was hard with the mask wearing… I asked the workers several times where to find something. 

Well the people I met were wonderful people… each with a story and a thankful heart. I really admired these people, the friendliness and the acceptance of their particular situations,

I also started to bake cookies weekly and deliver them to the neighbors.  I got to know several that I did not know before and my weekly visits became very welcome.

Each of the grocery ladies has started to shop on their own or a relative has been doing the shopping, so this stint is coming to an end, while I am sad, I am extremely glad and thankful for the experience… and as we go on vacation in a few weeks I know they are covered.

This weekend we celebrated Father’s Day and my son and daughter-in-law came for the weekend to help us celebrate, that was a treat to have them with us for a few days. It was wonderful to have them.

This past week I completed Week 1 of my half marathon training, my son joined me for my 4 mile long run on Saturday.  I also found out that my first half marathon will be virtual due to the coronavirus.

This day is set aside to honor our American Flag which is a long time symbol of our American Freedoms and honor and respect for all people.

I am so glad that I grew up in this country and appreciate the freedoms we have.

There was a great deal of turmoil in this country when I was in my late high school and college years, there was unrest on the campuses and protests for the Vietnam War, which was very unpopular at the time.  There were bombings and terrorist organizations.  There was also the Civil Rights Movement that led to the Civil Rights laws.  There were also the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. 

Today’s news of the unrest does not tell you of the progress we have made on racial equality, while nowhere near perfect the progress has been significant over the last 40 to 50 years.

God Bless the United States of America!!!

New Jersey is entering Phase 2 this week, which means that restaurants can start to serve customers outside, barber shops and hair salons open the following week.  We have appointments for our haircuts on July 2.

This week I start my 13 week training schedule for the half marathon on September 13, which is one week before our expected trip to Hawaii.

In four weeks we leave for three weeks in Duck, NC in the Outer Banks.  We have rented a house about half a block from the beach with a pool, it will be nice to get away and spend the time in the beach community.  It will likely be a little different as we are in the waning period of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  Nevertheless we will have a great time.

As we prepare to be away it turns out that my shopping for the ladies in town is starting to phase out, Nancy has started to shop for herself on the town bus, which this week is starting full service to the Walmart and other things.  Dolores has a niece doing her shopping and may return to the bus soon.  Shelia started doing her own shopping also.  That leaves Pat, whose aid may start shopping, to which Pat is going to check with her doctor.

I have continued to bake weekly and today I made the Chocolate Bites, gave to the grocery ladies and the neighbors.

I have met these wonderful ladies and they are now my friends so this has been a rewarding experience.  I am still doing the food pantry.   We shall see what the next thing for me to be involved in after we return from our vacations.

I hope everyone is well.