Indian Summer Weekend

Hey everybody, it's another scorcher here in New England. It's been in the 60s all weekend and I'm loving it. It's great considering it's the middle of November. I kayaked, mowed the lawn, ran really far, cleaned the garage...aaahhhh

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Toy Report

Friday night my plans were rearranged for me by an outside source. My plan was to run a route I came up with called the Figure Eight Bi-Lake 5K (plus 10 miles) Race. For those of you who aren't familiar with metric/standard coversions, that's 13.1 miles, or roughly 21Km. Instead of doing this run however, it turned into a kayak trip. The run would have to wait.

So we loaded the boats onto the A-ride for the last time of the season and headed out to Onota Lake. The only reason for going to that lake is that they have a dock at the boat launch so I could wear sneakers and not get my feet wet. It turned out that they had already taken the docks out for the year, clue #1 that we shouldn't be in the water. It was cold and windy and I was soaked after about 10 minutes.

But that's not why I'm writing. I'm writing to tell you about the new A-Watch. My new GPS watch performed flawlessly. I'm still not 100% sure about all of the menus and screens but I'm getting there. I used it to track the route around the lake, and when I got home it was cool to see the path I took.

I went out to one end, turned around and took almost exactly the same route back. It was purely accidental, but I was within feet of my original path almost the whole way back across the lake. Considering there was wind, drifting and all that jazz it's quite amazing to have covered the same route. Neat!

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The Figure Eight Bi-Lake 5K (plus 10 miles) Race

Saturday morning I awoke, put the finishing touches on the new and improved route around the two lakes that would allow for a good start/finish point and got myself geared up. The race starts at a middle school, loops around Onota Lake, back past the school, around Pontoosuc Lake and back to the school.

The idea is to have the race make a figure eight with the intersection being the start/finish/midway point. Then, if the crossing point was also at a school/business/parking lot it would substantially improve logistics (bathrooms, parking, timing, etc). It just so happened that there's a school on the route, so I made it start there.

I ran it yesterday with a friend to get a feel for how the course would work for a race, and to map it out with my new GPS watch. It isn't the best race course as it lacks some in scenery, despite circling two lakes. The roads aren't exactly conducive to a race either, but for now I can use it as a training run. It's chock full of hills for those of us who prefer rolling hills to flat courses. According to my heart rate monitor, the course allowed for an assortment of challenges. Ahhh, another score for the Old Coot.

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Cleaning Up Some

I spent the afternoon yesterday cleaning out the garage and mowing the lawn. I have the garage mostly ready for my car but I need to build something to house my kayak for the winter. Being the smart guy I am, I bought a boat that doesn't really fit anywhere in my garage/basement other than the floor. My goal this afternoon (after a run in a bit) will be to build somewhat of a cradle for it so I can store it out back. I don't think the cold is the best for it, but if I stored it in the garage it would be pretty much the same temperature. There's no chance of fitting it in the basement and leave the basement free to work/move.

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I Was a Little Hasty

So the other day I told all of you that I was cleared to move on the house refinance project. What I should have said is that I'm no closer to getting started than I thought. Since paperwork will have to be signed over the mail I need a valid mailing address for the ex-gf. Several requests for her new address have been ignored and I'm starting to wonder if there aren't other things at work that I don't know about. While I like to remain optimistic I have thoughts of her having borrowed money against the house without my signature (i.e. forgery) and so on.

Peace of mind, where are you?

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Okay, that's all I have for today. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Over and Out,
Old Coot