Category: Me

  • My First Week with Finis Smart Goggles and Ciye App

    My First Week with Finis Smart Goggles and Ciye App

    For the past 9 years I’ve been using a Garmin watch while swimming. Back then I had a swim-focused watch, now I have a multi-sport watch. Most days the biggest benefits are the fact that I can pre-load a workout (so that I don’t need to print one out or keep my phone nearby (while…

  • Dunedin Rotary Triathlon (May 2023)

    Dunedin Rotary Triathlon (May 2023)

    Back in December, before I was having any issues that made me think I was going to have to quit running, I signed up for the Dunedin Rotary Club Triathlon. It would be my first ever Triathlon. (It may end up being my only Triathlon) I set up a Garmin 12-week training plan and, when…

  • Columbia Gateway Duathlon April 2023

    Columbia Gateway Duathlon April 2023

    Last year when I was looking at potential competitions to participate in, it saw that RipIt Events had a Duathlon pretty close to the house. I figured it’d be neat to try out a Run-Cycle-Run event. This would end up being my first competitive cycling event. However, it was scheduled for about ¾ of the…

  • Going to Walt Disney World in 2023

    Going to Walt Disney World in 2023

    It’s been a while since we last went to Disney; five years, in fact. We were originally supposed to go in 2020, but then, a week before our trip, Disney closed for COVID-19. Finally it was time to go back and boy have things changed. Back when we just had Scarlett, I wrote a blog…

  • Swimming 2022

    Swimming 2022

    About a decade after someone first suggested that I should join US Masters Swimming, I finally did. Originally it was because a local swim team required swimmers to be USMS members. I didn’t end up joining the team because the pool plus team fees were a bit more than I wanted to spend. But, since…

  • Carol Chidester Series Swim Meets #4 and #5 (Jan and Feb 2023)

    Carol Chidester Series Swim Meets #4 and #5 (Jan and Feb 2023)

    Meet No4 (Jan 2023) This meet was at the Arundel Olympic Center. It was my first time there, and what a beautiful venue for a swim meet! Unlike the other pools in the Carol Chidester series it has 6 or more lanes available for warmup and cooldown while the meet is running. This is due…

  • Bigfoot Endurance Trail 5 and 10 miler

    Bigfoot Endurance Trail 5 and 10 miler

    Once again I participated in the Bigfoot 5 and 10 mile race near my house. However, I think this will truly be the last time. I didn’t fall this time, but it seems that no matter how carefully I step, this trail is designed to make me roll my ankle. I rolled it twice to…

  • Dec 2022 Swim Meet

    Dec 2022 Swim Meet

    On Dec 10 2022 I participated in my second swim meet of this year and also my second swim meet as an adult. It was the same day in which I did the Bigfoot Endurance Trail run and rolled my ankle during the run. It wasn’t causing me any issues during my swim or walking…

  • End of Year Review: Running 2021 and 2022

    End of Year Review: Running 2021 and 2022

    Since I didn’t cover running last year, I’m going to cover both years in this post. 2021 If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I caught the running bug during the Red Hat Summit in 2019. My original goal was to do an official race that would allow me to…

  • Ted Corbitt 15k 2022

    Ted Corbitt 15k 2022

    Because of various issues I wrote about before (mostly stemming from the issue with my right sesamoids), I ended up canceling my summer and fall races. The last one I was really looking forward to was the Ted Corbitt 15k, honoring Mr. Corbitt who has a long list of achievements, including being the first African-American…

  • My First USMS Swim Meet (Oct 2022)

    My First USMS Swim Meet (Oct 2022)

    On 15 October this year I competed at my first swim meet since high school, some 20ish years ago. Although I’d had various folks encourage me to join US Masters Swimming for almost as long, I’d always found a reason to put it off. Sometime in August or September I decided I wanted to do…

  • Percy Sutton Harlem 5K 2022

    Percy Sutton Harlem 5K 2022

    The Percy Sutton Harlem 5K was both the next race I’d registered for after the Front Runners LGBT Pride Run, and the first race after my doctors cleared me to start running again (“for reals this time”) after an X-Ray and MRI to make sure things were OK in that tiny area under the big…

  • Identity

    This morning it suddenly hit me why this injury has messed with my head so much. I realized that “runner” has become a part of my identity and now I’d temporarily (hopefully) lost access to that part of myself.

  • Setbacks

    I’ve already communicated this with most of my family and friends who support me in running, but I’ve suffered my second setback of 2022. The first one was back in January when I had to miss out on my first chance to do an in-person half marathon due to catching a really bad cold or…

  • NYRR: RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon 2022

    NYRR: RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon 2022

    Before Race Day I think I’ve become addicted to races. I really missed having races between April (Cherry Blossom) and the end of May (BK HM) although I did that on purpose to allow myself to rest and train. July, when I once again will be sans race, is probably going to be hard for…