Returning soon

So very, very close to hitting send on the dissertation

I expect to resume posting here as early as this week. The long-overdue dissertation is nearly complete and hopefully ready to defend sooner rather than later. In the meantime, a few memories to distract my mind from the moment.

The first picture is from a run with my dog Paisley, the rescue from Romania, in the forest behind our apartment when we lived in Switzerland. According to Strava, this was a 7-mile run with, according to my comments, 1” to 6” of snow. It was a pre-dawn start, hence the headlight (Paisley had a red light on his collar). This wasn’t too hilly at only 1200’ of ascent that run (it’s all relative). The second two are from the same ride. All three are from a previous level of fitness, which I don’t think I’ll be able to regain, if not because of age, but because of geography. The ride pictured was only 15 miles, again out the door of our apartment. The aim was hill repeats on a short, steep climb (a total of 2100’ of climbing that ride). The pic of the bike computer indicates the steepness of part of the hill (it ranged from 12-25%). Such options, especially with adverse trail or road conditions, aren’t available here in Boston, especially just running or rolling out the door. Oh well.

For those wondering, on the bike, the helmet light is a Lupine (German-made) with 1900 lumens (as I recall), and the bar-mounted light is an Exposure (UK-made) with 2100 lumens. Both had excellent battery life in cold weather. This was about -2C, but I went out when it was -15C (5F), but that was my limit. These lights were great. On the run, the light was Petzl. I still have that headlight, but I later upgraded to a brighter Petzl light for the pitch-dark pre-dawn forest runs (and ultra starts) of the past.

Ok, end of distraction and reminiscing. Back soon with more interesting and possibly even meaningful posts.

Stay well.