I had several interesting dreams in the night. I think the howling wind influenced one of them, because I dreamed I was in a terrible storm, in a wooden shelter that reminded me of the playground at my grade school, with the wind tearing the wood to pieces as I watched. It was frightening, but I wasn’t scared. It wasn’t a nightmare, just an experience. Ambrose was in another of the dreams, but we didn’t interact much, I just knew he was there. I woke a bit before the alarm and did my ankle exercises. When the alarm went off, I was ready to get out of bed and get dressed for my run.
The wind was still strong when I got outside, though it was warmer than I thought it would be. I was either more tired from this week’s running than I realized or the wind really impacted my speed, because my first mile was over 15 minutes. Much slower than I expected from running laps. So, I decided to go ahead and see how many laps it would take to get me to 3 miles. I ended up doing 7 and a short half to get to a total of 3.14 miles. None of them were fast, but it’s the longest I’ve ran in a long time. I looked back, and I ran 2.97 late last June, but before that I’d have to go back to August 2023 to find a 3 mile run. It felt good. I hope to run the local 5K race that takes place in October.
I managed to finish before the sun started shining due to some strategically placed clouds. It might be time to start getting up a bit earlier so I can beat that sun and run 3 miles every run day. I might try doing 3 miles every run day next week when I’m on vacation whether I get up earlier or not since I won’t have to get to work. I’m planning on sticking with my sleep schedule next week, though if Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals goes into overtime, I’ll stay up and watch it with no work the next day.
I think I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out at work. Having a vacation that isn’t full of heavy emotions might be just the thing. I feel like I haven’t taken time off in a while, even though I did take that time off in April to go to South Carolina for Ambrose’s celebration of life. I did actually do some work while I was there, and it was not really a vacation as much as a family visit. To be at home will be good.
Because I had to move my exercise release from Tuesday due to a meeting, I took it today. I got through the next Shoulders & Arms level 2 exercise set. It’s feeling good so far. I might linger a bit on the week 5 exercises to build strength, or I might just finish it up this weekend and start on week 6 while I have time. I could get up, run, do exercises, and then get ready to spend the day with my parents.
After work, I did a session of mowing. I’m almost done with the northwest section. I’ll probably finish it on my next session and start on the northeast. I think three more sessions might see me finished with round 2. Maybe four, but I’ll probably be able to finish this weekend. I’ll hike tomorrow morning, then come home and eat lunch. Then a mowing session, trash run, maybe another mowing session depending on the time. I might do rocks for a bit if it’s close to time for Game 5. I should be able to get two or three mowing sessions on Sunday since all I’ve got on my docket is family zoom in the morning.
I heated up some frozen fried rice for dinner, in a pan on the stove. There’s a microwave option, but I figured I’d try the pan tonight. It was tasty. Not spectacular, but good. I’d buy it again.
I went ahead and ordered a new trimmer head for my mower today. I got frustrated with not being able to thread strings in, and I saw that I’ve really beaten that original head up. It’s cracked and full of dust and debris. I hope it lasts until I get the new one in. According to the website, it will take a few weeks to ship, so here’s hoping my cracked head lasts through the end of round 2 at least.
The wind is still howling outside. Making the trees dance in my window. Green leaves taking on a brown hue laced with gold from the light of the setting sun. I wonder if I should water my trees. I don’t want to encourage the grass to grow. I’m thinking of trying to get red clover going in my mow area. Lawn grass doesn’t belong out here.
