• Challenge,  running

    Last Fall

    Kris and I Ran a Lot of Fun Runs… Wow, that seems like a long time ago. But the running group I have joined put on four or five of those, and are trying to put on three of them this fall again. They were the group behind a large run called Vegas Strong to benefit the shooting victims. That would be running in a week, but was cancelled because it was just too big to be done safely. The other three they put on are still under review and might work because the runners can go out in waves. I used those runs last year to stay motivated and…

  • Challenge,  running

    Exercise Update

    A Bust of a Week… Managed one 8.5 mile day, another 5 mile day, and the rest right at 3 miles per day. Mostly because I’m letting blisters on the bottom of my feet get better. Painful little suckers. So tomorrow (actually about eight hours from right now) I will be joining the running group again to do 3 miles to start the day. With luck, that will get this coming week back on track. And then cut the intake down some on the food and I’ll be back on course. Need the weight to come down so the milage can go up. My first marathon is December 5th. Might…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  running,  workshops

    Update On Stuff

    Odds and Ends From The Week… First off, the workshop End of Summer half-price sale is still going on for just three more days. You can find all the information and the code at End of Summer Sale. Don’t miss this one. —— Surveys have gone out to all backers of the Return of Boss Kickstarter campaign. They went out through a company called CrowdOx, so check your spam filter. If you didn’t get one, they will try sending anyone who hasn’t replied another in a couple of days, so no worry. Also, we now have a Late Backer Page set up. That’s right, if you missed The Return of…

  • Challenge,  running

    Going For Exercise

    But Still Too Hot… In a few short hours from now I will be driving out toward Summerlin, with the sun not yet up, to join a running group. I will be mostly walking. And it is all set up Covid safe. I signed up for this group that meets every Sunday morning until December, so even though it will be 84 at sunrise, I’m going to show up. This is a training group for marathon running and they set up a 12 mile course every week. I am hoping to do four miles tomorrow morning. Again, more walking than running, and be home before the temperatures get into the…

  • Challenge,  running

    I Gave Up…

    After Over Two Years of Fighting It… I am now working to get up around dawn. I still have not figured out the writing parts, but I need to do this for the exercise, so the writing will follow. I am starting two things next week that I just could not figure out how to do with the heat. I will be joining a running group that starts once a week at 6 am to train for a marathon, so once a week I was going to basically lose a day anyway by getting up so early. And all races start very early in the morning anyway. And I have…

  • Challenge,  running

    Friday Night and Exercise

    Talking Exercise for a Minute… Since it is Friday night and even the streets of Vegas are mostly empty, I figured it might be time for me to talk about what I promised a while back, and that is regularly blogging here about exercise and weight loss. It has been brutally hard to do either this last month. Vegas has had the hottest August on record EVER! Think that through. Las Vegas, known for heat, just broke all records. Oh, joy, which made going outside impossible unless you are out and moving at dawn, and even then some of those temperatures this month would have taken a long time to…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  running

    1st Post… 9th Year

    Going to Keep Going… Daily… See no reason to stop the blog streak now. But since my focus is changing some this year because of my upcoming 70th birthday this fall, I think I will add in the exercise part of things here at times. And maybe a little more on the writing updates. For example, I have a story to do tomorrow, two introductions to different book projects, and then two more stories to write. Then I will fire back on the Cave Creek novel and finish it. So writing is fun and jammed at the moment. The exercise, on my schedule, was to really ramp up today, August…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    Exercise Again

    Every So Often I Just Have To Talk About This… Exercising. Critical for writers. Not a fun topic and most writers just sort of shrug and move on. But since I didn’t get the time to really unpack everything Brandon is doing on his Kickstarter today and record some videos about it, I figured I would fill this blog tonight with a reminder to exercise. I am working to lose weight and my goal as I have told many, is to run at least one marathon in my 70th spin around this planet. I am building toward that with a written-out plan that I have in a notebook beside my…

  • Challenge,  Misc,  running

    A Very Satisfying Feeling…

    When the Versa on My Wrist Buzzes… That means I have hit my 10,000 steps, which is five miles for me. For those of you who don’t know, a Versa is a Fitbit in watch form, sort of like an iWatch. It gives me the time, my heart rate, my steps, my miles, and how many calories I have burned so far in the day. All on the face of the thing. I have the calories set assuming I am 180 pounds instead of 195. And there are a ton more features, including tracking my sleep every night. Up until I got this thing, I had never worn a watch,…

  • Challenge,  running

    Goals…

    Setting Goals In an Uncertain Time… Many, many writers I know, me included, are goal focused. I can work to deadline when the deadline is real. I can set goals out a month, six months, a year, and longer, and once set, I can stick with them. But the times, at the moment, are uncertain. (Duh…) We are all (mostly) staying at home and in place to keep the virus from just flattening our hospitals and killing a ton more people than it needs to. And the reopening is going to be slow and painful for some time to come. I’m doing fine on the writing and the publishing because…