I Got That OLD Feeling!!

Sunday morning I was hijacked into helping cook breakfast at the local Elks Lodge RV Park.  Once a month during the summer, they have a big get together, along with whoever may be staying at the park, serving pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit, eggs and Bloody Marys.  I probably should have been on Bloody Mary duty, since sharp knives and I don't seem to get along very well.

Much as I LOVE a sharp knife, I got that old tingling feeling in my fingers as I helped cut up watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, bananas, strawberries and the dreaded nectarines.  Guys ... when you buy fruit, please make sure it's ripe, because those that are hard as a rock, are hard to cut up, especially with a big pit in the middle.  You know where this is going, right??  It's okay though, I got that piece of finger out of the bowl within the 3 second rule .... I guess I didn't need it anyway!!  At least I give the guys high fives for having the knives sharp enough to cut through steel!!

Back home with a big bandaid, I had my trusty gallon of Home Defense out in preparation for debugging the property before I leave.  I've used this brand for a couple of years now, and it works great, even on the black widow spiders that surround my house.  It can be sprayed inside and out, keeping my garage and living area bug free.

The previous gallon was made to last 6 months.  As you can see from this picture with a million gnats on the floor, it's been MORE than 6 months since I sprayed, so it's time to get with the program.  I have a light set on auto here and it attracts all the gnats in the neighborhood ... a good thing I suppose.  Trouble is, I had no idea they were so bad this year!!  Keeping the gnats company were a few hundred ants!!

YIKES!!  It's time to spray ... and THIS stuff lasts 12 months!!  I went on an ant-spider killing mission!!  It's like the great white hunter in the jungle ... sneaking up on the nests and spraying like crazy!!!   Since you have to keep your pets away until it drys, I just did the outside perimeter of my house and garage.  Today I'll do the inside while the puppies play outdoors!!

Monday is when I REALLY got that O L D feeling!!  I've been trying to get back in running mode, which hasn't been easy when you don't even get one house away before your lungs are burning and you have to stop for air!!  I did lots of walking those first few runs!!  

For those that wonder about that huge red clunky watch I wear ... it's a Garmin GPS computer.  When I set it to running (or biking, skiing, hiking, snowboarding) it hooks up to a satellite and gives me tons of information.  I know how long, how far, changes in elevation, how fast and it even shows a map of where I've been, so if I get lost, I can just follow it home.  It also has a heart rate monitor, but I usually run out of air well before I hit the OH-MY-you-need-to-slow-down alarm.  It even breaks all that information down by mile!!

I'm what's known as a Clydesdale ... an old large slow horse!!  I'm not offended, I LOVE horses!!  We don't run fast but we keep on trucking!  On a long slow run, which is what I did on Monday, fifteen minutes per mile is good.  As I moved on down the road, enjoying the chill in the air and waving to other runners in the neighborhood, I started to get that old feeling ... the one where you feel like you could run forever.  

Once your body and lungs get used to breathing while running, a kind of euphoria kicks in.  You just feel like you could keep this up forever!!  I ran a full three miles without stopping, walking or slowing down!!  At about mile 2.5, my legs began to tire, but I just HAD to make the three mile mark.  Eventually, my legs will catch up with my lungs and I'll be back in shape to run ten or more miles.  

The best part about all this is the calories burned.  My little watch gives me THAT information too, based on all the info you have given it, like your age, weight, height, etc.  Pretty cool in my book!!!  Not that I plan on running ten or more miles much ... it actually can get pretty boring out there, even if there is music blasting in your ear!!

It's Tuesday morning now and I've got that O L D feeling even more, as I hobble around the house with sore legs.  It's a good sore however!!  I'm back to running and can breathe SO much easier going up stairs ... not that there are any in town since everything is single story here!!  You know what I mean though ... it just feels good to exercise!!  Come on people ..... you too can have that O L D feeling, and not from your age ... just get out there and get some fresh air!!