October = Off Season

For the first time (ever?), I'm not perturbed by some semi-forced downtime. A bit of niggling, low grade - so far - plantar fasciitis. Run related. Bagged my October races. The pf now seems under control after plenty of TLC.

Lately, nearly zero swimming, a smattering of 35-45min runs, and unstructured smell-the-roses bike rides. And, lots of (over)eating. 8 instead of 6hrs sleep most nights. Shocker: 10 new lbs appeared around my mid-section. So there's a little more jiggle to my wiggle. It's belt tightening, for sure, just not the way it's supposed to be done.

Might give my mind and body a break from the S/B/R, try cross training with something completely different. Not sure what.

Perhaps cross country snow boarding. Doesn't look too hard to pick up. Could be a good intro to boarding for a newbie. As long as care is taken to avoid the skootch leg.




M&D in NYC for a visit with B this weekend. I hear M was pulling for the Phils over the Yankees. Hmmmm. Probably not too upset if she missed the ticker tape parade.

Gas about $2.75 here for the cheap stuff.

Racing in the Capital

Race weekend for me and the Devereaux runner. He cruised a training Half Marathon Sunday morning. At the same time I was downtown for what has become one of the largest triathlons in the world.

The Nation's Triathlon 9-13-09
1500m swim (Potomac River)
40K bike
10k run

New bike and run course this year. Just as flat.

Last year: 2,393 finishers
This year: 3,933 finishers

Me: Slower in the water. Faster on land. No injury. A healthy dose of fun and sun.
Mayor Fenty: ~15secs faster than me. Dammit.


70's and sunny, light wind.

SWIM
72F they said. Wore the full wetsuit.
Lots of body contact. Manged to swim pretty straight lines.
Dirty water from rainy week.
Wasted time wrestling into a sleeveless top before getting rolling on the bike. Could've gone topless and not been too chilly.

BIKE:
Used 11-23 cassette. Wheel cover. One bottle up front on the aero bars. (weak pic below)
Hit it hard out of the gate. Big ring all the way. Politely shouting "On YOUR left" all day, which is nice.
Almost too crowded on the bike course, but not quite. Only blocked briefly a couple times.
Took in a gel and ~16oz H2O. Almost vurped up the gel.
During the ride two guys passed me and stayed away. One was riding my bike. Score another showing for Felt.

RUN
Enjoyed a little tour of rows 20-23 searching for my rack spot. Finally, got headed toward Hains Point before circling back toward the Jefferson and returning to the finish near transition.

Again, 2 dudes passed me. One in my AG. Initially, caught him. Around mile 2. Ran with him and cajoled "let's go catch some guys, eh?" I was, apparently, still enjoying some race adrenalin and happy to be upright and off the bike. "No," he said, "I'm waiting." Uh-oh. I eased ahead. Not far past the 3mi mark he stopped waiting. Caught me and just kept fading into the distance.

Didn't monitor my mile splits, suspect I ran pretty evenly paced miles. It was tough to hold it for the last 2 miles. I tried to pick it up but doubt I shaved more than 3secs off my pace, and just as likely lost a little time despite the effort.

The numbers. Nothing surprising.
2008 v 2009

Yes, poor pic.
And, yes, I will eventually be trimming those cables.

Felt Between My Legs!

Introducing: The new rig - 2009 Felt B2R TTR.

The deal was just too good to pass up.
Nowhere near std retail.

Just a scoche over 19lbs as pictured.



I'd be wearing a smile but for the mosquitoes that were swarming about and sucking me dry.

July 10th to 19th

Very, very good to see nothing but positive reports from Denver so far.
My thoughts are with B & M in Colorado.

In lesser news, the last ten days of my play time below. Pretty solid block of consistency. Would've liked one more bike and swim. New twist lately is swim-run combos in the mornings. I like the S->R, been a year since I last inserted some of those. Running brand new routes that turn out well also makes for a nice run.

No pics. Sorry. Instead, a motivational trailer from the folks at VS. It's no Obama NAACP speech, but it's a fun 2 mins of visual go juice. TDF watchers will have seen versions of it. Hasn't gotten old on me yet.

Fri. 7-10-09

Swim 25-30mins a.m, ~1K

Sat. 7-11-09

Diamond in the Rough Oly Tri RACE

Swim 1mi – 28:52 (course short of a mile?)

T1 – 2:04

Bike - medium rollers, then 1mi climb around mi 22. 70's very humid hazy, 1 rocket gel, 1+ water bottle, .5 bottle electro

Total

Entire workout (200 watts):

Duration: 1:17:24 (1:17:25)

Work: 928 kJ

TSS: 112.9 (intensity factor 0.937)

Norm Power: 215

VI: 1.08

Pw:HR: 0.22%

Pa:HR: -5%

Distance: 26.536 mi

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 436 200 watts

Heart Rate: 126 171 158 bpm

Cadence: 27 114 86 rpm

Speed: 0 42.3 20.6 mph

T2 – 1:13

Run – 5mi, 30:47 (6:10)

Sun. 7-12-09

Work a.m.

Swim 25mins easy afternoon

Mon. 7-13-09

evening - Run 46mins steady-minimally frisky, felt good, ~6.2mi

Core/lift – 10mins

Tue. 7-14-09

Swim 36mins a.m. ~1500m total
Steady swim, no pitstops, 2 x 50 kick inserted near end,

Bike QR trainer p.m.

Entire workout (172 watts):

Duration: 1:00:21

Work: 623 kJ

TSS: 60.7 (intensity factor 0.777)

Norm Power: 179

VI: 1.04

Pw:HR: 0.48%

Pa:HR: 6.93%

Distance: 20.373 mi

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 265 172 watts

Heart Rate: 74 152 132 bpm

Cadence: 39 98 90 rpm

Speed: 3.2 23.3 20.3 mph

Wed. 7-15-09

7a.m. Swim 1hr, run 46mins

Swim 400 wup; 2x (50 right breath, 50 left); 200, 400, 300, 200 (all at 2:06-:10 100 pace); 2 x (50 hard 15 sec rcvry, 50 hard) (:56/:58 both times); 200 cool

Total - 2100m

8min Transition to run

Run 46 mins cap crescent trail, ~6.15mi, downhill toward macarthur and back

Lydia & Dr. Lee-Pow phys therapy evening deep massage, chiro adjustment and graston on lower ITB/quad line at the ol' spot just above the outer knee.

Thur. 7-16

Swim 40mins a.m.
Steady free, 2 x 50kick/100 free at end.
~1600m total

Bike QR trainer recvry+ p.m.

Entire workout (158 watts):

Duration: 1:05:31 (1:08:23)

Work: 618 kJ

Fri. 7-17

Swim & Run before work

Swim ~1hr
600wup
4x100 on :15-:20 rest (~2:00-:05), 2x50 on ~:10 rest (~:58), 100 easy;
3x100 (same), 2x50 (same), 100 easy
2x100 (same), 2x50 (same) (last one in :58), 100 easy
1x100 (same), 1x50 (same) (same
150 cool
~2300m

10min trans to run
Run 39mins, ~5mi, out and back crescent trail north/south

Bike QR trainer after work, steady

Entire workout (167 watts):

Duration: 1:06:19 (1:07:48)

Distance: 22.009 mi

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 269 167 watts

Heart Rate: 77 149 130 bpm

Cadence: 32 98 91 rpm

Speed: 2.5 23.5 20.0 mph

Sat. 7-18

Swim 7am, 30mins, ~1300m

-work-

Bike QR Outdr Seneca-River in afternoon

Meat:

Duration: 2:21:30 (2:31:02)

Work: 1448 kJ

TSS: 158.7 (intensity factor 0.822)

Norm Power: 189

VI: 1.1

Pw:HR: 5.97%

Pa:HR: -4.8%

Distance: 42.501 mi

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 375 171 watts

Heart Rate: 85 152 133 bpm

Cadence: 29 114 80 rpm

Speed: 2.1 39.3 18.1 mph

Entire workout (166 watts):

Duration: 2:46:27 (2:56:52)

Distance: 49.339 mi

Sun. 7-19

Work 8:30a – 1p

Run 2hrs, ~16mi, 2 gels, carried 2 water flasks, refilled once

Start at Bethesda pool, down Cap Crescent trail to tow path, up towpath a few miles, back same way.

Quick 10-15min recvry swim. Cooooool water, ahhh.

Peaks

The crust, the filling.... I'm drooling just remembering. I think there was a new berry in the mix, some marionberry to go along with the blueberry. Well done Mom. Quite the Father's Day baking. Not even the most scrutinous (?) of food critics could find room for improvement. Pie bakers 'round the world should hang up their aprons. Game over.

I fear it's here. The peak of the year, summit of summer. Savor it. I shall.

So far, for me:

• a great Memorial Day weekend of racing the Triple T, checking that box on the life list of races;
• early morning outdoor swims in 50m pool under the sunrise;
  
• the Perfect Pie (above);
• the 4th;
  
• a blast of a race at Diamond in the Rough 7/11;
• Le Tour!
  
• staying just on the good side of the health/injury line (so far, knocking on formica); and
  
• the annual combo of long days, warm temps, escaping to the AC, and summer popcorn flicks in chilly theatres.

But for lacking the Perfect Pie to cap the day, July 11th may have been the summer high point in a nutshell. Great weather + fun race in the morning + TDF mountains stage to watch in the evening.

The TDF is shaping up to be something special. High drama in Hi Def. Thank you Versus for the HD. Really brings out the visual beauty in the most beautiful sport in the world.

Flashback to May...

I survived the Triple T racing weekend at Shawnee State Park in Portsmouth, OH, just along the KY border. It was as billed - EPIC. Gas in OH on Memorial Day was $2.59, best price I saw for the cheap stuff. Too nuked and too busy eating/recoverying to take pics once the racing weekend commenced, these lame shots will have to do.

The gear, including the race jersey all participants were required to wear for every race.
Made for a nice army-of-triathletes kind of belonging feel, comraderie.

Transition area, empty, the day before the races started.
Swim course in the distance, and closer below.

Middlin results below. No bother. It was more about discovery - how my mind and body acted and reacted in tackling his beast - than competing against others. Highlight for me was finding my run legs ~4 miles into the half marathon on Sunday. I may go back and attempt to really "race" it with an eye on time.


Forward now 6 weeks to the present and the Diamond in the Rough Oly distance race in Perryville, MD just off 95 North of Baltimore. Swim (shorter than advertised, no way that was 1 mile) in the mouth of the Susquehanna River. Somewhat rolling bike course and flat run. A fun course.

And, a good opp to be a gear geek. The full wetsuit for the swim, and aero helmet, rear wheel cover, deep dish front aero wheel on the bike. ~80 and muggy - warm enough but not jungle oppressive. I decided to ride and run shirtless. You know, a little something for the ladies. Yes, I give back to the sport.

Started with a large wave of swimmers, good deal of body contact. Never got a good rythym. Had to give the Heisman to one stout swimmer that would not stop veering into me. About the same speed but with no compass, he earned a strong redirect shove after the 4th collision. He noticed me, finally, gave me an angry water logged "f#!k" but never broke his stroke. Good day sir.

As I am oh so familiar with, the slow swim has an upside - passing people all day once on land. That's fun. Pick a rabbit, catch it. Again, and again. Def helps keep the focus forward. As does fear of being caught by the stout swimmer.

Geek stuff in transition.

Sea of bikes. Love it.

Even with a crap swim this year on a shortened swim course, pretty nice splits compared to 2003. Older but not slower. I'll file that in the personal W column.

Race pics here, you'll find me toward the bottom of page 1.

Saw gas for $2.39 in Perryville. Paid $2.59 a day later in DC.

It's not racing, it's pacing.

Cue the Jaws theme. Or, maybe the classic Rocky music. Less foreboding, more blindly optimistic.

It's "T" time. The race I originally entered to take on in '08 is here.

Three days, four races. Fri. - Sun.

Every course serves up more lumps than my cysty foot...


Run - same road every day, out and back once or twice depending.



Fri. night - a short bumpy 5miles for race 1.


Sat. morning - a nice little leg warmer for race 2


Sat. afternoon - race 3, out and back, up and down.


Sun. morning - this loop, twice for the last race.

Not unascysted (warning: ugly foot pics)

Looked down while stretching, and... WTH?!

This peanut M&M sized thing on my right foot popped up out of nowhere.
Doesn't hurt.
Most likely a ganglion cyst. If I'm lucky it will resolve on it's own over weeks or months. Or, an alien bug will emerge, or, better yet burrow up to my brain while I sleep.

Duathlon Short Course Nationals, Richmond

Short version:
It was HOT. I finished 27th out of 99 in my AG. Needed to finish top 12 to qualify for the World Short Course Duathlon Championship in North Carolina in Sept. The bothersome achilles did not explode. No injuries.

Long Version:

Mid-hi 80’sF, 90+ in pm, sunny. Ouch.9:30am start for meThis B race on paper turned into to an A race on the day thanks to standard race day adrenalin, the hard to stifle competitive instinct, and world champ qualifying slots on the block.

Heat was the story. High in the low 90's in Richmond, hi 80's before noon. In April! APRIL. Whoever is in charge of the weather got the dials and levers way out of wack.

Top 12 in each AG got a ticket to the World Champs in Sept. No ticket por moi. Another Rockville native took 12th, so someone will be representin'.100+ in my AG showed up, 99 finished. That is huge for a duathlon. Twenty is a big turnout for one AG. 100+ is off the charts. All AGs combined often don't total 100.

The 40-44 racers came from NY, PA, OH, CA, WA, SC, ME, many DE/VA/MDers. Credit the big turnout to a cheap price ($65), a good shot at World's (12 slots per AG is a lot), an impressive pile of race shwag (backpack, hat, shirt, bottle, yada), and shrewdly scheduled before tri season kicks in to avoid that conflict among the multisporters. Came in 27th out of the 99 finishers in the 40-44 Men, turned out to be the largest AG in the race. 136th out of 588 men, and 140th out of 885 overall. If my calculations are correct... Chicked, x 4.

After a 10min jog up and down a shady stretch of sidewalk and a little stretching I eased into the start coral a few mins before the 9:30 gun. Weaved my way up to a spot about 10 rows back. All manner of attire on display. From the gear guru with knee-high compression socks, a skin suit and a head wrap (why not a full body celophane wrap to really boil?), to the minimalists sporting only shoes and shorts (sockless, topless, hatless). Not a single Fuel Belt wearing Urkle, surprisingly.

A 30-something looking linebacker with 44 on his calf bulled his way to ~5th row, parked, looked around, "you guys going sixes?" Silence. Nods to himself: silence = affirmation. Lots of thought bubbles reading "6min pace, really? Go for it Urlacher."

And... we're off. Straight downhill for 3 steep blocks before it leveled out. I semi-faked the run fearing my ornery Achilles could flare. Its recent squawking scared me into running only 3x in the last 2 weeks, 4-5miles a pop. Not much. So, I went out at a "conservative" clip... relative to the 30 or 40 guys rapidly disappearing over the horizon in front of me. I reeled a few back in - including a fading Urlacher - but plenty of dudes put at least a few mins into me going into T1.

No idea of my mile splits. I screwed up my watch at the start. A clue of my mental dullness on the day. I basically lack mojo as I walk around and do my Cullen thing, but I really had no mojo on the bike. Zip, nada. Generally similar in this way to the truly brutally hot and humid Cambridge duathlon 2 yrs ago where my pedal turners were not even jello, well, maybe hot jello, ie watery weak. If Cambridge was a 10 on the heat hobbler index, this was merely 8.5.

Even had I brought my good bike legs, not likely it would have made much dif. Fought off waves calf cramps on the 3 loop bike course. Consumed most of a water bottle, most of another bottle of electrolytes, 3 salt caps. Feared the calves would lock up big time once I got running over the last 5K run. Fortunately, they felt fine once off the bike. WTH?

Angry at the bike, dug fairly deep to catch people on the run. Urlacher had passed me on the bike, turned out to be the last guy in my sights. I caught him just before the uphill finish chute. Rookie move, I passed him early, giving him time to muster a surge to pass me. Nuts.

Could have used another half mile that should have been there. Instead of 3.1mi the course was 2.6mi. No biggie, I would not have caught many more guys, certainly not enough to finish better than 13th.

Band, beer, bagels, bananas, fajitas, water, sports drinks, gels… all free post race festivities I opted to skip. Knowing I was well off the top 12, did not wait till 3p for award ceremonies, got headed back up I95 before 1p. Popped in to work for a couple hrs as I was passing nearby anyway.

Then home to eat, eat, laundry, and eat. Planned to put the feet up, strap on the feedbag and watch a recorded Caps v Rangers game 6 played earlier in the day, but I had, of course, mucked up the recording program. Arghh.

Onward to the Triple T in just 4 weeks. Yikes. A few days of easy recovery, couple weeks ramped back up, then taper and head for OH.
http://www.americantriple-t.com/ohio/ohio.html

Cherry B '09 - 10miles of Heaven

Haines Point, East Potomac Park.
Part of the new race course, roughly miles 7.5-9.5

Dream conditions for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler last Sunday. Almost zero wind, ~50F, sunny, blossoms in bloom, 10,000 friends along for the run past monuments. Good times. Who cares if Mayor Fenty nipped me? I have my excuses. Long johnny lines, no warmup, no stretching time, almost no running for 6 days prior.

Really good time for the winner - 45:56 (4:38).
Solid time for me - 1:03:35 (6:22) 230/6618 men; 24/861 40-44m
The Mayor - 1:02:59 (6:18).

My time matches almost to the second my finish time 2yrs ago, the last year I raced it.

Not a chatty group, my fellow '09 racers. Full of caffeine (it's good, another study says so) and race day joy, I tried. Instead of always being complimentary with my words, maybe trash talk would at least get a response, at risk of an elbow. Hmmm.

I enjoy the chance to observe the wide variety run styles at races. On this day, women stood out as having very good form, almost uniformly. Maybe the women running in the 6-7min pace range are likely to have run in college, had coaching, care about form, etc.

Had a very tight hamstring starting the morning after the race. Five days post race and it's still tight but better each day. Felt fine on day 4 till I tried running, had to abort after 25mins.

No problems biking or swimming tho. Phew. I'll call it a swim/bike block of training for a few days before I give running another go. No need to gamble with exacerbating a hammie.

Rested or Rusted, it's Race Time

Gotta love the cycling fans.
(pic from Feb. 2009 Tour of California)

April!? Those races entered months ago are now, gulp, here.

4/5 - Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
4/26 - Duathlon in Richmond
5/22-24 - Three days of Tri at the Triple T in OH

Just as training takes on some urgency - illness. Doh! Almost escaped the cold season untouched. Almost. Employing the unpleasant Do Nothing approach this week has successfully kept it in check and above my neck. No progression to the lungs.

I'm painting a silver lining on this sinus situation, calling it a taper for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler this Sunday. This was to be a pure, no taper, training race, a "C" race. Now it's a C race with an involuntary taper. Come Sunday the legs could be rested, or, rusted. Either way, it's a new course, so a PR is guaranteed.

Later this month: Duathlon Nationals on the 26th in Richmond, a "B/B+" level race. In a perfect world I'll manage a top 10 finish in my AG and nab a slot to the Duathlon World Champs this Fall in North Carolina. Mostly, it's a long intensity session (10K-38K-5K) going into the final prep for the Memorial Day weekend of racing the Triple T in Ohio.

The Triple T is absolutely daunting, and exciting. It's an "A "race, but it has nothing to do with a fast time or high AG placing. Simply managing the 4 races in three days and reaching the finish line Sunday afternoon is sufficient challenge.

It's been a long time since I've toed a start line unsure whether I'll make it to the finish. That's a helluva buzz. Just what I signed up for. I'm looking forward to it.

Triple T Schedule
Fri. 5/22 - 5pm - Prologue - 250meter swim; 5mi bike; 1mi run
Sat. 5/23 - 7:30a - Oly distance - 1500m swim; 24.8mi bike, 6.55mi run
Sat. 5/23 - 3pm - Oly disorder - 24.8mi bike; 1500m swim; 6.55mi run
Sun. 5/24 - 7am - Half Iron - 1.2mi swim; 55.5mi bike; 13.1mi run

Prior to the head bug hitting me this week, training has been pretty solid. A little slacking on the swim, which will change asap.

Weekly Training Time 2009
click to enlarge

My training is oh so bland compared to some. Did you catch this NYT spotlight of the young Canadian fella whose backwoods soul searcher old school ways landed him in the Beijing games and now on a pro cycling team bound for the TDF? At 18, he was riding across Canada on a $40 bike with a homemade trailer attached. In the trailer? Some camping gear and his 80lb. dog (!) named Bear. Balboa punching freezer beef and chasing chickens has nothing on Svein.

I'm going for a strong visual close here with more, um, nutty cycling fans. I like the two piece style, but the dudes...

The Borat Compression Sling.
Yeah, I ride like this. Draft me if you dare.

Dismaster

Is that Henry on the left, and Eli on the right?

40+ (whoa) makes me a "Master." I can compete in the Master's division in some races. Just a running thing. I think. Plain old 40-44 age group for duathlon, triathlon purposes.

For the first time since the Inauguration, I didn't work. It's President's Day, officially speaking it's a holiday. Really needed sleep. Got over 9hrs. Recorded my longest run in memory this afternoon. 2hrs 10mins, ~17+mi. Felt pretty darn good, relatively speaking. Maybe it was the Indian chicken whipped up at Devereaux Sat., and a few times after with what I brought home.

Starting to shift into slightly more focused training. Money down on 3 races. Two in April, and a big beast of a target race over Memorial Day weekend.

The training update:

Mon. 2-2

Glutes – Verstegen run prep 20mins

Run 45mins, 5.75mi easy-steady

Tue. 2-3-09

Swim 38mins MAC
~1400M total

Bike QR with 2 x (10mins as: 2mins over-2minsunder-2mins over-2minsunder-2mins over)

Duration: 1:15:18 (1:15:20)

Distance: 25.07 mi

Wed. 2-4-09

Swim 40mins MAC

Thur. 2-5-09

Swim 40mins

~1600M total

20mins Verstegen glutes prep

Run 52mins, ~7mi

Core/pushups 10mins

Fri. 2-6-09

Swim 43mins am, steady free, few 50 kicks

~1600M total

Bike QR easy-steady, just cadence focus 90+

Duration: 56:04 (59:15)

Distance: 18.9 mi

Sat. 2-7-09

Verstegen run prep 20mins glutes

Run 1hr49mins, ~14+mi, ~60F slight breeze, mostly sunny.

Sun. 2-8

Bike Fuji outdoor, mid 60;s. Solid wind from NW. Run after.

Duration: 2:39:51 (2:45:04)

Distance: 46.94 mi

Run 27:30 after 8-9min trans from ride, ~3.5mi

Mon. 2-9

Off, recover, feeling like maybe did not eat enough last night after solid day.

Tue. 2-10-09

Swim ~45mins MAC
~1800M

Bike QR trainer recvry ride

Duration: 1:00:44 (1:01:57)

Distance: 19.835 mi

Wed. 2-11-09
Swim 45mins
~1600m total

Core – 10mins crunches, etc and straight leg raises on deck after swim

Verstegen Run prep – 15mins glutes

Run 64mins, ~8.3mi, easy-steady, 70+F at 6p, windy.

Thur. 2-12-09

Bike

QR trainer, intervals - after warm up 4 x (4mins on/1min off), recover, some :30-:60 standing reps, cool, Intrval Focus was on steady state cadence above LT, stay at 90-91rpm

*dropped planned swim this morning

Duration: 1:05:21 (1:06:12)

Distance: 22.038 mi

Fri. 2-13

Swim 40min MAC
~1500 total

Core - 10mins on deck - 2 x (crunches, straight leg raises, pushups)

Run 42mins, ~5.75mi, frisky, felt quite good

Core – 10mins crunches, curls, pushups

Sat. 2-14

Verstegen run prep glutes 15mins

Run 42mins, semi frisky, ~5.75mi

~7min trans to Bike

Bike QR trainer steady

Duration: 1:05:24 (1:05:57)

Distance: 21.785 mi

Sun. 2-15-09

Bike Fuji outdr, Falls Rd etc., legs not too bad

Meat:

Duration: 2:04:14 (2:09:41)

Distance: 36.34 mi

Entire workout

Duration: 2:28:36 (2:36:36)

Distance: 43.141 mi

Mon. 2-16-09

Pres’s Day. Did not work. First day off in weeks.

Verstegen run prep glutes - 15mins

Run 2hr11mins, ~17.2mi, checked pace on a couple miles – 1 flat was 7:20, 1 rolling was 7:30. ~38F, clear, light winds.

Memory Lane, Dorothy Z.

Thanks to Ed for the great pics.

1989 at 413.

The hair. The glasses. The table and chairs on the porch?

Thoughts these days are with the family of Dorothy Z. - a much larger family than I knew.

I'm fortunate to have had many noble, kind, patient people of admirable character in my life. The folks that know right from wrong and walk the talk, and called me on it when I didn't. Dorothy was one. And a big reason I've not turned out to be too much of a jerk.

Many things come to mind when I think of her. Fuzzy visions and mental clips from my first decade. Complete with sounds and smells, and the emotional feel of the memory moment. Early memories are difficult to describe.

The warm gurgle and hum of the fish tank when visiting Roy & Dorothy. The soft chirp of the scanner. Roses and wood chips. Hummingbirds. Starter flowers. Tomato soup and peanut butter sandwiches. Graham crackers. Keebler crackers. And, of course, Red birthday cake.

She could shame me in a flash with a harsh tone and vigorous finger waving. A slap to the hand if some stubborn misbehaving was going on.

I remember her chuckling as she set me straight one day on something not to put in my mouth. I had to have been quite young, so it could have been anything. I don't think I was ever a booger muncher, so I'm gonna go with chewing gum that somehow escaped my mouth before being recaptured and popped back in. Dorothy was suddenly there. That's got germs, not good she instructed. I argued that they were my germs, so it was okay. (Some sort of blood type, germ type theory. Young Einstein, that was me.) But honey they're germs , she laughed, you don't want that!

Despite my carefree germ consumption, I'll move into my 5th decade this weekend. Party at Devereaux. There won’t be any desert, but the Red cake and baker will be there.

June, 1975