When returning from my run yesterday afternoon I got a really bad scare as my neighbor called me with the news that another neighbor across the street called him with bad news: She had a dead kitty in the garden and she was afraid it might be Elvis, one of the kitties who have chosen me as their guardian. I took the news pretty stoically as I tend to but decided to walk up to Elvis favorite place, the chicken coop to gather my thoughts and brace myself for the possible blow. And who was there, happily chilling away in the sun with the chickens??!? Elvis!!! I was so happy and relieved I just broke down and cried and cuddled both Elvis and JB, his brother who had followed me up to the chickens from home. Then I sent my neighbor a photo and called him and we sniffled some sniffles of relieve together. We’re so happy to have our fosterlings safe and sound.
Still, my heart is aching for the family who actually lost their kitty today – so very sad. May the little tiger race the meadows of eternity with his furry friends.
The coronavirus undoubtedly is a dangerous, even fatal disease. But with people stuck at home and splendid weather outside and one of the few reasons to leave the house being exercising (alone) it seems a lot of people take to running these days. I guess it’s the closed gyms and many unclaimed resolves to finally start running. Now with home office and the dropped commute times it’s as if lots and lots of folks use the gained hours to go out for a run. At least today I saw more runners out there than on many an ordinary weekend day. Everybody and their mamma seemed to be chasing that finish line.
I say let’s hail all these athletes! Let’s celebrate one of the great things the shelter in place order has caused! A hurray on all you runners showing the world that you’re pulling through. Including the safe distance! I applaud you!!
Sometimes if you go on a long run int the morning after a huge cup of coffee there’s a danger of that coffee washing water out of the body that wants out. And the most obvious way – before you start sweating enough – is out of your bladder. So yes, I had to pee on my run lately and there wasn’t a very suitable spot along the way. But since it was still relatively early and no one was to be seen I decided to risk just hiding between some trees as I would certainly see approaching hikers and joggers on time. I didn’t consider the bikers though and their increased speed in comparison to people afoot. Well, and that’s how I met a lovely couple who was all charming about it and gave me a wave that I happily returned.
Saturday found me bringing my skis in for a service so I’ll ready for my ski vacation next week – and hopefully fast enough to follow around my racer friends.
I’ve been into sports more or less all my life. Not in a club or another specifically dedicated way but either watching it or just doing it for myself. As a kid is was mostly playing games that involved running around outside or sometimes playing soccer with my brother and his friends (if they let me). Of course I also had a bicycle, roller skates and at times a skateboard that kept me moving.
As a teenager I wasn’t crazy about gym class but in my spare time I still remained active and rode my bike pretty much everywhere. So that never stopped. But only at the age of 27 did I consciously take up running as a regular habit. At first I found it extremely arduous, I could hardly run a couple of hundred yards without sounding like a steam engine. But I kept at it and stuck with it ever since.
I’ve never turned into a fast runner but I can run moderate distances and as I run slowly I can run for quite a long time no problem. Record is around two and a half hours. In the past years I’ve participated in a few races but after each and every one I was convinced it was the last. I did not like the masses, running with other folks does not appeal to me at all and usually race day is simply not one of my “magical days” when I just get up and run as if I’d never done anything else.
Of course, exercise-induced asthma doesn’t help. But I’m starting to get accustomed to it and know how to work with it. I’ve found my peace with not being the fastest runner but instead concentrate on having fun while I’m out there enjoying nature in all it’s glory. And I think that’s why this year everything’s different.
First run this year… lots of snow to tread…
All of a sudden I’m chasing race after race. Or, well, let’s say I’m easily convinced to join in yet another one. One of my very best friends is an inspiring runner, duathlete and thriathlete. He recently joined the board of a runners club and asked me to join the club as well. He lured me in with the prospect of receiving 10 bucks for every race I finish that is on our race club’s list. So after only a couple of races I’ll have earned back my club fee and after that it’s pure cash… haha, it seems I’m a capitalist after all.
But to be honest, it’s not about the money at all. What spurs me this time is
a) The fact that all the races I’ve joined so far were only regional events with few runners and
b) I’m taking it so easy with the only goal being that I arrive – regardless of the time.
That does the trick. I’ve stopped agonizing about my performance but instead concentrate on the joys of running: The feeling of being healthy and able to run at all, the fresh crisp-clean air, the sounds, texture of snow or gravel under my feet, the friendly folks spurring the runners on, the other participants- joy – it’s all most inspiring. And guess what? I’ve been delivering my best results when it comes to times so far 🙂
Weeheee, soooo earned that medal!!
Now of course one might think I might be running away from something… which might make sense after as exhausting a year as the one I’ve just put behind me. But then again I’ve always been a rather positive person so I prefer to look at it the other way – I’m running towards something. Be it answers, a new beginning or simply the appreciation of a cleansing shower after the run 🙂
Dear readers, is there anything you totally changed your mind about over time?
Today, August 1st, 2016, Switzerland celebrates its 725th anniversary – Happy Birthday!! Heute, am 1. August 2016, feiert die Schweiz ihren 725sten Geburtstag – Happy Birthday!!
I quite vividly recollect the 700 year celebration; that was one big bash! I can’t believe it’s been 25 years already… time flies when you’re having fun 🙂 Ich erinnere mich noch recht lebhaft an die 700-Jahr-Feier; das war vielleicht eine Fete! Ich kann kaum glauben, dass schon 25 Jahre vergangen sind… die Zeit fliegt wenn man Spass hat 🙂
I wanted to take this opportunity and share three fun facts about Switzerland that you probably didn’t know about yet, so here goes: Ich wollte die Gelegenheit nutzen, um drei Fakten rund um die Schweiz mit euch zu teilen, von denen ihr allenfalls noch nichts wusstet:
Until not too long ago Switzerland shared it’s national anthem with Britain. Yes, for the longest time my mum started chanting the tunes of “God save the Queen” whenever it was time to sing our national anthem because that’s how she learned it in school. Only as recently as 1961 did the Swiss replace it with the now familiar tune of the so called Swiss Psalm. Bis vor nicht allzu langer Zeit teilte die Schweiz die Melodie ihrer Nationalhymne mit der von Grossbritannien. Genau, die längste Zeit begann meine Mam die Melodie von “God save the Queen” zu singen, wenn es an der Zeit war, die Schweizer Hymne anzustimmen weil sie das einfach so in der Schule gelernt hatte. Erst 1961 wurde diese Melodie durch den heutigen Schweizer Psalm abgelöst.
Liechtenstein, a Principality that shares many traits such as the Swiss Franc and public services (mail, phone, internet etc.) with Switzerland, still shares the tune of its anthem with the British which can cause some confusion when the same tune is played twice in a row for example when England plays Liechtenstein on the soccer field. Liechtenstein, ein Fürstentum das die meisten Eigenschaften der Schweiz wie den Schweizer Franken und die öffentlichen Angebote (Post, Telefonnetz, Internet etc.) teilt, teilt noch heute die Melodie seiner Hymne mit den Briten, was derweilen für etwas Verwirrung sorgt, zum Beispiel wenn sich England und Liechtenstein auf dem Fussballfeld begegnen.
Swiss Psalm
The Swiss flag depicts a white cross on a square red background. The reversed design of a red cross on white background (that for some reason still gets mixed up with the Swiss flag quite frequently) is used by the Red Cross organization. This design was picked to honor Switzerland, where the first Geneva Convention was held, and its inventor and co-founder, the Swiss Henry Dunant. Die Schweizer Flagge zeigt ein weisses Kreuz auf einem quadtratischen, roten Hintergrund. Das umgekehrte Design eines roten Kreuzes auf weissem Hintergrund (welches aus irgendwelchen Gründen noch immer oft mit der Schweizer Flagge verwechselt wird) wird vom Roten Kreuz genutzt. Dieses Design wurde zu Ehren der Schweiz, wo die erste Genfer Konvention stattfand, und ihres Erfinders und Mitgründers, des Schweizers Henrz Dunant, gewählt.
The Swiss flag is one of only two square sovereign-state flags; the other being the flag of – yes – Vatican City. Die Schweizer Flagge ist eine von lediglich zwei quadratischen Flaggen von souveränen Staaten; die andere weht über – genau – der Vatikanstadt.
Swiss Flag
An indigenous Swiss sport that even many Swiss don’t really know about is called “Hornussen” (horneting…). It seems quite puzzling that the sport does not enjoy more popularity, given the fact that it looks like a mixture between golf and baseball. It is not quite clear whether the sport got its name from the puck that it’s played with, the “Hornuss” (hornet) – which apparently derives from “horn” and “nut”, meaning the nut-formed puck used to be made of horn material – or the buzzing sound the puck makes when whizzing through the air at up to 300 km/h (over 180 m/h) which resembles the buzz of a “Hornusse” (hornet). Die Schweiz hat einen Nationalsport, über den selbst viele Schweizer nicht wirklich viel wissen – das sogenannte “Hornussen”. Es scheint einigermassen verblüffend dass dieser Sport nicht bekannter ist, scheint es doch Elemente aus Golf und Baseball mit sich zu bringen. Es ist nicht ganz klar, ob er Sport seinen Namen vom Puck, der sogenannten “Hornuss” – was sich offensichtlich aus “Horn” und “Nuss” zusammensetzt, also dem Material aus welchem der Puck ursprünglich hergestellt wurde – oder aber vom summenden Geräusch, das der Puck macht wenn er mit bis zu 300km/h durch die Luft flitzt und sich anhört wie eine wildgewordene Hornisse.
Yes – I did run outside with cutting boards to play a round of “Hornussen” shortly after having seen my first game as a kid 🙂
I hope you had fun with this little know-how spill of mine. Ich hoffe, mein kleiner Wissens-Erguss hat euch Spass gemacht.
Wishing you all a great start into this new week! Ich wünsche euch allen einen guten Start in die neue Woche!
Do you have any scarcely-known facts about your homeland that you care to share? Habt ihr einige kaum bekannte Fakten über euer Heimatland, die ihr gerne teilen möchtet?
Resources & Sources
Anniversary pic created by evozeta
Swiss Psalm and Swiss Flag photo credit: Wikipedia
Hornussen photo credit: myswitzerland.com
Ressourcen & Quellen
Anniversary Bild kreiert von evozeta
Swiss Psalm und Swiss Flag Foto Copyright: Wikipedia
Baby (or toddler?) bird on what might well be his first flight.
It is the time of the year when young birds leave their nest and so it’s probably no wonder that I happened upon this little fella on one of my last runs. Of course, I didn’t touch him or anything, just watched him sit there for a while, hoping that his family would find him and finish the job of teaching him how to fly. Es ist wieder die Jahreszeit der flügge werdenden Vögel und so scheint es wohl wenig erstaunlich, dass ich auf einem meiner letzten Läufe diesem kleinen Kerlchen begegnet bin. Natürlich habe ich ihn nicht angefasst sondern nur für eine Weile beobachtet, wie er geduldig dasitzt. Ich hoffte inständig, dass seine Familie ihn finden und ihm das Fliegen noch fertig beibringen würde.
On Saturday’s run a couple of bicyclists and fellow runners had to disturb a wedding party about to take pictures on this little footbridge down at Lady Bird Lake close to Longhorn Dam. It was drizzling at the time so they first had to remove the humongous pile of umbrellas they had piled up at the end/beginning of the bridge 🙂 Auf meinem Samstags-Lauf mussten einige Velofahrer und Mit-Läufer eine Hochzeitsgesellschaft stören, die gerade dabei war, Fotos auf dieser kleinen Holzbrücke beim Lady Bird Lake nahe des Longhorn Dams zu schiessen. Es nieselte und so musste die Gesellschaft erst einmal den enormen Haufen Regenschirme aus dem Weg räumen, die sich am Anfang/Ende der Brücke aufgetürmt hatte 🙂
They’re a regular sight on my Town Lake runs.
The other day I finally stopped and took a picture of a flock of geese that I come upon quite frequently on my runs along Town Lake. I don’t know what it is about geese but they always make me smile. Their looks are very similar to that of swans but the latter have a tendency to scare me while geese just seem so much friendlier, not sure why. Probably because no goose ever tried to peck my brother to mush in his stroller back when he was a baby. Kürzlich habe ich mir endlich die Mühe gemacht anzuhalten und ein Foto dieser Gänseschar, die mir recht oft auf meinen Läufen um den Town Lake begegnet, zu machen. Ich bin mir nicht ganz im Klaren darüber, warum mich Gänse immer zum Grinsen bringen. Gänse sehen ja Schwänen ganz schön ähnlich, aber die Letzteren beunruhigen mich eher, während Gänse so viel freundlicher wirken; keine Ahnung. Vielleicht weil keine Gans je versucht hat, meinen Bruder in seinem Kinderwagen zu Brei zu picken als er noch ein Baby war.
While Switzerland and parts of Germany and France – see a photo of the Seine’s high waters that my boss sent me from Paris below almost got swamped off the continent Texas can’t complain about shortage of water either. What’s good for lakes and aquifers is not necessarily great on streets as owing to the rocky ground the water isn’t absorbed easily and even the tiniest thunderstorm quickly sends cars all over the place: Aquaplaning is the rule and very often water streams across streets in streams which might look relatively harmless but considering that only 2 feet of moving water can carry away a large car or even a bus makes you think twice about driving through anything more than a trickle.
Während die Schweiz und Teile von Deutschland beinahe vom Kontinent geschwemmt wurden, konnten auch wir hier in Texas uns nicht über Wasserknappheit beklagen. Was gut für die Seen und underirdischen Reservoire ist, wird wegen des felisgen Untergrunds bereits beim kleinsten Gewitter schnell zur gefährlichen Rutschpartie: Aquaplaning ist die Regel und oftmals strömen Bäche über Strassen, die zwar relativ harmlos scheinen, doch wenn man bedenkt, dass schon etwas über einen halben Meter Wasser ein grosses Gefährt oder gar einen Bus wegzuschwemmen vermag, dann muss man sich zweimal überlegen, so einfach durch fliessendes Wasser zu fahren.
Oftentimes houses are left partially flooded but since we’re living on a hill the worst I have to deal with is usually smaller obstacles such as I encountered earlier this week on one of my runs: Oftmals blieben Häuser teilweise überflutet zurück, doch da wir auf einem Hügel wohnen, endet starker Regen für mich meist eher in leichten Hindernissen wie Anfang der Woche auf einem Lauf:
Luckily I was able to bypass the hindrance safely and without any poison ivy attacks.
On the last piece of my run I got to encounter how high the lake’s waters really were – the kayak rental was totally submerged: Glücklicherweise konnte ich das Hindernis sicher und ohne Giftefeu-Attake umgehen. Auf den letzten Metern dann sah ich auch wie hoch der See tatsächlich stand – die Kajakvermietung total unter Wasser:
Thursday I had an appointment with the dental hygienist and in that connection I only got to encounter water on my face as the hygienist initially used a wrong attachment for his instrument. After attaching the correct piece I got to sit back, relax comfortably simmer towards my once again shiny white teeth 😉 Am Donnerstag dann war ich mit dem Dentalhygieniker verabredet und Wasser bekam ich in diesem Zusammenhang mehrheitlich auf meinem Gesicht zu spüren, weil er anfänglich einen falschen Aufsatz für sein Instrument benutzte. Nachdem er einen neuen Aufsatz aufschraubte konnte ich dann gemütlich meinen wieder strahlend weissen Zähnen entgegenzittern 😉
And my visit to the hairdresser didn’t have a whole lot to do with water either except for when the haircutter washed my hair but after the appointment I was so happy with my total overhaul that I even took a rare selfie: Und auch mein Auflug zum Frisör gestern hatte nur beim Haare waschen mit Wasser zu tun, aber ich war nach dem Besuch so happy mit meiner Totalrenovation, dass ich sogar ein rares Selfie schoss:
Thanks to the healthy, summery complexion my teeth actually do seem quite white – not the snow white so typical for Americans but… white nonetheless 🙂
And today’s run even had no connection to water whatsoever except for the fact that I ran around Town Lake. For once the dam’s lock were opened considerably, hopefully making jogging around Town Lake possible without having to circumvent wet obstacles.
But in exchange a nice surprise awaited be on my way to my usual starting spot along the lake (and once again – this had absolutely nothing to do with water…): I got into a traffic jam. And when wanting to check the reason of the congestion I discovered to my deepest concern that I must be the reason for it: Und der heutige Lauf hatte eigentlich überhaupt nichts mit Wasser zu tun, abgesehen davon, dass ich am Town Lake entlang lief. Für einmal waren auch die Schleusen des Stausees ziemlich weit offen, so dass hoffentlich bald wieder ein Joggen ohne feuchte Hindnisse zu umgehen möglich sein wird. Dafür wartete auf dem Weg zu meinem üblichen Startplatz eine Überraschung auf mich: Ich geriet in einen Stau. Und als ich auf der Karte nachgucken wollte, was den Stau verursacht musste ich mit Schrecken feststellen – dass ich es sein musste:
But of course, this was not the case. A police escort had stopped the traffic on the merging lane and the reason announced itself with a dramatic roar – a gigantic motorcycle motorcade was escorted up Interstate 35. Especially the sound effect was unbelievably impressive (unfortunately I can’t add it to the photo… mostly because I didn’t record it…): Doch dem war natürlich nicht so. Eine Polizeieskorte stoppte den Verkehr auf der Einfahrtsspur und mit Dröhnen kündigte sich der Grund dafür an – eine riesige Motorradkolonne musste sich angemeldet haben und wurde entsprechend auf der Autobahn eskortiert. Vor allem der Soundeffekt war unglaublich beeindruckend (kann ich jetzt hier aber leider nicht ins Bild einbauen):
Well, and thus comes another week to an interesting end. I’m certain next week will be another fascinating adventure, especially as we’re to be on the road next weekend. Tja, und somit kommt meine Woche wieder zu einem interessanten Ende. Bin sicher die nächste Woche wird auch wieder spannend, vor allem weil wir nächstes Wochenende etwas unterwegs sein werden.
Do you have any plans for the coming days?
Habt ihr schon irgendwelche Pläne für die kommenden Tage?
While yesterday after work I couldn’t quite decide whether to go for a nap or a run and subsequently the devils and daemons in my head started to fare war I eventually took over and went for that long over-due post-race run. And it was pure joy! I felt like what I hope free-range chickens feel like: Let loose!
Gestern nach der Arbeit konnte ich mich erst nicht recht entscheiden, ob ich mich auf einen Lauf begeben oder für ein Schläfchen hinlegen sollte und entsprechend zettelten meine Teufelchen und Dämonen im Kopf einen Krieg an. Daraufhin übernahm ich das Ruder und ging auf einen längst fälligen Lockerungslauf nach meinem 10k vom Sonntag. Und es war die pure Freude! Ich fühlte mich wie sich hoffentlich Freilandhühner fühlen: Ungezügelt!
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