Temporary Avoidance, I Guess

 

I have to start off by saying that there are so very many things I *do* wish to write about concerning the terrible and heartbreaking suicide of my friend and colleague.   My emotions are all over the map about this situation.  But, I cannot yet at this time discuss the horror of it.  His office is only three doors from my own.  His death there was so cruel and unjust.  I know I have to work through my thoughts, but I cannot do so yet.  

+ + + + +

So, I will write about what I can.

+ + + + +

Thoughts in a numerical list for today:

1.  I hit the trail very early this morning (5:30am) and ran a half-marathon (13.1 miles, 21.1 km).  It was very cold (26 degrees F (-3.3 degrees C)) and the headwind was a ferocious and biting 16mph (25.7kph).  It was grueling and hard.  It was not my fastest run by any means, but I did complete the damn thing in just a little bit under two hours.  It was my 12th half-marathon run of the year.  I did one each month.  It was a goal I set for myself back in December 2019.

2.  I did reach another "milestone" of sorts for me, but this occurred back around the 16th of November, and I was not writing then.  My other milestone that I was able to accomplish was that I "Ran the Year".  What this means is that on November 16th, I had completed 2,020 miles of running in 2020.  2,020 miles is 3,250 kilometers.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be able to accomplish that.  When I half-in-jest set that goal for myself in December 2019, I presumed it would just be a far-fetched pipe dream.  But... I actually did it.  Looking in my log today, I see I have now ran 2,131 miles (3,430 km) so far this year.  That is not too shabby an accomplishment for an old, grey-bearded duffer.  

3.  Cyborging my work has been very intense, and has grown even more so with the sharp rise in Covid-19 and the upheaval of class format to ALL online for the remainder of the semester.  Added to this is my friend's horrible death was traumatic for students as well, and... and I have found I needed to be gentle with the students and provide many extensions and adjustments of class assignment and exam dates.... which is the right thing to do.... but it just adds another whole layer of complexity and stress to my already stressful cyborging of education.  

4.  This upcoming Friday would have been the normal date for the community band I belong to, to have its annual "big" Christmas concert at what is normally a part of the city's Holiday Festival.  Unfortunately Covid-19 has killed that tradition this year.  Our group has not played since March.  I do miss it.  

I guess that sums up the few things I can think about at the moment.

 PipeTobacco