Louiseville, Kentucky - Bourbon Chase 2015 Day 0

This morning we left DC and made the 10.5 hour trek to Louisville, Kentucky to stage for our planned participation in the 2015 Bourbon Chase.  The Chase promises to take our twelve person team over approximately 200 miles of road running through the heart of horse and bourbon country in central Kentucky.  Our team departs tomorrow at 1245.  I'm runner eight in Van #2, and I suspect that I'll not start my first of three legs (4.8 miles) much earlier than 1900 tomorrow evening.

The event will be a diverting way to put in most of my walking miles over the next two days at a relatively quicker pace.  It will be a good test of the fitness aspects of walking and how well they translate into being able to cover relatively long distances at a jog.  I hope I don't bonk.

Kentucky Sunset

Since the sun has set in the great state of Kentucky a number of hours ago, it is time that I turn in for the evening.  I'm feeling strong, but need some rest to turn in the performance I'm shooting for during the Chase. The reputation of walking as fitness is on the line.  Report out on my first leg tomorrow.

Today Was a Bit Hectic, but Productive

Putting a few miles under the feet, clearing up work as I head off to Kentucky for a running event, packing up, cooking dinner, and in general getting things ready to go has been a bit hectic.  That said, I got everything done that I'd hoped (for the most part), and I even got to witness the waning of the sun this evening.

You've seen a similar view before, but since every moment is it's own act of creation, you haven't seen this exact view before.  You also won't ever see it again.

Sunset on the Anacostia River

Early this morning, the man I frequently encounter in the vicinity of the Folger Shakespeare Library walking his pair of brindle greyhounds was just leaving his house a block or two away from where I normally see him and greet him in the mornings.  I was across the street looking across, and he must have recognized me because he waved.  I waved back, and I'll note that it really feels good to be recognized and acknowledged...even with only a wave.

I have heard Walt Whitman quoted as saying, "Once you have been identified, you are saved."  I can't find a reference to this alleged quote, but nevertheless, it strikes me as holding a measure of truth.  This morning, that fleeting recognition and acknowledging a bond formed on the cobblestones in the early morning, felt like a slice of salvation had visited.  It was a hectic, but also, a very productive day.

Capturing the Imagination...or Should We Talk About Freeing It?

I've walked past the Folger Shakespeare Library probably hundreds (low hundreds mind you, but hundreds) of times, and it often has a way of drawing me toward it.  I've never been inside...yet.  I believe I've even written about the nine bas reliefs that adorn the front of the building between the two main entrances.  My favorite is certainly the characters from A Midsommer Night's Dream.  Thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you can access a copy of the entire play at this link.

As I was walking by today, it struck me to take some time and capture images of the nine bas reliefs, and a collage of those photos appears below, and a brief description of the white Georgia marble sculptures is outline on the Library's website.  There is also a brief mention at the National Park Service website, but sadly, I cannot find any written description of why these particular nine plays of thirty-seven credited to William were chosen to adorn the library.

At the time of the walk, I was pondering how the building, the contents, and the works of the playwright that the Library honors and preserves captures my imagination.

Nine Bas Relief Sculptures Gracing the Front of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC

When I got home this evening, the movie Hugo had been chosen as the entertainment for the evening during dinner.  This evening was the second time I've seen the film, and I am forced to admit that the camera work, the story, the actresses and actors, and just about every aspect of this movie evokes strong emotions.  I think it is a movie about loss, love, adventure, and whimsy. It is also a film about the power of imagination.

Both of these experiences today have me questioning the whole notion of something capturing the imagination.  I don't find that description particularly apt because what great works imagined and rendered by the likes of Shakespeare, Martin Scorsese, Brian Selznick, John Logan, and Georges Melies really do are free the imagination from the day to day activities.  They allow me (and others presumably) to suspend logic and rationality, habit and custom, and they encourage one to think of the apparently impossible as not only possible, but likely.  It is a great gift that they give the rest of us, and it's heartening in the pursuit of a vision. Freeing the imagination is what we all must do if we're going to be successful in addressing the challenges that are coming our way.

Columbus Day 2015

It's fitting that I managed thirteen miles of rambling about Annapolis today as well as some woodworking down in South County today.  It was a pretty good day all in all, and I enjoyed getting out and about a little like the erstwhile Spaniard whose discovery of the Americas we celebrate today.

While I didn't range as far and wide as good old Christopher, I did make it up by the stadium and caught the parking lot rather unusually empty.  I also managed to come upon two water towers today, but only got one on digital celluloid.

Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and the N* Annapolis Water Tower

It was the end of a walk that I started rather late and executed at a civilized pace.  A walk like that on a day off makes it pretty easy to imagine the freedom associated with making this a routine event on the path from Newport to Newport.  I suspect that the freedom and relative ease would be a first day (and only a first day phenomenon, but I could be wrong about that assumption.  Grandma Gatewood certainly seemed to enjoy the freedom of the Appalachian Trail as accounted in the excellent remembrance of her life in Grandma Gatewood's Walk.  With any manner of good fortune, I'll have the opportunity to find out.

Lunch on the dingy dock at the boat show was followed up by some outside housework down south mending a deck and a fence, and then the evening wrapped up with another stunning sunset.  I had to do some jogging to wrap up the day since "cold dinner" (it's a thing...not an epithet) was waiting.  I'm glad I turned up the pace a little since I was just in time to watch the sun settle down over the (very low) "skyline" of Annapolis.

Farragut Field Sunset

Sunsets and sunrises are one of those routine occurrences, documented in numerous sources as to the exact timing well in advance, and yet, they never really cease to deliver a unique and enriching experience...unless it's raining cats and dogs or snowing, or foggy.  Then it's a unique experience without the colors.  My distaste for grey weather probably has more to do with my own state of mind than the weather, but I do love the colors.

Autumn Gets a Little Deeper and I Re-Learn How to Deal with the Cool

This morning was a little chilly.  It was the first ramble of the year that the mercury in the temperature measuring stick had dipped below 10 C (50 F) this year.  Last fall and winter I'd worked at a pretty good sense of what clothing would be required on a particular day.  I'd dialed things in so my fingers got a pretty good cold burn, but by the 1.5 mile mark they had toasted up nicely, and there was no real trouble after that point in the jaunt.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't really record any of the environmental conditions and marry them up to the appropriate clothing.  I believe I remember thinking that I'd remember what were the best combinations. Needless to say, that has not been as successful as I think I remember thinking it would likely turn out.  My hands got chilled as stayed there till just over two miles.  (Note to self...8.9 C/48 F is too cool for shorts, long sleeved UA Heatgear shirt, lightweight UA running gloves, and stocking cap).

After I warmed up, it turned into a really pleasant early autumn day.  Not a whole lot to say other than that, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Crisp Dry Air over the Severn River Bridge and Hospital Point

The sky was immaculate, the leaves are just beginning to change, and the dark ages are not yet upon us.

Naval Academy Cemetery on Hospital Point

There are quite a few folks who have achieved a modicum of fame interred at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery.  It's a beautiful contemplative place.

Forrest Sherman Field looking toward Hospital Point, USNA, and Annapolis

Fieldball, a game rumored to only be played at the Naval Academy as an intramural sport and the New York State Penitentiary, has resulted in a healthy crop of injuries on Forrest Sherman Field over the years.

Navy 44 foot Sloops Still Grace Santee Basin for a few more weeks

Ten relatively amateur sailors, a 44 foot sailboat, and a journey of over 800 miles through the open ocean from Annapolis to Bermuda.  What could possible go wrong?

Annapolis Harbor during the Sailboat Show 2015

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that Google Photos has coughed up five panoramic shots for me in one day.  I've routinely gotten the good algorithms at Google to press out a deuce and even hat tricks are relatively common.  Four is not unheard of, but pretty rare.  Five...well, like I said, it was an absolutely gorgeous day.