In It To Win It

After the hiatus for a rare visit from Sis and Bro, I returned to work this evening on a long range and improbable goal of winning the 100m dash—age 95 and over—at the 2042 Senior Games. 

Merrell Men's Ascend Glove Trail Running Shoe. Sweet!

Two days ago the crucial order arrived from Amazon—a great deal on Merrell running shoes in dove grey and slate, neon lemon and lime. Vibram. They were waiting on the front porch when we returned from Portland. At first I wasn’t sure I would keep them—the arch felt too high—but I did. 

This calm but overcast afternoon, I wore them on my Power Walk and they fit like a glove. They also subtly change my gait. I tuck my butt back a bit more and push harder with my thighs. Felt good.

Power Walk leaves our apartment and heads south on 3rd Avenue, up a steady rise past the many seniors’ condos, and big trees in City Park, to turn left at Pine, which climbs steeply east six looong blocks to the ridge. 

It’s a vertiginous view down Pine, past solidly sedate and middle class blocks to the marsh and Puget Sound. At 5PM I looked back and saw either a huge yacht or small cruise ship unusually close to shore, heading north.

I paralleled its course down along the ridge on 9th, then west to Main, turning right on 7th a block south of the grandstand, and finally, after two miles and let’s call it fifty minutes--that will be my baseline--jogged, ran, sprinted and dashed around the quarter mile track. Matt, my trusty trainer, says I can decrease the time of my Power Walk by no more than five percent each day, as I increase the distance I run. 

Onward.