Necrotizing pneumonia

The table was set for a long "run" this morning. After reading the paper, with special attention to the sports section, I headed up to 57th at about 7:30am. Now since this blog's readership has undoubtedly spread to international territories, I have to describe the scene. There are thick, dark clouds overhead dropping copious amounts of freezing rain and snow. A brisk steady wind is blowing from the south. Cars travelling on 57th all have their headlights on. There are small pools of water on the street, and so there's the occasional spray of cold water onto the clydesdale who should know better than to be outside in these conditions. My first thought, even before getting to Weldon's Barber Shop, was to turn around and go home. Simply put, the only result that can come from this "run" would be a raging case of necrotizing pneumonia. Soon, the freezing rain turned to pure snow. A typical thoroughbred would have gone down to the local workout club and ran on a treadmill. And that was probably the smart thing to do. I kept "running" and was able to get in a total of 15 miles under these conditions. The whole process took about 3 hours. The pledges and checks for Brian's Legacy have served as motivation, and will continue to be a motivation. So thank you.

Phones are jammed

The phone has been literally ringing off the hook! The pictures from the photo shoot have turned out even better than expected. As you know, Clydesdale photography is highly specialized, with very few willing and able to tackle such a task. And to no one's surprise, there are also very few sites in the world that will develop clydesdale film or download clydesdale digital pictures. Fortunately our photographer had an "in" with a small company in Turkey, adjacent to the Euphrates River, that was able to get the job done.

The race is now only two weeks from Sunday. I can honestly say that I have spent many, many mornings out on the street or at the track, and hope that the effort pays off. I haven't completed a final long "run", but there is still a little time left for that. I have my fingers crossed for that to happen on either Thursday (tomorrow) or Sunday. There's also a little obstacle called snow in the forecast.

The Amazing Race

Last weekend was not a good training weekend, but we were able to go to a couple of football games in Texas. While there, I went forward to age 54 on Halloween but then was able to fall backwards an hour when we converted to standard time. We had a fantastic time - I highly recommend the Riverwalk in San Antonio. We did many things in the 65 hours that we were gone, and the entire experience felt more like the Amazing Race. One thing I can say for sure is that the fans at Qwest Field in Seattle are much more loud than the Dallas fans, and the Dallas stadium holds over 100,000 people.

I spent the last three mornings at the track, "running" five miles each time. The race is only three weeks from Sunday, so Saturday's "run" will be very important.