I Went Biking Today

and it was really refreshing.

Biking isn’t the same as running; you don’t get the same feeling afterwards, or the passion, nor can you see as beautiful places. But when your legs need a rest and you just want to be outside for a while, nothing beats a nice ride.

Just riding around town makes me realize just how much I’ll miss this place next year. Sure I’ll be in a nice place, but it’ll never stack up to home; the town I grew up in. The streets that I’ve run and biked a million times, the parks I’ve played on endlessly, the views I’ve taken in so many times before. This place has made me who I am today and I’ll never forget it, and hopefully someday I’ll be able to come back.

Here’s what I snapped.

This was really one of those beautiful fall days; the leaves are red, the sun is warm, and the sky is blue. All I wanted to do today was lay in the grass and watch the sun make its slow trip across the sky. Life goes on and on; it’s our duty to stop every once in a while and smell the roses.

Project Galatea

I’ll start off by saying this, life’s good.

And it keeps getting better.

This weekend my dad’s friend, Franco, told me he had an 1980’s Motobecane Super Mirage road bike that he no longer uses that I could use for spare parts for my fixie. But after taking one look at the bike I fell in love, sure she’s French and very dirty, but we tend to find love in the weirdest of places. She is in a bit of a sorry state right now, the shifters don’t work, only one brake cable works and that one needs replacing as well as it is completely rusted, the wheels are covered in rust, the seat post is as brown as mud, and the freewheel/cassette is as dirty as Black Mountain is steep. But that’s the beauty of it, it’s going to be hard, but I want to be able to ride her, I want to see her in the corner of my garage and know that I restored her to life. So for the next couple weeks I’ll be slaving away to get her in tip-top condition. It’ll take some money for new cables, a lot of patience, and even more elbow grease. So here starts the Galatea project, and yes that’s her name, pretty isn’t it? An even prettier girl named her for me.

Here are the pictures of her on day one and a few of the minor fixes I’ve already done.

There’s my girl.

The original chain, pretty rusty as you can tell.

My makeshift replacement chain – I connected an old chain that was in better shape and the working part of the original Motobecane chain to create one of the right length. This isn’t a permanent fix, I’ll eventually get a new one, but for now this will do.

The seat is actually in decent shape, but aesthetically the springs aren’t that great. A new saddle would be expensive so I’m going to invest in some steel wool to see if I can buff off the surface rust.

And this is basically how all the cables look, both shift and brake. There’s no point in trying to work with these, I don’t want to risk injury. I’ll replace all four and probably try to refurbish the actual shifters as they are pretty rusty.

At one point I did consider repainting her, but she’s just too pretty and I really do prefer originals. The tires and wheels shouldn’t be too much work to get looking pretty again, and even if the tires are too old, replacements aren’t too expensive.

Wish me luck and keep checking back for updates on Galatea.

Polonius

has got to be my favorite character in Hamlet, solely for this brilliant line:

“This is too long”

Day after day, it’s just an endless cycle of busy work. This isn’t the kind of lit I had in mind when I signed up for this. I love reading stories about things that apply to us, I love writing about things that I love. I don’t care about some suicidal prince in Denmark that has an uncle for a father and a lusty mother.

But besides Hamlet, life’s good.

It’s still hard to put down in words how amazing this is, but I really don’t mind. I’d rather live it out than have to remember it through words.

I have to admit it’s become somewhat hard to focus in class, though I really don’t mind; I’d much rather have her running through my mind all day than stressing out about school.

Thank you for these past 37 days, I can’t wait for tomorrow to come because it’ll be number 38.

Ivanhoe.

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It’s Hard

(twss)

to update my “In Between Runs” blog when pretty much all i’ve been doing is running, and the only other noteworthy thing going on in my life makes me as happy as running, so I put it all on that one.

School-wise; APLit is a lot of work. I know I signed up for the class and I’m going to suck it up and get the grade I want, but some days I seriously wonder why the hell I signed up for it. Poetry Essays? Oedipus Rex? Come on, you know I can’t focus on this when Hawaii is 4 days away, XC is in full swing, and I have her on my mind all the time.

In other news, I miss my fixie. I know I’m in running mode right now and that’s where I want to be, but when I’m in the mood for a ride and donuts, I’d like to have my shiny red bicycle rather than my mom’s.

Girly bike or not, it will always result in this -

I’d have to say

this week wasn’t bad at all.

And the best thing about it is that it’s not over yet, I still have tonight for a night run, tomorrow for a day off, and then it’ll be a brand new week, and I’m sure it will be just as amazing as this one was. I really don’t have that much to say, it’s kind of hard to put down in words how I feel right now.

Life’s good.

: )

Ouch.

Bushes hurt.

Especially when you hit the curb at 30 miles an hour on bike with no brakes and do a front flip into them. But I must say I am the luckiest\unluckiest guy in the world. Unluckiest because I front flipped into a bush at 30mph, my tire burst, I had to walk 2 miles home carrying my bike. But I’m also the luckiest because I didn’t get hurt at all, I had my helmet on, and I had my iPod so I had Third Eye Blind to walk me home.

Two times on this little, yet painful adventure did I come to a realization; sometimes you just have no choice but to do something. I had no brakes, I knew I was going to crash so I decided I would find the softest thing to hit. After finding that my tire was punctured I knew I had to walk home, I had no phone, no one stopped to help, I was destined to walk home. Acceptance is a beautiful thing, when you accept your fate you can finally be at peace with it. So I picked up my bike, turned up the volume, and set off.

This has just made me realize how much I love running, sure you can go faster on a bike, you can go longer distances as well, but you don’t get that high, you don’t feel like you’re on top of the world. And the worst thing is that you’re not entirely in control, while running you have control over everything because it’s only your body and mind you have to worry about. With sure feet we can set off into the darkness, running deep into the night, not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, just about the next step and the beautiful views.

I haven’t updated since school started and even though I still wish it was summer, it hasn’t been all that bad. My teachers are great and so are my classes, and I’ll never get tired of getting out of school at noon. XC has been amazing, I thought it would be no where near as fun as the past years without the seniors, but as long as we have a shed, running shoes, and each other, I’ll be okay. Our last season is upon us and we’re ready to make it the best ever.

In other news, life’s good. Welcome back dance was amazing, all thanks to this one girl that knows the lyrics to almost every single song imaginable.

Here’s a visual representation of my acrobatics.

I don’t have a job, or a kid, but this is a perfect metaphor for running, being away from it just makes you realize how much you love it.

Keep wearing out those running shoes.

Lazy Summer Days

Are the reason why summer vacation was invented. Nothing beats laying on the beach on a sunny summer day, the recurring sound of the crashing waves playing around in your head as you drift off into a sweet sleep. These are the days we dream about during the school year. There is nothing more painful than sitting in math class in the seat right next to the window. Staring outside as the teacher drones on and on about cosines and tangents; we never appreciate these beautiful days during school. But when that final bell rings and our next class isn’t for another three months, the days become a little bit shorter, and a whole lot nicer.

This how I feel somedays:

The beach is a lot of things; fun, relaxing, and beautiful. The beaches up here are nowhere near as nice as the ones down south I grew up with, but I’ll have to make do with this.

After a nice afternoon laying on the beach I decided to take a few pictures before heading off to dinner.

I don’t know if you guys have noticed this but I really like taking pictures of feet and footprints. There is something about the notion of moving on your own two feet that is just magical. Covering distance by yourself without any outside help. No wheels or engines, just the two feet that God gave us.

After the beach we headed over to the pier for a nice dinner and this is what I snapped.

Days at the beach are amazing, but lunch and then laying around at the park, talking about everything and anything with your best friends is even better. Just like all our XC trips I could write out every little fun thing that was said or done but I’ll leave it to Vashist since his description of the day was so accurate:

“unlimited chips, mexican food(bisteak), pineapple juice, fucked up flavors of “chicklets”, prank call “Can i have pepperoni and uh dog on that?”, and just hanging out with friends – i’d say all around a good day.”

In between my outings I’ve been listening to the new Third Eye Blind album; Ursa Major. At first I thought the album would be a compilation of crappy songs about gays and liberal democrats, sadly some of the songs are. This isn’t the 3EB of old but some of the songs still have that magic. “Why Can’t You Be” doesn’t have the catchy rhythm of “Semi Charmed Life” or the deep meaning of “God of Wine”, but it isn’t far from the songs that brought me to loving this band. Music is about love; beautiful women, women that break your heart, and women you long for. Politics have no place in music, especially not Third Eye Blind’s music. This line from the song is everything that their songs should be; “And when we’re dead…and we’ll be dead…we’ll have eternity. And I will spend it all…missing you…missing you and me.”

There are four days left of Summer, I’ll try to make them as lazy as possible.

It’s a Magical Word

It really is.

We always seem to miss out on the best things just because they aren’t easily obtainable. It’s the difficult things to achieve that make a man most proud. Kissing that beautiful girl, biking that long ride, and murdering that hill in your running shoes. I can say i’ve done one of these this summer, and am about to the last one next weekend, and neither of them are the first one.

Sometimes we just need to get out there and explore, leave behind our technology; our big screen TVs, comfy sofas, and cell phones. Sometimes we just need to get out in nature and live as humans used it. Taking in the beautiful sights, breathing in the aromas, and feeling the cool breeze on our faces. Time is rarely ever a constraint, whether it’s early in the morning, late at night, or just a lazy afternoon, there is always time to go out and explore. No river too wide, not tree too tall, and not hill too steep. Whether you do it on two wheels, with your best friend, or in a pair of dusty running shoes, it’s all the same. We do all these things to escape the monotonous routine of life in society.

Whether you’re feeling the lowest of lows, or the highest of highs, getting out of the house and going to that one special place always makes things better. There are always a million reasons why not to do something, but at the end of the day, you remember the things you did, not the things you didn’t do.

Men have spent their lives looking for a meaning for life, for a reason for our existence. Instead of asking questions, we need to enjoy our short lives. Looking towards the future, our 40th birthdays, days of retirement, and our final breaths seem far away, but when they come, we’ll all wish for one more day.

Live every day like it could be the last, wake up early and watch the sunrise, spend time with your friends, eat the tastiest food regardless of health, go for a beautiful run and watch the sunset from the hills, and when you’re laying in your bed, getting ready to close your eyes, think of all the wonderful things you did, and how many wonderful things you’ll do tomorrow.

I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow…

Exploring this Amazingly Magical World.

It’s Surprisingly Warm at 3 AM…

while I was out gazing at the Perseid meteor shower.

I had some mixed feelings about getting out at two in the morning but after a long 30 second debate with myself I decided to go. Packed up my camera bag, grabbed a tripod and a few lenses and headed out to Scully park. Climbed the fence and laid out in the field staring at the heavens.

There is something special about shooting stars, besides all the cliches, they really are wonderful. It seems that we miss out on all the most beautiful things just because the wee hours of the morning are supposed to be for sleeping. What if we slept during the day and lived during the night? Our lives are so specific that any little decision thousands of years ago dictated how we live today. But then again I’m glad things are the way they are, the shooting stars, meteor showers, sunrises, and moonrises would all lose their aura of beauty if everyone knew about them and watched them regularly.

The stars were beautiful, the shower wasn’t as plentiful as I imagined it to be but that’s probably only because I was so close to home, I’ll hopefully see many more stars streaking across the sky tonight on my night run.

Here’s what I was able to capture.

Didn’t get any pictures of shooting stars, but the sky and the stars at two in the morning are just as pretty.

Yes I realize it’s slanted, I didn’t realize at the time how uneven the grass was…

If I just got two more cars coming the other way this would have been perfect, but then again everyone takes pictures that look like that.

And just to finish off, life can really be crap sometimes. A bad grade, a slow race, and lost love, they all put a damper on things, but when life is looking down, I like to go somewhere quiet and look up.