I must admit, I wasn't feeling it today. I was sluggish (an average pace of 11'18"). Apparently, there were two runs going on in Columbia today, one put on by Lindsey Wilson College and another by the VFW. I saw on FB that one of my running buddy's wife did her first ever 5K today.

Hopefully, this Summer heat will soon break. This whole week it's been in the upper 80s when I get off work, 90-92° with the heat index. Too hot to run in; for me, at least. Today was my first run in a week. I want to get back to 2-3 runs per week. I think that even at 5-7 miles per run, that frequency does my more good.

Since October 2016, I've been using a C# console program I wrote to track my daily caloric intake versus output and track the most recent ten days' average caloric deficit. I plan on writing a post about it, demonstrating how to use it. And I'll probably make the source code available in case anyone wants to improve it. Obviously, a GUI version would appeal to more people, but at the time I wrote it I was looking to get something functional ASAP as well as gain experience CLI programming using the Microsoft C# compiler, csc.exe. I used Notepad++ as my editor.

It has been a busy week. Eleven groups and too many emails and spreadsheets. And to top it off, I think I'm coming down with something: too many aches in too many places. Hopefully it isn't Covid, back for round two.

I'm hoping to finish assessing Desolation RPG as a potential rules manual from which I can cherry-pick for my intended solo campaign. But I also need to work on 6 CEU hours for an EMDR training I purchased weeks ago. October 30th isn't that far off. I need to be able to show 10+ completed CEU hours to my licensing board.

I ran in the Pack the Pantry event in Somerset today to raise money for a food donation effort through a local Somerset church. I figured I'm gonna jog anyway, might as well use it to help people, right? I think I did maybe five miles. If you want to see a larger version of the race bib, click the image in this blog post. Weather was sunny and mild. Great day for running. As is common in our area of the country, people were a bit insular. Hopefully, I can do this event again next year.

Pack the Pantry (Aug 03, 2019)

Noctua Trail Race (June 22, 2019)

Lakefest (July 14, 2019)

Dick's Sporting Goods "Run Your Run" Fundraiser (May 2019)

RenfroRun 5-Miler (Oct. 20, 2018) I came in 2nd...

Half-marathon in Bowling Green (Nov. 04, 2018)

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Personal Bests

• PB 1K: 6:36 (avpace 10'37“)
• PB 1.0 mile: 9:18 (avpace 9'18”)
• PB 4.0 mile: 40:18 (avpace 10'05“; 5/06/2019)
• PB 6.25 mile: 1:00:32 (avpace 09'40”; 6/23/2019)
• PB 8.00 mile: 1:30:16 (avpace 11'17“; 4/15/2019)

Past PB Overall Times At Given Distances

• SB 6.25 mile: 1:01:48 on Thursday, 6/13/2019
• TB 6.25 mile: 1:05:02 on Friday, 4/26/2019

Best Average Pace On 10+ Mile Runs

• PB average pace during 10+ mile run: 11'23” on Thursday, 11/15/2018

Longest Run

• PB longest run: 12.03 miles on Monday, 12/19/2018

I enjoy creativity, whether it takes the form of programming, writing, or painting. However, I engage much more in programming than in the latter two pursuits.

Here are some of the drawings and paintings I have done. You should click on the inline image to launch a full-size image in another browser tab. These aren't presented in any particular chronological order.

Most recently, I did this watercolor on canvas after re-reading Stephen King's Gunslinger series. I find the inexactitude of watercolor painting somehow freeing. It's a feeling of freedom, as less required concentration and attention to detail can result in faster work being done, with an accompanying heightening of freedom of expression. The gunslinger in that seven-book series is one of my favorite characters, ever. He was definitely not done justice by the 2017 move The Dark Tower.

As an aside, even if you're not generally a fan of Stephen King, you might really enjoy the Gunslinger novels. They aren't his typical horror shtick. They're a great blend of fantasy-action and grittiness. Just read the first of the series, The Gunslinger. You'll be hooked!

This next one is a colored-pencil work that I was really pleased with; it took about three hours to create.

This drawing is based on a picture in a magazine that I found just beautiful! I'm still trying to find the magazine's title. It was one I was browsing in my dentist's office. I talked the receptionist into color-printing the page with the photo, so that I could take it with it.

This would have been in early May, 2019. I'm really pleased that I chose colored pencils as my medium for this work. I really like the end result. Watercolors would also have been nice, I think.

Two people before a beautiful window, each lost in their own thoughts and yet companionably aware of one another. This city. This bustling mass of humanity. And we, for a few moments, stand in quietude, peace, considering our lives....

This next picture is an oil painting I did in October 2017 as a cover image for a novel I was working on at the time. I still haven't published the novel, but the cover photo is waiting for that day to come :) I call this painting Fastness. Note there is a fastness, or citadel, atop the cliffs/hills, overwatched by moonlight. I did this on a 20 x 24 " canvas, at a total time investment of about nine hours. Some artists experience the direct opposite, but I've always found working in oil more demanding than using watercolors. During 2017 I was doing a lot of C# programming. Consequently, I produced relatively few drawings and paintings. This work seemed to scratch an itch, and I didn't complete another graphical art project until February of 2018.

Here is something I'd like to get back to: jogging. Not competitively, but for the health and mental health benefits. I hope that I can work my gumption to the sticking point and return to this as a New Year's resolution for 2024.

Here are some pictures of Emma from 2018 (April, I believe).

A picture of our dogs in February of 2018.