Running

    Trails with my oldest daughter… Wasn’t the plan today but how could I say no if someone wants to run with me. She did really well on this little route with no complaints and just kept chugging along.

    Person running through a dense forest with leafy, green plants and trees; the person is wearing a black top and neon yellow shorts and is covering their face with their hands. She was picture shy so she covered her face when I turned around to snap this. 📸

    Wasn’t the plan to run this sort of a distance as I was thinking something shorter  at the hottest time of the day. However, since I was waiting for my son and his friend to finish golfing I had time on my son and honestly I need this time, space, and miles after the last couple of weeks.

    A narrow concrete path stretches straight across a grassy field flanked by leafless trees under a clear blue sky. Dense green vegetation surrounds the walkway with a forest in the background.

    A calm lake with rippling water bordered by lily pads and shoreline trees under a clear blue sky with a distant forest and a house across the water.

    With some co-workers in town this week and other activities it might be a struggle to get some runs in. Most likely they are going to be in the evening but at least tonight it wasn’t too hot as the sun went down.

    Two birch trees stand among dense green foliage at sunset their white bark contrasting against the surrounding lush vegetation in a forested area with tall grasses and trees in the background.

    My sleep has been a little out of wack lately so this run probably felt harder than it should have. However, overall not bad for a midday long run.

    Canoes rest on a sandy beach by a calm lake with a dock extending into the water Trees with lush green foliage surround the lake under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds

    Decided to run along the York River which want to bad as I found some interesting scenery as well as the Wiggly Bridge. However, once I got into more wooded trails I was wondering why I didn’t run along the ocean again as these wooded trails are like what I can find in Minnesota. 🤷‍♂️

    A narrow paved path stretches towards a tree-covered island surrounded by low tide waters under a partly cloudy sky

    A green suspension footbridge spans across a body of water, leading to a lush, tree-covered area with a blue sky and clouds above

    A dirt path winding through a dense forest filled with slender green trees and scattered underbrush.

    Run to Nubble Lighthouse this morning. Might have been further than I was planning on running but it was along the ocean the entire way so I can’t really complain.

    Lighthouse standing on a rocky coastal hill under a clear blue sky with the ocean and an unobstructed horizon in the background during daylight.

    A lighthouse with an attached house and outbuildings stands on a rocky cliff overlooking a calm ocean under a clear blue sky.

    A serene sunset illuminates the ocean, with the sun’s reflection stretching across the water and a distant silhouette of a landmass on the horizon

    The cliff walk along the ocean was “closed” but the sign didn’t deter me. There was a couple rough / washed out spots so I had to climb sound but worth the views for some of my run this morning.

    A house overlooks a rocky shoreline beside a calm ocean under a partly cloudy sky with blue and white hues.

    Rocky coastline adjacent to calm sea under a cloudy sky with a concrete pathway winding through large rocks and distant greenery displayed on the horizon. This is why the sign was there as you can tell the path is not entirely intact.

    Started early today as my running friend I could tell wanted me to help push him the extra distance and I had a hard stop at 11 AM. Granted he created a route that gave us some outs but I knew my role and even though longer than I had run this year he has a race coming up so we got the miles done.

    Small wooden structure standing amidst dense green trees with two picnic tables nearby on a dirt pathway in a forest setting

    Wrong turns, hills and mosquitoes was the theme of this run. Legs felt the ski hills today and of course that was around the time I could find the trail I needed.  It was good to change things up today to a different location. Halfway through the run I stopped listening to the Timberwolves game 🥹.

    Tall pine tree standing in a green field with a winding dirt path, surrounded by lush greenery and dense forest under a partly cloudy blue sky.

    Lake reflecting sky at dusk surrounded by green grass and trees with a calm water surface and a partially cloudy sky above.

    Had to drop the vehicle off to get an oil change after my early morning meetings. So it gave me just enough time to run home as well as adding a couple miles as well. Not a bad day out today at all but the legs were feeling tired.

    Railroad tracks stretch into the distance surrounded by trees and greenery beneath a blue sky with scattered clouds.

    JSON to RSS for Micro.blog

    This started out long ago from a post I saw from Sven Dahlstrand (@sod) where he had posted or replied to a post that he created a JSON feed that included at the bottom of each post where you could reply in Micro.blog. This was a great news for me as I got to the point where I like to catch up every now and then on what is going on in my Timeline of Micro.blog but with out some sort of sync I wanted everything to just live in my RSS reader of choice. However, I was quickly sad that my current RSS process / application (FreshRSS) did not support JSON feeds.

    So I turned to searching various rabbit holes on the internet until I found what I was looking for where you could hardcode a JSON feed into a PHP script (note you have to have this running on your own server) and then it would give me back a RSS feed. This was a great start and I appreciate all the help I found from the Dave Jones and his jsonfeed2rss.php script. However, it was missing the crucial part I now wanted thanks to Sven where I could actually click on some sort of link and get back to the Micro.blog post where I could leave a reply.

    So I went to hacking together from what I could figure out how to get an JSON feed from Micro.blog to somehow give me a link to where I could get back and leave a reply if I wanted. I was able to figure it out and have been running that v1.0 since back in March 2023. The only downside was that I was hardcoding my username in the script so I couldn’t really share anything out at that point. Also, I found out the discovery feed was a JSON feed too but I couldn’t quite figure out how to get that to work either.

    So I finally took the time to get the Discovery Feed to work not only the main one but also the emoji specific searches. However, I was still kind of stuck at using multiple copies of the script as I was still hard coding it. Easy enough solution, more digging and figuring out how to easily hack* together a passthrough so if anyone wanted to use it they could by just including the old get at the end of a link.

    The only catch is you have to have the PHP script on a web server somewhere. If you are interested or find yourself in need of a JSON to RSS script links to both version are below. Also, the list to find available Micro.blog RSS and JSON feeds is included as well.

    Versions of my Hacked together json2rss Script

    **Micro.blog Support

    05/24/2024 Update: I am going to write a little bit more on this topic I think as rereading it again as I just hit publish I think I could expand more but I wanted to keep this article intact. Since my phone issue (self inflicted last week) I have started really doubling down on only using the RSS side to consume and post to Micro.blog. More on that in another week.

    Was an interesting run with the changes in weather. It went from storming (thunder and lightning) to sunny outside with blue skies (see the picture), and then back to stormy-looking and cloudy when I finished. At least the run felt good.

    Wooden bridge spans a small stream surrounded by dense green foliage on both sides in a sunlit forest clearing.

    Going to have a long day of sitting in the car today so I figured I would get up on the earlier side and put a couple miles in running. Found this nice little pond that had a paved trail all the way around it which was perfect.

    Bare trees stand still in water surrounded by tall grass and vegetation in a wetland area during sunset with a clear sky and distant power lines.

    A large green field with tall grasses and sparse bushes leading to a calm lake with dead trees standing in the water, under a blue sky with white clouds.

    Sun was shining and it was “nice” out overall for this run. I couldn’t believe how fast this little creek was running where sometimes there is very little water here. Looked neat enough I stopped to take a picture I guess. 📸

    A shallow stream with clear water flows through a lush, tree-lined landscape on a sunny day, with underwater plants visible through the surface.

    The rain from yesterday finally stopped and allowed for some cooler weather today even with the sun out. Pretty uneventful but with my watch settings a little out of wack from the reset I wasn’t sure of my pace so this run was quicker than I planned.

    Tree with green leaves overhanging a grassy field in the foreground dense forest in the background clear blue sky overhead

    It was a treadmill run today due to the rain… 😑

    Made the most of it and got some elevation so flipped it at a 1/2 mile of 1 elevation and then a 1/2 mile at 7. Also, I somehow was not paying attention and stopped short of 6 miles at 5.99 miles. 😱 

    This will haunt me for the rest of my life.

    Was humid out this morning during this run. I am sure if I wouldn’t have gotten it in earlier it would get worse later today. However, I had some time in the AM before taking my son to the doctors so I took advantage of the time the best I know how.

    Sun shining through the clouds over a dense forest of green trees and shrubbery surrounding a small pond.

    Got this one in before my daughter’s hockey game. She was up and ready to go and gave me a disapproving look when I said I was going to get a quick run in and told me I had 25 min to get back. I got back in 25:26 because I had to take a photo (of course) and slowed to get around a family.

    A deer stands alert in a grassy field surrounded by dense greenery under a large tree with hanging branches on a cloudy day.

    Hills and Heat was the theme of today’s run. I even knew the heat was going to get to me but I pressed on and of course the sun was up high beating down on me. I was glad for the miles in the middle to be back at the Richard T Anderson Conservation Area.

    A narrow dirt path winds through a dense green meadow surrounded by trees on a bright sunny day with a river visible in the distant background under a clear blue sky.

    A path winds through a lush green hillside surrounded by dense trees with a river positioned below and the vast blue sky above.

    Wooden footbridge stretches over a small path embedded in a lush green forest filled with thick foliage and trees under bright daylight.

    Wooden steps ascend a dirt path amidst a dense forest with lush green foliage and dappled sunlight.

    100 days an counting...

    Something I didn’t do when I decided to run a 5k a day was talk about or even mention it. Thinking back I believe I told only one person over coffee one morning. 😉

    Taking a step back, my goal was at first a week, then a month, then a couple of months but I never was thinking 1 year being the goal.

    However, it was never a goal when I started so maybe that is why I didn’t but I know at some point I got it stuck in my brain and I could have talked about it.

    So 100 days of what, well 100 days of not having a drink of an alcoholic beverage. I should be clear on the why this is interesting and I am talking about it. Honestly, it is nothing special or big grand reason as to why, I just told myself I am going to give it a try and that is what I am doing. I have been building up some millage running and I guess part of me wanted to see if it would change how I felt or recovered during the week or after long runs. So 100+ days this is my current take aways both from a good or just interesting perspective from my own personal experience (in no order):

    • I noticed about 1 month into this I was very tired and exhausted, I don’t know if it attributed to this but I had a stretch that I was just tired for a good week or so straight almost like my body didn’t know what to do without. I won’t say I was addicted but I do wonder if like taking a week off of coffee (caffeine) sometimes you can get headaches.
    • I think from my fitness perspective it has made my longer runs 100% easier and possibly a faster recovery after the fact.
    • I have dropped 10 lbs from where I was hovering in all of 2023. Some of this I have changed some eating habits but I do wonder if that habit has been easier by not having some extra endless calories from time to time.

    I guess I didn’t really touch on has it been hard ever, the answer to this is yes in fact. As I made the decision to just step away for a little while I was very cognizant that I had a week of business travel where we were with our consultants and had many dinners out. I don’t mind not having a drink but sometimes I think if the server came to me first as I was a more seniored person at the table most of the time I set the tone of not getting a drink and then everyone else followed. There was also a parent Hockey party that I feel like 100% of the time involves drinking so I did get a handful of questions as to why I wasn’t drinking anything. No one really cares but it is something to note that people do notice and you 1000% will get a question. This also was noticed but not really asked as we celebrated my birthday a while back and went out to eat with my parents. Finally, I have noticed as time as gone on and further reflection, I have kind of avoid the easy pitfall places like hockey “safety meetings” or catching up with someone after work for a drink. Both of those places I know I do not have to drink so it isn’t that at all. I think some of with this current habit change and seeing it though for a while it was easier to avoid them. I need to get this part out of my head though as I still need to be social with friends and colleagues if this experiment continues.

    So that is all I have for now and as I sit over 100 days I am not going to say I might stop today or continue for another 5, 50, or 100 days. Just a reflection point for myself as it has been an interesting experiment.

    This post has been sitting in my drafts since day 50 but it is well past that at this point. I think there is two reasons here: (1) I wrote it and was going to post it right away but got distracted and never really came back to it (2) I still was for some reason not sure about posting it out as I didn’t and still don’t have what that end goal is or if there is a reason to this experiment.

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