Wednesdays are Wonderful
What’s up with the middle of the week? It’s the farthest away you can get from the weekend. Just the right day for an evening run and dinner with friends. We run on Wednesdays from Fall to Spring, when Nite Moves isn’t going on. We swim when we have to, bike when we can, and groove the rest of the time! For more info, click the link “When we train” in the sidebar at left.
(Does “What’s up?” look like “What’s up?”? Tell your browser to use UTF-8 decoding. Join the 21st century!)
Wednesday, the 9th of May, 2012
Today, weather cooperating: sunny skies, not too windy. For a while, in the results a Groover was listed as first swimmer. That was because the young tyke’s proper number (32) was accidentally listed as 3, favoring somebody way up in the alphabet like Adams. Nice try, Craig. But just looking at the age spread in the top ten swimmers (14 through 52) gives a good overview of the community quality of Nite Moves. Or says something about swimming and aging.
Taj was first real Groover storming the beach, with Andrea S, then a scrum of Andrew, the Grooms, and Andrea W, chased by Kelly, Matt Ta, Nancy, Sandy, Ricky, and Irwin. Probably around the same time, the gazelles were crossing the 5k line, with Lisa the first lady and first Groover! Michaels A & E, Shajan, and Caroline all waved to the wet ones as they went by. Andrea S won her age group in the Aquathon, Taj was right behind her, Lizzie, now in Andrea’s age group, had to settle for second, David won his. Andrea, Kelly, Matt, and Nancy came by as a prelude to Irwin, who for his persistence, was rewarded with an age-group first to match his wife! Groovers are overachieving this evening.
Sometime during those events there was a disturbance in the force as Andrew sat in with The Mustangs to play a song. Seven years ago he was playing full sets... but is now a Special Guest Star. Below is a brief clip (his best notes: tuning up) but if you really must hear the whole thing, it is on YouTube. Let’s hope this wasn’t his last dance with Mary Jane.
Wednesday, the 2nd of May
Another day of indecisive weather... but apparently Movers and Groovers were not indecisive. The turnout was larger than last week, and to prove that things are fully in swing, they charged for parking too. Time to get that waterfront parking permit!
People “warming” up reported that the water was cooler than last week, and it proved so. The first half felt suspiciously fast, and sure enough, at the turnaround we faced into the chop and swell. But after last week we know our line (toward the red-tiled roof on the cliff). Olympian Mark Warkentin was here to spank us, but he barely edged out one of those speedy teenagers and UCSB tri-queen Katherine “Moose” Warren. Taj and Andrea S were not so far behind the royalty, with other Groovers in cold pursuit. Andrea W is now (already!) a true veteran Nite Mover, for having the experience of missing the swim start but still running into the water and catching the pack. We have all done it!
While the swimmers were fussing with frozen fingers the runners were already coming down the hill. SB Tri track coach Geoff Gray, with four-legged company, was right up front. Josh (“Daddy”) Schultz was right behind, with Michael A, Jayna, Sam, Magne, Michael E, Scott, Brian, Natira, Julia, Shajan, and Ann Marie pushing them. (Apologies if I missed anyone.) Then, while they were getting their food and drinks, the wet crew came in: Taj winning his age group (and passing Warkentin and Moose), Matt Tr, Andrea winning her age group, Peter, Andrea W, Desa, Andrew, Ricky, Matt Ta, and Cher all feeling pretty fast.
Wednesday, the 25th of April
All day long it was a bit iffy, especially for the swimmers. Will it rain? Should I swim? Who will show up? But in this era of instant communication, we all bucked each other up online, and showed up for a great opening Nite of Moves. The water was very smooth, and not really that cold. No ice-cream headaches, no diver’s reflex, and a pretty easy navigation. Although as Jake hinted, the course might go longer than the nominal 1000 meters. Probably more like 1200.
That was just fine for the swimmer-types, who needed to get as far ahead of the greyhounds as they could. With Karen out of the water, taking care of her little internal swimmer (named Scarlett, we learned) the first Groover out of the water was Craig, followed by Andrew and Andrea W, Cher, Matt Ta, Ricky and Irwin. As they headed up the hill they noticed a very spread out front-of-pack coming back down. The lead runner was a good minute ahead of the next guy: we wondered if he was really in the race. But he was going too fast to just be an ambient jogger!
As the biathletes made their way up the hill they got a good look at the field: Taj and Matt Tr fly by, then our own Laura (#1 overall) and Lisa (#1 age group) the leading ladies, Michael A, Sandy (! that must have been a great age-graded performance), Scott, Andrea S, Magne, Nancy C, Sterling, Michael E, Natira, Caroline, Ted, Shajan, Ann Marie... we’re all still here. Just surrounded by more people.
And then the drying-off crowd, Andrea W took first in her age group for the biathlon, and Matt and Ricky tore through the field like a knife through warm butter. Swimming is supposed to be a good warm-up for running, but Ricky still couldn’t feel a few extremities. Hope they’re back to normal now, Mr R!
The weather was muggy the whole time, but didn’t dampen any spirits. (That is, it didn’t get into the beer.) Raindrops just started to come down near the end of it all, sending Movers and Groovers alike back home to clean up and decide it was all worth it. No False Puppet, but we did have a kids band of some sort that were surely better than plenty of bar bands we all have heard over the years. Andrew has his new Z-Board and is looking to bust it out at some Nite Moves or Reef & Run. (Requests entertained, but don’t hold out much hope for Smoke On The Water.)
Wednesday, the 18th of April
And here it is (was): our last Nite Grooves of the first half of the year. Next week will commence Nite Moves; all you have to do is show up (and pay some $) and the crowd will be many times larger. We still often go out afterwards, but that means around 8 PM instead of 7, so it’s a full evening.
With yesterday being Tax Day, there was a lot of tax talk going on during dinner, much of which sounded to the engineering ear like white noise. Good thing somebody understands it though. Taj is using a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to look for homes. Andrew remembers MLS as meaning something else — another example of TLA overload.
One of our runners recently went around a bend on a trail run to confront a man holding an axe. Now wouldn’t that creep you out a bit? Our runner immediately made it an out-and-back run... but after getting back to the start, turned around and ran back up to the same spot. Same guy there.
We heard details of the predatory habits of bald and golden eagles and island foxes, in the context of a discussion of repopulating the Channel Islands with native flora and fauna. We agreed that fart jokes are always funny, even when you are older than Calvin or Hobbes.
As often, the ambient music was very retro, ranging all the (short) way from America to Styx. Maybe next week we’ll hear False Puppet again. That would be different!
Wednesday, the 4th of April
Counting down the weeks (three, counting today) till the Grooves gives way to the Moves. We are joined by über-runner Melissa Marsted. She and Desa take off, making it look easy. Lots of “normal” (aka non-Groove) people out running now, as the weather and sunshine are so much more inviting. I mean, you get home after work and it’s bright out. How can you just sit down?
Showing the value of sticking to it, Andrea W pushed her way through the full run, despite showing up late. We all saw and appreciated it though. We heard from Ann Marie about how cold and windy it was at the LA Marathon. But here she is, none the worse for wear. Desa told the story of her young daughter’s inflatable dolphin. Probably floats better than either Mandarino, but I bet the humans swim faster.
As we enjoyed a golden sunset, we headed to dinner at the usual Brew Co Lounge. What would they do without us?
Wednesday, the 28th of March
Sunny but cool, with the usual West wind to help our out but hinder our back because it was in our front. (Got that?) We were joined by Leslie, who was way too modest to mention her awesome Ironman time. (Times?) Taj helped out there. Ted was running for the first time since he broke his thumb last week. Ouch!
While running, Brian expounded on neuroplasticity. Or was it elasticity? Peter helpfully pointed out that they were opposites. We decided that some brains have both properties. But the jury may be out on Brian. Note that “brain” and “Brian” are anagrams. More than a coincidence? Of course, the same letters also spell “in bar”, which isn’t too surprising. Around the longitude of East Beach, someone smelled hemp but nobody stopped to partake.
We were joined at the Brew Co Lounge by our friends from Los Baños, who looked pretty strong after that 3×(broken)600m main set. But then, they get a whole ’nother 15 minutes over the usual hour to do it all. We heard about the differences between Catalan — oh, wait, this Catalan — and other Romance languages. Some runners declined to socialize (“I’m not anti-social, society is anti-me”) but others, like Matt (he’s there behind Ricky’s glass), who didn’t even run, showed up. Probably being sensible after yesterday’s killer track workout.
Speaking of which, the amazing Geoff Gray will be starting up the Tri Club’s track workouts in two weeks, Tuesdays at 6:15 at the San Marcos track. We will all be staggering through Wednesday’s Grooves or Moves.
Wednesday, the 21st of March
Our first Groove of the Spring season... which means that the Moves must be close to starting. Warmer water would be welcome. Somehow we waited until almost 6:15 — we are slipping! We teased Desa about her warm clothing — but after the turnaround, running into the wind and shadows, she was probably glad of her garb. She was our only lady runner this evening.. until Lizzo showed up and plowed through the pack.
Out to the Brew Co for hydration (of a sort) and nutrition. Ted reminds us that Bolder Boulder happens on Memorial Day weekend, and he’d like to see some more Santa Barbara neighbors there with him. Ask him for more info if you are interested. Magne will be running twenty miles or so (all told) in the relay race from Huntington Beach to Coronado. Looks like the same sort of car-hopping and planning as for Tough Enough... times three. (Each runner runs three times.) And the Coronado bridge will be quite a run. A certain Groover seamstress is going to set up professional shop downtown near D’Vine. Save up all your mendables! And Kathryn reminds us of her party this weekend at her place. Rock & roll theme, with a possible later excursion to the Creekside for some boot-scooting.
Wednesday, the 14th of March
The sun stayed out for us, no doubt to celebrate π day. (3/14, get it? Good thing we don’t write the day first.) Some people brought homemade pie to work today. (Not this author; I just got to eat it.) But what will we do for τ day? No photos this week: if you have to ask, you can’t see them!
P.S.: A new cartoon in the sidebar! (That is, new for us; it does go back a ways.)
Wednesday, the 7th of March
Our last run before the time change, when we will have an extra hour of daylight in the evening. And it comes for free, right? Uh, well, not exactly. Just wait until Monday morning. And there are varying opinions on whether it is worth it, some going back hundreds of years. So be warned!
Wednesday, the 29th of February
What better way to celebrate leap day than by leaping up a 4,000 foot hill? (Emulating Ron Obvious.) OK, we didn't make it all the way up, and in fact it was more of a series of short steps (shorter than our usual fleet feet manage) repeated over and over. Lather, rinse, repeat. We had Lizzie (the instigator), Dave, Andrew, Lizzo, Desa, and Josh show up despite the cold and wind. It didn’t get too windy until the upper reaches: there are a few “wind tunnel” areas where you really get blasted. The view of the city and waterfront at night was spectacular; the view of the road under your feet a little more obscure, despite headlamps. And what about the mountain lions?
Up for 35 minutes, and then turn around: how far can we get? We saw a few cyclists also heading up or down the hill, with very bright headlamps. Some returners were in the 20 minute range! One of us took the inevitable wrong turn on the way back down, onto Coyote road. The only reason others didn’t... was because they had done so some time in the past. Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement!
When we finished, our good judgement suggested immersing the legs in hot water. So we passed on the dinner portion of the Groove experience. We know from the mailing list that at least Peter and Ricky were down at the usual location. We hope the regulars had a regularly good time!
Tuesday, the 28th of February
Heads up! Lizzie has suggested we meet at the base of Gibraltar (by Gibraltar and Mountain Drive) this Wednesday, to practice some (up)hill running. Same leave time, 6:10 PM. No doubt some will show at the hill, others at the beach. Either is fine. You've been alerted!
Wednesday, the 22nd of February
Again, a big crowd somehow assembles mere seconds before we take off. Fifteen-odd (in either sense) males and one female — who said “sausage-fest”? It was one of us. At least we don’t have to worry about the end of the gender. About five minutes into the run, a breeze in our faces as if from the open oven door. The sundowners again! Michael E and Matt Ta were here despite their 16x400 (300 fast, 100 recover) continuous track workout of the previous day. Yeah, the rest of us must have done something comparable. Getting out of bed?
Despite some dissenting voices we went with the usual venue, and again (see 18 January) we were joined by the Los Baños swim crowd. Their workout must have been tough: they were ready for refueling. We discussed the rumor that Reef & Run will be on Thursdays this year. Would eliminate the Tri Club Track/Reef & Run scheduling conflict. One Groover is contemplating prescription running/cycling shades. Depending on your astigmatism, this is sometimes not possible; other Groovers have gone with the separate-insert system, which works surprisingly well.
We expanded to three tables, after they let in the likes of Fred Maggiore, and things got crowded. By what must have been sheer coincidence, Josh had some ultrasound photos. Yes, hardcopy still exists. One Groover recalled cursing in Spanish (a language with well-developed profanity) in front of her dad. What we used to call P.E. (personal embarassment). Did you hear about the world’s smallest chameleon? No, not just a joke intro of a different color, it’s the real thing. They must eat really small bugs!
Wednesday, the 15th of February
We welcomed long-timer Larry, and first-timer Ted. (No, not this Ted, nor this one.) He’s training for Bolder Boulder and recommends it highly. He was on time. Then between 6:05 and 6:10 a flash mob of runners somehow appeared! Desa and Lizzie arrived at the last minute, running up to the start and then just continuing on at their usual zippy clip. The rest of us hung on as best we could. Good news: the construction at the turnaround is over. Now we can go those extra few meters that make the distance a real 10k. Rain threatened in the morning, but by our run it was clear and cool out.
And speaking of Good News, the latest for us is that Iron-Sarah will be in the house. Again Sterling and Jayna are donating their (great) party house for us to celebrate our reunion. It’s pot-luck with a grill, show up at 7 or later, stay till later or even later.
Afterward, we tried to sort out the scheduling of races. Alas that UCSB’s Kendra’s Race is the same day as Half-Ironman Oceanside. The former is shorter, but the latter is likely to be warmer. Then the rest of the seasons unfolds in our minds and in real calendar time. A certain Groover who is “in trouble” (not! she’s married) is nonetheless our international rep in Canada right now. Hubby is figuring out how he can maximize his XTerra racing before his name changes to Dad.
Wednesday, the 8th of February
The full moon was very bright and kept everybody moving along (but does it push or pull?) this evening. But we are also noticing that there is more light; soon we may be able to ditch the headlamps. Our resident Groover massage therapist is glad that there is finally some evidence for the benefits of her profession. A happy ending for all muscles and ligaments! We did’t run quite as far as the competitors in the movie Unbreakable but we do count Groover Mark “2Daddy” Warren as a finisher in that “race”. (OK, it was for the front-runners. For others, it’s more of an “event”. And anyway, though Mark has twin daughters, hence the handle, he has another kid too so maybe it should be “3Daddy”. Where does he find the time?) Meanwhile, the experts still debate the well-chewed topic of running form.
Wednesday, the 1st of February
No warm winds to heat us up this evening, just the brisk cool to hide the pain. But with pain comes gain! We learned that one married Groover has something besides a cake in the oven now. (See samples.) Congratulations! This is our fifth Groovelet. (After kids for Desa, Mark (two!), and Amy.) We also heard that two Groovers were spotted at an early morning “Ripped” workout. They qualified for the adjective before they even started! The pack was led out by Andy and closed by Andrew — now there’s symmetry. Afterward we all gathered somewhere, but it was a secret. At least, I didn’t know.
Wednesday, the 25th of January
Warm winds blowing: the sundowners kept increasing the temperature over the span of the afternoon and evening, and speeding us up. Or perhaps we were pulled along by the moon, Venus, and Jupiter, which were all visible on the return leg. Or was it the solar flares warming us up? (Warning: that last link had a lot of bulls♨☄t. But nothing compared to this one.) All sorts of atmospheric and celestial drama! Our new friend Cindy C also brought up our game significantly. To top it off, it was Robert Burns Day, of importance to all lovers of poetry, history, whiskey, or just Scotsmen in general.
At the usual retreat, we heard how one Groover’s fiancé is out of the country paragliding — that’s right, just make us feel boring. On one of the screens, Barcelona made it 2-0 against Real Madrid with an awesome goal... ignored by most of the patrons. One Groover related how she changed her usual hair color — or maybe reverted to natural — in any case her friends and family were mortified. (Just a color? Try this little experiment: drop a bit of blue food coloring in a glass of milk. Now try to drink it. Yecch!) One of our runners accidentally called another repeatedly one evening... the phone was just (for mysterious reasons) redailing the most recent number. How does it feel to get multiple calls from someone else’s purse? Like getting dramatic photos and movies of the inside of your pocket... not that we’d know about that.
Wednesday, the 18th of January
A small turnout to run; a big one to eat, drink, and be merry! We were led out by the L's (two of them — we have quite a few) Lizzie and Lisa. A brisk pace, but at the turnaround by the Bird Refuge they were seen and heard chatting away like, well, birds. Definitely in the aerobic zone. There is some construction going on at the turnaround that cuts off a few meters of our run! How will our Garmins adjust?
Some thought we might not have a quorum this evening... how wrong was that? Good thing we had the initiative to head to the usual Brew Co Lounge. We were joined by other Groovers, and then by a contingent from the Los Baños swimmers. Mike, Emi, John, Heather, Joe, Dani.. the all-star team. When worlds collide. They were all showered, or at least chlorinated. But they didn’t complain about our sweaty sweats.
There were still stories swirling from the Mad woMen party, but of course they have to stay where they started. We heard from Mike (one of them) about his ankle: messed up from football. Not ballet? The swimmers debated the ethics of training with Zoomers or (heaven forbid) scuba fins. On stroke technique, we decided it’s a bit like golf: many opinions, some better than others. In short: your arm is like a propellor blade, not a paddlewheel.
We noted that “Nite Grooves” can be rearranged to make “investor ego”. I suppose that is better than “vertigo nose”. I wonder what could be done with “Wednesdays are Wonderful”? Now there is an official Nite Grooves anagram helper web page. See what you can find. More than a coincidence? Well no, but it’s still fun.
Wednesday, the 11th of January
A bit cold out in the evening? Perhaps you might prefer to stay home and clean your bike. And while you’re at it, you could count the teeth on each ring and cog, and finally understand your gear ratios. If you’re planning a jaunt up Gibraltar (our road, not the original rock) maybe you could use some lower gears!
Wednesday, the 4th of January
First Groove of the year! The number twelve is very special (see reference [2] in the second link), so twenty-twelve (who says “two thousand and twelve”?) will be great. We had almost 20 runners show up despite the dark. But not the chill: it was perfect comfortable running weather, and our speedsters took it out fast, pulling the rest of us along. Andrew discovered he was running with his vet’s vet — that’s a small-town SB story. It was amazing that Ricky and Matt Tarka were not hobbling after yesterday’s set of hill repeats!
Over to the Brew Co Lounge to re-hydrate and re-fuel. (Sometimes the beverages serve both purposes.) The ladies were all laughing about some photos from the weekend that they just couldn’t share with everybody. We can only imagine. The music still hews such a narrow range of the ’70s we swear it must be a two-month interval of hits or something. And yet there were plenty to choose from. Matt got the trivia award for correctly identifying a deep cut from the Cars’ first album. Lots of bemoaning the grassy ski slopes locally. Looking a little farther afield, Dave wants to ski Whistler. Liz’s daughter has so many extracurriculars we wonder about the curriculars. It’s so much fun to be young! Kelly, of course, has already been in the ocean this year. Not too warm, but there is big surf forecast for this week.
À la Recherche du Temps Perdu?
Looking for past Wednesdays? If it’s older than “a certain age,” it will be stored in our cellars. But it only gets better!
