Wednesdays were Wonderful
And we still remember. Here the excitement of weekdays past lives on.
Wednesday, the 22nd of December, 2010
Happy Birthday, Natira!
Wednesday, the 15th of December
It wasn’t really so cold... as soon as you got out of your car you felt fine. Just a little bit of complaining, pro forma. It must be the holiday season, because Lizzo was back from studying physical therapy (with jello wrestling on the side), and she knew where to find us. The crowd just kept growing, yes it’s Desa, here’s Natira, Scott shows up, and it’s almost like summer. Look out bike path!
A very coherent pack all the way to the turnaround, past seasonal parties at East Beach and hotels. Chrissy accelerated the last leg, setting a good example. Now where to go? Lizzo already had plans for the Brewhouse, and Kelly and maybe some others went there. Fair enough; we do sort of settle into a rut, but here we go again to the Brew Co Lounge. The good beer and prompt service keeps the conversation going. Saw friends and Movers Lisa and Pete on the way in. Todd and Rose join us and immediately learn about Laura V’s adventures south of the border. South of the canal even, where the Andes really show you what a mountain is about. Natira’s great-grandmother came from Bolivia, and we marvel at how the world has changed in a few generations. Laura showed them what an American woman stands for (her own possessions). The term “gringa” should have a different flavor to it for a while at least.
The background music seems determined to stay in a groove from 1975 to 1980... with the notable exception of Night Moves itself, the song that defines the tempo “moderate rock beat”. Those were the days of slide rules, mused Brian, who actually owned a fancy German one. (Mine was a Dietzgen.) There was a conversation about somebody’s second sex-change operation, which it is probably a good thing I didn’t quite pick up because it’s not going down here. Must have been quite successful though because everyone here looks physiologically perfect and functional. Perfect Ironpeople, no? And yet we didn’t have to rush home to get our beauty sleep; instead we enjoyed the electrolyte replacement that came with the hops and barley.
On the way back to the car, I talked with a homeless guy who told me his name was Meriwether. Talk about a historic name; maybe too illustrious to completely live up to. I hope he comes to a better end though. He said he was from Memphis; who knows what long strange trip wound him up here? I gave him some folding money and thought about how lucky we Groovers are.
Well, that might wrap up the year 2010 for the Grooves Web log (notice how we uphold style considerations and don’t say blog) but certainly it does not conclude the Groove itself. There is the small matter of celebrating Desa’s 40th, and those who are local will be here next week and the one after. It might go undocumented but not unexperienced. Groove on!
Sunday, the 12th of December
Leave it to Natira to organize the funnest (yes, we claim that’s a word) holiday gathering until... well, the next gathering of Groovers! Her place has a backyard for playing tag, newly-painted rooms for ambience, and is close enough to the pier that we could all walk down to see the lights and boats. Soups and salads appeared out of nowhere, wine and beer flowed like water, and there were desserts to race and die for.
We quickly disposed of the latest political topics, smiling about how Mr WikiLeaks has experienced a drip of his own. More important were things like whose room gets more light, who ran where this morning, and how will we get down to the beach to see the sights? It turned out that we were mostly up for walking, and so we turned out and about Shoreline Drive, guided by the moon and Jupiter overhead. In the seasonal mood, we talked about prayer, who benefits from it, the chemical basis of life, and other easy topics. As we walked, fireworks were popping off above our heads, scaring countless dogs, including one that dashed through our midst, leash dragging and even tangling with tires. Jon and Lisa played the role of the Samaritan, calming the dog, calling the owner, and reconnecting them. Apparently the sitter had lost control. Of both himself and the dog. Good opportunity for a metaphor there.
Down at the breakwater, it looked like things were already winding down, but we saw enough lights and sights to get us in the caroling mood. On the way back we dared to run up to one especially nice house and treat them to at least one verse of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” Kirsten remembers more words than anybody because she is constantly teaching them. We made it back up the hill not even out of breath, unlike DeSean Jackson who ran faster than any of us could for about five seconds and re-oxygenated for five minutes. We probably saw the best highlight of the game there, but really could he stand and deliver at the cold surf of Nite Moves?
Wednesday, the 8th of December
Most people showed up promptly, for the time-hallowed meeting hour of 6 PM and equally well-enforced running time of 6:10. But where in the world was Andrew? Walking out of his office at UCSB at 5:40, he realized his car was parked across campus at the pool (where earlier he swam). That’s not good logistics! He missed the start of the run, but in fine American Graffiti style he cruised the waterfront, found the (impressive) pack and serenaded them with the Eagles’ “James Dean” on the car stereo.
Surely that got them going enough to push through another great run in the dark. There was more leftover momentum this week, which carried over to the Brew Co Lounge. It’s all about holiday travel plans, and wondering how we will maintain our Groover fitness away from the home course. Girl talk about sharing clothes — it’s always lucky when you are the same size as somebody else. The Lounge was pretty crowded, and the owner took some care to see that we got a table and an actual server, whose ethnic heritage (Jamaican/Irish) was the mystery of the evening. Peter’s car is still stolen, so after a few weeks we have to assume it’s gone, right? Though there are exceptions.
We have some more fun coming up with a pot luck with Natira, and next week’s still-unplanned blowout. Go Groovers!
Wednesday, the 1st of December
Getting pretty cold out — temps in the 30s when we wake up, and wonder how in the world are we ever going to run this evening? But then it warms during the day and our spirits rise with the thermometer. We had a fairly small turnout, but some of the important regulars like Brian, Sam, Laura T, Sterling, Adrienne, Kyle, showed up to reinforce each other’s resolve. A “new” face — only to the Groove, not to running and swimming at Leadbetter — was Chrissy Faulding. Taking time from her nursing training at SBCC to just walk down the hill to the beach and join us. She also coached Masters swimming at Los Baños. (We waved as we ran past.) Her brisk pace pushed Andrew on his return from post-half-Marathon R & R.
Runners were cheered on it seemed by the seals out on the buoys, barking their encouragement. Lisa and Michael L were latecomers who blazed past the tail-end of the pack and caught up with the leaders. The latter’s toe seems to be all healed up — at least it surely is no longer slowing him down.
Afterwards we all went our separate ways. Too many tasks these days: packing for Mammoth, Christmas shopping, even just saving on cash by eating out less often. (Going against the famous truckside saying.) So no discussions of whether Julian Assange is a hero or a narcissistic megalomaniac. Or for that matter, the same questions about Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Michelle Bachmann, or Hitler himself. We will have to save the world-saving discussions for next time.
About which... we should make a big point of convening, conditioning, and then carousing next week, to usher out the first year of the “tens” in our New Century. Come on Groovers! Let’s step up our game and run to Mercury or something.
Saturday, the 6th of November
Congrats, and props (short for “proper respect”... I always wondered about that) to all Groovers who ran on Saturday. Like the SB Tri, it draws a lot of visitors, who make it tough for the homies to hold their own on their own turf. The invincible Drea McLarty, sometime visitor to the Groove, won the half-marathon in 1:21, and Tek came in second in his age group with 1:23. Sarah, getting over a bug and training for a “real race” (aka marathon) nonetheless threw down a 1:35, running with Fred Maggiore for a good part of the race. As good as having an iPod for distraction. Desa was right behind with a 1:37, Lizzie with 1:39, Lisa at 1:41, Natira at 1:48... just like clockwork, these ladies.
Did those swift feet get stuck in the bike-path bottleneck? As a further-back observer, this reporter can attest that it was like an Ironman swim start. People were shuffling along at about an 11-minute pace, solid walls of backs that seemed to be going literally backward. Phalanxes, scrums of backs, all bunched up on the left, where you’d think you could do some passing. They sure didn’t follow Bernoulli’s fluid flow law and speed up. Among this hump of the bell curve were Andrew and Shajan and Andrew’s T.A. Johann Ly. Maintaining academic dignity, Andrew stayed ahead of his T.A.
In the full-on marathon, we saw Joslynn take second in her age group at 3:21... the same pace we (rightly) revere our halfers for running! Matt Tarka crossed the line at 3:45, with a chip time just three seconds off of race time: he must have started right up there! John Herzog arrived at 4:01, and Brian Lee at 4:31.
Apologies to any regular Groovers omitted from this list; it means I just don’t know your names yet. But you are not a tree falling in the forest!
Wednesday, the 3rd of November
It’s dark but not very cold yet. Even a short run broke a lot of sweat. And lots of people are training (or finishing their training) for the half or full marathon this weekend... hence lots of people cutting short the “full” Groover workout of 10k. Ricky didn’t even run. Brian is practicing running with shoes. Karen will be volunteering, so runners, look for her on the course.
Your reporter is getting over a cold, and didn’t want to endanger the health and prospects of other racers, so he missed the night out this evening. Let’s hope Groovers didn’t drink so much as to be compromised on race day! Meanwhile, since the New York Marathon is this Sunday, there is a plethora of running-related articles online. For example, should we even run so far? (Also here.) Can we go shoeless? Is it good or bad for your knees? And on and on...
Wednesday, the 27th of October
Well the previous entry in this blog ran for a week as the 13th of October, but clearly it was really the 20th! Apologies to anyone who was confused. Just off by one... week.
There was something in the air this week... and it was not just the International Space Station. Must have been testosterone. Just two ladies — Liz and Desa — could find it in their hearts to run with us this evening. How else will we push ourselves? We’re over what other guys think of us. And these were working moms too; that’s the more to their credit. We heard Andrea might be off hearing Stone Temple Pilots. Good enough excuse. Of course we ran well, and saw the first use of headlamp on the return course. Next week the time will have changed. We were all on the lookout for the Space Station going overhead; Brian and Ricky saw it.. though for Brian it might just have been a flashback from Burning Man.
And afterwards, it was all guy talk at the Brewhouse on Montecito. So our real opinions just had to come out. Sorry ladies, we can’t tell what they are though. Extreme positions were taken and defended. How to reconcile ethics and Darwinism (economic, social or biological), for example. You know, just the basic stuff. Prolonging people’s lives has no direct effect on reproduction... if it’s done after they reproduce. We got that far. But indirectly, there may be a grandparent effect. Whether it’s good... oh, that’s a whole ’nother evening.
We agree that the beer selection is better than the service. Although it looks like they are just understaffed. Our server Beth was all over Brian, but the rest of us males kept her off him. To keep him chaste, like Sir Galahad.
Wednesday, the 20th of October
Some early arrivers today had to huddle under the overhang at the meeting place, looking out at the rain. But by the time we had all assembled it was already relenting. A few runners set out early, perhaps so as to have more time to change before this evening’s festivities. Natira had already run, so she could head off to Union Ale and prepare our party table.
Michael had shoes on! His toe must be on the mend. Inspired by that, the rest of us headed off at the canonical hour (ten after six), and set a fast pace from the outset. Sarah caught up with us (easily) and was seen running after most had called it a day. Which it wasn’t really, after the turnaround: time for those Petzl headlamps to come out of storage!
Those athletes who arrived first at Union Ale found out that our birthday celebration for Matt Tarka had been pre-empted by a staff party. Somehow they neglected to mention that to Natira when she called Tuesday. But she alertly scrambled, setting up a texting tree to redirect people to the restaurant next door. I can’t remember the name, but it must be pretty new: the Google Street View just shows an empty place with an “Available” sign in the window.
But once inside it seemed a good choice, and everyone sat down and chattered away. Brian is just back from Ukraine (formerly the Ukraine, but they have done away with the definite article). He punned that he was visiting Desa’s homeland in Odessa. (We suspect he was just looking for a Ukrainian bride.) And admitted to putting part of a leg into the Black Sea. Maybe that color wasn’t too inviting! Although he professes to trying to visit as many places in the world as he can, he hasn’t even set foot yet in Australia. We had a good discussion with Lisa (who is also well-traveled) about the indispensible value of getting out into the world. She told the story of going to SF with a co-worker (no, it’s strictly a Net joke to spell that cow-orker) who admitted he had never been more than a few miles outside his hometown his whole life.
Brian reminded us of one of the historical “benefits” of travel: a good percentage of all the men in Europe and Asia share genes descended from Genghis Khan. On the topic of genes, when it came time to order, Lisa was (more like pretended to be) incredulous that Andrew didn’t like pork. He claims he is just lacking in the “red meat-tasting” gene. As with the familiar bio class example of phenylthiocarbamide, some people find it revolting; others are “non-tasters”.
Somehow Sarah always looks like a princess, even after trouncing most of us in the run. This evening she wore a glittery headband that was almost a tiara. And doubles as a necklace if you don’t realize it’s a headband. Jayna’s necklaces apparently hook up (literally) in storage; but Sterling has the patience (or OCD?) to untangle them. This seems to be an example of entropy, a topic on which the publisher Springer has invited Andrew to submit a book proposal. In his “copious free time” presumably. She adds the example of electrical connectors getting “spontaneously” out of control in the lab. Now, dust bunnies seem to reverse entropy: self-assembling from “nothing” — a challenge to theorists everywhere!
Josh is enjoying mountain biking, but wonders when he will actually have an “off-season”. Matt reminded him that for some people, mountain biking is off-season. We think he should just spend more time on Facebook... but he admits that when he gets a little buzzed, he may post some goofy things. No, none of us has ever done that! And anyway, his wife (who clearly has his back) can be wild and crazy when sober as a judge.
In the only sour note for Matt’s celebration, the Giants beat the Phillies. But this was made up for by two (count ’em) cakes, and a thoughtful visit from Natira’s relatives, who are as nice as she is. Hmm, what do they see in Matt besides the intelligence, consideration, fitness, and all that? Clearly he’s got the requisite lung capacity. Though he doesn’t use it for talking up a storm. He’s the still waters run deep type.
Saturday, the 16th of October
And the Celebration of Sarah continued this weekend. First at Joe’s, where everybody was there and those who weren’t were ▢. Even people we didn’t know knew us. It was also (young) Matt’s 40th birthday, as Natira was helpful to point out. They originally had other plans, but everything changes and nobody complained about more to celebrate. We hope Plan A eventually gets accomplished too.
It was clear that we were the coolest party in town; I mean, if I hadn’t been part of it all, I would have been staring. At all the sharing, caring, and of course the daring wearing and baring. And more cake. Q’ils mangent de la brioche. A little short on cash for the tab? Probably due to a certain Groover whose memory plays tricks. (He was sure he signed up for Carp... but no. Maybe if it were all ones and zeroes he’d remember!) Festivities continued at the Wildcat Lounge, but the photos might not be suitable for your parents.
Wednesday, the 13th of October
Cool and foggy for the spooky thirteenth of the month. No luck for Andrew: he bailed in the first few seconds of the run. Oww: pulled femoral adductor (aka inner thigh... clearly just a cry for “help”?) from overzealous whip-kicking at noon Masters. Ricky was running with a homemade brace for his left ankle. Nancy is getting over a ruptured eardrum: whacked her head against the water, which is so soft when you move slowly but hard as a rock at high speed. She was probably tow surfing or something. Mike of course is still not running on that left big toe. Sarah is running with a sore psoas , which must be one of the hardest to stretch. Once you’ve figured out how to spell it. Makes the IT band look like a piece of cake. (OK, that’s a strange image. A body organ rarely looks like a baked confection. Ask Karen — as a biologist she knows the difference. See last week’s photos! But there are exceptions! Also here — not for the squeamish.)
This Band of Broken Brothers and Sisters somehow managed to complete the requisite run, whose sole purpose was to prepare for the post-run partay! Over to hosts Sterling and Jayna’s for a completely home-like birthday celebration for our BFF Sarah (Iron)Mandes. (In case anybody hasn’t yet gotten the pun about her last name and racing accomplishments.) The food was so good we think Three One Nine could compete with any of the establishments we usually patronize. But there would be no patronizing either of our hosts, who together know about as much as Wikipedia.
So instead (one) conversation got down to the common denominator of respiration — or rather, what to do with its by-products. Some of us can pee on a bike ride, and one even confessed to letting it all go on the way up to the top of Pier to Peak. Talk about giving back to the earth!
We had representatives from all age groups, and everyone played well together. Most of the shrieking was from the youngsters. Jayna’s friends from the lab were here to tell us about the energy levels in diamonds. Now if we could only get our own energy levels up to par! (To mix the sports metaphor.) Helping with that was all the FOOD! If there’s one thing you can count on at a Grooves evening, it’s nutrition. Or at least free energy.
Mike showed his trust in us by appearing in flip-flops, left big toe exposed in all its sad glory. Some would have worn steel-toed boots for protection, but I guess the first requirement for those is you have to be able to get the foot in. Nobody stepped on the beached whale toe.
Wednesday, the 6th of October
Unlike last week, there wasn’t much of a clamor for open-water swimming this Wednesday. Adrienne was, however, seen today doing a full Masters noon workout (in the fastest lane). That’s how to get better in the water, Groovers! We waited just a little past our usual 6:10 — but then Desa ran up and we just did’t let her stop.
On the way back, sunset was less spectacular than past two weeks, but really it’s just about gone when we turn around anyway. No more shades for the Groove run.
After the run we went all upscale — all the way to Madison’s, half a block north of the usual Lounge. Dining almost al fresco we celebrated the birthday of Karen Egerman Schultz. For once, she didn’t bake the cake! (Examples of some of her prior art are below.)
Once again, Ricky got carded. Laura T & her daughters, Sandy, Sterling, Jayna, were all suddenly there, as if it were normal for 20 or so friends to spontaneously converge. Michael has injured his left big toe big time. Might be a good time to become friends with a CycleOps — and that will still have to wait.
There had been threats of singing karaoke, but busy grownups will be tired by the time the guy actually sets up. Perhaps we have to try this at our next Groover party, though.
Or join our mailing list. (See above.)
