As the sun sets on 2010 ...

Photo of sunset over West Seattle on December 29, 2010 taken from Pike Place Market.

Picasso in Seattle 12-29-10

Well, they won't let you take pics in the gallery so this is the route to Picasso and a post card of one of the paintings I really liked ...

A Partial View of a Full Lunar Eclipse

The cloud cover rolled in and screwed up the viewing of the eclipse of 12-20-10 ... this was all I could get.

The ten poems I read for "The Historic" on 12-11-10

The criteria I was given was that the poems either needed to be mine or in the public domain, and that there could be "No profanity laced tirades against ex-girlfriends." All the poems were mine and met the other criteria too ...

POETRY by Jeff Lageson
All poems (C) Jeff Lageson

"Home Opener" p94
"Surgery" p113
"Untitled Poem '94" p142
originally published in WHISPERS FROM WHITMAN COUNTY 1995

"Marlboro Man"
"Owl"
"My Dog Killed A Possum Last Night"
originally published in THE DAILY EVERGREEN, SUMMER BIO-RHYTHMS Section 6/11/96 p16

"The Store"
originally published in THE JOURNAL, (Pullman High School) 1997

"Carl"
"Holding On"
originally published in "The Silver Valley Voice"/ Moonshine Hill Press 09/97

"Wednesday August 3, 2005 Just Before Midnight"
originally published in "The Voice"/Moonshine Hill Press 12/06 p5

Removing the taint ... in context.

When you take the time to remove all the Crunchberries before you add the milk and yet you still get the taint of that Crunchberry flavor it is hard to avoid feeling disappointed.

Last night I realized that grandma had sent us a box of cereal in one of her little care package moments, but that it was not the standard version of my favorite Captain.

So ... while I was preparing other foods I started sorting out the regular in order to have a bowl of cereal and ended up taking a bit of time and separating out the entire box into two bowls.

My son was amused by this in ways only 8th graders can be amused by things. He gets the other half.

Marathon thoughts and the future

I realized that I had posted about the recent Seattle Marathon but had not used all of the sheet of notes from that marathon or commented more than vaguely about where I am going with my marathon running. Without a goal I flounder in virtually everything I do. So, now that I have been doing marathons for many years I need to look at where I am going. Also, the recent publication of Cami's book and her next marathon quest has given me cause to pause and reflect.

I once noted that I wanted to do 25 marathons. That was a totally random number that sounded good and I am actually just over halfway to at this point with my 13th Seattle Marathon. I have also noted for a few years that I would like to do a 2 marathon year. 25 overall and more than one in a year is worth doing but not really enough to grab hold of my attention properly. I have also had some vague notions of New York or Boston.

So, upon recent reflection I have decided to make a more specific set of goals that is roughly attainable before I turn 50 in 2017 ...

Before I turn 50 I will ...

1) run the New York and/or Boston marathon(s) ...
2) complete more than one marathon in a calendar year ...
3) complete a cluster of marathons to qualify for Marathon Maniacs at at least the Bronze Level of "2 Marathons within a 16 day time frame" or "3 Marathons within a 90 day time frame" ...
4) double my current number of marathons to 26 ...

The caveat is that doing all of this by 50 is negotiable as I am giving myself that year and age to set a general timetable for the future, but it is more important that I eventually achieve all of these items than the time frame itself.

Jingle all the way ...

It has been over ten years since I have ran a straight road race shorter than a marathon. I did a 2001 triathlon, which is not really being a straight road race and the 04 and 05 Columbia Center Stair Climbs, so notwithstanding the 1999 Seafair Torchlight run I have not been running anything but marathons since I started running marathons. Some of this coincides with having small children, but also that I just haven't felt like it, I guess. Back in the 90s I ran dozens of these things. It was nice to run one again, not just because of it being my daughter's first race and that there were a lot of friends out there, but because I enjoy it. However, the near biblical rains we have been experiencing this weekend made for an entirely ridiculous level of soaking for all of us. It is Seattle, and while we still can't drive in the rain we can go out and do our activities in it anyway.

Filming scenes for "The Historic" at ...

"The Historic Everett Theater" ...

"The Historic" is an independent film that is due in 2011.

I had the opportunity to be a part of a night of filming where I was both an audience member and a performer. As part of the evening I read ten poems of mine from various publications over the years. The only restrictions placed on me were that the poems be mine (they were) or in the public domain, and that there were to be "no profanity laced tirades against ex-girlfriends". Okay.

Since this film is still "in production" I won't comment further other than to root for it to be ready on time for entry (and acceptance) into SIFF for 2011.

Fry Bread

The thing is that this was a real work in progress with each piece in both batches over two days ...

The second batch I kneaded for much, much longer and made into smaller pieces and it turned out much better. For something so simple it was surprising how tough it was to get it to turn out well.

A Baker's Dozen

Reflections on the meaning of Last ...

I came in last in my age division this year. This is a new thing for me in a road race. I have never been fast, and after my ankle fracture in 93 and double hernia surgery in 05 I have long since accepted the ongoing change in my finish times. For years I have joked that as I get older I would move up in my division because everyone aging would slow down to my speed.

Don't get me wrong, I am not singing a sad song here. I finished my 13th consecutive Seattle Marathon without walking or stopping. I am healthy and recovered quickly ... I just ran an entirely new level of slow this year. It will be interesting to see how that changes in coming years, because I am going to be entering the lottery for New York and/or Boston, as well as doing a multiple marathon year and a qualifying sequence to get my Marathon Maniacs bib here over the next couple years.

Also, I made a conscious choice about mile 15 to not speed up and push for a better time. I simply knew enough about how I was feeling - and since it was sunny and not raining - and did not push forward. The final finish being quite as slow as it was was a bit of a surprise, but when the Army Ranger put my finisher medal about my neck and I was feeling fairly solid I knew I made the right choices ...