The Butterflies are Back in Town

There has been a migration of butterflies through my town this weekend. No, really. I was coming back from school yesterday, and it looked like there was bark flying through the air, except it wasn't smacking against the car. I quickly realized it was a swarm of butterflies and not bark at all. (I have extensive experience with swarms of butterflies cavorting from my mountain climbing.) They have been everywhere, especially in the fields. So when I headed back to the coast for my run today, I drove through even more of them. I'm not sure what type they are, they seem sort of brown and small. Butterflies flying by are beautiful, nonetheless.

I had a bit of a struggle finding a less dangerous entre to the bike path, however. I went to the state park beach that I know about (it has a parking lot, you see), but when I didn't see the path and took a gander at the map, I saw that the railroad tracks cut inland at that point. Grrr. So I headed up the freeway and saw where the path cuts from inland back to the freeway, but without any indication of what road exactly it was following. So, after wandering around the back roads of Marina (including the boarded up and blocked off former Fort Ord army base), I found my way back to the road I drove in on and saw where the path cut across. Finally.

I started running and took a short detour along a broken-down path back to the beach. I considered running along the beach, but the slope is too steep and the tide was too high. It was not comfortable running. Back to the bike path it was. Although, when I got to the path, I decided to follow the paved road beside it that cut through the state park. (I saw it yesterday, but wasn't sure how to get from the bike path to this other -- obviosuly closed to motorized traffic -- paved road that ran closer to the ocean.)



And I ran, and ran, and ran. It felt longer than the 6 miles I finally google mapped it to be, but it was still 6 miles of almost uninterupted running. There are some hills along the path, and I made it up and down them, both ways. I think I'll hit this path up a few more times before d-day (r-day? hm-day?). There was a wind, but it wasn't too strong.

I'm pretty sure I've figured out how to access the path in a much nicer area than the strip malls and fast-food joints. Next weekend we'll see if I'm right. And next weekend, I'm going for 8!

Poetry

On Friday, I looked in my "mailbox" at school, and I found a poetry journal just kicking it in there. There was no note, no mailing label, and I don't recall signing up for a free trial journal. I asked another English teacher, and she didn't get one in her box. So I have a mystery poetry supplier -- or pusher, as it were. I've only glanced through it, but I do know that this issue is all translated works. So maybe it's from the China seminar I took earlier in the year? But then why no mailing label? I also suspsected the librarian, but she LOVES to leave notes on crazy paper. Perhaps it's the science teacher who also has an MFA in writing? I'll have to ask him. Other than that, I am stumped. I am also pretty stoked. Poetry gifts are just cool.

Crosstown Traffic

Today was a beautiful day in Sunny California. Sunny, blue skies, 70+ degrees (in March). Oh yes, finally a state where March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb (or is that supposed to be April?).

I decided to take Lolita out for some cross-training -- but longer cross-training that I'm supposed to since I've been so slack. I did a little Web searching, and realized that there's a coastal bike trail: the Monterey Bay Coastal Bike Path. You can order the bike map online, but then it's not available immediately. So I drove to REI to see if they had a map. The nice man at REI didn't have a map, but he did tell me how I could get onto the path a few short blocks (and three dangerous intersections) away. So, I left the car in at REI and pedaled away.

Througout this entire process, I find myself saddened by my physical state of being. I used to get on Lolita and ride 30 miles without thinking about it much. Today, I made it 10 miles (or so), and I was definitely wiped out. It's good that I'm doing this, but damn, I do not want to fall back to this level again. It is so not cool.

It was a gorgeous ride, though. Of course, on one side of the path are speeding cars on Highyway 1, but on the other are dunes and the ocean. The flowers are all starting to bloom and everything is beige and green and red and orange. And, on the way back I finally got my bike computer working! Turns out, it wasn't the cadence sensor at all, it was the wheel sensor. Silly me. So, by the next ride I'll have some good stats for you.

Chicken or the Egg

So I owe you a lot of posts on running, and I'm probably just gonna skip most of (all of?) last week. It was another bad week for running -- the early days kick my ass and then even when I do run, I have no energy to write a Facebook status, let alone a whole blog.

This week was much the same: I did lift some weights on Monday, but nothing else until today, when I busted out 4 miles. So there I am, running along with a stitch in my side and a total inability to take a really full breath and then my legs ache a little, too. And this all feels very, very familiar.

I've been rehashing my old Lessons From Cross Country, lately. (It happens when you're in the middle of a run, you know.) Back in high school I always wanted to get good enough that I could keep up without any pain. Actually, I would have settled for the whole absence of pain part. So senior year rolls around, and we're running down the railroad tracks behind Rich's heading back towards the high school. Suddenly, I realize that I'm not by myself. April (the fastest runner on the team) is just up ahead, and I'm chatting with Nicole. I'm keeping up! I've gotten better! A lot better!! And... it still hurts.

Right then and there I decided if it doesn't hurt, then you're not doing it right. In order to advance, in order to get better, you can't sit around and let it happen -- you have to make it happen. And that work, that effort, that's the pain.

Has this philosophy colored my enture life? Do I do crazy, difficult things (like move states to new jobs in gang-infested areas or attempt half-marathons after two years of virtual inactivity) because I'm convinced that I'm not really living if I'm not doing something difficult? Or, did I come up with this theory exactly because this was already a part of my personality?

Chicken. Egg.

John Hope Franklin

I heard that John Hope Franklin passed away. He was 94 years old.

John Hope wrote the book, no kidding, on African American history. Although he ended his academic days as a professor at Dook, he was a very incredible man. "Righteous" is a good word to describe him. I was privileged enough to work a couple of shows that UNC-TV did about him, Biographical Conversations With... John Hope Franklin and an episode of North Carolina Bookwatch. I know that he loved to grow orchids, and at the time of the interview he had plants older than I was. For all I know, they are still older than I am.

I was thinking about him today. I could say that that's eerie, but it's just that I was showing my students a film about the Jim Crow South (we're getting ready to read Black Boy), and I always think of him when I see anything relating to African American scholarship. Did I mention that he wrote the book? (It's called From Slavery to Freedom, by the way.) I did, however, think in particular that he must be getting pretty old by now.

Rest in peace, John Hope Franklin. You are a true inspiration and role model.

I'm Back

Back I'm Santa Cruz, that is. Idiot that I am, I left one class' ungraded papers in Los Gatos yesterday. So I'm meeting Baby Mama's Daddy in SC to pick them up. On the plus side, with my phone, I'm getting all my blogging and facebooking taken care of.

Now, Baby Mama's Daddy (not to be confused with Baby Daddy) always tells me that I spend too much time grading. He's one of those old teachers who tells me what I should and shouldn't be doing. And then when he's done laughing at me (it's always with a smile on his face), he hands me some curriculum that he's developed over the years. He just gave me a bunch of stuff about Mississippi Burning for my sophomores who are getting ready to read Black Boy. Priceless.

As for my students, I helped a student change his grade tom an F (he was at a 58%) to B- today. We went over the A Raisin in the Sun test he failed, we watched key scenes in the movie, and we discussed major plot points. His new grade might not the truest assessment of what he learned, but the smile on his face was priceless. I'm not sure he's gotten anything as high as a B since elementary school--if even then. If nothing breeds success like success, them I might get some higher order thinking out of him by the end of the year. Oh, and the B, it took some time and effort on his end. I didn't just hand it to him. And now I have him hooked on being a good student.

I Hate My Town

This could as easily be titled "I Miss Portland". I know, more whining from the Queen of the Whine. Is it any wonder I love cheese?

Anyhow, I am sitting in a coffee shop in Santa Cruz that I picked randomly off the Web. It could almost me Portland in here. The space is open and bright, with exposed beams, local art on the wall, and the sort of hanging chalkboard menus that are typical of McMenamins. They have self-serve drip decaf (which trumps even P-town), and the best sandwich I have had the pleasure of buying in quite some time. You can't get a good sandwich in my flour-tortilla town to save your life.

The sandwich is a simple veggie sandwich, if you can call toasted (yes, toasted!) sourdough with mayo, mustard, and hummus, romaine lettuce, red onion, tomato, avacado, cucumber, and Swiss and cheddar cheese "simple". The only thing that could improve this sandwich would be some melty--although then it would get greasy and lose that fresh, hippie, earth-lover, naturalist vibe. So maybe, I'd use a cheese spread instead--I could see this as a pimento cheese type thing. But I'm merely suggesting a little gilding on the lily here.

More about running when I'm not abusing my iPhone.