Sat 01 Aug 26: Another Clencher Hill lap... and perhaps a new lunch spot...? The course takes a roughly 8-shaped path thru this Heights neighborhood -- and as always, try not to be a nuisance whilst getting the most challenging steps yet. Today was feeling the knee more, so decided to dial it back -- prudent and worked countless times. There's something immediately gratifying about taking this f***ing hill by the nads and charging up it... but when the pain is more than enough to warn of avoiding such haste... something equally gratifying about settling, like on your back from height onto a few stories of down-filled pillows -- into a slower rhythm. On the Hill, to the right, verdant extinct volcanic cliffs rising at 35º, topped with a hat of cloud. Pretty sure it can't be 1500 - 2000 ft less air column by itself... but the sky looks bluer, clearer up here than anywhere down on the isthmus. To my left, the center of the roughly-circular parkway loop, and houses with perfectly-groomed yet lush and interesting yards, stepped as the Hill rises around them. Trees sizzle above me, as today's windy; some puffs of breeze are hot and laden with moisture, some drier and cooler. My knees are talking somewhat, so slow a few steps to diagnose -- ah, just 'kneed' a few knee circles, hear the 'klok', then lift into the hill to resume. Passing up top on the flat and down Dipped Loop again... found where the models for these neighborhoodhouses live. Have a weird sense about home models as your neighbor -- and there were defo people and their sh*t inhabiting the house next door -- identical to the model but lacking the wrought-iron fence stretching clear to the gutter, blocking the sidewalk. I don't care for homes furnished completely but have no one living in them -- guess it's better than building a house for someone who's in a foreign country and only needs it a few months of the year... vulnerable to the night -- ever more resourceful than ever, these squatters and homeless. Guess the smell'd give 'em away... but who cares when the other shoe's only here once a year for a few weeks? Popped back onto the main drag, and followed behind an elderly woman about 50m, who kept looking back at me then walking on. Stopped to look at my calendar on purpose, letting her yard me a few dozen meters more, then back to steps. My temple ring of that one lamp post -- kind of a routine now, a cheerful reminder to stay grateful... Turned down the far side S-road -- need to make this a bit more varied next wk, I think. Used a different step to try to limit stress on the sore knee... but found an easy solution surprised I hadn't thought of before: just zigzag down. Not every few steps, but pick a spot on the opposite edge of the sidewalk 5m away, and angle down towards it: the change in angle is just enough to relieve the worst of the stress, and also serves to slow your pace down a bit, depending on how acute the zig-zags are. Felt well enough by the start of the Doggo Trail, to forget I had a blown-out knee... I just love staring down the bore of this mostly-straight, asphalt-paved trail -- and not a single car will drive on it, only bikes and footwear. The view reminds me of walking in Japan, omg so many lifetimes ago, as an 11-yo. At that age, all neighborhoods seem like a world to explore -- only sharply barking neighbors scolding you if you break the rules (which were legion there, esp for young kids). But every street in my fave aunt's neighborhood were more familiarly-homey, and groomed to the cm... a stark contrast to the red-dirt-dominated chaos of the local environs I'd grown up in. You get used to what you get used to... so that was Home, and wasn't at all scary or anything -- just was what it was. But going to Japan, and seeing the care going into even the way cinder blocks are strictly plumb and cars never being filthy for long... that was a glimpse into another world, another way. So that this place was anywhere near as orderly and neat as those nearly-50-yo memories... had a physical effect on me. At the aforementioned slower pace, seems like you're here to notice so many more things imperceptible at a respectable running pace, and defo not at vehicle speeds. Each step seems to bring your eye to multiple vantages of a single interesting thing at a time, as if your brain's taking a burst shot at it, to consider it properly in 3D. A warped board between the macadam and the crushed rock 'shoulder' of the trail. The only access to the stream passing beneath this area, in two fenced-off but vocal civil engineering enclosures, the sound of burbling water such a balm, along with chilled air pouring out of it. The meandering curve of the trail, whose level is slightly rising the whole way, but never changing up or down itself, completely flat. The 'S' turn at the end, just curved enough to need poke your head around, to see if I need give way to a runner (know how I felt running the 2-mi course against stopwatch 5y ago -- don't have time to talk, and get the f*** out of the way ). Wish the whole walk could be an hour of this place, just meandering in elevation. It seriously drains the stress up the Hill and pains coming down S-road, right out of me. Which is why I want to continue this walk thru North Doggo trail across the HS-football-stadium-sized golf grass, into Iao Valley. But driving it the other day... are 0 shoulders to walk on the dip going into the Valley, and is like that nearly the whole couple miles in. But another bit of road I'd liked when used to mtn-bike this way... is Alu Road: a fearsome 30º+ 100m, also with no shoulder. But leveling at the top, liked riding this area as a reward; were mostly older Japanese families here back then, so likewise groomed and neat and orderly. Not sure who the hell lives there now, installing f***ing Buddha statues and pink flamingoes and 8' cinder walls up now... but last passing thru in the 5G... still seems mostly old-school Local. But the work to get there's brutal, as well as dangerous with traffic up or down. We'll see -- maybe worth considering 6 mos from now, when Clencher Hill's more like Warmup Hill
Mon 03 Aug 26: Didn't post a Warsh Day post yesterday... one, it was raining so little to none of that save washing and drying... two, PC borked access for hours into the night -- so will just novelise both days Sun 02 Aug: Windy, and gusty at that. Not the best time to wash, but had to catch up to some of this film that inevitably degrades the ceramic coat, plus adheres due to tiny particles of rust basically, heating up and adhering to the ceramic carrier. The result normally, is a roof and bonnet whose surface has tactile grit in it... which is difficult if not impossible to remove w/o a full clay bar treatment -- yeah good luck with that in the dusty-arse isthmus. Had I a garage, wouldn't be notable at all... but have to park outside with the rest of creation, limiting joy to practical and high-reward effort... Had a go at Clencher Hill after that truncated Warsh Day, as only parts of the car got wax before passing rain made it impractical (wanna ruin any conventional, non-rinse-based paint protectant? Do it when the car is spotted with moisture). Makes the tiny HK-made funnel fan I have crucial for blowing any water out of crevices. Knee were just beginning not to bounce back, so have reached the limits of the injury. So decided to keep the time the same, but remove the climbing -- turned immediately down Doggo Trail and went end-to-end twice -- which resulted in almost exactly 60 mins. Luckily decided to take the bumbershoot, because the sun was blazing down by the time I got up there, 10am-ish. Why don't more people walk with 'brellers? Macho-moronics? Sooo much better than last week, powering up Clencher with a bare head and shoulders, shaking the sweat out of my eyes. Taking shade with you will become the norm (also, 'shoot in hand, makes encountering any stray animals on the road -- raies risk here in defo not zero -- a bit less stressful). Knee felt better, so will keep this as the norm until it becomes stronger. If it doesn't... that's a concern. But for now ready to keep losing weight and developing an arse --- Mon 03 Aug: Ach, much wetter today... and as soon as rolled into the Parkway neighborhood, began to hear the slosh, pulled up from the macadam by my tires. Parked and got the 'shoot out, which I'd just treated with a new product last night -- let's see how it does... Gustiness were still around, except pushing rain around now... which sort of negates half the use of an umbrella. But were surprisingly not that soaked by the end of the lap, which I'd shortened as my flip-flops were quacking again. Better to get in half the hour, than nothing at all... rather self-conscious about the noise. Wonder if it'd quiet down, if I slit the top of the things right were my feet make the sound, so they didn't grab skin as much -- source of the quack is the foam rubber grabbing, then releasing dozens of times per second, due to reduced friction and no lubrication like an oil would provide (dangerously). Despite being half the duration, was a more interesting time to be out -- got to the car park about 45 mins earlier than last week, which may slow down and get later, once the days become shorter again. Got some stuff in the mail to make my waist pack a bit less ratchet (had to secure tail with two binder clips) -- elastic fabric bands made for the width of the straps. Worked a treat -- now can don and remove w\o needing to unf**k it each time. Same reason they were invented, to keep the red mist for infantry and climbers to a minimum Takes me at my lesser, let-knee-recover walking pace, 30 mins for one full lap, main and northern legs of Doggo. Had a runner bolt past me at start of first southbound sortie, then disappear around the curves that make this trail really nice to walk down (blocks some of the wind and rain, too). About halfway down, see her bound past me going northbound. Could here vocalisations of exhaustion and pushing thru such, stopwatch being their standard... and said in my head 'Get it, get it!' as had been in that headspace, many, many times. Running is hard at the deep end -- and I wasn't even much of a runner. Got to the end and about quarter way north, and saw her again, mostly same-pace, zooming past -- even more vocalisations but not reflected in her gait -- hang in there. And sure enough 3/4 way up Doggo Main, heard her steps punctuated by little vocal huffs each step, so moved full-right to give her the straightest shot at the finish line, which she sprinted out. Good for you! One thing noticed whilst passing: her gait was super-disciplined, and classic marathon-runner landing on balls of feet only. Oncoming, raised knees high but not excessively so, as to kick out just enough for the transverse arch to contact the ground. 100-Up running, perfected -- just had never seen it in person before, other than myself 6y ago (rather badly, being a lifelong heel striker). Pretty Husky -- love seeing a loved doggo. Had a bloodshot L eye tho -- poor girl. Must be hot here for her, hope she gets lots of A/C at home... Knee were feeling better, but saw a squall coming and decided to halve the northern leg and head back. And good timing too -- as wasn't raining most of the way down off the Heights. They tend to walk about 10 mph into the mtns... but remember it's gusting to nearly 30 today plus earlier -- was getting b'fast by 0745 -- not far from my normal time for months, turning into a forced-sedentary fat-arse Rain's pretty scary around here, given so many transplants don't know how to walk or drive in it Had a pari of kids walk into 30 mph traffic, get the horns, then wonder 'oh, maybe I chose wrong! Let's sprint across 4 lanes of packed traffic! In the rain!' and nearly get plowed by a Tacoma -- lifted semi-dozers which aren't famous for stopping distance in the wet Skated that lesson, sweetie... but wouldn't be surprised they'd truly believed they had no part whatsoever in the chaos Is almost nice to see chemistry at work on the paint, driving in the rain, tho -- rainwater has nearly no dissolved minerals in it, so when it rains then dries, no aggravatingly-difficult-to-remove water spot. 5G in the driveway looks as if just waxed on the roof. Will coat with dust and get ugly again... but at least this week, only some May (Aug?) showers needed to fix it. Even here (water's quite soft), doing same with a hose may require pro help to fix --- * even the vaunted Griot's 3-in-1 became useless with the merest drops (not to mention, passing rain means drops + searing sun @8am -- and Griot's is comincally-bad at being applied on anything near a warm surface). So depended on still-the-GOAT Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions -- oh yeah, this stuff doesn't last as long as Greet's... but it also doesn't flake into sticky mush on your microfibre with one drop of water, and can be applied on a hot surface.
Tue 04 Aug 26: Welp hasn't cooled down yet But at least the wind's died back down -- almost to nothing this AM... Got to the car park and warmed up; hmm, knee's still a bit stiff. Circles and lunges and a few kicks -- ah, better. Something in there's broken loose with climbing Clencher, needs time to sort itself. Aggravating... but another flat Doggo sortie, looks like. Carrying the 'breller was a good call; had forgotten with the clear and cool air and dashed back to get it. Just in the time I'd parked to walking after warmup, was already a darkening grey pile of cumulus turning to stratus, squeezed on the mtn and ready to dump -- could feel the sloppy, saturated air on my face. Turn to head down North Doggo... eh, let's go for it, hopefully won't pop by the time I'm out of the rain line... Success -- cross the parkway and onto Main Doggo. A few actual doggos to meet heading south, w/ less than courteous owners who refuse to answer 'Good Morning'. Note to self Their pups were rather obviously, better raised than they were Met Dave, the Kai-the-Husky's human. Nice to know there are richer people here who've not forgotten basic social contract, salt of the earth-ers. Maybe a dying breed in this post-truth Now. Spent a few mins light and airy convo with them, what a pretty pup -- but could see the lull was boring Kai, so let them go... Another notable thing about Dave, whom I've just asked their name today: when encountering them yesterday, he'd used some Hawaiian Local terms talking with me... which means he were extending his hand, in proactive pleasantry. Don't mind extending mine to shake in teh middle, as living on mainland so long that's expected from this face circles face with finger, esp on the autism spectrum as well. So to have someone do that for me, in my own backyard... is getting rarer. Nearly caught me off-guard. Wonder if he's Canadian Americans (well let's see: have had mailing addresses and/or workmates 5yrs+ from East Coast, South, Deep South, MN & WS, Southwest, CA, PNW... that enough of America for you?) have not comported themselves nearly as well, thru 3 generations, ime Knee were feeling pretty good by the southern tip of Doggo Main, which is a very-slight decline. So now to see if the same pace slightly uphill, were deleterious to progress in the joint. Looking north now... grey were darker near the mtn, eech... but breaking up a bit -- bodes well for not being soaked on the way home. A couple of other walkers and pups, all which replied properly (well, rather expected it from those older than I -- who probably also lamented the end of their gen's social contract long ago -- and got smiles too, even not knowing me from Adam). Takes roughly 16 - 17 mins to walk the entire length of Doggo Trail, so hoped the micro-climate in this area would stay put. Ah, made it And man did that egg white wrap taste good. Not as good as when days powering up Clencher... but gotta be smarter than your glands
Thu 06 Aug 26: Missed the post yesterday; pretty busy morning. Both clients had sessions of note, which I'll summarise to most of your delight 1st Client C1, had a classic bartender's complaint, neck and shoulder referring w\ zapping pain. Found adhesion under the inner border of the scapula, to a nerve called dorsal scapular. This is pretty common as with jobs that require constant reaching forward over a barrier that stops the trunk (barkeeps, landscapers, arborist, bakers, etc.), stretches the muscles surrounding this crucial nerve -- which not surprisingly to me, also supplies them with motor impulse. Then combine with the leaned-forward posture which recruits these same muscles to become supplemental scaffolding for the 8-lb head almost a full head's length off the axis of the spine... and you have a recipe for a specific kind of misery in the arm and shoulder. Also found adhesion in other nerves nasty to find adhered, the long thoracic and phrenic nerves, both which were locally stuck to neck-to-rib muscles called scalenes, which they pass beside and between. LT provides motor signal for the serratus anterior muscle, which allows the scapula to move forward around the ribcage when reaching forward. If this nerve is adhered and being pulled on, that will cause the serr ant group to stay contracted, which can cause trigger points to form -- which C1 certainly did. Phrenic is the nastier of the two, since it on only provides diaphragm motor signal, but also sensory signal from structures deep to lungs and heart. So adhesion to that nerve, can fool the brain into thinking there are problems with those structures, and will trim motor signal and influence glandular reaction to something that isn't there. Even if not taking that route... the noise on the nerve from adhesive irritation, can crowd out actual signals that matter. Broke both free using nerve-to-tissue adhesion tqs... and got a 'wow' Didn't know this until this particular client... but apparently one of the symptoms to determine if the work was sufficient for full phrenic release, is posture -- often more of an improvement than working the usual oblique and ab block TrP suspects (which could be caused by it in the first place). LT release is easy -- if shoulders naturally fall further back to the body's sagittal plane or even beyond it, you have LT release (if started anterior to sagittal plane esp). Happy client, and even got it done before the hour was up Feel past 10y in this gig... progressing in the work increasingly means discovering and finding solutions for, closer and closer problems to the original source of often a dozen or more compensations and satellite issues stemming from it. Starts with fixing what you find... but of immeasurably more value to your client, is an hour's work, that yields months, years, or permanent relief from sleep-depriving pain and debility --- Today -- forecast gloomy; said Wailuku would be scattered-socked-in, if not already steadily raining. Given my 'psychs' of late, decided to see for myself -- and sure enough, were some threats but where I wanted to be for an hour, looked much better than the forecast Decided on the original Clencher Lap today -- as knee felt about 85% (vs. 65 yesterday). Would take it nice and slow, listening intently for the signs... Ah, back on Clencher -- what used to be misery for a few weeks scaling this f***ing hill, still hurts on warmup distance but felt more 'right' than another flat on Doggo (rarely feel the juices-are-flowing feeling in whole body including knee, doing recovery laps, even if I were to extend it as long as Clencher ones). By the time I were atop the thing (with a pass by Dave and Kai the Husky and a crack from me about 'loving the direction they're going', downhill )... blazing sun. I'll take it -- have been up this hill (much later, caveat) and expressed much less responsible inner talk Down Dip Loop (tried yesterday to make a Clencher climb that intersected Doggo Main roughly halfway down, just to keep my newly-regained arse from atrophying into the ether again... which meant a far, far more steep descent -- think 200 vertical feet, in 500 horizontal. I'm not kidding )... and back up again to the parkway. Buddhist-priest-rang my strangely-resonant lamp post and disappeared down the Far Side S-road, down the the south end of Doggo... And guess who appeared as I rounded the corner, but Dave and Kai (and their female human, whose name I didn't catch -- next time). Helloes and see-yas, and back north... Man I looove this trail going either way. North is slightly uphill... but there's a calm to it impossible, even elsewhere in this rather posh neighborhood. Plenty of width for e-bikers, walkers, doggo-sorties, and runners to all share their own lane. Walking down S-road (about 20%), rotated R leg inward to walk on blade of foot a bit, to de-stress the medial 'niscus -- which was lusciously normal-feeling. So feeling the same slight irritation walking aligned on the (almost-) flat, rotated at interval to nice results. Takes 20 mins to walk at my rather military pace to the north end crossing Clencher... and got there with far less increase in irritation than prior to the all-stop order the knee gave me last week. Maybe this'll work Had 15 more mins on the stopwatch, so took my north-neighborhood dive back to the car park. Mindful of not being a bother, kicked some stones pro l ly kids had scattered w\ e-bikes on the driveway I enter from Doggo, back into the dirt, and stayed quiet. Saw some residents, and greeted and waved as expected. Were the situation reversed, I'd expect at least that back myself... anti-hypocrisy is a tonic In that same vein.... if a strange old dude in flip-flops were bebopping thru my neighborhood regular, walking or not... would be suspicious if they constantly peered into windows... so found myself studying the sky a lot, exiting that neighborhood. And a beautiful row of mare's tails (cirrus) clouds bracketed a much-lower grey cumulus hovering around their mtn top height, making it look as though were painted by hand. And that gorgeous, clear sky-blue I've only seen at height from my downhill-bicycle-tour days... the perfect bkgd. Had to trudge past the car park a few dozen meters, as were a bit early... but got to the 5G and luxuriated in my newly-purchased big sweat-mop towel, so the seat cover doesn't get marinated in old-dude-coolant Much easier to pull and wash a towel than a car seat cover, and for $8 for a near-bath-sheet size on sale, doesn't get much more no-brainer than that Did bump a curb about 10mph exiting my salad place tho... which doesn't seem to've ruined alignment so far. But much more than that, will have to spend the couple hundred bucks to align all 4 whls -- that and rotating tires are due anyway. No sense rotating tires if your rear suspension's wonked
Fri 07 Aug 26: Phew -- hot and humid again. Drove to the car park seeing a nice pillow of shading cloud right over where I walk, ETA 10 mins... and getting the waist pack on, still largely there. Did stretches (esp psoas) and got to work... Knee is feeling that raw thing again deep in the joint, so today's Clencher full sortie will be followed by a rest version. But found turning the hip joint inward whilst scaling the big hill, does two things: 1) stretch the glutes worked hard yesterday, and 2) unloads the medial 'niscus. So getting to the top were a lot more comfy... even if my time in shade had run out. No matter -- the Dip Loop were right there, and found shelter in the shadows of houses to disappear in 30 mins. Rang my bell-like lamp post and reminded myself of gratitude... then dipped down S-road to the south end of Doggo Main. Sun still out, can't wait for my shaded ball cap to arrive in the mail, hopefully by Mon. Not much to note other than what's been multiple times, this trek north on my fave stretch of this walk. Prefer it when windier vs. muggy tbh. Doesn't change the stately feel of it, the kind and courteous walkers and runners (and doggos) who use it with me, nor the many pleasant things to see. Living where I live, it's dry and dead and red... with surly neighbors who'll sooner blast past you to avoiding yielding by law, than even acknowledge your presence. So perhaps going a large distance out-of-way to come here to put a workout-ugly face on (well, uglier than usual ), is sort of a vote to go where similarly decent people seem to be, feeling fine to conform to social contract the majority where I live and buy food and sundries, find more effort to do than lowest-effort, f***ing garbage people crap. Glad to be doing it with 64 mpg, as I'll be doing this as long as possible No one gives two sh*ts about your gaslit plume of bullsh*t, esp these days -- it's actions what speak to what you're made of, and what you value. Which is how I were raised -- and these newer generations thinking there's some other way to live with each other, that doesn't at least pay homage to past gen's efforts to improve on this... is why I'm not spending equal time for much less distance to travel a day, on my own streets. Need as much reinforcement there's somewhere my own values are actualised, and not just theory expoused at AA meetings half these arrogants will hear again, in group. And whilst been so rare daily for me, needing myself learn to embrace it... at least am on the path there. Why do people need 20y of being an arseblossom, in order to arrive where I've been from childhood? (well, social-contract-wise, anyway -- not an angel, just don't start shite if can help it). It's just answering 'Good morning', with 'good morning'. I'm not a f***ing solicitor, sweating my clothes sopping wet in the 8am sun, people. Never have a problem with older folks on this walk, none which know me from Adam. It's the Zoomers who feel they're above this -- welp, see where that gets ya, as am gonna be here tmw To put credit where it's due... there are young'uns who've warmed to me -- and they get respect in return. Again I'm the interloper in their neighborhood... so have to expect some amt of scrutiny / ps & qs. But after weeks of passing each other, still mute (not including if they're on phone, or into a hard workout -- easy to clock, no hards from me)... then know to ignore these kids. Zoomies in this part of town tho... unless you're a CEO of your own tech company or work as an aid to a law firm or an RN... not gonna be able to afford to buy here... so those 20 - 30-somethings who are here... will be either family or spouses -- either way not paying rent... so not deserving of pleasantries after acting like a petulant kid Cut today's walk short to 45, as knee were getting that muted-by-endorphins-but-still-raw feeling, familiar from Sep - Jan's excruciating self-rehab. Which saves the far-north neighborhood I normally walk thru of my presence (and tensing to it -- social contract goes both ways, esp if there's options not to go thru there). Occasional rather than daily's always better, when your path traipses thru an upper-class, $1.2 - $1.7M neighborhood Two bodywork things: the psoas stretch via held lunge, really helped the former pain I were feeling from the knee's referral upward into the hip... and need at least 16oz of water (in my case diluted green tea) before the walk, to not feel even more drama from the knee. Didn't think that little amt would make such a difference... but doing this everyday now, sort of moved my goalposts for what exertion is. So the workout makes even more obvious to the helm, the importance of even more hydration than previously. Curious to see what effect this makes when I get my shade ballcap in the mail... but given the humidity thru summers, guessing won't be much
