December 21 The Road to Spring

Greetings! It’s December 21, 2017. Some celebrate this as the first day of winter. Others bemoan it as being the day with the fewest hours of daylight. I like to think of the 21^st as the day that begins the brief March to Spring. I first started running in 1996 to lose weight. The effort succeeded. One lingering side effect has been I find myself cold all the time. I wear long sleeve shirts all year around and generally only wear shorts to exercise. It’s that bad.

Raised in the American South, I never had much exposure to real cold anyway. Following the weight loss my distaste for the cold increased. In the last year, I’ve found ways to embrace the cold. The correct mindset is as important as the right clothes. Shannan taught me the art of layers. All that said, I’m ready for the coming winter and plan not to complain or lament a single time about being cold, no matter what.

Enjoy the Seasons. Run.

Tom

2017 Trails and Paths

Greetings! The end of the year is rapidly approaching. Once again, I’m thinking of reworking the direction and content this blog. I’ve had a similar notion on many occasions in the past. Only time will tell what will really happen. Other than that, I’ve been reflecting on the fabulous past eleven months and change. For sure, some of those thoughts will find their way to this site in the coming weeks, along with plans and goals for the new year.

2017 proved to be a great year for trail running. I posted on more than one occasion about discovering path extensions, as well and new trails. I appreciate the trails one and all. Really, I do. When I first started running the best and most available options were school tracks and sidewalks. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with either one of those options. Since the 1980s I have run thousands of miles on both and am grateful for the opportunities.

Run where you can. Just run!

Tom

Howard Finster Artist n Residence

Greetings! Spiritual, sacred and scary. Shannan and I went to Pennville, GA to visit Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden. We had been to the home and workshop of Georgia’s beloved Folk Art Evangelist previously. This weekend proved different as we left heavy snow on the ground in the Metropolitan Atlanta area to stay in the Finister cottage across the street from the Garden. A very interesting amenity of renting the cottage comes in the 24 access to Paradise Garden.  We took full advantage and toured the property over and over in the light of day, dark of night and the amber glow of early morning’s dawn. 

Over a twenty-six-year period Finster repurposed three acres of swamp land and crowded it with many of his nearly 47,000 mixed media works of art. The landscape with its varying structures and fixtures made it hard to navigate, even for a very short run. This was complicated even more by icy conditions, wooden bridges and mosaic sidewalks were particularly slippery. So, I did not engage in a full on run through the property. I used the opportunity to the best of my ability to appreciate the influence and inspiration of the place, the man and his message.

Create Shamelessly. Run.

Tom