It is Autumn and with the lower sun and the less foliage on the trees it seems that there is more shadows to look at than summertime.
I took these with my Nikon AW110 point and shoot. It has in-camera filters. I use the “Toy Camera” setting sometimes. So I can proudly say that these are SOOC, right? With digital photography especially I do not really know what that means?
A lot of trees have lost their leaves and a lot still have their leaves on in like a last second burst of glory. I found this tree just south of downtown earlier this week. I loved the view underneat the leaves with the sun shining through.
The same tree a few minutes later across the street and it has a decided more reddish appearance. What’s the deal!!??
We fell back yesterday, which is fine for a Sunday. Today was a long day at work and when I left it was dark and rainy. It makes me want to hibernate until Spring. So now I will go to work in the dark and leave.
I’ll have to go back to running in the dark for my Wednesday night runs.
And I doubt that I’ll go run the night trail runs on Turkey Mountain any longer. I feel too much. When I fell i didn’t just stumble and fall I mean I pancaked. I probably set off seisometers.
Speaking of seisometers. We had an earthquake here in Oklahoma. It was very near Cushing which is a big oil hub in North America. It is where the international benchmark “West Texas Intermediate” is set. Not a good place for an earthquake.
Many people in Oklahoma, whether in the industry or not, are not happy with our Governor, (who once called earthquakes “Freedom Shakes”) and her merry band of idiots.
Oh well,
Sunday morning, TATUR (“Tulsa Area Trail and Ultra Runners”) held their “Turkey N Taturs” races,10K, 25K, and 50K all on Turkey Mountain. I ran the 10K which for this crowd is like a fun run.
The start was cool, sunny, and dry, perfect for running.
The course was a good mixture of flat and level, hills, rocks, and roots. It had a great rhythm to it. Being Sunday morning there were not too many other people out on the mountain.
I ran about half the race by myself and the last half with a friend who had about the same pace as I did. Running with somebody makes the race a lot easier. I tend to go faster when I’m with somebody.
One of the great things about trail races is the aid stations. I had a shot of some sort of liquor at this one. I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not. It kind of stuck with me for a while.
As you can see the course wound all over the mountain. The 25K and 50K guys looped over the east side to get their distances in. The 50K was two laps of the 25K route.
And a good time was had by all. Last I checked I finished dead last out of 32 men who had finished by then. But hey, I beat everybody who slept in that day right?
A big thank you to fine folks at TATUR and the many volunteers that it takes to put on an event like this and to my fellow racers.
November 1st I got a kitchen pass from Heather and headed out to Living Arts in the Brady District to check out their Day of the Dead celebration. I first went two years ago and I thought it was wonderful. Dia De Muertos (Dia De Los Muertos is a back translation from English I read) is a day where people in Mexico honor and remember their relatives and close friends who have died.
Often the dead are remembered via Ofrendas (Offerings) which are altars built to honor the dead person. It may have photographs of the deceased or possessions and often contain favorite foods or beverages and if it is a child, a toy. Living Arts in their “Altared Spaces” Exhbit displayed Ofrendas made by people for their loved ones. In fact they solicit the public to put up Ofrendas.
Some were for people who had a long life and many children and grand children.
And others were for people who passed away way too young.
They were all works of art.
The Ofrenda above is for those people who died while trying to cross the border.
I love the concept of honoring lost ones with an Ofrenda.
Living Arts also had murals painted just for the event. I love them for their humorous macabre riff.
Dancing skeletons
Here is one in honor of dogs. Our dogs just don’t live long enough if you ask me.
The murals are beautiful. Even the ones with gas meters in front of them.
There was dance also. Ballet Folklorico Sol Azteca of Tulsa put on a great performance of folk dances.
The costumes were colorful
And the dancers were lively
It was beautiful and I had a front row seat for some reason.
aa
And there was all sorts of other things going on. Food vendors, crafts, other performers. You can bet that I’ll be back next year!
I have been after a geocache named “That’s Just Rid(dle)iculous!!!” by a geocacher named M5. (Geocachers have names, I’m known as YogiABB.) Its puzzle cache which means one has to solve a puzzle to find the cache.
This puzzle involves arithmetic and some baffling wordage about the three kids and the sum of their ages, and the product of the their ages, and one’s a muggle and oh my. I don’t know what is going on.
Ithought I had it so I went out the area and bushwhacked to what i thought was ground zero and looked here and there and up there and down here and around and around. so I didn’t find it.
aa
I didn’t find the cache but I had a pleasant hour in the woods, Plus One for ME! And found a new secret trail!! Score One More for Me.!! It is not very long but it is sweet.
So I’ll take that.
Evenings on the Arkansas River this time of year are very peaceful. The weather is mild and pleasant and there are lots of people out strolling with the kids, bike riding, running, and skateboarding. Its the place to be.
I cheated on this and used a texture backed off about 75%.
Saturday I made my last long run before the Tulsa Run 15K coming up this next weekend. My training is not going like I thought it would.
Basically I have been running only one day a week because i have a sore back every morning. Weekday mornings is generally the balance of my training where I do my resistance traiining (essential to successful running) and my shorter runs.
My back is killing me in the morning in one particular spot about midway down my left side. And it disappears about 20 minutes after I wake up in the morning. No, the bed is not uncomfortable but the pain is not quite excruciating in the morning.
aa
So I get up and make coffee and read the paper and check up on what is going on online.
So anyway, the Tulsa Run is 15K and I’ve only trained about 11. Things will be okay though. I know how to stretch things out. I first ran the Tulsa Run in 1994 and ran it every year through 2014. Last year I injured a knee and so I walked the 5K but I’m running the 15K again. It will be my 22nd time.
How about you? I bet you know how to stretch things when you have to.
aa
On my weekend geocaching/camping trip last Sunday to Oklahoma’s beautiful Osage Hills State Park, I got up early Sunday morning, struck camp and went down to Sand Creek and took a few pics. Fall is not very advanced here but that didn’t matter. The light Sunday morning was magical so I walked and hopped the rocks along the rapids of the creek taking pictures. With this one I was going to crop the the shadow selfie out but what the heck. I’ll leave it in.
Lookout Lake at Osage Hills State Park. The weather was windy and very warm but we still had big fluffy clouds and blue sky.