The hum of hybrid bike tires

Saturday was a busy day, with no workouts at all. We started in Inglewood, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Calgary. They were were having a sunfest street fair, and by golly they had the sun for it. It was clear, cloudless, relentlessly sunny, and high 20's. Perfect weather in other words. We got there a bit early, knowing the parking situation would get out of hand later in the day.

The main attraction I wanted to see was a 70-some year old master knife maker from Japan doing his thing, along with a few of his students/fellow workers. He does not look 70, I'd have picked him for mid-50's and certainly no older than 60. They had a charcoal forge set up and started showing what they do. I've seen this sort of thing before, but it was interesting to watch them gradually creating a small kitchen knife. All this was in front of Knifewear. If there is such a thing as kitchen knife porn, these guys are the main supplier for Calgary.

We strolled the rest of the fair, with lots to see.

Chatted with my buddy Lori G. Watched the buskers. Enjoyed the small show and shine. Browsed a few booths. On the way back we succumbed to temptation. Our kitchen knives date back to about the time we moved into the house, and were an inexpensive set. They've been sharpened a bunch of times but are beginning to show their age. We've been talking about getting some nice knives for a while.

It's hard getting good pictures. These aren't glossy shiny like polished stainless, but even so they still catch light reflections. By shop standards, these are mid range knives, and near the bottom end for hand made knives. They didn't have the ones I really like, but I'm not, I'm really not going to drop $1600 on a kitchen knife. Even if it is a work of art. There were others that we were initially attracted to, and really, seriously, all of them are actual works of art, but it came down to balance and hand feel. Can't wait to cut something up.

There is a small park that has some sculpture on display. I quite liked this one, but I'm not sure why.

There was enough time to get home and hydrate. I stretched a bit. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with some friends. So nice and relaxing. The pulled pork and potato salad were awesome! We ate on their front porch with a light breeze, in the shade, with no bugs. It was wonderful to sit and chat.

The astonishing part of the afternoon was a photo of me, posted mainly to please my mom, not that any of you readers actually want to see it. There's a bit of a story.

Several photos were taken of me and much to my surprise one turned out really well. Photos and me don't normally go together. It will seem strange to many of my readers, but there are actually very, very few photos of me as a small child. Probably fewer than a dozen of me younger than grade 5. There was a house fire. Even afterward there aren't many photos. Cameras were rare and expensive, and that film thing was tricky. Who would waste expensive film taking pictures of a gawky kid?

Even when point and shoots became cheap and popular, we would often forget ours. Getting the film developed was always a surprise. Or I'd hide from the camera. And for some reason, Linda's photos are often a bit blurry. Even if the photo itself was ok, I usually didn't like how it looked. As a result there are very few photos of me that I actually like, and this is one of them.

Nobody looking at this would ever know I have a small child on my lap.

Sunday I slept in, then went for a long easy run in the heat of the day. Heat for Calgary. I was hoping to beat the dog walkers and mostly managed that. I've never seen so many bikes though, it seemed like one was whizzing past every few minutes. There were several other runners out as well, proving I'd picked the perfect time to start.

I ended up running 90 minutes down into Fish Creek out and back, trying to stay relaxed and enjoy the heat. My shoulders felt a little stiff, but my breathing and legs were good. By the hour mark my breathing was a little harder and my running was a bit clunkier, but still moving along. My knees were getting tired, but like the other day, no owies or niggles or sore spots. I made it back to about 500 m from home when 90 minutes came up.

The last 30 minutes I was beginning to feel the heat. Normally it's like the heat sweeps up from my chest and neck, into my face, then it's like I'm running into a wall. Today I concentrated on keeping my breathing deep and even, and my feet turning over quickly. Much of Fish Creek was in the shade, but the last 20 minutes are up a hill out in the sun. Sweat was pouring off my face, but it never felt like a wall forcing me to stop. I walked it in to cool down a bit, and did some stretching. I'd drunk an entire water bottle with Nuun in it during the run, finishing the last bit as I was coming up the driveway. Ate, stretched for a long time down in the cool of the basement, then had a long cool shower.

I felt great afterward! It used to be that heat would knacker me, and even walking in temperatures like this would leave me headachy and exhausted. To run for 90 minutes steady in this heat, even if it is an easy pace for me, makes me feel good. I can't help but think that the more I do this, the easier it will be to run off the bike in the heat. I only wish I could get on my bike and go for a long ride.

There are two wine kits now racked and stabilized. I'll probably bottle them Labour Day weekend. They smell great now, and the little slurp of wine I got from the siphon is very promising.