Race report and projects

[Saturday June 25th: ? ; Monday June 27: 3.25; Wednesday June 29: 3.25; Saturday July 2: 4 miles; Monday July 4: Peachtree 10k]

Sunday morning we drove to Meridian to drop off the dog then on to Atlanta. We stayed Sunday pm in a hotel near the Centennial Park, where that night they just happened to have the annual biggest-fireworks-in-the-southeast. But we survived that and got up early to get some breakfast and get to the Metra train for the ride to the start of the Peachtree Road Race 10k.

Our first choice for 6 AM breakfast was waffle house which we had seen the night before, just a block from the hotel. We went there but were told it was closed for an hour for “shift change”. So we wandered toward the train station and saw a Starbucks (closed) and another Waffle House which had sidewalk window service only. So we sat and ate our scrambled eggs and bacon on the side of the road.

Then we made our way to the Metra and eventually to the starting line.

The race went OK. I was able to keep running for the first three miles but after that I walked. It was probably the worst result time for a 10k that I’ve had since my first one. It was very hot. I’m overweight and out of shape. Lots of excuses. But we got it done, drove back to pick up the dog and then on home. I got 2 t-shirts out of the deal, so that’s something.

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I don’t think I’ve told you that I acquired some tube-type audio equipment recently. There was an ad online and I think I was probably their only taker. I drove over to Northport, AL not knowing what exactly to expect.

Turns out they had a Fisher X-100-3 amplifier, an Eico ST-70 amp and an Eico Hf-85 preamp. There is some other stuff also, and a big bin of reel-to-reel tapes which I may never be able to play. They pretty much just wanted it all gone.

So I have started working on the Fisher amp. I tested the tubes and I’m ordering some power supply capacitors. It has some mouse urine rust spots on the chassis, and no cabinet. But the knobs all look good, the faceplate looks good.

In a related development, I dug out my turntable and amp and played a couple of recently acquired classical albums from an estate sale. My work area is slowly starting to come together.

Also I’ve been doing a little car work. My Ford F-150 has the check engine light on. I think the codes are telling me I have a vacuum leak. It actually seems to run fine.

Did I say that we had acquired another boat? We ordered some oars online (last time I made some from Lowes lumber). And when both oars had arrived we took it out for a row on the Tombigbee. That was nice. This boat is a 10 ft flat-bottomed job, the kind I would normally call a jon-boat. But down here that term seems to apply to almost any small boat. The boat we had before was a 12 ft pointy front type.

The square front and flat bottom didn’t seem to have a lot of impact on rowing performance; seemed to be workable.