I’m editing this page. (It’s a joke. If you don’t think it’s funny, that’s ok, my kids told me there are two kinds of jokes: the funny kind, and the kind I make.)
Last year I had an injury that kept me from running and training. This month I’ve finally been making progress on getting back, doing power walk workouts at an incline on a treadmill. I’ve also registered for Hamster Endurance again this year, so I’m pretty much operating on faith that I will be able to somehow mount a training program that will get me in a state where I can make a serious attempt on 100 miles at that race in August.
Much of my focus recently has been on amateur radio, primarily doing POTA park activations. But I’ve just started a CW class offered by CW Innovations, so I’m focusing intensely on my CW skills through practice and on the air QSOs. That class runs for 10 weeks, so that will be a big focus for me for while.
I’ve also been refining the set of gear that I use for POTA activations, including a new radio purchase (FT-891) and planning for several multi-day trips to do POTA roves in which I visit a lot of new-to-me parks.
The big upswing trend in activity participating in Parks on the Air has continued this year.
Last year at this time I was ramping up my CW efforts, with a goal of being able to do a POTA activation that included CW contacts. I’ve blown past that goal entirely and now routinely do activations entirely with CW. That’s not to say my CW skills are now excellent; I’m past the point of being terrified when I first start calling CQ but my skills are just barely adequate to the task of the fairly structured QSOs that POTA entails.
So I’ve enrolled in a CW Innovations class, which I’m enjoying immensely, and I’ve been practicing up a storm.
Between the CW class, and planning some POTA multi-day trips, amateur radio is consuming the bulk of my free time.
I’m registered once again for Hamster Endurance 32 hour, my favorite race. Returning to a race I’ve run multiple times might seem like it should be an easy thing, but events last year led to me being in a state where I was unable to run, or even train. So now I’m trying hard to find a way to adapt to where I am and find a way I might still prevail in a very long race - not prevail in the sense of a podium finish, but instead in the sense of simply hitting the goal of another 100+ mile finish.
The same difficulties that have prevented running have prevented me from making progress on the myriad outdoor projects.