Athletes

I have got to stop kvetching about my tennis elbow.  Check out this article about the …780 runners (and one dog) from 51 nations… who ran the… Marathon des Sables.  A woman from Malaysia …ran the entire 140.7 miles of the ultramarathon in flip-flops.  The article amy-palmiero-winters-marathon-des-sables is about an American woman with a prosthetic leg who, carrying a backpack that weighed 19 pounds, finished the race.  Note:

…the only thing race management gives you is water, more or less, every six miles. All the rest you must carry in your 14-33 pound backpack.

She wore what most wore for shade, a hat with flaps over the ears and neck, which gave the runners the look of extremely fit beagles.  But they didn’t have to carry tents either – they shared provided tents at the end of each day.  One tent was composed of  five women, a Swiss, two Brazilians, one Italian and an American.  Sounds like a nice mixed group.  (Photograph Runners approached a mountain on the final day of the race.  by Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times.)

So I wondered who was the oldest person to complete it: Briton-73-oldest-complete-worlds-toughest-ultra-marathon

Since taking up running ten years ago, Mr Mitchell – a former naval officer – has completed 139 marathons including 30 ultramarathons – like the Marathon des Sables.

Military.  The two men who raced across Antarctica last year, alone and unsupported, were Colin O’Brady, an American adventure athlete, and Louis Rudd, a captain in the British army, pulling sleds of 375 and 330 pounds, respectively.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/18/sports/antarctica-race-tracker-map.html.  (Colin O’Brady posted this photo on Instagram on the 50th day of his journey.)  Only two participated, but they had to pull everything and they raced over 900 miles.  Yes, the American, 33-years-old, beat the Brit, at 49.

The Yellow of Spring

I love our spring, especially the palo verde (this one in my back yard).

And here’s a photo from my bedroom window of the yellow fruit on the barrel cactus, the yellow flowers on the brittlebush, and beyond, the blooms of the palo verdes in the wash.  The brick back patio is dusted in gold, from the mesquite pollen on the south (which reminds me of the pine pollen coating my car in Greenville, SC) to the palo verde blossoms on the north.

Seen today: quail strolling beyond the fence, but no chicks yet.  Many spiny lizards in the yard; one doing his territorial pushups on the back column.  Another was lying on the gravel next to my hose, thinking he blended in; I had to explain otherwise to him.  A White-lined Sphinx moth on the wall. Sorry I hadn’t seen its colorful caterpillar.  

As soon as the sun sets during the warm part of the year … large White-lined Sphinx moths will emerge, and like nocturnal hummingbirds, these amazing fliers can be seen zooming around the garden and hovering before flowers as they sip nectar.

The desert willow, on the south side of the house, in bloom.  Unfortunately, you can’t really see it from the house – you have to walk around in back or front.

Easter has passed, but I loved this drawing by Wendy MacNaughton:

If you can’t read it above, read it here: lac-bug-candy