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I am finally getting around to posting my 2023 Washington Park Turkey Trot results.  My running career has gone full circle, Turkey Trot ’22 to Turkey Trot ’23.  When I first started a little more than a year ago, I couldn’t run more than fifty yards without stopping.  I am still not a fast runner, but at my age I am never going to be an Eliud Kipchoge.  Still, I was almost 3 minutes faster this year than last.  I was trying for 4 minutes faster, but it didn’t happen.  

I haven’t done much with onthehillindenver.com lately.  I didn’t even post my results from the Denver Rocks Run 2023 10K.  I was feeling a little indifferent about running at the time, and settled into an easy pace and didn’t push very hard.  It took me 1 minute and 10 seconds longer than the Bolder Boulder 10K, and it was a less challenging course.  Regardless, the Denver Rocks Run 10K at City Park is a fun 10K and a pleasure to run.

This weekend was the Cheesman Park Art Festival.  It’s always fun to wander around, listen to music and meet interesting people.  People and Canines turned out in droves, with everyone looking for shady spots in the park to try and stay cool.  I did manage to get a few pics of some new Canine friends and added a new gallery. 

I ran the 4 mile America’s Bday Dash this morning at Washington Park in Denver.  This is a smaller event than most in the Denver Metro area.  I had been a little discouraged before the race thinking I would never be able to do better than a 9:30 per mile pace on anything over four miles.  I did much better than I expected.  

Only photo where I don’t look like I’m dying… 

Added another gallery of flower pictures taken with the Canon Power Shot SX50 HS at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

I haven’t done any running updates lately.  I have been pretty discouraged with my running ability leading up to the BOLDER Boulder 10K on Memorial Day.  My hope was to complete the 10K in 64 minutes or less.  With how badly I had been running in practice on distances over 4 miles, my expectations got lower, and lower until I would be pleased not having to walk any of it.  

About a week before the race, I found out my next door neighbor is an endurance training coach.  I listened to some of her online podcasts about: “Fitness metrics”, dealing with “Bad training days”, “When you want to quit…”, and others and it kind of got me back on track.  I was a little more content with where I am in all of my 9 months of a running career.  

On the Friday before Memorial Day I ran a 10K at the park.  I timed myself at 61 minutes and 55 seconds for 6.25 miles.  I was okay with this, and it gave me a good base line.  The next morning I ran the same course at 59 minutes and 56 seconds.  I was feeling a little better believing I could do a 10K at under 64 minutes.  The day before the race I did rest and recovery, and tried to keep positive thoughts. 

Race day I arrived in Boulder with plenty of time to spare.  I had planned on parking at my old place of employment, but the traffic was so heavy I picked the nearest paid parking area with available space, and considered it money well spent.  I had plenty of time waiting at the start line, and got some advice and insight from people who have run the BB10K before.  Everyone said the hills aren’t too bad, except for the last hill up to the stadium.  

I was able to complete the BB10K in 60 minutes and 20 seconds.  Not great, but I did beat my age in minutes.  During my run I kept thinking “when is there going to be a downhill?”. The whole course seemed uphill to me, with the last uphill the most challenging.

In an earlier post I mentioned I found a 1955 Minolta “A” rangefinder camera at a garage sale, and I would post some digitized photos from the first roll of film after repair. 
The Minolta “A” came out in 1955, and some changes were made during production.  This camera has the Citizen Watch Co. shutter, so I am guessing a manufacturing date in late 1956.  After disassembly, I found a number of things that needed to be repaired, cleaned and re-lubricated. 

I rebuilt the shutter and aperture, focus helicoid, and rangefinder. Repaired the film counter, and re-lubed the transport. 

I could not find a replacement for the viewfinder lens that has a crack in the corner, but filled it with cyanoacrylate (super-glue).  I could not find a new main spring for the shutter.  The old main spring has lost some tension, but the shutter speeds are just a little out of tolerance on the long side.

I could not believe the price of 35mm color negative film these days.  Yikes! 

But…, as promised here are a few of the photos from around my neighborhood in Denver.

Minolta “A” Photo Gallery