30 Jan.

Odie and I enjoyed a nice 10 km run today. The temperature was below freezing, but the sun came out a couple times. Suddenly it would brighten and shadows would form.

Since we were in the dunes in the middle of the day, I kept Odie on his leash.  There were took many other people on the pathways, and I didn't want him to be a nuisance or to slow me down.  I ran the second half at a slightly faster pace. Total time was 80 minutes.  I kept it slow to try to keep my heart rate lower, but gave up and just ran at a comfortable pace.

In the late afternoon, we went to climb. I really had fun. My boys each invited a friend. That cut down my climb time unfortunately because our guests couldn't belay. After warming up, I tried an easy route and climbed as fast as I could.  I tried one with an overhang, but couldn't get a grip on one spot and needed chalk for my sweaty hands. No chalk, so I left it for another day.

I was more successful with another route. It took some effort to figure out, and I just had to sit there looking around until I saw the solution. Plus some muscle and some changes to hand holds that made me afraid I was going to fall.  Today I had some vertigo when coming down. That felt uncomfortable. I wonder if it could be related to swimming on Friday - water in my ears.

I cooked up some duck for dinner, and had some chicken liver for an appetizer. My younger son loved the liver -with ketchup, of course, and then asked if we had any pickled herring. We did, and he promptly polished off the whole jar of rolmops, which are pickled herring filets wrapped around a slice of pickle and onion.  He said he liked stuffing them into mouth whole to intensify the flavor. You know, he explained, you get more juice that way. I never thought of it that way.  And he ate a whole duck leg with dinner too.

One more day in january!