they changed the route this year: instead of going through harvard square, they confined the course to mostly memorial drive (most of which is already closed on sundays, making logistics easier), the harvard stadium complex, and the banks of the charles river near soldiers field road.
i didn't think i'd like the course change at first, but it grew on me. the spot i used to stand at was at the corner of JFK st and mt. auburn in harvard square. JFK is a slight climb into the square, the bend slows down the runners even more, which allows me to get great pics as they headed east down mt.auburn street towards central square.
with the new course on memorial drive the runners are farther away and more spread out, but there's also more space for spectators so there's no crowding. i do miss the lively crowds though (as they cheered the runners on with signs and an assortment of noise makers), which were concentrated by the intersection of the JFK street bridge. i went further northwest, past ash street, by the riverbend park that touches mt.auburn street, about mile 9. i stood with my back to one of the large sycamore trees growing along the banks of the river, as the runners ran southeast towards lechmere. the intermittent morning sun painted the runners in a golden glow, but i found out that over-exposed them greatly. it's better when the sky is cloudy, gives a more exposure agreeable light diffusion. i shot with just my 55-250mm lens, with the ISO fixed at 800 (the same settings i had last year). i could've bumped up the ISO a bit more, as i did get some blurry photos whenever i decided to "chase" the runners with the lens.
last year i spotted brice (actually he spotted me). i was hoping to maybe catch him again, but didn't know if he was even running. then i saw someone who kind of looked like him (having remembered what he looked like as a runner from last year), and it took me a few seconds before i managed to shout out "brice!" he turned around and waved as he continued running towards the finish line, which was still 4 miles away.
i left around 8:45am, as the stream of runners was starting to thin out. even these stragglers were better runners than me. at that point they'd already ran 9 miles. on my typical run - where i walk 2 miles and run 2 miles - i'm already exhausted. these runners inspire to keep on running despite the cold weather. if these guys and gals can run 13 miles, i have no excuse to complain when i do my measly 2 miles loop around the river.
i got home before 9am. i was a little confused at first as some of my clocks were still an hour later, so i thought it was already 10am. i was relieved to realize it wasn't even 9am yet. i turned up the heat by a few degrees and went to go use the bathroom before taking a shower.
i left for belmont around 11am. my mother made some rice noodles for lunch using leftover luosifen broth from last night. afterwards my father and i went outside to mow the lawn, starting with the backyard. i moved things out of the way as my father pushed the mower. i also turned the compost as he added grass clippings and shredded leaves. we had so much that we used some of it as mulch underneath the grapevines to keep esmei from eating any fallen grapes. i also pruned as much of the bitter melon vines as possible, and tossing out dried tomato plants.
my sister brought esmei over around 2pm. first thing she did was to weigh her dog, as she doesn't own a scale. esmei now weighs 22 lbs. which my sister said makes her no longer a puppy. she let her outside to pee first by herself, before we went outside. esmei went down the stairs on her own. she was more well-behaved today, spending most of her time chewing on quince fruits she finds in the backyard. apparently the sour and astringent taste doesn't affect her at all. my sister is training esmei to recognize her name: if she looks when we call her, she gets a treat, otherwise we wait a little bit and call her again to see if she'll respond. my father was grilling some chicken wings and esmei kept going to the grill, curious as to what the smell was. she also did something really weird today: we were all the backyard, but she decided she had enough of the outdoors and climbs the stairs to go back inside the house. esmei is very independent, does her own thing.
i reconnected the pump and attached two rain barrels so i could water the seedlings growing in the raised beds. the cold weather this past week had no effect on these cold weather plants. it's still a few weeks before we can harvest anything, probably not until thanksgiving at the earliest.
at one point my mother and i went out to grab a pet gate a neighbor had thrown out. it was a weird style we'd never seen before, but my sister can still use it to block off sections of her place so esmei doesn't wander into where she doesn't belong. once we all went back inside to eat the buffalo wings, that's when my sister left with esmei. her dog was already sitting by the door looking outside.
the end of daylight savings time wasn't such a big deal, at least not on the first day. yes the sky got dark around 4:30pm, and i kept having this feeling that it was getting late even though the clock said it was still early.
for dinner i made some gyudon. my parents didn't have any dashi so i made some from scratch using two pieces of dried anchovies and some MSG and salt. they also didn't have any mirin, i forgot to bring mine. 12 oz. of shaved steak was enough gyudon for 3 people. i added the benishoga which didn't taste that good, kind of a salted ginger, something of an acquired taste. but mixed with the gyudon and rice, it wasn't so bad, the crunchiness and saltiness added some additional flavors. to me it's like a japanese version of pickled mustard greens i sometimes add to my instant noodles or rice porridge. my mother didn't think we'd have enough food so she made a tofu stirfry as well.
i left belmont around 7pm. temperature was down to 48 degrees already, after having been in the upper 50's for much of the day. i wore a fleece jacket but it wasn't enough, and i rubbed my arms to stay warm whenever i stopped at a traffic light.
i finally replaced the cracked glass screen protector on my pixel 7 phone. it's been cracked since late august, but i've just been too lazy to replace it. i did an okay job, but there were 3 microscopic dust particles on the screen when i applied the protector so now there are 3 tiny bubble spots. it's not a big deal, i'm sure i'll crack the screen again very soon. i have one more protector left before i need to get more.
yes, there were football games today. the earliest one was between the dolphins and chiefs, played out in munich germany, so it broadcasted this morning. chiefs won, and it looked like it might be a shutout, before miami put up two touchdowns, but that wasn't enough to win the game. there were people in the stands dressed up as chiefs or dolphins fans. since they were germany, i can't honestly believe there are rabid american football games. i think they were there more to play american football fan cosplay, which i must think is a thing.
at 1pm the commanders faced off against the patriots. would you be surprised if i told you new england lost? they did. once again, it was close, and the pats had a chance to either tie or win the game, but a late interception by mac jones doomed them to a loss.
finally there was a sunday night football game between the bills and the bengals. i was rooting for cincinnati, but started feeling bad for buffalo. knowing their history, i can't help to think the bills are cursed never to win a superbowl. a team that had so much expectations are now 3rd in the division. anyway, the bengals won. every single team in the AFC east lost their game today, with the exception of the jets, who play tomorrow, so we may have a sweep yet.