FROM THE DESK

As I write this, my family is packing for our trip to Ocean City. I’m happy and fortunate to be able to spend some time with them on the beach, looking at fireworks, and more.
Maybe July will be the first month that I run 5 kilometers without stopping. Last issue in this column, I mentioned that I had resumed the Couch to 5K training program. It’s a nine-week program that’s supposed to prepare you for running a 5K. Well, I’ve completed the time-based program, which has three runs of 30 minutes each in the last week of training, but I’m not
running 5 kilometers in those 30 minutes. And that’s OK with me. Running 5 kilometers is an arbitrary goal. Instead of being upset that a program called “Couch to 5K” didn’t have me running a 5K when I was finished with it, I chose to be glad that I could run 30 minutes without stopping, then I added more time each week. Now I am up to 36 minutes running without stopping, and that’s more than I’ve ever run in my lifetime. By
the time you read this, maybe I’ll be up to 42 minutes. (I guess it depends
how much running I do on my vacation.)

I didn’t think this was possible for me, because I’d never done it before,
and I was never really competitive in athletics. Now that I’m just doing this
for my own health, the only person I have to compete with is myself. It’s a
lesson I wish I had learned at a much younger age.
But it’s never too late to learn, and there’s plenty to learn in this issue of
OutLook by the Bay.

Try exercising your mind with Brain Boosters from Phil Ferrara on page 17. Phil has been sharing these brain teasers with friends by email, and we’re
happy to share them with you in these pages.
We have a new department in this issue: Flow Back in Time. Kater
Leartherman writes about important cultural moments from the last half of
the 20th century. See page 14 to read her description of the 1968 televised
debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal.

Taking it even further back in time, Steve Bailey has an article about
the Battle of Monocacy on page 26. You can make a day trip of going to this
battlefield in Frederick County, or even add it to the itinerary of a trip that
includes Gettysburg or Antietam. The first time I went to Monocacy Battlefield, I was struck by how easy it is to comprehend the strategic points that
the Union forces were defending.
I hope you enjoy this issue of OutLook by the Bay, and please tell a
friend if you do!
Be well,