Key West Diaries (Four)

01/22/2024

Key West Diaries (Four)

I woke up very early on Sunday morning and made it to the staging area in time for a 6:30 start. It was still dark. As with most races, they had a very annoying energized emcee (from Miami) who told us how great we were, etc. And then for some reason they played the national anthem. Don't they realize that most runners are introspective cynics who are craving silence or at most 'Songs of Love and Hate' by Leonard Cohen? I was happy when the gun went off and I could focus on the race. The first two miles took us down Duval Street, where Earnest Hemingway used to party.

We went out for six miles and turned around. This was probably at Mile 9, where we passed the marker for the southernmost point in the continental US. Tourists were already lining up to take pictures. It was very humid and I running a bit cautiously because I didn't want to aggrevate any of the many injuries I had been dancing around for the past few months. It was mostly peaceful, though, and nice to run next to the sea as the sun rose.

I had enough energy at the end to kick it home :) My time wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I finished 64th out of around 1000 runners and sixth in my 55-59 year old age group. For a few seconds, I allowed myself to feel proud of being in the Key West Top 100. But mostly I felt relieved to be done.

Leter that day, we celebrated by going to the other botanical garden in Key West. This one is built in the ruins of an unconstructed fort, which meant that it had more architectural interest.

There was a gigantic euphorbia that like so much else on the planet seemed to be struggling. Was it supposed to be like that? I didn't want to ask.

In a bid for immortality, some people had scratched their names into the prickly pear cactus. I made a mental apology to the plant kingdom on behalf of all humans.

I renewed my love affair with tropical ground covers.

I feel like our world needs more archways and hidden courtyards.

And orchids.

Let's abandon all military forts and bases to the natural world, and give the soldiers jobs tending to the plants (the only scenario in which I would enlist).

None of the orchids were potted.

Their roots wrapped around the trunks of the trees.

Secret alcoves are also fun.

Who was Fran Ford? And why did she have a Way?

Anything seems possible when you are surrounded by orchids.

It was an overcast day.

But the flowers served as a thousand little suns.

Posted at 04:59 PM in Expression, Science Projects | Permalink

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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

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Video: The Chaos Detective

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Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

01/22/2024