Jackie

Tuesday

Ran about 8 miles total today. First 6 were out along the Embarcadero up Coit Tower over to Broadway and back. Then I did a 6 min mile on the treadmill and another mile at about 7:30.

Crossfit
At the 6pm (23 people!) we did Jackie which is:

1000M row
50 thrusters (45lb bar)
30 pullups

For time: 7:30
I was bested by Travis who did it in 7:11. If I had that as a target I could probably make it, but that's competition. Great workout. I could taste the lactate from the workout in my mouth.

Walt Whitman
Finished up the American Experience program on Walt Whitman who wrote like two books but revised one of them, Leaves of Grass about 2400 times, adding and detracting things. Great program. I can't read poetry and connect with it, but this program had scholars reading it, as poetry is meant to be received, and relating it to the things Whitman had intended. Fascinating stuff. Fascinating life. Whitman intended for all Americans to feel connected with one another. This program definitely succeeded in portraying that and portraying the connectivity of individuals in an urban environment, that despite the strangeness of one another, we're really quite close to one another. Probably why they call him the American poet.

Whitman spent the years during the Civil War tending to patients in hospitals in Washington DC. The program read portions of his poetry written about this time and presented images of wounded, disabled, and amputated soldiers from both the Civil War and the current wars as the scholars read his poetry. This led me to think of the people I amputated and treated over there. Unpleasant work, but I miss it. I think Whitman found something to connect with through the work. It brought him closer to people.