Running to The Planets

Oh my God, you guys, Imogen Heap has a video blog. I just want to say that it is way cool that these days you can get a totally casual "what I did this week" video from musicians you like. But besides the music, she's just dreamy though, isn't she?

Today so far has been fantastic. I went to Thorpe Park and jogged/walked a good long ways up the trail there. When I lived in NYC I had all these amazing urban resources that were just there for my use. Now that I'm out west I'm just loving all this natural stuff there is just sitting there. I mean, I did probably well over an hour out there and saw about six other people total. It's as if I had my own private mountain forest in which to run. It was a great day weather wise, too. Perfect temperature and sunny but with enough clouds and haze that I didn't have to hide indoors. While running I listened to Gustav Holst The Planets and Debussy Petite Suite. I had a few great moments of elation as I moved through the forest, Claire de Lune playing crystal clear through my high end headphones, the trees advancing steadily toward me from the horizon, the only sounds outside the music the soft crunch of my shoes against the dirt and gravel and the quiet whoosh of my breath. There is no loop needed on this trail. You just head straight into the woods as far as you want and then come back.

After that I went to the local rock gym, Vertical Relief, did my pre-climb yoga, and then climbed a bit. It seems with three weeks off I didn't loose too much ground climbing wise. Unfortunately I doubt that will be the case for my saxophone chops. I haven't played sax since the first week of June. This is the longest I've gone without playing probably since before high school. I'm anxious to get back into it either tomorrow or Monday.