11 Comments
Jan 29, 2021Liked by Paul Flannery

Gotta love the potential for fresh snow to make a shitty day/run turn positive pretty quickly!

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The best

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founding
Jan 29, 2021Liked by Paul Flannery

Fresh snow and the quiet that surround during and right after a storm are the best solitude we can get.

Sekou sounds like someone we should all be lucky enough to have in our lives. I'm sorry that he's been lost so young. I hope that all the positive memories of him will stay with all who loved him.

I am a creature of habit and also get anxious and irritable when my plans are disrupted or changed at the last minute. I have a close friend who has a famous phrase and I try to repeat it to myself whenever this happens. Her phrase is "ADAPT AND THRIVE".

There's a lot of tough stuff, a lot of adapting in the last year and moving forward. Take care of yourself, Paul. It's important.

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Thanks Tracey. I like that one. Puts an emphasis on a positive outcome, rather than saying, suck it up and deal with it.

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Jan 29, 2021Liked by Paul Flannery

It really sounds like Sekou was a special person - I only knew him as someone who was frequently retweeted on NBA Twitter. The outpouring on his behalf seems to be well-deserved. My condolences, to you, Paul, and to everyone else who has lost one of the 400,000+ people that have died so unnecessarily in the last year.

I had my own snow experience this week, but we had less down here so the decision was less fraught than yours. I'm also running roads, not trails. I had to do four miles and the sidewalks looked sketchy. Consequently, I was debating just bagging it in favor of a cozy lie in. Then I remembered I had bought a set of Kahtoola exo-spikes on your recommendation months ago and hadn't yet had the chance to use them. They were perfect for the unshoveled inch or so that had accumulated on the sidewalks in my town. The experience was as you described: quiet, a little snowy, and totally worth it. The spikes worked great and gave me a wonderful sense of sure-footed security I would have struggled to get without them. Now, I have a lovely memory of running in fresh snow and some experience for the next time I am confronted with similar conditions.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. For those of you, like me, that are going to be blitzed by arctic cold in the beautiful Northeast I wish you warmth as well!

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Love that, and I'm so glad the spikes worked out for you. Took me a year to figure out how to put them over my shoes properly. Nice work.

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Jan 29, 2021Liked by Paul Flannery

as a fan of the NBA (and being one was what led me to this newsletter), news about Sekou's passing really bummed me out. and hearing about what a giant he was from those that knew him bums me out even more. RIP Mr. Sekou Smith.

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Thanks Hoon. Sekou was one of a kind.

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Jan 30, 2021Liked by Paul Flannery

Great picture! I have not done much running or hiking in the Blue Hills or the Fells, but they both sound great! Thanks for sharing about Sekou too. As an NBA and Celtics fan, I saw a lot of stuff going around, but I hadn't really interacted with his work.

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They're really great, and very easy to get lost! If you go explore, bring a map.

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founding

Good call. My son and I got lost scouting a property last weekend, so I was glad I didn't try and run there alone first.

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