9.2mi

Some of the folks at work have been riding a segment of the Katy Trail (and here) that’s near the office. Tonight was the latest round of that exercise, and I decided to come along for the ride.

Now I thought I’d be able to keep a good pace and keep up with these folks, having seen what my pace is like with my stationary bike at home. Man, was I wrong! Within ten minutes, they were all ahead of me, and after five minutes more, they were out of sight. Part of it was, I’m sure, the difference in riding the stationary bike compared to riding on the trail, but I think the biggest part had to do with approach.

I was out there to get some exercise, but I was also out there to enjoy nature. For me, this ride was about the journey, not the destination, or how many miles I could ride. I saw a beaver, snapped photos of a turtle on the trail, listened to geese and frogs, and rejoiced in the simple splendor of this place God created. It was beautiful, and in the beauty, I could reflect, think, relax, and simply be. That was terrific!

I’d never been on the Katy Trail before, and I had no idea it was so beautiful. The trail at this point meanders through a shady grove of enormous trees, following the edge of a large body of water. With all the rain recently, the water was quite high, and in places, had the look of swampy marshes. I didn’t realize that kind of landscape existed in my backyard! The greens of the grasses and the algae on the water were the most amazing green I’ve ever seen. They almost had a luminescence to them, like they were lit from inside.

I met my group — they had just doubled back — at about 4.6 miles, and we rode back to the lot, again staggering me to far rear. Thereafter, the spell of the ride and the beauty of this spot was broken as one of them started talking office politics. In truth, it was a technical discussion that evokes office politics, but it might as well be the same. Again, a difference in approach I think. For me, this sort of thing is the release, the escape from the office, and a way to entice myself not to think about the happenings inside the walls of our building.

I headed home, sore, but thrilled at having gotten out there and ridden a little over nine miles. I’ll definitely go back to experience and photograph more of that area at my pace — it was far too beautiful to rush through!

I carried my camera in my backpack, and I think I wanna have some kind of bag that’s easy to get to on the bike to carry the camera. I also need a handlebar mount for my GPS — that’s the only way I know the speed and distance (although there are mile-markers on the trail). I also think I need a different seat, or at least need to adjust the tilt differently — it just wasn’t comfortable over that length of ride for me. That could be my physique’s fault though! 🙂

There was no pain in my ankle, and that’s great news. Tomorrow is my return to tennis — we’ll see how that goes!

I know my family is wondering what’s up with the tennis injury.  Well, the foot is sore, but I’m getting around better, and that’s a good thing.  There’s some nice bruising going on, with lots of purple, yellow and all kinds of shades in between.

It’s a thing of beauty.

The good news is that the swelling is down considerably from yesterday.  It’s still painful to go up and down the stairs, but it’s all looking up, and I’ll take that.  I think I’m out of tennis for a week or two though, and that’s not sitting real well with me.

I really enjoy playing, and sitting out for a week or more is gonna really drive me nuts.  It’s now the time of year when we start playing on Sunday mornings in addition to our Thursday night league, and I love playing on those Sunday mornings.

I’ve just gotta be careful not to push my recovery too hard, too fast, or else I’ll re-injure my ankle, and be sidelined for ever longer.  Blecch.

Today, Beck and I took off half a day from work, and went to the first “Businessman’s Special” game at the new stadium.  I’ve been excited about this all week, and was happy to see the date finally get here.

As expected, there were snafus all over the place — where to park, new traffic flows downtown, trying to get food on the as-yet uncompleted concourse we were on — but on balance, things went pretty well.  We got the stadium, found our seats, got some dogs, and started watching the game.

In the sun.  Did I mention that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, no shade on our side of the ballpark to be found, and that it was 88 degrees outside?  Blecch.

We slathered on the sunblock, and after eating my two kosher dogs (the absolute best hot dogs around, and my favorites at the stadium), I pulled out the camera, and starting firing photos of action at our first game in the new digs.

In the old Busch, the 200-level seats were somewhat under cover of the upper deck.  For this set of 200-level seats — down the third base line and four rows back from the edge — there was no upper deck to cover us.  It wouldn’t have helped if there were — the sun was almost directly overhead, and slightly in front of us.

In four innings time, we became lobsters — even with the sunscreen! — and were just dying from the heat.  It was at that point, we decided to wander around the cooler parts of the park, and eventally head home.

For those of you keeping score at home, this was the longest game at the new stadium, going 11 innings, and resulting in a loss for the Cards.  The relief pitching is looking a little suspect.

But, I digress.

So after a few stops, we got home in time to see the 11th on TV, and vegged for a while.  I had tennis tonight, so I relaxed, ate dinner and headed off.  I felt pretty good about tonight’s play since I had time to rest and get a good meal in me before heading up to the racket club.

Three games into the first set, that all crashed around me.  Literally.

I went up for a tremendous smash — one of my favorite shots, and ones I usually do pretty well with — and came down funny on my right foot, bending my foot sideways, and collapsing me into a lump on the court.  My comrades in arms collected around me, and kept asking if I heard anything pop when I went down.  I guess I looked pretty ugly in real time.  Once the first big waves of pain got past me, I went to the bench, sat down, applied some ice, and in due course, headed home.

So, very swollen and painful is my ankle.  Walking is a bit of a chore, and I’m sure that I’ll be at glacial speed for a few days at least.  I also think I’m probably done with tennis for at least a week while it heals up.  Ugh.

I guess it could’ve been worse, but that certainly wasn’t what I had in mind for tonight’s play!

Yesterday, someone on the bulletin board at work had some tickets to the open house at the new Busch Stadium for today.  I was lucky, nimble of finger, and was able to grab them.

This morning, Beck and I piled in the family truckster, and headed east to the city, found parking, and stood in an enormous crowd, all waiting to enter the stadium for the first time.  There were thousands of us — close to 30,000 so I heard later — almost all of us standing in the road like some human barricade, all waiting for the gates to open.  And open they did.

The ballpark is beautiful, and so less claustrophic than the old stadium.  There are plenty of escalators between levels — some of which weren’t up to the chore today, blocked off out of service — and tons of stairs between the bottom and top of the stadium.  One of the things that I loved about the old stadium was the ramps that encircled the perimeter.  From those ramps, you could walk all the way ’round the park, and go up or down to get to the your seating level.  While we did find some ramps as we were headed out, it was surprising not to see more “people moving” facilities instead of all those stairs.

We got to tour the party rooms and suites.  They are nice, large, and seating outside them is much, much nicer than in the old stadium.  Cushioned seats with wider girth made the seating nice outside the suites.  However…..  There didn’t appear to be any heating outside — which the old Busch had — and the pigeons had found homes in the rafter above the seating.  The seats in some places had been bombed by the rats-with-wings regiment perched on the rafters far above the seats.  So, with your expensive suite, you also get a chance for a little decoration!  🙂

We walked all the way to the top, and I went to the farthest seat above home plate, and it wasn’t bad.  The views are tremendous from everywhere in the park, with views of the Arch, the Courthouse, and so many other downtown staples.  And, the view of the game from any seat is really nice.  The stadium seating expands vertically rather than the old Busch’s lateral seating expansion, so the number of stairs to the seat isn’t as many, and puts you a little closer and more “on top” of the action on the field as you climb up.  Nice touches indeed.

The biggest impression I was left with of the park was that it was smaller than the old Busch.  It’s really not — the field is about the same, and the number of seats for the fans is about the same.  The difference is that this park was built for baseball, not a multi-purpose venue as the old stadium was.  It’s cozy, feels great, and looks wonderful.

Thursday, Beck and I have tickets to the afternoon game, so it’ll be interesting to see how a game looks from this new denizen of the downtown skyline.  I’m sure it’ll be a great time!

Today was opening day for baseball.  I’m thrilled!

The Cards opened up by really nailing the Phillies.  Pujols hit two home runs — that puts him on a pace to hit 324 homers on the season.  OK, so that’s not realistic, but it is a great start.

And Scott Rolen.  Man, is it good to see him back.  And what does he do for his first homerun since May of last season?  A meager grand slam!  And doing that in front of a crowd that’s booing you, that’s gotta be sweet.

Beck and I have tickets to what I believe is the first Businessman’s Special at the new Busch next Thursday (14th).  We’ll play a little hookie from work, and see what we can see.  Assuming the camera policy hasn’t changed, I’ll take my rig, and shoot a bunch of photos of the stadium.  From what I’ve seen on TV, it is radically different from the old Busch, yet still a work of art.

Yes, baseball is back, and my attention will be diverted between that and the rest of my world as the spring and summer wind on.

Last night, John and I went to see the Blues take on the Flames at Savvis Center.  This was the first hockey game I’ve been to in at least two years, and it was nice to be back in there watching a game.  The Blues had held the record for the longest streak of appearances in the playoffs among any pro sport — 25 seasons! — and if they lost tonight, they would be eliminated from the playoffs, and the streak would be over.  This was also the 3000th game in franchise history.

To sum up their performance, it was bad.  By the time John and I left with 10 minutes in the 3rd period, the Blues were down 7-1.  Ug-ly.

On the bright side, it was coffee mug night, so I now have yet another mug to add to my shelf!  🙂

This morning, around 12.30am, the last part of the superstructure of the old Busch Stadium was brought to the ground by the wrecking ball, making way for the completion of the new Busch Stadium.

It’s been surreal, watching the old stadium come down section by section. And, of course, like vultures over a dying beast in the field, the local news has been hovering, showing us daily the progress of the demolition of the house of the Cardinals for the last 40 years. Daily, it has looked like Godzilla has come through, and stomped around a bit, waiting for darkness to come again so he could make more damage.

Now with the superstructure gone, there is only one Busch Stadium, lying just beyond the rubble, almost phoenix-like, and that is the home of the Cards. Long may it live!

(BTW, there’s a great time lapse of the demolition at Redbird Central.)

$2.179

Yesterday, a fan chosen at random started the big destruction of Busch Stadium by waving a flag to the wrecking crew. And then a five-ton ball began to pound at the roof of the stadium.

This has been painful to watch. For weeks, demolition has been going on inside the stadium, bulldozers and other wrecking equipment strewn all around the once highly manicured field. Now, the field has been reduced to dirt and debris, and soon the walls will begin to come down.

Inside sixty days, a big part of the stadium will be gone — enough to complete the work on the new stadium, and then by June, the rest will be gone. ‘Tis a crying shame, as Busch was a nice stadium, especially after all the work on it in recent years. It was the last of the “cookie cutter” stadiums of the mid-60s, and for that reason alone, was unique in the big leagues.

All things must pass, I guess, and it was Busch’s time. Long live the new Busch stadium!

$2.539

Last night, the Cards were unable to stave off defeat, and fell at the hands of Astros. The good news was that Busch Stadium was able to host one last game.

Of course, this is a brutal end to what was a stellar season. Once again, when the postseason came around, the Cards just seemed to be out of gas. The pain of the loss is compounded by the impending demolition of old Busch Stadium to make way for the new Busch Stadium next door.

With the demolition looming, the fans last night grabbed everything that wasn’t nailed down. The news this morning showed folks with everything from trash can signs to cupholders to large seating charts. They even showed one guy with one of the gigantic mustard jars from the hot dog stands! There were fans collecting dirt from the field, taking the bunting from the railings, and even the seating section signage. This always seems to be the case when an old stadium is slated for demolition, but I’m still just amazed at the brazen attitude some of these folks have. Of course, most of ’em just don’t wanna let go — although I bet there are some fresh Busch Stadium related materials on eBay this morning! 🙂

Last night, I pulled out all my tickets from ten seasons of attending games at Busch. I have some kind of tribute to the old gal in mind, but haven’t quite figured out what to do. I have way too many to display them all, but wanna feature some of them, along with some of my favorite photos of Busch that I’ve shot over the years.

As I reflected on the games I’ve seen there, I also realized that our tickets to the World Series game 4 last year are now doubly significant. Not only was that the game that “reversed the curse” for the Red Sox, but was also the last World Series game ever played at Busch Stadium. Gotta do something special with those.

So, the season’s over for the Redbirds, and I can start focusing on other things to do with my evenings. The season went by far too quickly, and wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been. Next year, the Cards are in a new house, and once again baseball will grace the grass downtown. I can’t wait until then!