seattle slew

today's seattle times has an article about seattle slew, one of the last triple crown winners. (affirmed was the last--slew won all 3 races in 1977, affirmed in 1978; according to this article, though, slew beat affirmed in several races. and there hasn't been a triple crown winner since 1978.)

the article basically says "he was quite a horse" and "his humans still love him." i got to meet seattle slew--and affirmed--at spendthrift farms in kentucky. it was 1985. my sister anne was a sportswriter for the associated press, and was living in lexington where her beat was horse racing, and particularly the kentucky derby and other churchill downs events (she also covered queen elizabeth's visit in 1984, and the college basketball final four, which was held in lexington in 1984). during my senior year spring break, rather than going on the senior trip to florida with my classmates, i drove down to kentucky with my brother pat. anne used her connections to get us a visit to spendthrift farms (it's not open to the public), where we got to meet all the horses. i have pictures of myself standing next to both seattle slew and affirmed, and a couple of other horses at the farm. i also have pictures of seattle slew jogging around the exercise track, being ridden by the only person who was allowed to ride him (a former jockey turned groom). apparently spendthrift farm went bankrupt in the late 1980's (shortly after i visited)...i don't know what it's like there now, but at the time it was very quiet and i just remember feeling uncomfortable in the presence of that degree of wealth. it was also the first time i ever saw a fully extended horse penis. (spendthrift is--was--a breeding farm, and we were there at a time when they were actively breeding. the stallion in question was being led to the breeding shed, and no doubt already smelled a mare in season.)

i'm not a big fan of horse breeding or horse racing, but i love horses. that day i was just excited to meet the animals (i was equally excited to meet a wagon horse at shakertown, a day or two later). they weren't too happy about meeting us, though--the grooms kept warning us to keep our hands away from the horses' faces, and not to stand forward of their shoulders, because they all bite. (thoroughbred horses are high strung, especially the stallions. by comparison, the wagon horse at shakertown was very sweet, and i was able to give him a handful of grass.)

as things turned out, i only saw my sister anne alive one other time after that trip (unless you count seeing her in a deep coma as seeing her "alive")--she came up to michigan for my high school graduation a few months later. she died at the end of november, that same year.

when i heard, a few years ago (2002), that seattle slew had died, i cried. my sister had been dead nearly 20 years, and it was just one more thing that had touched her life, gone.

RWP

READING: air by geoff ryman. cool book. hard to describe. it's from the sci-fi section at the u-bookstore, and was recommended by a fellow audience member after a panel discussion about gender in sci-fi (which included vonda mcintyre and 4 others whose names i can't remember, unfortunately).

WEARING: jammies. yes, still. at almost half-past noon. fridays are my lazy, work at home days. i love them.

PLANNING: to drink a cup of tea soon. to take a run sometime this afternoon. and to head out to the college inn for glaucon's regular friday thing. this weekend we might go out to the islands; if we do, we'll probably stay the night either in a tent or in as cheap of a hotel as we can find.

running log

yay! ran 3 miles this afternoon. that puts me at 13 miles for the week. today's run felt OK. not great, not bad. my legs were a little mopey--not exactly a slog, but not a breeze either. probably because the last 3 weeks have been so low-mileage. it was still fun, though, and i feel great, post-run and post-stretch.

now that i'm over 40, it's harder to get into shape, and harder to stay there. i try not to focus on that, though; much better to simply enjoy each run, each mile, each step as i take it.

MxM