August 28, 2023 CHAIN OF FOOLS

Been going to physical therapy for a few months AND happy to report that I've started running again. My knees are FINALLY feeling better and I'm currently running two minutes/walking 2 minutes for 3 miles and feeling good. It's been a long road....6 months since the fall. I've been working on strengthening my feet, knees, quads, glutes and core. Also spending a good amount of time stretching the hamstrings and IT band. Doing all kinds of drills too to change my running form. I'm marching, skipping with high knees, butt kicking, grapevining, lunging........I'm working on driving my knees forward, reducing step length and keeping shoulders up and back to reduce stress on my knees. Glad I have a buddy to work with as my running partner is also coming back from an injury. Pretty soon, we'll be back to our old routine. Can't wait. Also, can't wait to tell you about the final installment of the North Bath series written by Richard Russo called Somebody's Fool. Russo wrote the first book in the trilogy in 1993 called Nobody's Fool. In 2016 the second novel was written and it was called Everybody's Fool. This one written in 2023 is Somebody's Fool.  This lovely novel is also set in North Bath, a small town in upstate New York in 2010. Although Donald "Sully" Sullivan has been dead for 10 years, his spirit is alive and well. The town of North Bath is finally being annexed by its rival Schuyler Springs and Sully's son Peter is back in town living in Miss Berle's house. His abandoned son, Thomas, reappears causing Peter to reflect on his own abandonment by Sully when he was a kid.  Doug Raymour, the former chief of police finds a dead body in the long abandoned hotel, Sans Souci, and he is forced to work with the new chief of police and his former lover, Charice, to solve the crime. There are all sort of trials and tribulations for the cast of characters-- Rub, Vera, Carl, Ruth, Janey, Tina and it was a pleasure to return to Bath and reconnect with them. Russo is a master at writing about working class people, small town life--where everyone knows your business and people care about their neighbors. It's about 450 pages from a writer who is spectacular at his craft.