Beginning a new streak

Y’all know I won’t go five days in a row without a workout. I did an easy treadmill session of 45 minutes in the morning, 2.75 miles total. That’s all the time I had before I had to get cleaned up and go to a luncheon meeting at the prison.

The workout was easy-peasy. (I can’t quite believe I just wrote that.) Walking at 3.6mph (and a 4% incline) really isn’t much of a challenge, but I thought since I’d taken four days off I probably should do something easy. Today is Day Three of More Rain, so maybe I’ll do a little treadmill jogging today. It’s more likely, though, that I’ll just suck it up and run (I use that term loosely) in the rain.

The meeting at the prison was outstanding. These quarterly meetings of the Community Relations Board are a requirement at federal prisons, and I’ve been a member for several years. We get lunch and a short informational presentation by one of the prison departments. In the past we’ve seen firefighting demonstrations, been entertained by one of the choirs, learned about new work opportunities for the inmates, etc. (Don’t get me started on “work” opportunities – it’s all about getting the most work for the least money and it amounts to slave labor, all dressed up in a “job training” package.)

Yesterday was the Education Department’s turn, and the program was presented by paws4prisons. A select group of inmates will be chosen to train assistance dogs which will eventually be placed with war veterans suffering from PTSD. This program appears to be a win-win-win, and I like nothing better than opportunities that truly help the inmates learn a better way of life.

One very cool thing that came out of the meeting is that inmate volunteers may be able to knit cage blankets for the dogs in the program. P4P currently spends $35 per blanket; they were very excited at the possibility of cutting that cost from their limited budget.

So what started out to be a good day (a little exercise) morphed into a GREAT one (a little knitting). I hope your day was just as fulfilling.