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^zhurnaly - Random - Recent Changes - Running Logbook - Help - RSShere's a place to gather string and tangle it before posting to the ^zhurnal ...
data vs program --- stuff vs people? ... some stuff is durable, some ephemeral ... some stuff is valuable, some not ... Lincoln "scrap of paper" in Carl Sandberg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years vol. 2 p. 308?
Sign nailed to a telephone pole, white with red letters, that when I stare at it seems to scroll up once in a while? Resemblance to some of the other visual phenomenon with vertical lines I remember?
Principal moments --- strip off the largest one, then the next --- apply to life?
Dark Star scene with fellow sitting in the dome at the top, just watching the stars ... reminded of it by the beginning of the song "Rhythm of Life" (Plain White Tees) ...
Macroeconomics, and boom-bust --- the Beer Game in FIFTH DISCIPLINE by Senge, teaching a little systems thinking with time delays and feedback loops --- what causes mass manias? --- dot-com bubble, housing crash, etc. --- major misinvestment and subsequent unwinding --- change of heart re saving and spending --- demographics --- money supply, price levels, employment, income distribution, productivity --- see Paul Krugman ... SLOSHING MODE --- government's role to be a damper, not add untimely positive feedback to make things worse as happened in the Great Depression etc.
Tablet computing, with CLAY TABLETS and cuneiform ...
My style, like Jon Mathews -- a nucleus in a highly excited state, tossing off ideas and associations like gamma rays and excess particles ...
Proverb, "That's like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs," meaning to show somebody how to do something that they already know quite well --- not known to younger generation? --- in Tom Jones ...
CM says that we need to tack a couple of extra miles on to the end of tomorrow's run, to reach her weekly goal. "Why don't we do the extra miles at the start, when we're fresh?" I ask.
^z - 2011-12-??
[1]
A CONVERSATION WITH GEORGE DYSON
Looking Backward to Put New Technologies in Focus
And today you make your living as a historian of science and technology. How does a high school dropout get to do that?
Hey, this is America. You can do what you want! I love this idea that someone who didn’t finish high school can write books that get taken seriously. History is one of the only fields where contributions by amateurs are taken seriously, providing you follow the rules and document your sources. In history, it’s what you write, not what your credentials are.
[[I?]]
Is the I the same as the mind? Or mind + body? Or mind + body + surroundings? Where to draw the line?
Is the mind the same as the brain? Or brain + patterns of nerve impulses in the brain? Or brain + nerve impulses + ...?
If the I observes the mind's thoughts, is that observer-watcher the same "I"?
Bob Williams drawings: [http://zhurnaly.com/images/Bob_Williams/Bob_Williams_South_Dakota.gif [2] [3]
[[Jupiter_Optimus?|Jupiter Optimus]]
... something about how the "Best" isn't the fastest, longest, highest, heaviest, richest, etc. ... mention the OptimistCreed
[[Minimalistic_Philosophy?|Minimalistic Philosophy]]
If one tried to come up with the philosophy that was the absolutely smallest (or largest) nontrivial one, what would it be? Maybe NOTHING (or EVERYTHING) — that is, the empty set = φ = ∅ — and in spacetime, simply here-and-now = this instant ... spacetime diagram, big-X marks the present ... Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now ... "The Ground of Being Itself" from Honest to God, John Robinson ...
do NASA/DARPA-style research thrusts actually produce progress? test it! evaluate!
look up "Markov Random Field"
Reflected in
Reflections in our eyes
The dead arise
see [4] : "... I have observed that not the man who hopes when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope is admired by a large clan of persons as a sage, and wisdom is supposed to consist not in seeing further than other people, but in not seeing so far. ..."
[5] --- As John Stuart Mill said in 1828, in a quote from the book that I especially enjoyed: "I have observed that not the man who hopes when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope, is admired by a large class of persons as a sage."
From the NY TIMES editorial page on 8 Aug 2011 [7]
"When August Was Cold and Dark"
A century ago this month, three wind-battered, frozen men quietly stepped into a hut on Cape Evans in the shadow of Antarctica’s Mount Erebus. They were Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers and Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Their sledge contained a precious cargo: three emperor penguin eggs, the first ever collected. To obtain them, these men — part of Robert Scott’s polar expedition — had walked 60 miles to Cape Crozier and back again, dragging a heavy sledge over impossible terrain in the Antarctic winter’s nearly complete darkness, howling winds and temperatures as low as 77 below zero.
It was, as Cherry-Garrard later wrote, “the worst journey in the world,” a phrase he took as the title for his 1922 narrative of the Scott expedition, one of the greatest books ever written about exploration. Its author was the least likely member of that crew. Cherry-Garrard was nearly blind without his glasses, which he was unable to wear while sledging. He had little scientific training and had never been to the Antarctic. We have his book only because he was not chosen by Scott for the final push to the South Pole, which killed all its members, including Wilson and Bowers.
“And then we heard the Emperors,” Cherry-Garrard writes of the climax of their winter journey, “trumpeting with their metallic voices.” The contrast between those birds — thoroughly at home on the sea ice — and the men of the Crozier expedition could hardly be greater. They “were already beginning to think of death as a friend.” But this month, let us imagine the relief that Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard must have felt a century ago as they wrestled out of their sledge harnesses and stepped into the light and the warmth of a small wooden hut.
further quotes -- cite Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation:
[[Attachment_to_I?|Attachment to I]]
I used to be at my worst driving a car. I was my nastiest, my least generous. When I saw someone waiting to make a turn from a side street, I would not stop but would continue to go on ahead. If there was someone on the sidewalk waiting to cross, my first impulse was to keep on driving through. If someone cut me off or was slow in front of me so that I missed a green light, I started to feel very nasty things about the people in that car. Quite simply, I was a horrible driver. So I took it as my challenge to become less horrible. I tried to practice being kind by saying the following phrases over and over again: "I give thanks for the gift that the Earth has given me in the form of fuel to go to where I need to go. I give thanks to the sky for being an umbrella for me. I hope that all these cars and all the people in front of me are free from danger. May the slow driver in front of me be free from harm. May our use of transportation come into balance. May my little car have a long life." I sent a lot of appreciation to my car for taking me where I needed to go. At the same time I connected to these phrases of kindness, I also reconnected with my body and my understanding that I was sitting and driving. This practice was hugely transforming. — AW
^z - 2011-08-04
words from Jon Kabat-Zinn Wherever You Go, There You Are: dignity ... sincerity ... "simple but not easy" ... nonjudgmental ... moment ... profundity ...
The Run Happens, not "I run". It just is. No self needed. Person becomes part of process.
Jump Out of the Groove: escape from the rut, be free ...
Tricycle magazine old issue, cute articles .. δ Greek letter delta, and the upside-down "del" symbol of calculus, ∇, the gradient operator ... Delta of Venus ...
"Do You Feel Like We Do?" song by Peter Frampton, [8], and the philosophical question of whether malfunctions in perception can reveal inner workings of mind/brain, and how similar everybody is in their mechanics of thinking ... see [9] "Can the Brain Explain Your Mind?", Colin McGinn essay/review ...
[10] --- Karen Armstrong column "Calling All Religions to Compassion" ... and responses ...
and
[11] in the Summer 2003 issue of Tricycle magazine that Paulette gave me, the interview with Karen Armstrong by Andrew Cooper ... esp.:
In your more recent work, you make frequent reference to the Axial Age. What was the Axial Age, and what does it have to do with understanding our own? The term Axial Age was coined by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers to describe the period from 800 to 200 B.C.E., when all the great world traditions came into being in four core regions of the world: Confucianism and Taoism in China; Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism in the Indian subcontinent; monotheism in the Middle East; and rationalism in Greece. This period proved to be pivotal to the spiritual development of humanity. We have never progressed beyond the insights achieved at this time, though they have often been restated and reinterpreted over the years. What is striking about these traditions is their similarity, beneath the obvious surface differences. You can see a clear resemblance between Socrates and the Buddha, for example. All these world traditions stress the importance of the inner life, of compassion; all put human suffering at the heart of their agenda and devised means of exploring the inner world. All emphasize the importance of thinking for yourself, of questioning everything, even the most cherished doctrines and traditions, and of never taking anything “on faith.” In the modern world, we have also been undergoing a period of major transformation, similar to the Axial Age. But our insights have been mainly scientific or technological. We have produced no spiritual geniuses of the stature of the Buddha, Confucius, Isaiah, or Lao-tzu. And the spiritual approach of the Axial sages will challenge the way that many people are religious today.
How so? Often, contemporary institutional faiths seem to go out of their way to reproduce exactly the kind of religiosity that the Axial sages were trying to abolish: there is an excessive reliance upon doctrine (an approach that is alien to all Axial faiths) and on tradition (which must never be questioned); people are urged to accept things “on faith” in a way that the Buddha would have deplored; and the primal virtue of compassion is often ignored and quite inessential doctrines and practices put forward as the kernel of the faith.
and
... all the faiths need to go back to the primal duty of compassion. This is what the world needs from religion right now. We do not need more certainty—we have seen too much certainty recently—but we need greater respect for the sacred rights of others, including our enemies. ...
... eMentor potential items:
look up "KRIYAS" --- visions? like in Atheist Spirituality book?
[[Duality?]]
edge and node, ying and yang, background and foreground, universe and empty set, ...
[[Paradox_of_Follow_Through?|Paradox of Follow Through]]
Dennett's comments in Elbow Room on "follow-through" and free will ...
[[Way_of_a_Pilgrim?|Way of a Pilgrim]]
look for & read? [12] =
The Way of a Pilgrim is the English title of a 19th century Russian work, recounting the narrator's journey across Russia while practicing the Jesus Prayer. ....
[[Toltec_Wisdom_Cards?|Toltec Wisdom Cards]]
???
[[Metro_Mindfulness?|Metro Mindfulness]]
| Down-deep-dark in the womb of the Metro station — Swaying, breathing, watching thoughts flow by On the mind's screen — and then in the distance Rattle, thrum-rumble, growing into roar as train Approaches — like a tidal wave of consciousness Receding from the beach and gathering itself to crash Upon the sand — like a thundercloud, pulling itself Higher and tighter, sparkling with electric tension — Like the network connecting all life, all minds, reflecting Glows, twinkles, flashes, lighthouse beacons — Total present-moment awareness |
^z - 2011-03-??
[[Entry_Lottery_Analysis?|Entry Lottery Analysis]] - do a quantitative model, involving key features of the BRR/MMT lotteries that VHTRC does, including key factors:
| BRR Entrant Data | MMT Entrant Data | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Application Period | ||||
| Applied for Lottery | 502 | 610 | 438 | 416 |
| Lottery Results | ||||
| Eligible to Enter | 398 | 400 | 180 | 205 |
| Eligible for Wait List | 104 | 210 | 258 | 211 |
| At Deadline to Pay | ||||
| Paid to Join Entrants List | 355 | 348 | 180 | 205 |
| Joined Wait List | 69 | 123 | 123 | 81 |
| Didn't Act | 78 | 139 | ||
| Race Day | ||||
| Entrants List | 353 | |||
| Wait List | 0 | 48 |
[[My_Life_as_Elevator_Speech?|My Life as Elevator Speech]]
^z - 2011-03-??
[[My_Life_on_Note_Cards?|My Life on Note Cards]]
^z - 2011-03-??
Arabic concept "WASTA"?
"Disturbia" commentary
Tom Stoppard play "Jumpers"
Best line so far in Arrested Development by Portia DeRossi's character Lindsay, in a prison visitor room: "It is obvious I'm not wearing a bra, right?"
Not running --- just "being on the trail"
Boss recommended martial arts: Aikido (but no knee walking) ... Pakua (Baqua) ... Pentjak Silat ...
Boss recommended gun: Ruger 10/22
Zen = 0, the empty set
Earth as "Foundation" --- mystics, exploring the physical universe --- 10-5 of population ... we send out probes into math, chemistry, astronomy, physics, ...
Look for Justified --- quotable dialogue? --- Elmore Leonard short story "Fire in the Hole"?
[[Gott_vs._Caves?|Gott vs. Caves]] --- "How to Predict Future Duration from Present Age" debate between J. Richard Gott and Carlton M. Caves ...
[[MMT_Cutoff_Analysis?|MMT Cutoff Analysis]] --- 19 min/mi suffices this year ... cite spreadsheet, etc. - see [13]
[[Infosec?]] - image of a dark moat around a blinding-bright core of data flows, with thin bridges over the moat, well-guarded ...
[[Nothing_Is_To_Be_Clung_To?|Nothing Is To Be Clung To]]
A sudden ephiphany: the Buddhist mantra "Nothing is to be clung to ..." could be read in the positive sense, as an imperative: cling to Nothingness. Seize the empty set. Accept no substitutes. Grab hold of the vacuum. Opt for zero. Take no prisoners. Never let go.
^z - 2011-01-??
[[Threshold?]]
Every moment
Stands balanced on the threshold
Where past meets future
other quotes from Fully Present to consider:
p.60 typo - 200 foot gap between towers of the World Trade Center, not 26 feet
p. 72: "Informal Meditation Practice" - just remember to be mindful at intervals, perhaps prompted by some external or internal event, perhaps spontaneously
p. 99, noticing the background around the foreground? --- in the "Science" section, a thoughtful part:
When we are not reacting emotionally, we are in a different physiological state of balance. We all know that balanced feeling—not high or low, not fear or joy, not anger or love, but simply nonreactive. Recognizing your bodily and mental experience in this state of not reacting emotionally is like recognizing the space between words printed on this page, or the background elements of a Picasso painting, or the space within a Frank Lloyd Wright building that makes it an architectural masterpiece.
Mindfulness is a tool for improving your discernment of emotional states (and the bodily changes that accompany them) when they arise. You can become a Sherlock Holmes of your feeling and their associated physiological changes. Through investigation, you can detect them earlier and with finer resolution. Lao-Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching, "Deal with a thing while it is still nothing." We all remember times when we could have stopped a situation from evolving into a big mess by catching ourselves—whatever it was we said or did—before the situation escalated. Catching your emotional reactions early, when they are still small, is a way to alter your actions to keep them from fueling difficult situations. Think of a time when you reacted emotionally and that led to big problems; later you probably saw how easy it would have been to just say or do nothing (just "act like a log"). When you pause between emotion and action, your words and actions are less likely to hurt yourself or others because you're able to circumvent or at least lessen your emotional reaction. And because we are only aware of the tip of the iceberg of emotional responses (a huge number of emotional reactions occur unconsciously), the process of discovery is likely to be never-ending. There is always an emotional reaction we are likely to miss.
... definitely true for me --- need to pause before sticking my foot into it!
p. 108:
... Meta-cognitive awareness refers to a de-centered relationship of self to thoughts and feelings—the idea that you can be a neutral observer of your own experiences, whether these are sensory experiences or thoughts or feelings. Many terms are used to describe this meta-cognitive stance. We have already used the words "de-linking" and "disidentification"; others use terms such as "reperceiving," "de-centering," "defusion," and "distancing." Still others use terms such as "detached discerning ability." More descriptive terms for the attentional stance of a person witnessing his or her own experiences include "impartial spectator," ... and "unentangled participation" ....
cf. Like a TV Screen --- and again on page 179 --- "Meta-cognitive awareness ... "The Meta-Cognitive Stance"?
The "Science" section in Chapter 6 seems much better than elsewhere ...
and a paragraph or two later, "Things are as they are" mantra ...
p. 185 --- "Don't Believe Everything You Think" --- good rule! ...re-read
P. 206 "A Special Note on Boredom" --- bring attention to the boredom itself and study it!
[[Revelation,_Reduction,_Distillation?|Revelation, Reduction, Distillation]]
Remove everything that can be removed, and what core of belief is left? Might it be something like the Zen Buddhist notion of just sitting?
from APS NEWS Dec 2010: "Being able to deal with extended periods of bad luck or things not going well is something that's also required to be a physicist. ... I think there is an element of emotional control that perhaps physicists learn." Jeff Harvey, Univ. of Chicago, on why there are so many physicists that are pro-circuit poker players, NPR, 2010-10-23
Venus (Hesperus? other word for Venus in morning/evening sky?) seen during morning walk to Metro --- reminds me of LOTR about something far away and immune to evil/pollution ... --- look up?
Ghibli Museum?
Organizational gullibility --- Bobby H and cyber-war exaggeration? other examples from years past --- find a threat and magnify it, make it not falsifiable
rebirth probglems - chap in Batchelor BUDDHISM WITHOUT BELIEFS --- how to fit "self" into one (or few) cells? --- but how about simple persistence from year to year? day to day? moment to moment? all miracles
"From Plato To NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents" --- David Gress --- get a copy?
Larry McMurty - "Lonesome Dove"
David Foster Wallace - "Infinite Jest" and "Consider the Lobster"
Gott's Copernical Principle --- how to recognize the onset of instability? when is a goverment about to topple?
David Cronenburg - DEAD RINGERS
aphorism/advice generator
| Don't | let | afraid | ... |
| Never | fear | proud | ... |
| Always | be | near | ... |
Technological Nightmares:
good reading: http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/29/most-effects-are-smaller-than-we-think/#more-5637 and others --- from Brown Studies pointer
also http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/08/the-importance-of-having-the-right-gear/
Sunrise splashes brilliant greens on the treetops
While nightshadows retreat to crouch under the limbs
| Be Just this Awareness Let go Now |
| When we touch The waves ripple onto the beach They swell and recede and wash the sand clean Not like a storm, no tsunami, no crashing or shattering Just a rise and fall, a glow that fades |
Jimmy Carter: "A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity." - from WRITER'S ALMANAC, in Oct 2010
[[Cost_of_Running?|Cost of Running]]
What's the actual cost per mile of recreational running? Makin a rough estimate I come up with:
But counterbalancing these is the increase in health and lifespan, as well as the psychological benefits. How to compute? Not just doctor's bills and psychiatrist's bills avoided ... lifetime extra earnings?
^z - 2010-08-??
Thunder rumble of train
Bead of sweat crawls down my back
Headlights gleam
explain how heat exchangers work --- can they be generalized to other conserved quantities?
look up C. Northcote Parkinson discussion of committee wasting time on the bike shed?
To Do:
Between the hyper-intellectual abstractions of university philosophers and the calculating, materialistic schemes of self-help gurus, lies another philosophy. This is the philosophy of the ancients, of Marcus Aurelius. It is a practice that intends to help individuals answer life's great metaphysical questions in both material and spiritual terms: What is my place is the world, the cosmos? What is the purpose of existence? How do I live a good life? What is happiness and how do I achieve it?
Early on race morning I respond to comrade Don Libes's post about how to handle a multi-wave start with an attempt at humor:
I like your proposal Don! --- but even better would be to assign runners individual (nano-wave) starting times based on bib number ... line up in bib-number order and start each runner at that many bib-number seconds delay from T=0 (or still better: use a pre-announced function thereof, like a logarithm or arctangent or cryptographic hash ... --- I trust that you at NIST can define it, Don) --- that way you get the backup timing that Lyman mentioned, and during the race whenever runners pass one another they simply shout out their numbers (or observe one another's bibs) and do some quick mental arithmetic to determine who's ahead and by how much ...
But during the 2010-06-06 - Capital Crescent 5k race itself I pass so many people that I'm inspired to post a follow-up:
Don, a tiny notion provoked by seeing folks who started much too far forward in the "wave" start for the CCT 5k today (plus recollections of the excellent analyses you did of front-row photos vs. finishing position in the PHM etc.): could you take the "raw" data from the chip sensors and generate lists of the dozen (or so) runners: whose starting rank-order (ordinal position number, 1 through N) was farthest AHEAD of their finishing rank-order?; whose starting rank was farthest BEHIND their finishing rank?; whose starting rank was CLOSEST to their finishing rank?
Those are, respectively: (1) the optimists (plus perhaps folks who got injured during the race and had to slow down abruptly?) who most overestimated their pace; (2) the sandbaggers who hung back at the start; (3) the few, proud people who self-seeded properly.
Maybe there could be a prize for the top finishers in each category --- gentle ridicule for (uninjured) people who started in the first (sub-7 min/mi) wave who didn't really belong there --- little pouches of sand for individuals who began much too far back and passed hordes of folks --- gold stars for anyone who started in about the right place based on their pace.
Splash slash red high thigh
Rump turn toss moist curve
Gloom breeze womb sway nook
Arch glow fold smile swing
Breathe
Splash slash
Red high thigh
Rump turn toss moist
Glow gloom nook
Sway swing arch
Curve fold
Pulse
for Kaizen review? --- Shunryu Suzuki-roshi: In this world we live by constant effort. Even though gains are small, the act of sincerely trying to improve little by little is salvation.
Running is simple. It rewards patience, persistence, and careful attention to detail. Like the rest of life.
^z - 2010-04-??
[[The_iPaddle?|The iPaddle]]
... iPad with a handle? ... iPad that's the size of an HDTV ... gestures aren't fingers but with whole hands, like dog-paddling to scroll and spreading arms wide to zoom ...
[[J_Says_That?|J Says That]]
use "J" as the supervisor process that watches "I"? write little essay from J's viewpoint?
Some want not, yet want to want
Some want, and want to want not
Look up and think about:
[[Running_Progress?|Running Progress]]
Reasons for recent improvement:
[[HTT_vs._HTH?|HTT vs. HTH]]
for some readings see http://www.patricksrealm.com/blog/?p=46 and http://ceki.blogXXXspot.com/2008/08/hth-or-htt.html and the TED talk (which I haven't watched yet) http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/peter_donnelly_shows_how_stats_fool_juries.html cited in both ...
btw, the problem has some excellent connections to the Boyers-Moore and Knuth-Morris-Pratt string-matching algorithms (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyer%E2%80%93Moore_string_search_algorithm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth%E2%80%93Morris%E2%80%93Pratt_algorithm ... on the Metro this morning I worked out some state-transition diagrams for each case (HTT vs. HTH) and I think if I can understand that approach it will yield the answer pretty easily ... must study it some more first though ... might be fun to write a simulation to test the result empirically ...
^z - 2009-09-??
[[Key_Concepts_in_Analytic_Thinking?|Key Concepts in Analytic Thinking]]
In every instance of vanity it will be found that the blame ought to be shared among more than it generally reaches; all who exalt trifles by immoderate praise, or instigate needless emulation by invidious incitements, are to be considered as perverters of reason, and corrupters of the world; and since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to set too high a value upon things by which no real excellence is conferred.
from THE RAMBLER, Saturday 1750-11-03 ...
[[Periodic_Table_of_Running_Injuries?|Periodic Table of Running Injuries]]
blisters ... bruises ...
lost toenails ... rolled ankle ...
stress fracture ... ITB ... plantar fasciitis ... torn Achilles tendon ...
The Wall ...
dehydration ... sunburn ...
arthritis ...
(as inspired by the Periodic Table of Awesoments at [25]
[[Runner_Code_-_Part_3?|Runner Code - Part 3]]
injuries ... Toenails ... Equipment (shoes, clothes, GPS, etc.) ... Attitude (machismo/machisma, boasts, hash-harrier-ness, lying about mileage and speed, etc. --- fisherman's rule: add one and double ...) ... Fuel (preferred eats/drinks, electrolytes, etc.) ... Goals (get faster, enjoy life more, be all that I can be, ...) ... Groupishness (attitude about running with others) ... Trail Markings ... Logbook (recordkeeping level of detail ... nothing, build memories ... anecdotes and observations ...every step with pace info ... fisherman exaggeration (+1 *3 rule) ... ) ...
Quotes from David Fontana's 2001 book Discover Zen: A Practical Guide to Personal Serenity:
p. 35, "Exercise 5: Move Beyond the Self" --- maybe I should give up judgment that satori is a delusion?! --- point here is nonlocalization --- that consciousness isn't pointlike or contained --- as Dennett and Hofstadter and Vinge have pointed out in various ways ...
[[More_Stationary_Bicycling?|More Stationary Bicycling]]
| 2011-03-20 | 60 min | Ironman (first half) |
| 2011-04-24 | 60 min | " (2nd half) |
| 2011-05-17 | 60 min | Lake Placid 2 |
2012-01-28 - Capital Crescent Trail with Rebecca and Sara
[[2012-01-29_-_Loop_with_CM?|2012-01-29 - Loop with CM]]
0445 eating Burton's Digestive Biscuits with Nutella slathered on them ... I tell Cara Marie Manlandro in an email and she replies "Yup me too :) see you in a bit!" — presumably that she's up and about like me, not that she's coincidentally having the same strange breakfast!
start a little after 6:35am ... bright enough to see our way, barely ... five deer cross Rock Creek Trail in front of us near the Kensington Parkway ... ice on puddles along RCT and thereafter ...
cluster of MCRRC XMP runners are gathered in downtown Bethesda and greet us as we pass through on Bethesda Rd on our way to the CCT ... we then pass two big flocks of lady runners in training groups who are jogging down the CCT ...
CM takes a Succeed! e-cap every ~3 miles ... I drop a glove in Bethesda and double back to pick it up ... drop another one along River Road and don't see it when I look back ... my little bag with S! caps falls out unseen from the Annapolis Striders vest pouch-pocket ...
on Military Rd in DC we proceed east toward Rock Creek, but there's construction at the Nebraska Av crossing ... CM hesitates but follows me as I jump down into the ditch and then creep between the big orange traffic-barrier barrels and under the yellow band of caution tape ...
CM gives me her last S! at mile ~14 as we approach Wise Road climbing Beach Dr --- thank you, CM! ... mysterious weakness in the right quad that occurred at mile ~13 yesterday troubles me at/after mile ~14 today ...
splits:
1 10:33.6 1.00 10:34
2 9:55.4 1.00 9:55
3 9:23.1 1.00 9:23
4 10:22.7 1.00 10:23
5 10:14.8 1.00 10:15
6 9:22.9 1.00 9:23
7 9:28.9 1.00 9:29
8 9:05.2 1.00 9:05
9 9:44.1 1.00 9:44
10 9:12.4 1.00 9:12
11 9:26.6 1.00 9:27
12 9:22.0 1.00 9:22
13 12:15.2 1.00 12:15
14 9:13.2 1.00 9:13
15 9:22.4 1.00 9:22
16 9:28.7 1.00 9:29
17 10:26.3 1.00 10:26
18 8:54.1 1.00 8:54
19 1:12.2 0.13 8:56
at home I find I've lost only 1.5 lbs, from a bit above 145 to a bit below according to the digital scale ... I shower, then eat 4 eggs, a slice of Swiss cheese, and an Icelandic yoghurt ... load up the bread machine to make a loaf of French bread, start the washing machine going with the sweaty clothes from the run, and then prepare to take a siesta ...
^z - 2012-02-??
[[2012-01-31_-_Intervals_at_UM?|2012-01-31 - Intervals at UM]]
Daughter Gray is working at the University of Maryland library, and now that the new semester has started Marathon Deli is open for carry-out, so as soon as I get home it's quick-change into running gear and off I go, accompanied by son Robin, to Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field for speedwork. Two lap repeats take 3:46 ⇒ 3:32 ⇒ 3:35 ⇒ 3:31 ⇒ 3:40 ⇒ 3:36 and by the final ones I'm hoping that Gray gets out early to give me an excuse to stop. Lane #2 by the GPS makes for distances that vary 0.52-0.55 miles, higher than likely. Robin runs the first lap with me and then does his own intervals, his first training in some time. Other UM students jog or sprint past. A gusty wind from the south feels good in my face on the straightaway in that direction.
(cf. GPS trackfile, ...) - ^z - 2012-02-??
[[2012-02-02_-_Groundhog_Day_Loop?|2012-02-02 - Groundhog Day Loop]]
Crimson setting sun hangs halfway through the horizon, scarlet beams sucking the color out of the old red stone Church of St John the Evangelist. I'm blasting downhill on the last mile home, trying to pull the average pace down to make up for the climb along Stoneybrook Dr past the Mormon Temple. It's a comfortable winter afternoon, temperature ~50°F, and the miles by the GPS go briskly 8:13 ⇒ 8:42 ⇒ 8:24 ⇒ 7:48 plus a final fraction.
(cf. GPS trackfile, ...) - ^z - 2012-02-??
[[2012-04-04_-_Rock_Creek_-_Derwood_to_NIH_with_CM?|2012-04-04 - Rock Creek - Derwood to NIH with CM]]
Reversal from last weekend: today Cara Marie Manlandro is suffering, and she's not a whiner. After doing 30+ miles since last Sunday, and celebrating a birthday, within the first few miles in the dark from her home CM mentions tight hamstrings. They get worse as we trot around Lake Needwood. Then CM's quads join the chorus of complaint.
Geese honk and flocks of duck quack as they paddle on the water. Cars pass us and, when we reach Rock Creek Trail and begin to head downstream on the paved path, runners whom we pass greet us and note in turn that they saw us on the road. The chorus of Rihanna's "We Found Love" is on heavy rotation in my head; CM reports that The Who are playing "Teenage Wasteland" in hers. A couple stretching by Strathmore/Knowles Rd in Kensington remember us from last week's run and ask if we're heading for the Capital Crescent Trail again. "Maybe," I respond.
Earlier this week, at the Value Village thrift store near College Park, I was looking for tights or leggings — I can't bear to spend $80+ on new ones — but found none that looked likely to fit. Instead, however, I scored a pair of extremely nice New Balance women's (or maybe unisex) running shorts: they're comfy, made of soft, technical fabric and have pockets that CM admires with envy. Today I carry water bottle in hand and fill those pockets and the Annapolis Striders vest pouches with energy gels, Succeed! e-caps, candy, a tin of grease, etc. It's good practice for marathons coming up in a few weeks, and somewhat lighter than wearing my usual bum-bag/fanny-pack.
By the time we reach Ken-Gar, mile ~10, CM's pain is bad enough that it's easy for us to change plans: instead of doing 20 miles to Bethesda, I suggest branching southwest at Cedar Lane and ending our run at the National Institutes of Health, where a convenient Metro station will get us back to CM's home and my car. When we get to Cedar I note that we've done a half marathon in 2:10, which only a couple of years ago was my personal record. Now it's a training pace. The down escalator isn't working so we gingerly descend the ~200 foot escalator. CM is shivering on the platform so I lend her the windbreaker that I wore for the first few miles, then tied around my waist.
While we're awaiting the train a man with a cane limps toward us us. He notes CM's Parks Half Marathon 2011 shirt and tells us that he ran that race too, and is planning to do the George Washington's Birthday Marathon in a few weeks. So are we! I assume he's a slower runner, but after a little conversation he reveals that he hopes to run it in 3 hours — turns out he's Leonard Tchuindjo who did the PHM in 1:37 and was a little over 3:10 for the Richmond Marathon last year, and the Marine Corps Marathon in a bit under 3:20. "We are not worthy!" I tell him, and salute.
After a nice ride to Shady Grove and another stressful descent of a flight of stairs, CM and I jog the 0.8 miles back to her home and discuss plans for the next few weeks. Today's GPS trackfile splits: 9:51 ⇒ 9:43 ⇒ 9:30 ⇒ 10:14 ⇒ 9:24 ⇒ 9:23 ⇒ 9:24 ⇒ 10:32 ⇒ 10:20 ⇒ 10:10 ⇒ 9:28 ⇒ 10:19 ⇒ 9:22 ⇒ 11:00
^z - 2012-02-04
[[2012-02-05_-_Sligo_-_University_-_Connecticut_-_Rock_Creek_Loop?|2012-02-05 - Sligo - University - Connecticut - Rock Creek Loop]]
"Mizuo Wave Ronin 3" — new shoes from the half-price room at RnJ Sports are calling out for a road test. My cold/cough/congestion is still troublesome, but by mid-afternoon with a cup of coffee in me I'm feeling chipper enough to undertake a trek in the 45°F Sunday weather. A "ronin" is a masterless samurai, and I'm feeling ronin-ish by myself today. The Ronin remaindered-model shoes I picked up are size 12.5 and feel comfortable and ultra-light; according to spec they're only 7 or 8 oz. each. The old feetsies feel like they're floating, and by the GPS trackfile miles click by scary fast: 8:11 ⇒ 8:05 ⇒ 8:21 ⇒ 8:37 ⇒ 8:44 (slight pauses to cross major roads in downtown Wheaton) ⇒ 8:02 ⇒ 8:22 ⇒ 8:00 ⇒ 8:07 ⇒ 9:00 (climb from Rock Creek) plus a fast fraction at the end. I'm wearing the nice New Balance pocket-shorts again today, and they're also cosy-sleek. Dog-walkers and other pedestrians, plus a few runners, are out in force pre-Super Bowl on the creek paths. Parking lots at supermarkets are crowded with last-minute shoppers.
^z - 2012-02-??
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