I blew the second USATF-NJ championship cross-country race this year today. I ran slower than I did last year, even though I was better prepared. The reason I ran poorly is because I went out too fast. I ran really fast for about 2 miles - unfortunately, the race was 5 miles long. That is a freshman mistake. I went into this race rested - and I am not used to that. My rested state fooled me into running too fast. I realized it half-way through, but at that point there was nothing I could do about it. I think I ran the last two miles at about 7-minute pace! I really needed this race to be a good race to get higher points in the USATF-NJ Grand Prix. So I just blew it. I can try to make it up at Madison or Ashenfelter, I guess.

This is very similar to what happened before the Liberty Half-Marathon, where I realized I had to plan and hit my early splits. I did that and ran great. I went into this race a little wild, I guess... So for the next one I need to plan the splits correctly and hit them. That is Racing 101, and I flunked today~!

http://zombiedeathkoala.blogspot.com/

wow checkout the cost of war in the left side there...

I am sitting her watching this last Presidential debate. In all my life there were never two men I didn't want to vote for than these guys. They are both talking heads. Bush has a totally pigheaded attitude and delivery, often laughing at statements, nonverbally making fun and disrespecting what Kerry says and even what the moderator says. What an ass - I wouldn't want to know him personally. If he worked where I do, I would avoid him. I would never want to work for this guy. And Kerry is obviously very intelligent. He is a lot smarter than Bush. He is well spoken and carries himself better than Bush. He speaks with less panic and passive-agressive emotionality in his voice. He seems to have a deeper grasp of the issues, and a deeper belief in the ethics of public service. The only thing that makes me feel uncomfortable about him is that all he has is plans. Everybody has plans. Plans are smoke in the wind and might never come to fruition. Bush has plans too, to be sure. .... Hmm.. and you look at these guys and they have the exact same suit, tie, shirt, and lapel pin! At least Kerry is wearing a yellow Livestrong wristband. I think I am going to have to vote for Kerry - a sure kiss of death because I have voted for a loser in every election except for Clinton's 2nd term. Based on the man's personality, Kerry is the guy I would work for, and hopefully everyone in Washington will feel the same.

I think I need to switch back to the Yankees v. Red Sox playoff game!

Before I was sad that Christopher Reeve died, I was pissed. I really believed that if one guy was going to beat the briken-neck rap, it would be him. And of all the things to take him out - an infection.... Relearn how to talk, breathe, get movement in a finger, exercise limbs to keep them from atrophe, push stem cell research, then checkout over a pressure wound.... sigh...

Mel H._GWRA145 joined the incident.

Mel H._GWRA145 says: Welcome to Gateway Remote Assistance. I am looking at your account and the information you submitted. I will begin troubleshooting with you in just a moment.

Mel H._GWRA145 says: Thank you for being on hold.

Gene says: no prob

Mel H._GWRA145 says: May I know how the hinge was cracking? Is there any accidental damage caused to laptop?

Gene says: no, it appeared one day months ago looked like a pen mark

Gene says: now it grows because anytime the top is opened or closed it stresses the area

Gene says: it is up to about 1.75"

Gene says: i dont want to resort to duct tape and superglue

Gene says: i work for a school district IT dept and we can replace the plastic case piece ourselves if we could just find out how to obtain one

Mel H._GWRA145 says: Gene, I would like you to send the laptop for service. Since the laptop is not under warranty you will be charged $299 + tax.

Mel H._GWRA145 says: If it is major compoinent failure then will not be chaged . Otherwise you will be get informed for approval for additonal part replacement ( Major components).

Gene says: i would like to be able to do that too, but do you know how school districts operate when you need $300 to repair something that they think is minor and that our dept should be able to do ourselves?..... so initially you are not charged?

Gene says: or is that the minimum charge?

Mel H._GWRA145 says: No, Gene. I am sorry. But the laptop are contains sophisticated components need to send oservice.

Mel H._GWRA145 says: Send for service. I have no other option left except send it for service, Gene. I do know the importance of your system.

Gene says: thanks for that - i will try to obtain the funding to do so... if not, then i guess we will have to do the Home Depot repair job .... you were very informative

I ran the USATF-NJ 5K Cross-Country Championship today. I did not run as fast as I thought I could. It was at Holmdel Park, which is possibly the hardest cross-country course in the state. I have been running Holmdel since I was in high school at St. John Vianney (see Feb 10 entry). That is about 30 years of running this course. I trained a lot on it this fall. I had a great half-marathon two weeks ago, averaging 6:29 per mile. My two previous events in September, a 5 miler and a 10K averaged 6:11 & 6:16 per mile. Everything was in place for me to do a post-40 personal record. Yet I ran only 19:38, which is an average of 6:20 per mile; I ran 19:29 in 2000 and I ran 19:22 on this same course last year while suffering from Achilles tendonitis! I think I had slower-than-expected race today because I was actually a little nervous because I had been anticipating running well at this race all week. So when I actually ran today, I had a little bit of butterflies in my stomach, and probably an elevated heart rate. How silly. I have probably competed in about 600 races in the last 30 years. I don't get nervous. So what is up with that? Another factor may have been that I had a pretty long workout on Wednesday. I ran 12 miles, with the last 7 fairly fast. I thought I was tapering on Thursday-Saturday, doing about 4.5 miles per day. Maybe I did not taper enough. Hmm... This race was kind of a fluke, I hope!



Me, finishing the race - from Pam's Fotki

Pam: doesn't matter how bad the race is, just how great the pic is! :-)

thinnmann: thanks pam, nice form but i wasnt running that fast... notice the right angles at the elbow and knee, and the straight line you could draw using my right forearm and left thigh... i should be a study in biomechanic efficiency....

Doing some research for the Blogging workshop on Monday. Making sure all the services still work easily for all the participants. Using Blogdigger found a bunch of photos posted by a soldier in Iraq. Puts a different face on what one constantly sees in the media. Photos of a bunch of young friends. Some playing Uno, some having a birthday party. If they weren't wearing desert camo it would look like a sorority or frat party.

Here is an interesting thing from the New York Times web site that shows an interactive analysis of the first 1000 soldiers to die in Iraq. 47% killed were married, 70% white, 31% explosive device, more... check it out.

So all I did was suggest that we should start considering going to different mountains a bit, instead of being locked into Belleayre all the time. That we should think about growing, challenging ourselves more with different terrain, longer runs, more steeps. And she was negative as usual. Too far, she says. I will have to make all the food and do all the packing. She decided to drop all support. Says she has no need to challenge herself. Why do we have to do this. I say because some day you are going to be lying in a box like that guy today, and not be able to do it. I say cuz u r only 45 once, and next thing you know you are 55 and maybe can't do it. That's why. The saddest thing today was that flower arrangement that looked like a boat and had a card that said, "Wishin' you were fishin'"... and you know that every time he said he wanted to go to the Caribbean or to Canada or to Minnesota and didn't go, he never thought about the cancer growing in his liver that wasn't discovered until it was too late. So screw the cost, we gotta just do it - go west, go to VT and NH; stop being so negative about new experiences because that is what makes us alive. That is thinking out of the box. That is living out of the box. Get it, woman?

Pepsi + Ice = 32 degrees F 

This is a letter I would like to send to my son's teacher;

October 5, 2004

Dear. Mrs. Martin,

My wife and I check Jeffrey’s homework pretty thoroughly. Monday’s math homework included questions on reasonable estimates. There was a question about most people enjoying their soft drinks at 32 degrees F. Originally he had written that that estimate was too small. I explained that it wasn’t, and backed it up with proof from the Internet that whenever ice and water exist together in a container, the temperature is 32 degrees F. In fact, Daniel Fahrenheit himself based his calibration of 32 degrees on the stasis point of water and ice. Anyone who has done the middle school science experiment of calibrating a centigrade thermometer has used ice water as the basis of marking the freezing point. You can look this information up yourself, if you wish, or just ask one of the science teachers.

Anyway, the first thing Jeffrey told me today is that his answer about a reasonable estimate for the temperature people enjoy their soft drinks at is 32 degrees was marked incorrect. So I wondered if there was something special about soda and ice together, since there is some sugar and sodium in it, so I performed the experiment myself and showed my son that the temperature was right around the freezing point. In fact, the sodium and sugar in soda should allow it to remain liquid at temperatures lower than freezing. I took a photo of the experiment and you can see it attached. Please make this question good for any student who correctly estimated that 32 degrees F was reasonable.

I wouldn’t be making such a big deal about this if it hadn’t taken me several examples of evidence to convince my son of this scientific fact.