One of the pieces of info you are typically asked to provide on a profile for a dating site is your height. I had measured my height long ago and recalled it as being slightly under 5′ 11″. Don’t ask me what that is in metric, it’s one of those things my head never wrapped around, probably because the closest equivalent to a foot in metric is the decimeter. Now think of how often you hear people talking about decimeters.
Today I whimsically decided to measure my height using the good ol’ ‘mark a line with a pencil on the door frame’ trick. It turns out I either mis-remembered or mis-measured, as it seems I am actually under 5′ 10″ — about 5′ 9¾” to be a bit more precise. I may have to start using metric instead. 177.8 cm kind of sounds impressive.
I am not sure how I feel about being a full inch shorter than I had always thought but I don’t think I like it. I feel slightly less manly now.
Technically today was not my first summer run but weather-wise it felt like it. It was about 19ºC, sunny and with a light breeze (Cap Tug Number: 1). Unlike my previous run I had a faster start then slowed more in the second km, so a different means to the same end. My pace improved in the last km, which is encouraging and I broke the psychological barrier of 27 minutes (the iPod recorded a time of 26:59 but the Nike+ site seems to round up so it reports 27:00). It’s been six days since my last run due to various events taking up my usual running window so the continued plateau in performance is actually a relief.
Tiger Woods congratulated me for circumnavigating the globe yet again. Thanks, Tiger, I appreciate the support!
One minor incident of note during the run: a woman with a pair of large gray short hair dogs (they looked like some hound crossbreed) was sitting in the shade inside the path. As I ran by one of the dogs barked at me, once. It didn’t move or do anything else. Still, it’s the first time I’ve had a dog bark at me and it brought back memories of my childhood, which can be summarized as all the events between getting bitten by dogs. Still, I didn’t let it rattle me. I later noticed the dog barking at other people, so it seemed to just be one of those “Hey, I’m here, you will notice me” kind of things.
If all goes well, this should be my last 5K comparison chart for awhile, as I move on up to 10K.
After eight days off, I was a bit tentative about running, given the litany of problems I have suffered lately, but the weather was pleasant — hazy sunshine, 18ºC and a light breeze, so I decided to give it a go with another modest 5K run. After a warm-up and some stretching I began and ended up shaving one second off my best time for the month. My right calf felt perfectly fine and any creakiness in my left leg worked itself out fairly quickly. Although my first km was not especially fast, I like that I was able to maintain my pace over the 2nd km and picked the pace up slightly in the final stretch.
I am introducing the cap-tug number (CTN) with this update. When I am running and start to perspire my cap begins to ride up slightly on my head. This is not an issue unless it is breezy, which it has been all freaking spring (and now summer). When it gets windy, the cap threatens to lift and take flight, forcing me to tug it back down. Due to the perspiration, this is only a temporary measure, requiring further tugs to insure the cap stays on. Today I had to tug the cap four times to keep it in place, thus the CTN for today is rated 4. A guy actually had a kite out at the park but it wasn’t quite windy enough and he gave up after a short time. Still, that gives you an idea of what it was like (current winds are being reported as 11 km/h).
For a change I opted to do my post-run stretching in the park instead of waiting to do it at home. I almost overdid it while waiting for a fellow jogger to run by. I didn’t have to wait but he was…uh…not wearing a shirt.
I like summer. That is all.
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
The last time I wrote poetry was when I was made to as part of a creative writing course I took in college back in 1989. This is a good thing because I’ve never been very good at writing poetry. I think this is for a couple of reasons. First, I see myself as a more meat and potatoes kind of writer and such a style does not lend itself to the carefully chosen wordplay of poems. Second, I’m too impatient to go through the process of carefully choosing individual words and weighing them in the context of a poem, which may also explain why I’m a meat and potatoes kind of writer to begin with.
I have looked over a few poems that I wrote back then and am putting them up here for public appraisal/mockery. I may rewrite them to show what I’d change if I was still writing poetry today.
Snake in the pond
Gently, go then
and swim in the
pond
Do not float or not move
There be snakes
in the pond
They are green
and yellow and black
and very pretty
You remember laughter
and scream
It’s in your trunks now
Gales of laughter
Swim with the colors
Slither and dive
You were so young then
You’ll never swim here
again
The Ride (number one)
The crowd waits in the rain
Umbrellas blossomed like black flowers
Gathered as if for a funeral
They wait for the familiar lights
He sees the lights and watches
as they resolve into the shape of the bus
Ritually, the umbrellas fold up
and the people move, not unlike
the poor and huddled masses, he thinks.
Everyone wants to be first
He is swept through the crush of bodies
into the smothering warmth
The smell of damp clothes and musty hair
mingled with an old woman’s odor
(two or three liters, perhaps)
is unavoidable as he inches down the aisle,
a cow in a cattlecar.
Clinging to a metal bar, umbrella soaking into
his side,
he gulps as a titanic shape approaches,
fold upon fold rippling through the trenchcoat
like waves on a rising ocean
He grimaces and is pressed
like luncheon meat as the
woman docks, staring out the window
with a pre-determined expression
He cannot see the window
It is too warm and the
fluorescent lights are
too harsh
The bus moves,
taking him on the most
exciting journey of his life.
Again.
Although conditions were near-perfect (warm, sunny, light breeze) I cut my run short just past the 1 km mark today because the right calf muscle I had pulled a few days back started feeling sore. I figure I need to give it a few more days to recover. On the good side, I managed a pace of 5:02 on the one km I completed, which is pretty good for my post-injury (the other one) since returning to the runs in June.
Tiger Woods once again congratulated me on completing yet another 250 miles. The grasp of distances he is displaying via my iPod may indicate why he has been having some problems since returning to golfing.
Although I set the iPod to a distance of 10K, I planned on running only half that, figuring that I was reaching a plateau with the 5K runs and this would be a good ‘send-off’ before tackling the 10Ks again. Little did I realize the surprise twist to come!
The weather was a mix of sun and cloud, around 17ºC, with a light breeze blowing. The trail was in much better shape than the previous run. I could feel my lower left leg but it didn’t hurt and did not affect my pace at all. As you can see in the chart below my time up to the 4K mark was nearly identical to the previous run. I believe had I done the full 5K I would have had a slightly improved pace due to the short 2-second gap between the 3 and 4K mark. However, just after hitting 4K my right calf (surprise twist!) suddenly started seizing up. I spent about 10 seconds running on it trying to decide what to do and opted to end the run early rather than aggravating it. I don’t believe it is actually hurt, as it seems like just a muscle spasm but it was certainly not the way I expected the run to end.
I am officially™ planning a full 10K run next time. Excelsior!
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
A day later than expected due to being busy with other activities that went on longer than anticipated, today’s run was done under a mix of cloud and sun with a light breeze and the temperature around 17ºC. Due to the frequent rain of late the trail was rather mushy in a few spots, exacerbated by ruts from a parks board tractor driving along the trail when mowing the field.
I was concerned that my lower left leg would hurt so even though I technically planned for a 10K run, I knew a 5K was more likely. The run itself was a mix of good news/bad news.
Bad news: my left leg did start feeling sore.
Good news: It wasn’t actually painful and didn’t affect my pace.
The soreness in the leg dissipated fairly quickly after the run, even without using ice, so I am hopeful this is nothing serious. Still, I am planning on seeing a doctor or sports therapist next week to get a better handle on what’s up.
The final bit of good news is I knocked another four seconds off my average pace. I’m getting closer to where I once was, so maybe that 10K run isn’t too far off now.
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
Once again I started with the plan to run 10k but ended up doing 5k. Amazing how much stamina you lose with a month off. I think I may finally be ready for a 10k on the next run, though.
Conditions today were very nice — a rare sunny day and warm, nearly 20ºC. There was a wind gusting occasionally but it died down shortly after I started my run.
Curiously, my first km has been getting progressively slower, though not by much. I’m not sure why. Maybe I am subconsciously trying to pace myself. I felt like I was dogging it for the last few km. A woman jogging ahead of me slowly began gaining ground as I flagged. There was a time I would have turned it on to catch up and pass her. I’ll get there again someday!
Average pace was 5:28, six seconds better than the previous run and breaking the 5:30 mark I was aiming for, so I’m pleased there. Left leg felt a little sore after so I iced it for half an hour and it feels fine now.
And Tiger Woods congratulated me yet again for another 250 miles. According to him I’ve completed about 5,000 miles so far. Thanks, Tiger!
More chart fun below. Except for a slightly slower start I improved across the board but am still off my normal pace. Still, progress.
Still, I have purchased the ebook version of Learning C# after seeing a post about a one-day sale O’Reilly was having where you could get any ebook for $9.99. Books on programming are always tricky to use because you have to constantly refer to them while trying to, well, program, so you end up picking the book up and setting it down over and over or start devising creative ways to make the book lay open and flat by using whatever you might have on your desk to weigh it down — staplers, spare keyboards, your cat. The ebook version by design is always flat. In fact, it’s perfectly 2D! This should make my programming efforts a smidgen easier.
This is the best album R.E.M. has put out since the group became a trio with the departure of drummer Bill Berry in 1997 and a dramatic turnaround from the slow, keyboard-driven sound of their previous album, 2004’s Around the Sun.
Some of the tracks here recall the freewheeling performances on 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant, particularly “Man-Sized Wreath” and “Supernatural Superstitious”. On the former, Michael Stipe offers a cynical view of celebrity death, opening with “Turn on the TV and what do I see?/A pageantry of empty gestures all lined up for me – wow!/I’d have thought by now we would be ready to proceed/But a tearful hymn to tug the heart/And a man-sized wreath – ow!” putting particularly cheeky emphasis on the “ow” and “wow” as punctuation. The song captures everything that makes Accelerate work so well: the percussion is no longer buried deep in the mix, as if in deference to Berry’s absence; instead the drums drive the song forward. Buck’s guitar also returns to the front, aggressive but clean, unlike the muddy play and excessive distortion found in efforts like New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Perhaps the most welcome return is Mike Mills’ soaring background vocals (even getting a brief solo at song’s end). Unlike the sometimes labored and typically downbeat tracks of Around the Sun, the band here seems to be just plain having fun.
On first listen, the album is bound to leave you feeling a bit out of breath despite its short length (under 35 minutes) due to the relentless pacing of the bite-sized songs, but further listens reveal more texture and depth. “Until the Day is Done” is a mournful reflection on America, characterized by Stipe as “an addled republic” and backed by Buck’s acoustic guitar and “Sing for the Submarine” is a weird number that features call-outs to past R.E.M. songs and a suitably submerged organ playing behind the chorus, along with more of Mills’ terrific backing vocals. It is perhaps ironic that the titular song is probably the weakest on the album. It’s competent but never quite realizes the urgency of its lyrics, as if the music is stuck a half-beat behind what Stipe is framing with his words.
Despite its brevity and some quibbles with pacing, Accelerate remains a well-crafted rock album, a worthwhile addition to the R.E.M. catalog and an easy recommendation to anyone who enjoyed the band but may have been put off by its last few efforts.
This is the conversation I had with my legs two days after my first run in 31 days:
Me: How you doing down there?
Legs: WE HATE YOU.
Me: Aw, you’re bound to be a little rusty and you were kind of slow, but that’s to be expected.
Legs: HATE. YOU.
Me: Pfft, it’s not that bad.
Legs: You remember those upper thigh muscles? I’m betting you do now because they are as stiff as roadkill at the North Pole.
Me: I’m pretty sure there are no roads or roadkill at the North Pole.
So yes, my legs were quite siff but today they were feeling a lot more limber so off I went on my second 5k run, my only real goal to improve on the sluggish time three days ago. Success!
With a light breeze, mild temperatures and a partly sunny sky I was able to shave 11 seconds off my average pace, bringing it from 5:45 down to 5:33. This is still pretty slow but it’s moving in the right direction. I again had a major drop-off at the 2km mark but it leveled off much more smoothly after that. The legs protested but not in a painful way, just in that “we’re not used to being exercised” way.
After swearing I’d never do another time travel story, I went ahead and did one anyway for the May 2010 writing exercise. You can check out all the exercises in this thread. My submission is my third story featuring the superhero group Chicago 8, not to be confused with the Chicago 7 or Chicago’s 8th album (I think they got up to 47 or so).
