Heh

DS just made some randomly correct science statement out of the blue. When I heard it, I asked "Where did you learn that?" expecting to hear Bill Nye, I Love Toy Trains, or something like that. He looked at me and said "Phineas and Ferb."

All-righty then.

KGB

So, I found myself wondering - who decided that a good name for an info service would be "kgb"? I mean, my first thought when I hear "KGB" is not 542542, but rather, Комитет государственной безопасност.


(Yes, I copy/pasted it. Blame the original if there is a typo.)

Lunacy

Last night, I bit the bullet and registered for an event that I have considered for the past couple of years - the Howl at the Moon ultra. A timed, 8-hour run in the middle of August in Illinois. How bad could it be, right?

Running streak update

Some time ago, I mentioned that I was trying to run on a daily basis. So far, I have maintained that streak for more than 260 days. Yay me.

Platypus omelet

The other day, I was talking religion with my sister (in which I was maintaining the Almighty must have a profound sense of humor, with the noble platypus being Exhibit A), and I suddenly wondered:

Is the platypus a protected species?

If not, is it possible to obtain platypus eggs?

And, if you could obtain said eggs, how many eggs would it take to make a decent omelet, and what would said omelet taste like?

Beer, superheroes and Jedi

What do they have in common?

Well, Molson beer has a series of questions on their label, designed to provoke conversation. Naturally, they are only superficially philosophical, because what sounds like wisdom after your sixth beer is actually much closer to idiocy.

Anyway, the other day, the bottle I happened to be drinking posed the question:

"Which would you rather be: an ugly hero, or a sexy villain?"

Hrm. Tough question, but I would go with villain. (Duh.) Forget the physical aspects - villains just have kewler powers. (We've already established a connection between beer and superheroes, thanks to their question - here comes the Jedi.) Jedi are, in essence, heroes, with the Sith being their villain counterparts. Heroes can leap around, lift X-wings (or possibly only small rocks), do keen things with their lightsabers, and influence the weakminded. Sith can do all of the above, plus toss force lighning and crush tracheas - even over the phone. C'mon, like that's a contest.

And, a random Wii/Jedi thought. In Empire, Yoda states "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." In the Wii game, Lightsaber Duels, every character has a Force bar, which measures how much they can use the Force. Use the Force for anything, and it drops. How do you restore it? Attack, attack, attack - damage is what refills the bar. Apparently, all the Jedi are Sith in training.

Running note

This deserved its on post, albeit a short one. Last Monday, I managed to do something to one of my feet. I don't know exactly what I did to it, or how I did it, but walking, let alone running, was painful.

Since I have a (short) running streak going, of a mere 220-odd days, I wasn't going to toss it aside without a good reason. And since walking and running hurt the same amount, I did very short and slow runs for a couple of days. I'm still not at 100%, but I am getting close to what my workouts had been. Fortunately, my idiocy didn't screw me over this time.

Not sure how he knew.

One a recent grocery run, we picked up Aquafresh toothpaste for DS. When he first tried it, he put it on his toothbrush, looked at it, stuck it in his mouth, and pulled it out, exclaming "It tastes like an American flag."

Alrighty then.

A close call

I was going to post about the Illinois Marathon being in desperate need of volunteers, but it looks like the crisis may be averted. They could still use some, of course - I doubt that any race ever has to turn away volunteers, but the race may be held after all.

On a related note, I am currently considering my first real ultra. I have done a couple of "baby ultras" (50k races), but this would be my first "real" ultra - a timed, 8 hour loop course. Registration doesn't open until sometime in April, but the field is limited to 200 or 250, and I understand that it fills fast.

Quick 5k race report

March 7 race report

The race: Jack Kenny 5k

The place: Glen Oak Park, Peoria, IL

The time: 9 am

The numbers: 20:15, 3rd in age division (former PR 22:46)

The report: When I woke up Saturday morning, I knew it wasn't going to be the best race I could do. The weather was fine (cool, cloudy and only a slight blustery wind), but I had spent over 5 hours driving down the night before, and since I am allergic to my father's dog, I was a little conegested. (Nothing wrong, BTW, with combining a family visit and a race.) I didn't bother with breakfast, since it was only a 5k, and I could just eat afterwards.

When I got to the race site, I had to go register. Once that was done, I killed time, wandering a little, taking a couple bio breaks, and a little stretching. Soon enough, it was time to line up.

The course is a simple loop, repeated 3 times. So, while it is a little repetitive, it's also short enough that it's not a mind-numbing ordeal. (I wouldn't want to run a 10k on a 1 mile course though.) I lined up fairly close to the front, but made sure to place myself behind the contingent of high school runners. I knew I wasn't going to beat most (or any) of them, but I wasn't running against them anyway. The way I see it, if you are not in the top 3, you are really only running against the other people in your age/gender bracket.

A brief "Runners, take your marks" and we were off. My first mile was fast, too fast. I think I clicked through it in 6:20, and that includes my efforts to slow down after the first quarter. If I had held my initial pace, I would have managed to come in at about the 18 minute mark!) I had some fading for the second and third laps, although I am sticking by my official story, which is that I dropped down to about the pace I intended to do all along.

Soon enough, I was climbing the final hill the last time. I saw the runner ahead of me, started closing the gap, and finally kicked it into high gear as I approached the finish line. It was not to be be, however - I had started my final kick too late, and he finished 1 second ahead of me. (For the record, he took 2nd in my age group. Grr..)

I stuck around after, and my dad cheered on several runners he knew from work. We waited until the end of the awards ceremony - both to collect my bling, and to congratulate his co-workers, who had taken age group awards as well.

It was a nice race - if I happen to be visiting next year when it is being run, I'd happily run it again. Probably won't beat the high school kids though; I think a couple of them had times in the low 16-minute range.