Sunday, April 29, 2007

04/29/07: 10.5 Mile Run: Brownell-Shades Creek Loop

Judy had to travel. So, I ran this one alone. The weather was beautiful. I put the iPod on my running favorites playlist and shuffle. I heard too much Brian Adams, lol. And, I discovered that Santana is good for running. Other than that, nothing spectacular happened.

Data

Distance: 10.5 Miles
Time: 1:36:29
Heart Rate: 152
Pace: 9:11
Weather: Clear
Temperature-60°
Humidity-78%
Route: 10.5 Mile Loop

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Finished Seeds of Hate



Well, I finally finished this book. It was a slow, but interesting read. Lawrence painstakingly walks the reader through a large number of events in Lebanon that ultimately ended with the US's complete abandonment of the area. I found the book demonstrated the steadfastness of those many would call our enemies. My quest to understand the differences between the cultures that are predominantly Muslim and ours continues. This book did help provide insight into some of the historical precedents that continue to feed the fervor that we watch unfold in the middle east.

A good read.

I have started Let It Be Morning by Sayed Kashua. I loved his first book, Dancing Arabs, and look forward to this one too. I think reading his novels also helps me get a more intuitive understanding of the middle east and the psyche of those who live there.

Friday, April 27, 2007

04/27/07: 4 Mile Run: Columbia, SC

A very early morning run (4:00 am), during which I listened to the Daily Source Code and the start of the second show about Steve Runner's running of the 111th running of the Boston Marathon on Phedippidations. Got a hoot out of Adam's reference to a statement that Cheryl Crow apparently made about how many sheets of toilet paper one should use, like 1 square. She claims it was a joke and it appears it got attention, lol.

I watched the Democratic candidate debate that was held in Orangeburg, SC last night. I gotta say, I have felt that the choice to go to Iraq was the wrong choice from the very beginning. But, I can also say that it doesn't feel right for us to leave a complete mess behind by simply pulling out either. I have not been able to put enough thought into what I think might be the right thing to do at this point. What a terrible situation we helped create. It is just sickening.

Data

Distance:4 Miles
Time:38:01
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:17
Weather:Clear skies
59°
Humidity-90%
Route

04/23,26/07: 3 & 6 Mile Runs: Columbia, SC

More runs during which I listened to the Daily Source Code. Still cranking and cranking at work, so I will be brief and just get down the data...

Data

04/23/07

Distance:3 Miles
Time:28:21
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:21
Weather:Clear skies
54°
Humidity-90%
Route

04/26/07

Distance:6 Miles
Time:56:50
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:28
Weather:Partly Cloudy
65°
Humidity-87%
Route

Saturday, April 21, 2007

04/21/07: 9.3 Mile Run: Statue-To-Statue Run

I participated in the annual Statue-To-Statue run here in Birmingham. This is a hard, hilly run from the Vulcan statue to the Liberty statue. Yet again, they gave out a high-tech, moisture wicking short sleeve shirt. I definitely approve. I don't think the water stops are frequent enough, but that's alright. I have learned to expect that so I pack my own gatorade just as I do on my Sunday long runs. I put the iPod on shuffle and just let the music run.

I did listen to the latest Phedippidations while waiting for the race to start. I enjoyed hearing Steve talk about his experience. I am extremely pleased that he seems to have taken such a positive attitude about it. It would be good if he could find away for us listeners to get emails of his progress without all of the banter between the listeners. I turned of the alerts during the race due to the number of emails coming in. For those that like to do that, it is wonderful. I just wanted to track Steve's progress. I relied on the "F5", refresh, button and hung out on the Boston Marathon site where I entered his bib number to watch his results. It was fun. I did feel like I was part of his running.

Data

Distance:9.3 (15K)
Time:1:20:48 (1:25:55 last year)
Heart Rate:Forgot the monitor!
Pace:8:41
Weather:Clear
Temperature: 59°
Humidity: 65%
Route

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

04/18/07: 6 Mile Run: Neighborhood


I listened the latest CD I purchased during this afternoon run. Rascal Flatts caught my attention thanks to the movie "Cars". Its a good CD. Who would have thunked of a reggae-country fusion. And, backwards is just funny. Great CD. It was a warm, but good run.

Data

Distance:6
Time:54:09
Heart Rate:156
Pace:9:01
Weather:Partly Cloudy
Temperature-74°
Humidity-22%

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

04/17/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

Yesterday's shooting of 32 students at Virginia Tech is just horrible. I went to school there for 2 years and it is a beautiful place and a wonderful school. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones.

I ran today listening to the Daily Source Code as hosted by MarkYoshimoto Nemcoff from Pacific Cost Highway. Adam Curry is on vacation. Mark sure likes to cuss, but is quite entertaining.

I passed a suffering and tiny rabbit during the run. It was in the middle of the road and clearly having trouble trying to get upright and move. I moved it off of the road. I later thought that since it seemed as if its death was certain and it was suffering, maybe I should have put it out of its misery. Not sure I did the right thing. Poor little creature.

Steve, of Phedippidations, ran the Boston Marathon yesterday. He trained hard and was confident that he would ran one of his fastest, if not the fastest, marathons he has run. He did not achieve his goal. He is obviously disappointed. But, for those of us that run and listen to him regularly, it is hard not to empathize with him. I sure hope he keeps his chin up and presses on. He finished and in a time I consider very respectful. I followed his progress all day. I even calculated his splits and leg times as I did my own when I ran. He and I share similar results with an incredible slow down in the last 6-8 miles. I can't way to hear his analysis of the results. And, I sure hope he doesn't let it get him down.

Data

Distance:3
Time:28:19
Heart Rate:143
Pace:9:26
Weather:Clear
Temperature-42°
Humidity-86%

Sunday, April 15, 2007

04/15/07: 10.5 Mile Run: Brownell-Shades Creek Loop

It was too wet for Judy. I made it at 6:30 am, but did not have enough clothing with me. I dressed for the temperature, but it was wet and windy. So, I decided to head home and come back out when I had the right clothing. I got out again about 11:30 am. It was still code, wet, and windy, but I was dressed for it. I listened to show 92B of Phedippidations which is the last one until after Steve runs the Boston Marathon tomorrow. I do hope he does as well as he hopes. I need to work up the energy to get some more work done. So, off to it...

Data

Distance: 10.5 Miles
Time: 1:39:20
Heart Rate: 154
Pace: 9:27
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature-44°
Humidity-63%
Wind: 22mph with gusts to 31mph
Route: 10.5 Mile Loop

Saturday, April 14, 2007

04/14/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I didn't make it out yesterday as planned. So, I got a run in before I went to the gym for Muscleworks, a group exercise class where I was the only male. I listened to shuffled music.

Rant: Man did I go off on a rant on the expense reporting system we have. It never fails that I have to fax my receipts over and over and over and over again. I literally lose hours try to file expense reports. Well, I have getting faxes through but only the cover pages were showing up. The help desk told me, on my first call, that I have to submit before I can see all of the receipts and that it had been this way since our last upgrade. I know when that upgrade took place and have filed many times since without this problem. So, I knew it was wrong. So, I waited a few hours and called again. This call ended in what must have been the problem. Our system spots the beginning of an expense report by noticing a bar code. One of my receipts had a bar code! Silly me; I should have caught that myself. Anyway, it was a comfortable run with the rain threatening, but not arriving.

Data

Distance:3
Time:28:47
Heart Rate:148
Pace:9:35
Weather:Cloudy
Temperature-54°
Humidity-53%

Thursday, April 12, 2007

04/12/07: 6 Mile Run: Neighborhood

A morning run during which I listened to Phedippidations. This episode was about the race at the Boston Marathon during which Salazar and Beardsley ran side by side until the end when Salazar won. I have to admit that running while listening to this was incredibly inspiring. Steve did an excellent production job on this one.

Data

Distance:6
Time:56:25
Heart Rate:155
Pace:9:24
Weather:Clear
Temperature-42°
Humidity-89%

04/10/07: 3 Mile Run: Neighborhood

Still trying to get caught up at work. Thus, the stress level is still high, but I forced myself to get out the door for this run. I did have to put it off until the afternoon though. But, I did feel good to run in the warmth of 65°. I finished up the latest Daily Source Code (DSC) then switched over to shuffled music on the iPod. I do so wish the iPod had a "Add to Selection" or something like that on the device itself. Why? Because, when I am about to go out the door for a run, I don't want to go to the computer to add a few entries to the playlist to ensure I have enough content to play for the length of the run. Today, I had to stop when the DSC finished and select to play something else because the DSC is in my "My Channel" playlist. This playlist is just a list of the podcasts that I subscribe too and I only listen to them once.

Data

Distance:3
Time:28:34
Heart Rate:150
Pace:9:31
Weather:Cloudy
Temperature-65°
Humidity-39%


Sunday, April 08, 2007

04/08/07: 8.5 Mile Run: Demopolis, AL

I ran a midday run listening to shuffled selections of music after I finished up the lastest Phedippidations. The weather was perfect and I had picked out a circular route. I spent most of the time contemplating how to best handle several situations at work. Not the least of which is how I need to delegate better so more work gets done and I am not the one doing it.

Data

Distance:8.529
Time:1:16:49
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:00
Weather:Clear
Temperature-52°
Humidity-22%
Route

Saturday, April 07, 2007

04/07/07: 3 Mile Run: Demopolis, AL

Well, it's been a busy day, but I did start with a run. I also added a wireless network at my in-law's house. So, I can work all Easter weekend :( It is cool to have wireless access to the Internet from here, but I would rather be playing. Sometimes thinks just come in faster than I can get them out. As is usually the case, setting up the network was more difficult than expected. First sign of trouble was that the router assumed ethernet access to the modem. The modem had 2 ports: USB and ethernet. And, it became clear that you used one or the other, not both. The computer did not have a network card and was connected to the modem with USB. So, off to Walmart. Yes! Walmart to buy geek toys. Of course, they had it. So, installed the network card.

Things are still not done. I wanted to make sure I didn't break anything and I have never messed with DSL before. So, I contacted BellSouth via their online chat help as pointed to by the installed help client on the computer. And, the person at the other end did, in fact, tell me everything I needed to know except one thing. I should have verified that I knew the user name and password as configured for the PPPoE settings. I never messed with PPPoE before either. Here are the basic steps:

  • Access the modems administration page via IP
  • Set it to "Ethernet Bridge" instead of "PPPoE"
  • Disable its DHCP
  • Turn everything off
  • Connect the Modem to the router's WAN port via ethernet
  • Connect the computer to the router
  • Turn everything on and set up router
The last step is where I bumped into the problem with not knowing the user name and password. The default settings did not provide Internet access. Knowing that there were PPPoE settings on the DSL Modem that I undid led me to look for a setting for such on the router. I found it by "Internet Connection Type" and selected it from the dropdown. Then, I needed the username and password to complete the setup. My in-laws and I managed to guess enough to figure it out. And, it works! It only took 2-3 hours.

Then, I discover that my power adapter for my laptop won't work. I think it is the cord that plugs into the adapter to connect to the computer and into the transformer (or whatever it is called). So, off to RadioShack (Demopolis is a small town so no Best Buy or such). They didn't have a replacement cord for my Targus unit, but had a similar setup of a different brand. These univesal laptop adapters are not cheap either!

I listened to the last of 2 podcasts: Daily Source Code and Phedippidations.

Data

Distance:3
Time:27:27
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:09
Weather:Clear
Temperature-35°
Humidity-50%
Route

Friday, April 06, 2007

4/05/07: 6 Mile Run: Neighborhood

I logged this too long after the run to remember anything spectacular or interesting... Oh wait, yes it was cold....

Data

Distance:6
Time:56:24
Heart Rate:154
Pace:9:24
Weather:Clear
Temperature-42°
Humidity-58%


4/03/07: 3 Mile Run: Blythewood, SC

Still on the road...

Data

Distance:3 Miles
Time:27:36
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:9:12
Weather:Partly cloudy
62°
Humidity-90%
Route

Sunday, April 01, 2007

4/01/07: 3 Mile Run: Folly Beach, SC

I ran a short run on the beach. The weather was beautiful. My legs were a bit sore from yesterday's race, but it felt good to loosen them up a bit. The sand made for a good workout.

Data

Distance:3
Time:30:38
Heart Rate:Not measured
Pace:10:12
Weather:Clear
Temperature-57°
Humidity-89%