RandomFailure

I thought I was overdue for a good PDR; my pattern had been one good, one not so good. Since last year fell into the “not so good” category, I figured this year would be “good”. I had a good plan: run with John W (see his PDR report) at 7:00 or slightly better, since he would be going slow for marathon training.

“7:00 per mile shouldn’t be a problem. If we feel good after halfway, we can pick it up from there.”

Hey, for once I started out being right. Mile 1 at 7:02 (at least that’s what I remember, silly me missed the Lap button on the watch). Miles 2 through 6 were all between 6:54 and 7:05. A little vacillation, but otherwise pretty good. Then things started feeling funky – a little tightness in the chest (more like solar plexus area, but since I’m not a doctor, I could be off a little) and some short breaths. Mile 7 was in 7:17, and I wasn’t feeling all that optimistic. John was a trooper and tried to encourage me back up to speed, but I just didn’t have it. I cut him loose shortly after the Mile 7 mark. Thanks for the help John!

I purposely slowed at that point, to try to catch my breath. I thought about stopping for just a moment, and then continue. I jumped the curb and realized that stopping would be a bad idea. So I got back into the road and hugged the curb (not literally). Mile 8 was in 8:01. OK, I blew up rather badly, but I can recover.

I hate the way my brain tries to trick my body into thinking that I can do something like that. Mile 9 in 8:04. Ugh. At least I’m not fading too badly. Mile 10 in 7:55, but still not really feeling better. Mind starts to wander a bit: I wonder if I’ll see anybody else I know running. With over 11,000 people out, the chances aren’t so good. Even if someone I knew did pass me, I was only half paying attention (sorry to anyone who did and I didn’t say anything). Mile 11 on 8:00, mile 12 in 8:11.

The one thing about the course change that I really don’t like is the movement of the finish line to Eakins Oval. That means the last hill heading up towards the Art Museum is where I need to put in the push to the finish. The straight really isn’t long enough for much more than a final kick. I finish the last 1.1 miles in 8:55, for a total of 1:38:27 (my official time is 1:38:23). Not a PR, but better than last year.

We happened to catch the end of a segment on Good Morning America this morning before I left for work about the new Tickle Me Elmo, called T.M.X. (for Tickle Me Extreme?). Anyway, Karen saw it and said she wanted one.

“Look at the line outside Toys R Us in New York.” I told her. “If you want one, you’d better get it today.”

And she did, at Target. I told her she should have gotten two: one to keep and one to sell on eBay. (Apparently, quite a few other people have had the same idea, based on the number of listings.)

We opened it up tonight. There’s even a little voice box connected to the outer box that says (in Elmo’s voice, of course): “Uh. Uh. Uh! No peeking! Hahahaha!”

Running on 6 AA batteries, this Elmo laughs, slaps its right arm up and down, bends in half in fits of laughter, on his back, on his side, on his stomach. The amount of movement is impressive.

But I highly suggest a clean floor. We put Elmo on our hardwood floor, and he was Swiffering the darn thing will all the convulsing, getting a little dirty in the process.

Turns out, after having to wait for 10 days (!), that my cable modem is shot. I’m now running on one “rented” from Comcast, at I think $3 a month. I just ordered a new Motorola cable modem from Newegg.com. This is a great site, if you ever need any computer stuff.

(written offline, September 7)

(OK, make that very spotty access; poted Sept. 11.)

I can’t believe it has been six days since I first lost the cable modem access. I have to wait until Sept. 12 before Comcast will even show up. When I called to make the appointment on Sept. 2, I was told that the first available appointment was on Tuesday. I took this to mean Sept. 5, only a few days away. However, on Sept. 5, I had Karen call (since she was at home), and we were informed that they meant Sept. 12.

Un-friggin-believable! We gave a monopoly to a bunch of jackasses. The City of Philadelphia having no balls for permitting competition on Comcast’s home turf is another story entirely. But the short version is: a few years ago, City Council delayed hearings for whether RCN could come into Philadelphia long enough that RCN could no longer viably stay in the picture. Perfect example of Philly politics at work. Damn bunch of crooks. Your choice as to who I’m referring to.

No, I have no idea what that means either. I was going through some boxes of old stuff this past weekend, and came across this piece of paper that I had written, probably at age 9 or 10. It looks like it was part of some classroom Mad Libs exercise. The above sentence is the trippiest of the bunch.

Other interesting snippets include:

Hot dog and dinosaurs (the title of this work)
a computer made of jelly
My shadow is made of fish

Nothing really to say about these weird lines, other than to offer them to share. I think there might be a story idea in there somewhere…