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Want to see something funny?

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=uspopulation&ctype=l&strail=false&nselm=h&met_y=population&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=state&idim=county:55079:55025&idim=state:56000&tstart=331257600000&tunit=M&tlen=348&hl=en&dl=en

I thought it was kind of funny anyway. As usual for the internet, I found that while looking for something else...

Someone should tell him the rubber side goes down.

Look at this poor guy who can't even figure out how to ride his bike, or even which end is supposed to be up.

Tim Knoll BMX from tim knoll on Vimeo.

Hey, that thing has a seat for you to sit on buddy!

Did you watch the robot races?

Does this sound like someone we know (and love)?

Ben,  The web site you sent via yahoo came up infected on my computer so it wouldn't open it.  I tried to reply to your yahoo mail and that got sent back undeliverable.  Dad

At the end of the game the king and the pawn go back into the same box.  I am not sure what that is suppose to mean, but I read it today and it stuck in my head.

do you feel like a stranger in a strange land?

So I'm on the light rail on the way downtown, and the train sounds just like the machine at the beginning of half-life as it accelerates away from the station. Weird I think I finally grok twitter...

Wow, long time no post. I don't know why I do this to myself, but I'm hanging out down at ndk for the third year in a row. I didn't buy a pass. I think I'll just use this as an excuse to spend a weekend in denver with a pretty nice hotel room. I thought I'd maybe take the train downtown tomorrow and just hang out. Maybe check out that king tut exhibit. I don't know... I'm posting this from my fancy new phone, so thats why I'm not linking to anything, including what this phone is, a samsung galaxy S vibrant. I really like it.but I'm still not convinced the terrible data service in Laramie is worth $30 a month. Of course, I found out that with my cheap ass voice plan, I'm basically paying the unsubsidized phone plan price with a subsidized phone. If that makes any sense. anyway, I've put a little over 50 miles on my goofy new running shoes. I like them, but they aren't the amazing, life changing, un-shoes I was led to believe they would be. I think I must have had pretty close to a proper barefoot running gait already, because I adjusted to the vibrams almost instantly.just needed a few little tweaks, and almost no soreness. As cool as swype is, it's still taking me forever to type this, so I think I wrap this up.see you next month.

Maybe it is your rotator cuff - that's why your shoulder hurts?

No racing on Tuesday nite?  You can still enjoy the party!

Guess whos got ten toes and some goofy new running shoes?

this guy:

They're Vibram's newest running specific five-finger shoe, the Bikila (supposed to rhyme with tequila). It was pretty hard to resist the hot pink and orange ones, as you can well imagine. But I got the more sedate blue and grey ones instead. Haven't actually tried running in them yet. I'm still not to the point where 13 miles is easy-peasy, and I don't really want to make any changes this close to my next one this coming weekend. They feel pretty good just putzing around the house tho. 

After work on friday I headed down to Idaho Springs for the 1/2 marathon the next day. According to Google maps, my original route down through Walden and Winter Park to I-70 would have been an entire hour longer than just taking I-80 -> I-25 -> I-70. Since I wasn't leaving Laramie until about 5ish, I just took the more boring, but faster interstate route. As it turns out, it actually only took about 2 1/2 hours, not even the 3 the all knowing google said.

I spent a good half our slowing cruising around Idaho Springs trying to find a hotel that wasn't completely full. And failing. Next I drove up the interstate to Georgetown. Same deal. At this point I probably should have turned around and gotten a hotel down in Denver. It's only about a 20 minute drive after all. And there is that hotel on I-70 advertising rooms starting at $35 a night. But I have no sense, and can't imagine how terrible a $35 a night room motel would be. So I kept heading west to Summit County assuming they would have plenty of rooms.

They might have, but I didn't even look. By the time I got there, it was already 9:30, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay who knows how much to sleep in a bed for by that point, 6 hours. So I stopped at the Safeway for my "traditional" pre-race breakfast stuff (Fig Newtons and Orange Juice. Lot's of fairly simple sugars that digest quick and easily...), and found a dark spot in the parking lot to sack out for the night. I had brought my tent and sleeping bag. My original plan was to camp in one of the National forest campgrounds. Unfortunately, when I started checking reservations a week earlier everything was booked solid. I thought I might get down there in time friday night to find that something had magically opened up. But I was originally planning to take Friday off and get down there a lot earlier too. So far most of my plans aren't going well.

While trying to get to sleep in the back of my car (station wagons are pretty awesome by the way) I kept thinking back to that summer 13 years ago I spent working at the tire shop accross the parking lot from my "campling" spot. And the next spring I spent couch surfing around Summit County. Ah, memories...

At 4:30 the next morning, my alarm went off. I somehow managed to get my contacts not only in my eyes, but even the correct ones, in the dark. Sucked down a quart of orange juice and noshed on a couple newtons, got into my running clothes, and was headed east, back up to the Eisenhower tunnel, and then down to Idaho Springs by 5. By quarter to six, I was on the bus the race organizers helpfully provide to get back up the hill to the start in Georgetown. There is no post race bus from I.S. back to Georgetown. Hence my having to cover that stretch of Interstate multiple times over the course of the weekend.

Once at the start, I got my number tag, which had the timing chips embedded in thin plastic strips attached to the back. Neet! no little anklet or plastic dealie to tie up in my shoe laces. By this time, it was only a little after six, and the race didn't start until 8. Fortunately I thought to bring a book. I grabbed some of the free coffee, and sat down on the edge of the Georgetown resivour to kill some time with my book. I was behind a row of porta-pottys, and had my back to the arriving runners. I was so engrossed in my book, and watching the sunrise over the resevoir, that I didn't notice the thousands of people streaming into the start area.

I could hear a pretty steady stream of people slamming the porta-potty doors, and at 7:30, I decided I should probably hit the head one more time, and start warming up. When I came around the edge of the row of portajohns, I was amazed to see probably a thousand people in line for the bathrooms. Holy crap! As it turned out, the line was about a half hour long. Finally it was my turn, and by the time I got out the announcer was calling the stragglers to the start line. The start gun went off while I was dropping my warm up clothes off at the truck that would take them to the finish line for me. There were so many runners, I had time to fully stretch, and still not be the last person across the start line.

The first two miles is a loop through Georgetown before heading back through the start area, and finally starting down hill. Since I started so far back, I spend pretty much the first few miles of the race weaving my way thought the slow runners and walkers. The run itself was pretty uneventful. I hadn't run since my crash on tuesday, and my bruised thigh did start hurting pretty early in the run. I may have been running a little funny to favor it, because then my other thigh started burning too much earlier than either of them should have been hurting at all. I also chose not to wear my watch, since I check it obsessively when I do run with it. I took my Hammer Gel (Apple cinnamon tastes a lot like apple pie, It's actually kind of good.) at about the 8 mile mark, which should have been about an hour into the run.

I crossed the finish line with an official time of 1:50 and some seconds. I figure I started at least 5 minutes after the starting gun, which means I should have hit my target or 1:45 right on the nose. An assumption which was born out later when I dumped my GPS data. As usual, I did forget to turn it off until I was already walking around the post run food tents and picking up my swag bag. Even with the walking around, the GPS still gave me an average pace of 8:04. My target was 8:00, so I'm pretty happy with my performance.

Just like the last time I ran this event eight years ago, the free tshirt is kind of ugly. But hey, free t-shirt. And in the nice reusable grocery bag style swag bag, was a flier for another trail half marathon next weekend around Boulder reservoir. Which I signed up for pretty much as soon as I got home that afternoon. Not a bad day all in all.

I was a little sore today yet, so I didn't run like my schedule said I should have. But my schedule got all shot to hell last week while I was hoping to recover from that tuesday crash anyway, so who cares. So instead I took a nice easy spin on my road bike out to the cement plant and back. I really should ride my road bike more. But the truth is, although I can wear my baggy shorts on the mountain bike, you almost have to wear "regular" bike shorts on a road bike. And you almost have to have shaved legs to not look like a fred in bike shorts. And I really haven't been wanting to shave my legs the last few years. It's a pain in the ass. Thus I haven't wanted to wear my bike shorts, and thus I haven't been riding my road bike. At least not once the weather is warm enough that I can't wear my full length tights anymore. But today I said screw it and rode out with my leg hair proudly waiving in the wind.

And I liked it. I really shouldn't be this worried about what all the other freds think.

[quote=]forgot to mention, netflix has Top Gear season 11 and 12 streaming now too. Egg salent.[/quote]

Where's season 13?

Helmet check.  Now all I need is a bike

forgot to mention, netflix has Top Gear season 11 and 12 streaming now too. Egg salent.

I recently finished reading The Killing Star. I do generally like "hard science fiction" But the writing in the book, like most examples of the genre I've read, is pedestrian to the point of being dull. I mean, it's completely competent. But the writing style is, boring. And the authors also kill any momentum they may have built up by plopping, yes, like a turd, twenty some pages of inter-scientist "emails" expounding on ideas the authors were too lazy to properly work into the narrative. Including "reproductions" of correspondance or documents is one of the laziest, stupidest methods of exposition I've seen. And I hate it. 

I still liked the book, it's an interesting idea. But the execution was pretty weak.

I've been watching and enjoying the heck out of Carnivàle. Samson is a pretty awesome little dude. They don't even need all the creepy supernatural woo-woo, I'd watch the show just for him. Plus I have this weird thing for Clea Duval.... I mean, I know she's not what most people would call super hot. Probably far from it. But I don't know, I just find her really attractive. Hmm, TMI.

Anyway.

You know one good thing about living in Wyoming? We still get Pepsi Throwback. I just wish Coke had tried it too. I mean besides paying through the nose for Mexican Coke. Supposedly we still get it because it's made with Wyoming sugar beets. But who cares. It's tasty. For pepsi.

The LMBS last night was something of a cluster-futz. My just was not in it. And then I crashed pretty hard less than a mile into it. I think I got passed by the entire field before I got back up and on the bike. I did manage to finish 14th or something. But, well, I haven't been happy about my performances all summer, but last night was especially bad. But if you want, the track is up yonder.

 

I think I may have found my new favorite sport. Those things were actually made by The Great Trek Bicycle company. But alas, no longer. 

Good for you!  Don't forget to have some pizza in Idaho Springs.

for better or worse, I just registered for a half marathon next weekend. I did run a 12.5 last weekend. It didn't feel super spectacular, but it was ok. So I'll probably do just fine.

Speaking of running, after a month, and ~50 miles, I'm still really liking trail running. I don't know why I didn't start doing this before. It's almost a treat to myself to go up and run around Tie City. my old road runs are all like, ugh. Getting out in the dirt is more like, Yay!

Sorry, no stupid videos this time...

 

Saw Inception today.  I liked it.

I agree. Incepción was pretty great

I laughed out loud.  As your eyes get older they need bigger print.

There is a lmbs race tonight. And I'm not going. I still haven't gotten my replacement contact lens, and with discretion being the better part of valor and all that, I've decided it's not worth the risk to try racing with my current near complete lack of depth perception. Yes, I did in fact ride my motorcycle to Ft Collins this weekend. The sketchness of that ride is kind of what made up my mind to not try racing with only one good eye.

Not like I was doing terribly well in the standings this year anyway. And they do drop the worst result.... meh. whatever. 

As much as the anti-apple brigade annoy me, I did find this image pretty funny:

Saw Inception today.  I liked it.