Ugh…

I’ve entered the Badgerland Striders F/X 12 hour race. I’ve noticed that in the past, it was a small race; smaller than the Cornbelt (where I set my 24 hour PR in 2004).

I got some race instructions in the mail and was distressed to read:

Track Courtesy – It is common track courtesy in an event like this to let the faster runners pass on the inside lane. Particularly because of the large number of runners, everyone will have to particularly courteous and aware of their surroundings, at least until the 12 hour day runners finish at 9 p.m.

So, if you are running slowly at the time, move over into the second lane, or even into the third when it is the most crowded and runners are still fresh (from at least 9 a.m. until 3 or 4 in the afternoon).

And if you are walking, the third or even fourth lanes may be where you will have to be.

(emphasis mine)

At the Cornbelt, they told you to stick to the inner lanes and let others go around. That seemed to work. But, one has to follow the rule of the race, which means that I may as well plan to stay in lane 3 for the whole 12 hours.

The downside means that my results will show me with between 5-6 laps of distance (1.25-1.5) miles fewer than I’ll actually have.

But I’ll know how far I’ve gone, thanks to programs like this one. Roughly speaking, I’ll “lose” a lap for every 10 miles (if I think in terms of a 1/4′th of a mile lap)

Key marks for me:
5 miles 19.5 laps
10 miles 39
15 miles 58.4
20 miles 78 laps
25 miles 97.3
Marathon: 102 laps
50K 121 laps (lost 4 laps by now)
40 miles 156 laps
45 miles 175.2 laps
50 miles 195 laps

Anything more than that: I’ll be too ecstatic to care.

The weather forecast is very promising.

But the lesson here is that loop courses (rather than track ones) are probably better for walkers.

48 years OLD today…

Workout notes 3.5 mile walk (13:03, 12:03 (on/off), 10:23, 6:39 half mile cool down. Then yoga.

Blogging: nothing original, but there is a lot of good stuff out there.

Republicans: these are not my words, but they express many of my thoughts.

(ok, ok, I live in Illinois, and right now, in the state government, the Democratic leadership is a disaster! We are really blowing our chances! And more importantly, we are letting our state down.)

Obama: it was a good week for him.

Obama has some good ideas on how to fix the mortgage problem.

He also has a shot at winning some southern states in the general election, according to a former southern governor.

And, Obama is earning a reputation of NOT pandering to special interest groups, even when he is addressing them!

IL-18 (U. S. House race) this is district that Ray LaHood is retiring from); We have lots of potential candidates at the moment, and the DCCC is taking this district seriously.

L-18 looks to be wide open, especially on the Democratic side, since Ray LaHood’s departure made this an open seat and John Sullivan chose to pass. Philosophe Forum brought us some of the early names to come out: Sue Myerscough and former State Rep. Bill Edley (blueollie is big on Edley). Carl passed along the possibility that Dick Versace might run as well. Peoria attorney Patricia Benassi was also in and out while we were looking elsewhere. Now things are starting to shake out further…

First, Circuit Court judge Richard Grawey is looking very much like a candidate. He has dropped his role as chief judge of the 10th Circuit to explore the possibility of a run. (He’ll have to drop his judgeship all together if he does run.) Seems like a big move if he wasn’t seriously considering. [...]
The most interesting thing about the article though isn’t that Myerscough decided not to run, but rather how involved the DCCC has already been. They spoke with Myerscough before her decision not to run (who said that she came away from the meeting thinking that IL-18 was more winnable than she thought) and have also reportedly spoken with Edley and Grawey. It’s clear the DCCC thinks that this district can be in play.

Science: Hey Discovery Institute, David Berlinski is NOT a mathematician! Professor Moran rightly takes another well know ID(iot) to task, but in doing so, mentions that Berlinski has written some math books. True, he has written some pop math books, but please, don’t mistake this person for a mathematician! True, we have our cranks, but Berlinski is a crank that is NOT one of us.

Religion Mother Theresa: was really more agnostic that the public either knew or was willing to admit. Of course, this is not a surprise to those who know the clergy from the mainstream churches; the joke is that “the agnostics are at the pulpit, the believers are in the pews.”

Science and clothes:

Cosmic Variance tells us why string theory matters and why clothes don’t.

As to his last point; I must disagree ever so slightly; visible thong underwear isn’t for everyone.

But on the other hand, Skip Jenkins Show points out that lose bikinis can be lots of fun! (check out the third bikini photo on the bottom row)