20 Mile Fail: Head Games and Training (and other topics)

Workout notes I started off with a slowish 7 minute run 3 minute walk for the first 10 miles of the East Peoria Trail. It was chilly (23 F) with a chilling breeze. The first 10 miles didn’t go as easily as I had hoped; evidently stepping up my training for 2 weeks didn’t turn me into a Kenyan Olympic runner.

When I went out for my second 10 mile lap; I just up and started to quit a quarter mile into it. I stopped; started to head back and then told myself “walk it out”. I got to the first mile marker; stopped, almost turned around and then asked myself: “are you injured? No. Are you overly tired? No. ”

In fact I was

1. Cold
2. Bored.
3. Disappointed in my pace.

So I told myself to keep moving and so I did. I thought about turning around at mile 2. I didn’t. I kept moving forward with a brisk walk. Finally at mile 3 I started to feel better, and the last 7 miles were downright pleasant.

Ok, it didn’t hurt that the sun came out and the temperature rose into the 30s.

The numbers: 57 minutes out, 59 back, 1:15 out (walk), 1:12 back (walk), 4:24 total. No, I wasn’t that tired when I finished; in fact I felt better at the end than I did at mile 10. That means I can “recover while moving forward”, which is a necessary ultramarathon skill.

Politcs President Obama puts the big-money interests on notice!

Bobby Jindal: exaggerated his Katrina story.

Typical hypocrisy. From TPMMuckraker.com:

Jindal had described being in the office of Sheriff Harry Lee “during Katrina,” and hearing him yelling into the phone at a government bureaucrat who was refusing to let him send volunteer boats out to rescue stranded storm victims, because they didn’t have the necessary permits. Jindal said he told Lee, “that’s ridiculous,” prompting Lee to tell the bureaucrat that the rescue effort would go ahead and he or she could arrest both Lee and Jindal.

But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone “days later.” The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.

This is no minor difference. Jindal’s presence in Lee’s office during the crisis itself was a key element of the story’s intended appeal, putting him at the center of the action during the maelstrom. Just as important, Jindal implied that his support for the sheriff helped ensure the rescue went ahead. But it turns out Jindal wasn’t there at the key moment, and played no role in making the rescue happen.

Yes, there is a lesson: you can tell when a Republican is lying if they are moving their mouth! Jindal had nothing to refute President Obama with so he just made stuff up.

Academia: A student describes a “typical” literature discussion class:

It really is funny. Yes, it takes an appropriate swipe at faculty too.

Speaking of funny, here is a typical whine made by a student; evidently the tone of her professor hurt her tender feelings. Note: what these modern snowflakes call “being yelled at” amounts to being spoken to in a “not friendly” tone. These tender snowflakes wouldn’t last 5 minutes at a Marine boot camp.

Blogger wars: PZ Myers relates some whining that has been directed at him because he links to some religious woo websites.

Boxing, Bikinis, Elephants and Watermelon

Workout notes Nothing yet; in about 90 minutes or so I’ll start a 4 hour “walk/run/jog/slog” on the East Peoria trail. I might run the first 10 and then walk/jog another 10 or so; I’d like to get some “quality” for aerobic conditioning followed by some “time on my feet”.

Boxing I saw three bouts last night; the first one featured a boxer who actually sewed his own boxing trunks! In the first televised bout, Danny O’Connor (4-0, 1 KO) won a four round majority decision over Jamar Saunders (2-2-1, 1 KO); scores were 40-36, 40-36, 38-38. As far as the last one, I could understand giving Saunders the first round as the two fighters felt each other out and Saunders did land a few shots. But O’Connor absolutely dominated round 2 (I scored it 10-8) and had Saunders in deep trouble. The last two rounds were a bit closer but O’Connor continued to land hard punches whereas the game but overmatched Saunders didn’t. I scored it 40-35.

The second fight was the best of the evening: it was a wild welterweight bout between Antwone Smith (15-1-1, 8 KOs) and previously unbeaten Norberto Gonzalez (16-1, 12 KOs). The second round was very interesting; it appeared to me that Gonzalez had Smith in a bit of trouble and had him pinned against the ropes and was landing shots. But Smith used the “tuck the shin and roll the opposite shoulder back” move to invite Gonzalez in and unloaded a huge hook shot, knocking him down!

This sort of plan worked for Smith the rest of the fight; Gonzalez threw more punches but Smith landed the more telling blows and rocked Gonzalez repeatedly. Gonzalez suffered a big cut over his left eye and bled much of the night.

The three scores had it Smith 78-74; I had it 78-75 on my personal card ( I had round 2 10-9, as though Gonzalez was knocked down, he was hammering Smith right before the knock down).

I’d like to commend Teddy Atlas for his detailed commentary during the fight; he clearly explained what each fighter was trying to do (Atlas once managed and trained professional world champions, such as heavyweight Michael Moorer).

In the last fight, Glen Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs) defeated Daniel Judah (23-4-3, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision 99-89, 99-90, 99-90. (I had this 100-90 on my card). Johnson knocked Judah backwards (Judah was held up by the ropes) to obtain a knockdown in round 1 with a big right hand and was able to land the right hand throughout the night. Judah tried to psyche Johnson into believing that his bombs weren’t hurting him, but clearly they were; Johnson also did some damage to the body.

Judah stayed inside with Johnson; I am wondering if the punishment in the first couple of rounds took away his legs, thereby taking away his outside attack.

Johnson and Judah fought to a draw the first time, though many felt that Johnson had won. Johnson has held the light heavyweight title a couple of times and is currently ranked number 3.

More at Fightnews.com (includes a photo).

Bikinis: From the Legal Satyricon:

Ever wonder what a plumber is thinking about when beneath a woman’s sink? Put her in a bikini and I bet he’ll be thinking of how to loosen the pipes with a whole lot of pep in his step…

New research shows that, in men, the brain areas associated with handling tools and the intention to perform actions light up when viewing images of women in bikinis. (source)

Now that we can peer into the brain and map the privacy of thoughts, take a guess at how many males are going to go to the doghouse for that brilliant info!

Just what kind of tools and intentions are we talking about here however? Well men do have an intimate relationship with their penis. Besides it having a name, it’s fondled, stroked, played with, twirled and tucked. I won’t go further. Of course this new research is no surprise but how spooky is it that now science can back up the fact that men think with their dicks?

I’m sorry. Were the tools more like hammer and screwdriver where subconsciously a male thinks of ways to build a fertile bikini clad woman a house made out of coconuts because he intends to procreate and stick around to care for the kids? Leave it to evolution to muster up the grand illusion necessary for species survival: sexual pleasure in exchange for procreation. And thus, we have the battle of the sexes.

Ah, I like this. For those who might be unfamiliar with academia: one of the constant verbal tussles you see are those between some of the old school feminists who bristle with the charge “sex object” when a male reacts to a scantily clad female.

On one hand, I can understand the fear that some women might have of being judged only by her sexual attractiveness and not by other, more relevant qualities (e. g., a female scientist ought to be judged in the same way a male scientist is: by the quality and impact of their work).

On the other hand, it is utterly ridiculous to deny that some women or women dominated entities (e. g., women’s professional beach volleyball leagues) don’t dress in a manner to provoke a sexual reaction in heterosexual men.

About 10-15 years ago, the State of Illinois came out with a poster designed for use on college campuses; it showed a small photograph of a young man with large photos of young women who were surrounding him and yelling at him; one of the things being yelled was “how we dress has nothing to do with sex”. Bull f*cking s*hit.

It would have been accurate to say “you aren’t entitled to sex with us no matter how we dress”; that would have been true. But to imply that many (if not most) young women don’t dress to be sexually attractive is to deny reality.

Politics:

I find it difficult to believe that the clown who made this photo up “didn’t realize that it could be viewed as being racist”.

[65-year-old] Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose has apologized and said he wasn’t aware of the racial stereotype that blacks like watermelon.

Associated Press, February 27, 2009

What an *sshole.

Seriously, if there was no racial intent, why make up this photoshop photo?

Note: yes, I know that there are stereotypes of Blacks and basketball, but had someone put a basketball court on the lawn, I wouldn’t have seen that as negative as President Obama has openly played a lot of it and clearly loves it; that would be like putting a saxophone in President Clinton’s hands.