18 May 2009: am.

Workout notes Nothing yet; probably a brief swim over lunch. I am a bit stiff and sore from yesterday’s marathon walk.

Topics of the day

Science Texas has a problem with fire ants. But there is a type of fly that actually uses fire ants as a incubating place for its larva. Check out the post for some interesting pictures.

Giraffes

Science Avenger pointed its readers to this video: note that giraffes fight each other and use their necks as weapons!

Humor

What if faith healers entered the plastic surgery area?

(hat tip: friendly atheist)

To each their own I came across a site that had a post about men in lycra (a gay men’s site?). They had a photo of a guy wearing those long swimming pants (like a wet suit bottom) and noticed that they entirely missed the much more attractive image in the photograph:

How could they have missed this?

This does lead to a “serious” point though: I am hardwired to find certain sights attractive (e. g., this) and other people (including most women) are not. My brain reminds me of this but the emotions are strong; I have a hard time, on an emotional level, understanding how someone is NOT attracted to such things.

This TED video discusses this very well:

Religion and Soceity
The Los Angeles Times carries an editorial about the “angry atheists”. Yes, some atheists got their feelings hurt; I am not one of them.

Sure, I agree with Sam Harris that

This is, without a doubt, one of the most embarrassingly stupid attacks on the “new atheists” to be published in a major newspaper.

So, I’ll give a response. Frankly, I don’t care to “engage a theologian” on the existence of deities, spirits, or whatever. I care about this issue for basically two reasons:

1. The idea that some deity will intervene supernaturally in the affairs of this world is a dangerous one. This is but one reason why. Another reason: consider the number of people who think that creationism has a place in the science classroom.

2. “Morals” obtained as the result of believing in some myth of superstition can lead to painful outcomes: some are cruel but non-fatal and others can be cruel and fatal (example one) (example two); see more here.

If one accepts naturalism (e. g., things in this universe happen for natural reasons) and that one accepts that the “morals” in the major holy books are seriously flawed (e. g., accept the thinking of the people who wrote them at that time) and really don’t apply now, I honestly don’t care what people believe.

Sure I find the Christian theology (e. g. that some deity sent part of itself to be sacrificed to forgive “sin”) to be patently absurd, but, in reality, who really cares. After all, I still take yoga classes thought yoga teachers often spout off complete nonsense.

Some 17 May Remarks

I am watching the Celtic-Magic game. The Magic have burned it up from 3-point land and it is 81-66 Magic with only 8 minutes left in the game. The Celtics did come within 3 but the Magic had an answer to every Celtic charge. This game is all but over.

Oh well; where Orlando will in all likelihood get beat by Cleveland, they are in better position to at least win a game or two in that series.

Pierce just missed 2 free throws; it has been that kind of game.

Update: the Magic are up 95-78 with 3:01 to go; this one is over. Ooops, make it 99-78.

Other comments

I looked at today’s letters to the editor. There were letters from readers that said that it was good to question evolution, that creationism ought to be taken seriously.

Of course, the Journal Star was correct to publish the letters, no matter how ignorant, stupid or misguided they are.

All one has to do is to look at every major science department or at every major lab; whether evolution happened is not in question. If there was any justice at all, these creationist morons would be denied the benefits of modern medicine, much of whose development depends on the principles of evolution.

Bradley Graduation It ran well over 3 hours despite the graduate school moving its graduation to another time.

The graduation was, for me, very painful. The only part I enjoyed was, believe it or not, Representative Aaron Schock’s speech. It was the right length, and I thought that he gave good advice.

The Journal Star has the story here:

“It’s worth remembering that the best human qualities are widely dispersed. Like wisdom, neither side can claim to have them all,” Schock told the 900 graduating seniors and thousands of their family members and friends in attendance.

“When you choose your friends, what matters most is goodness of character and the way they treat others, especially the most defenseless,” he said. “Kindness, decency and honor have no political affiliation, and in a free country, they never will.” [...]

“The conventional view is that you’ve got to draw lines – between this group and that, between the ones you talk with and the ones you talk about. But nothing positive ever comes of that attitude, and besides, it’s boring – a sure way to narrow your thinking, close off other ideas, and turn away goodwill.

“The fact is, you can go a lifetime admiring someone and trying to be more like them without ever knowing or much caring what their politics are.” [...]

“Some of my new colleagues in the Congress have been around a long time. One senator was there when Harry Truman was president. I’ve gotten to know one member who was also elected when he was still in his 20s and will soon mark his 83rd birthday,” Schock said.

“It’s not hard to suppose that I came into office with a different perspective on many things. And I know that part of my job is to let an old institution hear the voice of a new generation.”

Note that one of the speakers who went on before Schock went on and on and on and on…so when Schock went on he said something to the effect that “I made it through Bradley in about half the normal time, and so to honor that my speech will be at half the usual length”. He also said that people were there to celebrate their graduation and not to listen to long speeches; the crowd erupted in cheers.

Here is a link to Schock’s speech.

Later, despite requests that individual graduates not get cheers, it happened anyway. In fact, there was a request from the podium to “keep the graduation dignified” but that went unheeded.

Also, a request went out for the undergraduates to quit playing with a beach ball that they were bouncing around.

In short, this ceremony reminded me a bit of Animal House.

There was part of me that actually was happy about the boorish behavior of the graduates and the parents; at least the upper administration got a peek at what we have to deal with on a daily basis.

Social-Political Commentary
In my community, there is one high profile person that is mostly popular. Personally, though I don’t see this person as evil, I just don’t like the person.

But because this person is so popular with others, I find myself feeling resentment beyond anything that this person has done to affect me.

I then remembered: “I’ve felt this before”.

I felt this way during the first 7 years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency (though I like what he did toward the end).

No, Reagan wasn’t evil (in the way that I see Dick Cheney) nor was he as incompetent as President George W. Bush. But I just didn’t “get” his wild popularity with much of the public; I saw him as a bit of a dim-witted buffoon who told stories and did little else. I admit that the book Role of a Lifetime helped me understand more.

So, this helps me understand some of the bitterness that some feel toward President Obama.

True, some of it is race (among a percentage of people), and some of it is anti-intellectualism. But my guess is that much of it stems from the fact that some who don’t support him just don’t see why he is so popular with so many.

Like him or not, President Obama has style and charisma and I happen to like him because he is an intellectual and because he put people like Stephen Chu (Nobel laureate in physics) in his cabinet.

To me, he is the anti-Reagan; I once said that I hope that President Obama does for smart people what President Reagan did for dummies. President Reagan made it cool to be stupid and ignorant, and hopefully President Obama will make it cool to be smart and informed.

Rockford Marathon 2009

Note to visitors If you are looking for results, I found them here. They weren’t easy to find.

Just the facts I walked 100 percent of the time, though my right knee probably wasn’t straight enough for me to call it a legal racewalk.

Time: 5:14:26 (chip) (2:35/2:39, 2.6 percent slow down). Pace: 11:59.5 minutes per mile.
Note: the official tag that they let me print out had my time exactly right, but they calculated my pace at 12:01. I don’t tolerate round off error.

Place: 191/215 (remember that I was walking) (203/227 by Marathonguide)

This was my fastest walking marathon since 2004 when I walked the Quad Cities Marathon in 5:13:21. This is my 4′th fastest walking marathon.

I’ll post official photos later; here is one of me, Froggy and Smoochie. Yes, I carried them in my pack and in my hands over the last .3-.4 miles or so. I took them out of my pack when Barbara greeted me at mile 25.8 with a “My Grandma can walk faster than that!”

At bit about the race itself; my personal report follows.

Pre-Post race amenities: excellent. Close in parking was easy, check in was easy, the goody bag had stuff you’d actually want (gum, coffee), plenty of potties, gear check, and they announced numbers of people who hadn’t picked up their gear as yet.

Post race food included drinks, bagels, fruit, and there was still a lot of stuff left when I finished.

They also had a massage table (that I did not use).

Volunteers, course support: excellent; all major intersections had police officers, lots of people on the course, potties too. Aid was frequent and plentiful though I only took water. The kids on the course cheered LOUD.

The course: I liked 25.4 of the 26.2 miles; it was mix of roads, paved bike path, parks, woodsy areas, residential streets (many very attractive), “strip mall-ish” stuff, some downtown and some along a river.

My only beef with the race was we had about a .8 mile stretch between mile 18 and 19 were we were on a moderately busy two lane road with no shoulder, no cones, no traffic control. The rest of it was well marked, coned off, etc.
Note: Runners (say, 4 hours and faster) may not have noticed this.

But over all, I liked the course. It was fast with only a few very small “not quite a hill” sections, and there was some scenic parts.

Other stuff There is a much larger half marathon that starts with the marathon. So, even slower runners and walkers will have company for much of the first half of the race. But at my pace (just faster than 12 minutes per mile), the course emptied out after the turn off; it took me about a mile to catch up to the next participant. I mostly caught people but there were usually pretty good sized gaps between marathoners.

It took about 40 seconds to get to the start line from the back of the pack, but it was easy to get into one’s pace right away.

The race was timed with a chip; marathon and half marathon individual participants were issued a “disposable chip” which hooked into your shoe laces; after the race you could go to a small computer, enter your bib number and get your time and place results immediately.

From the blogs: I found two blog posts on this year’s marathon: we have a 3:09 view of the race (lots of photos) and a 4:30′ish view. I also found someone who did a 6.X mile segment of the relay, but this individual was said “boo on that” because relay runners didn’t get a finisher’s medal and those that went either twice as far or 4 times as far did. That tells you what you need to know.

My race:

It was chilly at the start (35 F) and was to warm up into the low 60s at the finish. Still, I had no problems. Of course, I loved the spandex.

I lined up at the back and chatted with some runners including one who was interested in ultras.

We were off and I had no problems; I was amused at some older guy (dressed in black) who was walking and straining to stay with me early. The first miles were through city roads and came very quickly; I made the decision to take succeed tablets every 2-3 miles or so. That helped me avoid nausea (at least during the race) for the first time in a couple of years.

I was really enjoying all of the slower lady runners who were doing the half. My pace felt easy though I know that my knees were not perfect. 11:30-11:50 was not a strain.

But I was having some kidney issues even though I emptied my bladder just prior to the race; eventually I used the woods during one of the woody bike-path areas. When I returned a couple of ladies laughed and said “no fair”.

I was to have to use the bathroom one more time (just after mile 10).

The pace was easy to hold. One interesting stretch was the mile 10 to 12 where we went along a bike path which was near a river. A redwinged black bird was going crazy; it didn’t bomb me but it did “escort” me out of the area.

But we were to soon separate from the half marathon people; then the course emptied out. I did get a chance to see the winner and the second place finisher make it to 25.8 or so (2:30-ish for the winner).

It took me forever to catch up to the next person; I was by myself for long stretches but managed to catch people from time to time.

I remember reaching mile 16 in a pleasant neighborhood and then seeing some on their way back. But at 18-19 we had the bad stretch along the two lane road with no traffic control and no shoulder. It got better at mile 19.

By then nausea wasn’t a worry; I felt much better than I had this deep into a marathon (over the past 2-3 years). But I was slowing; my body wasn’t ready to sustain a mid to high 11 minute per mile pace.

Eventually those 11:45s crept to 11:55s to 12:10s.

But still, I was doing ok and felt good about my finish.

I kept saying “I’ll pick it up at mile: 20, 21, 22, 23 (park), but I never did; I mostly worked at maintaining.

Just prior to mile 26, we had crossed the river and were about to head back, I saw Barbara and she harassed me. So I took Froggy and Smoochy out of the back and carried them with me across to the finish.

My shins and hamstrings were a bit sore, but overall I felt good.

But I made the mistake of drinking too much water too soon; it came up (several times). But at about 2-2.5 hours afterward, my digestion system clicked back on and I was ok.

mile	time	cum time
1	11:34	11:24
2	11:46	23:20
3	11:36	34:57
4	11:16	46:13
5	11:48	58:02
6	12:48	1:10:51 (bathroom)
7	11:29	1:22:20
8	11:27	1:33:48
9	11:40	1:45:29
10	11:48	1:57:17
11	12:49	2:10:07 (bathroom)
12	11:47	2:21:54
13	12:01	2:33:56 (about 2:35:20 at half)
14	11:46	2:45:43
15	11:52	2:57:36
16	11:42	3:09:18
17	12:05	3:21:24
18	11:52	3:33:16
19	12:09	3:45:26
20	12:01	3:57:28
21	11:57	4:09:25
22	12:17	4:21:43
23	12:11	4:33:54
24	12:18	4:46:13
25	12:41	4:58:55
26	12:47	5:11:42
26.219	2:44	5:14:26 (12:30 pace for .219)