Reflections and Resolutions

As we cash in on what little we have left of this year, I couldn't help but click back to previous blog entries and reflect on some of the things I posted during 2009:

• When the year started, I was in pursuit of a new 10K PR. I got it with a 55:38 chip time at the Bayou City Classic. Now that seems like an eternity ago and I wonder if I'll ever run like that again.
• It was both a year of remarkable drought (Houston's historically rainiest month of June was totally dry) and remarkable flooding.
  
• I took home finisher medals from my seventh and eighth half marathons. But I was the most excited to be there as I saw my sister collect her first.
• Internet delivery of movies and television shows became something that happens at my couch, not the computer chair.
• As I got settled into my new apartment, I met some unexpected neighbors.
• While out on a run, I watched a man die.
• While tummy troubles gave me grief in the latter half of the year, achilles concerns weighed down my running in the first half.
• As I suspected, a relay event can be really fun.
• And I still can't beat Gary Kubiak.

Having been a kid intrigued long ago by the movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact, having this next calendar year actually arrive is rather cool. Over Christmas, a very special holiday elf gifted me with a runner-centric calendar by Marty Jerome. I'm not familiar with his writings now, but I'm guessing that I will be by the end of the twelve months. I hope it will help me with my perpetual resolution to become more organized. I'm okay with not being a fast runner, or a runner logging monstrous mileage. But I'd like to be consistent. So I'm modestly resolve to log at least 730 miles in that book, or an average of two miles a day. It's intentionally modest because I'd also like to leave myself more open for cross-training opportunities.

Second, I resolve to be a better spender of money. Being fiscally prudent recently through the economic downturn has paid off, and I'm fortunate to be employed and comfortable with my level of savings. So I hereby give myself permission to spend more -- not in a frivolous sense, but in ways that I feel will enrich my life.

I hope to improve my life in other ways, of course, but those are the two resolutions I'll declare on this blog post. May 2010 be blessed and prosperous for my readers, and may it provide reason to celebrate once again one year from today.

Penguinism

John "The Penguin" Bingham has penned his final column for Runner's World magazine.

His "butterfly effect" ponderings in his capstone entry line up rather well with the thoughts I've been having about myself lately. I've felt that my running fitness can be gauged from how the last three to six months have went. It's sort of a "what have you done for me lately" deal. But it's not what necessarily a what-have-you done right now deal either.

What this means is that successfully training for and finishing that full marathon a couple of years ago contributes very little to how I am today physically (although the experience factor is very valuable). On the other hand, having one lousy run in the present doesn't necessarily mean I'm hopelessly falling apart either. I've had quite a few lousy running weeks during this past summer and fall, enough to prompt me to switch races. My confidence was shaken enough to even allow the thought of a DNS for the half to creep in. So I was certainly relieved to be able to log 10 miles yesterday. Despite the cool air and the fantastically sunny skies, I stuck to the treadmill. It seems like a crime against beautiful weather, but making the 10 miles was more important to me this past weekend than experimenting with the environment.

Except for last month's Turkey Dash, I haven't run outside in many weeks. Yes, winter's darkness obliterating the natural light in the early mornings and evenings has been discouraging me from running the trails and sidewalks. But I must also acknowledge the what-if anxieties concerning bad things that can happen "out there" -- ones that didn't seem to bother me in the past. So while I'm grateful that the treadmill has been there for my benefit, I also find myself wishing that my Garmin Forerunner could have seen more use lately.

That Forerunner will certainly be strapped to my wrist as I venture out on Marathon Sunday, though. I've found John Bingham's writings to be really good motivational material, and I find myself returning to his Marathoning for Mortals book again and again. The rise of "Penguinism" in the latest running boom -- even its very definition -- has been discussed and debated. For myself, it has meant being able to tap into an internal desire to get up and move, train, aim for a goal like a distance run, and celebrate the feeling.

Even if you're destined to be confined at the back of the pack, or will never be mistaken for the cover model of a fitness magazine, the "Penguin" has counseled us to believe that running is naturally inclusive activity, and there's nothing wrong with the average (or even below-average) Joe or Jane showing up on race day and being counted.

Waddle on, John, and thanks.

Merry Christmas!

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

For the few, the proud, the readers of this blog -- may joyful blessings find you, wherever you may be.

I'm not going to pay a lot (and several times a month) for this muffler.

Just a few PC-related musings today....

MS Money to Quicken Converter: It's a Flop.
Microsoft Money is decidedly the single most important application I currently use on my home PC. Plainly put, it works great for my purposes. I launch the program, it scoops up data from my various financial institutions automatically and gives me a true dashboard view of my fiscal situation. It was my trusted co-conspirator during my transition away from paper statements and billing. ("Kids, you know the truck that drops off Netflix DVDs? It used to deliver envelopes containing messages from companies that wanted you to pay them something. We would write the amount we wanted to pay on slips of paper and send those back....")

Know that feeling when you've become totally hooked on a new television show, only to have the network cancel it prematurely? Well, that's what I'm dealing with as MS sends Money off to manage its own retirement. I've been pondering some alternatives as support will fall away over the next year, but I can already report that my number one option of switching to Quicken isn't looking smooth.

I bought and installed a copy of Quicken 2010 Deluxe and followed the prompt to import my existing Money file. The result was insane. The first thing I noticed was that the program downloaded statement updates from the bank that duplicated existing transaction entries and failed to notice the duplication. Not only that, but there is no facility to match the downloaded transactions. The "Downloaded Transactions" tab that is supposed to handle this . . . doesn't exist. Picking out and deleting nine months worth of duplicated transactions isn't exactly my idea of a good time.

It got even more entertaining when I started looking closely at my mangled transactions. All of my purchases from a frequently-visited store were tagged with the memo "car muffler," when that store doesn't even sell mufflers. And all of my PayPal purchases were categorized as gifts . . . for one very lucky individual.

I have a feeling that if I do choose to switch to Quicken, it will be less headache in the long run just to start a new file from scratch and populate it with only my current accounts.

I Wish The Upgrade Advisor Had Told Me My Media Player Setup Was "Obsolete"
For day-to-day CD ripping and music playing, I had gotten very comfortable with using Windows Media Player. My digital music collection is currently on a small NAS device. Under Windows XP, both my desktop and laptop machines had their WMP libraries pointed there. After last month's OS upgrade I was surprised to find out that Windows 7 Libraries simply will not include network drives such as the one being shared from my inexpensive NAS. Yes, WMP will play the individual files, but it's not nearly as nice as having them actually cataloged and indexed in the Library.

I could copy the files over to the local hard drive, but then I'm faced with the organization hassle that using a network server solved in the first place. I'm thinking of upgrading the slow and aging NAS to something like an HP Mediasmart. It would certainly be a spiffy addition to the home network, and it should solve that Windows 7 annoyance. I just wish buying Windows Home Server wouldn't make me feel as if I was rewarding Microsoft for disabling something that worked in an earlier version of Windows.

Or I could use iTunes full-time. On second thought, no I won't. Eek!

So That's Why I Kept That 25-Foot Patch Cable
Oh, there was resolution to my roadblock with wireless networking in Linux. Once I stretched a cable across the room to connect my router and my desktop PC, Ubuntu immediately updated itself by downloading and installing drivers for my wireless adapter. Put that one away in the "chicken-and-egg" file. It's too bad SUSE wouldn't respond the same way.

Perhaps I should try racing sheep?

The morning began with a warmup in the lobby of a skyscraper in downtown Houston. I don't normally run in royal blue jogging pants, but the shimmering fabric of this pair hung comfortably from my waist. As usual, I'm fretting over logistics. I hadn't picked up my race number yet and things were supposed to start soon. Where were they?

I posed my inquiry to the security guard at the desk. "You'll pick up your number soon after the first mile marker," he cheerfully answered. Then he rose up from his seat and looked over the crowd. "Oh, there's no reason why we need to wait any longer. Go on and get going." He started making a shoo-ing motion towards the street. I took the cue immediately and darted through the revolving door. Many inside were still stretching, and as the rest of the pack took notice of the signaling from the behind the desk, there was a mad scramble to get up off the tile floor, pack away bags, and hurry outside. As tangerine streaks of dawn lit the sky above, the gray pavement below was blotted with runners streaking out as a race was suddenly underway.

With my quick exit out the door, I found myself in the lead for the time being. I hadn't checked the course beforehand, but luckily it was well marked. After a looping the pedestrian mall on Main Street, a route marker pointed me into another building. Upstairs, I was directed over a skywalk to the Hyatt Regency on Louisiana Street. Here I found a table where volunteers were distributing bib numbers. First to arrive, I collected mine and bounded down the hotel's staircase back to the street, attempting to run and attempting to affix safety pins simultaneously.

Once outside the Hyatt, faster runners were finally catching up to me, including some elites. Dire Tune pulled alongside (probably at her walking pace) and struck up a conversation with me. I don't remember what we were chatting about, but this was especially unusual because I don't share a common language with her.

And as one might have suspected, it was at this point that I woke up from the dream.

Keep your surprise penguins. I just want to connect to the Internet.

I've been settling in comfortably with Microsoft's new toy -- Windows 7 -- but at the same time, I've become determined to give Linux another try on this computer. I know I said otherwise, but I'd rather lend out some space on this nice and big hard drive than bother with conjuring up another PC right now. After re-partitioning my hard drive, I ended up installing not just one, but two distributions -- openSUSE 11.2 (as I tried right before Thanksgiving) and Ubuntu 9.10.

While messing around with the openSUSE installation from DVD, I noticed something. Most of the time GRUB -- the Linux bootloader -- appears on a screen with a mostly green background. But occasionally, it popped up with what appears to be a holiday season theme, with a Santa-hatted penguin marching back and forth on a menu screen with an igloo in the corner. The last time it happened, I grabbed my digital camera to capture it:

It may be winter, but in computer slang, I think this counts as an "Easter egg."

I'm sad to report that the cute penguins have been the most pleasant surprise so far. My ASUS WL-138 wireless adapter isn't functioning under openSUSE or Ubuntu. When I figure that problem out, it will be worthy of another blog post. But meanwhile, I was going to share some tips for the enthusiast that is looking to dual-boot Windows 7 and Linux:

1) Unless there is a need to change the starting cylinder of the Windows partition, use the "Shrink Volume" option in Windows 7 own Disk Management to create unallocated space. When I used GParted previously for resizing, Windows got confused and I had to pull out my Windows 7 DVD and re-install.

2) I'm planning to use Windows 7 as my main operating system. I did not want the Linux installers to molest the master boot record as I know from past experience that this can make Windows very cranky. So during both installs, I specified that GRUB be installed to the boot sector of the Linux root partition.

3) Once the installations completed, I used DISKPART from the Windows 7 DVD to make my original Windows XP partition (which contains my Windows 7 bootloader) active again. Then I used the utility EasyBCD to add the other operating systems to the Windows 7 bootloader menu. Experiencing the tedium of using Microsoft's BCDedit made me really appreciate EasyBCD. I found out the hard way that the release version 1.72 of EasyBCD is actually outdated. After using 1.72, I would only get a message that the operating system was missing when trying to boot one of the Linux distros. Go ahead and register on the publisher's forum to gain access to one of the version 2.0 betas. Only with the beta was I able to set up my system for a nice quad-boot among Windows XP, Windows 7, Ubuntu 9.10 and openSUSE 11.2. The list appears as part of the bootloader screen that would Identify Windows XP as only a "previous version of Windows."

4) Oddly, I noticed that EasyBCD doesn't really recognize an extended partition at all as possible to boot from, only the logical partitions within. So if you install Linux into an extended partition. be sure to install GRUB to the logical partition so EasyBCD can find it.

As I mentioned, right now neither distro has my wireless network adapter functioning. I suppose I could just string a cable across the room from my router and attempt to update the systems via my wired Ethernet adapter. Maybe that will do the trick? Or I could just keep searching for answers in the online forums. This experience is beginning to look a lot like the days when tweaking DOS and Windows 3.11 was a chore every computer user faced.

A Belated "Runnerversary"

Last night I was relating the story of how the whole me-and-running thing began. (Readers with absurdly sharp memories know that I started this blog with that tale.) By the end of that discussion, I realized that Thanksgiving 2009 could technically have been considered an anniversary -- or as I have heard others call it, a "runnerversary"!

It's funny to draw a parallel with other relationships we might have, but it really has been a relationship. In the past five years, there have been ups, there have been downs -- and you grasp that seed of hope that promises that it will all be worth it in the end.

During the past week I logged the my most mileage since starting on the acid-reducers. Yesterday's long run was only eight miles, and from the lingering soreness, it's obvious that I'm still regaining lost conditioning.

Friday we had an amazing snowfall. Well, really, EVERY snowfall in Houston is amazing. The Northerners will laugh at this -- it prompted schools and businesses to close early. Anyway, I tried to go out in it for a few minutes, but in the end I retreated to the comfort of the indoors. By the next day we were returned to our usual mild climate, so there was no opportunity to get used to it. I remain largely unprepared for true winter running.

So, being indoors, I logged a good chunk of mileage on the treadmill. Unexpectedly, I discovered that a runner risks football-related injury by combining treadmill time with watching games on television. I nearly fell off the treadmill alogether when Texans runningback Chris Brown got intercepted (as in a pass interception . . . really??) at the goal line.

We're now six weeks away from Marathon Sunday in Houston, and I think of myself as "on target" for the Aramco Half.

Switch

I've officially switched registration to the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. I had been dreading having to do this for a while because it feels like admitting failure, but realistically, I won't be marathon ready in January.

I don't feel that it's right to charge an extra ten dollars to switch races, especially if it's a switch to the race that is less expensive. Isn't the nonrefundable nature of the full marathon registration fee enough punishment to our wallets?

I also wonder if the December 10 cutoff date to switch is really necessary as well. Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio, for example, handles switches all the way through the expo.

The exploding popularity of the event is partly to blame for this frustration I suppose. With the rapid sellouts we have now, participants are basically being asked to commit to one race or the other six months in advance.

So, I will miss out on the race route through West University, the Galleria, and Memorial Park. But there's seven weeks until Marathon Sunday, and I hope that will be enough time to be ready to run 13.1 miles from the GRB to UST and back again.

Katy YMCA Turkey Dash

In both the figurative and literal senses, this morning's Turkey Dash was an acid test. I thought I had found the right strategy to ward off the race-day nausea that has dogged me for too long. But would it work?

Well, just like true gold drenched in nitric acid, the results turned out to be shining:

Mile 1: 9:44
Mile 2: 10:02
Mile 3: 10:33
5K elapsed time: 31:26 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)

And so, I find myself thankful for my best race in six months. I thought I had an outside chance at 30 minutes, but that was definitely lost in the final mile. Mysteriously, several people in the crowd running around me began to wheeze, hack and cough. This put my mind in a not-so-pleasant place, so I just slowed up and let them pass ahead before I caught whatever they were tossing up. Otherwise, the battery of ranitidine and old-fashioned calcium carbonate enabled me to open up my breathing and push my pace into the tens again. It was a good run, and I was entertained for much of it by eavesdropping on a group of women swapping stories about what their kids were learning in sex-ed class.

The weather was stunning -- sunny with temperatures in the high 40s and no wind. The public address announcer crowed that the event set a new registration record (2900). Families with children and dogs were as abundant as the parking at the new Villagio shopping center across the street from the Y. In all, I can easily see this event growing just as popular as the TXU Energy Turkey Trot in the Uptown District.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Old PC: Setting Sail for New OS Shores

My copy of Windows 7 arrived from Amazon right before the weekend. After adding memory and a new video card to my Shuttle box previously, I was ready to take the plunge.

When making a major change like this, it's always a good idea to leave a fail-safe option if something should go wrong. My first step, therefore, was to create a system image file of my existing Windows XP installation to an external hard drive using Norton Ghost 2003. Then I yanked the internal drive out and placed a new (and larger) drive in its place. After cloning the old drive's image to it, I was free to make a mess, knowing that I could bring the old drive back at will if things got hopeless.

As long as I was in an experimental mood, I was not only installing the new version of Windows, but also wanted to see how my system would react to a Linux installation. So the second part of this project was supposed to be installing OpenSUSE 11.2. From past experience, I remembered that Windows installations tended to wipe out Linux bootloaders, while a Linux installation is more amenable to accomdate a Windows boot option. So the Windows 7 Setup would be up to bat first.

I booted from the Win7 upgrade DVD and was presented with very few prompts before the installer got to work. The only real detour I made was needing to indicate that I wanted the new OS to install itself to unallocated space on the hard drive, creating a new partition in the process. The install appears to have completed flawlessly. I started a load of laundry in the washer at the same time I started the Win7 install, and I was back on the web in less time than it took my Kenmore frontloader to get reach the spin cycle. All hardware was detected perfectly, including my WLAN adapter, my wireless network printer, and even the native 1440x900 resolution of the Westinghouse TV that I use as a monitor. Since there is no direct upgrade path from Windows XP to 7, I'm still left with migrating or replacing my applications, but Microsoft gets an A+ grade from me for handling this old PC configuration.

The OpenSUSE install, on the other hand, could be described as "rough." I had downloaded the ISO file from the OpenSUSE site and burned it to a DVD-R using Active@ISO Burner. I used GParted to shrink the Windows partitions and leave some room for the Linux filesystem. Booting from this disc also kicked off a pretty friendly installer program. After a few basic questions, the YAST2 Setup tool got to work. In just a few minutes, I was poking around the KDE desktop environment. Hardware support was incomplete, though, as drivers for many devices were just absent. Most prominently missing was support for the WLAN adapter, which was surprising since the Broadcom chipsets are common, and a functioning network adapter would have been useful for possibly downloading drivers for the memory card reader, printer, and monitor (resolution was stuck at a distorted 1280x1024). In the end, I removed the ext4 Linux partitions and just left Windows, the new and the old, in a dual-boot setup on the hard disk. I still want to investigate today's Linux possibilities, but I may stick to experimenting with it purely on a test PC.

With support for Microsoft Money fading away, one of the new apps that will be added to this Windows 7 system will be Quicken Deluxe 2010. Let's hope that installation goes as smoothly as the Windows setup program itself.

This Old PC: Freshening up hardware for 2010

One of the remarkable things about my experience in personal computing is the current period of relative stability in which I've found myself. In the 1990s I'd build another box every other year or so to keep up with advances in speed needed to keep up with the demanding programs I was running, i.e. games. But my computing habits have changed. I game less, and most of those titles are now on consoles. The most demanding PC game I run now is SimCity 4, and that was released back in 2003.

What this means is that I've been able to get by with the same desktop chassis at home since 2002. It's what I consider a classic, the brilliant SS51G from Shuttle's XPC series. When many enthusiasts were still obsessed with big tower configurations, I chose this toaster-sized box as the foundation of the system I still use today. The oddly translucent blue faceplate is a reminder of the influence that Apple was exerting in product design at the time with its original Bondi Blue iMac.

Within the SS51G's compact dimensions, Shuttle left enough breathing room for what has turned out to be a long life of expansion options. For the past eight years I've been back inside the case to swap or upgrade components several times. (For example, there used to be a floppy drive where the flash memory card reader is now.) This past weekend, I gave this old PC what will probably be its last internal hardware upgrades -- a second gigabyte of RAM and a new videocard.

As long as I had the system unplugged and the case open, it was a convenient time to exorcise all of the dust bunnies that have been collecting for many months. A few minutes with the ever-popular can of compressed air stripped away the fluff clinging to the inner crevices. A couple of tips I thought I'd pass on to readers looking to perform this chore themselves:

• Turn the computer on its side, or even upside-down if necessary, but always keep the can of compressed air upright. Or else be prepared to see liquid propellant squirted into your machine.
• Use a stick-like object to stop fans from spinning from the blasts of compressed air. Not only is it more difficult to blow dust off of moving blades, but remember that DC electric motors double as generators. Who knows what might happen if you start pushing random current upstream from the fan?

Once things were dust-free inside and out to my satisfaction, the new components were swapped in and I was booting back into Windows XP soon enough. The videocard, based on the GeForce 6200 from nVidia, was a bargain-basement purchase, but it should be enough to enable the Aero interface of Windows 7 -- which we'll leave for a future installment of "This Old PC."

Energy Capital Run

This will be my last race for the time being. I completed a run/walk of this 5K in just under 42 minutes.

I had pre-registered earlier in the month and I'm glad I showed up. The weather was beautiful one for outdoor activities, with a dawn temp in the high forties. Instead of a cotton T, the packets came with a New Balance tech fabric shirt with the race logo. Gulf States Toyota's facility is right on the course, and after the race I picked up a freebie Houston Rockets polo shirt from the carmaker's table. I will make good use of both.

In all, this was a pretty well-run event. The only anomaly I encountered was that the police had not completely closed the Enclave Parkway intersection with Briar Forest, and participants had to stop there twice on the out-and-back course until the officer waved them on.

I hope I can figure out what is keeping me from running as I think I should. What worries me, of course, is that there's a real possibility that I may have to sit out the marathon if I don't.

Forward.

Rookie mistake

Two small shortbread cookies, a packet of GU gel, a handful of cotton candy, half a cup of chicken noodle soup, and a piece of bread -- this is basically what powered me through virtually all day yesterday including a long run. Not surprisingly, this didn't work out well.

I think I simply let myself get distracted by excitement of a busy day. On Friday, I got invited to come out to a festival on Saturday, and I decided that I would just fit this event in between this weekend's long run and another festival I had already planned to attend.

When I got up Saturday, I was in such a rush that the only pre-run food I had was the cookies. I was carrying a GU gel and ate that halfway through thirteen miles. Still in a rush, I got home, showered and immediately left for what was supposed to be festival number one.

I ended up wiping myself out. My energy stores were zapped, and yet at the same time the run had suppressed my appetite to the point where eating seemed abhorrent. I felt trapped in this pattern for hours, forcing myself to nibble as much as I could tolerate to keep going. I felt so bad that I ended up skipping festival number two.

Lessons re-learned:
1) Before morning runs shorter than an hour, breakfast isn't necessary for me. For long runs, it's highly recommended.
2) After finishing a long run, I need to start the re-fueling process as soon as possible -- within the first hour -- even if the body doesn't seem to be demanding it right away.

Sadly, you'd think that this sort of goof wouldn't be committed by someone pursuing the Houston Marathon for the third time (if I count the eventual switch to the half course in 2007), but it happened and I fully own the mistake.

My appetite didn't re-appear until late last night. At 11:59 p.m., I devoured a leftover Quizno's sandwich, a banana and a glass of soy milk; this made the most substantive meal I had all of Saturday.

As of today, we have 90 days to go until the Houston Marathon. I'd like them to be full of brighter thinking.

Run to Cure HD

Actually, today's primary goal was to get in some long-run mileage. So after checking in at Oyster Creek Park an hour before race time, I did an extended warmup of four miles before reporting to the start line. I'm still unable to run a full 5K at 5K effort and my mile splits look a lot like last week's:

Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 11:53
Mile 3: 13:42
elapsed 5K time: 37:00 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)

Just like last week, race nausea hit me in mile 2 and dogged me into frequent walking breaks for the rest of the course. Oh well. I don't know if I was seeing the final official results, but the sheets that were posted during the awards ceremony showed me as the second to last male in my age group. At last year's event I was at the bottom, so I'll have to be happy to move up, right?

After crossing the finish mat, I was off to log another three miles before I left the park, for a total of ten. I took a rest at the awards ceremony long enough to consume a slice of pepperoni pizza and claim an XL T-shirt from the University of Phoenix ("I am a Phoenix") as a door prize. (Boy was I really coveting that free registration for the Sugar Land Turkey Trot instead!)

The weather was absolutely wonderful for a race. After yesterday's front came through, we were left with a 56F morning with overcast skies, versus the 97F heat index we had to deal with on Thursday afternoon.

Next weekend should be free of racing, and then I'll be reporting from the Energy Capital Run on the 24th.

Celiac Run

Five miles at Bear Creek Park went into the log on this pleasant morning, including the Celiac Run event:

Mile 1 -- 9:13
Mile 2 -- 13:22
Mile 3 -- 11:55

3.18-mile elapsed time per Garmin Forerunner 205 -- 36:05

The double-loop race course had to be altered to avoid a flooded area of the park, and everyone wearing GPS agreed the revised course was a bit long. But I wasn't worried about setting any new records today. It was all about just getting back into the swing of showing up and completing a running event after a three-month dry spell. And it was tough to pass up a 5K being held just a short drive away from home.

I feared that this race was going to turn out just like this past Heights Fun Run. I started fairly strong, then was hit with a bout of nausea in mile 2. Luckily, I was able to recompose myself in time to mostly jog the rest of the course in and claim that 36:05 time -- exactly ten minutes over my all-time 5K PR.

Speaking of thirty-somethings, I would have been an award recipient had I listed myself as "competitive" on my registration. This was a really, really small event (scheduled against the juggernaut downtown known as the Komen Race for the Cure) and only one male in my age group showed up. In a normally fiercely contested age/gender group with awards three-deep, only one guy was competing. To be honest, claiming hardware by default like this would have cast a hollow feeling on me during the short ride home.

The whole purpose of this event was to raise awareness of issues affecting and resources helping people with gluten allergies. Therefore the spread on the refreshment tables was a bit different from usual. The gluten-free brownies got my full endorsement, but I couldn't palate the bagels with a texture between angel-food cake and cornbread, but tasted like neither. The Redbridge beer I remember from a previous edition of the Celiac Run was nowehere to be found, but I give the organizers sweet props for putting out cartons of strawberries. Yum!

The last running-related footnote I'll add is that I've switched shoes -- finally. In recent weeks I've had periodic flareups of my dreaded achilles tendinitis, and I realized that the last time I bought new running shoes was six months ago. So this week I've been breaking in a pair of New Balance 1224s, and have been pretty happy with the results. This morning was wholly pain-free, and I'll take it!

Fall opens with a bloom of bullet points

• There's no doubt now; autumn is firmly in gear. The air is cooling. The calendar has flipped to October. Pumpkins and (artificial) Christmas trees are prominently on display at the local plant nursery.
  
• I've updated my running calendar blog with a lot of events coming up in October and November, many of which seem to be new -- at least to me. H-Town runners, have fun scheduling your weekends.
• I've already signed up for the Celiac Run and the Energy Capital Run; it's always nice to be able to support races that are in easy reach of home. I'm still far, far off my peak speed from the spring. Anything below a 40-minute 5K will be acceptable right now.
• Spearmint has earned my respect. A plant which I thought had been neglected to death during the brutal summer heat on my patio has sprouted fresh leaves as fall has started. I'm rewarding it with a larger container that won't be so prone to drying out.
• My crop of Swiss chard was totally overrun by some sort of leaf miner bugs that ripped holes in the foliage, then stripped them clean. It only took a week. The devastation was so complete that the barren stems that remained reminded me of those pictures of the timberlands surrounding Mount Saint Helens after the mountain blew up. After raising the white flag, I've planted nasturtium and cilantro seeds in those containers instead. Maybe they'll be less appetizing to pests.
• Speaking of seeding, fall is supposed to be the proper time to sow wildflowers for next spring's bloom. Within the view from my patio, there is a patch of earth just outside the apartment complex that is just growing some very ordinary weeds at the moment. I am having thoughts of doing something to help it become more interesting in the future....
• I'm glad to see a new season of The Amazing Race. I'm still hoping that the producers will shed the manufactured drama that infects just about all "reality TV" and revert back to a focus on team logistics and problem solving that brought me in as a viewer in the first place. It's a faint hope, to be sure.
• The CR-V clocked its 175,000th mile this week. I'm looking forward to posting a long-long-term test drive report in a few months once she hits her 10th birthday. It's been a pretty good ride so far.

"thirtysomething"

For the record, I decided not to go to Kemah for that crazy bridge-bridge-bridge-bridge 10K yesterday. I think it turned out to be a great decision for multiple reasons.

(1) I got to sleep in later.
(2) I saved that registration money for another day.
(3) Instead I hammered out a long (and really slow) run of 13 miles on the local trail, which I really needed to advance my running fitness.
(4) When I arrived at the trailhead, I enjoyed some bonus scenery as a woman nonchalantly changed into her sports bra while standing next to her car in the parking lot.

Anyway, this morning's recovery run capped off a 31-mile week, the most I've been able to log in months. There are now 120 days to go until marathon Sunday, and the real fun is just beginning.

For everything there is a season....

In the absence of a powerfully unifying narrative, this Friday brings the return of the rambling bullet-point blog post.

• Last night I found myself contemplating an appearance at the Toughest 10K in Houston. I recognize what's happening: My last running event was the Run Wild 5K way back on July 4, which was more like "shuffle meekly" than "run wild." So two months later "the itch" is back. I consider that as a good sign. However, I do have some reservations about going crosstown early on a Saturday morning, especially for that type of course. I'll probably vacillate on this one all day. If I go, watch this blog for the nutty race report....
• I am glad to report that I'm back to running outside with regularity . . . and certainly enjoying it more with the subsidence of summer heat. I finally acknowledged this change the other night when I noticed that sweat had not permeated through my shirt until mile 3 of that run. During the summer, that shirt would have been damp by the end of my warmup.
• On many of my runs, I find myself pausing at the spot where Jerry the motorcyclist was killed five months ago. The hit-and-run driver is still at large. On the edge of a detention pond, the family has erected a small memorial, complete with night illumination from a pair of those solar-powered landscaping lights. (Anyone that can help resolve the case should call CrimeStoppers at 713-222-TIPS.)
  
• I find myself wanting to believe the hype on the soon-to-be-released Windows 7. The battery on my three-year-old laptop died earlier in the week. While sorely tempted to just replace the whole thing with one of the affordable netbooks that's out, instead I decided to extend its life by buying another battery. I didn't like the idea of disposing of a still-mostly-working unit to just replace it with another Windows XP machine. So that represents both a little less e-waste for the landfill for now and hope that Windows 7 will be a mature platform when I'm finally ready to move on.
• I've become pretty cynical about the entire tech certification industry, but my day job has decided that it would be super if we picked up our CCNAs. For any of my readers that have done the Cisco thing, if you have suggestions or pitfalls to avoid, feel free to comment.
  
• Public Service Announcement: A couple of weeks ago, I put a plate of heat-and-eat wings in the microwave oven. The package directions lited a cooking time for 6-8 minutes, but somehow in my carelessness, I read a "5" there instead. So while they came out hot, but not really hot enough. The resulting digestive distress made for a mighty unpleasant night. So when cooking meat -- make it well-done and right, take it to one-sixty Fahrenheit!
  
• So far the first year with the Quinalt strawberries has been really unimpressive. After delivering a handful of good fruit in May, these "everbearing" plants haven't done much but drop runners over the sides of their pots. I collected a couple of these runners to attempt to start new plants. I have hope that the established plants will deliver a better crop in their sophomore season. At least it's cool enough again to grow beans again on the patio.
  

With the impending arrival of the equinox next week, I really can feel the change in seasons. Summer's definitely gone and autumn is here, bringing with it football weekends, outdoor festivals and even the first mumblings of Merry Christmas merchandising. With the return of the the fall racing season, surely I'll be able to put running-related updates on this blog more than once a month, right?

Now if you'll pardon me, I'll be returning back to my new favorite time-waster, Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box. A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved....

Review: Roku Digital Video Player

YouTube proved that the masses were ready for Internet video. Every hour millions of people visit that site for a song, an informative message, or a quick laugh. But for a full-hour TV show or feature-length movie, I don't want to huddle around my laptop; lounging on the couch and watching on the 31-inch screen in my living room is a much better experience. This is especially true if I have company over.

For some time I had even been interested in the idea of building my own home-theatre PC (HTPC) to route streaming video to the television, but this summer I decided to try a cheaper and simpler alternative -- the Roku Digital Video Player. I've been living with it for three months and have had a positive experience so far.

The most important concern, of course, is exactly what programming is being delivered. The two main content partners at this time are Netflix and Amazon. As I've discovered, the two companies' offerings are plentiful and complement each other very well.

Netflix is most well-known for its DVD-rental-by-mail business, but it also makes a portion of its catalog available for viewing online by subscribers with one of the "unlimited" plans. Anything added to a member's Instant queue will show up as available to watch on the Roku player. (The queue can only be altered on the Netflix website, so I recommend having a laptop computer in the living room to fully enable the couch potato lifestyle.) The Instant selection seems dominated by older or more obscure movies and documentaries, but it does give members something to watch while they wait for the postal service to deliver the next DVD. Be aware that as Netflix makes and breaks deals for distribution rights, the list of titles available for Instant viewing is in a constant state of change. For example, I had added Happy Feet, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Eddie Murphy: Raw to my Instant Queue, but they were later made unavailable (marked as "Saved") before I got around to watching them.

For newer or more popular releases that are not available on Netflix -- or when I don't want to wait for a mailed DVD -- I can turn to Amazon and spend a few dollars with its Video On Demand service. Some titles can be rented for one day, others are purchased to "own" for permanent availability in "Your Video Library," and some offer both options. The available titles include both hit movies and television programs.

This brings me to my example of how the Netflix and Amazon selections complement: Thanks to DVDs from Netflix, I had gotten myself hooked on the drama Mad Men. I splurged and signed up for an Amazon "TV Pass" for the current season so I wouldn't have to wait for the DVD release to find out what happens next. Every Monday morning, the previous night's episode of Mad Men appears as available on my Roku player. Yes, it feels a bit strange to pay $1.89 per episode. But it is still cheaper than subscribing to cable just to get the AMC channel.

Earlier in the month, Roku added Major League Baseball as its third offering, letting MLB.com Premium members watch games online on their TV. At the price of a Premium membership, though, I can only see only die-hard fans of out-of-town teams finding this worthwhile. Roku has announced that it is working on partnerships to deliver more "channels" by the end of the year.

Physically, the Roku player is a very compact device, approximately the size of a small stack of CD jewel cases. Setup is as simple as it gets: Connect a cable to the TV, power up the Roku, and use the remote control to tell it how to connect to the Internet. There is an Ethernet cable port on the back, but I decided to take advantage of the built-in Wi-Fi adapter to join it to my my WLAN. (The longest part of the install was entering in my absurdly-long WPA key.) The remote itself feels like a "throwback" in its sparse design, being "chunky" in feel and sporting only nine buttons, but I like it. I'm still trying to figure out if I can use my universal remote instead. Once online, the setup routines for the Netflix and Amazon "channels" will display codes that are used to link the box to the customer's existing website accounts.

There is no internal hard drive to store programming. so the Roku player must always have a live broadband Internet connection to function. Every time a program is started, rewound, or fast-forwarded, a few seconds are needed to reset the buffer. (On the plus side, there is no hard drive to mechanically fail, either.) It will modify the video quality of the stream according to the bandwidth available. To my eyes the quality was very acceptable with a 3-Mbps downstream connection. Upgrading my DSL service to 6-Mbps enabled the device to achieve its potential of delivering high-definition video at 720p. Roku only packs a cable with RCA-style composite connectors in the box as standard, however. Consumers will need to bring their own HDMI or component cables to put the hi-def party into full swing.

There are other products on the market -- such as certain Blu-Ray players and TiVo DVRs -- that can also stream Netflix and Amazon content. But shoppers not interested in the other features that those devices offer may see the $99 Roku player as a do-one-thing-and-do-it-well alternative. I believe it's a compelling value for my readers that are Netflix devotees with broadband connections. Depending on the future partnerships Roku can forge, this little box could represent the beginning of a big alternative to the cable and satellite companies in the pay-for-TV market.

Stay tuned.

Estivation (es ta vā' shan) n. A period of torpor in the summer months

I'm very glad to be logging some real mileage again -- 19 miles last week, 20 miles this week. As usual for a Houston summer, it's blazing hot out there, and it's taking some discipline to not just curl up on the couch with a half-gallon tub of Rocky Road. With continued consistency I hope to be able to gently merge into an actual marathon training plan next month. My achilles tendon is still a little tender, but lately it hasn't truly flared up as it had been in the spring. I've decided to put the glucosamine supplement on the shelf indefinitely. I suspect it's been creating an adverse reaction I had not anticipated. I'll still be taking care to patiently warm up and stretch before every run, though.

My decision to come live in the web of trails that snake through the Energy Corridor is paying dividends. I love walking out my door and striding on crushed gravel mere minutes later. Speaking of "snake," I spotted a real attention-getter on yesterday's trek -- a Texas coral snake, one of the rare venomous species that inhabit the area. This specimen was less than a foot long and no thicker than my pinky. It was crossing the concrete path next to the creek in broad daylight. To my relief, though, it was definitely not interested in a confrontation with homo sapiens. I did find myself wishing that I had brought my camera to capture the striking beauty of its color banding before it disappeared into the underbrush.

Otherwise, August is a very quiet month, running-wise, and it's reflected in the thin selection of race events in the area. Once again I've embraced a lot of night running as a way to avoid the sun. I feel as if I'm in a state of anticipatory estivation, hiding away from the beating heat, patiently awaiting the refreshment of autumn.

Does badly broken English lead the way to better Chinese fixings?

This is so "well done" that I believe it was intentional. But this was too entertaining to not share with my blog readers. Below is word-for-word menu text from A New Restaurant I Won't Even Name (ANRIWEN), which just opened in a nearby Houston neighborhood:

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ANRIWEN is a traditional Chinese-style restaurant. ANRIWEN pays great attention to the general visitor's health. So, you can taste the legitimate Chinese-style here. ANRIWEN requests in food choice aspect very high. For example: The meats, the seafood, the vegetables and so on. ANRIWEN uses the superior quality to achieve the low fat and the high textile fiber and to increase food nutrition

ANRIWEN forget vegetarian diet! ANRIWEN uses the pure vegetables rapeseed oil regarding our food. Therefore, no matter you are the common visitor or the vegetarian, all can enjoy all delicacies food in ANRIWEN.

Good news! Our chef's have several years experience to provide the birthday party, the company party and so on. ANRIWEN provides different situation food and the drink. Above this new service, lets the general visitors have the different choices.

Remembered: Only ANRIWEN is able to provide you a legitimate Chinese-style good food. Eliminates this, you can eat your health by the most beneficial price! No matter the western-style food or the snack, we all welcome you the presence!Can provide the good food for you, which is our being honored. In this, ANRIWEN thanks you the support and the presence!

ANRIWEN wish all our customers have a health and prosperity year

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In!

Dear Treadmill,

I know we haven't seen much of each other lately. I wanted to let you know that I really appreciated your help in those good performances I enjoyed at the Heart of Katy 5K and the Bayou City Classic earlier in the spring.

Well, I'm going to be spending more significant time with you again. You see, this morning, registration opened for the Marathon Sunday events in Houston and my impulsive self registered . . . for the full marathon event.

The first time I registered for this 26.2-miler three years ago I was a little wide-eyed and naive about what it took. Deep into training I found myself waving the white flag and switching to the half before race day in 2007. After finally breaking through in 2008, I truly comprehend what it takes . . . and I still registered today anyway. So, yes, I am truly nuts. But it's like a little personal version of America returning to the moon.

T-minus 183 days, 19 hours, 13 minutes to launch....

See You Soon,

CurrentlyVince

One 5K endures post-Ike. A second 5K is born of Ike. A third 5K suddenly fades to black.

Event updates for the Houston-area running community:

• Hurricane Ike destroyed Maribelles Bar in Seabrook last September. August is an especially thin month on the running calendar in these parts, so it was nice to see that the 5K previously staged out of Maribelles will go on. Renamed to reflect a new host bar, the Outriggers 5K will run on August 1. Hopefully participants will be treated to another bounty of pizza and beer similar to the one I saw last year. Link to registration and more information on this race can be found at the On The Run site.
• Organizers of the Galveston Rebirth Race will use the one year anniversary of Ike's landfall as an occasion to run on the island.
  
• I was surprised to discover that there will be no Fired Up 5K this year. The Sugar Land Fire Deaprtment and First Colony Community Association had been jointly hosting this Labor Day race benefitting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. According to the fire department, the FCCA discontinued its sponsorship. It certainly could not have been due to a lack of interest, as the event appeared to progressively draw bigger crowds each year I ran it. One of the memories I have of that last Fired Up 5K in 2008 was simply being able to run it after being worried about Hurricane Gustav in the preceding days; Gustav was striking Louisiana instead.
  

Just one more shameless plug: These updates have been transferred to my Houston Running Calendar blog.

Run Wild 5K

It's been a summer of droughts. After flooding from the massive rain event in May, Houston's been dry as a tinderbox. And ever since my trainwreck-like race at the Heights Fun Run, I've been struggling to log any mileage at all, even taking a couple of zero weeks. But after a couple of decent run/walk sessions this week, I decided to go for the "comeback" on Independence Day at the Run Wild 5K. And it was a pretty good one:

Mile 1: 11:10
Mile 2: 11:06
Mile 3: 13:10
5K elapsed time: 36:31 per Garmin Forerunner 205

For those wondering, Run Wild is the timing services company that put on this race. There was nothing "wild" about it, unless you count the shopping at the boutiques in Uptown Park!

One of the most pleasant things about the morning actually came before gun time. When I arrived, the Uptown Park parking lots were full, so I decided to drive a couple blocks over to an apartment complex on the other side of Post Oak Boulevard. I parallel-parked on the street, stepped out, and discovered a twenty-dollar bill next to my car.

Coincidentally, when I registered yesterday, I padded on a few extra bucks for the race charity Special Olympics of Texas -- for a total of $20. I think I was meant to be at this 5K.

Happy Fourth of July!

Plotting the Winter Campaign

One month from now, registration opens for 2010 Marathon Sunday events in Houston. It may just be heat-induced delirium talking, but I'm giving significant thought to taking on the full marathon course for the second time. It's definitely not something for which I can "cram," so the time to get goal-oriented about this is now.

As a motivational prop, I recently ordered a custom Subway Cash Card with one of my 2008 photos on the front. I'm hoping it will simultaneously serve as a reminder of where I want to return and reinforce the eat-sensibly habit that helped get me there in the first place.

Either way, job number one should be to relieve my nagging achilles tendinitis issue permanently. When it first made it's rude appearance, we were in the midst of the busy spring running calendar. While I'd respond by backing off the mileage, I never gave myself permission to take any sort of real extended break from running. And it never really went away. Well, since that awful Heights Fun Run a couple of weeks ago, I have logged exactly zero miles. I also want to revisit my shoe selection.

Job number two would be choosing a training plan. In 2008 I worked up to race day on a Runner's World "SmartCoach" plan, but I want to explore other options.

One might think that having experience would be on my side would be a confidence booster. Ironically, knowing exactly what I'm getting myself into is making me nervous. We'll see if I'm really nutty enough to click "Submit" on that Active.com page again!

Heights Fun Run

Good News: As I had hoped, I'm enjoying post-race breakfast tacos after this year's Heights Fun Run.

Bad News: That's because I cooked some myself after getting home.

Good News: I was done running the race in only 11 minutes!

Bad News: When I finished running, I was still nearly two miles from the finish line.

Perhaps it was a mistake to leave my Forerunner at home this morning. I thought I'd "lighten the load" by just wearing my Timex Ironman watch. So I may have went out too fast, especially since I didn't see any mile markers on Heights Boulevard this year. The nausea in my midsection started a few blocks before the turnaround, so I started a walk break. Unfortunately, I never returned from the Puke Point in this race.

It was if I was seasick. Every time I even thought about picking up a jog again, my stomach would revolt. So I spent the next half hour being passed by everyone I passed at the start. I did have ample opportunity to thank each and every volunteer and police officer out there, so that was a plus. According to my Timex, I crossed the finish line in a time 41:10, the likes of which I haven't seen in four years.

Not surprisingly, the breakfast tacos were long gone by the time I got to the table. There's always next year....

National Running Day

So, did you remember to get out and stride a little as part of National Running Day?

This evening I ventured out and back until my Forerunner read exactly 6.39 miles in honor of the date of 06/03/09. Next up, I'll be watching that runner's flick classic, Chariots of Fire.

Well, if for some reason running isn't your "thing," maybe you can still join me in also celebrating Free Root Beer Float Night at Sonic Drive-In. It's all good.

Impact A Hero 5K

Today I ran in the Impact A Hero 5K, which raises funds to assist our severely wounded veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the first mile, I had to take a walk break because once again, I had gone out too fast and hit my Puke Point. After resuming my run, I noticed that Gary Kubiak had caught up to me. The NFL Houston Texans head coach has been the honorary chairperson for the Impact A Hero 5K for a few years now. He and some of the players were out there this morning to lend some "star power" to the morning's activities.

For a couple of miles, I was keeping pace with Coach Kubiak, who once again was wearing bib #1. To my credit I refrained from lamely asking if we were going to the playoffs this year. He's been a self-professed treadmill junkie in the past, but today he confessed that he only goes running only every other day now. As the Mile 3 marker drew near, Kubiak obviously had more left in the tank than I did, and he pulled away and left me in his wake.

The first time I ran this event in 2007, he pretty much did the same thing to me. The old QB can still scramble, I suppose. I think one of my future goals should be to beat Kubiak to the finish line in this race. But with summer weather here, I'll accept the sub-:30 time and move on!

Mile 1: 8:43
Mile 2: 9:42
Mile 3: 9:21
5K elapsed time: 29:06, per Garmin Forerunner 205

Chip timing was an option for this event, but I declined. Instead I had opted to register as a "non-competitive" run/walk participant. This meant that the part of the fee that would normally go to the timing company -- just under two dollars, if I recall correctly -- would stay in the hands of the charity.



Event T-shirts aren't normally worth a comment, but I think they did an especially good job with this year's edition:



On a side note, I broke a streak this weekend. In 2005 the Astros Race for the Pennant 5K was my first running event ever. I had made a point of going back every year since until it was scheduled up against the IAH race.(Darn you race directors for making me choose!)

Even Eden had a serpent....

Whose idea was it to live next to a gazillion acres of parkland again? Oh, yeah -- that was mine!

I was crouched down, tending to the bean plants on my patio when I heard a faint hissing. Looking down, I saw a tan-colored snake just inches away from my leg. I reacted by springing up and back, and then quickly ducking back inside the patio door.


Once I reassured myself that I was out of danger, I grabbed my camera and took the photos above. As I prodded my unexpected guest off the patio with a broomstick, a funky odor filled the air. I thought a sewer line had backed up somewhere, but after a little online research, I found that this was the "calling card" of the water diamond back snake. It releases a stink when it feels threatened. While this critter wasn't poisonous -- this area's venomous snakes are the copperhead, the cottonmouth and the coral -- it did do a good job of startling me!

Just earlier in the month, I came home to find a migrating colony of bees swarming around the same patio. Yup, living closer to nature has been interesting!

Otherwise, the patio garden itself is chugging along with production. The swiss chard is producing its first broad leaves, which I used as the foundation for a salad. Atop the chard and baby spinach, I piled on apple slices, strawberries, and raisins:

And green bean production is in full swing. Here's the season's first harvest, sauteed in olive oil and garlic before being paired with a cajun blackened salmon filet:

The only crop that hasn't made it to my plate yet is the roma tomatoes. They have some small, green fruits on the vine, though. So far they seem to be requiring a lot of effort to tend and water, so I'm interested to productive they turn out to be.

Beach to Bay Relay Marathon

I've been wanting to try a relay race for more than a year. So before dawn, I found myself standing on the sand with a baton in my hand.

Today I covered the first leg of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, an annual event that celebrates Armed Forces Day. Leg number one of the relay is an out-and-back completely on the beach of Padre Island.

It was a memorable run. Remember the opening scene of Chariots of Fire? (cue dreamlike movie soundtrack here) Well, imagine that, except it wasn't a dozen Briton dudes, it was an overwhelmingly Texan crowd of a couple thousand men, women, children all surging in a long pack southward on the beach after the horn sounded. After a couple of miles, we reached a turnaround point marked by a couple of ribbon-wrapped barrels next to a pickup truck and then doubled back to the north.

Since impact cushioning wasn't a real concern, I decided to recall an old pair of Saucony Trigon 5 Guide from retirement and use those and not my current Brooks Adrenalines. Honestly, it as if my feet had returned home to shoes they should have never left. Perhaps I ought to check out Saucony again to see if they've returned that feel to anything in their current lineup. Anyway, while it was nice for my feet to not feel pounded, they definitely had less traction versus the road. I had shortened my stride and was depending on swing-forward motion to propel me rather than push-off. The extra effort demanded by the surface quickly sapped my energy, and it's reflected in my splits:

Mile 1: 9:49
Mile 2: 10:20
Mile 3: 10:53
Mile 4: 11:25
4.19-mile elapsed time per Garmin Forerunner 205, including handoff: 45:12

Along the way I passed and was passed by so many. There were the gazelle-like guys who looked like they probably ran for their collegiate or high school track teams. There was the Danish lady running barefoot. There was the entirely-too-enthusiastic brunette who recognized my "Houston 26.2" finisher shirt and tried to encourage me to sign up for another full marathon. There was the old guy who lumbered forth in an unsophisticated shuffle -- and yet he was moving faster than me.

As I approached the end of my leg, I passed a volunteer who was rapidly muttering our bib numbers into a two-way radio. I entered the handoff chute and frantically looked around for RW forumite "ta_tx," who was going to be running leg number two. It was pandemonium in that chute, with finishing runners looking left and right at the throngs on either side, holding batons aloft and yelling names and numbers, hoping to make a connection. Meanwhile the public address announcers took turns with the rapid-fire delivery of our numbers in a near-hopeless effort to keep up with our arrivals. It was like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, except more spandex was visible. After a nervous minute or two passed, ta_tx got my attention from outside the chute. I relinquished the baton to her and watched as she took off to advance it another four miles or so towards the mainland.

I did have a great time chatting pre-race at dinner and post-race at lunch with the all-Runner's-World-forumite team, dubbed "Paulette's Penguins." Paulette -- aka "kayano" on the forums -- is currently on a journey towards wellness. Having teammates that depended on me gave extra impetus to do my best and be prepared. That preparation included setting three -- yes, three -- separate alarms to make sure I was not late for the shuttle buses as I was in San Antonio last fall.

I had a lot of fun with this event and I'd recommend the relay experience to anyone who runs. Paulette, it was an honor to run under your name. During our race you became four hours and forty-five minutes closer to kicking that MFer cancer to the curb.

Berry fresh

With the transition from spring into summer, the apartment garden is definitely looking productive. My previous worries about what might grow on my half-day-sun patio have melted away as the mercury is hitting the upper 80s on a consistent basis. It seems so obvious now, but all the plants were simply waiting for warm weather to truly thrive.

I picked my first two fruits from the Quinalt strawberry plants. They were luscious, tender and had a really nice fragrance. The roma tomatoes are developing small green fruits of their own. Down on the pavement, the Contender bush beans have sprouted their first pods and the Swiss chard is finally starting to resemble some real eating greens. I look forward to sampling these in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, to celebrate the first "harvest," I had a little ice cream. I took some scoops of Breyers vanilla and topped them with sliced almonds, banana, and the just-picked berries. After drizzling a little maple syrup over the top, it was perfect!