Martian Marathon 2011 Recap

First of all, left it all out there, no regrets whatsoever. That said, there feels like more bad than good in this one. Learning experiences are welcome however.

The Bad:

1. 10 to 15 mph headwind the first 13 miles (until the turn around). That was a monster and I probably poured too much energy trying to keep my time. I knew that would hurt me but I just couldn’t stop myself.
2. Way more hills than I thought, I don’t know what i was thinking. I saw this on the website 616 ft Start Elev, 686.0 ft Max Elev 207.0 ft Gain and thought it was flat. Didn’t do nearly enough hills and I paid that price. The actual change based on GPS, which isn’t awesome, but is decently accurate: +3313.2 ft / -3297.4 ft / net: 15.8 ft . It felt like the entire race was uphill or at time quad trucking downhill.
3. The GU didn’t come until 1:15 in, where as I was told it would be at about 45-50 min based on my pace. That threw me.
4. I could have done ~3:04-ish if I hadn’t cramped up and had to stop to stretch. Both quads cramped up at times, and the final 1 to .5 miles was run stopping a few times, otherwise with the left calf completely locked up. As in barely usable, I had to use my quad to pick up my leg, oh my goodness those pictures should show me grimacing like a moe foe.
   

   (in red) landing on 'locked' left calf

5. The road had a nasty crown to the left I wasn’t used to, that’s probably what did in the calf and quad, running at an angle. Couldn’t run in the middle of the road or right side because that was the come back route.
6. Wicked side stitch for about 5 minutes starting at mile 8. Ran through it.

The Good

1. The feet in the Vibram Bikila’s held up well. A hot spot under the left pad but otherwise they seem great. I thought I would have taken a bit more of a beating considering my form went to shit, but apparently I beat up the muscles instead.
2. I left it all out there, I battled through the cramps, battled through everything and came away without walking once. I fought it all the way.
3. I ran a PR by 15 minutes.
4. I accomplished something. Not my goal of sub-3, but I still accomplished something.

Lessons Learned

1. Bring your own GU, seriously. You need to be in control of your GU and ideally even hydration better — especially in these smaller races.
2. (Some) races mix the gatorade so that there’s more powder than water.
3. Study (and ideally visit the course). Although this would have been hard as it’s a busy street that was blocked off. Still, no excuses for thinking it was flatter just because the net gain was small. Stupid, it’s an out and back course, of course there’s little net gain.

Edit: It turns out I was actually sick. I threw up and had nasty butt throw up 3 times last night. Yes, they came in pairs. My 4 yr old daughter has the same symptoms and pain. My son had thrown up the Thursday into Friday but we thought it was food poisoning. It makes me wonder how much the sickness took out of me for the marathon. Still pleased with the results, perhaps even more so now.

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Virtual Neglect

Server Fun

Finally moved the entire site (well both of the sites) over from slicehost to linode. It’s amazing the cost difference despite them being very similar. Linode offers much better RAM for you buck though, so I’ve dropped $10 a month in hosting fees and increased the amount of RAM on the server. This also gave me an opportunity to update the server setup, since it had been 3+ years that I set up the slicehost account. The migration went smoothly. The biggest pain was the DNS migration.

AXFR wasn’t possible to enable. Instead I found this script on github (https://github.com/Schultz/slicedns2linode) which allowed a person to use both the slicehost and linode api’s to copy the DNS entries from one to the other. The slicehost to linode DNS migration was quick and easy after that.

I should be clear, I have no qualms with slicehost, I was just interested in spending less money.

Writing vs Maintaining

I like the idea of not hosting websites myself. I don’t like having to upgrade wordpress, seemingly every month to avoid security issues. I wish there was more automatic way to handle it. I know there is an auto-upgrade over FTP, but honestly, that’s a monster of a security issue right there!

Purpose in the end

The purpose of this website has never been clear in over 6 years. Perhaps in the coming months I can reflect a bit more publicly on personal, but public areas.

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4 Driving laws Michigan (Ann Arbor) folks need to remember

I do quite a bit of running and quite a bit less driving around the town of Ann Arbor. There are some things that people need to be aware of that I see happening far too frequently.

These things are dangerous. You can help keep yourself and others safe by being aware of these often broken laws.

1. Stop at a non-signaled cross walk. [Law]

Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.

It is ludicrous the way people show no respect for others trying to utilize a designated crosswalk area. And you wonder why people jaywalk? They cross when there’s no cars. Cars don’t treat a crosswalk differently from any other piece of road. The video below, although perhaps hyperbolized, is still frightening.

2. Stop before the stop line — not past the crosswalk. You must come to a stop before the stop line, if there is one. If not, you must stop before entering the crosswalk. This is particularly dangerous for people riding bikes on the sidewalk, as the car crosses and blocks the crosswalk quickly, often before the driver looks into the road for other traffic. The potential for injury is great.

3. Do not use the turn lane as a merge lane. Center turn lanes are not for merging into traffic. This makes it incredibly difficult for someone who wants to make a left turn in the lane. You are attempting to accelerate and merge into traffic, while someone else is trying to legally use the lane to slow down and make a left turn. That’s a recipe for a head-on collision. If you can’t turn left and get across traffic, go right, and make a legal uturn (or “Michigan” left) when you can, or use the center lane correctly and turn left into another area. Do NOT use it to merge.

It doesn’t matter whether you agree, it’s the law and I’d rather not die because you’re an idiot.

4. It’s legal to turn left on red onto a one way street. No need to honk and try to chase me down and curse me out. [law]

Vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal, after stopping before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or at a limit line when marked or, if there is no crosswalk or limit line, before entering the intersection, may make…a left turn from a 1-way or 2-way street into a 1-way roadway carrying traffic in the direction of the left turn unless prohibited by sign, signal, marking, light, or other traffic control device.

The same rules apply to turning right on a steady red signal.

Vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal, after stopping before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or at a limit line when marked or, if there is no crosswalk or limit line, before entering the intersection, may make…a left turn from a 1-way or 2-way street into a 1-way roadway carrying traffic in the direction of the left turn unless prohibited by sign, signal, marking, light, or other traffic control device.

The same rules apply to turning right on a steady red signal.

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The Origins of Easter

I’m always interested in understanding the history of holiday’s. Easter is no different.

Apparently the exact origins of Easter are unknown.  What is probable is that Easter is derived from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility.

As for that big bunny who breaks into people’s houses and delivers eggs?

The Bible makes no mention of a long-eared, short-tailed creature who delivers decorated eggs to well-behaved children on Easter Sunday; nevertheless, the Easter bunny has become a prominent symbol of Christianity’s most important holiday. The exact origins of this mythical mammal are unclear, but rabbits, known to be prolific procreators, are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life. According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs. Eventually, the custom spread across the U.S. and the fabled rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping.

Some further reading:

• History of Easter
• History of Easter Symbols

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Persistence Hunting

Older, but simply awesome video on persistence hunting. This is the type of thing that is explained in the book “Born to Run”.

Human beings are a particular type of mammal. In this compelling clip, we see a tribesman runner pursue his prey through the most harsh conditions in a grueling eight hour chase. Thought provoking content from the BBC’s Life of Mammals documentary series.

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