My time for the 5k was 33:27! This is by far the best time time I have run in months.
With a mile average of 10:46.
56th overall, out of 122.
11th in my age group, out of 15.
Overall, a great day for a race. The weather was cooperative. A bit cloudy and humid but nothing oppressive and the temp was in the 70s.
Very good community support. People along the course came out and encouraged the runners.
The best was one block where at least four houses all got together and were banging on pots and otherwise making a great noise to keep our spirits up, which it did.
The 2 mile mark happened to be in front of our house. Some of our neighbors even had hoses and sprinklers out to help folk cool off if they needed it. One pair of neighbors stopped and got their Great Dane when they passed their house and she finished the race with them.
A lot of fun and I am already looking forward to next year!
ok, now I have to go shopping for grilling later this afternoon.
And while I might not think highly of the current administration, I am taking a moment to remember those that had served in the Armed Forces today.
20070528
20070525
Graduation itself, plus plans for Memorial Day
Here is a link to the graduation ceremony:
mms://146.186.87.22/archive/wmv/comm2007.wmv
If you jump to 01:04:25 you can see yours truly with a grin that goes twice around my head.
In other news, our little borough is having a 5k run/walk as part of its Memorial Day festivities this year. I signed up for it and am planning on running. Well, shuffling to be more accurate, as my time for a mile is still stuck at 12 minutes on average. I found a workout plan/schedule designed to improve, decrease, this time but did not want to start it with only two weeks before the race as it spans months. The short version is to calculate the pace I want to achieve and then run at that pace for short distances. The distances are then gradually increased each week until the distances are race length. We have a nice track here at work so the plan is to start at half a lap increments and go from there. The goal is for a ten minute mile average for a five mile run. This is requires changing from ~90 seconds for a half lap to ~75 seconds. Sounds simple doesn't it? We shall see.
mms://146.186.87.22/archive/wmv/comm2007.wmv
If you jump to 01:04:25 you can see yours truly with a grin that goes twice around my head.
In other news, our little borough is having a 5k run/walk as part of its Memorial Day festivities this year. I signed up for it and am planning on running. Well, shuffling to be more accurate, as my time for a mile is still stuck at 12 minutes on average. I found a workout plan/schedule designed to improve, decrease, this time but did not want to start it with only two weeks before the race as it spans months. The short version is to calculate the pace I want to achieve and then run at that pace for short distances. The distances are then gradually increased each week until the distances are race length. We have a nice track here at work so the plan is to start at half a lap increments and go from there. The goal is for a ten minute mile average for a five mile run. This is requires changing from ~90 seconds for a half lap to ~75 seconds. Sounds simple doesn't it? We shall see.
20070509
garden update, plus freezer
Note: I started this post a week ago, so that is what was written in part 1. More recent stuff in part 2:
part1
I did not get as much done in the garden this past weekend. Only the spinach and two lettuces got their seeds planted. Not quite half of one raised bed. So two and a half to go. Should be nice this weekend. Hopefully there will be time.
The reason the garden did not get the attention it deserves was due to a sudden purchase of a freezer at a yard sale on Saturday. Suddenly it had to be gotten home, space made for it, space made for the shelves it was displacing, smaller shelves to fill in the gap moved from the attic, every thing removed from all of these shelves so they could be moved around the house. And it all had to be done when the little one was napping. Dropping a freezer on him would be bad and keeping him from wanting to be in the middle of the action is a trick we have not mastered. I still have to replace an outlet and get an extension cord for this freezer to actually get used.
Now my darling bride can stock up even more at the bulk super store. Which is good as it will let us cut down on the number of trips going to the bulk super store. We dream of only going once a month rather than our current weekly visit. Fully half of what we get is juice for the thirsty little one. I can only imagine what it would be like if we did not cut the apple juice with water.
part2
I got the seeds planted for the bean bushes, chives and corn portion of the three sisters. Bernadetta got the tomato plants into the ground and started on the stakes. Our little vegetable garden is starting to come along. The spinach and lettuce plants are starting to show.
Graduation went well this past Friday. The only hitch was that our camera went MIA over the weekend and the pictures were never downloaded. I have a picture of me from a friend also graduating, but not much for the family shots. So my big plan is to recreate them. I just want pictures of me with my folks and my family while in the graduation rob. I can live with the minor detail of not having the pictures actually taken at the event. My neighbors might think we are a little odd when I running around the yard in the graduation robes etc, but there is nothing new there.
*smiles*
part1
I did not get as much done in the garden this past weekend. Only the spinach and two lettuces got their seeds planted. Not quite half of one raised bed. So two and a half to go. Should be nice this weekend. Hopefully there will be time.
The reason the garden did not get the attention it deserves was due to a sudden purchase of a freezer at a yard sale on Saturday. Suddenly it had to be gotten home, space made for it, space made for the shelves it was displacing, smaller shelves to fill in the gap moved from the attic, every thing removed from all of these shelves so they could be moved around the house. And it all had to be done when the little one was napping. Dropping a freezer on him would be bad and keeping him from wanting to be in the middle of the action is a trick we have not mastered. I still have to replace an outlet and get an extension cord for this freezer to actually get used.
Now my darling bride can stock up even more at the bulk super store. Which is good as it will let us cut down on the number of trips going to the bulk super store. We dream of only going once a month rather than our current weekly visit. Fully half of what we get is juice for the thirsty little one. I can only imagine what it would be like if we did not cut the apple juice with water.
part2
I got the seeds planted for the bean bushes, chives and corn portion of the three sisters. Bernadetta got the tomato plants into the ground and started on the stakes. Our little vegetable garden is starting to come along. The spinach and lettuce plants are starting to show.
Graduation went well this past Friday. The only hitch was that our camera went MIA over the weekend and the pictures were never downloaded. I have a picture of me from a friend also graduating, but not much for the family shots. So my big plan is to recreate them. I just want pictures of me with my folks and my family while in the graduation rob. I can live with the minor detail of not having the pictures actually taken at the event. My neighbors might think we are a little odd when I running around the yard in the graduation robes etc, but there is nothing new there.
*smiles*
20070504
lunch time update on loads of stuff
So I passed my final class. I get to Graduate!
I am going to attend the graduation ceremony for this degree. I did not walk at my undergrad graduation, so this is a big deal. When I finished my undergrad I did not see the point of spending that many hours of suffering just so I and my three thousand or so closest friends could stand as a group to be told we were done. This one is a bit different. I was much more committed to this degree than I was to any other scholastic endeavor in my life. And it shows in my grades. Amazing how that works. And it has given me lots to think about for when our little one starts school.
In other news, our little one has started day care. It is for two hours two mornings each week. More a chance for him to socialize and Mom to get some errands run without having to deal with a toddler. Getting to the point of sending him to day care has been more stressful on Mom than on child. He has taken to it like a fish to water. The two ladies running the program never fail to mention how surprised they are that he adapted so quickly. The only time he fussed was when I was a little late in picking him up and that was only becuase he saw the other kids leaving without him. And in the short time he has been going we have seen a huge increase in his speaking. While he still only has a few words, he uses them and a growing number of signs much more often. It really seems as if he wants to talk, so we are really excited.
And I finally figured out what to call it when he mixes his two languages. "Ponglish" I thought I was being really creative and trendsetting when I came up with that one late at night. Then I found it is already a slang term in Polish, with a polish language wikipedia entry and everything.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponglish Granted, my wife did not know it, so at least I am figuring out new slang before she is, in her language, which is funny as my Polish is pretty minimal.
On the music front, I found the music for "Sto Lat" and took a stab at transcribing it so I can play it on the concertina. I have not actually started practising as yet but be assured I will be posting anything that does not sound like cats in a blender. "Sto Lat" is the traditional Polish song sung at all happy gatherings. It serves in place of "Happy Birthday", "Auld Lang Syne" and "100 Bottles of Bear on the Wall" as best as I can tell. Further info as well as music and words can be found here: http://www.polishamericancenter.org/StoLat.htm
Please note the English version is not a translation of the Polish, but something of the same spirit.
Garden update: I never got replacements started for my tomatoes that decided not to start but I have gotten started on prepping the garden beds. I weeded some, ran the garden weasel over them and added some nice dark stuff from the bottom of the compost pile. I only got a few buckets full of the good stuff, where you can no longer tell what it once was, so we also turned the pile a few times and have been adding everything since to a new pile. I have all my seeds and am planning on getting as much into the ground as I can this weekend. This is what I really hope to get done: plant the spinach, lettuces, bush beans, tomatoes, sun flowers and get the mounds made and corn planted for the Three Sisters experiment. That is all I can remember from my big plan, so I should also take a look at my diagram and see if I am leaving anything out. Things like cucumbers come to mind...
Ok, lunch hour is coming to a close and I need to get back to other things.
*smiles*
I hope all is well with you and yours!
I am going to attend the graduation ceremony for this degree. I did not walk at my undergrad graduation, so this is a big deal. When I finished my undergrad I did not see the point of spending that many hours of suffering just so I and my three thousand or so closest friends could stand as a group to be told we were done. This one is a bit different. I was much more committed to this degree than I was to any other scholastic endeavor in my life. And it shows in my grades. Amazing how that works. And it has given me lots to think about for when our little one starts school.
In other news, our little one has started day care. It is for two hours two mornings each week. More a chance for him to socialize and Mom to get some errands run without having to deal with a toddler. Getting to the point of sending him to day care has been more stressful on Mom than on child. He has taken to it like a fish to water. The two ladies running the program never fail to mention how surprised they are that he adapted so quickly. The only time he fussed was when I was a little late in picking him up and that was only becuase he saw the other kids leaving without him. And in the short time he has been going we have seen a huge increase in his speaking. While he still only has a few words, he uses them and a growing number of signs much more often. It really seems as if he wants to talk, so we are really excited.
And I finally figured out what to call it when he mixes his two languages. "Ponglish" I thought I was being really creative and trendsetting when I came up with that one late at night. Then I found it is already a slang term in Polish, with a polish language wikipedia entry and everything.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponglish Granted, my wife did not know it, so at least I am figuring out new slang before she is, in her language, which is funny as my Polish is pretty minimal.
On the music front, I found the music for "Sto Lat" and took a stab at transcribing it so I can play it on the concertina. I have not actually started practising as yet but be assured I will be posting anything that does not sound like cats in a blender. "Sto Lat" is the traditional Polish song sung at all happy gatherings. It serves in place of "Happy Birthday", "Auld Lang Syne" and "100 Bottles of Bear on the Wall" as best as I can tell. Further info as well as music and words can be found here: http://www.polishamericancenter.org/StoLat.htm
Please note the English version is not a translation of the Polish, but something of the same spirit.
Garden update: I never got replacements started for my tomatoes that decided not to start but I have gotten started on prepping the garden beds. I weeded some, ran the garden weasel over them and added some nice dark stuff from the bottom of the compost pile. I only got a few buckets full of the good stuff, where you can no longer tell what it once was, so we also turned the pile a few times and have been adding everything since to a new pile. I have all my seeds and am planning on getting as much into the ground as I can this weekend. This is what I really hope to get done: plant the spinach, lettuces, bush beans, tomatoes, sun flowers and get the mounds made and corn planted for the Three Sisters experiment. That is all I can remember from my big plan, so I should also take a look at my diagram and see if I am leaving anything out. Things like cucumbers come to mind...
Ok, lunch hour is coming to a close and I need to get back to other things.
*smiles*
I hope all is well with you and yours!
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