Non Sequitur in Yellow and Brown

For Angus.

Day 2 And Beyond

Abstract art? No, just Day 2 of our climb.


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Of Piglets

As some of you know, my office-mate Pam inadvertently adopted a piglet (Maya) last week, and Pam had her in the office most of the week, bottle-feeding her, keeping her warm, bathing her, encouraging her to use the computer. A very charming little pig.



Unfortunately, Maya was the runt of the litter, rejected by her mom, and her health took a turn over the weekend. She died on Saturday. We'll miss her.

Last Long Run Sunday....

Tomorrow is my last pre-marathon long run--a twenty-miler. To try to avoid too much misery, I've mapped out a relatively level route this time:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=211174

Total elevation gain = 939 feet
Elevation change--ups plus downs = 1880 feet

The last time I ran 20 miles (closer to my house):

Total levation gain = 2580 feet
Elevation change = 5157 feet

On the other hand, the weather will be doing its best to promote a different kind of misery:

Sunday: Rain, mainly before 2pm. Patchy fog before 2pm. High near 53. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

UPDATE: It's still not easy to run 20 miles (and I definitely won't be breaking any personal records with this marathon), but this run went much better than the last 20-miler. Almost no walking. Almost no "IT Band" pain.

Today's Mt. Rainier High-Camp Weather

WINDY

Weather readings from Camp Muir, roughly 4,300 feet below the summit (our high camp will be at Camp Schurman, but the elevations are equivalent):

        4-29-2008
          Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center
          Camp Muir, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington
          Data also courtesy Mt Rainier National Park
          
          Wind sensors unheated and may rime
          Wind direction likely out

            MM/DD   Hour   Temp     RH   Wind   Wind   Wind   Wind
                     PST      F      %    Min    Avg    Max    Dir
                         10100' 10100' 10100' 10100' 10100' 10100'
          --------------------------------------------------------
             4 28   1500     19     96     29     42     56    353
             4 28   1600     20     97     27     33     48    353
             4 28   1700     17     96     25     40     50    353
             4 28   1800     17     95     26     35     41    353
             4 28   1900     18     96     22     27     33    353
             4 28   2000     17     95     25     29     33    353
             4 28   2100     15     95     24     31     37    353
             4 28   2200     15     95     24     31     42    353
             4 28   2300     14     95     23     33     42    353
             4 29      0     12     93     26     39     50    353
             4 29    100      9     92     29     38     47    353
             4 29    200      6     92     16     26     38    353
             4 29    300      7     91     16     24     32    353
             4 29    400      7     91     10     19     28    353
             4 29    500      6     91     13     22     32    353
             4 29    600      7     91     15     21     33    353
             4 29    700      8     91     13     22     30    353
             4 29    800      9     91      8     18     28    353
             4 29    900     10     91     11     17     25    353
             4 29   1000     11     91     10     19     26    353
             4 29   1100     13     91     10     15     20    353
             4 29   1200     13     91      7     15     25    353
             4 29   1300     14     92      8     14     21    353
             4 29   1400     14     92      1     10     16    353

Musical/Political Interlude

Enough with the tribulations of getting in shape, and of climbing mountains, and fighting cancer, at least for awhile. I need a break.

In some ways this is nostalgic, because Billy Bragg is so 1988, but hey.

This song, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards," has been updated all along by Mr. Bragg when he plays it live--updated to fit the current social or political climate or simply to add a joke or twist the lyrics around playfully. He's a good guy, and 20 years later, this song, like any good folk song, still has some relevance. Performed here at SXSW in Austin, TX, March 2008. Original lyrics below.



Billy Bragg plays at the Moore Theater in Seattle on June 6 and Club Soda in Montreal on June 18.

Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (1988)

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment
So he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the Third World is just around the corner

In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That Dr Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell
At the first hurdle

In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I'm looking for the Great Leap Forwards

Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?

Here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist I want to be on it

It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll
From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room

So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just a T-shirt away
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Long Run Sunday: Twenty Miles of Running on Empty

Flickr image by phil.thuma

Today--after 13 weeks of ramping-up--was the first of two 20-mile training runs I'm scheduled to do between now and the Vermont City Marathon at the end of May.

Urp.

It was not easy. Of course.

But really, it was not easy. Especially when it came to the rolling hills that are pretty inescapable around here.

The hills became harder and harder as I went on, until even the puniest of hills (hillocks? hillettes? gentle inclines?) were basically impossible to run. At any rate, my brain could not convince my legs to get up off their asses and trot.

You have to admit, though, some of these hills are pretty mountainous (actual cross-section of my route):



The whole thing took four hours. Which pretty much means I need to scale back my expectations of this marathon. As in: maybe I should just be glad to finish?