Atlantic Time Zone
One of my biggest pet peeves since moving to Maine is being on Eastern time. We are far enough east to be on Atlantic time, and I hate having the sun go down at 3:30 in the afternoon. The entire point of daylight savings was to save energy during World War II (at least, in it’s latest incarnation). Here in Maine, though, it costs us money, because it wastes precious daylight in the mornings and makes it unavailable in the evenings.
I heard on the radio this morning while I was at the gym that they are thinking of going Atlantic Maritime. It is in today’s newspaper as well. I am very excited.
The cynic in me assumes that the referendum is going to fail, though. Why? When we save on our energy bills, don’t get as depressed because it is so dark in the wintertime, 90% of us don’t have to worry about the change of time zones anymore, and we can accomplish more during the day than previously?
It will fail because people’s tv schedules will be off by an hour for less than half of the year. Things will be a little more confusing for commuters who go to Boston or one of the other New England states, and things will be a little more confusing for people who come to visit Maine in the winter (of which there aren’t nearly as many as those who visit in the Summer and Autumn). It is not going to affect enough of those people however (and the visitors can’t even vote on it anyway). Just the fact that somebody’s favorite tv show would start at 9pm instead of 8pm is going to be enough that they will vote against this. I hate the babble box.
880s
Running 800s (or 880s, as my coach refers to them) can be satisfying.
We had a good 20 minute warm up, nice slow and easy. We got to the track before the high school meet had ended, so another 10 minute or so rewarmup was in order. The 800s were nothing fast (6:00 down to 5:00 pace) but it felt nice to get the legs moving again. It is high time I got my sense of pace back. On the third 800, I wanted to run the first 200 meters in 40 seconds, and I was spot on. Of course, I was four seconds under when I crossed 400 meters, though. The cool down was a good 25 minutes mostly along this weekend’s race course.
I have decided that starting next week, I am going to do the lifting on MTR and the swimming on WF. I will still limit my running to team workouts (or races) on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. Saturday will still be my day off. I am currently lifting MR and swimming on TF. The masters swim class meets on TR though so the pool is a little crowded even at 6 in the morning.
Professional Athletic Contracts
I can accept that professional athletes make ungodly sums of money. I am not really sure why, and I do not really care why. It does not bother me that Randy Moss looks at a $10,000 fine in the same way I would look at losing a dollar bill in a hole in my pocket. (His being rude and a jackass does, but that’s a different matter.)
What does bother me are the athlete’s that sign a contract, and then cry when things don’t go their way. Or ones that are so dumb, they would go joyriding or stunt driving on a motorcycle despite there (probably) being wording in their contract against such things. At least he had a helmet on. Oh wait, it wasn’t strapped…
If you sign a contract and are being paid to do something, then you should do it to the best of your abilities. What is required is a decent work ethic, which most athletes seem to have but the news tends to focus on the ones that make fools of themselves.
London/Boston Marathon Double
The other week, 5 people ran the London Marathon. They then flew back to the United States and ran the Boston Marathon. One of them, Pam Reed, ran the London Marathon (3:25), and then ran from Boston to Hopkinton the next morning, only to race back from Hopkinton to Boston (4:13). That seems a little excessive to me.
I could understand doubling on a marathon. Given that my goal is to run one in every state, I could foresee running back to back if I went out west or some such and wanted to get two nearby races out of the way at the same time.
I can not see myself flying a third of the way around the planet in order to run marathons back to back, though. Nor can I see myself warming up before my second marathon in as many days by running the (entire) course backwards.
I suppose the gulf of comprehension is fairly easy to understand though. My looking at ultramarathons and ironman triathletes is probably close to the same thing as a number of people who meet me and learn that I have run 5 marathons. I get the “Why?” question a lot, as well as the “I can’t imagine ever doing that” response. Which seems to be exactly my response to reading about these folks.
Update: It’s been over 2 years since I wrote this, I have doubled my marathons (more than doubled, if you count my ultra) and while I can see running the 50+ miles, I still can not picture myself ever flying a third of the way around the planet for a 50 miler the day after a marathon. I still find this really impressive. (2007 December 18)
Update: It’s now been 5½ years since I wrote this, and I so want to do this now. I still find it really impressive, but not out of reach of common mortals such as myself. And now, it actually sounds fun. (2010 October 19)
Doug Flutie signs with the Patriots
Doug Flutie is coming back to New England.
I first heard it on the radio last night, and I was trying to think, why? That doesn’t make any sense. If New England had QB problems, they would want a young gun to step up, and not put the ball in the hands of somebody who will be gone in a year.
But that is from a New England point of view. From his point of view, he is coming home. Maybe his role will just be in the classroom for the 2nd string QB. Or maybe he will fill a “fill-in” role if Brady gets hurt. It makes me wonder what kind of deal he got with New England. I imagine it can’t be overly high.
Even though I do not expect to see him anywhere but on the sidelines during the season, at least I will get to see him play a preseason quarter or two. I have not seen him play since he was in Buffalo.
Running in the rain…
Went to the team workout this evening, and it was one of those chilly (but not cold) days where it is just pouring. You always dread going out for your run, but once you are out there you can not imagine anywhere that you would rather be. At least, I usually can’t.
I had another sopping wet workout a few weeks before the marathon. The only people to show up were 3 other people running the marathon, myself, and my girlfriend. It was much colder then, being 3 or 4 weeks closer to the just past winter and at 7:30 on a Sunday morning instead of at 6 on a weekday evening. The new jackets that we got last year worked like a charm to keep me dry, and I enjoyed the run.
Tonight’s workout was fun, too. It was my first speed work in quite a while. I only ran 5 by a bit less than a quarter mile, but I could certainly feel it on the return trip. That might have been the wind chapping, though.
Finally labeled…
We finally got around to labeling the four cases of maple wheat and a new bitter that we had laying around. We decided to go with the picture of the statue for the bitter (a new label), and we kept the picture of the goats from last year’s maple wheat. The goats are from the “No Wahala” farm up in Hudson, which is owned by uncle. “No Wahala” is what the Nigerians used to tell him when they were going to take care of something (such as a decapitated corpse floating down the river) and he did not have to worry himself over it. It means “No Trouble”.
Marathons: Lessons Learned
I have learned a few things from running marathons.
In Jacksonville, Florida, I learned not to just stop and walk through a water stop after running for 23 miles under 7 minute pace.
In Portland, Maine, I learned that no base and 9 weeks of training just isn”t enough.
In Cleveland, Ohio, I learned that you can run a good marathon on 45 miles a week and nothing but water during a race.
In San Antonio, Texas, I learned that sleep is necessary after a marathon, or you are going to get sick.
In Boston, Massachusetts, I learned that the backs of your legs really can burn pretty bad if you never turn and have the sun at your back for 3 and a half hours. I also learned that no matter how tired you are, you need to eat afterwards.
