Colin Powell endorses Barak Obama
Yesterday morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw interviewed former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who presented his unequivocal endorsement of Barak Obama for president. Coming from a former Army General, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a staunch member of the Republican party, this is a pretty big deal. This is the most balanced and well-reasoned endorsement of Senator Obama I’ve yet heard. Colin Powell specifically brings attention to Obama’s “intellectual vigor” and “rhetorical ability,” two areas in which he is clearly superior to Mr. McCain, two areas that the press and the people love to ignore, and two areas that can, in my opinion, make the difference between a poor President and a great one.
Reach the Beach Relay 2008 in New Hampshire
For my first running race ever, this one was quite substantial. Go big or go home, right? 12 people (team dRUNk), 2 vans, 32 hours, 210 miles, from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to Hampton Beach. Link to Reach the Beach website.
Heather and I flew to Boston on Thursday, Jim picked us up from Logan and we met everyone at his parents’ house in Hampton (near the finish line we would eventually reach about 40 hours later). Jim’s mom cooked us pasta dinner, we passed out, and woke up by 5 AM to pack the vans and leave by 6.
The drive from Hampton to the start (Cannon Mountain) took a little over 2 hours. Upon arrival, we took care of all administrative tasks and escorted our first runner (Evan) to the starting line. Off goes Evan, and after righteously decorating our vehicles, the other 5 Van 1 folks pile into their vehicle and follow him down the course to the end of the first leg and the first transition area, where he passes the baton (snap bracelet) to the next runner. This process continued – when one van finished, the other van switched in, and the first van drove to a rest point to eat, hang out, and (maybe) sleep a little.
Our team came in 331/355 overall with a team average pace of 9:28/mile (mostly due to Evan and Matt who both ran high 6s and low 7s). My personal stats: 6.6 miles at 9:57/m, 9.2 miles at 10:44/m (HEINOUS HILLS on this leg), and 6.8 miles at 10:18/m. Also, I ran in these shoes for most of the race, and took them off and ran barefoot for the last 3 miles of my last leg.
I know you’d rather scroll through pics than listen to me yap, so here’s a link to the photo album:
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Click here for a sweet slide show of all the photos
Also, here’s a sampling of good ones (not in order):
I used my GPS watch to record all 3 of my legs. Here are maps of them:
RTB leg 8: 6.6 miles, 9:57/mile, ascent: 983 ft., descent: 1083 ft.
RTB leg 20: 9.2 miles, 10:44/mile, ascent: 1342 ft., descent: 1243 ft.
RTB leg 32: 6.8 miles, 10:18/mile, ascent: 1007 ft., descent: 1084 ft.
After the race, we patched our wounds, took showers, and headed to Boston. Despite the lack of sleep and extreme exhaustion, we worked up enough energy to put down a bunch of pizza, wine, and champagne Saturday night, then hang out in Boston all day Sunday. Here’s a few pics of that.
We went to a Jazz bar/restaurant called Johhny D’s for brunch (steak+arugala+egg+potato quesedilla, blood orange mimosa in a parrot mug = awesome), got to see Kelsey and Matt from RIT, and Red Bones BBQ for dinner. Ordered way too much awesome meat, including 3 kinds of ribs + brisket and mac+cheese, etc. Jill met us there too, which was cool. Jim and I finished off the meal with HUGE glasses of straight Bookers bourbon. We added some ice to it (this one calls for it), and realized that it’s SO STRONG (127 proof) that ice actually sinks in it!
4 AM Monday morning came WAY too early, as Jim took Heather and I back to the airport. We landed, I got in my car, and drove straight to work.
I got Nominated for the Peace Corps!
Last Wednesday my regional Peace Corps recruiter called me up and offered me the nomination. The only details he could give are that if I go, I will likely leave in June of ‘09, and I will probably go somewhere in Africa. Now I’m faced with a heavy packet of medical paperwork to get filled out by my doctor and dentist, then waiting until the placement office gets around to sending me an Invitation. Until I get the invitation, everything (timing, location, etc.) is totally up in the air.
Say goodbye to my little friend – Farewell to my first bike
Zen and the Folly of Motorcycle Maintenance
The bike has been running kind of crappy recently – starting hard and getting poor milage. Since it’s pretty much the only thing I haven’t replaced recently on it, I ordered a new air filter. Took the old one out, and it was PACKED with dead bugs! Awesome! Slapped that new baby in there, and off to the next problem!
My oil level has been rising recently (not my personal oil level – although I have been eating quite a bit of greasy food lately). I wasn’t sure if I was leaking antifreeze into my oil, or what, so I drained some out into the ol’ pan to have a look. It came out really thin, but didn’t seem to have any antifreeze in it. It also smelled a lot like gas. The preliminary diagnosis is that due to a previously clogged air filter, the FI system was dumping excessive amounts of gas, and it was ending up in the oil. This is a known problem with the ‘97 TL1000S, documented here. I don’t think I have the new ECM – I should probably get it.
Either way, it rode way better this morning. I’m going to put fresh oil in (bummer, because I just filled ‘er up with primo AMSOIL) and see how it goes.
speedy gonzales…
It takes me as long to run one mile as it takes an Olympian to run more than two. So I guess I’m not that speedy. Or mexican, for that matter. Or a mouse. However, in the pre-dawn Minnesota wilderness (not wilderness) near Madison Lake this morning, after long being stuck in the high 11s and 12s for my long runs, I acheived a personal best – 11 miles in 1:53, or 10:16/mile. A very small step for mankind (actually kind of like crawling backwards), but sort of a major leap for me.
Here’s my route (the blue line) – I didn’t have my fancy schmancy gps watch with me, so I had to use a known-distance spot and do laps.
Running progress
The training continues for Reach the Beach relay in New Hampsire next month. Did 9 miles with hills last night – didn’t hit my goal time, but came close enough. Unfortunately experienced some fairly substantial chafing on the, uh, undercarridge area, which I didn’t notice until it started burning in the shower… bummer. Ever tried sustained physical activity while wearing a sweat-soaked shirt? Oh yeah, the nipples are pretty much trashed too… awesome! Didn’t want to hear that? Too bad – you came here, it’s your own fault!
Also, my shoes are starting to wear out – only on the left side though (?). The barefoot running style is wicked awesome, but I haven’t worked myself up to true barefoot running, and these Vibram suckers are taking a beating – probably more expensive on the whole than regular shoes (replace more often), but I’m never going back.
Peace Corps application reactivation
I reactivated my Peace Corps application today. I thought the application was valid for one year after last activity, but apparently it’s one year after the completed app was initially submitted. This means I need to get nominated before October 2, or I have to start all over. Hmm…