Like A Mighty Wave

Run light. Keep your heart rate down. Take it easy for 22 and then turn off your mind. If you're going through hell, keep going. Don't bounce. Walk the water stations. Run your race. Drink before you need to. Fight in the shade. Relax. Keep your cadence up. Don't talk. Step small. You can redline all you want, but never go past the breaking point until the final sprint. Use your arms. Don't panic. Your shirt says "Oberlin" on it, so live up to it.

Edit: If at first you don't succeed...

Poring Over Sanskrit Under Ivy League Moons

It's not a Saturday night if you aren't up til 3:30AM studying Proto-Indo-European word roots. Sometimes I almost feel like a real grad student.

And yeah, he pronounces this line wrong in the song. It's Sanskrit, not Sanscript (which sounds like a weird font name, if you ask me). I always wince inwardly and then feel like a pretentious snob. But hell, I'm not the one trying to name-drop ancient languages without doing my homework on them. And my current moon isn't even Ivy League (but I like it better here).

Born to Run

Dream Races:

Spartathlon
Badwater Ultramarathon
Antarctic Ice Marathon
Any Ironman
Race Across America

Hm. I am going to need to be a lot stronger and richer if I want to do any of those.

Riders of the Storm

A thunderstorm caught me on my bike about a third of the way to Annapolis today. But I kept going, and a few hours later a torrent of water, a ton of gravel and I all arrived safely at my parents' house. There was a dicey bit where I was on this flat, elevated stretch of Race Track Road in the pouring rain. I could actually see lightning flashing and striking around me, but sometimes there's nothing to do but keep going.

Dear Tom,
Weather forecasts are your friend.
Love,
Tom

Apparently Sarah Palin ran a 3:59 marathon in 2005. New marathon goal: beat Sarah Palin. I wish she wasn't so fast, though.

I found this picture of me and Emily today from freshman year. It's even got the date on it, which is cool: October 11, 2004.


Radio Shack filmed a whole bunch of commercials with Lance Armstrong. I think it's gonna be awesome if they get a podium finish out of someone else after all that. I think I prefer to cheer for Leipheimer anyway.

And today I sent in my entry for the JFK 50 miler. I hope I get in, I think.

On My Own, Here We Go

I made the top 4 of a PTQ today, for the second time in my life. I am definitely not the magician I once was, and I've never been as awesome as Nate and Kurty are these days, but it was still fun to do well again.

Me: Who are you texting?
Nate: Sam. She wanted to know how I was doing.
Me: You never answer my texts to find out how you're doing!
Nate: That's cause I'm not marrying you.
Me: And this is how you tell me?

Kurty also made top 8. Kurty is a monster.

Props to the Stars and Stripes for rallying to a draw against a twelve-man Slovenian squad. I guess the ref wore a different color to preserve the illusion of parity.

Maurice Edu: Goal!
Koman Coulibaly: Nuh-uh! You missed, you missed!

I Can't Remember Who I Was Back Then

High Fidelity is on Hulu. I watched it with a girlfriend at some point but I can't remember which. This is kind of ironic given the nature and subject matter of the movie.

It was either Laura or Emily (I'm leaning towards Emily). Both of them would probably be annoyed that I mixed them up, but as far as I know neither of them knows about this blog.

Tim Howard is awesome! I bought a soccer ball, but I'm not as awesome, and if I don't stop playing with it inside I think my possessions may suffer. But it's not my fault it's dark out.

The Grey Unyielding Concrete Makes a City of my Town

Oberlin has high-rises now. Well, not too high, but higher than anything else. They say they are sustainable, so I suppose they are still Oberlin-ish and I dig that. But it makes me sad. And also a little glad, because I'm looking forward to being 60ish in that town and sitting around sipping whiskey and yelling at students about how different things were when I was a kid. They won't care, but some of them will be awkwardly polite, so they'll have to listen anyway.

The newest thing that my hair is doing is that it is all growing back, but it is white now. Not blond, white. So that's interesting. I was shaving it regularly, but I think I am gonna let it grow now that it is summer. I figure by the time I start teaching again, I will look like this: