Two weeks? Where has the time gone?

Well, its gone several places, and its luggage went to a few others, but now time (Tie-muh) and its many-legged luggage are reunited and ready to get back to the illusion that existence is sequencial.

Me? I've been to Boston, for a professional conference. It went well, thank you, but I was sick the whole dang time I was there. That kind of miserable, hacking cough that doesn't produce any phlegm. Sucked to be me. The weather was from bad to miserable to nice, finally. The cold knocked me down for the better part of a week, actually, and I didn't get back to running until Monday.

This week has seen the following:
Monday: 1/2 mile easy, still sick.
Tuesday: 40 minute run in Sligo Creek Park. A wind-ey 4.5 miles.
Wednesday: Hard run: 2 minutes at 8 min/mile, 1 min at 10 min/mile. 8 repeats. Ends up being about 2.7 miles in 23 minutes. 8 minute miles is my goal for the race next week (on which more in a moment).
Thursday: 30 minutes easy, 3.2 miles.
Today: 40 minutes easy, 4.4 miles.

The plan for the weekend is a long run of 70 minutes, slightly slower than race pace, but at least 7 miles. But, it may well be raining hard tomorrow, so I may push that to Sunday, as I would like to do it outside.

I've been running with B on a regular basis, and its been a good thing for me -- he clearly wants to run faster than I do. I think it might be a good thing for him, as well, as he isn't in shape to run as fast as he wants to run. As he says, "the older I get, the faster I was." He wants to race like he is still 20. However, on our treadmill running sessions, his easy pace is faster than my race pace. So, THE PLAN today is to run him down by dragging him down to my level, and then clubbing him like a baby seal when we get close enough to the finish line.

I say THE PLAN because I was watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog with J last night. Much of that is appropriate for J -- in fact, a lot of the humor is right up his alley. BUT, some of it is too grown up for him. At the end of Act II I stopped the show, and told him that it had a sad ending, and that he probably wouldn't like it. He asked some questions about it, and agreed that he didn't want to watch. But he loved the Evil League of Evil, and Bad Horse, and the way that Dr. Horrible got beat up by Captain Hammer. "Captain Hammer threw a car at my head." Heh. The thing that I found really interesting was that he didn't mind the musical format at all -- it didn't even phase him. I guess that comes from the way that lots of kids shows work music into the narrative. If you haven't checked it out, and you have a sense of humor (most of you do) then you owe it to yourself to get it -- I got it off of Itunes, its really quite awesome.

The dissertation (hi mom!) is coming along, with Chapter two taking shape. Not a lot of words on the page yet, but the materials I want to include are becoming known to me. It may be the hardest chapter of them all, actually, because what I want to convince people of is stuff that I can only really speculate about. Oh, I can point to the things people wrote, and the dance manuals and what have you are pretty clear about the way people were expected to behave, but one of the things of which I am convinced is that the historical record doesn't begin to tell the full story. So, I have to infer -- rules and regulations that prohibit or proscribe behavior indicate that the behavior was a problem, therefore it was going on, kinda thing. Its evidence through absence, and while it is fairly well established and accepted methedologically (in my field) its not tremendously straightforward.

Next weekend is the 10k race in annapolis. A shortish drive away, B and I expect to be there and back before noon. I am, as I was with the triathlon this spring, somewhat nonplussed. I don't know what to expect, and I don't have any reason to be nervous, but I kind of feel it ought to be expected - nerves. Its a RACE, after all, but one with no stakes -- there's no way I am winning my age group, so mostly I am paying a (small) fee to have somoene time me run 10k (No, mom, I won't just send the money to you and use a stopwatch. Your point is taken, however). I guess formal races and whatnot are a step towards qualifying to run marathons, which I intend to do in the spring. Also, there is the question of just how fast am I? As I said in my last post, I don't know. We will find out!

M has been undergoing some acupuncture for her thyroid problems, and seems (for the moment) pleased with the results. Her energy is up, and she appriciates the attention to detail and willingness to discuss the theory of the treatment that she gets with this doctor. I get the impression that one of the things she most dislikes about western medical institutions is the way patients are treated like unwanted customers, necessary perhaps but frankly getting in the way of the real work. Much the same way some academic institutions treat undergraduates, come to think on it . . .

No word on the job front. I did get a nibble on an article, which would be nice. Thats all for now -- peace out.