Spring Break

Its Spring Break here, as well as the last week before the marathon.  Consequently, I have been getting tons of research done.  Thats the good news.  The less good news is that I'm not quite sure yet how all the research is going to fit into the dissertation.  So, starting tomorrow, the job is to stop doing research and start writing again.  With luck, the research will filter through and onto the page.

If you are interested in in travel, check out Graham's Blog - he's in China, teaching english as a second language.  He's a damn fine observer of the human condition as well as a friend.  Worth a look.

Tapering, which is the process whereby you slow down on your training in the weeks before the marathon, is wierd.  I went for a twelve-minute run yesterday.  Twelve minutes and out?  That was too short!  B tells me it is normal to feel that way, and also to feel that I would have been better off training hard up to race day -- he's the coach, so we listen to him.  

Race plan:  Head out with the Navy 3:30 Pace Runner (yes, the navy is entering racers who promise to run even splits for times from 3 to 4 hours).  Then, at mile 13, try to drop the pack that are around him.  If I can drop 10 seconds/mile in the second half of the race, I will be damn proud.  

B and I drove the course over the weekend, a big advantage, I think, so that we will be more familiar with the landmarks and know roughly where we are, where the hills are (not very many, happily), and not get turned around.  The race goes through some fairly shady parts of NE, which struck both of us as odd -- they are trying to make this a touristy race, after all.  I guess they figure most of the tourists wont be on the course between miles 3 and 6.  

M's dance weekend was a big success, although she did not advance to the semi's in the competition.  The cut was from 90 to 25, which is fairly brutal.  Two old friends from the NYC days who were judging observed that she was, at least, in the right category.  Her next dance date is in May, so here's hoping she'll have better judges then.  I went out to the event Saturday night and danced until 4 am, something I haven't done since NYC days . . . 

Check in next week for Marathon results!  In the meantime, I will leave you with this delicious tidbit from my research . . . 

“Every member of our society, no matter whence he hails, has a voice and vote in our deliberations.  He has the right to submit a new dance to the vote of the Society, and, if successful, we will push the dance all we can; but we dispute the right to materially alter an old standard dance so that the identity of its figures may be obscured. . . . A new and simple square dance, composed by a member, no matter where he resides, if pushed by the Society and favorably received by the public, has a chance to become a fixture and eventually a standard set of unalterable figures.  But, aside from this possible chance, these facts must not be lost sight of:  France does not give fashions to Paris; England does not give fashions to London; America does not give fashions to New York.  It is impossible for a nation to give fashions to its metropolis. . . ."