Golden Gate

So Spencer and I are both in San Francisco for the AALS Annual Meeting.  Neither of us had any sessions yesterday afternoon, so we decided to satisfy a mutual ambition to run across the Golden Gate Bridge.  We're both behind on our training, so we took a cab to Fort Mason (or thereabouts), and ran from there.  Here are some photos:

Hills

We have no end to good hills in Rock Creek Park just down the street from my house. Last Sunday I found a new stretch of bike trail along Military Road that climbs rather brutally from the creek up to the top of the hill where one finds the Glover Road entrance to the park. So today I followed Military to Glover Road and into the park, ran past the stables on Glover Road and turned left to Ross Drive, which takes one down to the park police headquarters and into the valley where the creek runs. I then followed the aforementioned bike trail back west along Military to Oregon Avenue, where I turned left and crossed Military to Glover Road again. A loop on Ridge Road to Glover Road and back to Ridge dropped me at Grant Road, which descends steeply down to Broad Branch and meets Davenport, a steep hill back up to Linnean. Linnean returned me to Nevada, crossing Nebraska and, voila, Military. Probably 45 minutes all told.

Le Maillot Jaune

In trolling the internet for evidence of my influence (it's third-year review time) I looked up my name in Google Books, which I decided is a step less cheesy than simply googling myself. I pop up in many caselaw reporters, which is no surprise for someone who paid off the student loans by litigating. Law journals apparently are not in Google's library. Two caselaw reporters are different from others: I was both a defendant and a decedent in the late 1890s (not really, obviously). I found myself (yes, this one actually me) thanked in a 1998 book by an old mathematical writing professor of mine from college (I just ordered that book). But the best was the first couple of pages from Chapter 9 of a novel, "Short Change," by Patricia Smiley (Penguin USA 2007). Max Huffman is the new beau of someone named Venus, and the action opens with Venus purchasing new cycling shorts to keep up with Max, who "thinks he's some kind of Lance friggin' Armstrong training for the Tour de France." And although Venus' friend says to get rid of Max, Venus thinks he "could be [her] maillot jaune."

I am definitely bringing this to the attention of the tenure committee.

A worthy cause

One of my colleagues in the law school running just turned me to a most worthy cause called Back on My Feet.

BOMF is a nonprofit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of homeless populations by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem. They do not provide food or shelter, but instead provide a community that embraces equality, respect, discipline, teamwork and leadership. The organization consists of much more than just running: members participate in a comprehensive program that offers connections to job training, employment and housing. Those benefits are earned by maintaining 90 percent attendance at the morning runs three days a week for the six to nine month program.

I just signed up as a volunteer, have my orientation next week, and my first run with the group the following Saturday. Help spread the word about what they do if you can. It's pretty awesome and BOMF is already is a number of cities besides Chicago. If we do the Ragnar relay, I hope we can do some fund raising on their behalf.

Some Geeky Talk about Running Shoes

Over the past ten years I must have run in just about every major brand of running shoe available except Nike. I try to avoid Nike for the same reasons I try to avoid Microsoft in software (dislike of market power) but it's a lot easier in running shoes because of greater choice and less network effects. I started with some ungodly heavy but way cushy New Balance (first marathon), tried Asiics very briefly, had some success with Saucony Triumph until they changed the design on me, stuck with different model Sauconys for a while (my two fastest marathons), then discovered that I didn't really need a stability shoe anymore.

Once in the cushioned neutral I went for a combo of cush and lightness recognizing that physics makes this a trade off. Surprisingly Underarmour made a nice mid price shoe that did the trick for my last two marathons but now they don't seem to make it (and no stores carry their other models for me to try). Pearl Izumis rubbed me the wrong way (literally).

Now I alternate between a pair of Saucony Rides and Brooks Ghosts and like them both for different reasons. Is it too much to ask for a cushioned neutral shoe that isn't tilted forward for under $100?

1/1/11

I ran the Leesburg Rotary 10K on New Year's Day. My wife and her mother ran the associated 4K. The races wind through Ida Lee and Morven parks in Leesburg, Virginia, a historic town 40 miles west of DC. The races have the feel of high school cross-country meets -- you start down (and finish up) a hill, which is a large unkempt lawn, and run on a mix of dirt road, paved road and jeep trails. It's a hilly course, not a PR race (as if any January 1 race would be). I did beat my 2007 time by nearly five minutes, which I'll take, and I flirted with (though I did not achieve) a top-10 finish.

In the gymnasium after the race they served bagels, cookies, bananas and coffee, as any good race should. The room was full of kids who came for the 4K, a few of whom must have run the 10K as well. Watching those kids I remembered that this was our summer family event when I was young. I ran with Dad starting at about age 6; within a few years my older sister and younger brother both had joined us. We ran many of the local 10Ks in Anchorage in the very early 1980s, Mom getting us started and cheering at the end and Dad out running, helping to keep us moving forward. Many of those races started and finished on the park strip in Anchorage, a large lawn between 9th and 10th running west to east across downtown.

Nostalgia aside, let's hope a January 1 race gets the year off on the correct foot. The big goal for the first half of the year is a marathon PR, and I have 3 months and 16 days to get ready.

Last Run of the Year: International Edition

December 29, 2010 found me in Barcelona for our last full day in town. Our 20th anniversary trip to Madrid and Barcelona got delayed and then rerouted because of snow and airport conditions in Heathrow and JFK. So four days in each of Madrid and Barcelona became 6 days in Barcelona with travels on December 24th and 31st.

Most of the days were cool but not cold with too much to do to go for a long run so I worked out at the Mandarin Oriental (hey, you don't rough it on your 20th anniversary trip). But the 29th it was sunny and close to 60 and Laura and Jordan were anxious to go shopping and to a museum that I didn't care about.

Instead, I went for a long beachfront Mediterranean run in the Barceloneta area created for the 1992 Olympics. My last run of the year and in shorts no less! Hopefully I can say the same about my first outdoor run of the year on Thursday with Ted in SF.

The next day we drove around Catalonia and the 31st was a very long travel day but we got home before 9 PM and were asleep by 10. A typical News Year's eve for the Waller-Matalon clan!

Happy New Year.