My lost week

I ran a quick 8 last Sunday and was ready to taper down to the North Shore Half-Marathon yesterday. Instead, I came down with a summer cold/sinus infection and ended up on antibiotics and nuclear power nasal spray. Could barely breathe and didn't run a lick all week. Instead of actually doing the half, I did a slow labored 4 miles on Sunday and managed to screw up my back in the process. Not happy. Hope to better tomorrow after two trips to the chiro. Then back on a plane which can't be good either for my health or my back. 5 days in the UK for a consumer law conference and then actually home for a month when I buckle down to training for the September marathon. Hopefully some good running in East Anglia and London.

Steak Dinner

D__ and I worked together in private practice. After I jumped to teaching and he to government, he and I independently started running triathlons, more or less at the same time. Over the five-plus years since, we've come pretty close to splitting "wins" -- I tend to come out ahead in run-dominated events and he tends to come out ahead if the bike and swim dominate. A few times a year for the past four years or so we've bet -- a six pack here, double or nothing there, dinner here, and c. -- but nobody has ever actually paid up. It kind of all seemed to come out in the wash.

This time nothing actually is owed, but we decided to celebrate nonetheless. D__ offered me a steak dinner if I ran under 4:00 in St. George. (I thought while I was running I was earning it, but I had misread the clock!) I offered him the same if he ran under 3:05 in Eugene. Neither of us pulled it off, but both were close, and its being zero-sum anyway, we figured we'd eat well tonight. Whether I buy his or I buy mine, it's still steak.

We're eating at The Prime Rib on K Street. Not being a steak-house denizen or a lobbyist, I know of it only because of the LUC Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies-branded Zagats guide. The description says "the bar scene will hurt your eyes if you are married" -- and, fortunately for D__, he isn't. Zagats also gives the food top billing for local steak joints.

Oh, the heat

Car thermometer registered 101 today. I felt energetic, though, so I went out for the usual 6-mile loop from the house, into Rock Creek Park via the Davenport hill, and down the long, winding descent to Beach Drive. 1.5 miles on Beach brings you to Military Road and the Park Police station. Ascend back up to the stables, out to Military Road and back home. That's the reverse of my usual loop. The water bottle was empty by the time I hit the police station and it was a thirsty slog from there. Not feeling so energetic, anymore!

Back in the Saddle

I've had a few things from which to recover.

St. George took more out of me than I thought. My runs and rides have been ho-hum for the past few weeks, with the exception of tourist-running in Europe. But coach says no more fooling around. If the legs aren't hurt (they aren't), time to get serious about Vineman. (I actually got chewed out for missing a single day last week. I guess he means it!)

Austin, Texas, last weekend was H O T. Went for 4 1/2 hours on the bike one day. One could mine for salt on my helmet-strap. Being back in the 97 degree heat and humidity of DC feels almost pleasant.

I've been away from the blog since Heidelberg because my briefcase was stolen in Amsterdam. Typical dumb American tourist occurrence -- I was getting directions at the info kiosk, I set the briefcase down to hold the map, and the briefcase was no more. Because the computer, iPad and iPhone were all there, P__ reset all my passwords for me, and I've just now found out how to access the blogger account!

Finally, grades are in, students have been responded to, and writing season is underway.

Time to read, write and run once again. Looking forward to it.

Librivox.com

It's kind of Wikipedia for audio books. Its a web site to download audio versions of public domain books. What is really cool is that it is a user community where users suggest books and they and other volunteers record and post them chapter by chapter. The coordinator for any given project is in charge of quality control. There are hundreds of fiction and non-fiction, mostly pre-1923 and thus aut0omatically in the public domain but a few after that where the copyright has lapsed or not been renewed for some reason. There is a wide range of classics and sci fi among the stuff I have checked out so far. You then down load them as pod casts and listen at your leisure.

I am working my way through Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. The down side is that the quality of the readers and their accents varies widely. They range from several British women who sound quite posh to nasal midwesterners, a quite thick Australian accent, and a very annoying South Carolinian woman who reads painfully slowly and with the oddest pauses. Oh well, it still beats paying $60 for a download where I never would have taken the chance for that price range.

Running Solo in DC

Eschewed Rock Creek Park for a one hour run along the Potomac and the tow path. Went NW past Georgetown. Turned back after 25 minutes or so. Threw in a loop of the Key Bridge and then back to Foggy Bottom for a quick shower, check out and a nice day of legal history at a GW conference on Standard Oil at 100. Do we really need three papers on whether the railroad rebates were real or cost justified?

HFH (Home from Haifa)

Haifa is the anti-Chicago. Al hills and no flats (except for a narrow and underused beachfront). I had time for 2 runs. One was Saturday a long one, down, down, down, then a cable car ride the rest of the way to the beach, a one kilometer on the beach, cable car part way up and run up the hill to my hotel. Then shorter on Monday morning up to the Horev neighborhood and back down. I have now run all parts of Mount Carmel from the bottom to the top and along the top, just not at one time. What I missed was a Tuesday race that started by my hotel in Carmel Center up to the top and back down. Probably 15K or more with some elite runners from all over Europe at the front of the pack. Unfortunately, I only learned of the race in the taxi to the airport in Tel Aviv at 4 AM on Wednesday. Maybe two years from now.