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Burning again...

Back in February I did the first burning of the season and I burned a lot: I kept a bonfire roaring for hours. Yet today I did the same thing from 11:00AM till 3:00PM and still there are plenty of branches, brush and twigs left. I even had the advantage of a couple of cubic yards of brush already piled-up by the girls last week.

I should be able to get in a final burn by the April 30th deadline and hopefully that burn will consume all that is left from the ice storm.

Training Log

Course........................................Time.....Distance.....Pace......Date

Bedford Neighborhood.....................31.59............4.15......7:42........4/02/09

Elm, Great Brook Farm and Rt 4.......80:24.........10.32......7:47.....4/01/09

5 Towns...................................160...............19............8:25....3/28/09

Bedford Neighborhood.....................33.30............4.15..................3/27/09

Bedford Neighborhood.....................31:30............4.15.........7:35.....3/26/09

Elm, Great Brook Farm and Rt 4...........79:31...........10.32.......7:42........3/25/09

Bedford Neighborhood......................33:29...........4.15...................3/23/09

5 Towns.............................................Sigh............18.5........................3/22/09

Elm, Great Brook Farm and Rt 4.......81:00.........10.32......7:50:56.....3/19/09

Bedford Neighborhood.........................31:26..........4.15........7:34:27.....3/20/09

A Driver Who Was No Geometer

I came to an empty intersection today which was at the end of a single lane, but widened into two lanes for turning. I was in the right-hand one and soon after I got there another car came into the left-hand one. He drove well past me to the point that I could not see if traffic was approaching from the left.

So I pulled a little further forward.

He responded by moving forward again, such that he blocked my view again. He was too late though: I had seen a break in traffic and was able to make my turn and be on my way.

Here is why I think the other driver was an ass:

• Fairness: I got there first. I should have to wait till he goes before I get a chance? I would have to wait if I didn't move forward.
• Geometry: I needed to see cars coming from the closer lane--almost exactly 90 degrees angle from me. He needed to look at both lanes: The left was unobstructed for him, but the right was 10 feet further away and therefore his angle was obtuse.

My irritation was acute.

Mid-week run

After plastering, I went for my middle distance run. My goal is to go at marathon race pace, but I am happy if I just keep it under 8 min/mile. This week I was just under 81 minutes while last week I was just over 79. The pace this time was around 7:50/mile,-not as good as last time, but fine, good enough.

Fuel test data

I finally had to visit a gas station yesterday for a fill-up. I had wondered how long I could go in this post.

I went from the 9th of February to the 18th of March between fill-ups.

I didn't get a good look at the odometer, but it was somewhere around 370 miles and I put 13.5 gallons in.

5 weeks of commuting should be 300 miles, so I must have run some errands over the last month, but not too many.

A Modest Proposal to Prevent the Pernicious Warming of our Fair Globe

Thus, through this wise measure, we can reduce the depth of their carbon footprints by lightening the weight by which their purses cause them to press down upon their feet.

Read it all here.

2nd-Hand War Stories

I was in the Marine Corps Reserve for 11 years, but never got to be in a war zone. The closest I ever got was in the first gulf war; my unit got deployed, but not to the gulf--to Japan.

So I have no direct war stories, but I have heard plenty: My Dad was a career Air Force pilot and he went to Vietnam a number of times and came home with stories. Also, I joined the Marines in 1981, so a lot of the men I worked with had been in Vietnam too.

One guy had been in the infantry in Vietnam, but when I met him he was going through electronics school and joining the Air Wing. He was the kind of guy you didn't know whether to fear or not: He had a round and innocent-looking face, but had biceps the size of my thighs. Also, he was a Sergeant, and supposedly this was the third time he had earned this rank, having punched-out superiors and been busted back to private twice. He had some great stories though.

When on patrols he and his fellow Marines would sometimes shoot game to eat. Well, they had shot a monkey, skinned it and had it on a spit over a fire and one of the guys observed that it looked like a baby. So, our friend took a Polaroid picture of it (the old fashioned kind where you peel the paper off after a minute--or whatever). Then, when he got back to the base he wrote on the back of the picture, "See Mom! Marines really do eat babies". Put it in an envelope and mailed it to his Mom.

After we all had a good laugh, one of the guys inevitably asked, "What does monkey taste like"? "Just like baby, but a little more stringy."

Actually, I made-up that last part. But that is only fair, the older Marine probably made up his whole story too.

Early St. Patrick's Day at Ches Pecchia

I will be at a trade show in NYC on Tue, so it is now or post-Tuesday for this traditional dinner.

The corned beef simmered all day and then was baked for a couple of hours in a 325F oven while each of the other ingredients in turn boiled in the beef water and then joined the rest in the oven.

A beauty day for a run

Sunny, little wind and temps in the mid-50's.

I somehow got it into my mind that last time I did this run in 2:35, but in looking at the older post, I see that it was 2:37--the same as today. I didn't make a note of the seconds last time, but this time it was 49 seconds past the 37 minute mark. All in all, the pace was under 8:19/mile for the 19 mile run.