Rex Lee Run 2010

in 2009, i skipped the Rex Lee 5k for the first time since 2002. this year i was back on the track. i wouldn't say i'm a big fan of running or racing, but the Rex Lee Run is for a good cause (cancer research), it's close to home(right here on BYU's campus), and i can use it as an excuse to be more motivated with my weekly exercise.

today was my 8th time running the Rex Lee Run, my 9th 5k race and my 10th race ever. (somehow in 2003 i managed to do a sprint distance triathlon -- i just didn't know any better. i competed in the clydesdale category - i.e. fat guy category)

i started the race as usual - way too nervous and wondering how i was going to push myself through to the end. the crowd was typical - old, young, strollers, and at least one obviously pregnant lady. i saw the typical mix of former roommates, classmates past and present, neighbors new and old, and former students of mine. the course was slightly different, but followed the general path around the outside of campus. the race started a little late, and i walked around the outdoor track with my parents a couple of time before heading to the starting line out on the street just to keep warm. the rain didn't come until they were handing out the prizes to the winners.

i ran about as fast as i could, but didn't set any personal records. i wasn't sure if i could have pushed myself more while running, but after crossing the finish line, i felt spent. by my watch, i ran the race in 28'42". i'm content enough with that time. we'll see what the official time is next week. my best time was in 2005: 24'47". my slowest time is just over 30min, if we don't count the year that i ran with my nieces who were in the 12-and-under category (40min).

Items of note for today's race:
- my parents joined me for the race. Mom even ran in honour of one of her co-workers who's fighting breast cancer.
- Dad finished around 39 minutes (official time to come)
- Mom finished around 45 minutes (official time to come)
- Dad won THIRD PLACE in his age group: 65+
- Mom won FIRST PLACE in her age group: 65+. Now she has run the race 3 times and has a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal.
- Mom was the ONLY woman in her age bracket to run the race. The gold still counts! don't forget that she got out and did the race.
- The first place winner in my dad's age class was 80 years old.
- that same 80-year-old beat me, even though i did average a 9min mile. (¿how did i get beat by an 80-year-old?)

now i just have to cross the next hurdle. usually at this point in the year, school/work get busy and i take a slight break from my exercise regimen. by slight, i generally mean anywhere from one month to six, seven, eight, etc. months of sporadic exercise. most years it takes a long time to recover mentally from the 5k because i don't have an immediate goal and i'm not sure what to do next. i find excuses to not train as regularly. i'm hoping that i can keep going with my training, and keep my fitness levels up. maybe the idea of the 80-year-old beating me will keep me motivated to not have a break.

it was good to run the race again. it was good to run with my parents. i was a little sad the the weather was too cold for Laura and the girls to come and at least be a part of the crowd. overall, it was worth the time and effort, and i enjoyed at least some of the running and ALL of the finishing.

Time to run

As of last Saturday (Feb. 13th), it was exactly four weeks to the Rex Lee Run. There is still time to train, if you're interested. The Rex Lee Run is around BYU's campus and still only costs $15, and you'll get the race t-shirt. The money goes towards cancer research.

Lots of families run this race, and I've had everyone from my parents, siblings and nieces run the race. I've seen plenty of baby strollers, retirees, a blind person, and a pregnant lady cross the finish line. They are going to have the timing chips that register your start and finishing times, so you don't have to be right on the starting line when the gun fires to get an accurate measure of your race. Even with the chips, you still may want to stay ahead of the strollers.

Last year was the first year that I haven't run the Rex Lee Run in the past 6 or 7 years. Between time and money (mostly the time) I didn't think I was ready to run. 2005 was my best time, and I had only gotten larger and slower in 2006-2008. I did run with my nieces (who were in the under 12 category) a couple of times. But last year I was so busy with school and home that training for a run seemed too complicated.

This year, I'm not sure how well I'm training. I am running, but nothing very complicated. 3 or 4 days a week, and nothing too strenuous. I want to run this year, even though I won't have much of a chance to break my best time: 24min 43sec.

If you're looking for ideas in how to train, check out these sources:
Hal Higdon's Novice 5k
Couch to 5k
Both of these can be adapted to your fitness level; start in the middle of the 8 weeks or whatever.

Today's Run

My long runs on Saturdays over the last month have consisted of "how far can I get in an hour?". I've been getting in 5 miles or so on each run. I do some walking here and there and in the cool down.

To get myself to run the hour, I usually give myself a destination to try and get to. Sometimes I have to run a few extra blocks close to the house to finish, but this strategy is working well enough so far.

Today, I was a little more ambitious. I wanted to see how long it would take me to get to the Y-mountain trailhead. It took me 30 minutes to do the 2 miles to the trailhead. There was a lot of uphill and I knew the return trip would be shorter, so I decided to get in at least the first couple of switchbacks.

Two switchbacks turned in to three, three into four, and soon enough I was looking at how far I could get by then end of the hour. At the end of the hour, I thought I was close enough to the bottom of the Y to finish that much of the trail. I didn't realize how far I had gotten until I was on the last two short switchbacks to the top of the Y. I had missed the split for the leg to the lower end of the Y completely. The Y is covered in snow. You can still see the Y from the valley, but being so close and at such an obscure angle the snow masks it completely.

The lower two switchbacks were only partially covered in snow. The rest of the trail entirely covered, except for a spot or two. The way going up was a slippery one; digging in my toes to get up the trail. The way down was controlled sliding - yes, i fell -- once.

Here are the final stats:
Total distance: 6.14 miles for the round trip.
Total elevation change: 1699 ft (518m)
Total time: just under 1hr 54 min
To the trail head: 1.95 miles 30 minutes
To the top of the Y: 1.12 miles 43 minutes
From the top down to the trailhead: 17 minutes
From the trailhead to home: 24 minutes


My reward: I ate awesome food at a friend's wedding reception. It was the least that I could do.

Colbert Nation

With our last night in Canada Maggie had a rough time going to bed. It was after 10:30pm and Maggie was tired. Laur grabbed Maggie to take her to bed and I turned on the TV to see when The Daily Show or The Colbert Report would be on. The Colbert Report was just starting. Maggie flipped her lid. Bad timing on my part.

Laura lay down with Maggie and tried to get her to sleep. After at least 10 minutes of wrestling with Maggie and all of her cries for "Show!", Laur gave Maggie to me. She and Chloe were going to work on going to bed instead.

Maggie sat quietly tucked under my arm on the couch and I turned the TV back on to watch the last 5 minutes of Colbert and the first 15 of The Daily Show. I don't know why she likes those shows, but she does. I watch them online some evenings at home. Maggie apparently enjoys watching people sit behind desks and talk about the rather informative fake news.

The last I looked at my watch it was 11:22pm, and Maggie and I were laying down on the bed together. Both of us were out basically until 7:30am, and after a bottle Maggie stayed in bed until after 9:00am.

It's silly that 20 minutes of fake news was enough to calm her down for the night. At the commercial break I turned off the TV and all she said was "all done". She's a nut.

Bad Dad

My wife does not think it's funny when i say that our newborn looks like Yoda when she purses her lips.

Oh well... Chloda

oG B0E

Books on Palm

I originally sent this out as a email to a bunch of friends in August of 2002, but was reminded of this while reading another book on my palm with plenty of errors.

---===---

so,

there is this program that converts a text file into a PDB file that i can read on my palm pilot. somewhere between the book getting scanned the first time into a computer text file and the final PDB, certain errors occur. for instance, occasionally the computer fuses something like "hut" and turns it into "but". or perhaps the word "in" is fused and appears as an "m". or maybe something will be split. "door" may end up as a "cloor". with that in mind, here is a sample sentence from Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Shadow".


"He looked down at his hands, nodded, then laid his head on his anus and sobbed."


aNUs has the same number of vertical lines as aRMs (in the lower case of course), but this by far has been the most disturbing off all of the errors i have encountered.

050404

End of the Holidays

Well, we're coming to the end of a good extended holiday. We've been in Canada for over two weeks. This was only our second trip to Canada for 2009, so we were excited to get our girls up here to show off to the family. It's been a good time.

Chloe is still a mama's girl, but she has learned that she can be content in the arms of lots of other people besides mama's.

Chloe has also been quite curious. She has enjoyed watching her cousins and they have captured her attention for extended periods of time. Chloe has rewarded their attention with plenty of smiles.

Chloe has become much more vocal on this trip. Not a lot of jabbering, but she has found a strong volume for her shouting and hollering. Her noise-making doesn't seem to be directed at anyone, she just has to make a ruckus now and then.

I will feel sad for Maggie when we go home. She is going to lose a lot being back home. Maggie has had so many cousins to play with. She has been put on center stage so often here. Besides all of the regular play time with cousins closer to her age, Maggie has had plenty of time to show off all of her signs. There have been a few times where nearly everyone in the room, adult and child, have watched Maggie show off her knowledge. It is especially fun to have Maggie show off with the alphabet or her signs for feelings. "SCARED!" She is such a smarty-pants, and loves to interact, smile and laugh. She is has been so good to play and explore, even if some of that exploration has given Laura and I a lot to pick up after.

Besides exploring and having people to play with, Maggie may have other hardships when we get home. Maggie and I have been slumber party buddies for these past 16+ days. We've even laid down together for a couple of naps. She's a little rough at times. I've had both headbutts and kicks to the face, and she wiggles ALL OVER the mattress in the night. Even with all of her rolling around, it has been fun to peek over in the middle of the night and see Maggie's sleeping face. I don't know how she'll adjust to the the confines of her crib, not to mention having to fall asleep on her own at home. I hope that the familiarity of Maggie's crib and room will make up for not having me and her mom put her to bed in such a one-on-one manner.

This family time is so good for the girls and for us. I am sure that both our babies have learned a lot, and had experiences that will benefit their little souls. I will be sad to leave for all of us. Not only will we have to make up for whatever our girls will miss not being here, I am also going to have a wife to tend through her mourning. We're not sure when our next visit to Canada will be, and Laura is always sad to leave. We at least know that Grandma and Grandpa will be visiting soon.

Economic stimulus package

To the Avocado Growers of the World:

I know that the economy is rough right now. The California farmers are feeling a particular squeeze on their finances. I am writing to let you know that my family is committed to buying at least one more avocado than we'll eat every time we buy avocados.

We like avocados. We eat avocados. We will continue to buy avocados, but somehow we mysteriously seem to count out one more than we can get to before that last fruit spoils.

We're just doing our part to support the economy.

Sincerely,
The Betts Family

()goZiB

Black Lung

I've got to get my family out of Utah County.

The last week of school this semester, I could taste the air while walking to school. The car exhaust just seemed to hang in the air. I was so sure that the air quality would be rated poor, by the way my mouth and throat felt by the time I made it up the hill.

Oddly, the one site I checked gave Provo a green rating. But The Daily Herald reported a different story yesterday:

Utah Valley air ranked worst in U.S.

I hate to think what this air is doing to my kids' lungs.

Utah Valley's only growing, and the bowl that is Utah County is only going to hold all that car exhaust each winter. It's time to go.

Grumpy Rooster

Yesterday, my over 2 year-old niece and my under 2 year-old daughter found some of Grandma and Grandpa's books that they brought back from their mission in Africa. They were good picture books and children's stories. The book they snuck into the other room had a big color drawing of a rooster on the cover: Le coq qui ne voulait plus chanter. (If my French is any good: "The rooster who no longer wanted to crow".) This is a children's story by an Ivory Coast author, Fatou Keita.

My niece was excited when she saw that I was willing to read her the book and we could look at all of the pictures. Turning to the third page as I continued reading my niece stops me.

"I'm gonna get another book."

I know I didn't pronounce every word correctly, but I didn't think my French pronunciation was unbearable. Maybe I'll just finish the book on my own.

* And what better to illustrate a post about an African story in French, than a painting by Spanish artist. At least the title is Le Coq (Joan Miro, 1940).

Insects: It's whats for dinner

Dr. Riley Nelson, one of my academic advisers, hosted an informal potluck dinner for the the Entomology Class, the Entomology Club and assorted members of his lab. Attendees were invited to bring bug-themed foods. Most items were in the form of bugs: sandwiches pinned and labeled like bugs in a museum, foods decorated with legs, or even just labels on the food to remind you that some bugs have those shapes. Laura and I brought chips and salsa because... well... chips and salsa.

There was also one food item with plastic bugs embedded inside, but one brave girl actually fried some meal worms she'd bought at the pet store. Here in the States, mealworms are pet food. Elsewhere mealworms are sometimes people food. The little dish was passed around to everyone. With a little peer pressure more than half of the folks had a crisp treat. They tasted like a burnt chip.

After eating a couple myself, I had one more that I handed Maggie. She held it in her hand for a while. I saw her taste it a couple of times still holding it in her little fist, but by the time we got her out of the car at home she was finishing chewing up her little treat. That's when I let Laura know that Maggie was getting a little extra protein in her diet.

If you go here, you can see a few pictures and descriptions of bugs eaten around the world from Man Eating Bugs: the Art and Science of Eating Insects by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, a good book. A google search for the book has many of the pages and photos online. (The photo for this post came from Menzel and D'Aluisio's book.)

I like it

I do like cool paper. It's part of why I took a bookbinding class at the University.

I also like bugs.

I think I'm a little partial to green too.

This little guy* is pretty cool.

You can check out the story here at NPR's The Picture Show blog.

!ORAGAMI!

* Leaf Katydid, by Brian Chan