On my way home yesterday, I stopped at a local CVS to pick up a drink for the ride. Ever since my old road bike was stolen, I prefer to never leave my bike unattended. Almost every store, particularly the big chain stores have no issue with me bringing my bike inside the store.
As I was preparing to enter the CVS, I saw this young girl, probably around 15, run up to the exit door at full speed and sort of bounce off. The door then slid open and she ran out at full speed clutching something under her arm. An employee followed, but declined to give chase once she left the store. It took me a second to process it, but clearly the girl was a shoplifter. I was so close, if I had realized what was going on I probably could have blocked her with my bike for that second or so necessary for the employee to catch up. But I didn't. I just stood there watching it unfold. They say that is a pretty common reaction in a stressful situation. That instead of fight or flight, it is really freeze, than fight or flight. By the time I had fully processed what was going on, she was 50 feet away and who was I to give chase. There have been stories about employees that are sued when they chase down a shoplifter and cause injuries during the apprehension. Not that I think this 15 year old girl had a strong legal team! The thing I remember the most, was as she was running out the door, she turned around and laughed at the employee. That made me think she was just stealing for the thrill of it, not because she needed whatever it was she took.
A similar thing happened a few years ago. I was on 2 week leave from the middle of my tour in Afghanistan. I had gone to a Best Buy store with my Mom and Sister. We had finished shopping and were in the parking lot getting ready to get in our car. All of a sudden, this young man, probably about 15, comes running by. You could tell from the way he was running that he had been running for awhile. He wasn't sprinting, he looked fatigued. Just as I was processing that, I see a New York State Trooper, also on foot about 40 feet behind. The microphone for his two way radio had fallen off the clip on his shoulder and it was trailing behind him. It was pretty clear that he wasn't going to catch this kid. Again, for a split second, I considered going after him. I had fresh legs so I probably could have caught him. But I didn't. I didn't even try.
The thing is, I would like to think of myself as having the natural instinct to give chase. But, experience has proven otherwise. Perhaps it has kept me out of trouble. But, you can't help but feel like a bit of a coward.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Off the Wagon
My last post, which is still in draft form was about my six mile run. It was a good run and I kept the pace under 10 min a mile which was my goal. But unfortunately, it has been my last run for a bit. I travelled and then got a little sick and then got more into bike riding. All excuses. The plan is to start up again next week. Week 2 is essentially the same as week 1, just with a 7 miler on Saturday v 6.
I have been enjoying the hell out of my new bike. First, everything is tight and accurate on it. I had grown used to some of the foibles of my old bike, the fact that the shifting was a bit of a hit or miss proposition, that the bike may choose to change gear of its own accord etc.
What I love most about this new bike is the performance when I come off the seat and stand on the pedals. I had largely given up on standing up to climb hill on my old bike because the front shock absorber would continually articulate up and down with each pedal stroke. So even though I was expending quite a bit more energy, there was no real increase in performance. The same is not true on the new bike, it is like having a little bit of an afterburner now!
I am sure over time that I will forget about how much faster this bike is compared to my older one and wish for an even faster bike. However, I feel that I am very much in the region of diminishing returns. A bike that cost several times what my bike does may be a bit faster, but the real thing that is slowing me down right now is my own level of fitness. So I will be focusing on that for the near/far future and enjoying the hell out of my new ride.
With the chiller weather, there are less people using the path so not so many stories of crazy individuals.
I have been enjoying the hell out of my new bike. First, everything is tight and accurate on it. I had grown used to some of the foibles of my old bike, the fact that the shifting was a bit of a hit or miss proposition, that the bike may choose to change gear of its own accord etc.
What I love most about this new bike is the performance when I come off the seat and stand on the pedals. I had largely given up on standing up to climb hill on my old bike because the front shock absorber would continually articulate up and down with each pedal stroke. So even though I was expending quite a bit more energy, there was no real increase in performance. The same is not true on the new bike, it is like having a little bit of an afterburner now!
I am sure over time that I will forget about how much faster this bike is compared to my older one and wish for an even faster bike. However, I feel that I am very much in the region of diminishing returns. A bike that cost several times what my bike does may be a bit faster, but the real thing that is slowing me down right now is my own level of fitness. So I will be focusing on that for the near/far future and enjoying the hell out of my new ride.
With the chiller weather, there are less people using the path so not so many stories of crazy individuals.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
The New Ride
For the past few months I have been bike commuting on my old Jamis Mountain bike. I picked the Jamis up in Okinawa probably 10+ years ago. I don't plan to part with it, in fact I may even put the fat tires back on it to have a good bike for trails and running around town. The issue is that the drive train is getting close to worn out. It does not shift very smoothly, and occasionally it will skip gears. Also, even though I have put thinner tires on it, it still has a front shock and is not really suited for the bike trails.
I used to have a nice trek road bike. Unfortunately, I left it overnight in a train station and even with it locked up, it was stolen. So, after much internet surfing and looking around, I have ordered this little beaut:
It's a Fuji Sportif 1.1c. It is set up to ride a little less aggressively than a pure racing bike and I can add a rack or fenders if necessary. I should get it by the middle to end of next week, which is nice because it should be warm enough to ride then.
The only day I rode in this week was Monday, the rest of the week was too cold and snowy. We may get a little thaw tomorrow, so perhaps I will ride home. I will certainly be riding the following week though. It will be interesting to see how the riding meshes with the running. Speaking of the running ... but first an aside.
Sometime in the late 90s the load had us all over to his place for an impromptu party. This is when a lot of us considered our life to revolve around climbing, particularly the load. At the time, he was renting a room above the garage of some lady. I think he helped out with housework in exchange for a discount on rent. I don't know whether he had permission to do it, but he built a climbing wall right in his little room. Since he did not have a lot of vertical space, he made it extremely over-hanging, not quite horizontal, but a very difficult angle.
As I remember it, the party started off with a meal from Boston Market, that took forever to make. I think this was because the load had planned that we would go mountain biking first, but no-one brought their mountain bike with them. At some point we returned to the load's place where we drank a few beers and watched some movies. It was a bizarre selection of movies. At some point we watched "Shakes the Clown" and then an assortment of climbing movies. These movies were basically shots of people climbing really difficult climbs interspersed with them clowning around or doing other climbing related activities. At one point, this English climber is working out in a climbing gym doing some incredibly difficult set of one arm pull-ups and weighted rope climbs. When he finishes he brings his face within inches of the camera and says in a very heavy English accent "Personal Best, That right there was a personal best"! For whatever reason, perhaps the exuberance and absurdity of the way he said it, it made us all laugh and stuck with us. Particularly the Weebs and I. So on many occasions, even years later, we would try to work in the expression "That right there was a personal best."
Today's run was a personal best, 3 miles in 25 minutes flat, or an average pace of 8:20. Not setting any records, but it is encouraging. Tomorrow is a rest day, but Saturday I have the six miler. The plan is to start out really easy, probably keep it around 10 minute miles to start with just so I have plenty left. I will likely see how I am feeling at the 3 mile mark and hopefully turn it up a notch.
I used to have a nice trek road bike. Unfortunately, I left it overnight in a train station and even with it locked up, it was stolen. So, after much internet surfing and looking around, I have ordered this little beaut:
The only day I rode in this week was Monday, the rest of the week was too cold and snowy. We may get a little thaw tomorrow, so perhaps I will ride home. I will certainly be riding the following week though. It will be interesting to see how the riding meshes with the running. Speaking of the running ... but first an aside.
Sometime in the late 90s the load had us all over to his place for an impromptu party. This is when a lot of us considered our life to revolve around climbing, particularly the load. At the time, he was renting a room above the garage of some lady. I think he helped out with housework in exchange for a discount on rent. I don't know whether he had permission to do it, but he built a climbing wall right in his little room. Since he did not have a lot of vertical space, he made it extremely over-hanging, not quite horizontal, but a very difficult angle.
As I remember it, the party started off with a meal from Boston Market, that took forever to make. I think this was because the load had planned that we would go mountain biking first, but no-one brought their mountain bike with them. At some point we returned to the load's place where we drank a few beers and watched some movies. It was a bizarre selection of movies. At some point we watched "Shakes the Clown" and then an assortment of climbing movies. These movies were basically shots of people climbing really difficult climbs interspersed with them clowning around or doing other climbing related activities. At one point, this English climber is working out in a climbing gym doing some incredibly difficult set of one arm pull-ups and weighted rope climbs. When he finishes he brings his face within inches of the camera and says in a very heavy English accent "Personal Best, That right there was a personal best"! For whatever reason, perhaps the exuberance and absurdity of the way he said it, it made us all laugh and stuck with us. Particularly the Weebs and I. So on many occasions, even years later, we would try to work in the expression "That right there was a personal best."
Today's run was a personal best, 3 miles in 25 minutes flat, or an average pace of 8:20. Not setting any records, but it is encouraging. Tomorrow is a rest day, but Saturday I have the six miler. The plan is to start out really easy, probably keep it around 10 minute miles to start with just so I have plenty left. I will likely see how I am feeling at the 3 mile mark and hopefully turn it up a notch.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Another Day
First real taste of winter here these past couple of days. Yesterday we got about 4 inches of snow, but it was handled extremely poorly. I think everyone thought it was going to be a dusting, so there was no pre-treating of the roads nor did they get a ton of snow plows out. Second, the heaviest hit right in the middle of the morning commute. Personally, I enjoyed it, I got to make fresh tracks on the bike trail and the train ran smoothly and on schedule. Some of the roads were so bad in DC that they shut them down to vehicular traffic but let me through on my bike!
Then, throughout the day I received a whole bunch of automated e-mails from Bella's school. The tone was super apologetic. Apparently, there had been a lot of trouble with buses navigating to pick up kids and even some minor fender benders. Naturally, people went ballistic and attacked the school for opening. I was amazed by how frank the tone of the e-mails were and how unequivocal the school was about admitting its mistake. It's always easy to look back on something in hindsight, but the fact of the matter is that the school had no better weather forecasting than the general public. The difference that just a couple of inches can make (insert dirty joke) is huge. The best part was that they called a 2 hour delay today, and they called it in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. Almost like a consolation prize. There was nothing extraordinary about today, it was pretty chilly but nothing like what is going on in the Midwest, probably high teens at the coldest. Further, it probably enraged some parents even more that count on the kids going to school at a certain time so that they can go to work.
For the crotchety old man part of the post, kids have it too easy now when it comes to school closings and delays. Most of them get text alerts or e-mails the moment the decision is made. I remember getting up in the morning and tuning the radio to the local news station. Then you had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to go through the list alphabetically of all schools. Having a school that started with the letter "S" didn't help. The most nerve-wracking part was where it looked like a 2 hour delay may turn to a closure. You would notice the clock inching ever closer to the point of no return. The point where there simply wouldn't be enough time to turn around the buses. Inevitably some of the fancier schools (I'm looking at you Scarsdale and Westchester Exceptional Children's School) would close. But, it seemed like our school liked to be the tough guy, the last one to blink in this game of chicken. What a thrill when you heard those final words of "closed" though. It was like a mini holiday. Sledding down the hill in the front yard, sometimes if it snowed enough sledding down the road that ran in front of the house! There is nothing sweeter than an unexpected vacation day!
Got my second three miler in today. My legs were a bit sore when I woke up this morning, but the run went well. On a treadmill I have trouble staying interested if I keep it at a steady pace so I like to try to increase the speed by .1 mph every minute until I can't keep it up any longer and then bring her back down and do it all over again. At my max pace I was right at 7:53 a mile, but overall average page was 8:50 a mile. One more three miler tomorrow and then a rest before the 6 miler. Hopefully it will be warm enough to run outside, that way I can run three miles one way and be forced to complete the run! Plus I figure I should get the experience of running outside.
Then, throughout the day I received a whole bunch of automated e-mails from Bella's school. The tone was super apologetic. Apparently, there had been a lot of trouble with buses navigating to pick up kids and even some minor fender benders. Naturally, people went ballistic and attacked the school for opening. I was amazed by how frank the tone of the e-mails were and how unequivocal the school was about admitting its mistake. It's always easy to look back on something in hindsight, but the fact of the matter is that the school had no better weather forecasting than the general public. The difference that just a couple of inches can make (insert dirty joke) is huge. The best part was that they called a 2 hour delay today, and they called it in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. Almost like a consolation prize. There was nothing extraordinary about today, it was pretty chilly but nothing like what is going on in the Midwest, probably high teens at the coldest. Further, it probably enraged some parents even more that count on the kids going to school at a certain time so that they can go to work.
For the crotchety old man part of the post, kids have it too easy now when it comes to school closings and delays. Most of them get text alerts or e-mails the moment the decision is made. I remember getting up in the morning and tuning the radio to the local news station. Then you had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to go through the list alphabetically of all schools. Having a school that started with the letter "S" didn't help. The most nerve-wracking part was where it looked like a 2 hour delay may turn to a closure. You would notice the clock inching ever closer to the point of no return. The point where there simply wouldn't be enough time to turn around the buses. Inevitably some of the fancier schools (I'm looking at you Scarsdale and Westchester Exceptional Children's School) would close. But, it seemed like our school liked to be the tough guy, the last one to blink in this game of chicken. What a thrill when you heard those final words of "closed" though. It was like a mini holiday. Sledding down the hill in the front yard, sometimes if it snowed enough sledding down the road that ran in front of the house! There is nothing sweeter than an unexpected vacation day!
Got my second three miler in today. My legs were a bit sore when I woke up this morning, but the run went well. On a treadmill I have trouble staying interested if I keep it at a steady pace so I like to try to increase the speed by .1 mph every minute until I can't keep it up any longer and then bring her back down and do it all over again. At my max pace I was right at 7:53 a mile, but overall average page was 8:50 a mile. One more three miler tomorrow and then a rest before the 6 miler. Hopefully it will be warm enough to run outside, that way I can run three miles one way and be forced to complete the run! Plus I figure I should get the experience of running outside.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Resolved
I have never been much for New Year's Resolutions, but this year I have made a few. I figure if I put them on here, there may be a bit more of an effort to follow through.
1. Run a Marathon: I think the furthest I have ever run is a 10k, perhaps a bit further, but nowhere close to a marathon. Fortunately, with the internet, there are a number of training guides up there. I plan to follow the guide here. It looks deceptively easy at first, just start out with a 3 mile jaunt, but then seems to increase relatively quickly. Luckily there are no shortages of places to run, from the treadmills at work to the many bike paths. I still haven't picked what Marathon I want to do. The default would be the Marine Corps Marathon here in DC, that doesn't take place until September, so that would give me plenty of time to get the mileage up and then try to get faster too. The event I would really like to do is the Pike's Peak 1/2 marathon. However, this looks tough as hell. When the winners are putting in times of 4+ hours for a 1/2 marathon! I think I need to first complete a marathon and an ascent of Pike's Peak before combining the two! There is still time though, perhaps the Pike's Peak ascent can make the list for next year.
2. Lose Weight/Eat Better: This kind of goes along with number 1, but I feel like I will be happier if I am healthier and turn to better avenues of stress relief. I read about this idea of intermittent fasting. Essentially, you try to eat all your meals within a 6 hour period and then fast for the remaining 18 hours. Some people skip breakfast and then eat only lunch and dinner. Personally, I have been trying, and by trying yesterday was the first day, of eating breakfast and lunch and skipping dinner. Because my girls are always running around like maniacs and have the metabolism of humming-birds, there is always a good amount of yummy treats around the house. I feel like I can get the most bang for my buck by skipping the dinner and subsequent grazing. Tuyen still makes excellent dinners, I just have them for breakfast. I started off the day with some spaghetti this morning!
Those are the main ones, because they are concrete. Overall, I would like to make myself a better person. Perhaps be less self centered and understand the needs and feelings of others around me a bit better.
EDIT: 1st run down. The guide says to take it easy so I banged out the 3 miles at a 9:05 pace. Not exactly blistering, but at least not walking pace. Felt like I had more in the tank. Wed and Thurs are both 3 milers, rest on Fri and a sixer on Sat. That will be test.
Part 2:
We were supposed to get a light dusting of snow last night into this morning. Well, it turned into more like 4-6 inches of snow. Apparently no-one was really prepared for it, schools were not delayed, the roads were a complete mess, it has been quite a day. It is largely over now, but it was quite an adventurous commute in this morning. I only rode about 2 miles to the train station and about 4 miles in, but the city was a mess. They had closed off a lot of the inclines because they were so icy that cars were having trouble getting up there. My bike is absolutely covered in salt right now, I will have to give it a good cleaning and re-lube the chain. Still, there were some fun parts blasting along the trail making fresh tracks in some powder. I fear that it may be a bit of an icy mess though with very cold temps predicted for the rest of the week.
1. Run a Marathon: I think the furthest I have ever run is a 10k, perhaps a bit further, but nowhere close to a marathon. Fortunately, with the internet, there are a number of training guides up there. I plan to follow the guide here. It looks deceptively easy at first, just start out with a 3 mile jaunt, but then seems to increase relatively quickly. Luckily there are no shortages of places to run, from the treadmills at work to the many bike paths. I still haven't picked what Marathon I want to do. The default would be the Marine Corps Marathon here in DC, that doesn't take place until September, so that would give me plenty of time to get the mileage up and then try to get faster too. The event I would really like to do is the Pike's Peak 1/2 marathon. However, this looks tough as hell. When the winners are putting in times of 4+ hours for a 1/2 marathon! I think I need to first complete a marathon and an ascent of Pike's Peak before combining the two! There is still time though, perhaps the Pike's Peak ascent can make the list for next year.
2. Lose Weight/Eat Better: This kind of goes along with number 1, but I feel like I will be happier if I am healthier and turn to better avenues of stress relief. I read about this idea of intermittent fasting. Essentially, you try to eat all your meals within a 6 hour period and then fast for the remaining 18 hours. Some people skip breakfast and then eat only lunch and dinner. Personally, I have been trying, and by trying yesterday was the first day, of eating breakfast and lunch and skipping dinner. Because my girls are always running around like maniacs and have the metabolism of humming-birds, there is always a good amount of yummy treats around the house. I feel like I can get the most bang for my buck by skipping the dinner and subsequent grazing. Tuyen still makes excellent dinners, I just have them for breakfast. I started off the day with some spaghetti this morning!
Those are the main ones, because they are concrete. Overall, I would like to make myself a better person. Perhaps be less self centered and understand the needs and feelings of others around me a bit better.
EDIT: 1st run down. The guide says to take it easy so I banged out the 3 miles at a 9:05 pace. Not exactly blistering, but at least not walking pace. Felt like I had more in the tank. Wed and Thurs are both 3 milers, rest on Fri and a sixer on Sat. That will be test.
Part 2:
We were supposed to get a light dusting of snow last night into this morning. Well, it turned into more like 4-6 inches of snow. Apparently no-one was really prepared for it, schools were not delayed, the roads were a complete mess, it has been quite a day. It is largely over now, but it was quite an adventurous commute in this morning. I only rode about 2 miles to the train station and about 4 miles in, but the city was a mess. They had closed off a lot of the inclines because they were so icy that cars were having trouble getting up there. My bike is absolutely covered in salt right now, I will have to give it a good cleaning and re-lube the chain. Still, there were some fun parts blasting along the trail making fresh tracks in some powder. I fear that it may be a bit of an icy mess though with very cold temps predicted for the rest of the week.
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