Coach Jogger Redux

Longtime readers will remember that last year, on two occasions, I stepped in to coach the medium Little Jogger's soccer team. And that I was undefeated. On the basis of that record, I've been asked to coach full time this year.

Well, sort of.

What happened was that one of the coaches who had volunteered decided not to do it. So they were clutching around at straws, and my name came up. I very reluctantly agreed to do it, even though I don't know much about coaching 8- and 9-year olds. Or anybody else, for that matter.

I won't start right away. I'm going out of town all next week, so another coach is going to do double duty for the week. Then when I get back, I'll take over.

Day 372 -- Chimney Rock

This is about as close as I'm going to get to Chimney Rock. It's maybe five miles west of where I am, but I'm going to go on south for a while. I'm sure that you can see it from here. In fact, you can see it from pretty much all over the county. Chimney Rock is engraved on the Nebraska State quarter, as we are reminded by the Nebraska State Historical Society.

After yesterday's long run, I ran a really, really slow three miles today. I really didn't feel that bad. My legs are barely sore. But I didn't want to overdo it.

It has been nice weather for running. It was 56 degrees and overcast this morning. A little humid, but not as bad as it will get this summer.

Day 371 -- Angora, Nebraska

I finally got my long run in today, and I ran right through Angora, Nebraska. Alas, there were no good pictures of Angora, Nebraska, on the web. How about some Angora goats?

Today was kind of a mixed up day. First of all, I couldn't get out and run early, because Mrs. Jogger had a meeting this morning. I had to stay home to see the kids out the door. As soon as they were gone, I laced up my running shoes and headed out.

Then I wasn't sure how far to run. I could have run six miles to complete the nine mile run that I only ran three of yesterday. Or I could have run nine miles to replace that run, and let the three be a bonus. So what I finally did was to run six, stop for a drink, then just take off running. I didn't follow any measured route, and I didn't worry about time. I just ran for the joy of it. Well, it turned out that I ran about 10.5 miles total, further probably than I should have. But it felt great!

Day 370 -- Cut Short Again

I was less than a mile into my nine mile run when I heard thunder. I looked over my shoulder and saw that, yes, there was a storm front on the way. I dithered for a while, then decided to just finish the first three mile loop and call it a day. The lightning didn't seem particularly near, but, as a commenter to this post points out, you can get killed by the first bolt of lightning just as easily as by the last. Anyway, I plan to finish the nine miles tomorrow, rather than take the day off.

Photos from Madison

My photos from Madison are available from Brightroom.com, the official photographer of the Madison Marathon. There aren't any really good ones. I have to remember for the Quad Cities Marathon to take off my cap and smile at the finish line. I never planned to buy photos from the half, but I think I probably will buy a finish line photo from the marathon. If they get a good one.

Day 369 -- Back in the Middle of Nowhere

As is obvious from my map, I'm not really concentrating on a direct route across the country. These last couple of weeks, in particular, have basically been a detour up to Alliance to see Carhenge. I didn't leave Alliance on the same road that I went in, but I am heading back south, through the same big empty that I've just come through. I'm ten miles out of Alliance, but still 10 miles from Angora. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nine miler, so I'll probably post a picture from Angora then. But for now, here's another empty field.

I ran five miles this morning, the last two in a steady rain. A run and a shower at the same time. Very efficient.

Liberal Education

Friday is a day off, so no addition to the journey today. However, there are a couple of posts about the conference that are brewing in my mind, and this is one of them.

Our keynote speaker the other night was Carol Geary Schneider, the president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She talked about the changing nature of a Liberal Education, which is something close to my heart.

She (and the AAC&U in general, I guess) sees a Liberal Education as shifting from an elite, non-vocational curriculum, designed for the fortunate few, to a necessity for all students to succeed in the global economy. She doesn't see it as getting less broad. She just sees that breadth as being what students need for academic success. In her mind, then, our chief job is to convince students, parents, employers, and politicians of that need.

She was somewhat negative about "learning for learning sake." There were those at the conference who disagreed with her, but I think that I see her point. I have long advocated learning for learning sake with the argument that you never know when you're going to need it. A math major should study literature because it will give them insight into the human condition that could make it easier to handle some real person somewhere down the line. Of course, in the back of my mind, I think that a math major should study literature because it's so much fun.

Schneider seems to be arguing for taking that argument public. A broad education is necessary becaue narrowly trained people can't do their jobs as well. That argument bothers the purists, but face it, it's going to be a better sales pitch. It will attract students, please employers, satisfy funding agencies (such as the government.)

She even went as far as to suggest, I think only half jokingly, that we simply abandon the language of a Liberal Education, in favor of a new "brand." She reported an employer who asked her (in jest, I think) "Couldn't you call it the 'moderate arts'?" I think that this is a suggestion worth taking seriously, although the inertia that would need to be overcome is tremendous.

Anyway, the AAC&U has a major program, called Liberal Education and America's Promise, with three initiatives: public advocacy, a Campus Action Network, and a research initiative. The program is designed to make sure that a "Liberal Education" meets the needs of students, and to make sure that everyone involves understands that it meets the needs of the students. Any of my academic-type readers are advised to check it out. For the rest of you, I promise I'll be back to pasting my photo into the Nebraska landscape tomorrow.

Day 368 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	May
Distance	2059.1	684.6	137.8
Time	12 days, 17 hrs, 7 min	4 days, 8 hrs, 13 min	21:10
Days	368	111	24
States	10	3	1

It's been a pretty good month. As promised, I didn't come anywhere near as many miles or as many hours as April. But I still managed to get a good distance -- further than last May -- and of course I ran my first official half marathon.

I topped it off with 4 miles this morning. I found a bike/jogging path that they have made out of an abandoned rail bed, which was good. It's a nice, straight, flat path, and the mileage was clearly marked, so I ran two miles out and two miles back. Tomorrow is a scheduled day off from running, and on Saturday, I'll be back in my home town.

Day 367 -- More Carhenge

Carhenge is part of the website at The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things, where it is listed simply as Carhenge. If you ask me, Erika missed the opportunity to list it as "The World's Largest Replica of Stonehenge Using Cars," which it undoubtedly is. It's also probably The World's Smallest Replica of Stonehenge Using Cars.

As you can see, I do have some time to continue with the important stuff -- blogging -- in between the trivia of trying to learn to teach better. Since the program is designed for college professors, nothing gets started until 9:00 or goes past 4:00. Since I was up at 5:30 this morning, I had time for a run (5.1 miles) and still managed to get this post half-written. I would have posted it, but I had some trouble with the wireless connection in my hotel room. Right now, the workshop is on lunch break, and I'm on a lab computer.

Day 366 -- Carhenge

The main reason that I've been heading for Alliance is Carhenge. This is exactly the sort of thing I envisioned myself visiting when I started out on this virtual cross-country trek. These photos are from the collection by Lizzy, and they are for sale. (Without me in them, alas.)

I ran four miles this morning. I was more sore than I thought I would be, but it's an OK kind of sore. The sore that comes from a good workout, not the sore that comes from something having been worked too hard.

I'm off this afternoon for a workshop put on by the University System. It should be good. I'm not sure how much time I'll have for blogging. The big question will be whether or not I have internet access in my room. I'm bringing my laptop, just in case. If I don't post for the next couple of days, rest assured that I'm still running, and I'll catch up on my posting when I get back.

Day 365 -- Half Marathon

I woke up at 4:30 am. Getting up early was not a problem. I actually started my 20 mile runs by getting up at 4:00, so that I could be done in time for church. What was different was that I didn't just toddle out the door and run.

First, I had to wait for my buddy Bruce to pick me up, at 5:30. Then we drove for more than an hour to Madison. Then we waited around in line for a shuttle bus from the finish to the start. Then we took the shuttle from the bus to the start. Then we stood around in a crowd of thousands, waiting for the start, which was at 7:30.

It was a big race. There were 2151 finishers in the half marathon alone. There were another 667 in the marathon, and another thousand or so in the 10K, the 6K, and the relays. The starts were staggered, so it was only the 2000 of us starting at 7:30, but it was still a crowd. And it continued to be crowded the entire race. Well past the halfway point, I was still having to dodge around people, and at the end, I was still passing people and being passed. (Mostly being passed.)

Once we got running, I felt OK. I started at a fairly slow pace. I was running with Bruce, who had declared himself to be out of shape, and said he just wanted to finish. I ran with him for a couple of miles, then lost him at a port-a-potty stop. From then on, I was on my own, or as much on my own as I could be in a crowd of 2000 runners.

The weather was gorgeous. I'd heard lots of horror stories about last year, when it started in the 70's and rose quickly to the 90's. But today it was in the 60's and low humidity. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

I went to grad school in Madison, so I covered a lot of familiar territory. However, I wasn't a runner back then, so I had never run any of it. Believe me, it's a different world in your car, or even on your bike. It was a nice, scenic route, with not too many hills. There was a lot of support along the way, with water and Gatorade.

I did manage to pick up the pace after the first couple of miles. I was totally spent by the end. My mind was saying, "Let's kick it into the finish," but my legs were saying, "This is plenty fast enough, thank you." As I said, more people passed me at the end than I passed. Nonetheless, I finished in under two hours (1:54:35), which is what I wanted. Officially, I didn't set a time goal, but I did have that two hours in my head.

At the finish, I was too tired to think straight. I just wandered through the finish stuff -- they hand you a medal and some water (at that point, I wanted the water more, but now, I'm happy for the medal, too), then take your timing chip, then point you to more food and drink. I drank a couple of bottles of water and some Gatorade pretty fast, and ate some bagels and other stuff.

Eventually, I met up with Bruce, and we made our way home. It was a good day. I'm glad that I went. I don't know right now about running twice as far in one day, but fortunately, I have time to work my way up to that.

Boy, I hope I didn't do something stupid

I had to go up to Madison today to pick up my race packet. They don't let people pick them up on the day of the race. I think there are basically two reasons for that. They want to cut down on the chaos on the morning of the race -- people showing up at 7:25 for a 7:30 start and wanting to know where their bib number is. Also, they get people to go to the race expo, which means that people see the sponsor's stuff.

Anyway, since Mrs. Jogger was working, I took the Little Joggers with me. And then I couldn't just run in and get my stuff and run out. We had to look around, and then we went to The World's Largest Bratfest, went on some of the rides and had a few brats. Then we went downtown to the Wisconsin Historical Museum, where they had an exhibition of toys. So I was on my feet quite a bit, and I'm pretty tired. I hope that I don't end up paying for that tomorrow.

Day 364 -- Deja Vu

Apparently, I haven't gotten very far since yesterday. I just took another little two-mile jog, to get loosened up. Tomorrow, I promise I'll get a little further. Of course, I may end up standing in front of a field that looks just like this one....

Happy (belated) Birthday, Little Jogger!

I got so caught up in things yesterday, I forgot to blog the birthday of the littlest Little Jogger. For the past six years, our anniversary on May 24 has been upstaged by his birthday on May 25. This year wasn't really an exception. Grandma Jogger and her housemate did come up yesterday in time to take Mrs. Jogger and I out for lunch, where we talked about old times. But once the kids got home from school, it was all about the littlest Little Jogger.

He does like to be the center of attention, even more than most six year olds. He loves to sing and dance and tell long stories. He has a fantastic memory, so you have to be really, really careful what you say around him, because he's liable to repeat it.

Overall, he's a pretty good kid, and we're lucky that we have him.

Day 363 -- A short jog

"Some parts of Western Nebraska are just a gigantic featureless ground." This from a blogger named Michael Totten. This was on his blog back in September of 2004. A lot of what he wrote is political, and I don't think that he and I see eye-to-eye, politically. But it's a useful picture. I bet the territory that I'm virtually running through looks a lot like this right now. I might just post this picture every day.

I ran just 2.4 miles today. The schedule actually said to take today off, but I couldn't.

Day 7305

On May 24, 1987, Mrs. Jogger and I stood before our assembled family and friends and pledged our undying love for each other. Twenty years later, we've had our ups and downs, but we are still very much in love.

Back then, of course, we were the most important things in each other's lives. Now, we spend most of our days worrying about kids and jobs and pets and household chores. Then, we spent a lot of time and energy learning how to live together. Now, living together comes so naturally that we forget to stop and think about how lucky we are. Then, we were young and starry-eyed. Now, we're old and starry-eyed.

Grandma and Grandpa Jogger were married for 40 years before he died. Grandma and Grandpa Walker were married for 50. So long marriages run in our families. I expect that we've got a long time to go. I hope so. It's been a wonderful ride.

Day 362 -- Storm Front Brewing

A thunderstorm forms over the western Nebraska Panhandle. From StormEffects.com. No particular reason for this photo today, other than I'm still not near anything interesting. It's sunny and warm in Wisconsin, and sunny and windy in western Nebraska.

I ran four miles today, at a brisk pace. It felt good. That's probably my last fast run before Sunday.

Day 361 -- More Crescent Lake

I didn't think I should leave the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge without seeing some wildlife. This is a willet and her chick. According to the web site, she is uncommon in the spring and summer, so I should be grateful that I got to see her. Other birds that I might stumble across (but only if someone is nice enough to post a photo, I suppose) include the Pied-billed Grebe, the American Bittern, the White-faced Ibis, the Northern Shoveler, the Greater Scaup, the Lesser Scaup, the Philadelphia Vireo, and the Purple Martin. And that's just a taste. The Crescent Lake web site has an extensive bird list.

I ran an easy 3 miles this morning. I'm not pushing myself at all this week. I'm just trying to stay loose for the half marathon on Sunday.

The paragraph that I didn't write

I finished up my grades for Calculus this afternoon, and posted them where the students could see them, then sent out an e-mail alerting them that they were available. Within an hour or so, I had an e-mail from the highest D, explaining how he REALLY needed a C, and look how close he was.

I wrote back politely, saying it was a tough decision, and that someone was going to end up the highest D, and it happened to be him. (The D cut-off was 69%, one percent lower than promised in the syllabus, and 0.4% higher than this guy's course average.) I started to write a second paragraph, but I stopped, because I thought it was an invitation to a grade appeal. So here is approximately what I would have said:

What frustrates me is that you really could have avoided this position. Although your exam average was a D, and in fact you got a C on only one of five exams, you could have averaged a C by the simple step of doing and turning in your homework. You missed 16 assignments. If you had turned in any three of them, you would have averaged 69%, and we aren't having this conversation. Who knows, if you had done all of them, you might even have learned a bit more calculus, and gotten even a higher grade.

OK, I might have made it more polite than that. But even at my politest, I didn't think it would be politic to point out that he missed a C by three lousy ungraded assignments. I gave credit for doing the homework and handing it in, so when I said he only needed to turn in three more assignments, I meant it.

Sorry, buddy. You rolled the dice and took a chance that you could get the grade you wanted without doing the homework. You lost. Thanks for playing.

Day 360 -- Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge

One thing taking up the space in this great big empty between Oshkosh and Alliance is the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Cool place, although I had a hard time navigating their web site.

I ran eight miles this morning. One week to go until the half marathon, and this is my last even sort of long run. I did pretty good. It was 66 degrees and not too humid. I hope the weather is going to be OK next week. I guess last year, it was really hot on the day of the Madison Marathon.

Day 359 -- Broadwater, Nebraska

How about another library? I'm not that far from Broadwater, so I thought I'd drop in to the Broadwater Public Library. It looks kind of cool both inside and out.

I ran 3 miles this morning. I'm tapering off for my half marathon, a week from tomorrow morning. I didn't want to take it too easy, so I ran the middle mile pretty quickly. It was a good run.

Then I took three of the Little Joggers to a nearby state park with the Girl Scouts. They had a whee of a time playing on the beach and kayaking. I got a little too much sun. I put on sunscreen, but I always miss a spot. This time, it was the left side of the back of my neck.

I support Shakespeare's Sister!

I don't usually talk much about political topics. As I've said before, I think a lot of people do it better than I. But I just feel like there's an issue that I have to speak out on. I know, nobody cares what I think. My tens of loyal readers don't look to me for moral guidance. They just want to know what landmark I'll photoshop myself in front of next. But I'm so frustrated I just have to write this post.

What she said.

There, I'm glad I got that off my chest. OK, if you don't want to click through, I'll summarize. Melissa McEwan, known in the blogging world as Shakespeare's Sister, wrote a couple of posts responding to a segment on some shock jock XM radio program where the caller wanted to "fuck women to death," and the hosts egged him on. Shakes suggested, not gently, that jokes about fucking women to death didn't seem particularly funny to women, like her, who have experienced rape.

What galls me is that some people took that as an open invitation to threaten and insult Melissa. Read the comments. Better yet, don't. They don't deserve the audience.

So, I just wanted to go on the record as saying that, yes, there are people out here who support her. I think -- I hope -- that the vast majority of people in the world, even those who don't politically agree with Shakes, would still find the original call-in program appalling, and the offensive comments even moreso. In any case, I want it clearly known to all what side I'm on. This behavior is not funny, and it's not acceptable. I'm with you, Shakes!

I thought so

Via Addy N.:

USJogger -- [noun]: A level headed person who always makes the wrong decision 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Days 357 and 358 -- Western Nebraska

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. The first Little Jogger had a girl scout thing. It was fun, but too long. It was past the littlest Little Jogger's bedtime, and frankly, pretty close to mine.

Nothing special to report. I ran 5 miles yesterday and 4 today. This picture is of the Wildcat Hills. I'm not sure that I'm within 100 miles of the Wildcat Hills. I'm actually not sure that I'm within 100 miles of anything. But I figure all the landscape out here in Western Nebrask looks pretty much interchangeable.

Day 356 -- 2000 miles

Today I ran my 2000th mile since this journey began, in January of 2006.

My legs were pretty heavy today, which should come as no surprise. I've gotten stronger this spring, but not so strong that I can shrug off a 9 miler. But today's run was not meant to be either fast or long, so I was fine.

The logo, by the way, comes from AMS Scand 2000, the year 2000 meeting of the American Mathematical Society. I'm not a member of the AMS, which is more for research mathematicians than teachers. But it was nice to find an image for my 2000th mile that was related to what I do.

Finals Week

Classes ended on Friday, not with a bang, but with a whimper. My first exam isn't until Wednesday, so there's not a whole lot for me to do at this point. I'm hanging around my office, waiting for questions, and doing some reading ahead for my summer projects.

I'm pleased with the way that Calc II went this semester. I think that the students worked hard. Almost all of them kept coming to class almost every day, which is a sign that they think that I'm doing something worthwhile. Some will fail, and a few more will get D's, but overall, they are going to do pretty well.

I'm less pleased with the Modern Algebra course. I didn't spend enough time preparing, and often I ended up winging it more than I wanted to. We didn't get as far as I wanted, and what we did get to, I didn't feel like we covered well. Next time I teach it, I'm going to rebuild the course from the ground up. That may be a while, as I think that it's time to rotate the course to someone else. There are no hard-and-fast rules about how that works, but I've taught it four times in the last five years, and I just think it's someone else's turn.

My third course this semester, which I believe that I have mentioned before, was a team-taught course in Leadership. Considering how little we knew, and how many cooks went into the brewing of this course, and how few students we had, and how poorly motivated they were, everything went swimmingly. I learned a lot, and I'm glad I did it, but we pretty much agreed as a group that we'd be shovelling Satan's sidewalks before we agreed to teach it again. We did hear from someone at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who is considering a similar course, and wants to pick our brains. If they can get it to work, more power to them.

And what's on tap for the summer? I'm teaching History of Mathematics in the fall, and that course is always a stretch for me. It's a good stretch, but it's a stretch. So I'll be doing a lot of reading on that topic all summer. I actually have a small grant to add non-Western history and mathematics done by women to the course, so I have to learn some stuff about that. I have a workshop in DC in June, and other than that, it's just read, read, read.

Mrs. Jogger is now working two part-time jobs, so she'll be out of the house quite a bit this summer. So it will fall to me to chauffeur the Little Joggers to soccer, tennis, play practice, swimming, and everywhere else in the universe. And to be home to yell at them promptly every half hour, just so they know that their parent love them.

And, of course, I'll be training for the marathon. So the summer will go by pretty quickly.

Day 355 -- University of Lisco

I always like to stop at colleges and universities on my way through. The University of Lisco seems to be a sporting good outfitter, but that doesn't bother me. I'm quite sure that I could learn something there, if I wanted to.

I'm not actually terribly near to Lisco, but I'm going to have to be creative for the next little stretch. I've just come out of Oshkosh, and I'm on my way up to Alliance, and there is literally not a single town on my route for the next 50 miles. Just a little different from Eastern New Jersey.

True to my promise, I ran 9 miles this morning, on what would normally be a day off. I felt fine. Yesterday's rotten weather had completely blown over, leaving it sunny and 60 degrees, and not terribly humid. Great weather for a nine mile run.

I got yelled at this morning. Someone had to delay a right turn while I ran past, and he leaned out of his window and hollered, "Dummy, there's a sidewalk!" Being me, I completely ignored him, and then obsessed about it for the rest of the run.

I do run on sidewalks when there's any hint of heavy traffic. There are areas of town where I always run on the sidewalk, no matter when I'm there. But this was a little back street, at 5:30 in the morning, and the sidewalk was over on the other side of the road. To tell you the truth, I hadn't even noticed it, and if I had, I wouln't have even thought about running on it.

I'm sure this guy was just in a bad mood. Most drivers are perfectly curteous with me. A lot of them wave me through if I stop for them. But this guy was hauling his boat home at 5:30 in the morning, which means he probably had had a long night or gotten up early (or both) and was looking forward with some trepidation to a week at the office. So he yelled at me. I believe that I'll survive.

Day 354 -- Cut short

It was raining when I set out this morning, but I didn't let that bother me. It wasn't terribly cold, or raining terribly hard. But pretty soon, I started to see flashes of lightning in the distance. At first, it was too far away to even hear the thunder. By the time I got back home, I was hearing the distant rumble of thunder. That's about as bad as it ever got. It never really came near, and I would have been good to finish my run. But I didn't know that, and I didn't want to find out the hard way, seeing as I do conduct electricity.

So, I only got in 3 miles of my scheduled twelve mile run. My plan right now is to run nine tomorrow, instead of taking the day off. Then, if I'm tired, I'll take Tuesday off.

Signed Up

Today I signed up for the Quad Cities Marathon in September. I was going to wait until after I ran the half marathon (which is just over two weeks away) but I couldn't. So now I have something to look forward to. I'm sure that I can be ready. If I don't get hurt this summer, I can build back up to the point where I'm ready to run a marathon. I'm excited, but also a little nervous.

Day 353 -- Oshkosh, B'gosh

Oshkosh, Nebraska. Did you know there was an Oshkosh, Nebraska? As a Wisconsin resident, I know Oshkosh, and this ain't it. Oh, well, it is the Goose Hunting Capital of Nebraska, which ought to count for something.

It looks like we are starting a new family tradition. Today, not only did the oldest and newest Little Jogger come to run with me, but so did the medium Little Jogger. The first Little Jogger says she wants to come some time, but didn't want to wear herself out, since she's planting trees with the Girl Scouts today.

I was afraid that the medium Little Jogger would get bored, and then get whiney, but he did OK. He ran around the track a little bit, then he played in the long jump pit a little bit, then the two Little Joggers found a soccer ball and kicked it around. They said they want to come next week, and I said we should bring a soccer ball, in case we aren't lucky enough to find one next week. So it looks like we're on for at least another week.

Day 352 -- Lilacs

The lilacs are blooming here in SW Wisconsin. There are enough around the neighborhood that I keep getting a whiff of them as I run. It's heavenly. They are beautiful, too. I love this time of year!

Lilac photo courtesy of Hramor Nursery

Welcome!

In the last week or so, I've been experiencing an increased number of hits. For the longest time, I was getting 8 to 12 a day (and I pretty much knew who all 12 were, too.) But now I've gotten 26 to 30 each of the past four days. I don't know what that's all about, but if it actually represents new readers, then welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment telling me who you are.

This would probably be a good time to point out the Sponsor Me! link over on the side bar. I'm running a half marathon in Madison on May 27, and raising money for the American Cancer Society in the bargain. If you can contribute, that would be great.

Day 351 -- More Lewellen

Towns out here in Western Nebraska are a little far apart, so I'm posting another picture from Lewellen, even though my 6 miles today took me past it. Besides, it's probably time for another library shot. This is the Lewellen Public Library. The very first fact on this page, if you follow the link, is that their operating budget is $6,781. I don't imagine they can do much with that.

Sick Leave

The state which employs me has a fairly generous sick day policy. Employees who retire with accrued sick leave can convert it, not to cash, but to health care premiums for retirement. If you work for the state for a lot of years, and don't use a lot of sick time, you can get quite a sum at the end. It's a reasonable incentive not to use sick time frivolously, and one of those perks that government employees get in lieu of competitive pay.

Of course, this benefit is for all state employees, but it works a little oddly for university faculty, because we, as a rule, don't take sick time. Sure, if something catastrophic happens, and a faculty member is going to be out for weeks or months, they take sick time, but if they have a bug (or a child with a bug), they usually just cancel classes and re-order the syllabus a little. I've done it. I'm sure most people do.

The problem is that the legislature did some kind of audit, and found out that the university faculty were taking a lot less sick time than other state employees, and decided to crack down. OK, fine. I can understand, and I promise to report as sick time the next time I cancel class. But the powers that be want to be really sure that we aren't abusing the system. They want to make sure that we report sick time for doctor's visits and such.

I'm not sure anyone understands the policy, but here's the way it has been explained to me. If I go to a doctor or a dentist during "normal working hours," I have to take sick time. If I don't cancel classes or office hours, it doesn't matter. I still have to report it. If I come back after and work until midnight, it still doesn't matter. I have to report it.

Of course, I don't otherwise have to punch a time clock. So I can come in at 10 and leave at 2 every day, and as long as I get in my classes and office hours, and don't neglect my other duties too much, I'm OK. I can go golfing every Wednesday afternoon, and that's fine. But if I go to the doctor, it's sick time.

Day 350 -- Lewellen, Nebraska

A headstone in the Ash Hollow cemetary in Lewellen, Nebraska. This image comes from the web page of Brian Tingley, who has, among other things, geneological information. Thus the cemetary.

I ran an easy 5 miles this morning. My legs are still sore from the weekend, but it felt OK. The weather continues to be marvelous. This morning, there was very picturesque fog in the low-lying spots. It was cool.

Day 349 -- Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area

Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area contains Lake McConaughy, Nebraska's largest reservoir. 35,700 surface acres is a lot of lake.

I ran my second twenty miler today. It was much harder than the first. I don't know why. Perhaps I worked harder this last week. Perhaps it was because I didn't get much sleep last night. Or perhaps it was just because it was cooler and windier than two weeks ago. But last time, I finished the twenty feeling pretty good, and confident that 26.2 is in my range. Today, I was totally drained, and I felt like I'd better stick to the half marathon. In fact, the first 13 miles went OK, but the last seven I made on sheer stubbornness. I knew that if I quit, my friend Peach would tease me mercilessly.

The worst part was...well, there were several worst parts. Take your pick. The worst part was

• trying to start again after the last couple of water breaks. As long as I kept running, I was OK, but when I stopped, my legs figured that was it, and it was time to quit, now.
  
• running up the long hill on West Main Street. That's never my favorite hill in the world, but today I hit it in the 19th mile, and it was my own personal Heartbreak Hill.
  
• coming home and trying to pretend that I'm not that sore. Mrs. Jogger already thinks I'm crazy, and if I act too tired after a long run, I think that she'll have me committed. Anyway, I'm trying to convince her that I'm healthy enough to run a marathon, and whining about a 20 mile run is not the way to do it.
  

Anyway, if you'd like to see my route, it's on Gmaps Pedometer. It's a little tangled, but it's all there.

Day 348 -- More Ogallala

I'm not the biggest fan of Wikipedia -- the other day, Scott Adams suggested that it was a good source to find out what strangers with no credibility think about a topic -- but the Wikipedia article on Ogallala, Nebraska is accompanied by a nice tourist shot. As often happens, I had to guess a little on the scale.

I took the oldest and newest Little Jogger on my run this morning. She's been pestering me to go, but I've resisted, because I don't really want to slow down that much. But this morning, I got smart and we went over to the high school track. I ran five miles, and she ran a lap at a time, walking in between. I think she probably ran five or six laps, and walked another dozen or so. So she got her exercise, I got mine, and we did something together, all of which was good. We'll do it again some time.

What he said

I don't normally do "me, too" posts. For one thing, since I am one of the least-read blogs on the planet, it seems unlikely that I'm steering any significant traffic to anyone else's site. But today I want to jump in and say that Dean Dad has summed up my feelings about the far right just about perfectly.

Day 347 -- Ogallala, Nebraska

Don't know who this guy is. I found this image at the photo gallery of Meteorite Times Magazine. Another little niche mag, I guess. Why their photo gallery has a guy drinking water in front of a sign for Ogallala, I don't know.

I'm leaving the interstate at this point. Don't ask me why here, other than I've always kind of liked Ogallala. It's a fun name to say. I do have a next destination in mind, and I should be there within the month.

I ran an easy five today. It felt good. It was a little windy, but since it wasn't too cold, the wind didn't bother me.

Day 346 -- The Road to Roscoe

I couldn't resist this one. The Road to Roscoe. It comes from a course web page for Field Parasitology offered out of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I don't care about that. I just like having a picture of the Road to Roscoe.

I had a great run this morning. I picked up the pace, and managed to run 8 miles in less than 8:30 miles. It felt great. I'm feeling pretty good right now. Of course, I'm supposed to run 20 miles on Sunday, so we'll see if this good feeling lasts.

Day 345 -- Westward, Ho!

This is cool. In 1997, Wendy Westergard and a bunch of other people recreated some of the westward journey of the pioneers, as part of the sesquicentennial of the Utah immigration. This is a part of their journey near Paxton.

I ran five miles today. It's getting to be a great time of year to run outside in the morning. It's just getting light when I walk out the door in the morning. It's warm enough to run in shorts and a t-shirt, but not warm enough to kill me.

Day 344 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	Apr
Distance	1921.3	546.8	174.1
Time	11 days, 19 hrs, 57 min	3 days, 11 hrs, 3 min	1 day, 3 hrs, 38 mins
Days	344	87	21
States	10	3	1

With tomorrow being a scheduled day off, it's time to check my progress. It's been a monster month. In March, I ran 142.6 miles, which was, at the time, my longest month ever. This month I ran past that by over 30 miles! Of course, I'm at the peak of my training for the half marathon. It helps that April had five weekend long runs, too.

In any case, it will be a while before I see anything like 170 miles in one month again. After another 20 miler this next weekend, I'll start tapering for the half marathon. Then after that, I'll start in my training at relatively low mileage. I won't see 20 mile days or 40 mile weeks again until August. Which is fine. I am pretty sure I can't maintain this kind of mileage indefinitely.

Happy Birthday, Little Jogger!

This is actually the second time I've gotten up early on April 28th because of one of the Little Joggers. Nine years ago today, the medium Little Jogger came into the world in the wee hours. (We were talking last night, and none of us could remember the exact time.)

The medium Little Jogger represents clear evidence that we have lost our minds. Anybody might have one child, not knowing what they were getting into. But having a second marks a couple forever as having more sentiment than sense.

We celebrated last night (knowing the first Little Jogger wasn't going to be here today) and the medium Little Jogger opened his presents in about 60 seconds. They were all exactly what he's always wanted, although he's a little bored with them by now, of course.

Day 343 -- Paxton, Nebraska

Paxton, Nebraska, is home to Kory Land & Cattle, Inc., where, as you can see, one can get a custom cattle feeder with up to a 10,000 head capacity. That's a lot of beef.

I got up at 4:00 this morning to take the first Little Jogger over to school. The Science Olympiad team is driving clear over to Oshkosh for the state competition, and the vans had to leave at 4:30. The Little Jogger has been pretty nervous for the last week or so. From an adult perspective, there's nothing to be nervous about. She should go, have a good time, do her best, and not worry about the outcome. But of course she's pretty competitive, and she doesn't want to embarrass herself or let her teammates down.

Since I was up early anyway, I went ahead an ran my weekend long run, which I normally do on Sundays. I ran 12 miles, and felt pretty good. I even picked up the pace for the last three. It's a beautiful morning for a run.

Day 342 -- More Cornfields

No picture today. I'm giving an evening exam again, the last one of the semester. I'm hopeful that it will go pretty well for most students. The material is kind of tough, but these guys have been hanging in and working hard.

I ran a little short of five miles this morning. The forecast had been for rain, so I was prepared to go to the gym, but when I walked out the door, there was no rain. So what the heck, I ran outside. I'm sure that you know what happened. After I got out a little way, the rain picked up, and I finished in a steady drizzle. But it doesn't seem to have killed me.

Day 341 - Cornfield

I'm kind of at a loss for an image, so I just stole a generic cornfield from this site. Hell, I've got to be running past a billion cornfields. I suspect that the corn isn't quite this high in the middle of April.

I ran a relatively quick 5 miles today. I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday. That seems to be a recurrent pattern, at least after a really long run. The first day back is hard, but the second day is much easier.

Day 340 -- Hershey, Nebraska

The Bar, Hershey, Nebraska. Image stolen (shamelessly) from this Public Adress 4.0.

I ran 3 miles today. The schedule said 5, but my legs said 0, and we compromised. I'm pretty sore. I think that I was more sore this afternoon than I was Sunday afternoon. Then again, I was up and moving this afternoon, and Sunday I basically did nothing but lie around the house like a beached whale.

Days 338 and 339 -- Fort Cody Trading Post

At the Fort Cody Trading Post, near North Platte, they have a stuffed two-headed calf.

I ran 4.7 miles yesterday, a little short of my goal of 5 miles. But I made up for it today, because I rand 20.3 miles, just over my goal. I'm tired, but it feels good. Twenty miles. That's the longest I'll run before the marathon in the fall.

It may occur to you that, having run 25 miles in the last two days, I shouldn't still be near the same town. If you notice that, I'll have to admit that I got a little lost on my map again, but that I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place, now. But I'll just have to hope that you don't notice.

Day 337 -- North Platte

This photo of the Lincoln County Courthouse in North Platte, Nebraska, comes from the virtual tourist page by Stephen and Karen Conn. I'm pretty sure that I've visited Stephen and Karen's page before, but I'll be damned if I can find it now. I've gone all the way back to October, so either it was over six months ago, or I just missed it, or I'm going nuts and I've never been here before.

I ran 5 miles today, faster than Tuesday, but somewhat slower than yesterday. It was a nice morning for a run.

I'm now going to be incommunicado for a couple of days. I'm taking off tomorrow for a state level professional meeting, and I won't be back until late Saturday. Rest assured that I'm taking my running clothes, and I'll get out on the roads of Eau Claire on Saturday morning.

Day 336 -- Maxwell, Nebraska

Maxwell, Nebraska, is home to Big Country Windmills, the "World's Largest Purveyor of Used & Obsolete Windmills & Parts." Since 1986. I had no idea.

I did run the full eight miles this morning. I took off, promising myself I could stop early if I felt tired, but I knew that I wouldn't. In any case, I felt pretty good, even though I was running longer than yesterday, and faster, over a hillier route. (It wasn't hard to run faster. Yesterday I was slooooooooow!)

Day 335 -- More Gothenburg

I'm on the road somewhere between Gothenburg and Brady, but since I have another good pic of Gothenburg, I'm sticking with it for another post. Here I am in front of the Frito-Lay plant. I think I'll pick myself up a couple of bags of corn chips.

I ran a really slow 5 miles this morning. I'm still recovering from my long run, even though it wasn't that long. At various times during the day today, I've decided not to run at all tomorrow, to run three miles, to run four miles, to run five miles, and to run the full eight miles that's on the schedule. Stay tuned to see what actually happens tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Dear Euler!

Today is the 300th birthday of the Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler. Euler was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time; some would say he was the greatest. I tell my students that the whole history of mathematics funnels through Euler. Everything that anyone did before, he improved on. Anything that came after has its roots in his work. That's probably an exaggeration, but only slightly.

Mathematicians, particularly those of us who are interested in the history of mathematics, have made 2007 a big year in celebration of Euler's birth. Conferences are being held, books are being published, parties are being thrown. I'm giving a talk next week at a state meeting about "A Marvelously Terrible Algorithm from Leonard Euler." It should be pretty good, I hope.

For more information on Euler, see his entry at the Mac Tutor History of Math site, from whence this image was taken.

Day 334 -- Gothenburg

Ever vigilant for the opportunity to visit the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things, I stopped today in Gothenburg to see the world's largest plow. It is dedicated to the sod house settlers, of course.

I ran 13.1 miles today, a half marathon. My biggest challenge at this point was not to take the distance too lightly. Yes, it's 5 miles shorter than last week, but it's still a pretty big chunk of pavement. I ran it pretty slow -- slower than I plan to go in the official half marathon in six weeks. I'm tired, but doing OK.

Committee Work, Politics, and the Future

For the last couple of weeks, I've been quietly bitching about all the stuff I need to do that's only tangentially related to teaching. I'm chair of a fairly active committee that's had several subcommittee meetings, and a whole flurry of e-mail exchanges, mostly about a proposal for a professional development seminar in the fall that was due this week. I'm on another committee that had to hear some appeals about its recommendations, which turned out to be basically gripe fests. I'm doing some word processing and formatting for the chair of a statewide professional organizations. This chair is a nice guy, but seems to be technologically and organizationally challenged. Anyway, between one thing and another, I haven't been able to concentrate on my students as much as I should.

So, yesterday, my friend Dr. Furriner took me aside and asked me to consider running for department chair next year.

Some background: Demographics in my field are changing, in terms of the number of foreign-born Ph.D.'s who are taking teaching jobs at my level. Every single tenured member of our department is a native-born U.S. citizen. Dr. F was voted tenure by the department this year, and, barring any unforseen snags at the administrative level, will become the first foreign-born tenured faculty member. However, half of the junior faculty are foreign-born, and we've just been on a hiring spree which will tip the balance to over half.

Dr. F thinks that the department has a double standard with regards to foreign-born faculty. She feels that the foreign-born faculty are held to a higher standard in the classroom, given worse teaching assignments, and otherwise just treated as, well, second-class citizens.

Our department chair will be stepping down after next year, having reached the end of her second three-year term. (I'm not sure whether the two-term limit is actually written down anywhere, but at the very least it's a deep seated tradition.) There's a natural candidate to step in next, whom I will call Dr. Dauphin. I think everyone expects Dr. D to be chair and to do a good job of it. However, Dr. Furriner thinks that Dr. D is one of the people who perpetuates the double standard, and that it will get worse with her as chair. Dr. F thinks that I, on the other hand, will work to make things better.

So, I'm thinking about it.

On the one hand, I really don't want to do it. Our chair gets release time from teaching, meaning that I get to give up the fun part of my job for extra meetings and extra paperwork.

On the other hand, I recognize the validity of Dr. F's concerns about Dr. D. Whether or not Dr. D has anything against foreign faculty, the fact is that she lacks some people skills. Her office is near mine, and I don't really like the way that she treats her students sometimes. She tends to assume that she knows a lot about them, and that the reason that they aren't doing well in her class is because they aren't working exactly up to her standards. If she treats junior faculty that way, it could be a source of some friction.

On the other hand, I might deal well with junior faculty, but I probably won't deal well with administration. There are times when the department chair has to stand up to the Dean or to the Provost and say, "This is what's best for our department and our students." Our current chair is good at that, and Dr. D would be good, too. I'm too conciliatory. That's also going to hurt me if, heaven forfend, I have to deal with junior faculty who really aren't working up to standards. It will be hard for me to go to a junior faculty member and say, "Shape up, or ship out."

On the other hand, Dr. F is also concerned about our department tending toward the traditional. We don't do much to encourage new and innovative teaching methods. We are certainly well behind other departments in things like technology in the classroom or hybrid courses. Dr. D is pretty traditional, and would probably continue that trend. I'm a lot more open-minded, and I'd probably encourage new faculty to try innovative ideas.

On the other hand, I'm organizationally challenged, and I would probably go crazy trying to attend to the minute details of scheduling, budgeting, and all the other day-to-day crap that the chair has to do.

On the other hand, I'm running out of hands.

So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Dr. F made a point of talking to me early, because she didn't want me to feel like I was rushed into things at the last minute. But that means it's close to a year before I need to seriously decide what to do. So, I'll do what I usually do with hard decisions. I'll turn it over and over in my mind until I can make sense of it. A very good time to do that is when I'm out on the road. I ran more than an hour this morning, and believe me, a good deal of that time was spent thinking about this.

technorati tag: teaching-carnival

Day 333 -- Darr

The Darr Feedlot in Cozad, Nebraska. I think that I'm closer to Darr (the town) than to Cozad, but I suspect this feedlot is somewhere in between. Anyway, I am pretty close to this feedlot. I imagine that out here, I'm never too far from a feedlot.

I had a good 8.1 mile run this morning. It's a little cold -- 36 degrees -- but it's not snowing and it's not windy, so it was a nice day for a run.

Day 332 -- Hollingsworth Motel

I couldn't leave Lexington without a stay at the Hollingsworth Motel, whose delightfully tacky sign is available at a site dedicated to Motel Americana. Is this more or less arcane than "Hay in Art"? I don't know, but I know that "Motel Americana" appeals to me, personally, more than "Hay in Art".

I ran another 5.3 miles today. It's a step-back week, after a long week last week. Tomorrow is off, then 8 miles on Saturday, and only 13 on Sunday.

Day 331 -- Lexington, Nebraska

Here I am in downtown Lexington, looking north. OK, I'm looking south. The camera is looking north.

I went to the gym today, because it snowed. Check that date again: April 11. It snowed. Measurably. We probably only got an inch (although, come to think of it, that's an inch more than one would expect on April 11), but it was so windy that it was snowing sideways, so the Little Joggers got another day off. Mrs. Jogger wasn't working, but she had a quilting meeting in the morning, so I stayed home for half the morning.

Anyway, it's supposed to stop snowing soon, and warm up tomorrow. So at least it won't last. But still. April 11?

Day 330 -- The Wonder of the Internets

Here I am, helping M.C. Ekstrom bail hay near Overton, Nebraska, in 1904. That's not the wonderful part. The wonderful part is that this image is part of the Hay in Art Database. Pause a minute to let that sink in. Someone thinks that "Hay in Art" is an important enough theme that there should be a universally accessible database on the subject. People presumably use this database to find just the appropriate work of art involving hay for their current project.

I ran five miles today. It was cold. The calendar says Easter, but the weather says Groundhog Day. I should count my blessings. The weather tomorrow is going to say Christmas.

Rationalizing the Irrational

Mrs. Jogger has been giving me a bit of a hard time about how far I'm running. Why, she wants to know, do I have to run 18 miles to train for a half marathon, which is only 13.1 miles? Here are some of my answers, although I haven't tried these all out on Mrs. J.

• In January, I wanted to get started training. I had an 18 week marathon training program, which was just right, but no 18 week half marathon training program. And the marathon training program starts at a pretty low level. So why not? Of course, by now, I've built up to higher mileage than necessary, which leads me to some more rationalizations....
  
• By building up pretty high mileage, I'm expecting the half marathon to feel like only an intermediate distance. It should seem relatively easy.
  
• I'm thinking ahead to the marathon in the fall. I'll build up to pretty high mileage in the spring, run the half marathon, then back off and build back up to high mileage in the summer. By the time I do run the marathon, I'll be in pretty good shape.
  
• I want to see what I can do. Now. There's only so much one can defer gratification. As of right now, I'm a guy who can run 18 miles. If I never run another step, that's an accomplishment.
  
• (This is the one that Mrs. Jogger doesn't get.) It feels good. It really does. Yes, I'm sore. Yesterday afternoon, I could barely go up and down stairs. There's also a warm glow that comes from having really pushed myself. There's no comparable feeling, at least not in my experience.
  

Day 329 -- Elm Creek, Nebraska

Just about to hop onto Interstate 80, a little south of Elm Creek, home of Dawson County Ethanol, LLC.

I ran 18 miles today. I was tired at the end (and I still am tired), but I didn't feel as bad as last week. I wasn't tempted to quit early. It felt really good. Last week, I questioned whether I could ever run a marathon. This week, I feel like I can. Not tomorrow, but I'll be ready when it comes around in September.

This is the fourth time in five weeks that I've run farther than I've ever run before in my life. That's very likely the last time I'll be able to truthfully type that sentence. In fact, I only expect to run two farther distances: 20 miles, which I'll run for the first time in two weeks, and 26.2 miles, which I'll run for the first time in September. I suspect I'll never run an ultramarathon (a distance of longer than 26.2 miles.) And that's OK. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy.

Housework

Mrs. Jogger is at work today, so I'm home with the Little Joggers. I'm doing housework. Even as we type, I'm doing laundry, washing dishes, and making bread. Of course, I have machines to do this for me. That makes my life somewhat easier. When my mother was my age, she would have had a machine to do the laundry, but not one to do the dishes, and definitely not one to make the bread. When her mother was my age, she wouldn't even have had a machine to do the laundry, I think. And don't even get me started on how hard it was for my grandmother to keep up with her blog.....

We now pause for a few words of inspiration from Amby Burfoot

I have learned that there is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving. It's not about speed or gold medals. It's about refusing to be stopped. You might find that one particular direciton proves difficult, but there are many directions on a compass. Infinite, in fact. As long as you keep searching, you'll find your winning way.

From The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life, by Amby Burfoot. I'd quote more, but the things only 150 small pages long. I have to leave some for you to read yourself.

Day 328 -- Holdrege, Nebraska

Today, I find myself in the middle of Holdrege, Nebraska. Something about the town sends a little jolt to my subconscious. I know Holdrege, in a way that I don't know Funk or Wilcox. I had a graduate school friend who was from Nebraska. I'm wondering if Holdrege was his home town. That was during my first pass through graduate school, in the late 1980's, so it's little wonder that I've forgotten.

I ran a solid eight miles today. The last six weeks or so, I've been following my schedule, which has Fridays off and sorta long runs on Saturday. However, the weather is downright cold, and the wind is horrible, so I decided to go today, when the gym was open. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Sunday. The gym isn't even open in the afternoon, of course. So I may have to just wait and run outside after church, when at least the sun will be out and the temps will be a little warmer.

Day 327 -- In a Funk (Nebraska, that is)

I'm several miles south of Funk, Nebraska. With a name like that, I couldn't resist a stop. However, I was immediately transported back in time to 1951 (note the black and white) and arrested by a young Andis Kaulins. Apparently, Andis acheived his childhood ambitions of becoming a lawman. However, rather than toting a six-shooter, he totes a briefcase.

Funk is an appropriate place for me, right now, because I'm kind of in my own Funk. It has been a frustrating week. The really frustrating part is how much I'm having to do that isn't really related to teaching. I've been in meeting after meeting, preparing proposals for talks, and generally not spending time on my students. Everything that I've been doing has been important. It's just that there's so much of it.

However, today begins a four-day April break, and I'll get caught up on my sleep, and on at least some of my work, and I'll be fine on Tuesday, when I have to go back to school.

Day 326 -- Wilcox, Nebraska

Time for another library visit, I guess. This is the Wilcox Public Library, taken from the Nebraska Library Commission web site. Doesn't look like it's very big, but neither is Wilcox. It checks in at just 351 people.

Today's run was much better than yesterday's, even though it was longer. I was supposed to go 8, but I got a little ambitious, and went almost 9. I wasn't doing backflips when I was done, but I still felt strong. That's even though I was running outside, into a strong wind. So I'm feeling good about myself. I still have that 18 to do on Sunday. Yikes!

Day 325 -- Humility

Today's run was rather humbling. I had been at the point where five miles at a 9:30 pace was nothing. A walk in the park. But today, my legs were still pretty sore from Sunday, so every step was hard. I did finish, and probably could have even kept running. But it brought me back to earth. It reminded me of how tough this goal really is.

Today was humbling in other ways. It has been the longest damn day. I got in to work around 8:30, and did a few things that needed doing. I had class at 10, and I literally have been scheduled ever since. Class at 10 and 11. A meeting at noon (which began at 11:30 and ended some time after 1, so I came late and left early.) Class from 1 to 4. A meeting at 4, which also wasn't over when I left. At 5, I started giving my Calculus exam, which will go until 9 tonight. (It won't be a four hour exam, but some people will be coming later, as their schedule permits.) I'm glad that there's a computer in this room. I could be doing something productive, but I don't have the energy.

Weclome to Shakesville

The blog formerly known as "Shakepeare's Sister" has a new home, Shakesville. Now, Shakespeare's Sister hardly needs an introduction from me. The new blog has no doubt gotten more hits in its first few days that I get in a year. But there's one sort of cool connection to JogAmericaBlog. Back on the old blog, they invited everyone to submit photos for a mosaic, which they used as the intro to the new blog. Now, I'm pretty much a daily reader, but only a very occasional commenter. But they said specifically that that was OK, so, yes, I submitted a photo. See if you can spot me.

Necklace

Via StyleyGeek, the coolest web toy I've seen in a long time: the Necklace. The Little Joggers and I sat here and played with it for 20 minutes, easily....

Day 324 -- Too long, and not long enough

I ran 16.1 miles today, another new personal long. The problem was, I was supposed to run 17. I just couldn't make it that last little bit.

I'm keeping the whole thing in perspective. Yes, I fell short of my goal today, but I still got a good workout. I will come back next week mentally and physically stronger, and I'll put on some more distance. I expect to make 18 miles next week. And I do have lots of time before the marathon. I'm clearly ready for the half marathon this spring, and I've got all summer to work myself up to the marathon this fall. So this missing 0.9 miles hardly ruins my plans.

Of course, now that it's mid-afternoon, I'm kicking myself. What do you mean, I couldn't run another 0.9 miles? Anybody can run 0.9 miles! What a wimp. But believe me, at the time, I was exhausted. Next week, I want to conserve my energy more, and do a better job of hydrating. I was dry as a bone when I stopped.

I am about to Upland, Nebraska. This is the Upland Opera House.