Day: February 17, 2006

Meme ‘o’ riffic

From Deene:

1. Do you have good hand-eye coordination? Depends. 
2. Have you ever held a gun? Yes. For both work and leisure.
3. What do you think of toy guns? Kind of up-in-the-air about them. On one hand, they’re cool. On the other hand, we live in New England now, and they’re kind of socially unacceptable. On the third hand, I’ve got two boys, and have found, that, even without any actual toy guns in the house, there’s a lot of stuff that can stand in for guns. Actually, even without the house, there’s a lot of stuff that could be guns. Like fingers.
4. When is the last time you asked for forgiveness? Yesterday? Man. I dunno. Sorry.
5. Your favorite Aerosmith song: Walk this way, but the Run DMC version

Really Interesting Tandem

I really liked this tandem, which puts the stroker (is that the right word?) up in front, and has the controls in the back seat. From Velorution, where I’m sure I’d spend tons of cash if I lived in London.

From the review:

The most distinctive feature of the Ronald Tandem is the fact that person steering the tandem sits on the back seat and the ‘passenger’ is in the front seat. … Although I have not tested it I assume that when one substitutes the front seat with a carrier box, one would have a very manoeuvrable and convenient shopping bicycle.

UPDATE (From Fixedgear)

Terminology: On a conventional tandem the person who sits in front and steers/shifts/brakes is called the captain the the rear seat is occupied by the stoker. This bike has the captain i the rear and the stoker up front. So does the Bilenky Viewpoint, where the stoker is in front and recumbent and the captain is in the rear and upright. Oh yeah, if you have a triple (three seat bike) the person who occupies the middle seat is called the midshipman. Seriously.

Winter? What winter?

50 degrees and sunny today. Wasn’t there something white and cold last weekend?

Dunno why, but I was going stir crazy this afternoon at the office. So, I split a little early (I’ll be in early tomorrow).

MAN, what a day! Thought about stopping on Jamestown to run out to the lighthouse, but, being somewhat on a schedule, I hit the Kingstown Rail-Trail again. I’m really digging that path. Still not sure quite why. But I’m not going to fight it, since I’m really, really getting back into running. So whatever keeps me turning over the feet I’m going to keep doing.

Parked, put the Forerunner on top of the car to sync with the satellites, and fiddled around getting dressed, etc. Grabed the Nano, fired up the stopwatch, and started jogging. 52 seconds to Mile 0.

The trail was pretty much snow-free today. Blew by the Mile 1 marker and forgot to mark the lap. About a quarter mile past, a couple of boys were getting on bikes and riding the way I was heading. So, of course, I chased.

Man, the legs were good today. One of those days where you can run faster and faster, and not hurt, not run short of breath. Where it’s possible to just keep running. Hit the mile 2 marker in 16:32 – not so bad; 8:15’s… Since I had a little time, I decided to go 6 miles instead of four or five. The kids were still riding away; I kicked it up and kept running. 7:45 for mile 3. Fired up U2’s “Vertigo.” Kept hitting the back button as the song finished – when there’s a groove, there’s a groove.

Holy Crap! I said. I can’t remember the last time I did a mile under 8 minutes. WoW!

Turned around, kind of determined to just cruise back to the car. I’d just busted out the quickest 3 miles I’ve done in months, and was happy. At the 4 mile marker, lap time was 8:18. Nice and relaxing somehow. Even though I was going faster than I thought I could sustain prior to starting the run.

Mile 5: 8:04, even though I was making a concerted effort to hold back a bit. Last mile, I said “OK, why not?” Last mile, I went ahead and blew it out. 7:52.

Pshew. What a run.

Did a little pilates themed stretching, and headed home. 6.2 miles, 50 minutes. Not bad at all…

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