bojordan.com

Started out the new running week (running weeks start in Saturday) with McMullen Creek from 51 all the way to Rea (including the steeplechase construction portion at Johnston). PM was up for a 6:30am start, which was a good thing since the lot was already starting to get busy. DJ showed up and seems ready to resume his Boston quest this year, and PM’s friend R joined us for the first time, and according to PM was there specifically to “kick my ass”; good thing I brought my heart rate monitor for the first time in over a year!

First six out were mild 8:15-ish miles, and I stuck a solid 120bpm all the way out. R and I took off on the way back, intending to run about a five-minute negative split, but we ended up running mid-to-low 6’s (I think) for 4.5 miles; all I’m sure of is that I was at 140bpm for the first two tempo miles, 150 for the third, and then popped 160 over the last mile. He seemed to have plenty of speed left, but I was pushing all out. Awesome getting to chase, which is exactly what I need to get some speed for the Fall. Nobody human runs 2:50 marathons at a 120 heart rate, after all.

Plus, R is on our Blue Ridge Relay team, which means I won’t be the fastest on the team. Sweet! I’ll still happily take spot 2, which is going to bring a new meaning to the name “Crazy Legs”.

In other running news, speedwork on the track has gone well for the past two weeks, though I might finally puke the next time we do 10×400m in 100F temp. Asics finally released the new rev for my favorite racing shoe, the Gel-Speedstar 3, and I have a pair on order. I’ve been doing my speedwork in some new two-models-old DS Trainers I pulled out of the closet and might try the new ones if I don’t love the Speedstar 3 like I did the 2.

Michael Kamber is a war photojournalist and Leica fan currently operating in Iraq, and in this article he discusses his real-world experiences with the Leica M8. The article is scathing, to put it bluntly. Most interesting to me were not the photographic problems with the camera (absolutely wild fluxuations in color balance, for example) but some very basic usability flaws that rendered the camera unusable for Kamber. In a statement that sounds so familiar to me, he questions whether Leica performed any real-world testing of the camera before shipping. And this guy’s not just being picky.

Originally linked from Luminous Landscape.

I love this portrait my sister is doing of my niece. She says it’s a work-in-progress, though I’m in favor of her keeping it in its current state.

I’m not sure exactly why I’ve waited a month to write about Boston. Perhaps it was my almost complete lack of photo-taking. More likely, it’s the feeling that I had finally completed a major undertaking, which leaves me exhausted and satisfied for about a week, then the elation turns into nervousness as I realize that I need another goal. New goals are scary, especially considering I had five years to get comfortable with this one.

To put it simply, the Boston Marathon is the best marathon in the entire world, in practically every way. It lives up to every expectation, from the talent level of the field, the difficulty of the rolling course, to the crazy pre-race expo and festivities, to the absolutely mind-blowing crowd support.

The course is every bit as hard as people say, with a quad-crushing downhill trend for the first half, and then crushing uphills for about six miles until 22. I was a bit out of shape for a fast attempt, but I still went out a little fast, loving the opportunity to flow along with huge packs of runners my speed or faster. I honestly got a tiny bit discouraged around half-way, as I’m not accustomed to being continuously passed by entire packs of people, and this trend didn’t let up for the entire race. But even that was incredible, running in a crowd for an entire marathon.

Uncomfortably rounding one of the last corners

I’ve never seen crowd support anything like this. Honestly I wonder why so many people turn out, as they are out in decent numbers for the entire course, and in huge crowds through the towns. Children were hanging out of trees, people were barbequeing, college kids were insane. I had heard the stories of the Wellesley girls, but nothing could have prepared me for what sounded like a Beatles concert a half-mile away. I’d go back just for that.

Unfortunately I didn’t quite have the legs I had in Portland or Myrtle, and the weather turned out to be a bit hot and sunny for me, so the hills and sun took their toll on me. No mushroom clould, but running sub-3 was definitely out of the question, so I managed to hold on for a Boston-qualifying 3:13 (Note: I’ll be 35 next year, so I get five minutes, and yes, I was already qualified for ‘09). Unless my dad qualifies for ‘09 (he will definitely be there for ‘10; more on that later), I’m going to try to kill this course next year. Revenge on those hills will be sweet.

Possibly the perfect restaurant? Must try it in ‘09

For the entire weekend there are runners everywhere, and you can tell they’re serious runners. Everyone wears bragging gear from previous races, or they’re already wearing a wind jacket for the current race. Thousands and thousands of people, all excited to be there. If you are a runner, really a runner, you must do Boston at least once. It’s not just the reputation, it’s a religious experience. And if you aren’t a runner, I don’t know how you could experience the Boston weekend and not be one by the end of it. Just ask Jeri, Susi, or either of the Pauls.

I encourage everyone I work with to keep all of their development code in a source repository, even one-off dead-end prototype code they’re not going to check back into a main development tree. If you know you’re going to do destabilizing work, of course you’ll create a sandbox branch from the development branch and then do your work; we all know this. So, what happens if you inadvertently end up with a dead-end prototype in your working source checkout, and you didn’t have the foresight to start with a branch? It’s easy to make it as if you had.

Disclaimer: Of course, if this all fails you could lose a lot of work, so you might want to generate a quick diff or backup just in case. Just be careful.

1. Create a development branch in our repository on the server. We are using Windows and TortoiseSVN, and our working code is from the branch at svn://svnserver/MyProject/Trunk at revision 1942. So, we use the Repo-browser in TortoiseSVN to find Trunk, select revision 1942 from the upper right-hand corner of the dialog, and then select “Copy to…” with a new location at svn://svnserver/MyProject/Sandboxes/bojordan/DeadEndPrototype. We now have a new branch, but our working code still belongs to Trunk.
2. Right-click on my top-level checkout directory, select “Switch” from the TortoiseSVN options, and select the new branch in the “To URL:”. We know HEAD is fine, as we just created the new branch.
3. Now, the next time we commit our code, we’ll check it back into the new branch. Glee!

Just remember: No more stale development tree archives on your development machines means cleaner, uncluttered living, and might get you one step closer to a 16 minute 5k. Or, maybe not, but you’ll still be happier.

I have my first Boston Marathon on April 21, and I’m not even remotely ready. I take some comfort in knowing Boston is more a reward than another proving ground, but I still want to give it a tough effort and I’m simply not ready. I ran my marathon PR almost completely solo at Myrtle Beach, and there are thousands of runners my speed or faster at Boston to push me. However, considering my low recent mileage, lack of speedwork, and an inconvenient extra five or so pounds, I should be very happy with a 3:10 (over ten minutes slower).

Honestly, I wish my Boston time didn’t matter to me, but I know myself better than to think I can completely coast it. I can only hope I have enough training base to survive the adrenaline rush I’m going to feel for the first 18 miles. Here’s to going until the wheels fall off! Watch for the mushroom cloud!

I don’t have major running plans solidified for the rest of this year, other than the obvious highlight that is my first Boston Marathon on April 21. I am looking forward to running a number of half marathons this year, and was expecting to run the Corporate Cup again but will miss it due to a snowboarding trip. Racefest at SouthPark is only a little more than a week before Boston, so I question whether a hard effort there would be wise.

My dilemma? I was hoping to have a NYC qualifying time for guaranteed entry before the May 1 deadline. I’m definitely capable of the 1:23 qualifying time for the half marathon, but I don’t want to jeopardize Boston. The marathon time of 2:55 would be highly ambitious at Boston, but I may consider attempting it if my training goes well. I probably won’t have another half marathon chance before the end of the month, assuming I could even muster the energy.

I want to pick up some speed over the summer, which usually means shorter, more frequent races. I have no idea what’s available in the summer, though Tim’s Ramble Tail Half Marathon at Uwharrie on May 17 is likely.

Returning to Grandfather (July 12) and getting my revenge on San Fran (August 3) would be enormous fun, though this might be prime speed-building time.

Later in the year I’ve committed to running a hard-core leg for Coach Tino at the Blue Ridge Relay on September 5 and 6, and then we have the Crazy-MFn-Legs October Classic two-day expedition (two marathons, one weekend). No time records will be set at either of those, though balls-of-steel bragging rights will be significant.

I would like at least one fast full marathon attempt in the Fall. NYC on Nov 2? Chicago on Oct 12? Portland on Oct 5?

Late last week Mike Smith pointed me toward a Sunday morning Crowders Mountain meet-up on the Native Trail Gods list, organized by Tim Long. I’m always a sucker for runs at Crowders, and the thought of a group run on my favorite local trail was too much to resist. Nevermind the soreness I felt through the week after Myrtle Beach, or the difficulty I had on my Saturday 15 miler. Fun to be had.

Greg, Shashi, and Tim showed up; Tim placed sixth overall at Uwharrie in the 40-miler, so I expected to be left behind fairly quickly. However, everybody’s pace was moderate and I was able to hang with the crew all the way up the fire road, feeling stronger the farther up the mountain I got. After such a strong climb, picking up the pace for the entire white trail out and back was a big thrill. Little did I know the confidence I was gaining was due to my body blatantly lying to me, but it was amazing fun while it lasted.

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We had a nice crew going to Myrtle Beach this year. The two Pauls were shooting to push Dougherty below his 3:16 needed for Boston, Susi was pacing Jeri in her first race back from her ankle injury, and I was finally trying to break 3 hours.

Jeri and Susi ran a comfortable half, Jeri’s injury thankfully a thing of the past. Being the great supporters they are, I could hear them yelling as I finished right on target in 2:57:40 (top 20!). The last six miles were brutal, the long straightaways of this race a terrible mental test.

In maximum dramatic form, Dougherty finished with three seconds to spare (3:15:56), with Martino not far behind in a season-best 3:19:37.

We all earned our post-race massages (great free massage tent), and I even had my first beer of 2008.

I’m not very fond of Myrtle Beach itself, and the race is too straight and flat to be enjoyable to me, but the crowd was great and the whole atmosphere was nice for a mid-sized race.

I had a wonderful time at the Uwharrie Mountain Run last weekend. The race is very well organized, with good coordination at the start and finish and great support along the course. Very highly recommended.

Showing off 20-miler finisher pottery

I ran the 20 miler as my final long run before a fast attempt at Myrtle Beach next weekend, and was able to avoid any major injuries despite the tricky footing (wet feet, minor blisters, and very sore climbing muscles don’t count). While I tried to remain very conservative and not race (I started mid-pack and cautiously stayed behind traffic for most of the first 8 miles), I was happy I ran every hill except the first. I still finished in 3:28 and some change, good enough for 18th overall. I want to return next year and race it.

Susi deserves congratulations; she finished a very respectable 18th female in her first long trail race. Jeri, out with a big ankle sprain, was great to have there in support.

More photos behind the link

One of my intentions for 2008 was to keep a more diligent log of my exercise. So far, I’m succeeding, and it’s already helping. I suspect most readers of this don’t much care about the daily details of training, so I’ve moved the updates to pages that won’t spill over into the blog. January is here, February here. Feed subscribers rejoice, all three of you.

Why log training activity? This may sound crazy, but my mental window of focus is only a few days wide, and glancing at the past few weeks of training work helps a little in regaining confidence. When I’m not having any trouble with focus or motivation (not-coincidentally, this is usually when I’m mostly group training, but that’s worthy of its own discussion) a training log is little more than a bragging point, and can help a little with a final psyche-up for a big race effort. A daily log is more useful, however, when I’m almost completely distracted, and daily motivation is at a low. Like right now. My past few weeks have been very light, with my ability to get up and motivated in the morning very difficult, due to a mix of some late nights I’ve been putting in and a bit of injury. Due to weekend long runs I’ve still kept overall mileage up around 40 or so, but I don’t feel like I’m doing anything. Why not? I honestly can’t remember what I did just last week unless I write it down, and I get depressed very quickly, panicked that my training base is slipping away.

Are you having trouble staying motivated after setting yet another yearly goal of losing some weight, getting in shape, or just sticking to a plan? Maybe a secret to accomplishing these goals is keeping daily logs.

This week has been a devastating one for AAPL stock, but undaunted by financial realities I am now awaiting the arrival of a new Mac Pro workstation. Seems like forever ago I began my wait for this hardware refresh so I could replace my aging PowerBook 17. Minorly awesome were upgrade prices for Photoshop and Logic that were less than devastating. Unfortunately playtime is postponed until next month, delays resulting from inclusion of the sweet Nvidia 8800GT graphics. The new apartment heater will be installed as late as the end of February.

The following is a letter from John Kerry, regarding the many smear emails circulating about Barack Obama. I post this not only because I’m backing the same candidate, but because I’ve also been forwarded some of the same mails from, I believe, well-meaning people. Whatever your political views, do what you can to help end what is no more than hate-mongering. I don’t require you agree with my politics, but I do demand that you argue with the truth.

I support Barack Obama because he doesn’t seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating — he seeks to end it.

This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election.

As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta have been rendered, in Karl Rove’s twisted politics, an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone’s character just to win an election. But as someone who cares about winning this election and changing the country I love, I know it’s not enough to complain about a past we can’t change when our challenge is to win the future — which is why we must stop the Swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears.

The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie.

This year, the attacks are already starting. Some of you may have heard about the disgusting lies about Barack Obama that are being circulated by email. These attacks smear Barack’s Christian faith and deep patriotism, and they distort his record of more than two decades of public service. They are nothing short of “Swiftboat” style anonymous attacks.

These are the same tactics the right has used again and again, and as we’ve learned, these attacks, no matter how bogus, can spread and take root if they go unchecked.

But not this time — we’re fighting back.

And when I say “we,” I mean that literally. I know Barack is committed to fighting every smear every time. He’ll fight hard and stand up for the truth. But he can’t do it alone.

We need you to email the truth to your address books. Print it out and post it at work. Talk to your neighbors. Call your local radio station. Write a letter to the editor. If lies can be spread virally, let’s prove to the cynics that the truth can be every bit as persuasive as it is powerful.

The Obama campaign has created a place where you can find the truth you’ll need to push back on these smears and a way to spread the truth to all of your address book.

Take action here:

http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction

So when your inbox fills up with trash and the emails of smear and fear, find the facts, and help defeat the lies.

Barack Obama is committed to bringing our country together to meet the challenges we face, but he knows that power gives up nothing without a struggle — and to win the chance to change America, we must first defeat the hateful tactics that have been used to tear us apart for too long.

With your help, we can turn the page on an era of small, divisive politics — but only if next time you hear these attacks on Barack, you take action immediately:

http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction

The fight is just heating up — we won’t let them steal this election with lies and distortions.

Thank you,

John Kerry

Readers of this may find it hard to believe, but before this morning I had not run since last Sunday. This was mostly due to a sore ankle I was allowing to heal, but later in the week laziness simply got the best of me. I paid for this activity on the 22 miler with Martino and Dougherty this morning; even though most of my discomfort was due to some stomach cramps that started around mile 14, my calf muscles got crampy and hurt for the last half. I was happy to have a group to fall back on.

Biggest news is that Charlie appears to have separated his shoulder on a ride and won’t be able to do the upcoming Uwharrie race. Dude! I was looking forward to seeing them at the race, even if we were going to be on different races.

Regarding Uwharrie, Jeri, Susi and I visited the northern trail head last Sunday and checked out the top half of the course. The elevation changes were serious, but not nearly as bad as I was fearing. Footing is often sketchy with all the rocks around, but wouldn’t be so bad in the Spring when the leaves are gone. My aforementioned ankle/achilles was very evident toward the end of the run.

So, Uwharrie and Myrtle Beach are coming up, and I’m not yet at 100%. Still, with an easy pace on the trails I think I can still be ready to break 3 hours two weeks later.

Another simple C# tip I keep forgetting: Need to format a decimal for a specific currency? What about only showing the whole dollar amounts? Use the Decimal.ToString() overload that takes a format string and a CultureInfo instance. Here’s how:

    // CultureInfo is in System.Globalization namespace
    decimal amount = 10m;

    // show British pounds
    Console.WriteLine(amount.ToString("C0", new CultureInfo("en-GB")));

    // show Euros
    Console.WriteLine(amount.ToString("C0", new CultureInfo("fr-FR")));

My pick for President in 2008 won the Iowa caucuses!

A great Japanese proverb for the new year, from the amazing Scott Jurek:

“Stumble seven times, get up eight times.” This is the Japanese proverb, 七転び八起き, nanakorobi yaoki. Perseverance over defeat.

It’s time to pick a new challenge. Will faster times be enough for me for 2008?

Congrats to Larry for running his first marathon! What’s next for Larry?

Charlotte’s Thunder Road marathon was on Saturday, and despite feeling a bit low in the tank I decided to go out hard and try to hang on. I was right on pace with a 1:27 half, but the second half of the course was brutal. During mile 19 I started to slow, and both legs cramped on the hill at 24. Still, the effort was still good for 3:04:31 and 20th overall. I was very satisfied considering I’ve had a tough few weeks. Who would have thought my last two (of six) marathons of the year would be Boston qualifiers? Now, for maintenance!

The Uwharrie 20 miler is next for me, which I’ll likely do as a training run leading up to Myrtle Beach. I don’t know if anybody will be trying for a first Boston qualifier at Myrtle, so I might train for a 2:55 attempt. I can likely get guaranteed NYC entry with a half-marathon, but Myrtle Beach is a good course to try with a full.

With two weeks until Thunder Road, I started the Sat-through-Friday week with the large group run of the second half of the course. It’s definitely not a flat course, but I’m not discouraged from attempting a fast time.

I felt a bit sick late Sunday, and took off from running until Wednesday.

• Saturday: Pre-run 6ish miler, followed by about 14 miles along the second half of the Thunder Road course.
• Sunday: 5 or so miles out at the Whitewater Center trails with the ladies.
• Wednesday: 15 minutes on the treadmill at the gym. Felt decent considering the time off.
• Thursday: 7-8 miles in the afternoon. Normal 7.5 miler, but I continued down Queens at the college and finished up Morehead.

Big 3-hour solo run yesterday (my 15 miler out to the hospital, followed by the same run I did Thursday), and about 12 easy miles this morning with Jeri and Susi. Feeling a bit sluggish mentally, but I think my legs are there.

Amazon’s MP3 Downloads are DRM-free, 256k/s, the downloader app has nice iTunes integration, and they have a surprisingly decent selection. I’ve already bought more from it than iTMS’s iTunes Plus. Give me the real lossless CD together with the download at a nice package price and I’ll use it exclusively.