Tina's Shark Tank: 11/01/2006

Photo of the day

Sunsets 084
Originally uploaded by tina_inara.

I took this last week through the window at work.

Turkey Trot

Today I ran in the Zingerman's Ann Arbor Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, which I thought was a 5K, but instead turned out to be an even 3 miles. Eh, well, what's a tenth of a mile, really? My last "5K", the Detroit St. John's Health 5K Fun Run turned out to be 3.6 miles, a full half-mile longer than it was supposed to be, according to the adjusted final results. One of these days, I'm going to run a REAL 5K!:-)

This morning's race started at 8:00 am sharp; it was a calm, beautiful, sunny morning, and a brisk 22 degrees. Definitely the coldest weather in which I've ever run! But I didn't notice, after I got moving. My new running jacket, which I bought earlier in the week was warm. Almost too warm; if it had been a longer race I would have taken off the nylon outer layer. I didn't wear my fleece earwarmer thing that I also bought this week, and never needed it. I took my gloves off partway through as well. I also wore my iPod this time out, my first time listening to it during a race, though I do train with it. I put on my cardio playlist at a fairly low volume, which gave me the perfect background music to keep my motivated without drowning out the atmosphere. I can only remember two of the songs I heard, Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode, and Dragula by Rob Zombie. Interesting dichotomy there.

We started at Elbel Field, the U of M band's practice field; we ran past Michigan Stadium, and a shrine to the late Bo Schembechler where fans had left flowers and messages at the stadium's front gates, and wound around until we finished back at Elbel Field. As I approached the gate into the field, about 100 yards from the finish, a volunteer was cheering "great job, you're under 30, great job!" to us as we ran by. I thought "under 30 minutes, no way!"

Way! I did, indeed, finish in under 30 minutes. A new PR, yay!:-) My results:

Chip time: 28:48
Pace: 9:36
Overall Place: 264th
Age Group: 17th out of 24

My pace for the Detroit race was 11:16, so I cut 1:40 off my pace. AND, at the pace I ran today, had the race been a full 5K (3.1 miles), I would have still finished in under 30 minutes!:-)

And the crazy thing? I want to go for a run RIGHT NOW! Thought about running again during much of my 4-hour drive up to my parents' place this afternoon. I may go for a run tomorrow, and definitely will by Saturday at the latest. To quote ...

I WANT MORE!

(X-posted to my livejournal.)

Photo of the Day

Sunsets 074
Originally uploaded by tina_inara.

I took this through the window at work on Tuesday, some interesting looking clouds at sunset (the actual sunset is off-camera).

Yay, the election is over! No more political ads! No more piles of mailers! No more automated messages on my answering machine! *Cue choir singing "Hallelujah!"*

Well, for two more years, anyway. Make that a year and a half, then the madness starts all over again.

My voting experience yesterday couldn't have been easier, there was no line when I went. I'm hoping that it was just because I went in the middle of the day, when most people were at work. I walked in, voted, and left; the whole experience took about 10-15 minutes at the most. Now, to wait for the final results, which could take weeks in many of the close national races.

I watched Good Night, and Good Luck yesterday while killing time waiting for results to come in; it was a VERY good movie, highly recommended. The incorporation of real footage of McCarthy definitely had an impact that couldn't have been achieved by actors recreating the scenes, no matter how good. There he was, the real man, attacking his real victims in his own words. No scripts, no actors, (for those scenes) no margin for doubt that his actions as shown on screen were exaggerated for dramatic effect. This movie shows him for the power-hungry, fear-mongering bully he was. David Strathairn did an incredible job of portraying Edward R. Murrow, the only journalist brave enough to take him on directly. George Clooney was solid as Fred Friendly, his producer. The rest of the cast had solid performances as well. This movie will definitely be added to my collection.