The bright side of a Moon
Ran to work today. I ran 5.5 miles, but because I forgot to time the first half-mile I only have a total time for 5.
But the total time for those 5 miles is 50:10.91, for a per-mile pace of 10:02.2.
Whoo-hoo…
Almost 10 minutes better total time than the last time I ran to work — and that was when I timed the full 5.5 miles. Wait, does that invalidate the comparison? Yeah, probably. OK, it’s 42 seconds-per-mile better on average.
Today is the 1,346th day since 9/11.
Which is the same length of time from the attack on Pearl Harbor (7 Dec 1941) to the end of WWII on V-J Day (24 Aug 1945).
🙁
Got up early this morning. I woke up due to, *ahem* hydraulic pressure, thinking I still had an hour or so to go until the alarm, but when I saw the clock, no, I had a couple of minutes until the alarm.
Since I’m running to work tomorrow, I wanted to run this morning rather than this afternoon, to give me a full 24 hours between runs. The long run (5.5+ miles) really takes it out of me so I want to be well-rested.
This morning I only planned on 2.5 miles, just down to the river and back, basically. I wasn’t going to push myself too hard. At least that was the plan.
Here are the half-mile splits:
Which totals to 22:45.6, and gives me a mile pace of…
TA-DAAAA!
9:06.24!!
I’m a rock star! Sometimes I amaze even myself.
OK, I get so sick of people making this argument that I had to post something about it. Don’t have time for the whole rant, so this short little rant will have to suffice.
Overheard two co-workers having a philosophical discussion. OK, actually, one was trying to goad the other into having a philosophical discussion, and by the way, kudos to the one who was avoiding it because the one doing the goading wasn’t being intellectually honest about it and was essentially abusing his class status (he’s a supervisor) but trying to do it in a “we’re just shooting the breeze” kind of way.
(I suppose it doesn’t help that I think the goad-er is an idiot.)
At any rate, the goad-er was trying to puncture holes in the “theory” that universe was created out of nothing. “What does physics have to say about something being created out of nothing…?” he prompted, hoping for the goad-ed to jump on the bait.
People who know me well will appreciate just how difficult it is for me to overhear something like this and not jump right in. Those who know me well will also realize that that restraint is only bought at the expense of my having to write about it later. Which is… uh… now.
Basically, the entire basis of the question “Where did the universe come from?” is about as non-sensical as asking “Does a shoe make a good goat?” The main issue with the first question is thinking that “the universe” is something like a person or a telephone.
It’s not. In fact, “the universe” isn’t an “it” at all.
Sure, there are common conceptions of the universe as being a discrete object, a thing like an egg or an iPod or a kitten. Some folk use “the universe” to mean, say, the planet Earth. Or the solar system. Or even our galaxy, the Milky Way. But those things are part of the universe.
In fact, the logical definition of the proper noun “the universe” is “everything that exists”. If it exists, that is, if it has a discrete place, with finite boundaries in time and space, then it’s part of the universe. All of those things, together, make up the universe as a whole.
The universe is properly thought of as being the conceptual organizing principle for everything that we think of as, well, things. Since it’s a concept and not an actual object it has no finite boundaries at all. Therefore it wasn’t “created”. It can’t have been created, except in someone’s head as an idea, a mental bag to contain everything else.
If this definition is countered with something along the lines of, “Well, then, where did the Big Bang, which supposedly ‘created the universe’, take place?” the answer is quite simple: The Big Bang took place in the universe, since all the matter and energy that made up the singlularity that produced the Big Bang were all that existed of the universe.
Where did the universe come from? It came from our brains, to give us a way to think about everything else.
So no more asking that silly question.
I had an awesome run tonight, even though it was in the pouring rain.
Four miles, 38:11.45 total time, average pace 9:32.9! I’m having trouble believing it. If I hadn’t been there I’m not sure I would believe it.
Here are the half-mile splits:
All but one half-mile was under 5:00, and I don’t go over 5:00 until mile 3.5.
I’m very happy with this time. Between yesterday and tonight, I’m going in to my rest day pleased with my performance lately. Lots of positive stuff going on lately so I won’t single anything out but let’s just say that I’m not inclined to change right now…
One of the saddest things about the crumbling of our larger journalistic institutions is that, when they fall, the majority of the American public will no longer be exposed to the basic set of facts on which conservative or liberal opinions should be based.
Indeed, it seems that there’s been an attack on the concept that there exists a common set of facts on which we can all agree.
Sorry for the short post. I could write much more on this whole topic but wanted to note this one meme that’s popping out at me, as I read about the New York Times’ hiding it’s opinion columnists behind a wall of money, or Daniel Okrent’s smokescreen on why he did his job as omsbudman for the NYT so poorly, or, of course, of course, the stupid acceptance of responsibility of Newsweek for violence that preceded their publishing of two-year-old information — while the White House calls for their heads.
I know. I usually post this stuff over at the political blog but this was less an analysis of the news, than a simple sinking feeling about the loss of a democratic republic over 200 years young.
Whoo-HOO!
I ran (at the gym, ’cause it was raining and cold) tonight very well. 30:00 even, 3.13 miles. Which works out to a 9:35 pace!
First mile was just a shade under 10:00, second mile was 9:32, third mile was 9:25… which is when I decided to run a full 30 minutes and see how far I could get. I was in the zone…
Very happy with my performance today. Maybe my once- or twice-a-week speed work is actually helping.
I love the internets. They (all of them) are the best places for trivia hounds like myself (my friends call me “the friggin’ genius”).
Where else can you learn a new, more secure way to tie your shoes?
Or even learn why the old way isn’t secure?
Tenative running schedule for the week:
Total of 18 miles. I know a couple of different 2.5 and 3 mile loops, so I have some options.
The 4 mile run… I only know one 4-mile run right now, in my ‘hood. I might spend some time this afternoon plotting out a different 4-mile loop. Or I might not.
Phew!
For some reason I’d thought that the Mt. Tabor Challenge 5K was in May. It’s not. It’s Saturday, June 18th, 2005.
I did, however, miss the Lake Run — it was May 7th.