Booty!

As in treasure! I got two packages today and go to open my secret box of running stuff. I got a pair of pants and a dress shirt that I ordered online that smell like cheese; a box with electrolyte jelly beans and a running shirt (courtesy of Potomac River Running, my secret sponsor); and a secret box full of energy bars, gels and love. Yeah!
I should get sponsors for my life. If anyone is interested in sponsoring my sleeping habits, I could use a new pillow. Also I wouldn't mind a motorcycle or a vacation to Atlantis.
Just one week of work left and then a week of packing. We drive out of Lincoln on Monday the 30th. So far our only goal is to see Independence and check out the temple lot and the visitor's center there. Is there anything cool in between that anyone would recommend? I wonder how far out of the way Kirtland is. Sometimes I get Kirtland Ohio and Kirkland Signature mixed up. I have to double check in my head.

I was so sure I was going to win

From June 1 to July 31, Lincoln was having a summer reading contest. Every book you read got you one entry into your local branch drawing (there are about 9 or 10 branches in Lincoln) and after four books you were entered into a city-wide drawing for a tote bag or something. I got really excited about this because I like contests and I was so sure I was going to win. This happens to me sometimes. I start figuring odds and decide that for some contests, I am destined to win. I don't think I have actually won any of them yet, but that doesn't seem to shake my conviction.
I put down my books that I had been reading and started picking books that I knew I would get through quickly. I finished my first four in about 10 days.
I read:
-Carrie by Stephen King
-Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius
-One of the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. I remember Archie was in the war in this one and Nero Wolfe was jogging in the park everyday to train to kill Germans but he was grumpy because they only ate steamed vegetables. Ha ha ha.
-Airtight Willie and Me by Iceberg Slim

I handed in my sheet and got a complimentary water bottle and went to read more to increase my chances of winning the Gere Branch Library prize (one was only allowed to submit one sheet for the city-wide drawing).
So I read:
The Pluto Files by Niel DeGrasse Tyson (which convinced me that Pluto should NOT be a planet)
Mary Mary by James Patterson
The Spy that Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan
The Increment by David Ignatius
Heavy Words Thrown Lightly by Chris Roberts (a disappointing book with a great premise: the historical roots of popular childrens' rhymes)
The Mission Song by John Le Carre
Balance of Power by James Huston
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L Carter
The Devil In the White City by Erik Larsen (a well executed [pardon my macabre pun]historical non-fiction account about both America's first known serial killer and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair)

So I had all these slips of paper and I was reading all the time to cram in as many books as possible. I was so sure that I would win. But the deadline came and went and I hadn't heard anything. I still have not heard anything. A part of me really believes that the library has not pulled the winners' names yet. I am sure that the only people that read more than me were probably the crazy unemployed people that sponge-bathe themselves in the drinking fountains. Or cheaters that counted the books they read to their kids and magazines.
Anna says that they probably picked the winners the next day and let them know, but if that is so, why haven't they called?
I think they should change the criteria to win. So that it is fixed in my favor.

August 11

1) A butterfly smacked me in the head on my ride home from work today. It was a pretty big Monarch, about three inches high, and surprisingly solid. It flew into my forehead and then beat me about the eyebrow and fell away. I hadn't ever been assaulted by a butterfly before.

2) My recruiter called today to confirm that I was going to report to my MEPS (military entrance processing station)for Basic out of West Virginia. Dang it, Army...

3) Slate magazine put together a cool application that has tracked the most common names on facebook. You can search by surname and look at the most common given names that match it. I was shocked to see how many Joseph Smiths there were (1,402) which shouldn't be really surprising given that it is a comically generic name, but it really is because it is such an associated name. There are also over 17,000 John Smiths. And 1,510 Chris Lewises.

A bad omen

I am suffering through the consequences of not drinking water. I have this dinosaur headache that feels like the backs of my eyes are drying out and getting sucked in by a vacuum. I had one bottle of water (during lunch) and didn't take another drink until I got home from a move-in at 6:30. This was after a 14 mile bike ride and an hour of heavy lifting on a heat-advisory warning day.
Now I have had too much water and my stomach is getting full. Have you ever had so much water that it starts to taste gross? It tastes like dull misery. I became hyponatremic once at the Athens paralympics because my missionary companion and I had a water drinking contest. I had 11 bottles of water over the day and felt really weird. Drinking contests are really dangerous.
Other than that, I am destroying my chances of a wildly successful marathon in other ways, too. I am going to eat mini-pizzas and oreos for dinner and probably will not run far or hard enough tomorrow morning to get my body prepared for Saturday.
I am not too worried about it (even though I should be, despite the great story I am about to tell you about) because I heard a great story that I would like to tell you about on RadioLab about limits. The story discusses physical and mental limits and how we can meet and surpass them at times. They interview a woman who wanted to test her body in the Kona Ironman and finished in spite of her body, and a man who participates in RAAM (a bicycle race across America) and discusses the common physical and mental deterioration. There is a story about the negative aspects of a really great memory. If you have an hour and like interesting things, I think you should listen to it. Bryan likes it, I think you will too.

A marathon

I have been planning to run a marathon since January. I was told in January that I wouldn't enter Basic Training until September, so I decided to set lots of goals to help pass the time. One of them was to run 100 mile before Josie was born, which I accomplished. Another was to max out on the Army's sit-ups and push-ups, which I definitely did not accomplish.
Next Saturday is my chance to run a marathon, which I hope I will accomplish. My route is set up so that if I don't accomplish it, it means I have not made it back home. You should know that this is not an organized event. It will entail me getting up at 4am and running 13.1 miles away from home and then coming back again. I was talking about it to Mom and she said that I should write about it. She said she would sponsor me if I wrote about it. SO i am going to write posts from today to September 13 or 14 (I don't know what time I have to report on the 14th) and in exchange she will make me a t-shirt and buy me some of those energy-electrolyte jelly beans.
She didn't know what they were, but I have always wanted to try them so I made her add them to the deal.
I think this run is going to hurt pretty bad. I was getting pretty good at my half-marathon time in April (while I was finishing up the last of my 100-miles-before-Josie-gets-born goal) but I have done very little long distance running since. Nothing over 6 miles in fact. The good news is that as long as I finish, I will have gotten first place. And because I am leaving at 4am, even if I was to walk the whole thing with my hands in my pockets, I could probably be home before noon. But I am hoping to get below 4 hours, and also to not collapse from dehydration. I only know of one drinking fountain along the way. I suppose I could drop off water bottles the day before on my bike. That is a pretty good idea actually.
Well, wish me luck.

My bike

I took these today of my souped up bike. The bag, handlebars and grips are new. I just have to wait for the snow to melt before I can ride it again.

Unlikely Combinations

At work today my coworkers told me that eating chili and cinnamon rolls was a common Nebraska thing. I gagged and then laughed because obviously they were playing the "let's gross out the temp" game. Except they weren't. Apparently cinnamon rolls and chili for lunch or dinner is a common and much beloved Nebraska thing. I don't think I will ever try to find out why. This is even after I ate the horseradish infused pickles, so I am no food sissy.

Also I am eating some sea salt speckled chocolate. It is much more delicious than I could have even imagined. It has chunks of rock salt mixed into %47 dark chocolate. I also bought some Ghirardelli but it isn't as good. This is all a part of my advent partying.