Punk Rock Environmentalism

Lyrics by Bad Religion. In case someone is unfamiliar with them, their singer has a Ph. D from Cornell in cultural studies. And the bands lyrics are gernally considered some of the smartest in all of music...period!

The song is called "Kyoto Now." Some very deep and well thought out verse.

It's a matter of prescience

No, not the science fiction kind

It's all about ignorance, and greed, and miracles for the blind

the media parading, disjointed politics

founded on petrochemical plunder

and we're its hostages

If you stand to reason you're in the game

the rules might be elusive but our pieces are the same

and you know if one goes down we all go down as well

the balance is precarious as anyone can tell

this world's going to hell

Don't allow this mythologic hopeful monster to exact its price

Kyoto now!

We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

You might not think it matters now

But what if you are wrong

You might not think there's any wisdom

in a fucked up punk rock song

But the way it is cannot persist for long

a brutal sun is rising on a sick horizon

It's in the way we live our lives

exactly like the double-edge of a cold familiar knife

and supremacy weighs heavy on the day

it's never really what you own but what you threw away

and how much did you pay?

In your dreams You saw a steady state a bounty for eternity

Silent screams but now the wisdom

that sustains us is in full retreat

Don't allow this mythologic hopeful monster

isn't worth the risk Kyoto now!

We can't have vision for the future if it can't be fixed

We need a fresh and new religion to run our lives

Hand in hand the arid torpor of inaction will be our demise

Oh, Kyoto now!

Do I really need to say anything else after this?

Think for yourself, and think of the result of your actions.

26.2 Mile training Run

Perfect weather. Great trail. Good company. Awesome day for running.

Glen and I started out slow running 8:15's or so, talking about running (what else?) and bits and pieces of everything else. I tried to slip in the "you should run the 100 with me" whenever I could as Glen is probably the one I could most likely talk into doing this with me. We planned on running 25, but figured we might as well run a marathon since we were close enough. Eventually we settled into a decent pace of about 8:00 per mile - not bad for a training run - and occasionally ran a bit faster. My legs were feeling pretty good as I was sick for most of the week. There were quite a few people on the trail considering it was kind of cool and a bit foggy. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Just before and after the turnaround of 13.1 miles there were a bunch of people on the trail for some sort of organized walk. I never want to discourage people from being outside and being active, but walking three abreast on a trail is not the best of trail etiquette. No matter, we weaved in and out of the walkers, crossed the bridges and made our way back to Duvall. It's funny how the longer you run the less and less the conversation there is. In the beginning it was nonstop, at mile 24 it was nonexistent. We finished in 3:28 or so according to my watch, Glen had some coffee at his in laws while I tried to get some of the kinks out of my legs. Overall I felt really good the entire run. And it's a lot easier to do with other people.

Sunday morning I wake up, look at the clock and see it's 7:30. Then I get to thinking....Shit! When I do a 100 mile race there is a chance that I may not even be done by this time, if I started the race yesterday morning when I started my 26.2 @ 0815. I'll just have to put the longevity of a 100 mile race out of my mind. Of course it's long distance to run, it's long in a car or on a bike too.

Sunday afternoon I ran with Glen and Joleen on the trail while pushing my baby girl in the jog stroller. It was her first run so I was a bit nervous on how it would go. She slept through it all no problem though. Joleen and Glen ran a bit quicker than I was ready for, especially pushing the stroller. I think we probably did the last 5 at about 7:20 pace. It was easy for the lungs to handle, but the legs were tired from the previous day.

Great weekend of running though. Lots of fun and the training was good.

Bouncing Souls

I finally got to see these guys live. It was pretty cool. They sounded about how I expected them to sound. The singer kind of has a monotone (baritone) voice, looks like he just crawled out of bed and threw a tie on, has dance moves like me and nonetheless it was a fun time. They played lots of older songs, which is what I would expect from a band that's been around for 20 years. The crowd was really into it, jumping on stage all throughout the night before front flipping into the crowd. Broadway Calls and Bayside were the openers, I liked Broadway Calls, Bayside was kind of lame - sounded a bit too emo-ish for me. Now, if Bad Religion would just come back to Seattle, or face to face if during their off again on again retirement/reunion would somehow make it up here.

4 hours of sleep and I made it to work. Still getting over a cold though. Have to run 25 miles on Saturday; legs should be fine as I haven't done crap this week. February will be here before I know it - that's what I'm afraid of.

Interesting Project about the existence of God

http://www.cornellevolutionproject.org/

There is a definite correlation between education and believing in the existence of God -at least in terms of the people with science backgrounds. It appears that almost 60% of the people polled in this PH. D paper from Greg Graffin at Cornell University believe there is not a single God that exists. Of course these people all have science backgrounds, and if you try to use science to prove the existence of God it will make things difficult. I'm not saying I believe one way or another, I just say I don't think any religion or going to church is for me. But I am interested in this topic when it is looked at by people with an education, and not just some zealot with a view that cannot be changed one way or the other. Anyway, check this out if you're bored, and you must be or you wouldn't be reading this. I'd write more, I could probably write forever about this subject but I gotta run, and chances are I wouldn't be able to explain anything concisely, instead I'd end up tripping over my words like a drunken teenager walking through the woods on a Friday night. So take it however you want, but keep your mind open and think for yourself.

Baker Lake 50K - 10/3/09

Here is me and my Baker Bear. I was pretty excited to get a bear. I wasn't real excited about my time. But then again I never am and that's what keeps me coming back to races. And now I know what I look like when I'm holding my daughter...a dork!

The Baker Lake 50K is an awesome race. Very low key but lots of fun. The weather was perfect. 40 at the start, 50 at the finish - sunny! With a quick chat from the race directors and final instructions of "Do not feed the bears" we were off. Great course- no pavement except for running across the top of the Baker Damn, great views, nice people, and a lots of "undulating" hills. With a bridge out from flooding the previous year we had to run up a fire road for the first 4 miles, it was a nice 1100 foot climb to get the body warmed up. We turn around and bomb down the same fire road to the single track 2.5 miles later. And then the trail will turn, go up, down, over a log, across a creek, again and again, never flat or boring, for the next 23 miles. It was awesome! The wooden bridges were wet and covered in moss, pretty treacherous - I was using wet leaves for traction -never thought I would resort to that. I ran alone for most of the race in 3rd or 4th place o/a, passing some of the early starters with a quick wave and a smile. It was pretty uneventful for the most part - but memorable for sure. The only problem I had was losing 2 gels somewhere. I still can't figure where they went; running the last 13+ miles on a single gel. Oh well, I bonked a little bit, but it didn't diminish the experience much. I fell once (now called either Wrayed or Layed out) because I'm a klutz and was getting tired, my handheld water bottle cushioned my fall. The finish is at the Kulshan campground and I believe there were about 12 people there to cheer me on. Lots of great food, Subway sandwiches, cakes, cookies, everything you could ask for after 5 hours of running. I ended up 3rd overall and 1st in the Male Open 39 & Under group - the Masters guys rock at the long stuff. I'll never understand why trail running isn't more popular - it is so refreshing to get out on the trails and be miles and miles from electronic leash.

Conundrum + other notes

I.

There are all these books I want to read. I don't really like going to the library because it is very difficult to get to; unless I start incorporating some training runs by there.

Am I being wasteful purchasing a book, which obviously comes from trees, about the environment? I like to purchase the books because after I read them I go back and use them as references for other things. Also, I like to pass them on to friends and family members to read. So is this selfless task of passing the book and knowledge outweighing the fact that I'm wasting resources purchasing paper copies of books? Should I really be that anal? This really does bother me.

Also, much like eating healthy, being conscious of my actions in terms of the environment (I could have just said green, but I don't really like that buzzword - it makes doing the right thing sound trendy) it can be expensive to make the right decisions. For example, at work we have 5 gallon water jugs - I do not drink out of them but instead walk 100 feet and up some stairs to the water fountain and fill my bottle, which is really getting gross no matter how many times I wash it. But I could buy one of those fancy aluminum ones, but that is 25 bucks. For a water bottle? Are you serious? I work with metals all day at work and know that it doesn't cost anywhere near as much as that to make an aluminum jug.

II.

I have been getting about 108 miles per gallon on my scooter driving to work though. I'm tempted to drive it to Baker Lake for the run but at 40 mph it would take me a long time. I would also most likely freeze my ass off on the way home after my core temperature drops. Being sick wouldn't help anything I guess. I have almost 4000 miles on it since April though, and barely 5000 on my family truckster I bought in January. I am trying to make a difference in spite of the world we live in and the public attitude I face. But I can sleep well at night knowing I'm making what I believe to be the right choices.

III.

Baker Lake 50K is this weekend and I actually feel really prepared. My last tough weekend of training 3 weeks ago I did 27 miles in 3:39:00 and followed it up the next day with a hilly 10 miles @ 8:01 pace. Recovery went great. I've been sleeping too. Well, 6 hours or so a night which is a bit above normal. I don't have the turnover right ow to churn out many 6 minute miles, but I feel like I can run 8:00 minute miles forever. I'm anxious to see how that translates to the trails. As long as I pay attention to my nutrition during the race I should be OK. It should be really fun anyway.