Club group run in a little bit if this T-storm has passed
http://www.valleyrunningclub.org/
running under the BigSky
Which course are you doing? I really wanted to do this race, but it's too close to the baby's due date! Good luck--it should be an awesome race!
I'm doing the 50k which I'm damn sure I'm going to regret my DW is doing the 12k which I'm sure she'll enjoy thoroughly- it's easy to figure out who has the common sense in our family it should be a great event though w/ both Mike's (Foote & Wolfe) designing and organizing the run.
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
SRD today. Didn't run before work, had a working lunch and then had some stuff to do after work. Too busy today.
qotd: My office was on the 106th floor of the south tower. The company relocated most of us, me included, to Houston about a year and a half before 9/11/2001. There were still about 20 of our co-workers up there (facing north on the 92nd floor of the north tower) but they all got out ok. One of the guys saw the first plane heading right for them. It's a little sobering to think about it.
tbd.
Faster Than Your Couch!
Good Evening,
Perhaps some miles later. I had planned on a run with my running buddy after work, and I showed up, but my buddy bailed out and left me standing there in the rain (literally). Moments later, a storm broke loose, with lots of lightning, so I decided to go home again.
I ran another 8.5 miles in the heat yesterday, at 92 deg and 74% humidity. Somewhere during the middle miles, a huge horsefly (one of those 2-inch buzzers) was chasing me, and it held up for 3 whole miles. Needless to mention, these were the fastest miles of my run. And I quit on the last mile to walk the steep uphill, oh well. Overall, not a bad pace, so I guess the horsefly was a great pacer.
QOTD: Not directly affected, too, as I was livinig in Austria at the time, but we had just set up the company's American subsidiary, and I was traveling back and forth about once a month. TSA was bad, and getting worse every month, and also watching the terrorism awareness of Americans grow, and suspicion rising in many areas (especially where large crowds of people were gathering, like the local stadium which can hold 104,000 people, or the DC area metro) was not fun. It shattered my illusion that America was somehow living happily, detached from the rest of the world's problems.
Since then, it has been and still is interesting to watch the discrepancy between Europe and America in the perception of the threat, and their reactions to it.
Run for fun.
Never having been to Europe, I'm curious to what differences you've noticed in relation to perceived threats and reactions. I have noticed footage of European airports w/ what appears to be soldiers w/ full auto carbines, can't say that I've ever seen that in the US.
Bringing up the rear again, need a DFL sticker I guess. Weights this morning, then the work gig, and then I made a huckleberry pie and took Cloe out for a jog while it was baking. I may stay up late enough for it to cool down enough to eat.
Mountain bike is loaded in the car for an early morning trail session on wheels. Also pick up my road bike from the shop tomorrow where I had it in getting completely overhauled. I hope the final bill does not exceed what a new one would cost, I'm a little scared.
QOTD-Well not too much directly but it did give some in the government a little too much power. I share the concerns of some here but you all know I'm a left winger(with guns). But I guess the world is not all butterflies and puppy dogs--there is evil out there so some of this is to be expected. Directly for me is having to get a passport just to cross the friendliest border in the world--Grrr. Minor issue overall but it is about me after all isn't it?
In many European Airports, the security includes soldiers and/or police armed with automatic guns, patrolling through the buildings everywhere. Scary, especially if you have children who might make "threatening" comments or behave a bit out of their best.
The perception of the threat from Al Quaida terrorists is higher in the US than in Europe, I guess people there have learned to live with a certain (small, but existant) amount of terrorism (mainly from radical minorities), which is the result of thousands of years shifting national borders back and forth, creating areas where people have to live within a nation they don't like at all, and with over-controlling governments who do not allow diversity.
On the other hand, Europeans are much afraid of going to war, and participating in battles (now called "operations"), because they have had thousands of years of war in their own homecountries, experiencing incredible suffering, hunger and economic destruction first hand many times over long periods.
And they also have experienced that small conflicts can turn into huge wars quickly.
And they have experienced living under despots and dictators as well, and being freed by foreign armies.
So, in much contrast to Americans, Europeans are very reluctant to act as a single force against Al Quaida in military operations. They have learned (not necessarily to their best, or to the advantage of others) that keeping your head down is a strategy, too, and that, sometimes, for the individual that can adapt to most things, it even works fairly well. No speaking up on their own behalf, or - let alone - on behalf of others. "Let's watch others act first, then cheer in with the winners" seems to be their motto, always creating an escape route by maintaining a "We never supported that idea"-attitude. And empathy for others (especially if they dress differently, speak a different language, and follow a different religion, or just if they look "different") is very limited. That does not only apply to nations and people outside of Europe, but also just as strongly to those within. So you can't expect someone else to step in if your rights as the "different" individual are ignored or infringed upon.
Sounds strange, as they are very diverse themselves, but they live in very small, rather homogeneous groups, and fighting against "different" individuals and groups seems to be the tool to define their identity, so they don't realize they are part of one whole Europe. That "one Europe" does not exist in people's hearts (very different to America, where people might have their conflicts, and be very aware of diversity, but they stand together in times of crisis, managing their differences, and different opinions, very well for such a big, complex, diverse country).
So where America goes to war to "righten" things, where they kill Al Quaida's leader to destroy the terrorist group (which, technically, might have been murder and illegal, but in the big context, nobody seemed to mind), where they speak up for the suppressed and consider imposing strict measures for violating international laws, Europe seems to keep still and quiet, hoping things would work themselves out somehow, and convincing themselves that things are not that bad after all, and that people just would have to adjust and live with their "leaders" and fight for themselves. Europe does not seem to see a direct threat to themselves from what happens a few hundred/thousand miles away from them.
sugnim
Regret?! Heck no, enjoy that race! I'm looking forward to a RR from you afterward. Good luck!
FTYC- thanks! that's very enlightening and a perspective that one wouldn't know about just living in the States- it pays to be well travelled
sungim- thanks much! I'll be sure to post up a RR regardless of the outcome