Race Report: Get In Gear 10K

Today I ran in my first race of 2006. It was 50 degrees and rainy. Yuck. I lined up as I always do, right at the front. With 5000 people mashing through a 30 foot wide street it can take minutes just getting to the starting line so I've learned that being at the front is a big advantage. Although you have to learn patience because many many people are going to pass you and you don't want to chase. You have to run your own race.
The races started and we're off. It clears out quickly and I'm feeling good though wet. I reached mile one with a time of 7:35 and a heart rate of 143. Not bad for the first mile and about where I was hoping to be. Mile 2 was even better at a pace of 7:03 and a HR of 165. I was watching my HR fairly close and was going to let it govern my legs. 165 bpm was still good.
Now we turned off West River Road onto the Lake St bridge over the Mississippi and right into the wind. So now we have rain and wind. A guy about my size comes by me so I drafted right in behind him and follow. On the east side we turn onto East River Road and the wind is once again blocked by the trees. Thankfully.
My pace for mile 3 was 7:35 and my HR climbed to 170 - still ok but getting up there. We go through the water station but I, as usual, don't bother. It's hard to gulp water while running and for this length it's really not necessary. The race started to slow and many of the people I saw pass me are now slipping back. Bad pacing on their part. I did a system test at mile four - pace; 7:28, HR 176, legs; strong, lungs, breathing hard but regular, body; wet but warm. I see that my HR is high so I decided not to press for the last 2 miles. I just kept the pace.
Mile five - pace 7:35 HR 176. Between mile five and six we crossed the Ford Parkway Bridge and head for the finish line. I finally make my last push. I started passing a lot of people on the bridge and reached mile 6 with a 7:22 pace but my HR is now at 180. I knew I could hold that heart rate for the remaining 2/10 of mile that makes up the difference between 10 kilometers and 6 miles.
I sprinted the last 100 yards and finished in 46:13. I was hoping for sub 48:00 so I was very happy. But now the rain was really coming down so I jogged over to the free food tent, grabbed a bran muffin, milk, and power bar, then started the quarter mile jog back to my truck. A good start to the racing season. I was surprised at how consistent my pace was.
The hot shower felt really good when I got home.

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison
Last night I attending a lecture by author Harlan Ellison. Ever since I saw him at a writers conference during college I've loved his work. His screenplay for the original Star Trek episode 'City on the Edge of Forever' is considered by most to be the high water mark for that show and has been named one of the top 100 TV episodes of all time. But more then the 1000s of stories, screenplays, and awards, he is probably most famous for his mouth. He loves to talk and will say just what he thinks. He pisses off a lot of people but in the end he was probably right and they just didn't want to hear it. He talked for 3 hours, mostly stories and memories of his 50 or so years in sci-fi (a term he hates because he has written so much more then that). At one point he started a story about working at Disney for only 4 hours but somehow ended up talking about insulting (inadvertently of course) a former KGB agent at a Swedish gala. At one point late in the talk, he was try to hold a microphone and a water bottle. Moments later a lady in the audience yelled out "You're talking into your water bottle!" Harlan lost and we all laughed.

Ellison's books are hard to find because I believe he controls the distribution but if you ever find one of his short story anthologies, they are some of the wittiest and smartest you will read.