elevators are my new friends

I normally eschew elevators and take the stairs: it's one of those things that's just better for you, right? Even though the only people I see in the math tower are on the seventh floor and I'm usually a little out of breath and sweating when I knock on a door, I hope people assume I'm just overzealous about math.

But after the marathon in Cleveland on Sunday my legs are beat to hell and stairs are out of the question for at least a day or two. On the plus side I ran much better than I had expected and turned in my best time, 3:57:52. I'm not sure what got into me, really. I stayed with the pace-setter until the last mile or so (I passed him at the last water station) and tried not to think too hard about it or let my mind talk me into walking. I ran through side-stitches and a major bout of coughing when I decided to inhale my water rather than swallow it midway through the race. The last 2 miles I wrestled with leg cramps like have never known before.

I wasn't totally exhausted at the end either, contributing to the mounting evidence that I really can run a 3:30 marathon. I need these little incremental improvements of 10 minutes off my time to reassure me that I won't die if I try harder or collapse and give up if it hurts. I think of it like quitting smoking except that I'm quitting sucking at running. And yet strangely at the same time, there is still part of me that somehow feels like I'm faking it; like I'm pretending to be a runner and I snuck in without being caught. I show up at races and think, 'It can't be very hard if I, a nonrunner, can do this.'

Caity, Steve and my parents were there to cheer for me. When I wasn't running, my family played a lot of card games. My favorite quote from the weekend was from Caitlin's phone conversation during one such game whose mystifing rules tormented my mother: 'We're all playing Hearts, except my Mom who is playing Spades.' Ker-pwned!

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I'll Do Anything But Breakdance For Ya, Darling

Wow. This year Laura and I resolved to get rid of our excess books. Those we've either read too many times and no one we know wants them, didn't sell on eBay, or just plain don't like. We tried unsuccessfully to sell them to used bookstores over the last few months but it was patently absurd: they would offer something laughable like $5 for the several boxes we'd bring. I'd rather donate them to the library. We decided to make one more stop before donation time. On the recommendation of my colleague Steve, we went to Acorn Books (614-486-1860, 1464 W 5th Ave, T-F11-7 Sat 11-6) and they were great! They gave us $100 and had shelves(!) of real math (and farming) books. I highly commend them and I hope everyone who has the opportunity to go there, does. They are local, independent, and totally hoopy froods.


I was going to only run the Cleveland Half-Marathon this month. But I haven't registered yet and I noticed it's only a few more dollars to run the full marathon (it's usually twice as much). So while I probably won't be breaking any personal records for this race (May 20th) it still might be fun to visit my family and have my long run for the week be 26.2 miles.

Last year I ran two and this year I'd like to run three marathons. I've already registered for the one in Columbus (Oct. 21), so I need one more for this year. It should probably be in the fall when I'm a little more in shape but not within a month of Columbus. I'm thinking, in no particular order: Indianapolis (Sep. 8), Erie (Sep. 9), Dayton (Sep. 15), Akron (Sep. 29), or Seattle (Nov. 25).

Look what I found from the 2005 Cleveland Half-Marathon. When I go back this month, I'll be a little more prepared!