Some lulz

I had an interesting dream the other night. I like to remember them sometimes, but if I don't write them down I know I won't. So here it is.

I'm at Caltech. In my dorm room. It's raining outside and only getting worse every minute. I decide it is the perfect time to run down to the beach to check things out (in my dream, Caltech is maybe 5 miles from the ocean. But you have to cross several rivers to get there). Anton and I make it past the first 2 rivers easily despite the howling wind and crushing rain, but its picking up. I start running across the third when the bridge starts to give way. Someone yells at me to get inside while the hurricane passes. Anton charges ahead, while I double back as quickly as I possibly can and in the process lose my left flip flop, which is picked up by an attractive blonde (I guess I run in flip flops in a hurricane now). She starts saying something but I can't make any of it out...

DREAM RESETS

I'm at Caltech. In my dorm room. My friend from back home is visiting, so I'm spending a lot of time with her and not really paying attention to what is going on around the school. At some point someone mentions that a programmable disease that assembles machines from host cells would be pretty freaking sweet. Meanwhile, several people in Lloyd come down with what appears to be a cold. Not surprising considering the hurricanes we've been having. Also there are mosquitos out. Lots and lots of mosquitos, though they seem to be concentrated in Lloyd. Still nothing to be worried about until OH MY GOD DID THAT BUG JUST SPONTANEOUSLY ASSEMBLE FROM SOMEONES FINGER.

So it turns out that a programmable disease is actaully a pretty freaking sweet idea, at least when it doesn't go horribly wrong and out of control (which it certainly will. at least in all major motion pictures). Some fuckwit decided that the test pattern would be to assemble mosquitos from local materials, which essentially meant that the host would die a slow painful death by being turned into a swarm of mosquitos. Fuck. My friend and I decide that we're not sick for now, since we didn't have any of the cold-like symptoms observed with the others. By now we're trying to make a hasty retreat from Lloyd to avoid getting sick, but every door has been locked and some bros are setting up expensive-looking shit outside. We realize too late that we could have escaped through Ruddock (I flash to someone else talking to a Rudd, mentioning how once they realized Lloyd was gonna be a problem he cut that off).

So Lloyd house is quarantined, and the only escape through Ruddock has been cut off. My friend and I still seem to be okay, but since they have no idea what's up they keep us in there for good measure. I decide I'm getting out, but my friend just wants to wait it out for a couple of weeks. Soon I start feeling really bad and it looks like I'm getting the cold. But nothing happens to me. Sweet, it's like I'm immune. Woohoo! I don't know how I knew for certain, but somehow I was now immune to the programmable disease. After demonstrating my immunity and verifying that I'm not a carrier, Caltech/the US Government decide it's okay if I leave. I want my friend to come too, but they won't let her (she hasn't demonstrated immunity or the fact that she's not a carrier). I promise her I'll come back for her in under a day.

During this epic day, I have somehow aqcuired an RPG and the ability to be a badass. By the way it's still hurricane season, and today is not looking too good. I use the RPG to bust a hole in my room in Lloyd and break the quarantine to free my friend during a massive thunderstorm. No one notices while I run out of there carrying her in my arms. I ran through mud rivers and over mountains to get her as far away from Caltech as possible, while more and more rain came down (I don't think it's possible for it to rain so much. It was like a river was hitting me in the face). Eventually I cannot run anymore and I have to put her down and stop.

I start working on a way to transfer my immunity. I try nearly everything, but nothing seems to work. My friend still seems okay (she hasn't gotten sick yet), but I am still worried. Meanwhile I find out that the disease has busted out of quarantine thanks to me (oopsie poopsie) and now is wreaking havoc everywhere. Apparently I was the only one who was ever immune.

In the final hours of the massive shitstorm that occurs thanks to me (end of the world sort of deal), my friend has finally started to get sick. I am so sad about her succumbing (though strangely enough, not anyone else) that I work faster and faster to find out how to transfer my immunity. Finally it hits me; it's in my spit (hey it's my dream. and I can do what I want). And what better way to transfer spit than... kissing. By now my friend isn't looking so hot (well not literally. I would still totally hit that), so I tell her what's up and how we can solve this problem. She looks at me and says, "So if I don't do this (meaning the kissing) then I die?" "Probably. Probably painfully too. By turing into a bunch of mosquitos." "Well that doesn't seem so bad."

I'm more than a little upset. And now also probably the last person on Earth. So I did what any normal person would do and I just ran. As far and as fast as I could until my legs started to give out and everything was starting to fade away... and then I wake up.

I'm almost certain there was more before and in between the sections, but I just can't remember it... I just found it kinda funny/sad that even in my dreams my friend literally would not kiss me to save her life.

30/05/2010

Epic run to Huntington beach. Both calves and both calves cramped at mile ~35 so I had to wait about 40 minutes to recover from it, but still a decent time. Splits:

2-mile: 11:50
3-mile: 19:10
60-min: 8.95 mi
13.1-mile: ~1:31
120-min: 17.24 mi
26.2-mile: ~3:17
240-min: 31.29
300-min: ~35.5 mi <---lots of cramps and things :-/
42.8: 7:19:33.74!!!!!!!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3769905

13/05/2010

Low sleep day today. Just zoned out on the South Field for about 40 minutes and then ran Huntington up Virginia easy.

40 min + 5mi

12/05/2010

Chilled with G for about an hour... I was coughing a lot at night and didn't get a spectular sleep, hopefully I'm not getting sick.

60:19

10/05/2010

Actually did Rosemead today, although I didn't feel like I could go fast so I just chilled.

47:02

09/05/2010

50 minutes just milling around the south field just shaking out from yesterday's run. I wasn't sure if I could handle Rosemead but I think I would have been fine.

08/05/2010

22.9 on a whim. Ran to Dodger stadium and back (or closish... I got lost).

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3710471

Felt surprising good, completed in 2:54:00.96 (elapsed time), splitting 1:27 for the first 1/2 and 1:27 for the second despite rolling uphill for nearly the entire way back. I think with some training I can break 3:00 in the marathon.

07/05/2010

I haven't been updating (big surprise). My track season was extremely poor; I actually think my best race was that 4:49 1600 at the all comers meet. But I've been running. And I haven't been injured [knock on wood]. And I'm happy.

02/03/2010

Night:

Rosemead tempo. I actually didn't start this run as a tempo, and I was running probably 7:30s or so for the first two miles. I started feeling really good so I dropped it down to 7 flat, and a mile or so later, 6:30ish. The last 3 miles were around 6 flat -- Rosemead to Wilson along Del Mar took a scant 18:15 including a few stoplights. Overall the fastest tempo I've run in a while.

Took 47:04

01/03/2010

I had a wonderful dream last night. But then I woke up.

55:06 (morning), 20:00 (afternoon)

18/2/2010

Afternoon:

I've decided this is my down week. My right inner calf started hurting yesterday after Walnut-Rosemead, and it was still pretty bad today. It totally is not worth it to hurt myself this early in the season, so I ran a tiny amount and just hopped on the bike/elliptical for the rest. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Took 14:55 + 10 bike + 15 elliptical

17/2/2010

Morning:

Me72 is sucking up a lot of my time. I don't like it. Anyways, did the run of champions today (Rosemead) -- I tempo'd it up since I haven't been doing anything other than base for a while.

Took 48:19

Afternoon:

Did a mild run since tomorrow is supposed to be hard. This time I ran Walnut-Rosemead, and I actually may have gone about the same speed. My knee felt a lot better for some reason. I think I may be able to do intense runs but not super long runs, at least until it heals up.

Took 52:36

15/2/2010

Morning:

A nice morning Full Arroyo with Cameron, Ryan, and Megumi. Natayla and Masha were there as well, but they stayed at school. I was happy that at least a few people showed up to the early practice. My knee still hurts, but I swear its getting better. I hope.

Took 79:31

13/2/2010

First meet today. Somehow I managed to run pretty close to my PR in the 4x1600 (4:49), completely bomb the 3000 (10:23), then run a decent time in the 4x400 (57) 10-20 minutes later.

I think I'm just tired from running so much recently, so I'm not too worried, although that 3k time was disappointing. The rest of the team did pretty well -- a few anomalies here and there, but overall there's a lot of potential.

12/2/2010

Afternoon:

Felt pretty crappy, good thing we only did prerace.

Took 43:40

11/2/2010

Morning:

4x1200 going every 6 minutes. At first I felt pretty crappy, but it got better.

4:06, 3:59, 3:57, 3:56

Afternoon:

Just did the warmup with the kids and took some of their times. Alan and Cameron are fast. My knee still hurts...

10/2/2010

Afternoon:

Found the wheel; measured all lanes of the track, although my error is probably pretty significant. Also, turns out Madre is 29876ft. There are only 5 digits on the wheel -- I'm going to have to make it overflow sometime.

9/2/2010

Morning:

Not 15 minutes after I finished my last midterm I was on the track. I think the 3 hours of sleep really killed me though, as I didn't run anywhere near what I thought I should. I was planning to do 5x1200 going every 6:30. I was shooting for 80s (4:00 repeats), but I actually ran 4:12, 4:08, 4:15 before I called it and did a 20 minute progression instead. My knee still hurts, but that's not the reason I didn't go fast.

4:12, 4:08, 4:15, -, -

8/2/2010

Afternoon:

Short run today because I have to take a midterm tonight :( just did Lower Arroyo. Also, forgot to start my watch so no times :-/

7/2/2010

Afternoon:

Four expanding lap sets (start in lane 1, increment lane number after each lap) on the track. Felt pretty okay, and actually went pretty fast for the last 2 miles or so.

Took 46:55

6/2/2010

Afternoon:

Dr. Shapiro's easy day. Which meant it really was a medium to medium-hard day for me. I was okay with it though since I didn't do a tempo last week.

Took 47:11

5/2/2010

Afternoon:

An easy run... I was supposed to do a tempo in the morning, but it was raining. Oh well.

Took 66:15

4/2/2010

Afternoon:

Just an easy run since I had a lot of things to do. I felt like I bombed my Ae102 midterm. Hopefully I can come back from it though... I'll do the workout tomorrow morning...

Took 86:38

3/2/2010

Morning:

Did 3x800 going ever 5 minutes to complement yesterday. I felt a lot better, but now I have an essay to finish by 7pm as well as part of my SURF proposal.

2:33, 2:30, 2:27

2/2/2010

Afternoon:

I can't handle having all my classes on Tuesday/Thursday as well as hard workouts. My legs were already tired when I got to the track, and I couldn't keep up with the guys on the warmup to Allen. That is all degrees of sad. Obviously didn't do too well on the workout, but I need to find something that'll work.

Was supposed to do 6x800 every 5 min, actually did the first 2 and 4th one before calling it (2:33, 2:31, 2:37)

Took 62:25

1/2/2010

Afternoon:

Felt a little better today. Dr. Shapiro's advice is golden. My knee felt better, but I just ran on the track in case that quickly changed.

Took 63:12

31/1/2010

My knee hurts and I am sad.

30/1/2010

Afternoon:

Ran with Ian, Kangway, and Dennis. Man I haven't seen them in a while. Taking yesterday off seems to have been a good decision; my knee still hurts, but I felt a lot better than I have been lately. Still, Ian thinks it wouldn't hurt to take tomorrow off. Well maybe I can sneak in a really short run...

Took 55:47

28/1/2010

I was extremely tired today. I was going to make this my day off, but I figured I should run while it's nice outside. I didn't do the tempo we were supposed to at Garfield.

Took 43:02

27/1/2010

Afternoon:

Super easy. But today was pretty bad.

Took 44:52

26/1/2010

Afternoon:

Today was pretty bad. It was raining again, so I went to go warm up a little early since it was also a "hard day". Well for some reason we started at around 4:50, meaning that I had done a 65 minute "warm up" and was actually losing so much body heat it wasn't funny. I was pretty miserable by the time the actual workout started. The workout wasn't too hard, but I think I lost some skin near the achilles. I'll just be super alert and cautious tomorrow.

Took 79:27

25/1/2010

Afternoon:

Felt pretty good today. We got started really late, so I ended up running for a while. Did Lower Arroyo.

Took 95:57

24/1/2010

Afternoon:

Nice super easy recovery day. I was going to run on the North Field, but it was locked so I just ran on the South Field again. I didn't run on the actual track the entire time today though, as I didn't want to pound my legs too much. Stopped when I started feeling tired.

Took 41:26

23/1/2010

Afternoon:

Did many many many laps on the track. I reversed direction every 3-6 laps -- I didn't keep count, just by feel -- so I wouldn't hurt myself despite going at a reasonable clip (slower than a tempo but faster than a distance run). Actually not a bad day.

Took 61:56

22/1/2010

Afternoon:

My legs were tired when I woke up. I took it pretty easy today, even though I ended up running for a while. Felt pretty good the entire time, and I didn't even get rained on.

Took 68:35

21/1/2010

Afternoon:

Today was really long and draining, and it felt like it, but was also the first time this week that it wasn't raining at the beginning of practice. We went down to Lacey to do a 30 minute tempo, but by the time we got there, I had already been running for 50 minutes. I had no gears and ran with G the entire time, who also didn't switch gears but steadily speed up through the workout. I was actually very impressed with him, he ran really well, especially towards the end.

Took 98:06

20/1/2010

Afternoon:

Worst. Fucking. Day. Ever. I'm cold, tired, wet, have a 3 hour hum to go to tonight, and still have 2 sets left.

Took 78:45

19/1/2010

Afternoon:

Saw Dr. Shapiro on the North Field before practice, and ran with him for perhaps 15 minutes. Good luck in your lecturing debut tomorrow Dr/Professor Shapiro! Then I found out we were doing a track workout today :-/ (6x400) I didn't want to go fast yet so I ran most of them in about 82. Despite this, my legs still locked up and on the cooldown to Lacey I definitely felt bad things in my lower ankle/achilles. It seems to be better now (knock on wood), but I'll have to be more careful. I don't know how many miles I did today but I'm going to call it 8-9 miles.

18/1/2010

Afternoon:

More rain. In fact worse than yesterday. I did a little loop around Caltech and then headed to the track, and I was surprised to see Scott there after five or ten minutes (oops, I guess I should have paid more attention to that email). Surprisingly almost everyone showed up. We did Crazy Tree (also known as Mildly-Abnormal Tree), and right after we finished the sun came out. Epic.

Took 73:53

17/1/2010

Afternoon:

Rain. At least it's not cold yet. I just ran on the North Field for a bit today. I feel pretty good now, even though I'm running pretty much every day. I think the difference is I actually try to recover and go slow on recovery days. I didn't really expect anyone else to be there, but I saw Justine for a little bit :)

Took 43:59

16/1/2010

Afternoon:

Ran up around the Rose Bowl with DChun and G. A lot of things were closed, but we were going pretty easy so it was all good.

Took 63:48

15/1/2010

Afternoon:

I felt much better today. I woke up at 7:30 to get stuff done, but was pleasantly surprised when I finished by 9:30. I also got done with my CS11 meeting early, so I headed down to the track early as well. I think I managed to get in a solid 4.5 or 4.75 miles (I lost count after lap 15) before our actual run. We did a wacky Lacey long way reverse. I took it pretty chill with Scott.

4.5 mi + 42:17

14/1/2010

Afternoon:

A pretty long day, and somehow it's still not over. Went to bed at 2am, woke up at 5am to finish work; 9-12 class. 1-2 class. 2-4 homework. But practice went pretty okay. I felt much more relaxed than I normally do on tempo runs. I think Scott had me at 11:44 for 4 laps around Garfield, but its not too important. This is pretty much the first time since XC that I've gone "fast", so I didn't want to push it too hard. Unfortunately I don't know how long I ran. I want to say it was a 8-9 mile day in total though.

13/1/2010

Afternoon:

Took it pretty chill with TDG on Huntington reverse. Also did a pretty decent warmup of about 3 miles. It's already looking like hell for the next two days and it's only the second week :(

Took 53:12

12/1/2010

Afternoon:

Tuesdays and Thursdays promise to be extremely draining this term, and today was no different. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it when I have to go hard. I would just do the workouts at another time (morning would be excellent) but I feel like I will do better if I have someone to run with.

Took 47:11

11/1/2010

Morning:

Worked all day on Me72 and my programmer. It finally works! However the transistors I used are a little slow, so it programs the chip at about 1/4 of the speed of the original design, but that is still acceptable to me.

Afternoon:

Took it reasonably chill with Garrett, Cam, DChun, and Alex. We did Huntingson, which was pretty close to what I did Friday. I felt a little drained towards the end of last week, so I'm aiming to avoid that this time.

Took 59:51

10/1/2010

Afternoon:

An easy run with the NFTC. Kangway, Dennis, G and Ryan showed up.

Took 42:32

9/1/2010

Afternoon:

Big D was the only one to show up, but that's okay. We did an easy Lower Arroyo like the good old days.

Took 61:10

8/1/2010

Afternoon:

Easy run today, which is good since I was pretty tired from yesterday and troubleshooting my programmer last night. It still doesn't work, but I think I have a good idea of what's going on. I did Huntington but came back on Marengo instead.

Took 55:47

7/1/2010

Afternoon:

16 strides at Lacey then back long way... I'm not really ready to go fast just yet, and my Thursdays suck. I was pretty out of it for most of the workout.

6/1/2010

Afternoon:

ROSEMEAD!!!!!!!!!!!! We never do it this early in the season. I took the first 1/2 or so really chill with Scott (up to Madre), but then I found myself running full Rosemead alone. I finally caught up to everyone at Hill and California.

Took 47:40

5/1/2010

Afternoon:

We went to Garfield, and I decided to come back along Oxford (Lacey long way). Ryan, Cam, and TDG also ran the way.

Took 56:25

4/1/2010

Afternoon:

First day of track. First 'official' run since first few weeks of XC... felt really really really good, but I have to be careful to not get too excited...

Took 50:23

3/1/2010

Afternoon:

Yesterday's drive back was okay, but I was super tired when I got back. I wasn't going to run today either, but I decided I was just being lazy and should at least go for something short-ish so I'm not sad tomorrow.

Took 50:12

1/1/2010

Afternoon:

I only had 2 new year's resolutions. One of them was that I would run at least 5 days per week except if I was injured. We'll see how long that lasts. Today I just went down to Speedway and Harrison like I used to do 2 summers ago.

Took 65:33