As promised--video of Sofia's horse show

Now this is a bit disturbing. The fall occurs at about the 35 second mark in the video. Like I said, she's fine and rode yesterday and today too. The only think that broke was her helmet. Kid, glasses, horse: all were fine afterward. She got up with a face full of dirt (and a few tears too) and then got back up on the horse and cantered out of the arena to a great deal of applause.

Sofia's exciting day

Most important part first: she's ok. The only thing that got broken was her helmet. The only thing that was injured was her pride.

Sofia competed in a horse show today out at the military club. Jumps were set to about sixty centimeters, a height that she doesn't have a problem with.

She started out fine, she was doing really well over the first few jumps. Jump five though was fairly close to jump four...it could have been a double, but they were just too far apart to justify. Nonetheless, Sofia's horse didn't realize this and jumped a few yards too early. The horses knees hit the bar and the horse and rider did a face plant. My friend has promised me the video so you can see for yourself. Once he does I'll try to figure out how to post it here.

Kids...what can you do?

Double digits

10 miles this morning. I set the alarm for 6:00 AM because I knew that I wouldn't have time during the day. And I discovered that this was a pretty good idea--not too hot, sun wasn't quite up yet (and neither were most of the locals...). Mileage count is: 140.23.

Here's the route I took:

Homework

I'm taking a course in computer graphics. My project that I had to do was use Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to build a table and put three objects on top of it. 1) A shape that can move anywhere on the table top, 2) An object, when clicked, moves around the table top in a predefined path, and finally 3) An object, when clicked, rotates. Pretty exciting, eh?

Anyway, here's the link to my website where I uploaded the stuff: my Nova SCIS website.

Also, it will only work if your browser has a VRML plug-in, but here's a screenshot of what it looks like using Safari: Yay for me.

Mileage = 129.88. I've had to take a few days off to make sure I don't injure myself. I felt a twinge in my right knee...it wasn't hurting hurting (whatever that means) and with an ibuprofen the pain would go away (which means something in there was inflamed) which meant I really needed to take a break for a few days. We'll see how it feels in the morning--keep you posted.

And now we are seven

So Dylan is seven. We asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to go to Magic Life because of the water slides...which we did. Pictures to follow, but I wanted to post and let folks now that he had a very nice birthday weekend. We're all a bit crispy, but I won't say that too loud since some of you aren't near anywhere that either a) has a beach or b) has weather that would make going to a beach worthwhile anyway.

Also, in keeping with the recent spirit of my posts--took a 5k jog on the beach. I don't recommend running on that particular beach though. My shoes are now soaked. If you click on the map below you can go the website where I built the map. Ask it to show you the satellite view and you can get an overhead view of the Magic Life resort. Our room was in the building closest to the beach. Pretty sweet.

Oh, mileage count = 115.51

Personal bests (mileage count = 106.99)

Here's the baseline--my current personal bests at various distances. Those of you who've known me a while (if anybody actually is reading this) will know that I was on the track team in high school. I was never very good and/or fast, but the times in parentheses below are my all-time bests. My recent best efforts are the numbers not in parantheses--some will be blank because I don't have exact times or never ran that distance for time back then:

1 mile: 6'46" (5'06") (--just ran the 6'46" this afternoon, which is what inspired me to write this post. The low 5 minute time was the last time I ran competitively in high school.)

2 mile: 14'32" (10'52")

5K: 24'46"

5 miles: 43'42" (34'30")

10K: 54'43"

So...the point is that my longer term goals are to remove the times in parans after I've broken my all-time personal bests.

Also--since the homecookin' of the holidays I've been able to shed 15 pounds and 2 inches off my waist. Wish me luck!

Running milestone number 1 (still part 102.97)

Meant to post this as well...Nike gave me a certificate, I'm now a proud member of the Nike+ 100 mile club. I'm one of only 187,211 other people who have hit this mark...next milestone is 500 miles. Won't be too long, eh?

Here's what my certificate looks like:

Distance training, part 102.97

Shortish long run today, only 5 miles. First half mile was up a hill, next half mile down the other side. I only took one short walk break at about the 3.5 mile mark. Didn't feel especially great throughout the run, but during the last quarter mile I started to feel really good...I upped the pace a bit even. I was actually disappointed when the run was over--I had a lot left in the tank (more than I realized) and could have gone for a few more miles. Which is good since the mileage gets cranked up next weekend, training plan says 9 miles. Although it will be a challenge to fit it in. Dylan's birthday is Saturday, we're going to go to the beach on Friday, and I hope to go SCUBA diving on Sunday. But this is important, we'll see...maybe it will slip to Monday.

iPod mileage says 5.62, MapMyRun says 5.17:

Les Foulées du Lac

Here's the course for the half-marathon. The street map view is a bit weird, but in the satellite view you can see that the whole course is in fact on dry land.

Run! Part 83.86

Did my long run today...iPod says 7.85, MapMyRun says 7...looks like I need to recalibrate the iPod, no? Nice route today too, not too hilly. Feel good now, I only took two walking breaks. And it took me right by the Med:

April 3rd

Several reasons why the 3rd of April is important:

1) Alex's birthday (he's two today!)

2) Christine and Jim's Anniversary (22nd...I think)

3) Amelia's birthday (um, she's probably 30 by now?)

4) My Dad's birthday (I won't tell you other than to say that I'm 32 now and he was 24 when I was born...you do the math).

5) Stefanie and David's Anniversary (yes, that would be us! She's been officially required to put up with me for 9 years now!)

So, happy birthday and happy anniversary to all!

My running gear

So I'm testing out settings and such with flickr. Plus I think it's cool that I was able to figure out how to get this picture of my iPod. Also, the Nike+ stuff is below. Cool, eh?

David's training, part 76.01

Took the kids to music class this afternoon, Sofia had her violin lesson and Dylan had his guitar class. I was able to use the time to do my Thursday run. I said to Stefanie earlier that I noticed at work today that my legs really feel good--got some pep in my step and its because they are getting stronger.

Here's the route I took: