Crawfish are sooooo good.  Swarming mosquitos, not so much. Poker? Excellent.  Swamp? Excellent.  10 oz. beer cans? Interesting, cute. Sale of liquor until 2 a.m.? Interesting, cute.  857 miles to El Paso? Noteworthy.  Louisiana with Cass, her brothers, and the rest of her family - thumbs up.  Uncle Jim? Inconclusive.

In a related incident involving an oversized bandanna, the above hath sayeth, "This is for whacking sticks and seeing nothing."

Jogged 20 min and stretched this morning. Need to stay limber if I'm goin to make it through the Shiner Gasp in 10 days. The toes on my right foot are still numb...

Ran Boston for the second time on Monday, a little faster than last year. I paced better and ran the hills better, but still died, albeit at the end of the hills this time instead of at the beginning. I went through the hills around 6:35 pace and felt strong through them, but at the top of Heartbreak at mile 21 I tried to resume pace and realized my legs were cashed. Still, better than last year, and there was a nasty headwind for most of the race this time.

I'm gonna have to change my training if I want to get a level faster. I think my dad may be right - running may be harder past 20 miles cuz few people run longer than that in training. So fewer, but longer, long runs may work better. That and perhaps acclimating the body to 6 minute miles in general.

Last year I dropped back to corral 2 to run with my former teammate but this year I stayed in corral 1. I'm glad I did, cuz the elite field funnelled right by just before the start and I got to high five Ryan Hall and Brian Sell and get a close up of the Africans.

The women's race was a three way sprint to the finish - completely absurd by marathon standards. Dire Tune collapsed at the finish and was hauled off in a medical van.

Of the unorganized cavalcade of thoughts that stream through my head during runs and idle hours I notice with some frequency thoughts of the prospect of my one day becoming a father.  It is an exciting, daunting, and weighing prospect.  My molecular biology professor at Davidson told our class that mastering the basics of biology was like building a toolbelt and furnishing the tools necessary to tackle the advanced problems of biology.  I think this analogy is better applied to parenting.

Where parents fail they fail in three ways.  Either they (1) neglect to provide a toolbelt, (2) provide a toolbelt with a limiting selection of tools, or (3) perhaps the most common, intend to provide a toolbelt but never get around to it.  So everywhere kids are walking around with shabby toolbelts, no toolbelts, toolbelts overloaded with the shittiest of tools, etc.

Parents should strive to provide the best possible toolbelt they can for each of their children and then advise them to select their own tools.  The toolbelt should be strong, sturdy, accessible, reliable, warm, a good shape, it should be something they enjoy wearing.  If you provide a great toolbelt, one you can be proud of and know will last, you don't have to worry about which tools you'll find your children lugging around - a choice of theirs anyway.

There is a high end specialty beer from Belgium called Delirium Tremens. I tried one of their special editions, Delirium Nocturnum. It was all right. But it's the name that shocks me. Delirium Tremens? As in the most severe alcoholic syndrome? Delirium Tremens occurs in alcoholics who have been heavily dependent on alcohol for a very long time and then stop abruptly. DTs are characterized by disorientation, panic attacks, seizures, tremors, and fever. In the most severe cases the afflicted experiences intense visual hallucinations (often pink elephants and tiny animalistic creatures (which adorn the beer label)) and formication (a sensation of crawling under the skin, often accompanied by visual hallucinations of attacking insects, rats, and giant spiders that come out of the wallpaper). In untreated cases the mortality rate is as high as 35%, in treated cases somewhere around 10%.

Does the name of this beer not then strike you as inappropriate? The name of the product is the worst case scenario resulting from use of the product. This is analagous to naming a pack of cigarettes Hole in the Throat Lung Cancer, a car Cranium Splatterer, a hamburger Artery Cementer, a hair dryer Shower Electrocuter. The beer is successful in Europe; in all likelihood a person has succumbed to Delirium Tremens drinking Delirium Tremens. I decry the name of this product.

The benefits of exercise:

Improves health (will limit the innumerables to this one phrase)
Alleviates lethargy
Releases endorphins
Reduces stress
Reduces depression and anxiety
Improves mood
Provides additional regular task
Balances mundane tasks
Provides sense of accomplishment
Engages additional settings
Improves physical appearance
Prevents weight gain
Heightens mental perception
Provides post-exercise relaxation
Improves quality of sleep
Increases metabolism
Improves quality of food and water
Provides additional perspective
Increases molecular turnover rate
Satisfies primal propensity
Increases concentration and focus
Increases non-exercise related efficiency
Improves psychological well-being
Improves quality of sex
Satisfies sense of purpose
Provides entertainment
Increases standard energy level
Increases self-confidence and self-esteem
Provides positive context to clear and arrange thoughts
Decreases desire for caffeine, nicotine, and other drugs

In college I debated with my friends whether objects could be appropriately classified as masculine or feminine. Our centerpiece object was the umbrella and I argued that this was a feminine object. My opponents argued that objects are gender neutral - utter silliness. An umbrella is a feminine object because more women use umbrellas than men, it is more closely associated with women in art, and it more accurately depicts a woman in shape and function. Simple. Please, wear your unjustified discontent and dispute.

A lance is a masculine object. A vase is a feminine object. Chain mail is masculine wear. A gown is feminine wear. Trucks are masculine vehicles. VW Bugs are feminine vehicles. Overcoats may be gender neutral. Robes are kind of gay. Long, flowing hair and makeup are NOT feminine:

Letters and words are also largely masculine or feminine. Sharp, twinkle, sprightly, lily - feminine words. Hard, smash, chiseled, force- masculine. P, l, i, y, t - feminine letters. D, c, h, o - masculine.