New results with corrected chip time.

ChipTime: 5:39:38
ClockTime: 5:46:53
Overall: 4324
SexPl: 38
class_pos: 27
total_pace: 12:58/M
10k_rank: 4598
10k_time: 1:18:19
10k_pace: 12:37/M
halfway_rank: 4450
halfway_time: 2:45:22
halfway_pace: 13:11/M
30k_rank: 4334
30k_time: 3:54:51
30k_pace: 13:01/M
35k_rank: 4180
35k_time: 4:37:02
35k_pace: 13:04/M
finish_rank: 4303
finish_time: 5:39:37
finish_pace: 13:14/M

This week I ran 26.2 miles, burned 2,770 calories and weigh 161.8 pounds. My calf finally stopped hurting. Next week, I'm back in the gym but I won't be training as hard. I'll ease back into the intense training.

It looks like my race results have been altered a bit. It is showing a faster pace through two of the splits. Eventually, my chip time will get corrected. The people attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon are first priority. I would have qualified for the Boston Marathon if I was an 85 years old.

I hope that there is another Marathons of Texas challenge next season. I think I would like to attempt to complete Dallas White Rock, Chevron Houston and Freescale Austin in one season. I did not get a look at the jacket that people who completed the three marathons received this season. It better be a nice one.

Marathon Photos!

29 degrees Farenheit at the start, 35 degrees at the finish.

Walking through a water stop. The Texas State Capitol Building is in the background. It is the largest capitol building in the United States.

Sprinting through the finish line.

Running down Congress Avenue.

Smiling and running. I must be out of my mind.

I'm smiling because I just finished a 26.2 mile race.

Through the finish line! The crowd goes wild!

I don't know the lady that came in one second before me. My clock time is recorded in this photo.

Photos by Action Sports International

I found an approximate offset time!

I visited the Freescale Discussion forums. People with working chips were sharing where they started and their offset times. A woman who started in the general area that I was in had an offset of about 9 minutes. Based on that, my chip time would be 5:37:53. A personal record. My goal was 5:30:00. I came close.

The back of my right knee and upper calf is still sore.

There was a major screw-up with the chip timing system. Half the runners were missed at the start line. Based on my average pace from the last three checkpoints I estimated my time to be 5:42:53. That is a personal record. I wish I had more tangible proof.

The company that did the chip timing will change your chip time if you send your offset time (within reason - it has to be close to your pace during the second half of the race). Unfortunately, I do not know my offset time. I was not paying attention to the clock as I crossed the start line.

This marathon made news when a couple of confused deer decided to join the race.
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=155886&SecID=2
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=257178&cat=World

Footage of the deer can be found at CNN.com and other news sites.

I'm 37 years old today.

Judging from the results posted on the Austin Freescale website there might have been a problem with the chips. Too many people have matching chip and clock times. I'm guessing that my chip time is 5 to 10 minutes less than my clock time. I did not pay attention to the clock when actually crossed the start line. I'll wait and see if the error can be fixed.

I came in 4,304th place in the Freescale Austin Marathon with a time of 5:46:53! I placed 37th in the Marathon Filly class (women weighing 140+ pounds) and placed 26th among women less than 39 years old in that same class.

Age: 36
Sex: F
Chip Time: 5:46:53
Clock Time: 5:46:53
Overal Place: 4304 (with 484 finishers behind me)
Sex Place: 37 (overall women 1610 with 312 behind me)
Age Place: 26 (with 6 behind me - this is Filly division)
Total Pace: 13:14/M
10K (6.2 miles) Rank: 4445
10K Time:1:25:34
10K Pace: 13:47/M
Halfway Rank (13.1 miles): 4450
Halfway Time: 2:52:37
Halfway Pace: 13:11/M (I finally found a Port-o-Potty without a long line at mile 12.5. I picked up a bit of speed after emptying my bladder.)
30K (18.6 miles) Rank: 4334
30K Time: 4:02:06
30K Pace: 13:01/M
35K (21.7 miles) Rank: 4180
35K Time: 4:44:17
35K Pace: 13:04/M
Finish Rank: 4304
Finish Time: 5:46:53
Finish Pace: 13:14/M (7.3 kph or 4.5 mph)

Ran 4.75 mph for 6.9 miles; 4.78 mph for 5.53 miles; 4.42 mph for 3.11 miles; 4.29 mph for 4.47 miles.

It was cold (29F at the start - 35F at finish). I was wearing some nice cold weather running gear (Under Armor) so I was not miserable as long as I kept moving, even broke a sweat. After I got off the bus that took me back to the finish line then I really felt the cold. Fortunately, Walter had the nice warm car waiting for me.

Thorlos makes some great socks. The race had to be delayed because of ice and to allow gravel to be laid on the route. When I took off my shoes, after I made it to the hotel, several tiny pieces of gravel were in my shoe but my feet were undamaged and I did not feel the gravel.

Congratulations to everyone who finished the race.

There will be a cartoon update tonight. No more skulls.

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges. You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions. Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist. Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!). Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others. And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you. You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically. Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas. Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

There will not be an update on Sunday. I'll be in Austin, running in the cold weather.

I've entered a competition:

In association with Funkimobiles we are giving you the chance to get your comic featured on one of the hottest mobile content sites around, Funkimobiles.com (and to make some money in the process!) Funkimobiles currently features content from some of the freshest sites on the web, including Weebls Stuff, Little Gamers and Diesel Sweeties.

Vote for your favorite (A Perfect World) at http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/competitions/funkimobiles/vote.php

Only one vote is allowed per IP address

Thank you.

My bib number for the Freescale Austin Marathon is 2109. Sunday, February 19, 2006! 26.2 miles! http://www.freescaleaustinmarathon.com

This week I ran 21.68 miles, burned 2,517.5 calories and weigh 161.5 pounds.

Times:
Monday - 5K, 33:17
Wednesday - 5 miles, 55:00
Friday - 5K, 31:23
Saturday - 10 miles, 1:55:00

Goofy spam names:
Kiger I. Hodo
Brun S. Tobeyo
Experience P. Tights
Posies B. Trouping

Austin Freescale Marathon in about a week!

The weather...

It is gray. It is raining. It is cold. It sucks.

It is temporary.

I should be in bed, sleeping through it. How did I become a responsible adult? My job does not make any real difference. So why can't I just walk out right now?

Maybe part of me believes that I am the one thread that when pulled causes the whole tapestry to fall apart. I leave right now and the 301 exams don't get copied. That starts a chain of events that leads to a devastating natural disaster in China. Sort of a "butterfly effect" - a butterfly in South America flaps its wings and that leads to a hurricane over 1,000 miles away.

I hate winter. Fortunately, I live in a region where winter only lasts a week. I would have to go on a killing spree if I had to endure weeks of gray and cold.

Bah!

I better go copy the damn exams. The answers to questions 4, 6 and 16 is C, C and B.

I could not remain silent any longer. This whole Mohammed cartoon thing has gotten way out of hand. Muslims have the right to protest peacefully and even boycott products but death threats, guns, harassing random Scandinavians and grenades is a bit over the top. Four people were killed in Afghanistan over these stupid cartoons.

Now an Iranian newspaper wants to have a holocaust cartoon contest to see what kind of outrage it would produce. Let me save some time, it will produce nothing because the whole world will see through the childish ploy or there will be protests - peaceful protests and boycotts. No embassies stormed by gunmen, no grenades thrown at embassies, no Iranian workers or vacationers threatened and nobody getting killed in riots. Peaceful protest.

There are Muslim voices speaking out against the stupid violence but more need to be added. Surely, 1 billion Muslims can drown out the voices and acts of stupidity, hatred and violence that has infected their faith.

I've read about boycotts (which is an acceptable form of peaceful protest) but I have not read of any Muslim country returning any of the foreign aid that Denmark generously gives (2,037 million US dollars/ 0.85% of GNP in 2004 - http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp) to developing countries (Iraq, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt are among the top 10 recipients of foreign aid) around the world.

This week I ran 22.65 miles, burned 2,645 calories and weigh 161.3 pounds.

Times:
Tuesday - 5K, 29:10
Wednesday - 5 miles, 54:18
Thursday - 5K, 32:05
Saturday - 10.6 miles, 2:19:00

On Saturday I ran among crazy people. Members of my marathon training group decided to head to Huntsville State Park and run on the trails. The Rocky Raccoon 50 and 100 mile race was going on at the same time. The race director let us run on part of the trails with the racers. I did not get to talk to that many runners but I did see a deer. A doe ran across the trail about 20 feet in front of me. The trails were a nice change of pace and it was a gorgeous day. Required more focus because of all the tree roots and other rough patches of terrain. I even thought about entering an ultra- marathon trail race. This only proves that insanity is contagious.

The run was kind of a zen experience because I did not know how far I've been running and it was just the sounds of nature and my footfalls for most of the run. I was just enjoying the movement. On one part of the trail I felt like I was flying.

I have mixed emotions about Thomas Kinkade. I don't care for his art but apparently thousands enjoy the works of "the painter of light". I don't want to throw the words "sell out" around because I would not turn down money voluntarily given in exchange for my art. His painting skills are far superior to mine. I don't have the skills to make it as a "highlighter" with his studio/ factory.

I don't think of myself as some kind of elitist. People have the right to spend their money however they choose. I would question their taste but not out loud.

Viewing Kinkade's art makes my stomach a bit queasy but the above advertisement made me especially ill. I think it is the quote.

I don't begrudge Kinkade merchandising the heck out of his art. I would do the same thing but I would have to spend a lot of the fortune drowning out nagging feelings of doubt and some remorse at taking other people's money in exchange for treacle like Kinkade's art.

If I painted like Thomas Kinkade I would be afraid of people suddenly waking up and realizing that I was producing syrupy, sentimental crap and demand their money back. I could cope with returning the money but the anger would be too much to handle.

I don't paint like Thomas Kinkade so I should not worry about that.

I have weird anxieties.

Look what was in my e-mail bag!

Subject line: do the world a favor

please...no more comics, their terrible. You've wasted too much time!

The amount of time that I have simply wasted is my biggest regret but I cannot undo the past. No Ctrl-Z in real life.

English is a difficult language and I applaud you for getting it almost right. Homonyms are tough. The word you are looking for is they're, a contraction of they are.

Thank you for taking a moment of your time to compose and send your electronic missive.

Do something good for humanity - sterilization.

In early January I took a small leap. Unfit's (http://dilbert.com/comics/unfit/) creator is looking for a new artist. Mike Belkin and Scott Adams went with an open audition approach. Redraw an Unfit strip in your own style. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, posted the audition rules on his blog. I took some time away from A Perfect World and submitted a comic strip. That is my excuse for the clip art skull cartoons that have been appearing lately. I also fell behind for other reasons. The skulls were a quick way for me to regain some lead time.

You can see all the submissions here: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/02/comic_artist_fo.html or here: www.looking4cartoonist.com. I'm artist #34. The site includes links to the artists' websites so you have an opportunity to see many comics and perhaps expand your comic horizons.

If you visit the site you can find out my real name (as if it is not published in several other venues all over the internet). I married into the last name so it is unlikely that I am related to you or anyone else you know. My husband is not related to Richard Causey (Enron accountant). Corrupt accountant is better than pedophile serial killer (a serial killer who is a pedophile not a serial killer that targets pedophiles) for adding notoriety to an uncommon last name but certainly not first prize. I share my maiden name with a mattress company, rock star, actress and a hyperactive exercise guru.

Belkin has a lot of talent to choose from. My art has not stood out enough to merit comment on the dilbertblog, so far. Judging my own work against others, I think I fall in the upper downward slope of the bell curve - the part just before the free fall (roller coaster metaphor). I feel okay about that. I have accepted the fact that there will always be better artists and writers but I know that I can at least run with them. I'm grateful for the opportunity to audition. Even if I don't get chosen, the comments and seeing art side by side will provide some pointers in improving my art.