September 2004 Archives

Last year I ran the De Soto 5K Fall Festival race and took third place in my age group. I ran the race again Saturday, over four minutes faster than last year, but didn't bring home the hardware, finishing fourth. Though I was disappointed I didn't place --other runners I think are learning the race is a good one for picking up a trophy--I was very happy with my time. Improving by four minutes is as good as winning a trophy.

The De Soto 5K capped a busy three Saturday stretch of races. The first Saturday I ran the St. Louis Firefighters 10K, the next Saturday I ran the Run for the Hills 5k, and last Saturday I ran the De Soto 5K. I'm now a year back into serious running, and my times are starting to return to my Buffalo running days. I keep planning a trip there to run a race with some of my first running friends.

The Sunday after the Run for the Hills 5K I ran the Lewis and Clark Half Marathon in St. Charles. The route started at the Family Arena, then meandered through historic St. Charles to the Katy Trail, where we ran along the Missouri River past the arena, and finally up the Page Bridge Hill to the highway back to finish line inside the arena. The long steep Page Bridge Hill was at the 12-mile mark. As you can see in the picture to the right, I stopped momentarily to walk a few steps, but as soon as I realized the photographer was there, I ran the rest of the way up the hill. Can you believe a photographer would pick such a place to take pictures? But at the final stretch leading up to the finish line I was at full sprint.

My goal was to be ready for a marathon this fall. But I don't think that's possible. 18 miles would be comfortable. The other eight miles would be hell. So rather than being miserable, I'll continue my methodical training, adding distance, gaining a few seconds here and there, and aim for a warm weather marathon somewhere this winter.

Some people might think of Starbucks as the WalMart of coffee: a Starbucks opens its doors and an independent coffee shop is out of business. Nonetheless, I like Starbucks. Whenever the balance of my Starbucks card drops below $5, it's electronically reloaded with $50 from my checking account. The only thing I dislike is that Starbucks doesn't have a free hot zone for wireless computing but instead lets you pay to go online via tMobile. The good news is that there's a Krispy Kreme with a free hot zone across the street from the Starbucks I go to; its signal is strong enough that I can pick it up from inside Starbucks.

Perhaps I'm naive, but Starbucks does seem to have a conscious. It recycles its coffee grounds, buys coffee from independent coffee farmers in other countries, and sponsors projects to better communities. Starbucks even has a culture of music and literacy.

Today in my mailbox was a gift from Starbucks: a little book of poems called Poems from the Coffee Lands. The postcard size book has poems from Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama. Some of the poets are familiar (Octavio Paz and Jimmy Santiago Baca from Mexico, for example) whereas others are writers I've never heard of (Kifle Bantayehu from Ethiopia and Duda Machado from Brazil). All in all thirty two pages of poems, eight countries, and 14 poets.

Here's one I especially like by Micere Githae Mugo from Kenya:

I Want You to Know

I want you to know
how carefully
I watered the tender shoots
you planted
in my little garden.

Flowers now adorn the ground
the fruits are ripe
Come
bring a strongly woven basket
and bring with you also
the finest palm wine
that your expert tapping
can brew
we must feast and wine
till the small hours
of our short days together

Joy and love
shall be our daily
harvest songs.

Poems from the Coffee Lines is filled with poems like this. I'm not sure I'll take it to Starbucks with me. I'm afraid I might leave it. But it is a book of poems that ought to be passed around.

J, the oldest of my three cats, doesn't listen. When the squirrels and the possum began eating the green tomatoes, I charged J with keeping the wild animals away. Nevertheless, the other night I went on the back porch and there sat J in my chair with a possum underneath feasting on a freshly stolen tomato. Treacherous cat!

Still, regardless of the cat, the squirrels, and the possum, Ann and I are picking ripe tomatoes. Not enough for the 2Rio Salsa I had hoped for, but enough to have fresh tomatoes at hand for sandwiches and salads or just for eating plain. Next year I'm planning to surround the plants in some sort of screen mesh. Maybe that way I can improve the critter-human ration of tomatoes.

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race was today. Last night it was almost impossible getting into the park for the balloon glow, so today Ann and I decided to watch the balloons as they drifted over our house. We live near the park and we're on the race route. The first balloon over was the rabbit, the pace balloon, I guess, since Energizer is the primary sponsor of the race. I had my digital camera out to take a bunch of great pictures, but right after I shot the rabbit as it floated overhead, my camera told me to replace the battery pack. It was as if the the rabbit in the battery leaped out and floated leisurely away. Ann and I then hopped on our bikes and pedalled first toward the park to catch the sight of balloons floating toward us, then turned around and chased them as they floated away. One balloon, Citi Bank, was drifting low. I yelled, "Drop a ladder!" But Citi Bank has never been customer friendly, I'm not now a customer, and the balloon kept on chasing the Rabbit.

In Educational Blogging, Stephen Downes tells how teachers are using blogs in their classroom--he lists four primary ways--and then questions whether these eduational uses are in fact contrary to the "free flowing medium" of blogging.

The Diagram, in Online publications, a brief guide, makes a good case for publishing on-line, citing the economic benifit for the publication itself and the vast audience for the writer. Those writers thinking of submitting for the first time to an on-line literary magazine should read the article for tips. Also, Diagram includes 2River in its "sampling of better online magazines."