I can no longer bear to hear just one song at a time: I must listen to two or more mashed together.

I have evolved beyond a mere human, and now must hear all songs played together in pairs or groups. I don't have time to just hear one song at once, and I can't bear the simplicity of it. I must hear them mashed, and they must match in beat and harmony. The next time I hear a live band, I will need two or three bands playing different songs at once, on the same stage or on adjacent stages, and they must not fail to mesh or my robots will become angry.

In other news, I ran a double today. It was raining and very nice. I also purchased a new pair of street shoes, which give my feet and legs some rest when I'm not running in order to eschew injury. Rockport XCS is the best non-athletic shoe ever made.

"Dynamic Suspension: A cushion of moving air placed directly in a comfort footbed reacts to your every step, making the road more comfortable. No matter how long, winding, or hard it may be." A cushion of moving air...kinda like Nike Air technology?

This is the first real day of spring.

That pretty much says it all. Nothing to do now but pile on the mileage.

Forging an Alliance with Starscream

I've decided to forge an alliance with Starscream. He wants to lead the Decepticons, and he can get the job done. What have they accomplished under Megatron's leadership? They still haven't defeated their smaller and weaker competitors, the Autobots, and in this economy, business as usual will not work.


Starscream can transform into a fighter jet. You can't get more American than that. He's swift, cunning, and decisive. Megatron, however, can only flip into a gun that someone else has to fire: the ultimate metaphor for ineffective management. Someone has to fire him. He's not a leader, he's a tool. Megatron's strategy? To slowly build up forces until they're unquestionably bigger than everyone else. Yet, that's not going to work in a bear market, and they can't just sit and wait for the recession to go away. The problem is that no one is willing to admit that Megatron, the leader and CEO of the Decepticons, has failed. Megatron has run his company into the ground, and he's still giving out orders.

No one is going to step forward and support Starscream, because they're all scared. They're scared of change, and of getting blasted by Megatron, and by having all their jobs stolen by companies in other countries. First the robots take jobs away from humans, and then they join the UAW because they don't want their jobs moved to Mexico. And that's exactly where the Autobots are now - building second-rate cars in the middle of the Mexican desert. Optimus Prime used to be partially owned by Daimler, but then his Freightliner subsidiary sold off his whole line, and now if he needs a new part he'll have to develop it from scratch. The Japanese market is doing relatively well and the European market is mostly untouched, but the American auto industries are begging for Federal loans and facing bankruptcy.

Consider General Motors: Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Saturn and even Hummer are great lines for their markets, but put them all together, along with Pontiac, Buick, Daewoo, Holden, etc, and you have one gigantic robot that just stands there, retarded. The same with Chrysler: consider Plymouth, AMC, Valiant, and others, while now only the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep marques remain. Ford, however, has sold Jaguar and Land Rover, and is selling Volvo, so it has some operational cash. Still, it's downsizing, and focusing on Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in a smaller, greener market. Bigger isn't better, and advancing in quick, tactical strikes is the way to score consistent victories.

And that's why Starscream will lead us into the future.

Oh yeah - ran 5.5 miles this morning. My quads actually became sore after a couple miles, so I must have had a really had a good race on Sunday.

Portland Shamrock 15K

I ran a good race, as fast as my training would allow, and satisfactory for Eugene Marathon training. I also captured practically the entire thing on video as I was running it, but it's almost 2GB in size, and therefore impractical to upload onto a shared player such as youtube. The snowshoe race video was too short, and this one is too long, so I have a good idea on optimal video length for future races. I can edit this one down, but it's just not that entertaining. Great to review performance, but it's really just running for miles in dreary rain. Capturing an entire race from start to finish in one take is kind of cool, but it would have to be a bit shorter to be easily viewable. Or, I could just learn to run twice as fast.

Record numbers this morning in the 8k, 5k, 15k, Leprechaun Lap and the 3.5 mile Stride. Sticking around afterword had diminishing returns, however, with the rain and wind in post-race clothing. I did stay for chowder and beer, but every hour spent socializing brought me a little bit closer to freezing. The beer garden tent was relatively warm in the middle of the huddle, exactly like those stupid penguins you see huddling together in a blizzard. "Why are you all huddling together like that, you stupid birds? Why don't you go somewhere warm?" And then the girl next to me looked at me quizically, and I realized I was a bit delusional.

First race of the year: US Snowshoe Association and X Dog

More snow in Portland today. Snow again last week - seems to be the theme for this year, so far. So, it's fitting that my first official race of the 2009 season was the Citizen's 5K at White River. The X Dog crew and USSSA were great. Good run, perfect deep, powder, and sunny skies for most of the morning. Great training race to catapult me into Shamrock next week.

On Snow and Leprechauns

If it wasn't for the kickboxing on Saturdays after a nice tempo run, I probably wouldn't have the mental agility to keep up the training routine. The most difficult part is running early each morning, but the mileage and speedwork is paying off. Still, it's too early to start racing seriously, which means plenty of the other kind of racing:

The US Snowshoe Association National Championships (and Citizen 5K)http://xdogevents.com/snowshoenats.html

and the Portland Shamrock 15K
http://www.shamrockrunportland.com/