On Woman, poetic interlude

May God be praised for woman
That gives up all her mind,
A man may find in no man
A friendship of her kind
That covers all he has brought
As with her flesh and bone,
Nor quarrels with a thought
Because it is not her own.

-W.B. Yeats

Happy Valentine's Day, Everybody!

"We sat as silent as a stone, / We knew, though she'd not said a word, / That even the best of love must die, / And had been savagely undone / Were it not that Love upon the cry / Of a most ridiculous little bird / Tore from the clouds his marvellous moon."
--W. B. Yeats, from A Memory of Youth

"Was it the double of my dream / The woman that by me lay / Dreamed, or did we halve a dream / Under the first cold gleam of day?"
--W.B. Yeats, from Towards Break of Day

Sunny weather for Super Bowl Sunday race

So, after a brief hiatus from races, and not very regular training, I ran the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon on SuperBowl Sunday, February 5, 2006. Not a personal best for sure, but I completed the course and enjoyed the crowds and scenery along the way. Unfortunately, due too my lack of training, my calf muscles began to cramp up in the last three miles, forcing me to slow down so that I could continue moving. It was somewhat painful and a bit embarassing when a wave of leg cramps forced me to hobble stiff-legged for a handful of steps every few minutes.

While walking to the race start I met a fellow runner and we navigated to the start line together. A business student in San Francisco, this was her second half-marathon. I hope she had a better (or at least less painful) race than I did. I also greeted a fellow MSTP running with his wife along the course--they seemed to be enjoying themselves and looked to be on pace for a strong finish. I had been thinking about running the race with my cousin's girlfriend, Erika, but she had not had time to train adequately and so decided not to race.

My overall time was 1:40:39, for about a 7:41 min/mile average rate over the 13.1 mile race. I graphed my mile-by-mile data which shows the slowing in the last few miles of the race.