Mud's Journal

You know what would be a great name for a rock band?
Disco Nazis (scroll down, it's there)

You know what would be great names for rock bands?
Both The Undark and Radium Girls.

You know what would be a great name for a rock band?
Mold Addendum.

You know what would make a great name for a rock band?
The Squid with Elbows.

So there's this project that I've been playing with for two months now and it's finally at the point that I'd like to share it with all of you (and ask for your help).

I've been making containers and using them to send notes via the good will of others. So far, 8 of these containers (called oobi) have been released, all with the goal of reaching my house in Albuquerque. This morning the first of them reached me, proving that success is possible for this project. This particular oobi (named A006)spend 48 days traveling with at least 3 different people over more than 249 miles. You can read alot more about my Oobi and their travels at the projects website ( http://newbieoobi.webs.com/index.htm )

Now here's the part where you guys come in. It would be incredibly boring if I only sent these cute packages to myself. Now that I know that they can reach their destinations, I'd like to send them to a wide variety of places. Essentially, I'm looking for volunteers who are willing to let me use their addresses. If you looked at the website you probably realize that this means your address would be left in a public place for a complete stranger to pick up. However, the plan isn't entirely without security. There is no reason for any personal information other than your address to be involved in the project. The upside to participating (aside from helping out a special project) is that you might receive a note from me delivered in a very unique way.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please shoot me a message with the address you want me send the oobi to.

Milkman really is my favorite race. It's put on in an awesome little town by some awesome people. I looked forward to it so much this year that I managed to get my parents, my brother, and one friend signed up for it too.

Last year Milkman was difficult from the outset because I waited until I got off work on Friday to leave town. This meant that my pre-race consisted of entirely too much driving, too much fast food, and not nearly enough sleeping. We fixed that problem this year by making it into Dexter early enough to have a spaghetti dinner at the house of a kind local before pitching tents near the lake. It was just about perfect. Everyone was quiet and in bed by 9 because everyone was preparing for the race the next day.

Of course, the pre-race period was not without some stress. First of all, my friend Ryan forgot his id and so couldn't pick up his packet. Then I had to wait for my other friend, Justin, to bring down my bike because there wasn't enough room on the bike rack for five bikes. He didn't make it to the lake till 5:00 am. Lastly, my father discovered that his helmet predates the BHSI and consequently didn't have an approval sticker. He had to find someone to lend him a spare helmet so that he could race.



The race finally started. I was expecting the swim to feel incredibly short, since I've been doing Olympic length races, but I had no such luck. I didn't find my groove till after the turn around point and even then I took it pretty easy. I came out of the water at 9 minutes, 22 seconds, which is a few seconds slower than last year but I felt much better. I took a leisurely 3 minutes 25 seconds to catch my breath and prepare for the bike leg. It has been my habit recently to take as long as I like on this transition but I think I should speed it up a bit next time.

Last year I said that I didn't notice the hill on my bike. This year I understand why I missed it. With my old bike, everything was a difficult slog the the hill wasn't much different than the flats. This year the hill seemed pretty formidable in comparison to the easy flat stretches. The wind didn't seem nearly as bad, though. I finished biking after 46 minutes 32 seconds which is a good 7 minutes faster than last year. I still need to get better at biking but I'm not really sure how to do it. The second transition took me 1 minute 23 seconds. This is slightly longer than last year but I ate a packet of goo.

The run is really the most difficult part of this race (admittedly, runs are always the most difficult for me). It is hot, humid, and disorienting. It took me 37 minutes 39 seconds as opposed to 36 minutes 35 seconds from last year. This surprises me somewhat as I felt absolutely miserable last year and, while I didn't feel good) this year I felt I was coping better. Oh well.

Total time is 1 hour 38 minutes and 23 seconds. I'm really not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it is faster than last year and I think I worked pretty hard all spring to earn that. It certainly isn't all just a new bike. On the other hand, I felt too good after the race. I don't think I pushed as hard as I should have during the race itself. Some of that may have been that I was pacing myself for a race twice this length. Over all, I really just need to learn to run.



How did my friends do? Tyler blew past me while I was slogging up the hill on my bike. He finished with an unimaginable 1 hour 9 minutes 40 seconds. I never saw her pass me but the results insist that Becca beat me with 1 hour 34 minutes 46 seconds. My brother Tom passed me with a 1/2 mile to go on the run and finished with 1 hour 35 minutes 37 seconds. My dad finished at 1 hour 49 minutes 47 seconds. My mom finished at 2 hours 5 minutes 15 seconds. Special props go to Ryan, who finished at 2 hours 9 seconds. He had never swam that kind of a distance in one go before and was quite confident that he would drown. But he completed it and didn't even take advantage of the shallow nature of lake van.

Nationals was awesome. Lubbock was really great. I was pretty good too!



The swim was a frigid 58 degrees, but after the first 1/4 mile, I stopped noticing how cold it felt. Major thanks go out to Matt O for giving me a pair of earplugs and some hammer gel before the race (you can have the ear plugs back if you really want them, Matt). It was really interesting starting in the last wave instead of the first because it made it easier to track my place while in the water. I know I passed people from the blue, yellow, and light blue waves. It felt pretty good and I stumbled out of the water at 35 minutes 12 seconds (slower than Havasu but I was trying to relax and take it easy). I took a leisurely 2 minutes 9 seconds to change, eat, and regain some balance before heading out with my bike.

There /were/ actually a few pretty decent hills as we climbed out of a few arroyos, despite Lubbock's barren, flat landscape. There also wasn't nearly as much wind as I feared. At one point there was a noticably annoying headwind but I tucked into my aerobars and it toughed it out (the first time I've been comfortable/happy with my aerobars). Early on in the cycling leg, I picked out two cyclist to pace myself with. Then I noticed a rock in my shoe and had to pull over and fish it out while they zipped into the distance. My shoe clear, I rejoined my fellow athletes and completed the cycling in 1 hour 38 minutes 56 seconds (12 minutes faster than Havasu). The best part: before I finished I caught and passed both cyclists I had chosen for pace. I also drank from my bottle and replaced it 4 times without dropping it! My second transition was also slow, at 1 minute 33 seconds, as I got disoriented and took some time to swallow some ibuprofen as my knee hurt a bit.



The run was slow, as expected, and I was passed by both bike pacers, but it was scenic enough and many of the lake-side dwellers came out to cheer us on. I reused the technique I discovered to late at Havasu by running for 900 paces before allowing myself to walk for 100. This kept me moving at a decent pace and allowed me to figure out that a 10 K takes me 4,700 paces (within a tolerance of 100 or so). I crossed the finish line after 1 hour 12 minutes 18 seconds of running (faster than Havasu, slower than Elephant Man), giving me a total time of 3 hours 33 minutes 34 seconds. 12 minutes faster than Havasu, a new pr!



All in all it was a good race. I think there should have been a bottle swap in the bike leg, but other than that it was very well supported. The other athletes were great and we received much love from the Tricats. My biggest lessons learned during this race involved pre-race preparation. Always bring flipflops to wear after you leave your running shoes in the transition area and don't forget to leave your glasses in the transition area for after the swim.

Well, me friends, in half an hour I head off for another adventure. This time I'm off to Lubbock Texas for the collegiate national triathlon.

It's windy. I hate wind. Not only does it make biking miserable but it stirs up allergens that sap away all my energy. It's also going to be cold. The water temp this past week was 58 degrees, making this the coldest triathlon I've done so far (although, to be fair, I do have my wetsuit this time). And my knee still hurts when I run. I've been taking it easy and stretching it, and I'll be carrying some vitamin I just in case, but I suspect this is going to be a painful, slow, difficult race.

The good news is that there won't be any hills. It'll also be my last race till Milkman, in June, which is good.

The sad news is that this will be my last race as a member of the NMSU race club. This really is very sad because this club breathed life into my last semester down here. This would have been a long, lonely time if I hadn't found frinds through this club. I hope that I can race without them and I hope to race alongside them as alumni in the coming years.

Will I survive? Will I drop my water bottle again? Stay tuned to find out!

Last night I had the first dream I've ever had with a distinctly lovecraftian flavor.

In it I was visiting a friend, who happened to be a sculptor, and staying with him in his apartment. He was showing me some of his work, which was constructed from fleshy, cadaverous bits all sewn together into biomorphic assemblages. They were quite disturbing.

Then the sculptures started moving. We never saw them move at first. They would just have shifted locations when we weren't looking. Then, rather suddenly, the apartment was very warm and the three cats he owned fled. There was a dark stairway that I swear hadn't been there before and a massive sculptural shape oozing down it toward us. I can't describe the way it moved very well. It didn't walk or float or undulate. It just kind of shifted in a way that physics shouldn't allow. I know we had to get out of there!

And then I woke up, sweating.

I woke up this morning and the first thought that ran through my mind was:

"I am not in a position to say I'm in a position to not say I'm in the position that I say that I'm in."

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm very curious whether that is the last fleeting remnant of some strange loopy dream logic or if my unconscious mind was stuttering like a skipping record and my language center was blowing fuses trying to make something sensible out of it. Or maybe it was an epiphany that I'm too dim to realize the importance of...

Well, I ran a mile on Saturday and my knee didn't hurt any more than it would have from walking a mile so I decided to give Bataan a try.

We showed up at White Sands Missile range at 4:30 and sat around shivering in the dark till the race started at 7:00.  I ran up till the split, maintaining a 10 minute per mile pace.  And then I hit the sand.  At mile ~8 for us 15 milers and mile ~21 for the full marathoners there is a long hill that it covered in deep loose sand.  Everyone I know gave up on running it pretty fast.  After the sand it took me a little while to get my knee moving quickly again but I maintained a system of running 20 minutes and walking 5 for the remainder of the course.  The finish line snuck up on me and I crossed it at 2 hours 59 minutes 17 seconds.  This was the farthest I've ever run by a sizable amount.

I was favoring my uninjured knee during the run so now they're both pretty sore.  Good thing I have a few weeks to let it rest before nationals...



Bataan is a challenging and rewarding race.  It will be helpful for any runners considering this (either for the half or the full) to bear in mind that it's not really a race*.  It's a march.  There will be thousands of people walking the course in large groups and as a runner, you will probably be frustrated about having to find creative ways to pass people for the first 5 miles or so.  There often won't be space on the path to pass people.  The prerace might also be frustrating.  You will have to get onto base ridiculously early in the morning to avoid long lines at the check point.  Then you will have to stand around in the cold for hours till the sun comes up and the race begins.  However, this race is organized and supported in a way that only the military could pull off.  There are neat lines to get everything you need form people who know what they're doing.  There are water tables everywhere along the course (offering water, gatorade and sometimes goodies like fruit and trail mix) complete with latriens and frequently medical personel.  There are even people (armed people) zipping along the course on atvs to take care of anything that might occure in between the water tables.  The course is difficult (including the 7 mile hill and the sandtrap for the full course) but I can honestly say that shaking the hands of the little old men who survived the real Bataan Death March as you cross the finish line is much more meaningful because of it.

Well, I felt fine the day after Havasu.  I continued to feel fine till I went for a run on Wednesday.  After a mile my left knee hurt a bit.  At three miles I stopped to try and stretch it.  After four I had to stop completely and hobble the last mile back to the car.  I was in alot of pain and couldn't walk.  I iced it and took it easy for the next few days.  Now it just feels a bit tender and reminds me that it's not completely happy when I go up or down stairs.

The problem with this is that I wanted to run the Bataan Death March tomorrow.  It was going to be my first half-marathon.  I'm not so sure that's a good idea right now.  The plan is to try and run a mile later today and see how it feels.  I'll use that to decide if I run tomorrow, walk it, or skip it all together.

So we'll see, won't we?

Getting to the Havasu Triathlon was quite an exertion in and of itself. Two friends and I crammed into my truck and left Las Cruces at 9:00 on Thursday evening. I drove like a demon all night and sang like something worse to keep myself awake. We arrived in Lake Havasu City around 6:00 the next morning. We tried to nap in several places while we waited for the rest of the team to catch up but kept getting kicked out. Apparently I do not have what it takes to be a good hobo if I can't sleep in public. Fortunately, I slept pretty good Friday night so I had some energy for the race. Even more fortunately, our wetsuits reached us at some point during the night (Our buddy Alex chased down a UPS truck to get them and deliver them to us) and they fit too!



I came out of the water feeling good. Slowly but surely, I'm figuring out how to swim in open water. Not that there weren't difficulties. I stayed closer to the pack this time so I had o endure more kicking and grabbing. And then there was the swim up the channel, directly into the sun, when it was impossible to see where I was headed. And there were a few waves too, as we emerged from the channel. I hopped out of the lake at 27 minutes and 5 seconds, which is a good 8 minutes faster than at elephant man, feeling great except that I couldn't figure out how to unzip my wetsuit.

Very early in the bike portion (during the first couple of miles, I think) I dropped my water bottle again, which did make the bike portion any easier. Still, I didn't have to walk up any of the hills (they looked terrible when we drove the course, they were actually kind of fun). I was slow and got passed alot but I coasted across the dismount line 1 hour 51 minutes and 13 seconds later, nearly 12 minutes faster than elephant man.

The run was pretty miserable. There was a nasty sand trap and a long flight of stairs in the first and last mile and the rest of the course was brutally flat and exposed to the sun. I just couldn't keep my legs moving and breathing was painful. Some of this was that my trisuit top was constructively tight and I didn't dare take it off for fear for burning. It wasn't till the last two miles when I developed the strategy of counting my steps to keep my mind off my discomfort. I ran for 500 then allowed myself to walk for 100. The run took me 1 hour 26 minutes 57 seconds, a whole 10 minutes slower than elephant man.

Total time was 3 hours 45 minutes 15 seconds, which is 14 minutes better than elephant man, a new pr. I feel pretty good about this but I also feel that I clearly need to work on the last two legs. I dropped from being the 42nd collegiate male out of the water (squarely in the middle) to the 87th across the finish line (the very last). I feel that I need to work on the bike the hardest, so that I have some energy left for the run. I've learned a few things for next time. I need to bring my own marker so I don't have to wait in mine to be marked. I need to sunscreen my entire body, even if it's under a trisuit, so that I can peel off my top if need be. I need to stick close to my group (after swapping my glasses for goggles) before the race because your friends become indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd when everyone is wearing wetsuits. I also need to NOT DROP MY WATER BOTTLE!  I will do better at nationals next month.



If you are going to competing in this race here's what you need to know. It is not the most organized or best supported race ever. Carry your own nutrition and plenty of water during the bike. Drive the course the day before so you know where the hills are but don't be too freaked out. Go to the awards ceremony at the Javalina Cantina after the race and order some $1 tacos. They will make the race worth it.

I've decided to stop posting these as often. They're not interesting anymore. I know I'm going to train. I will post occasionally about my goals, injuries, and race reports. But it has become something of a tradition for me to post before I leave on adventures.

And this will be some adventure. In an hour I will be gathering 4 bikes and 2 friends into my little truck and getting out of dodge. I tingle with the excitement and fear of the unknown that lies ahead. We will be heading to the far side of Arizona for the Havasu Triathlon. So far away in Arizona that we could easily swim across state lines and be in California. I've signed up for the Olympic length. I've done an Olympic before, at Elephant man, but this ones supposed to be harder. It's also supposed to be colder. With a water temp of 60 degrees, wetsuits are important. I've ordered a wetsuit and have hopes that it will get to me before the race starts. I also hope my elbow doesn't give me too many problems.

Ultimate goal here (aside from the perpetual goals: survival and completion) is the same as Elephant Man. If I come in under 4 hours I will be happy. If I happen to beat my Elephant Man time, much the better.

Wish me luck and stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!

I took the poses from a photo of two member of the Taiwan (maybe Thailand?) parliament who got into a fight. I wanted to post a link to the news article that had the photo but I can't find it now...
Anyway, I was impressed that these politicians felt so passionate about whatever it was they were debating that the argument became physical. When was the last time a fight broke out on the floor of the U.S. congress?