Tag Archives: Pittsburgh

2006 Race for Pace 5K

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On October 14, I ran the Race for Pace 5K. One my my friends at West Penn Track Club works for Pace School, I ran it as much to support her and a good cause as I did to have another race under my belt.

It was pretty darn cold and there were some nasty hills on the course. I was reminded that my lungs really don’t like cold air. I need a full physical anyway, so I’ll be sure to ask the doc if I have asthma.

I finished in a disappointing 26:12.69 (26:21, officially), which works out to an 8:30 pace. I was 8/14 men 25-29 and 83/345 total. My splits were as follows.

  1. 7:41.81
  2. 8:29.44
  3. 10:01.44 (9:07 pace over 1.1)

My performance was disappointing, but a few good things did happen at the race. I won a door prize (car visor organizer), my good buddy Kevin beat me with a time of 25:13, and my team won a prize for having given the closest estimate for our total finishing time.

Where to Go with Roe: Taking a Second Look

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Pop quiz:

  1. Is abortion on demand the unchangeable law of the land?
  2. Does the American public overwhelmingly support the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, or its companion case Doe v. Bolton?
  3. Does abortion actually provide pregnant women with more “choices”

If your answer is to any of these is “yes” you may be surprised to learn you’ve been misinformed, and a conference being held at CMU is just what you need.

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Cardinal Wright Oratory Choir CD Preview

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A couple years ago I sang tenor in the Cardinal Wright Oratory Choir. The choir was disbanded when the Oratorians stopped using Heinz Chapel for Sunday masses. Before we broke up, though, we recorded several of our best songs for a CD. Unfortunately, the guy that did the recording, mixing, mastering, etc. has been dragging his feet about finishing up. Thankfully, I’ve acquired recordings of two of the songs. Enjoy. 🙂

Clearing the Air

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Woohoo! The Allegheny County Council has passed a ban on smoking in public buildings (Fedora Tip: The Burgh Blog )! I guess smokers will have to find another way to get their fix away from home . 😉

Addendum: I keep hearing that it's not the government's job to protect us from harmful substances. Really? Then what's the point of the FDA?

"The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." – Abraham Lncoln

I'd argue that addiction weakens the will sufficiently that individuals lose the ability, partialy or totally, to protect themselves.

Update: Just hours after the county passed the ban, the PA state senate exempted casinos from all smoking bans . What a crock of $#*%! Now the county ban is in jeopardy. Why do casinos deserve preferential treatment over bars and restaurants? Stupid greedy politicians. I guess now there's another reason to sweep more incumbents out .

2006 Great Race 10K

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Sometimes it's good when the weather forecast is wrong. For the past couple days, forecasters had been calling for thunderstorms during the Great Race. The most we actually got was a drizzle and some stiff wind. The downside of that was intense humidity, which tends to suck the life out of me. Dropping the towel I'd brought to wipe my sweat at the very beginning of the race was a little frustrating given the humidity.

Despite the less than ideal weather, I have nothing to be disappointed about. I finished in 54:02.28 (8:43 pace) according to my watch (54:01, officially) – 1885/4128 finishers, 181/267 men 25-29. My mile splits were as follows.

  1. 8:56.16 (slow start, starts uphill, ends downhill)
  2. 8:18.63 (mostly downhill)
  3. 8:49.13 (mostly uphill)
  4. 9:07.95 (mostly downhill)
  5. 9:11.52 (uphill)
  6. 7:53.32 (downhill)
  7. 1:45.57 (downhill)

The section I need to work hardest on next year is mile 4. There's no good reason for me to be running that slow downhill. My goal for next year is average 8:30/mile or better.

BTW, a funny thing happened on the way to the starting line. A van pulled up next to the sidewalk I was on and honked. The driver wanted to know if I could guide his son to the starting line. I agreed. As we walked I asked him a little about how far he runs, how fast, etc. He's a 16-year-old cross-country runner who'd never raced farther than 5K. He said his 5K times are typically around 19-20 minutes. I knew then he'd be kicking my butt in this race. 😉 And boy oh boy did he. He finished in 44:04 Congratulations, kid. 🙂