2006 Run With HAART 5K

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[runwithhaart06.jpg]9 AM. 36°. Sleet.

It wasn’t the coldest race I’ve run, but it wasn’t the warmest, either. 😉 This morning I ran the Run With HAART 5K in Schenley Park. It was one my favorite races thus far. I love any race that involves trails, but this was especiialy cool because it involved trails that I regularly train on. 🙂

Like I said, it was freakin’ cold, but not unbearable. The pre-race registration seemed well organized and the race started on time. I finished in 29:15, which gave me a mile pace of 9:26, and my heartrate averaged 180 and peaked at 195. That time’s in between my results for the Run Shadyside and Chamber Classic last year, and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s early in the season and I have plenty of time to improve before the Great Race. I finished 44rd out of 60 males in my age group and 110 out of 208 total participants (though some of them were walkers and skew the results a little).

After the race, ten-minute massages were available for free. Also, there was a raffle which I put $5 into. There were a lot of very nice gift certificates given out, as well as the 50-50 prize of $30. I won two $5 gift certificates to Subway and a $10 gift certificate to Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill. Due to the frigid weather, only a few people stuck around for the awards ceremony and raffle. Those who did were treated to humerous announcing by one of the organizers, made all the funnier by his ability to be goofy depsite how cold he obviously was. All-in-all, it was a fun race and I’d be happy to run again next year.

What is it About Bipartisan Politics?

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I tuned into a program that talks to state lawmakers and discusses various issues they’re debating. It’s interesting, because it’s so easy to forget that there are people intensely focused on the needs of a single city or county. But while I conceptually like the program, I was dismayed to see how much they talked about party politics. When they talked about a spending bill or initiative with bipartisan support, it’d always be couched in the form of, "This issue is so obvious that even that party is willing to look at what we’ve proposed," as if people were shocked–shocked! I say–that the two parties could agree on legislation.

To stop myself from rolling my eyes, I began replacing that party with "Hitler." The show became much more entertaining when I imagined them saying, "I’m working on a spending bill that will cut 50 million from this program. That’s a savings we need so desperately that even Hitler will support it!" Because really, that’s what it sounded like they wanted to say.

I’m pretty sure most people want to pass good, sound legislation. Can’t we do that without all the partisan bickering, especially when the parties agree for once?

Don’t Pray For Peter

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Here’s an interesting exchange between Peter (aka Theomorph) and a commenter about the efficacy of intercessory prayer.

“I still think that so long as anyone believes in the same God who made an appearance in the book of Job, the idea of prayer getting a person what he or she wants is theologically unsound. If I may paraphrase in the vernacular, God basically told Job, ‘Don’t f*** with me; I do what I want and you can’t stop me.'”

Still Amusing the Church to Death

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Remember the post I wrote about Chuck Colsen’s critique of trite worship music? I agreed with Colsen’s distaste for “Draw Me Close to You” and its ilk. My buddy Rob didn’t. When discussion on both blogs died, I figured the matter was closed for the time being. I didn’t think the article had legs beyond my little corner of the net, but it seems I was wrong.

Sam Storms of Enjoying God Ministries and Justin Tayler of Between Two Worlds threw their two cents in with Rob. I wouldn’t have know that, though, if Godblogger heavyweight Tim Challies hadn’t joined the fray. I’m happy to say he’s on my side. 😉 Challies presents a seven-part test for “whether a particular song is suitable for worshiping our God, especially in a corporate setting”, borrowed from a book by Elmer Towns and Ed Stetzer. He also adds an eighth criterion of his own.

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Point of View

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In anticipation of Brother‘s upcoming "best of" compilation, As You Were, I’ve decided to share the list of tracks on my personal 2-disc compilation, which I call Point of View.

    Disc 1

  1. Romp & Circumstance (Exit From Screechville)
  2. Thetimeisnow (This Way Up)
  3. River (Urban Cave)
  4. The Crow (Exit From Screechville)
  5. Didg Jam (Exit From Screechville)
  6. Shadowman (The Digging Bone)
  7. Rainmaker (The Digging Bone)
  8. Turn Me Upside Down (Demo)
  9. Hang On (Demo)
  10. Mr. Maintenance (Black Stone Tramp)
  11. He’den.bro (Black Stone Tramp)
  12. The Next Time (Exit From Screechville)
  13. In Your Name (Urban Cave)
  14. Wear ME Down (Urban Cave)
  15. The Serpent (Exit From Screechville)
  16. Give It Away (This Way Up)
  17. All I Know (Black Stone Tramp)
  18. Louie’s Return (Exit From Screechville)
  19. Stand Beside Me (Your Backyard)
  20. 2 Chairs and One Tree (Your Backyard)
  21. Crazy (i you you me)
  22. My Rhubarb (Pipe Dreams)
    Disc 2

  1. An Doarach Bheag (Exit From Screechville)
  2. Shoes (The Digging Bone)
  3. Lose Your Head (The Digging Bone)
  4. It’s All Good (i you you me)
  5. Blackest of Blue (This Way Up)
  6. Dirty Reeds (Black Stone Tramp)
  7. One Heart, One Soul (The Digging Bone)
  8. Matter of Time (Exit From Screechville)
  9. Falling (Black Stone Tramp)
  10. Circling My Heart (Exit From Screechville)
  11. Lonely (Your Backyard)
  12. Bitch (Inside of Me) (Demo)
  13. Sooner or Later (Your Backyard)
  14. You Are (The Digging Bone)
  15. Chains (Exit From Screechville)
  16. Got Inside (The Digging Bone)
  17. Face (The Digging Bone)
  18. Carry Me (Black Stone Tramp)
  19. Just Listen (Urban Cave)
  20. The Java Jive (Pipe Dreams)