Six word Meme
The Six-Words Meme was originally started by Smith Magazine. Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the rencountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”). So now, I've been tagged by dread pirate to write my own.
Huh.
I’ll try this out, no promises.
I did the Atomic Man Duathlon last weekend – the Little Boy course was 4K run, 15 K bike, 4K run. I’ve never done a duathlon before. The cold weather was nice - my arms were chilly to a bit numb for the first run. I went out conservatively, mostly because Geekgirl had just told me to: "don't go to fast in the first run, cuz you know you have to bike and then run again afterwards!" That, and I wasn't sure how biking after running would go. The hill on the Little Boy run course felt easy. Hills usually kill me, so I must be getting better.
Run: 20:45. (8:18 pace per mile)
And Now: on to the bike - I wasted a bit of time in T1 getting my riding gloves on. Not sure why I felt like I needed those for the 9 mile bike.
T1 - 1.34
My pink/magenta steel steed did me proud. No wind, which was so nice. I passed several people.
I feel good, dada nana dadana…
Then, several more people passed me. Ooops. My rankings tell the tale: out of 99 racers men and women – my time was 38th fastest for the run, 53rd for the bike (!!!) and then 29th for the second run. Perhaps biking is my weakness? The nice part is that I'm actually starting to enjoy biking a little these days- must be the great company in dread pirate and swtrigal. Anyhoo, the hills on the bike were not terribly steep or long, just kind of constantly rolling.
Bike = 34.01 mph = 16.4
I actually prepped for T2, undid the velcro on my shoes, took off my gloves while riding. Almost forgot to unclip at the line, and risked falling over at a dead stop right in front of Geekgirl, who had volunteered that day and was calling out race numbers.... It was nice to avoid that (narrowly). Maybe no one noticed….
T2= 0.48 Hey, my T2 time was second fastest in the top ten women!
The second run went fine, although I didn't really push it - I kept thinking I had a lot farther to go, and that I should save it for something down the line. I got a little warm. I hate getting too warm. I don’t mind sweating because I am working, I just don’t want to be sweating for no reason. Then when I realized I was almost done - the volunteer said 0.2 mi to go - I passed a few more people. Hmm, I have a little too much left in the tank. On the last 1 block uphill I could have tried to get the 3 women in front of me, but I decided not to. I had been catching up to them steadily, and I felt pretty good. But, I wanted a chance at a good finishing photo, and I wasn't sure I cared about an additional 15 seconds. Of course, now I think it would have been cool to beat them to the line. Oh well. Besides, my finishing photo looks horrible.
Run = 20.38 pace = 8:15 per mile Faster than the first go around!
No horking, could have been faster.
Imaginary standards means I can’t stop.
I should have tried to go faster on the first run and faster on the bike. Who knows though, I might have just blown up had I pushed it. So I'm happy with my first Du ever.
I thought I'd finish in 1:30 or so, so I was STOKED to finish in 1:17:44.
Didn’t know I could do that.
Hee Hee - a very good start to racing in 2008.
We’ll just ignore that Quadrathlon incident.
I'm no Hemingway, no surprise there.
I'll go back to lab now....
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Cancun Dreams and Realities, continued...
Adventure #2
We decide that Thursday morning, we’d like to drive to Coba to explore a site of mayan ruins that has not been completely excavated. Although I was pushing to try to visit more sites on Thursday, Co convinced me that to over schedule our free time would be BAD. He was right. So, from Coba, we plan to head to our new cabana, hang out and relax in the water that evening. Then, Friday, we planned to do some snorkeling, and to get to the airport at 2:30.
To carry off this plan, we decide to leave the poopy resort by 8:00 am on Thursday. We consult two maps to plan our driving route. It looks like there are two ways to get to Coba. Unsure which would be better, we ask the concierge:
Me: “Should we take the coastal highway, or should we take the inland route?”
Him: “hmm… Oh, definitely take the inland route. It is much more direct. You’ll be there in 1.5 hours.”
Me: “so I take highway 285 to Hwy 5 south? Will I have any problems finding my way?”
Him: “No, you’ll be fine. Very easy.”
Ok, off we go. I was driving. I missed a turn right away, and we did a tour of the airport. I get on the correct highway going the correct direction upon exiting the airport. Not a huge detour. So, Co looks at the map and tells me the next turn should be Hwy 5 south in about 60 km. I make a note, and Co starts napping. La dee da… Driving is fun in a foreign country. Even relaxing. I get close to the km marker, and start watching. Wait, there was the marker…. No signs. Um, oh no. that was an overpass headed north/south, but no access ramp to it. Uh oh. I go another 4 km or so, and come to a “state line” and there is a toll station for trucks. I pull off, and Co wakes up. I explain. We look at the map, which is no help. We look around.
Two guys, in their 50’s maybe, are sitting outside of a building not far from us. They are watching us curiously, with beers in hand and shirts unbuttoned. I look at Co. “Think we can get help?” “Might as well try…”
I get out and approach the two, er, gentlemen. Broken Spanish starts here:
Me: Hi. We’re going to Coba. But… gesture at hwy 5 on the map.
Do you know how to get there?
Guy 1: Oh, you can’t get onto 5 from here. No access.
Me: Yes, but is there a town we can get off of this highway… and then to 5?
Guy 1 and 2: Oh you can go VIOWRHTOIHGQEO CIOWIYTQ OWI SDPIHF QOPWIT long very long.
Me: Ummm. I go north?
Guy 2: No, OIYYQOXIYO@)(#& AOIDHASDKH IEYR AOWIE EIYRKHROQIY but then FAOWUIEHC DI woerti HGWOIYT wleith ai.
Me: Umm, I didn’t understand that.
The two guys look at each other a say a few things I don’t catch. One gestures to the truck nearby, the other shakes his head.
One guy says to give the other guy $10 (100 pesos) and he will take us there.
I look at Co. He shrugs. I hand the guy 100 pesos. (I’m thinking, yup, I expected to pay my way out of this, the question is, are we really going to get where we want to be?) He says to follow him, and he gets a BICYCLE. We hurry to our car. We do a u-turn in the highway to get going the other direction. We drive on the shoulder of the highway at 8 mph following this guy on his bicycle. (!!)
We go maybe a mile. I mean, 1.5 km. The guy stops and lays his bike on the ground. The highway is bordered by a guard rail. The guy walks up to the guard rail, and starts UNSCREWING THE BOLTS THAT HOLD IT TOGETHER! I tell Co to get out and help him. I can see that beyond the guard rail is the remnants of an old road. Weeds are growing in the middle of the road, and trees are encroaching along its edge. There’s some trash around too. I cannot, however, see where this road will lead. It does head south, which is encouraging….
Co and the guy get a piece of the guard rail off, and the guy motions me through. Ok. I am feeling a little uncertain and ridiculous. (And I’m having a blast.) Co and the nice guy put the guard rail back on, the guy climbs back on his bike, and goes back towards the state line, and is out of sight quickly.
Co gets in the car. He’s also grinning a little uncertainly.
Me: I can’t believe that.
Co: The bolts were loose – that gets done a lot.
Me: I guess we go this way?
Co: Do you have a choice?
Me: Vamos!
Co: We’re dumb for not bringing a dictionary.
Me: Si Senor!
We head off down the road.
After 3 km or so, another road (in use this time) crosses our path. Of course, there are no signs to indicate what road this is, as this is not a legal intersection, so to speak. So, left or right? We gamble right. We were wrong, we realize, as we come to a small village. There are goats, and dogs, and children, but no hwy 5. We do another u-turn, pass the decrepit road, and Lo! There appear to us signs for hwy 5. Co and I are shaking our heads, dumbfounded by our luck at getting on the right road.
Best $10 we ever spent.
Here are some pictures from Coba, and our cabana on the beach in Tulum. Ah, so nice.
*coming soon*
Coba is a site of Mayan ruins, several of which are unexcavated. It’s a bit perplexing to see a tree growing right out of the middle of a rock structure. There were bicycle taxis you could hire to take you around, but we opted to walk the 4 to 5 miles. The main pathways are busy, but there are several temples off the main path that you get all to yourself.
We played spot the lizard:
*coming soon*
And spot the bat:
*coming soon*
The tour guides raced each other running up this pyramid – 42 meters tall.
*coming soon*
All in all, an excellent trip.
We decide that Thursday morning, we’d like to drive to Coba to explore a site of mayan ruins that has not been completely excavated. Although I was pushing to try to visit more sites on Thursday, Co convinced me that to over schedule our free time would be BAD. He was right. So, from Coba, we plan to head to our new cabana, hang out and relax in the water that evening. Then, Friday, we planned to do some snorkeling, and to get to the airport at 2:30.
To carry off this plan, we decide to leave the poopy resort by 8:00 am on Thursday. We consult two maps to plan our driving route. It looks like there are two ways to get to Coba. Unsure which would be better, we ask the concierge:
Me: “Should we take the coastal highway, or should we take the inland route?”
Him: “hmm… Oh, definitely take the inland route. It is much more direct. You’ll be there in 1.5 hours.”
Me: “so I take highway 285 to Hwy 5 south? Will I have any problems finding my way?”
Him: “No, you’ll be fine. Very easy.”
Ok, off we go. I was driving. I missed a turn right away, and we did a tour of the airport. I get on the correct highway going the correct direction upon exiting the airport. Not a huge detour. So, Co looks at the map and tells me the next turn should be Hwy 5 south in about 60 km. I make a note, and Co starts napping. La dee da… Driving is fun in a foreign country. Even relaxing. I get close to the km marker, and start watching. Wait, there was the marker…. No signs. Um, oh no. that was an overpass headed north/south, but no access ramp to it. Uh oh. I go another 4 km or so, and come to a “state line” and there is a toll station for trucks. I pull off, and Co wakes up. I explain. We look at the map, which is no help. We look around.
Two guys, in their 50’s maybe, are sitting outside of a building not far from us. They are watching us curiously, with beers in hand and shirts unbuttoned. I look at Co. “Think we can get help?” “Might as well try…”
I get out and approach the two, er, gentlemen. Broken Spanish starts here:
Me: Hi. We’re going to Coba. But… gesture at hwy 5 on the map.
Do you know how to get there?
Guy 1: Oh, you can’t get onto 5 from here. No access.
Me: Yes, but is there a town we can get off of this highway… and then to 5?
Guy 1 and 2: Oh you can go VIOWRHTOIHGQEO CIOWIYTQ OWI SDPIHF QOPWIT long very long.
Me: Ummm. I go north?
Guy 2: No, OIYYQOXIYO@)(#& AOIDHASDKH IEYR AOWIE EIYRKHROQIY but then FAOWUIEHC DI woerti HGWOIYT wleith ai.
Me: Umm, I didn’t understand that.
The two guys look at each other a say a few things I don’t catch. One gestures to the truck nearby, the other shakes his head.
One guy says to give the other guy $10 (100 pesos) and he will take us there.
I look at Co. He shrugs. I hand the guy 100 pesos. (I’m thinking, yup, I expected to pay my way out of this, the question is, are we really going to get where we want to be?) He says to follow him, and he gets a BICYCLE. We hurry to our car. We do a u-turn in the highway to get going the other direction. We drive on the shoulder of the highway at 8 mph following this guy on his bicycle. (!!)
We go maybe a mile. I mean, 1.5 km. The guy stops and lays his bike on the ground. The highway is bordered by a guard rail. The guy walks up to the guard rail, and starts UNSCREWING THE BOLTS THAT HOLD IT TOGETHER! I tell Co to get out and help him. I can see that beyond the guard rail is the remnants of an old road. Weeds are growing in the middle of the road, and trees are encroaching along its edge. There’s some trash around too. I cannot, however, see where this road will lead. It does head south, which is encouraging….
Co and the guy get a piece of the guard rail off, and the guy motions me through. Ok. I am feeling a little uncertain and ridiculous. (And I’m having a blast.) Co and the nice guy put the guard rail back on, the guy climbs back on his bike, and goes back towards the state line, and is out of sight quickly.
Co gets in the car. He’s also grinning a little uncertainly.
Me: I can’t believe that.
Co: The bolts were loose – that gets done a lot.
Me: I guess we go this way?
Co: Do you have a choice?
Me: Vamos!
Co: We’re dumb for not bringing a dictionary.
Me: Si Senor!
We head off down the road.
After 3 km or so, another road (in use this time) crosses our path. Of course, there are no signs to indicate what road this is, as this is not a legal intersection, so to speak. So, left or right? We gamble right. We were wrong, we realize, as we come to a small village. There are goats, and dogs, and children, but no hwy 5. We do another u-turn, pass the decrepit road, and Lo! There appear to us signs for hwy 5. Co and I are shaking our heads, dumbfounded by our luck at getting on the right road.
Best $10 we ever spent.
Here are some pictures from Coba, and our cabana on the beach in Tulum. Ah, so nice.
*coming soon*
Coba is a site of Mayan ruins, several of which are unexcavated. It’s a bit perplexing to see a tree growing right out of the middle of a rock structure. There were bicycle taxis you could hire to take you around, but we opted to walk the 4 to 5 miles. The main pathways are busy, but there are several temples off the main path that you get all to yourself.
We played spot the lizard:
*coming soon*
And spot the bat:
*coming soon*
The tour guides raced each other running up this pyramid – 42 meters tall.
*coming soon*
All in all, an excellent trip.
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