Thursday, March 29, 2007

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The best parts of a race
The start, when the pack justs starts to spread out so you can actually run, but you're still in a crowd. I always feel as if I'm in a bad Japanese movie, one of the extras being chased by Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster or Nancy Pelosi.
The Post Race. Carb loading. Shiner bock is best but anything will do.
Admiral Stockdale: "Who am I ? Why am I here?"

Why Running Dog?
1. Running Dog Imperialist Lackey is too long.
2. You may have guessed, I'm a Dog Person. The Wife is, even more so. In our house "You dog " is a term of endearment, not a pejorative. (At least that's what she tells me.)

At age 40, about a year after the kids were born, it was time to get serious about regular exercise. I started running three or four times a week. I enjoy it, and it keeps the stress and cholesterol down. I've done three ten milers (best time 85 minutes) and a marathon (4:24.) Not bad for a guy who became a jock in middle age.

Daniel Lyons writes in the latest Forbes magazine on easy blogging with Blogger. I've considered it for awhile. so here I am.

What will this be about? Running. Politics. Silliness. Kids. Travel. The GWOT. Life. Heck, I don't know, really. I'm making this up as I go along.
More boring gratuitous personal stuff follows. You've been warned.

I'm a civil engineer in a consulting firm with offices in Old Town Alexandria.
"What did you do at work today Dad?"
"Sent lots of emails, talked on the phone to clients, shuffled papers, went to too many meetings."
It's a good career. I've had a part, if only a small one, in projects like the Springfield interchange, the new Wilson Bridge, the new NAVSEA headquarters at thw Washington Navy Yard, and Pentagon Metro bus station.
I've been married for over fifteen years. The Wife teaches AP English and plays with an Irish band.
We have twin daughters, 12. They are terrific kids.
I grew up in the Southwest, went to Rice University, and then lived in Texas for ten years before moving to Virginia.
As George Will wrote,

Visitors may consider Rice the Harvard of the Southwest. Rice students
prefer to think of Harvard as the Rice of the Northeast.

I have a core sample of the Edwards aquifer on my desk; it's my own little piece of Texas.



Watson the Wonder Dog and Sweet Polly Purebred