Illinois 10k

Stats:
Date- 4/28/2012
Weather- 47 degrees, windy, cloudy, scattered showers. Brr!
Course- flat as a pancake through "downtown" and fancy neighborhoods. Scenic and friendly. :-)
Time- 1:25:02

Story:
On Friday morning, Dan and I flew to Chicago. The plan was for us to meet my friends Debbie and Mike in Chicago and share a rental car for the 3 hour drive to Urbana-Champaign where Meg goes to grad school, and where the race was. Yeah, excellent plan. As we were getting on the plane, Debbie texted to tell me that their flight was delayed another hour so we figured Dan and I would hang out at the airport and wait for them. When we landed 2 hours later, their flight had been cancelled due to a problem with the plane. Poor Deb and Mike spent 10 hours in the airport waiting on stand-by list after stand-by list until they finally got on a flight at 6:00! Since they weren't going to make it anytime soon, Dan and I decided to rent our own car. We had to take a bus to the individual rental car offices, so we got on the first one that came, rented the cheapest car they had, and took off. We ended up with a red Mazda 2... with no cruise control (I <3 Cruise Control). It was really tiny, but not a bad ride. I affectionately called it "Little Squirt" all weekend long.

Cute little guy- Source

We checked into the hotel, grabbed some groceries, and then headed over to the expo. Meg was running the 5k Friday and the 10k Saturday, the Mini-I challenge so we planned to meet her at the end of the 5k. One critique I have of this race is that it wasn't so well organized. There was a ton of traffic on campus and no signs like "Park here" or "Expo this way!" For someone who goes to the school, it's no problem, but as a first time visitor I was really lost.

We finally found parking, and then found Meg. We hit up the expo just as it was closing, to buy some stylish matching headbands. We grabbed a late dinner with Meg and some of her friends, then headed to bed. Debbie and Mike got in at 12:30, Dan and I were already passed out.

We woke up on a cold, dreary morning, at a delightful 5:00am. Ew! We got dressed, made hot water in the coffee maker to make oatmeal, and then piled into the car to head for the race. It was very cold, so we huddled in the basketball stadium as long as possible before heading to the start line.

The half and marathon went first, and then we lined up and were off! After running for about a mile I finally started feeling my frozen toes again. After weeks in hot Texas, the cool weather actually felt good while running and we were faster as a result. We planned to run together, even though Debbie is fast and we are slow. Meg's knees were bothering her (the reason she dropped down from the marathon was knee injury) so we stopped to walk. Unfortunately after walking for a mile, it got really cold. Dan and I did not have appropriate running clothes for cold weather and eventually decided to start running just to warm back up. By then I already knew my under 1:14 goal was out the window, but I had a mylar blanket waiting for me and I was dying to get to it!

Garmin data- Pace

Splits. Idk why lap 6 was only 0.85 miles.

Compliments for this race- in contrast to earlier organizational difficulties, the course was well marked, well staffed, and the volunteers were awesome. Also tons of people came out of their houses along the course, despite the terrible weather, to watch and cheer. It was really fun (although I could have used another 10 degrees Farenheit!) and I would totally do it (or maybe the half?) again next year!

April wrap and May Goals

Goals for April:
There weren't any. I haven't done a goals post in many months. I think because I was doing so badly at accomplishing my goals.

Things accomplished in April:

• Booked a wedding venue.
• Ordered (and received) save-the-dates.
  
• Made a wedding website.
• Ran a 10k in Illinois with my friends Meg and Debbie. In matching shiny headbands:
  
• Threw a Passover seder.

Goals for May:

• Order a wedding dress.
• Send those Save the Dates!
• Start training for the Disneyland Half. Even though its hot out!
• Strength train at least once a week.
• Plan my meals for the week every Sunday afternoon.

A tale of 2 weekends

Busy, busy so I only have one post this week. In it, I'll cover last weekend and this weekend. Ready? Go...

So last weekend I got off work at 8am. I wanted to not spend most of the day sleeping. I wanted to clean the house and get an oil change. But I did end up passing out around 10 and sleeping until 2:30. Then it was time to get up, eat, and head to meet Dan and some friends for the movie Cabin in the Woods at 4. No productivity that day. But a nice nap!
I don't like scary movies and this one was a little jumpy scary (the kind I don't like) and very gory (that doesn't bother me much) but was very good. No spoilers, but I will say it has more plot than your average scary movie. I recommend it. Just bring a big strong man to hide behind if it gets too scary.

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Saturday we were going to get up early and go for a run, but I was super tired even though I slept for 10 hours. I woke up finally, slammed some caffeine, and Dan and I headed over to the JSC Chili Cookoff.  For $10 entry, you got a bowl and spoon for unlimited chili tasting, and a wristband for unlimited drinks (beer and soda). We lucked out with a beautiful day- high 60s when we got there, low 70s by the end.

So many booths!

Since it was all space center folks, there was a definite nerd theme running through everything....

Made by an Engineering group.

Robot stirring the chili!

They had a whole wooden diner assembled at their booths.

After that, we headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to make our first gift registry!

I was surprised that this was less like a fun shopping adventure and more stressful. Is this too expensive? What color should we get? Should we get china? Ahhh! But we survived and soon maybe the presents will start rolling in. Hard to argue with that!

As for next weekend...
Friday morning we leave for Illinois. We land in Chicago mid-day and are driving down to Champaign with my college friend Debbie and her husband. There we'll meet my other college friend (and future bridesmaid) Meg! Meg is running the 5k in Champaign on Friday night. Meg, Dan, and I are running the 10k Saturday morning. Debbie and Mike are running the half marathon. Meg will get a special medal for completing 2 races- the I challenge!

Goals for this 10k: I only have one. PR. Last time I finished in 1:14:00. We didn't train as dilligently for this one... maybe the knowledge that we could complete one made us cocky. So I'm not sure we can run the whole thing, but walk breaks may work to our advantage. But whatever happens, I am in for a fun weekend with good friends! So excited!

What I Ate Wednesday- Return of the Chametz

Passover ended Saturday night, so I had my first deliciously bready meal when I woke up for work Saturday night. I also dug into the boxes in my cabinet for goodies like pita chips and rolled oats.
But I consider that passover really ended for me Tuesday night when I finally went to the grocery store to buy perishable chametz staples like bread, hummus, and this breakfast of champions:

Around midnight I had another snack, a portable instant oatmeal. They have a hot water tap at work that I use for tea so I poured some in my oatmeal cup.

(Side note: Does anyone know how to get blogger to not rotate my photos wrong? It's goofy!)
I filled to the line, like I was told, and let it sit for a few minutes. It was a little watery for my taste but otherwise delicious. I love apples and cranberries and walnuts. Here are the nutrition stats:

Not too shabby for a console breakfast that requires no cleanup!

Around 2am I was getting really cold so I made a hot beverage. I love the caffeine content of chai (a must on the overnight shift!), but the flavor is a little overwhelming so I add a package of  hot cocoa. I stole this idea from what folks call "MCC Mocha," a packet of hot chocolate made with coffee instead of tea. I don't like coffee at all, so I don't do that. But the tea gives the cocoa a stronger, cinnamon-y taste that is pretty delicious.

It warmed me right up, so much I even turned off my space heater for a couple hours.


At 5am I warmed up my dinner. Leftover Mexican Lasagna. It was Dan's idea and I can't find the recipe... but it was pretty good! A little liquidy, might try with no bake noodles to let them absorb some of that juice.

When I got home I ate another breakfast (or dinner) of champions:

Beer and waffles are both no-nos on Passover. Yummy! Hey don't judge me for a 9am beer, it's 5:00 somewhere. (Like in Munich, Germany, where our ESA counterparts control their ISS module from).

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Join the party:

Fun with Solar Arrays

Another week on console, another couple of solar array feathering events.

Monday we have a Prop Purge from the Progress. This Progress has been with us since January, and is leaving on Thursday morning.

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A Progress is basically a big empty (unmanned) Soyuz. They launch from Kazakhstan full of fuel, food, water, air and other consumables. This one docked to the docking compartment (PIRS) which is on the earth facing (we call that nadir) side of the ISS. We could just say bottom, but really there's no up or down in space so bottom, top, left, and right are irrelevant.

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After the Progress docks, astronauts spend some time moving cargo out of the Progress; then before it's time to leave, they spend a bunch more time moving in trash. Before the Progress leaves, whatever extra propellant it has left is transferred to the station tanks. After that, we must vent out the fluid lines safely, to avoid it spraying any which way when the Progress undocks... that's the Prop Purge that we did this morning. Since this involves both propulsive attitude control and contaminants being vented to space, we move the US solar arrays to safe positions where they won't be damaged by the propellant.

What does propulsive attitude control mean? Well, ordinarily we use non-propulsive attitude control- large spinning gyroscopes rotated about an axis. Remember that experiment in high school physics where you spin the bike wheel and try to turn it sideways and it resists? Or when you do that on a chair and the chair spins in the opposite direction.  Or watch the video below, where a spinning wheel resists gravity to stand upright even though its only anchored by the rope to the axle.

These gyroscopes work like that bike wheel to impart forces on the ISS and keep it, essentially, straight. But they are only so powerful. When you vent something, you are subject to Newton's Third Law- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For example, spraying propellant to the left would cause the ISS to move right, the opposite reaction. These same laws are acting on you when you hold a running garden hose, but other forces (like your weight and the friction between your feet and the floor) keep it from pushing you back. The ISS is just floating there in space, so no friction and no weight are going to help it out. Instead the station's thrusters must act to keep the ISS from moving right. Those thrusters can damage the solar arrays, so we must move the arrays to a safe position.

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Thursday morning we will undock this Progress (number 46). It will float away and burn up in the atmosphere, taking our trash with it. Then, a few days later, a new Progress (number 47) will come take it's place. The circle of life.