Today I Had a Really Bad Run
I haven’t had a bad run in a long time.
I haven’t had a run this bad in a long, long time.
Like…I can’t even remember when I had a run this absolutely hard and miserable. I wanted to quit like five separate times, which is a pretty big deal, because I never want to quit.
The worst thing about bad runs is how they psych me out for my next run. As illogical as it is, I always catastrophize it and think that I have lost my ability to run longer distances and now all of my runs will be miserable.
UGH. I hope Thursday’s run will be better.
(Edit: it was great, hahaha)
Back to Calgary
I’M BACK IN CALGARY
I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE RIGHT NOW
I WANT ANOTHER WEEK+ IN MOSCOW
LALALALALALA THROW ME IN THE BOW
An Experiment (or, “What I Think About During a 26-Mile Run”)
So for anyone who is unaware, there is a bike/pedestrian path between Moscow and Pullman called the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. Completed in 1998, it is an approximately seven mile long trail that starts near the intersection of Bishop Boulevard and Main Street in Pullman and ends at the intersection of the Pullman-Moscow Highway and Perimeter Drive in Moscow. A decade or so (?) ago, a little scale model of the solar system was set up on the Moscow side, where the sun was placed at the terminal end of the trail and each planet was placed an appropriate distance from this little model sun, ending with Pluto and the other dwarf planets near Warbonnet Drive.
This gives you a good idea of the distance between all the planets, but as I was running this morning, I wondered what this model would look like if it extended the entire length of the trail. That is, if the sun was placed where it currently is (at the Moscow end), but Pluto and the other dwarf planets were placed at the Pullman end, how would the spread of the planets look over these seven miles?
So I made a map! This is what that model would look like with the sun at the “mile 0” marker and Pluto/dwarfs at the “mile 7″ marker. Distances:
- Mercury: 0.069 miles from the sun
- Venus: 0.128 miles from the sun
- Earth: 0.177 miles from the sun
- Mars: 0.269 miles from the sun
- Jupiter: 0.922 miles from the sun
- Saturn: 1.698 miles from the sun
- Uranus: 3.403 miles from the sun
- Neptune: 5.334 miles from the sun
- Pluto/dwarfs: 7 miles* from the sun
And a picture, because that makes it so much easier to see.
I think that gives an even better representation of the vast distances between those outer planets. Also, it’s kind of cool that the Washington-Idaho border sits where the Asteroid Belt would be.
WOO!
*This is super approximate; there are obviously several inaccuracies when doing this in Google Maps in terms of getting the exact distances along that trail, AND I don’t remember if the “Pluto” marker is based on Pluto’s average distance from the sun, the average distance of the mentioned dwarf planets, or on something else.
Want to read blogs that are better than mine?
Boom!
I’ve complained on here multiple times that people don’t blog like they used to. The personal blog has especially tanked in popularity in the past few decades. But if you’re like me and really enjoy reading those “here are my miscellaneous thoughts and experiences” blogs, check out the “personal” tag as well as the “directories” tag for more blog lists.
BYE!
Thank You, Mr. Garrett!
Mr. Garrett was my band teacher from 7th grade through 12th grade. He was one of my favorite teachers I’ve ever had, in part because of the subject he taught but in part because he was just an awesome dude. I always enjoyed the way he taught band, the pieces he selected for us, and his general attitude towards dealing with a bunch of weirdo band kids, whether they be little tiny 12- and 13-year-old 7th graders or wild and (supposedly) wiser 18-year-old seniors.
I remember we used to have “test days” back in junior high that just consisted of him wheeling out the big TV and letting us watch The Emperor’s New Groove or Star Wars or Lord of the Rings that day during band period. In high school, we traveled to Disneyland to do a mock professional recording of some songs (and, of course, spend like 24+ hours riding rides and being general hooligans in Disneyland itself) and to Canada to play at some sort of competition thingy. Even the fundraisers for these events were fun.
Anyway, after teaching for 37 years, he is finally retiring. Last year was the final Ice Cream Social performance he would be involved in, so my mom and I stopped in to say congratulations.
And I’ll say it again here: congrats, Mr. Garrett! Thank you for being an amazing band teacher and for the impact you’ve had on countless young lives. Keeping music in schools is beyond important, and your role in this has been undeniable.
Have a great retirement!
Eigenblogger Turns 19
Ahoy-hoy!
So today is my 19th blogaversary.
Yes, I’ve been doing this for NINETEEN YEARS. That’s pretty insane.
I don’t really have anything special planned for this anniversary, mainly because next year’s is the big 20 and that’s more important.
But yeah. Thanks to all my loyal readers (Maddie and my mom, haha); I will continue to do this up until my 10,000th blog post…and perhaps beyond!
Eigenblogger 