Go, Speed Racer, Go!

Click ahead to Picture #75 and #76.

Tomorrow Is The Big Day

The Clarksville Half-Marathon is tomorrow. I drove the course on my way home from packet pick-up. There are a few more hills than advertised, but not bad for the central part of Tennessee. I expect to take around 2 hours ad 45 minutes. I'll report back how it turns out.

World Series MVP?

Last night Hideki Matsui was named MVP of the 2009 World Series. And while 6 RBI in the clinching game is impressive, I think the voters kicked the call.

World Series' are defined by big moments. That's when memories are made, stories are told. And in the biggest moments of this year's Series, nobody came up bigger than . . .

Alex Rodriguez.

You heard me. Mr. Purple Lipstick, Mr. Lied to Katie Couric, Mr. Steroid Cheat Himself. When you look at the raw numbers, nobody contributed more to the Yankees' victory than Alex Rodriguez. In the big moments, he made the big plays.

Game 5, 1st Inning, 2 outs. Johnny Damon on first, Rodriguez doubles him home off Cliff Lee. Yankees lead 1-0 and nearly go on to a big inning. That hit was rated by Fangraphs.com as the 11th most important offensive play for the Yankees in the Series.

Game 3 4th Inning, 1 out, 1 on, Yankees trail 3-0. A-Rod goes deep off Cole Hamels, cutting the lead to 1 and sparking a comeback that woudl ultimately end with the Yankees winning 8-5. The home run was the 4th biggest play of the Series according to Fangraphs.

The number 1 play in the Series? 9th inning, Game 4. Game tied, runners at the corners. A-Rod facing Brad Lidge. Fangraphs gives this play a Leverage Index of 5 (very few games ever see a Leverage index higher than 2 or 2 1/2). Rodriguez doubles to the gap in left center, driving in Johnny Damon and setting up Jorge Posada to knock home two insurance runs with (oh, by the way) Mariano Rivera coming in to pitch the 9th. Yankees win, go up 3-1, and cruise to title #27.

With the Series on the line, A-Rod came through three times. M, V, and P.

Game 7?

I would love to see a Game 7 in this year's World Series. But for that to happen, Pedro Martinez has to win tonight.

Is it worth it? I'm just not sure . . .

Yards and Yards

Yesterday, I overheard Erica & Katie singing "Yards and Yards of Yellow Yarn."

Ah, Electric Company. Good times -- a very long time ago.

Summer Schedule Shortened (Again)

Todd County schools are out for the rest of this week because of flu, then all of next week for Fall Break. of course, those four days will have to be made up. And of course, they will be tacked on to the end of the school year.

A "regular" summer vacation generally only runs 60 days. Knock a week off that total for the flu, and that leaves 7 1/2 weeks for Gospel Meeting, VBS, and camp, plus everybody's family vacations.

If it snows at all this winter, that'll be even more days.

I hope our public schoolers enjoy this unscheduled vacation, because come summer there won't be much left.

Back in the Bloggity

Now that the SHC and park soccer season is behind me, I can get back here more often. No promises, but still.

The half-marathon training is still going. Today I did 5 miles in 1:06:21.5. Not exactly blazing speed, but I guess it'll do for now. My next goal is to get my five-mile time under 1 hour.

I ran in the Elkton 5K on Saturday, finishing in 37:39, good for second in the 35-39 age group.

Two. Why do you ask?

I'm finding that distance running is not so much about physical endurance or stamina as it is about will. The physical slog is one thing, but for me the mental side is what's really hard. By November 7, I need the mental and emotional stamina to put up with running pain for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Today I was able to sustain race pace for right at 30 minutes.

I'm also finding that a mixture of hard running and recovery walking works much better for me than straight jogging. That's probably a soccer thing; center refereeing requires more "sprint and stop" than "steady run." I don't know if that's what the professional trainers recommend, but it works for me, so there you go.