Web Robin

Matthew Demonstrates Games on the iPad

So far, Matthew and Sarah like the iPad as much as I do, if not more. Despite Matthew's youth, not turning 2 until next month, he has quickly figured out how to play some of the games, and to navigate the device. I captured him playing Arcade Hoops and soccer this afternoon. Note his demand of the "Ball" games. "Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!"

Sarah: Not Always a Lady, But Always a Fan

From Saturday: Sarah Taunts the Detroit Tigers In Oakland

What did you like of the Beijing Olympics?

Now that the Olympics are over, tell everyone what you liked best, what you thought was most exciting, and what was disappointing. Is there anything you would like to have seen more of? less of?

Teamwork

I really like this image of friends helping the cyclist through a really tough spot. What a great metaphor for how we should be for each other day by day.

Unfair advantage?

Today's news reports that the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne overturned a ban against athletes who use "technical devices" like prosthetics. (See a great video of this fellow on the MSNBC site.)

Not everyone likes this ruling. Do you think allowing athletes to use devices like the "Cheetah Flex-Foot" is analogous to letting them use performance-enhancing drugs?

Do you think amputees should be allowed to compete with able-bodied athletes?

Swimming Lesson

Katie Dive/Swim

Melody's new Sport

Melody Fencing: Wins 5:1

met the challenge!

Today was the Bidwell Classic, a half-marathon in Chico. I drove up last night with 3 friends from church. (They're all the same age as Chela and Jeremy, so I felt pretty lucky to tag along.) We had a lot of fun in the car on the way up but turned in pretty early so we'd have plenty of sleep before the big race. 2 of the women ran the race, and Becky and I walked it. My results are shown in the graphics above.

The first image shows the speed over the 13 miles. While it looks like there was a lot of variability, the speed stayed consistently between 13:10 and 13:50, thus the average pace of 13:34/mile. The practice we did two weeks ago was slower, with an average pace of 14:09/mile.

Unfortunately, my ipod wasn't calibrated perfectly, and each ipod mile was shorter than the real mile. (Of course, that means our speed was slower, too.) However, when I got to what the ipod thought was the end, I saw that I'd shaved off 7 minutes from the previous outing. Yea!

The weather was beautiful and Bidwell park is a great place to walk. Over 1000 people participated in the race. I was wearing a hideous orange t-shirt from a company readathon: on the back it showed the blue train from "The Little Engine that Could" book and the slogan, "I think I can." That earned me a few friendly comments, which was fun.

Doing the race was really hard, especially the last mile. Actually, the first mile was hard, too, because my shins were sore. But in spite of the struggle, all four of us had a great time and are already planning to participate in another event in May.

1/2 marathon practice

My friend Becky and I just finished our trial run (so to speak) for the Bidwell Classic 1/2 marathon = 13.11 miles. We're walking it, not running, and turned in a time today of 3 hours, 5 minutes. The target goal is 3 hours or better, so we feel pretty good about that.

In fact, this time is much better than the time I turned in for the 2002 event. That makes me happy. I think the difference is that I'm using the nike+ipod and constantly checking our pace, trying to keep it in the 13-minute per mile range. After about 10 miles keeping that pace was really hard, but I'm delighted with our progress.

Today we walked along the levee by our houses (the star) past Watt and Howe, through Sac State campus, across the river on the J Street bridge, then on the parkway on the other side of the river clear back to Howe and Watt, and then to the park by Mom's house. After crossing the pedestrian bridge in that park we only had to go another mile, so we decided to go to Mom's instead of continuing on to Folsom blvd.

Our path followed the river closely, so you can see where we were in this little aerial map.

Our last mile was slightly uphill, which was REALLY hard, but we still passed someone in the last 100 yards.  ;-D  Then we walked the mile to Mom's as a cool-down and she took us home.

When we stumbled out of the car, we could hardly believe how hard it was to move. I bet tomorrow will be challenging, but it doesn't matter -- we met our goal. Yea, us!!!

PS -- Cameron & Shayna -- It would sure be great if you could meet us at the finish line at the Bidwell Classic at One Mile Recreation Area in Bidwell Park, Chico, March 3! We'll be there at noon...

Best Game Ever!!!

Too bad I couldn't zoom in with my phone camera: the scoreboard shows 101 to 101 in Saturday's King's game --- with 1 minute to spare!!! The game was exciting from the first few minutes through overtime.

Thanks to Louis' incredible generosity, the four of us (Louis & Kristine, Richard and I) had box seats and a great view.

Unfortunately, the Kings lost, but what a game. I guess I'm a fan... as long as Louis is with us to explain everything and give the backstories and statistics on all the players.

In the photo on the right you can see Richard getting into the excitement and beating the "thunder sticks" that were dropped down from the ceiling for us to use to add to the noise.

What a fun night!