Somthing just happened

I'm not telling what it is, though.

Nya-nya.

 

Odds of the 8-12 "meet" are currently 55% that I'll be there.

Stuff coming up

The cycling notebook in the Daily Cageliner hipped me to an October 8^th Duathlon—Du the Bear.

2-12-2 run/bike/run in Bear Creek Park.

 

I might do that.  It sounds like it could be fun.

 

Also, mad props to the NWCC.  I rode with those guys once and they’re one of the top cycling clubs in town, as proven by the hardware.

 

Odds of an August 12 appearance have moved up to somewhere near 60%.

Tick tock

I haven’t completely ruled out the marathon in 2007 yet, but I’m darned close.

 

The ½ marathon, though, is still a very real possibility.  Plus, except for communion on Main Street, the challenge of the Westpark Bridge, and the Memorial Park and Allen Parkway stretch, the run is pretty much the same.  Same Valley of Champions and Alley of Heroes, and the same sun shining down on your last several feet before… 

We’ll see.

August 12 (13?) is an inter-team competition at the RTW.  Maybe I’ll head out and see if some of that old runnin’ magic will rub off on me again.

Here's something for you to think about

I’m putting it on both blogs (yes, I’m still on hiatus) because it might be of interest to our resident astronot Sarah.  (She works at NASA, but doesn’t fly space ships, yet.)

Bigelow Aeronautics launched their “inflatable” space module project today out of Russia.  The prototype measures 4 feet in diameter by 14 feet long.  The concept (pioneered by our folks at NASA and SpaceHab, later TransHab) is that you launch this graphitefiber module into space, then inflate it when you get out there to increase the internal volume of the structure.  The inflated prototype will measure about 8 feet in diameter by 28 feet long.  The graphitefiber skin is strong enough to withstand micrometeors and space junk.  Because the deflated module takes up less space it consumes less volume in the cargo bay.  Less volume means less weight means less cost.

Here’s something to think about.

The prototype’s volume deflated is about 550 cubic feet (552.7 to be precise).

If you use up every inch of the Shuttle’s cargo bay you can fit 60 of these bad boys in there.  Assuming you have something to link these things together (and there’s no reason to suggest that you couldn’t manufacture a module that could do just that) you’d have a potential space station with a volume of 265,000 cubic feet of internal volume.

 

IN ONE TRIP!!!

To put it in perspective, that’s equivalent to almost 8 space shuttle cargo bays in permanent orbit.

IN ONE TRIP!!!

 

Of course, you’re not going to utilize every inch of the shuttle’s cargo bay.  And you have to come up with something that can link these modules together.  And there’s the CMA safety concern of some kind of rupture of the fabric, so the linking module will probably have to be solid metal, not fabric.  But the potential is remarkably awesome.  So you can only put up 4 space shuttle cargo bays with one trip.  It’s still a pretty fantastic deal.

 

They’ve been building the space station for nearly a decade now.  In 1 trip you could put a structure in orbit that eclipses the space station’s internal living space without risking 4 vehicles and 4 crews, and without spending the money (or risk) to prepare 4 launches.

It’s a pretty awesome thought.  Mark your calendars, ladies and gentlemen.  You’ve just entered a new era.

Still on hiatus

Yes, I’m still officially on hiatus, so there’s no running and consequently no running updates.  I’ve fixed the problem with the Sport Junkie site, though.

 

I found myself dreaming last night of taking communion at the Anglican Church on S. Main just across the street from Rice U.  The rector was standing out front and I ran past, then stopped, turned around, jogged back and paused to take my communion.  As I took the bread “dream me” breathed deep, slowed down the old heart rate, nodded to the rector (rector?  Damn near killed her!  Yuk yuk), said something along the lines of “time to get going again”, and headed back down the road.  No cars were on the road.  Nobody else was around.  There was nothing but houses and trees.

 

There’s only 1 time I’ve ever taken communion at that church.  It was during the 06 Houston Marathon at or near mile 11.

 

That’s pretty whacked out.

 

--

 

There are plenty of good arguments I can give for running the half marathon next year.  One of which is that I will no doubt be able to finish fairly well if I start some moderate training, even if I start training late.  But there’s so much on the last half of the marathon that I’d hate to miss—the Anglican piper and again at the 13 mile marker, the Westpark overpass, the turn under 610 heading into Memorial Park and familiar running ground, the rolling hills/underpasses of Allen Parkway (not to mention the stronger runners who are taking it easy doing their level best to pump up we who are laboring on those final miles), the entry back into the valleys of downtown, the turn on to Texas Avenue (the valley of Champions, if you don’t mind me saying so), that last stretch as the skyscrapers peel into the background and the sun shines down on those final meters, the “deafening” roar of the 20 or 30 folks who stuck around for your big fat butt to finish, and finally those last steps across the goal…

 

Those things might just get stored away and shared with my boy some day.