What happens to your body if you stop smoking right now?

CBS Early Show features Chattanooga as a Green Vacation Spot

The report noted that “Memphis loves to sing the blues, but in Chattanooga, the tune is ‘Go Green.’ The river town has come a long way since being designated America's most polluted city in 1969. Today, 22 miles of once inaccessible riverfront have been reclaimed for public use, and revitalization projects have made the city a model eco town and tourist hotspot.”



Thanks businesschatt

Bottled Water Is the Enemy

I've heard this argument before, but it appears it's gaining significant traction making it to the NY Times. Basically, it takes a SIGNIFICANT amount of petroleum to make the plastic for water bottles and then they fill up the land-fills. Exacerbating the environmental impact is the fact that these water bottles are carried around and distributed by large gas (or diesel) guzzling trucks.

Here is the article:

By Freakonomics

Mayor Ken Livingstone of London is urging his citizens to forego bottled water in light of the drag it puts on the environment. Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York has done the same. Others, meanwhile, have taken the further step of an outright ban on bottled water. Your thoughts?

I loved some of the comments so I'll post them here:

We’re calling on people to stop drinking exhorbitantly over priced bottled water and donating the money saved to finance clean water infrastructure in undevelopped and developping areas of Africa. We’ve only been around about a year but we’ve already started making a difference and we continue to expand the area we are serving.

Municipal water supplies in this part of the world (North America, I’m referring to) are under far more scrutiny than any water bottling company. Municipal resources fall under strict government controls that do not apply to private industry.

In any case, all the information you need is on the website. http://www.Thewaterproject.com

— Posted by Alex W

More idiotic enviro-fascist lunacy. It does seem to bother these dolts that things like the London congestion charge are expensive and useless.

Then again…these twits are making it far easier to be rebellious. Be a rebel…drink bottled water.

— Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge

“Similarly, public water systems are required to test for chemical water contaminants four times as often as bottled water companies. In addition, loopholes in the FDA’s testing policy do not require the same standards for water that is bottled and sold in the same state, meaning that a significant number of bottles have undergone almost no regulation or testing.”
http://www.allaboutwater.org/regulations.html

— Posted by Phil

Prentice Cooper...Mullins Cove Trail Run

This isn't my photo, but it is a photo of the trail I ran on Sunday. It was one of the best runs I have had in a long time. My friends kept telling me about all this fun they were having running trails, and I honestly didn't think it would be that different.

I was pleasantly surprised. I would compare running to trail running like I would compare climbing on the top of my roof every year to clean the gutters to climbing El Capital in Yosemite. It didn't feel like I was running at all. It just felt like a great day in the woods. It was mid-60's and I found some great views.

The only bad thing about the day was that I couldn't bike there and had to borrow my wife's car. (arrggghhhh) To make matters worse I had to climb one of my favorite mountains in a nasty pollution machine instead of a nice bike. The reason I couldn't was that there is a 6-mile gravel dirt trail that I had to use to get to the trail. Last weekend I climbed the mountain on my bike, with my running shoes slapped on my back and thought I would just hump my bike 6 miles to the trail. I would have done this, but I was constrained by time.

So on Monday, I plan on registering for the Rock Creek River Gorge Trail Run which benefits the Cumberland Trail Conference.

Progress...

My biggest goal for this year is for people to know what I am about and what I'm not about. I absolutely love Tom Peter's books and blog. The one thing he constantly talks about is "Brand You"

First and foremostI definitely do not hide from "hot issues" like national health care, taxes, and the economy, but I also respect everyone's educated opinions and embrace them as well.

Who am I? A question I constantly ask myself on long runs, bike rides and infinite laps in the pool.
I care about my spiritual growth. I have a solid foundation, but I am definitely still growing and evolving, and hope I always am.

I care about my family. Nothing comes before my wife and kids. Period.

I care about my body. Whether it be the fresh air (or lack there-of) that I breath, or the food that I eat. So I guess you could call me an environmentalist that is also very worried about the obesity epidemic in America, particularly with kids.

I believe being accountable to others is the best way to live a joyful life, surrounded with caring and loving friends.

So to leave on something that I don't believe in or that offends me: Macaroni and Cheese at Macaroni Grill on the Kids Menu!

1210 Calories
62g Fat
40g Saturated Fat (200% daily recommendation for an ADULT)

Daughter of a Runner

Daughter of a Runner
Originally uploaded by moncrief.brittany

So I haven't been out there enjoying the weather like I hoped but I have the excuse of excuses - My wife and I just had our first baby!

I know I'm partial but I really do think she is the most beautiful little baby I have ever seen.

And talk about being a proud dad - she came out 1)doing the breast stroke (note - I worked with her while she was in the womb on her freestyle, which definitely says something about my coaching abilities), 2) with RUNNERS FEET! 3) Triathletes Body long legs, long arms, long toes and long fingers, and 4) showing off some fiery red hair and gorgeous blue eyes like her mother.

Have a Great Weekend

The weather looks AWESOME again for cycling and running so I'll be out there and I think you should be too! Have a GREAT WEEKEND!

Funny Politics

You have to laugh! If not, you would end up manically depressed if you took a serious evaluation of American Politics. For full disclaimer, I don't "lean" left or right, I'm just a middle of the road American.

We have Republicans spending more than any other politicians in the history of America and now they are putting bills forward that would make it illegal for restaurants to serve fat people. Aren't they supposed to be the small government, power to the people party?

We have Democrats campaigning on cutting spending

And as for local politics, we have a mayor who want all young professionals to move to downtown in-between two chicken plants and next to the new homeless shelter. This is funny enough, but a couple of days ago the sheriff just got caught with 5 kilos of cocaine.

Oil Spill off South Korea

Click here to view high-resolution version (5.1MB)

In this image, the dark oil covers the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea southwest of Seoul, South Korea. More than 10,000 tons of oil from the tanker were reported to have leaked into the sea after the ship collided with another vessel on Friday, December 7, 2007. As the image shows, the oil washed onto the beaches. The South Korean government declared the coastal regions shown here disaster areas.

Image and interpretation courtesy the European Space Agency.

This has nothing to do with triathlons but I just thought everyone would be interested in what an oil spill actually looks like. I would definitely recommend for everyone to check out the high-resolution image.

1962 Bike Safety Film

This is very odd stuff...

Note, I got this from BoingBoing.net

Roger says: "Here's a review of an extremely weird vintage bicycle safety film from 1962 in which a group of kids show us the dangers of disobeying bicycle safety rules - all while wearing some of the creepiest monkey masks you'll ever see."

The typeface used in the title is excellent.

Link | Link to YouTube video

Metabolic Syndrome is tied to Diet Soda

I found this article today in the NY Times and I have to honestly say it scared the crap out of me given the number of friends I have that are addicted to this dirty water.

Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels — and elevated blood pressure.

The scientists gathered dietary information on more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 and tracked their health for nine years.

Over all, a Western dietary pattern — high intakes of refined grains, fried foods and red meat — was associated with an 18 percent increased risk for metabolic syndrome, while a “prudent” diet dominated by fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry correlated with neither an increased nor a decreased risk.

But the one-third who ate the most fried food increased their risk by 25 percent compared with the one-third who ate the least, and surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none.

“This is interesting,” said Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of the paper, which was posted online in the journal Circulation on Jan. 22. “Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”

Motivation for Ironman Louisville 2008

A good Ride, a good Run, and some Inspiration...

I had a great ride on Saturday up Suck Creek Mountain. I was going to do some trail running at Prentice Cooper but it was a pretty muddy trail to get there so I opted out and got some work done around the house.

This morning I did intervals, my total time was slightly slower but I definitely felt like I had a harder work-out. Hopefully, I can get some speed work done later in the week.

I finished Eiger Dreams last night and I think it was a great book that offers a little perspective on a lot of different facets on life. I highly recommend it and for those of you in Chattanooga, I will have it back at the main library soon.

Motivation for cycling in the winter

This guy is really making me look like a wuss in bike short and a short-sleeve bike jersey.

Overall, it hasn't been very bad this winter except for early last week when it dipped into the low teens.

This weekend I'm going cycling and then for the first time ever doing some trail running. So I'm pretty excited. Chattanooga has some great trails for running, and hopefully I will utilize them more to escape the streets and save my knees.

Have a great weekend!!!

Bike 2 Work this Friday

Bike2Work 2008 Continues Friday, February 1!

***Special Location***
Development Resource Center, 1250 Market Street

Extra Bike Parking in Rear off of King Street
Ride Your Bike & Join Us for Free Breakfast 7:00-8:30 am!

Come visit even if you aren’t riding, we are on the CARTA Free Shuttle.

On a separate note

Latest figures show that 28.7 million Americans now telecommute. And these are not just with the hippest, coolest companies leading the way. No – one of the biggest users of telecommuters is the U.S. government. In the U.S Patent and Trademark Office alone, 3.609 employees participate in some form of telecommuting. USPTO Director Margaret Peterlin recently told Congress they will encourage more employees to telecommute. She said their experience shows teleworking results in “greater employee productivity, higher levels of sustained performance, reduced traffic congestion and air pollution, and reduced real estate costs.” She added that the USPTO employees who telework collectively save more than 613,000 gallons of gas per year and save more than $1.8 million annually in fuel costs.

A great ride...

Sunday is usually reserved for a day off from everything and just chilling out. But on Saturday, I spent a good deal of time at the library and as such, was caught up on my reading. So when Sunday came and it was a very nice 55 degrees after church, I headed up the mountain for a quick climb.

Strangely enough, this is the first time I have ever biked up Signal Mountain. It was a fun, quick ride only taking around 1.5 hours but I did abs afterward and felt rejuvenated afterwards.

On a separate note, I'm reading some great books and thought I would recommend them to those interested:

The China Study

Eiger Dreams

If anyone has any other book recommendations, please leave them in the comments section.

Born to Run

A great article in Discover magazine that essentially explains that humans are actually more efficient runners than horses, or gazelles, or even cheetahs. While all of these animals are faster than we are, humans have evolved to be able to run for longer periods of time at slower speeds. We can run for days apparently. This made us good at running our food down even though it might have been faster than we were. Quite a bit of scientific evidence goes into this but even things like our spines come into play allowing our heads to counter balance the movement of our arms. And our skin is one huge cooling system supplementing our cardiovascular systems ability to shunt heat from our core to our skin via the blood while our sweat and air flow carries the heat away from our bodies. It is a really good article.

Spirit of the Marathon

This looks like a great movie

Spirit of the Marathon is being released tonight. Too bad it is not being shown in Chattanooga. It looks like a great movie. I am still happy I don't live in Memphis anymore!




While the film was originally billed as a "one-day-only" movie premiere, a second, encore presentation -- scheduled for Feburary 21st at 7:30 pm -- has been added, due to popular demand. Tickets for this event will go on sale, starting tomorrow, January 25th, for this second showing. Click here, here and here to view the latest event details & theater/ticket information.

Winter Triathlon Training

Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Bend Bulletin ran an article this morning by reporter Mark Morical about winter triathlon. The story features tips from pro triathlete Matt Lieto and Nordic skier, Marshall Greene - both excellent competitors in the white stuff. Have a look here; it's a good read.

For those not familiar with the sport, winter triathlon athletes compete in a cross-country skiing leg instead of hitting open water. Competitors race mountain and cyclocross bikes with, as Lieto puts it, "squishy" tires instead or road and TRI bikes. Nearly flat tires prevent the bike from slipping on snow, but don't try it on the road or you're destined for a flat!

This is insane! I Love it! Anybody out there with any experience in this?

Power Pumkin Bread

Pretty soon people are going to think Martha Stewart is running this blog. I got this from USAT and thought everyone would enjoy some good warm carbs in these frigid temps we are getting.

POWER PUMPKIN BREAD

(Will make one bundt size pan or 5 mini loaves)

3 ½ cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Splenda Sugar Substitute

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

½ teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (* or 1 teaspoon cinnamon & 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg)

Egg Substitute or egg whites equal to 4 large eggs

¼ cup Canola Oil

¾ cup Natural Unsweetened applesauce

1 16-can Solid Pack Pumpkin

2/3 cup Water

¼ cup Craisins/Raisins or both

¼ cup Pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray pan(s) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together and make well in center

Add egg product, canola oil, applesauce, water & pumpkin. Mix well with a wire whisk. Add craisins/raisins and nuts and mix just enough.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake for approximately 50-60 minutes, check after 50 minutes. Bread is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Submitted by: Melissa Czekalski

Katie Holmes and the NYC Marathon Conspiracy

Better late than never... it looks like the blog world has uncovered that Katie Homes DID NOT run the NYC marathon. Great work can be found here and here and here. I'll give the main points of the conspiracy here:

1. No bleeding nipples.


2. No salt stains on her hat or clothes. You can't run 26.2 miles and not have salt stains. Ask Rosie Ruiz.


3. The lone run-man theory. Katie Holmes was allegedly paced by this man, Wesley Okerson, who allegedly wore a racing bib that appeared to be recycled from the 2003 NYC Marathon (#6074) but appears to have a timing chip on his foot. Why the timing chip? Did he run with Katie's chip? Why the 2003 number? There's no official results for either Okerson or #6074. BTW, #6074 for the 2003 race was assigned to Al Finger. Alan Finger is a yoga guru to the the stars in Los Angeles. Coincidence?

4. The identical splits. Katie Holmes and another of her apparent trainers, Paul Vincent (#28994) recorded the exact same splits throughout the race. To do this, you'd have to choreograph your steps with the precision of the Radio City Rockettes. It's very odd.

5. No photos. The Kahuna has gotten a little obsessed with this. Photographers took wide angle pictures as runners across the 10k timing mat. The Kahuna looked up the photos of each runner who finished with a few seconds of Holmes' alleged 10K split (1:06:51), and couldn't find any photo that included Holmes on either side of the street. With her long pants, purple shirt and blue hat, she shouldn't be hard to spot. (On the Brightroom website, there are no photos of Holmes or Paul Vincent. Hmmmmm.

6. High heels. After struggling to allegedly complete her first marathon (5:29 and change), Katie Holmes put on a pair of high heels that night and attended the movie premiere with her husband, walking down the red carpet with no ill effects from the marathon.

THANKS TRIGEEK!




I would love to hear from my marathon friends in Korea on this!

A cheapskate's energy bar

So most of you know I am one of the cheapest people on earth. Clif Bars and other are great and all but, $1 here, $2 there, gets expensive. I found this recipe from Alton Brown.

• 4 ounces soy protein powder, approximately 1 cup
• 2 1/4 ounces oat bran, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3/4-ounce wheat germ, approximately 1/4 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 ounces raisins, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 1/2 ounces dried cherries, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 ounces dried blueberries, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 1/2 ounces dried apricots, approximately 1/2 cup
• 1 (12.3-ounce) package soft silken tofu
• 1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice
• 4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/2 cup packed
• 2 large whole eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup natural peanut butter
• Canola oil, for pan

1. Line the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper and lightly coat with canola oil. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the protein powder, oat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt. Set aside.
3. Coarsely chop the raisins, dried cherries, blueberries and apricots and place in a small bowl and set aside.
4. In a third mixing bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add the apple juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter, 1 at a time, and whisk to combine after each addition. Add this to the protein powder mixture and stir well to combine. Fold in the dried fruit. Spread evenly in the prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees F. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Please let me know if anyone out there has any other recipe's.

Einstein Quote of the Day

Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest.

Commuting by Bike Math

Chris Carroll from Patagonia just posted some nice math on the costs savings of his commuting by bike:

- 22 years of solid riding
- 10years of 200 miles per week = 104,000 miles
- 12 years of 150 miles per week = 93,600 miles
TOTAL MILES =197,600 MILES
- at average of 25 miles per gallon of gas = 7,904 gallons
- at an average of $2.50 per gallon x 7,904 = $19,760.00

My own savings isn't as impressive as I only commute 60 miles a week and have only been doing it for 2.5 years. However, every thing helps.

Great Information on Cycling and Commuting

If everyday practical bicycling had taken on political significance for you by the 1990s or earlier, in the US, chances are good you saw Ted White’s 1992 film Return of the Scorcher at a gathering of like-minded souls. It claimed the expression “critical mass” from nuclear physics for people riding bikes as part of traffic. It’s a yearning survey of the bicycling societies China and the Netherlands, both of which have powerfully shaped our own aspirations for reclamation of Portland from nearly a century of automotive disorientation.




Seven years later came We Are Traffic, documenting what Critical Mass had become. I rode in the summer 1997 San Francisco Mass that made international news when the police decided it was a threat, though I admit I was just trying to ride home when I found myself engulfed in it. I didn’t inhale. It’s 50 minutes. Enjoy:



Source: Clever Cycles

Please run for President Earl!

The Wall Street Journal recently did this featurette on my US Representative Earl Bluemenauer.



The Journal’s article has much more information on Mr. Bluemenauer and his cycling history.

What can The Netherlands learn from us?

Last summer, armed with a bike, a laptop and a perspective, Loek Hesemans came to visit Vancouver and Portland. As a Senior Policy Officer at the Ministry of Health in the Netherlands, he had come to see what the Dutch might learn from us in promoting cycling.. Yes, from us.

If you are interested in cycling and commuting by bike - you will definitely find this information interesting.

You can find the magazine article here

The full report is here

MLK Weekend Virtual Training Camp

I got this from Team Louisville. Although I'm not a member of Endurance Nation this looks like a great deal.

As many of you know I am training with the Endurance Nation team. I wanted to pass on a cool thing that they are putting together to get an "Epic Weekend" of training done over MLK weekend -- so this is just a cut and paste from their blog. You can go check it out yourself at http://www.endurancenation.blogspot.com/ or their site http://www.endurancenation.us/ The forum is pretty good too!

Anyway, I signed up and I hope that some of you will too!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Martin Luther King Weekend Virtual Training Camp
Endurance Nation Announces FREE MLK Weekend Virtual Training Camp -- January 19-21, 2008.

Challenge yourself, connect with fellow endurance athletes, and have FUN as we get together (online) for a virtual training weekend over the MLK holiday! Endurance Nation co-founders Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann have created a challenging online schedule that you can modify to suit your personal fitness level. The coaches will begin the weekend with a Friday podcast to deliver guidance and tips, and present a live webinar on Saturday evening to cover epic training and how to use it to your advantage.

The training will be Run+Bike workouts for Saturday and Sunday, with Run and optional Swim for Monday. All workouts can be adjusted for indoor or outdoor execution. Points will be awarded for execution and the awards will be many, including: Most Overall Mileage, Most Run Miles, Most Bike Miles, Most Creative Blog Entry, Best Weekend Race Report in the Race Report Forum, Best Workout Video, the list goes on.

The Endurance Nation Virtual Training Camp is FREE and open to the public. Dupe your training partners into thrashing themselves with you!Register for the VTC by emailing us (virtualcamps@enationcamps.com) and we'll send you an Evite with the details of the weekend. Just RSVP and you're in!

About Endurance Nation:

Endurance Nation is the brainchild of elite triathlon coaches Rich Strauss (Crucible Fitness) and Patrick McCrann (Performance Training Systems), who have combined communities, resources and training plans to create Endurance Nation. Endurance Nation is a growing community of 380+ triathletes educating and inspiring each other, managed within the framework of a consistent coaching and training philosophy. Members can take advantage of free coaching articles and high quality - yet affordable – coaching. The EN experience is augmented by our community platform, bringing experienced teachers to the desktop of every athlete. Finally, Endurance Nation will provide opportunities for the members to meet, learn from and train with the coaches and other members, through camps and clinics, an organized EN presence at national races, and other cool events.

Uphill

I took a different run home due to traffic issues and it was both challenging and rewarding as I got to see a lot of different scenery and was challenged by the new hills. It's also a little bit longer which I know will make me stronger. All of this said, my pace officially sucked! Owell, I was the only runner out there this morning in the nice 30 degree weather.

For all of you folks in the Southeast there is a nice triathlon expo going on Saturday, December 26 in Nashville, TN. It's free and there are a lot of free goodies promised so I hope I can make it up there.

Sweet Finish!

Humility

One thing every triathlon has given me is humility. Although I love passing people in the swim with crazy expensive wet-suits, and pass people on bike's that costs well over 2x what my bike costs and passing people on the run the bottom line is that I only race against myself, which is a stark difference than most triathletes out there, including one of my main training partners Kevin.

I encourage everyone out there to think about simply racing against yourself as a benchmark. Only you know what you are capable of. For me, I am capable of much more than I have produced at the triathlons I have competed in - and for that, at every finish I feel a bifurcation between my happiness/feeling of completion and between sadness/not training hard enough.

In the end I am proud to call myself a triathlete. There is no other group of individuals out there with more generosity and great sportsmanship.

Finally, it's also nice to see Adam Zucco, a triathlon coach with this humility on his blog citing his slow times when he first started and even fairly recent failures.

Sometimes it dosn't pay to be the fastest!

Find more videos like this on OpenTri

2008 Ironman Schedule

In-case anyone missed it here is the official 2008 Ironman Schedule

Paper for Thought

Church of the Customer received 21.5 lbs of junk mail during the month of December.

In the comments, Graham does some math for us: 21.5 lbs of paper times an estimated 110 million U.S. households is approximately 1,056,000 tons of paper. If 8 trees are used to create a ton of typical (unrecycled) catalog paper, and 21.5 pounds is the average weight of unsolicited catalogs, then some 132,000 trees were used to send people junkmail during a one-month period.

First Brick

This morning I had my first brick workout. I didn't have a good light for my bike so I hopped on the trainer and succumbed to the horrible tv programing at 6:00 A.M. If there is anyone out there with embarrassing amounts of money and looking for a worthwhile cause - Please start an endurance tv channel!

Interestingly enough the last mile of my run was faster than the last mile yesterday. Sorry Kenyans and training partner Kevin - I can't just go all-out in the beginning without crashing at the end. My pace today, was great and I was happy with the brick workout and the weather as it was a nice 59 degrees.

As for other big news, I have joined Team Louisville 2008's blog so look out for my introduction which should be coming soon.

Training

I have officially started training for my Ironman with sore legs and a pounding heart every morning. I think this Nike + iPod thing is going to be my best and worst training partner as this morning I was really trying to pick-up the turnover and ended up with around the same time as last week. Owell, I will continue to do speedwork - hopefully at some point my time will start to improve.



I found this awesome race report on Ironman Louisville here

Great Quote for Monday

Jon Krakauer once wrote, "In any human endeavor, some fraction of its practitioners will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it will consume them utterly... For some, the province of the extreme holds an allure that's irresistible... As a result of his or her infatuation, existence overflows with purpose. Ambiguity vanishes from the fanatic's worldview; a narcissistic sense of self assurance displaces all doubt. His perspective narrows until the last remnants of proportion are shed from his life. Through immoderation, he experiences something akin to rapture."

Chattanooga Weather and some Motivation

This is pretty much what I looked like yesterday biking to work at 6:00 in the morning with a single-digit wind-chill factor!


Today I chose to run and was only slightly dissapointed with my 8.3 min/miles. Fortunately or unfortunately, my wife bought me the new ipod + Nike for Christmas so there is no gratuitious rounding.

Motivational Quote for the week:
Run when you can, walk when youhave to, crawl if you must; justnever give up.
- Dean Karnazes
Runner and author of
Ultramarathon Man.

BIG IDEAS for 2008

Give Peace a Chance




"Fanatic ethnic or religious or national identifications are a little difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile, blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars."
—Carl Sagan

Everything working out...

No pun intended


Ironman Louisville is August 31st next year. I have been telling all my family and friends that I would love to take my little girl and Brittany up to Chicago afterwards to catch a game at Wrigley field and check out the option pits.

The Cubs just posted their 2008 schedule and they will be at home Monday through Wednesday after Sunday's Ironman in Kentucky.

bike parking, Copenhagen on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

bike parking, Copenhagen on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I could only hope and pray that this will be Chattanooga, TN in a couple of years!

Yogurt vs. Gasoline

Yogurt vs. Gasoline

Click here to see the movie.

I thought since Christmas Day was the busiest time of year for theatres, I would post some short films here, so you wouldn't have to fight the crowds.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Transportation Ethics

Clarence Eckerson at StreetFilms presents this provocative conversation between Mark Gorton, executive director of the Open Planning Project, and Randy Cohen, author of The Ethicist column in the New York Times Magazine and occasional commentator for NPR. As shown in this interview, Cohen is also an intelligent and articulate voice for Livable Streets.

Fun Holiday Pics

I love this headline

Higher Fuel Prices Bring CARTA More Riders
from the chattanoogan.com


"a total of 164,662 people rode CARTA buses - more than 10,000 more than the 154,327 who rode buses during November 2006."

Goals !

I'm really excited!

Tonight I'm meeting up with my best friend and we are going to talk about our goals for the next year.

I will post about all of my goals for next year in the next week or two, but one thing I have already decided is to learn more about marketing - and yes for you witty people out there - I am going to focus on some specific parts of marketing. I have been doing an enormous amount of reading lately on marketing, success, history, etc... and one of the major trends is:

Successful people know a lot people (they network)
Unsuccessful people don't know a lot of people (they keep to themselves)

So this morning I came across this great post and thought I should share it with everyone, if you want to create more buzz out there.

Another thing I'm really excited about for next year is a men's bible study I just started.

Lastly, I guess a congratulations is in-order. My friend Chris's goal was to get the same google page rank as me and he recently accomplished this as mine has been on a slippery downslope and his has been accelerate ting. But just so everyone knows, I'm really not that impressed since there are a heck of a lot of more people out there who care about internet marketing than my ironman training and my daily commute by bike!

A Tale of Two Countries

Congressman Earl Blumenauer introducing the
Bike Commuter Act on Capitol Hill last March.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

Bike commuter benefit does not survive Senate vote on Energy Bill

The bike commuter tax benefit — which was introduced to Congress by Earl Blumenauer last March and passed a House vote last week — has been stripped out of the Energy Bill by the Senate.

The U.S. Senate passed the Energy Bill yesterday, but not before removing several “green initiatives” included in the bill by the Blumenauer-led Ways and Means Committee.

Along with removing Blumenauer’s effort to close the “Hummer tax loophole” (which sought to end the additional tax incentive for business purchases of luxury SUVs weighing over 6,000 lbs), the Senate removed the part of the bill that would have expanded the existing transportation fringe benefit to include bike commuters.

The bike commuter provision was based on The Bike Commuter Act and would have given a benefit of $20 per month to employees who biked to work “for the purchase, storage, or repair” of their bicycles. It would have brought bike commuters in line with existing tax benefits for transit users and car drivers.

Addressing National Bike Summit attendees on Capitol Hill last March, Blumenauer said the bike commuter benefit was simply a matter of equity and it would have stopped, “The discrimination against people who burn calories instead of fuel.”

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Danish cities go high-tech for bike safety

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on December 14th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

Flashing lights when
a bike is present.
(Photo: Zakkaliciousness)

From Cycleliciousness (the “Copenhagen Bicycle Culture Blog”), comes word of two interesting bike safety measures.

Given that we are in the midst of making some major bike safety improvements at dangerous intersections, I thought it might be useful to take a look at new technology being considered by the Danes.

The first is being tested in Copenhagen to reduce the number of right-hook collisions between bikes and trucks. It’s what the blog’s author calls, “a new system of diode lights” (similar the one in their photo at right) that would potentially reduce bike/car conflicts at dangerous intersections.

All of this is from bikeportland.org

It's officially winter in Chattanooga, TN. At the end of my bike ride into work was a sign that said it was 28 degrees outside - which means it was around 25 degrees when I started.

The wind wasn't alive so it really only felt like it was in the mid-to-high 30s.

For all of you who prefer cycling to running - Now there are no more excuses

http://www.bikeforest.com/tread/index.php

Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him.

Art Buchwald, "How Un-American Can You Get?," Have I Ever Lied to You?, 1966

INTERESTING...

Al Gore just accepted the Nobel Peace Price for his work on Global Warming and here in Chattanooga, TN the temperature is around the high 70's.

Other interesting environmental news from Chattanooga's American Hiking Society:

Today, Wilbur Smith Associates released a long awaited Economic Development and Transportation Summary related to the Corridor K project. While I have not yet had time to review this report in detail, I am making it available for concerned citizens to look at here.

Corridor K in a Global Economy: A Summary of the Economic Development and Transportation Study. (113 KB)

Stay tuned for more information about Corridor K as studies related to the project, including the development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) are completed. This process will take several years to unfold, but we will follow along closely until our concerns are resolved.

Bill McKibben speaks about Chattanooga, TN's environment and community, touring the city and speaking about its green efforts.

"It always seems impossible until it's done" Nelson Mandela

I had to tell my friends over at commutebybike that I have officially switched to running. This morning I actually thought I was going to bike in because of the lack of water and the excessive amount of brownies I ate last night. I even hit the snooze button. But the second I felt the brisk 30 degree weather with a nice morning breeze, I grabbed my mp3 player and me and Bono went for a run.

Goals

I have been doing some serious thinking about my goals for 2008. Next year will be a pivotal year for me personally and professionally. I will elaborate on this issue later, but one of my goals will definitely pertain to educating others and myself on alternative energy.

It all comes back to the simplicity of biking to work. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you are a nature-lover, health fanatic, or just plain cheap-skate - the bottom line is the bottom line, and that is = you have more money in your back pocket if you bike to work as opposed to if you drive your car to work.

In the next couple of years I believe this movement will transgress into our aging power grid and companies and individuals will be more creative when thinking of their home power, rather than just paying your local power company whatever they tell you to pay.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not the smartest knife in the drawer. However, neither are many of the individuals on the Forbes 400. The difference is they are hard-working individuals that were very perceptive in looking at long-term growth trends.

So today we have google, the most progressive corporation in the world investing heavily in alternative energy to get off the power grid, because they think they can generate it cheaper themselves and Kleiner Perkins, arguably the most successful venture capitalist firm in the world investing very heavily in alternative energy.

Additionally, another individual I highly respect, Vinod Khosla is solely focused on alternative energy. Other individuals that are more controversial that have publicly stated alternative energy is the next big thing is Sir Richard Branson and Bill Clinton. Regardless of your personal feelings towards these individuals, it would be hard to argue that these individuals are not successful.

Alas, I challenge all of you to take a step back and think about your impact on the world. I am very blessed to have a handful of really great friends in my life. One characteristic they all share, is that they all want to be VERY successful, but perhaps more importantly, they all want to make a difference in the world, AND this is the reason they are my best friends.

What is your impact on the world?

Weekend Recap

I had a great weekend hanging out with a good friend on Friday and then watching the Ironman World Championships Saturday night. The good news is if you missed it ironman.com is telling everyone it will be on today at 4:30. If this is the result of the writers strike I wouldn't mind if they didn't come back!

Also, Ironman Australia is up on ironman.com for all who are interested.

The lottery is also open. Although I have heard from other bloggers that the passport club really improves your odds, I'm not ready to pony up the extra coin for it this year.