When I first saw the name of this race I wondered why they called it 1 Insane race, but after running it I totally understand.
First of all, who starts any kind of race in July at 5:00pm? I don’t know what I was thinking when I registered for this 15k or why I thought it would be cool by 5pm, but I was wrong. In July the sun is not even close to going down at 5pm; as a matter of fact it was still quite high in the sky, and I am slightly sunburned from the “late” afternoon race.
I made a wise decision before this race and stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. Turns out there were no bathrooms at the race, so I avoided the problem with going I had at the July 4th half marathon I ran.
For the record, it was 102 degrees when we started this painful session at 5pm. As soon as I got out of the car to go check in at the registration table I started sweating. I checked in at 4:43, changed into my running shoes and put on my camelback. Unfortunately, I didn’t double tie my shoes and when the race started they came untied, and I had to stop about 50 yards into the race to retie them.
I really didn’t worry about that much because I wasn’t running for time, but I thought how that would have driven me crazy back in my college days. Needless to say I was in last place at that point.
Soon after the start, another aspect that drove many of us insane were the course markings and turns. I have no idea what language they were written in but it was not English. This race took place at Camp Galilee so I assume it was Hebrew, or maybe Greek, but I had no idea what they met. While it seemed like most of us were nice Christian runners, I don’t think we had many Hebrew Bible scholars in the crowd because we all got lost (except for me- Marines are never lost just occasionally disorientated). I knew things were not going as planned when I met the fast runners coming towards me about a mile into the race.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Mon Aug 15, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
The Pompatus of Tech
Mark November 5 down on your calendars, folks! The hacker group Anonymous has stated that they will “kill Facebook” on that date. Keep in mind that November 5 was not chosen at random. I probably don’t have to remind you to check Facebook on that date, which, I believe, is the whole point. [Business Insider]
Those of you who use LinkedIn, may be interested in this: Apparently, LinkedIn has added a default setting that allows names and photos of users to be used by third-party advertisers. The link will tell you how to opt-out of this setting. Also check out the update in the link that includes LinkedIn’s response. [Connection Agent]
Check out this cool archived story from CNN regarding the origins of texting using cell phones. It’s pretty interesting to go back and see how our use of cell phones has evolved. [Wayback Machine – CNN]
A new study from California State University indicates that 3D technology does not increase enjoyment from watching movies and increases the likelihood of developing headaches, something most of you likely have discovered empirically. Plus, watching a movie in 3D costs more! [Guardian UK]
By Jason Atkinson, on Mon Aug 15, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
A first here at The Recovering Politician: Contributing RP Jason Atkinson directed and produced the following short film about a trout-fishing trip he took last week with his son in Montana. Stay tuned to the end for an hilarious, live-action imitation of Big Mouth Billy Bass (You know…the singing fish mounted on the wall):
Last weekend, on my last day in St. Louis before moving to NYC, I co-hosted a free 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair in North St. Louis. The event is in its sixth year; I started it during my first state Senate campaign in 2006, and it eventually attracted several thousand people each year. Dozens of businesses sponsor the event, which features a traveling health clinic, free school supplies, and brand-new bicycles and iPods for the winning teams in each age group.
North St. Louis is struggling. It’s about 95% black, and unemployment among men in their 20s approaches 50% in many neighborhoods. Parts of it resemble the Detroit that you see on the news or the Baltimore on The Wire, but people forget that families live there. It’s a community fighting to regain its lost glory – ironically, the days of segregation, when black doctors, lawyers, teachers, principals, and morticians lived among the laborers and housekeepers, in larger homes but in close proximity.
The first couple years of the tournament, people weren’t sure about me. Who is this white guy coming up in our neighborhood? Just another politician sniffing around for votes, making more promises? Using us for a photo-op? Well, he can dribble…but we’ve been fooled before. Remember that Schoemehl boy, when he first ran for Mayor…then turned around and closed City Hospital?
The next few years, people began to see that my commitment was genuine. As the group of city charter schools I’d co-founded a decade earlier grew to 3000 students, people noted my involvement. Others saw the legislative work I did on behalf of incarcerated fathers struggling to pay child support.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Aug 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
If there’s anything that unites Americans more during this summer of our discontent, it is that we all hate politics. Politics have moved beyond simple ugly sport; politics almost brought our country to its economic knees.
That’s why starting today, and going through this Friday, we are challenging the rest of the country to join us in a Politics-Free Week. For seven full days during the doldrums of August, we’ll take on the latest controversies in sports, film, fashion, parenting — anything but politics.
If you needed yet another reason to hate politics…
A political firestorm erupted in the tiny rural hamlet of Fancy Farm, Kentucky, last weekend when a scandalous speech delivered by Governor Steve Beshear received universal approbation from political insiders and the capital press corps.
One wag opined that the governor “may have stepped onto a political land mine.”
Another mocked Beshear’s “bizarre choice of oratory on the state’s biggest political stage.”
Maybe this brief of hiatus will recharge us for an ugly fall filled with supercommittees and presidential campaign bickering. Maybe it will provide us a slight window of sanity to remember what is truly important.
Or maybe, just maybe, we’ll be like George Costanza, in that episode of Seinfeld in which he takes a temporary vow of abstinence, and his previously sex-obsessed brain opens up to deep social, cultural and scientific awareness.
Check in often during this week of political abstinence. See how your politically-obsessed mind can open up to new possibilities. While we can’t promise a Costanza-like transformation, at least you’ll get some temporary relief. And maybe you won’t hate politics so much when Labor Day rolls around.
Oh, and consistent with this theme, our Weekly Web Gems will not focus on “The Politics of…” the various subject matter categories. Instead, with a salute to my cousin, Steve (or should I say Maurice?), we will concentrate on the much more important subject of “The Pompatus of…” love and other subjects.
Before we dive into a Politics Free Week (check out our cool new banner above), the RP got in a few last minute political interviews in the Northwest and Great White North media.
Oregon Live interviewed him about the super-committee tasked with helping to fix the country’s debt problems:
“There was an adult conversation missing” from the debt ceiling debate, said Jonathan Miller, a co-founder of the group No Labels, which wants to restore bipartisanship. The public agrees, according to polls. But with elections approaching and positions fixed, Miller asks, “Will the pressures be too great to present a bi-partisan agreement?”
And later, the RP engaged in his regular gig with CTV News, Canada’s CNN. This occasion, he commented on the weekend’s Iowa straw poll, and other developments in the GOP presidential primary.
When I first saw the name of this race I wondered why they called it 1 Insane race, but after running it I totally understand. 
For the record, it was 102 degrees when we started this painful session at 5pm. As soon as I got out of the car to go check in at the registration table I started sweating. I checked in at 4:43, changed into my running shoes and put on my camelback. Unfortunately, I didn’t double tie my shoes and when the race started they came untied, and I had to stop about 50 yards into the race to retie them. 
