I’ve been watching the Tour de France as of late, a temporary sporting fandom of convenience. The countryside is gorgeous (particularly today in Switzerland). Lance Armstrong pretty much had his hat handed to him at the end of today’s stage by Alberto Contador. After he finished 90-some seconds behind, Armstrong was quoted saying he was “happy to be his domestique”, conceding the Astana leadership to Contador. It’s curious, the internal politics bike racing. They all seem very touchy, getting pissy at other teams for actions that in any other sport are common, expected. It’s beyond strange to me that George Hincapie & co. claim vindictiveness against other teams for not letting him get the yellow jersey in stage 14. The teams he was complaining about (Astana & Garmin) pushed the peloton forward closing the gap on the breakaway group (aka, bike racing during a bike race) and yet this is somehow seen as a serious breach of protocol? Not losing by as much as your competitors would like puts you at fault? Bizarre. Can you imagine a team in a pennant race whining about already eliminated teams trying to upset them? There’s no crying in baseball.

Anyway. My real point today for bringing this up is to point out that when Armstrong ran the Boston Marathon last year he did so in less than 3 hours (2:50:58, a 6:32 split). I will not be running the San Francisco Marathon that fast. Odds are I’ll be somewhere between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups, trying to run a 10:00 split (roughly two minutes per mile slower than my half pace). That is my highly nebulous goal. Truth be told, I’ll be thrilled to finish vertically.

Today was my last (pretty short) long run pre-race. Trying to make it a bit more fun than the usual loop, I did the bridge run again. Sunny on the city side but so foggy to the north that the second tower was invisible even halfway across. Brilliant.

I didn’t run Bay to Breakers this morning. Yesterday’s long run put my physiology in a foul state of sun sickness and I couldn’t physically bring myself to the expo to register. Instead I did something different and special today, a run up through the Presidio and over the bridge to Marin. I had been wanting to do this particular run since CNSMHB were here but have been in an Ocean Beach rut of late. For bonus points, today’s run roughly matches miles 5 through 12 of the marathon course, which I definitely need to spend more time training on. The hill you know over the enemy you don’t, or so they say. Here’s a course video – the relevant bit is from 4:30 onward.

In more exciting news, not only will my people be coming to SF for the race, but both SMHB and Marc will be actually running the marathon with me this July. And by ‘with’ I really mean ‘lapping me repeatedly before leaving me dizzy in a dust-tornado’. But still, it’s very exciting.

My Youth Run4Fun fundraiser is still at $135. My goal is $250. While listening to (yet another) NPR fundraiser this morning, I decided I’d re-institute the dollar for dollar match this week, up to the total goal. So if you’ve been lurking and debating donation some nominal amount, this’d be the week.

Fantastic day here today. Watched Colt take down the #1 Okies, fixed my dad’s photoblog stream and then walked up to the bridge to see some fleet week jet action. These machines are just awesome, unbelievable maneuverability and more than a little loud. It’s pretty much the least green form of entertainment I can think of (1,300 gallons of fuel per plane per hour!?), but still, great fun. Now, if the Red Sox could just settle down and win this thing, all would be perfect.

My plan for today was to do the construction of some furniture I bought yesterday. Assembly is probably a more accurate word as nothing Ikea sells really rises to the effort threshold construction implies. Though I have to say it does remind me to be appreciative for real craftsmanship of the type my grandfather used to exhibit and a thankfulness I don’t have to spend two weeks/months/years building a friggin’ chair.

After that it seemed advisable to actually leave the house (being gorgeous outside and all) and since the least laborious thing one can do on gorgeous day is go to the movies I yelped around a bit looking for walkable Coolidge Corner replacements (The Balboa & The Four Star seem like possibilities). The latter only being three blocks away, I went over there only to find the mastercard/visa stickers removed from the window. Cash only is for people with cash which is not me. I decided to walk north a bit, thinking to scout possible dog-park locations.

Eventually I saw two guys come out of a little path in a bluff so cut down there to find the main entrance to Baker’s Beach. Did I know I was moving within easy walking distance of a nude beach*? I did not. I stuck around for my first California-style Pacific ocean sunset.

The plan for tomorrow? Buy a monthly T pass then ride around on it all day muttering muni muni muni to myself until people think I’m crazy and I can convince myself to stop calling it the MBTA.

*Everyone had clothes on. I wouldn’t have even realized it without SMHB’s shot from last March.

Today brought the standard stress and chaos you might expect accompany the start of a new job in an unfamiliar city. Parking was impossible, cubicle non-existent, computer was broke, software unavailable, money for paycheck not technically in place yet. Fun stuff.

Two interesting things happened today though. This morning, I’m driving up the 101 from Palo Alto when a bird swoops across the highway maybe twenty feet in front of me, low enough that I think it’s lame and I’m going to hit it. A half-second later I realize it’s not a slow clumsy bird, but a hawk with a large rat or gopher still struggling in it’s talons. Awesome. Maybe more of this would be the solution to Allston’s rodentia problems.

The other – I stepped off the elevator at what I’m hoping is the right floor of my new office, look up to my left and see the view of the bridge above. It’s the first time I’ve seen the Golden Gate since I arrived in San Fransisco, and structurally it looks like JP got it right. I get the feeling I’m going to like coming in here – it definitely beats the view of the Tobin from CNY.

I may not have been surprised at the moment of maximal suspension of disbelief during a going away party my Boston friends organized last night at Big City (thanks B-pooh, enemy of the people!). But I definitely didn’t expect the waitress to show up at the 11th hour with a customized cake in my honor. I may have made some comments last night regarding the architectural accuracy of this representation but in the light of day with the power of GIS at my disposal I have to say, other than paint color quibbles, this is pretty spot-on accurate. It’s safe to say this cake has a rightful spot in the martinoz cake pantheon. Thanks to everyone who showed up and celebrated with me.