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Great little post on one of the limitations in scrolling in a browser by Tim Bray.

I hate what he's talking about. It happens all the time. If web pages can't be made to extend perhaps a browser could optionally show you a line or something for a few seconds when you hit space bar or page down or something.

Carey asked me how serious I am about running.

I'd been thinking about this a fair amount lately, so I had a ready answer.

My primary goals are to have fun and to be healthier.

At this point, having just finished Week 4 Day 1 of C25K, I still think running on the road is pretty boring. If it weren't for my iPhone's music I don't know what I'd do. I have not gotten "hooked" at all like when I first played golf or soccer or hockey.

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While SportTracks is king in Windows land, there seem to be two available for Mac OS X:

Ascent looks pretty nifty but also doesn't seem to be updated frequently. Though if you look at the release notes, 1.11.8 was updated on October 11, 2011, which isn't that long ago. Their forum really doesn't give any indication that it's often updated or being used by too many people.

TrailRunner looks a bit more "Mac-like" and has a nicer looking website. It also appears to be "shareware" in the old sense: it's free but you're welcome to donate if it's good. That said, the graphing seems to be a little less thorough with this than Ascent, but perhaps I just haven't explored the demo enough. The FAQ is extensive and explains the "shareware" nature of the app.

Now I just need the Garmin 610 and one of these apps and I'll be set! Uhhh, you know, in March or so. Maybe a nice birthday gift. 🙂

Skip to 5:44 if you want the basics:

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From the NY Times in 2009:

An important 2008 study, this one from Stanford University, followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners' knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group's knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners' knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group's were.

The science makes sense: basically, that your knees use cartilage to protect, and stressing the joint slightly simply results in the build-up of more cartilage.

A mini brain dump on running form, something that I've found fairly interesting as of late…

1. Good article on 100 Up training. It sounds like something I can do on my off days from Couch to 5K.

2. An article from Running Times on stride length, the "pawback" move, and running form in general.

3. I shot high-speed video of myself running around at Golf Evolution. On the left I'm demonstrating poor form (though with my knee flexed and my initial strike occurring not that far forward, it's not terrible), and on the right, I'm almost over-doing a fore-foot strike:

I've spared you all the several photos I made with measured angles and lines and whatnot, all done in Analyzr Pro.

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Anyone got any new TV shows they like?

For example, I currently have eight old episodes of Prime Suspect. Can't make myself watch them. I've heard good things, but…

I'm getting tired of watching House. Every week it's the same: six or eight missed diagnoses and then magically as the patient is nearly dead, the correct one. And it's not like the diseases are ever all that far-fetched.

Good stuff.

Oh my.

2+2, 1st star of the game, 5-0.

First, I'd like to thank Tim for mentioning "Born to Run" in the comments of my first "Couch to 5K" post. I read the book and found it interesting.

I powered through the book in about four different sessions ((Reading for pleasure is a privilege I don't get as often as I'd like.)). Though reviews on Amazon and elsewhere mention the "dreadful" chapter 28, I found it one of the most interesting. Science has always been a love of mine and that chapter dealt with a lot of the science behind how we evolved the way we did, how our feet are incredible structures, etc.

I think the characterizations were probably well over the top. I guess I've heard that some of the people in the book said as much - their personalities and traits were blown out of proportion. That's fine. It hurt the book, frankly, but you almost started to expect it shortly into the first few chapters.

I'm amazed - flat out stunned - that people can run 100 miles. And they run them too - at 8:00 paces or faster!!! Incredible. The human body is an amazing, amazing machine.

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I tracked my run yesterday with RunKeeper. It appears that I walk at about a 13 minute mile pace. I run - or jog, at least - at about 8:15 or so.

I'm a bit disappointed, but frankly, I could run faster and will run faster when my cardiovascular system gets kicked up a bit. I'm not out of breath at the end of the jogging segments of Couch to 5K, and I could probably push it a little faster, but I'm trying to stick with the program.

Right elbow could flex a little faster. Few other little things. But otherwise I'm very pleased.

So the word lately among the long-time Mac folk is that the Steve Jobs biography - a book I'll get to in a few weeks if I'm lucky - isn't great. It's simply not written for me, it's intended for others, I'm hearing.

If you've read it, what do you think? Is this assessment accurate? If so, that's sad - it's the best chance we had at getting to know Steve Jobs.

I've heard it said that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy.

Sometimes I'm not so sure about that.

I love it when directors or cinematographers or whomever do things like this. I always wonder how many of these types of things I've missed, too: