Thinking Hurts

I don't feel like having any enlightened thoughts today, let alone writing about them. Instead--you get to read about my weekend. Finals are over, one semester down--only one more to survive until college. Time ticks by, so slowly, so slowly. So far, so good--I got a B- on my Stats final, and I needed a 72% to keep my B. However, the only other class that I'm worried whatsoever about keeping my gpa in would be AP English. You'd think a 92 and a 96 plus a take home essay final would make me feel confident, but noooo. You see, apparently it isn't necessary to put two 400 point impromptus into the grades until AFTER our final, its part of the new plan to give students premature ulcers. I wouldn't be worried, even now, if it weren't for the fact that our impromptus are inconceivably worth twice as much as a reading test--so reading two books and getting perfect scores is less important in our class than writing really well during one class period. Sheesh.

I finished two books this weekend--Empire by Orson Scott Card (which I'd probably give a B), and Again to Carthage by John L. Parker, Jr. (which ranks probably as an A-). Predictably, Again to Carthage didn't quite match the sheer wonder of its precursor Once A Runner, but after a 30 year wait between the novels and considering that OaR is out of print, anticipation alone was enough to make the book a great read. I'd recommend it to any runner, but I think you really have to read OaR first--which could be hard since its running about $300 on ebay. REPRINT IT PLEASE!!!!

Speaking of running, I just came back from a nice one--a little 5.5 mile jaunt through the wintry (but not white) neighborhood. Considering that I'm probably averaging 16-20 miles per week (which is next to nothing), I felt pretty good and blasted out the legs a little bit. I think I'll probably get another 4 or so in tomorrow morning before school, plus the obligatory group run after. I just ordered new spikes! A pair of Ventulus 2s and a pair of Maxcat 2s--I'm very excited. That leaves my list of usable spikes for track season at Nike Zoom Ventulus +, Nike Zoom Miler ID, Reebok JW Foster Distance, Nike Zoom Ventulus 2, Nike Zoom Maxcat 2, Nike Zoom Forevers (spikeless), and Nike Zoom Streak XC (flats). A nice selection, if I do say so myself. I considered buying a pair of the top of the line Brooks distance spike (I can't remember the model number) but even I couldn't justify that purchase.