This summer I enjoyed reading Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion and started reading Dale McGowan's blog, The Meming of Life.  The Parenting Beyond Belief book is a thought provoking collection of essays by a variety of freethinkers, some of which I liked more than others.  I am looking forward to McGowan's next book, Raising Freethinkers, which is a practical guide for parenting with the same concepts as PBB.  It's due in February, but you can preorder on Amazon.com.

I missed McGowan's lecture when he was in Austin earlier this year, but he's coming back next month and will be in Austin on December 13. For anyone interested, you can register online.

And do check out his blog, it's really cool!

On Sunday I successfully finished my first 1/2 half Marathon in San Antonio. That's 13.1 miles or 21 km (actually the course was a little longer according to my GPS watch) and I did it in 1:58:55. While the run was long, I never really was out of breath, although my legs were close to their limit. I'm still pretty sore from the run--I really felt my left knee and right Achilles on Sunday--but overall I feel good and very happy with my finishing time.

The size of the event was a bit overwhelming. There were close to 25,000 people running in either the full or 1/2 marathon which made for some challenging logistics. Packet-pickup at the Alamo Dome on Saturday was a pain since there appears to be no parking at the facility. But the race day itself worked out pretty well.

The three of us came to San Antonio on Saturday afternoon and directly went to pickup my race packet. We then met with people from work for dinner where Mike picked up the tab (thanks!). Then we searched for our place close to where the race shuttles would be.

We stayed at a Traveloge close by the AT&T center (not recommended, BTW) so that I could walk to the shuttles in the morning while Jfer and the kids slept in. That part worked out well and I arrived at the center to join a line of people waiting in high F 30s. I only waited maybe 20 minutes, which apparently was "short" compared to those that arrived later.

At the race start, I once again waited an eternity to get into a port-a-potty (by the race start, a good bunch of them were out of commission for, er, sanitary reasons--how the hell do people manage to poop on the toilet seat and leave it there?!?). By then it was starting to warm up so I put my jacket and sweater in my gear bag which they shuttled to the finished line.

I grabbed a banana and started jogging towards my start corral, hoping that I hadn't missed the start. I made it with a couple of minute to spare and got to start with my time group.

And then it was off to the races. The course was mostly flat and went through downtown San Antonio. There were lots of bands along the course, including a cool mariachi band when we ran in front of the Alamo. There was plenty of water every 1.5 miles or so and I never felt thirsty (I'm sure the temps in the 40s helped with that). I was glad that my watch helped me with pacing. I probably still could have started out a little slower, but overall my pace was pretty consistent.

The hardest part was a pretty long up-hill section right before the finish line--but hell, it was right before the finish line, so that wasn't that bad. I managed to pick up the pace for the last half mile or so and felt good running through the end.

Afterward, I got my knee iced and picked up a bunch of the food they had available at the finish line. I then hooked up with Jennifer--who unfortunately did not see me finish--and my coworkers, but didn't linger too long before heading back on a shuttle.

So, I think I'll do another one again. There is one in Austin on Feb. 15, though that one is pretty hilly. I do not have the urge to run a full Marathon, though. The training and the body abuse just sound a bit too much. Of course, I used to think a 5K was long, that a 10K was an ordeal and then that a 1/2 Marathon was out of reach, so who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind--it would be cool to do the Prague Marathon some day...

I've been waiting to exhale the last couple of weeks and finally the wait is over.  The election was resoundingly called for Obama and my dread and anticipation is finally over.  With his leads in the polls, I wasn't too worried about him not making it, yet there were still the memories of the shenanigans of previous elections and the inherent uncertainties of polls.  I am so glad that we've finally had a presidential election where the counting of votes isn't dragging on and where any potential voting irregularities are of statistical insignificance.

I was impressed with John McKain's concession speech--it was gracious and conciliatory--yet I wonder how much of his reputation and respect he'll manage to recover after the way he let his campaign descend.

And so, I see a brighter future for the next four or eight years.  I anticipate difficulties in the near future as the financial crisis plays itself out and before the country will recover.  But I feel confident that we'll be in capable hands and on a course that I'll find quite aligned with my own sense of where we should be heading.  I'm glad that as Magda and Simone go through their formative years, they'll look at Barack Obama as their presidents.

I hope that the people who got so invested in this election will stay inspired but will also insist on keeping Obama and the newly elected congress men honest.