33 thoughts on “September 28, 2015: Spur”

  1. Ran the Surly Loppet Half-Marathon last Saturday - 13.1 miles through Theo Wirth Park. It was brutal; easily the toughest race I've ever run. The vast majority of it was either dirt paths or mountain bike trails (with the commensurate elevation changes and steep slope of those elevations (i.e., some portions required holding onto trees)) were honestly quite awful. My calf muscles started cramping up about mile 9 so I started alternating walking/running, but I managed to finish in under 3 hours (2:51) ... It was well off my targeted finish, but I did finish, I wasn't the last guy aged 30-39 and didn't injure myself. Buddy and I biked to the start in exchange for a second free beer ticket, and I found a third ticket along the race course, so three "free" Surly's, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a job-well-done were the immediate results.

    And now, aching calf muscles and quads that scream when I have to use stairs. I did not do enough hill training. But no bone spurs ... so there's that.

    1. Congrats on finishing. Anything longer than about 4 miles is just pure hell for me, so anyone who can run more than that and enjoy it always impresses me, even if I do think you're a little on the crazy side.

  2. ESPN is running through their #NBARANK lists in preparation for the upcoming season. They are going through 181-200 today. Look at Phila's list.

    PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

    X. Nerlens Noel
    X. Jahlil Okafor
    202. Robert Covington
    241. Nik Stauskas
    243. Isaiah Canaan
    262. Kendall Marshall
    287. Jerami Grant
    289. Tony Wroten
    319. Carl Landry
    331. Pierre Jackson
    338. Hollis Thompson
    374. JaKarr Sampson
    377. Furkan Aldemir

    There are thirty teams in the NBA. If talent was evenly distributed, the starters would be in the top 150. Philly only has two players who are maybe good enough to be NBA starters (they could still fall out of the top 150, I suppose) and they play the same position. Oof.

    Even worse, all but three players are outside of an 8 man rotation quality. That place is in total disarray.

    1. Ouch, that is terrible. Teams can turn around in a hurry if the top pick is an MVP-caliber player, but even if they finally luck that kind of player there is an awful lot of garbage to turn over on the roster to surround a good 2/3-player core with competent role players.

  3. Papelbonehead suspended 4 games by the Nats, and an additional 3 games by MLB. I wonder if he'll be pitching for Long Island next year.

        1. Matheny and Molina, mostly. They just strike me as a team who loves The Unwritten Rules. Might be too much time reading @BestFansSaintLouis, though.

          To be honest, they seem to be a smart enough organization to not sign a bad player, and Papelbon is a bad player.

  4. Invisibles day is here once again. I got 4 of them: 2 and 4 seemed pretty easy, but I'm surprised I managed to come up with 1 and 8, especially number 1.

    '1, 2, 4, 8' SelectShow
    1. '#6 SelectShow

      I was sure #3 was Pleasantville, but I was apparently wrong.

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