I’ve been working like a dog the last few days. As I said earlier, I’m writing mathematics exercises for a high-school textbook, and I also got offered yet another project from the publisher in Illinois that I do some work for. This time I accepted, because I want to keep the publisher as a client, so now I’m doing both the mathematics exercises and the publisher project at once. If I’m going to be overworked though, this is the time, since I’m between marathon-training sessions.

Also, I’m looking forward to seeing how Lance Armstrong does this Sunday at the New York City Marathon. I’ll be sure to report his results in this blog when I find them out.

Tags: Lance Armstrong, New York City Marathon

I just finished filling out my absentee ballot for the November 7th midterm elections. On the Ohio ballot this year are two proposed smoking bans. One, supported by a group called “Smoke Less Ohio,” is less restrictive and would allow smoking in restaurants, for example. Another, supported by a group called “SmokeFreeOhio,” is more restrictive and would ban smoking in almost all public places.

The ban supported by "Smoke Less Ohio" is on the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment, while the ban supported by "SmokeFreeOhio" is on the ballot as a proposed law. Therefore, if they both pass (which they probably will, because most people are uninformed and will vote for both), the constitutional amendment will render the law null and void. All of this is described in detail in this article. Ballots shouldn’t be this tricky!

Tags: midterm election, midterm elections, mid-term election, mid-term elections, mid term election, mid term elections

In my last post I said that I got offered another project from the publisher in Illinois that I do some work for. It turns out that I had to turn that project down, because I got lucky and came across another opportunity that’s much more lucrative and interesting. I’m now creating exercises for a high-school mathematics textbook.

This is the first time in over fourteen years that I’m directly using my mathematics degree from Hawaii Loa College. Of course, my degree has indirectly been very useful to me. For example, I couldn’t have participated in the JET Program without a degree. However, I got chosen to create these mathematics exercises specifically because my degree is in mathematics. Pretty exciting!

Tags: Hawaii Loa College, JET Program, JET Programme

I just finished an informal, fun run with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. I won’t start training seriously for the Boston Marathon until December. Luckily, I got some tips from others in the group to make my hotel and flight arrangements as soon as possible. I just went to the Boston Marathon website, and I saw that many of the hotels are already sold out. I’ll make my reservations ASAP!

Also, I recently picked up the novel Moloka’i by Alan Brennert from Half Price Books. I’m sure it will bring back some memories from my time in Hawaii at Hawaii Loa College. In addition, I just got offered another project from the publisher in Illinois that I do some work for. That’s good, because hotels in Boston are pretty expensive!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, book, books, Moloka’i, Alan Brennert, Hawaii Loa College, Hawaii

Today I registered for the 111th running of the Boston Marathon.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

Today I finished the Columbus Marathon in 3:12:42. After five marathons and almost three years of training, I finally qualified for the Boston Marathon. I really shouldn’t be able to do this. I don’t think I have much natural athletic ability at all. This was done with a lot of hard work and smart training with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. Also, I learned from my mistakes at the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in May. I didn’t make the same mistakes again today.

I’d say that today was the pinnacle of my marathon career. I’ll never run a marathon this fast again. I’m not saying this to be modest. I’m saying this because it’s a fact. Everything went right today, and I can’t expect everything to go right in the future. Besides, I’m not sure I want to work quite this hard anymore. I’m looking forward to a couple weeks of being really lazy!

Here are my results:

Place/Tot: 249/3194
Div/Tot: 39/342
Name: Timothy Trowbridge
City: Gahanna
State: OH
Sex/Tot: 232/2050
Age: 35
Time: 3:12:42
Pace: 7:22

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running, Boston Marathon, Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon, Flying Pig Marathon

Today I saw the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Tomorrow is the Columbus Marathon.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running, Little Miss Sunshine

Well, the weather forecast has changed a little bit for the Columbus Marathon on Sunday. According to the Weather Channel, Saturday night it’s supposed to get down to about thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit, and the chance of precipitation is now thirty percent for Sunday. It’s likely to be downright cold at the start, although it will warm up during the course of the race. As long as it doesn’t rain, it will be bearable.

It looks like I’ll be Tim Trowbridge the stripper on Sunday morning. I’ll probably start out wearing a sweatshirt, a stocking cap, and gloves, but I’ll surely jettison all of that by the end of the race. I will, however, keep my shorts on. This is, after all, a family event.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running

I just finished my last training run with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. We went just eight miles today, because the Columbus Marathon is only one week from tomorrow. I’m glad to be part of such a good training group—I definitely couldn’t train for a marathon all by myself!

Also, I just saw another article related to Lance Armstrong’s training for the New York City Marathon. It says that he just ran a sub-five-minute mile. (For those not familiar with running times, that’s really fast!) Perhaps I underestimated him when I made my prediction in the Runner’s World magazine contest.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running, New York City Marathon, Lance Armstrong, Runner’s World, Runners World

It’s still very early, but according to the Weather Channel, the forecast for the Columbus Marathon is looking pretty good. For Saturday, October 14th, the prediction is for sunny skies with a high of fifty-seven degrees Fahrenheit and a low of forty-three degrees with a zero percent chance of precipitation. For Sunday, October 15th, we’re looking at pretty much the same with a ten percent chance of precipitation.

If this forecast is correct, it will be a little bit cool at the start, but by the time we finish, it will be just about perfect. Most importantly, it looks like we won’t have any rain. Hopefully, that part of the forecast won’t change. The Columbus Marathon is only nine days away!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running

Runner’s World magazine started a contest to guess Lance Armstrong’s time in the New York City Marathon. The person whose guess is closest to his actual time wins a year’s worth of running shoes. Click here to play.

Sorry to my faithful readers in Hawaii and Canada. According to the consumer discloser, “[the] contest [is] open only to residents of the forty-eight contiguous United States and District of Columbia who are twenty-one years of age or older. Residents of Canada are not eligible.”

Tags: marathon, marathons, running, New York City Marathon, Lance Armstrong, Runner’s World, Runners World