I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan (I can sing Dark Side of the Moon forward and backward and the worms still eat into my brain on a regular basis.)  A friend sent me the Pink Floyd Back Catalog the other day.  I just ordered my own copy from Amazon ( Art Poster Metal Framed Print – Pink Floyd-Back Catalog – Artist: unknown- Poster Size: 24 X 36).

Beautiful.

My mom (Cecelia Feld) is having another exhibition this fall in Boulder at Blink Gallery.  The show is called In The Mind’s Eye and includes photos from mom, paintings by Patricia Bramsen, and ceramic sculpture from Caroline Douglas.  The opening reception is on Saturday November 11th from 6pm to 9pm at Blink Gallery – 1011 Pearl Street – in Boulder, CO.  Come join us and say hi to me and my mom (and buy her art.)

Last week it crossed my mind that I hadn’t seen any new VC bloggers in a while.  Suddenly – in a matter of days – three popped up: Bijan Sabet (Spark Capital), George Zachary (Charles River Ventures), and Rob Hayes (First Round Capital).  I’ve invited them all to the FeedBurner Venture Capital Network.  If you are a VC blogger and not in the network, drop me an email.

My next marathon is on December 9th at Kiawah Island.  Dean Kanazes – who is 44 marathons into his 50 in 50 quest (a marathon in each state over a 50 day period) just did #44 on Kiawah Island.  His description of it is motivating – even with the wrong turn that added a mile or so.  Dean finishes up this weekend in NY – he’s been blogging daily on what has turned out to be an amazing run.

My run today was abysmal.  It’s been beautiful in Boulder the past few days (high of 75 yesterday) and I was looking forward to a great run to town, followed by a massage, and then a hang out at a friend’s house to watch the Broncos lose. 

It’s 13.5 miles from my house to Boulder.  It usually takes me about four miles to get in a groove on a run like this, although by mile two I’m usually loosening up and feeling happy.  As I hit the Mesa Trailhead on 170 (2.6 miles) I actually considered turning around and running back home.  I was tired, achey, generally felt like shit, and had no energy.  I decided to gut it out to the corner of 93 and 170 (the 4.5 mile mark) – if I was still feeling rotten I’d either turn around and do 9 or call Amy and have her come pick me up.

I stopped at the Eldo Market at the corner of 93 and 170, got a Clif Bar, chilled out for a few minutes, and decided that even though I was having a crappy run, there was nothing fundamentally wrong (no pain, my heart rate was where it should be, and I wasn’t out of breath) and I should just keep on slogging ahead.  By about mile 8 I finally got a rhythm going, but I still felt tired.  When I hit the Boulder Creek Path at Foothills at around mile 11, I switched my Nano to Coverville’s “Covered Side of the Moon” and when Melissa Quade belted out Time I finally had my first surge of energy in two hours.

I stopped at the corner of Broadway and Canyon and walked to the St. Julien for my massage.  My timing was perfect – Amy saw me as she was walking the other direction and I struggled to smile.  She could tell I was hurting and wasn’t surprised when my response to her “how was the run” was “it sucked.”

My massage was great, but I still felt wiped out throughout the afternoon and into the evening.  As I pondered what was going on, I drifted into a more philosophical zone.  “Sometimes it just sucks” (whatever “it” is) and it’s best to just push through it.  Today’s run was one of those – I had plenty of chances to bail, but nothing was fundamentally wrong (e.g. if I’d had real pain somewhere I would have quit) so I just stayed with it.  Looking back, there were very few satisfying moments during the run, but I’m happy I finished it and capped a solid week of running that had a lot of travel in it.

I fell asleep at halftime during the Broncos game so I missed them losing, although I wasn’t surprised.  Manning is just amazing, even without a real defense to help him out.  Tomorrow is a new day and I know I’ll have a better run.

I have several friends who are running in the upcoming NY Marathon on 11/5.  I sent one of them – who I just found out had hurt himself and won’t be running – the following hints.  Having run 8 marathons (including NY), I’m getting my pre-race drill honed pretty well.  Of course, these are “my hints” – if you are a runner you should feel free to ignore them and make up your own (or steal what you like.)

Starting Now

1. Don’t do anything “out of the ordinary” in the last two weeks.
2. Take it easy – any additional running will not increase your fitness.  I usually only run one day the week of a marathon.
3. Don’t change your diet / don’t try to lose the last few pounds you want to lose.
4. Eat “hard carbs” the week before – lots of bread / pasta / ice cream – whatever you want / like.
5. Sleep a lot.  Tell everyone “hey – I’m running the NY Marathon – that’s why I’m sleeping until 11am on a Tuesday.”

The Week Before (Next Week – Amazing, Isn’t It!)

1. Take it easy – little to no running.  Just rest – you are ready.
2. Sleep a lot.
3. Cut back on the booze if you drink (I can’t remember if you drink or not).
4. Tell everyone you are running the NY Marathon – that’ll get you psyched up.
5. If you feel sick or tired, that’s just hypochondria and is normal.  You are fine.  I always have “a major injury” three days before the marathon that magically disappears the day before.
6. Drive the course on Saturday – it really helps me to drive the course the day before and get it in my mind.

The Day Of

1. Go to sleep early the night before – even if you just end up lying in bed thinking about the race.
2. Get up early – have whatever “breakfast” you like before a long run.
3. Drink plenty of water, but don’t over do it.
4. Pee a lot – you’ll be nervous – it’s normal.
5. Let yourself be nervous and jittery.
6. Dress warm for the start with clothes you don’t care about – just discard them on the course when you don’t need them.

During the Race

1. If you are on the bottom of the bridge at the start, don’t run near the sides as everyone will be peeing over them.
2. Have an awesome time.  You will really get excited and start getting in the groove when you hit Brooklyn.
3. Don’t run over the 59th Street Bridge too fast.  If you feel great, take it easy.  I went over the bridge too fast and paid for it from mile 17 to 20 on 1st Ave.
4. The Bronx will be depressing – after the mayhem on 1st Ave, you hit the wall at around 20 and everyone in the Bronx is just staring at you.  Just grind through it.
5. The hill on 5th Ave feels like it goes on for ever.  It’s only two miles.  Let your brain go – you are almost finished.

For all of you out there running the NY Marathon, have a blast!

The Season 6 Trailer is up.  Jack is “almost” back.

As I was reading NY Times Science section today in the bathroom (the only place I bother reading physical newspapers and magazines anymore) I came across a superb explanation of the Periodic Spiral.  As a young nerd, I was fascinated with the periodic chart and – even though I didn’t like chemistry very much (I was a physics guy) – I spent hours staring at it.  I could easily lose an entire day to the Shockwave version of the Periodic Spiral.  Did you know that strontium has a molar mass of 87.62 and that Y (atomic number 39) is yttrium?

I received the following postcard from my mom today.

Love ya mom.