We did not park at our usual trailhead because of the Westfield bridge replacement over 465, so we parked at the Marsh a mile south and set out from there. The 465 construction affects the trail, but the trail was in fact open, thanks to a temporary detour around the construction equipment. However, the detour was quite muddy and bumpy, so skating was difficult under the bridges. Runners, walkers, and cyclists (and dogs and boys in bike trailers) would have no problem, though.

The northern end in Westfield had not been extended further since the last time we ventured that far late last year. No surprise, since it was winter. The trail plan does continue north, so we’ll look forward to periodic extensions farther north over time.

David was a champ, as usual. He fell asleep on the return trip back south. I don’t blame him, because the sun felt so good. He had his “windshield” in place so the south wind didn’t make him chilly.

We wound up going almost 17 miles in an hour and a half. It was a great morning, and we’re all looking forward to spending more time on the Monon this spring and summer.

View 2010-03-07 Monon in a larger map

The sky was clear, and the sun is rising earlier these days, so the sun was in our eyes a lot. However, I prefer that to dreary cloudy days any time. It seems like we have not seen the sun around here for an entire month. The humidity at the start felt pretty high, and combined with the somewhat chilly temperature, my trachea felt like it was getting lined with frost. I could see the breath of everyone around me.

And let me get something off my chest. I like runners. I like being a runner. I think most runners are neat people. On the whole, they’re cheerful, respectful, and friendly. Of course there has to be the occasional spoiler, and one made himself known today: the starting horn shover.

For the last 15 years, most races of any size have used RFID timing, which times runners based on their actual net time between the start and finish lines. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re lined up in the front row or halfway back. Each runner’s clock does not start until he reaches the start line. So why the shoving? I would hope for his sake that he planned on winning the race if he was going to shove me out of his way, but he only finished a few seconds ahead of me. It was hard to bite my tongue, but saying something would not have done much good, especially considering how I just said I like runners because they’re friendly!

Speaking of RFID timing, I’m happy to see that the race organizers appear to have dropped the cheap, flimsy, crummy ChronoTrack D-tag disposable timing tags. D-tags are too vulnerable to damage. Instead, today’s race bibs had two RFID tags permanently attached. The tags appear to be based on the same UPM Raflatac DogBone UHF tag product as the ChronoTrack product, but away from runners’ feet, where they are prone to get snagged, bent, or lost. Presumably the additional distance from the antennas on the street to the RFID tag on the bib makes them less reliable, so adding a second tag makes up the difference. I wonder what the actual difference in reliability is.

I feel worse and worse about the amount of waste produced during a race. Between four water stations and the finish line, each runner had the opportunity to take five paper cups and a plastic water bottle. Multiply that by 1,700 runners for today’s event, and that’s a lot of waste. The volunteers always do a great job of cleaning up, so it’s not litter that bothers me, it’s the waste. Maybe it’s time that I just use my own water bottle and hydration belt so it doesn’t contribute to the waste. I am not sure why I have resisted in the past, because carrying my own water or Gatorade never bothers me when I run alone. Okay, new resolution, then.

I didn’t quite meet my 45 minute goal time today, but I’m not too disappointed. I was under the weather for a solid two months during the winter, so it’s taking a while to get back up to speed. I am a little concerned about being ready for the IU Mini in just four weeks, but I don’t plan on setting any records there, either. Just to finish, enjoy the ride and have a nice visit with our friends in Bloomington that weekend.

Spring is clearly on its way, and we’re ready.

View in Google Earth (16 kB KML)

Official race results

View in Garmin Connect

View 2010-03-06 Mini-Marathon Training Series 10k in a larger map

I was in the neighborhood, loosely speaking, earlier this week to pick up this month’s Bacon of the Month Club treat from Goose the Market, and I was low on coffee, so I stopped in the Carrollton location to pick up some beans.

Caffeine does not usually have much effect on me, but last night I was awake until 2:00. What happened?

When I got home I eagerly flipped on Miss Silvia, the espresso machine, in anticipation of a rich, invigorating beverage. I was immediately distracted by the dog’s silliness and other chores that needed attention. Some time later, I got around to making the shot of espresso that I had been looking forward to. It was good, so maybe I am coming around on my opinion of Hubbard & Cravens’ roast level.

Fast forward to this morning when I was laying in bed, unable to sleep. I had plenty of time to think about the cause of my insomnia.

Silvia’s boiler temperature is controlled by two simple bimetallic thermostats, so temperature regulation is not very precise. Temperature swings of 40° are not unheard of with this type of thermostat. When I brewed my espresso yesterday evening, I noticed that it was extremely hot. The thermostat must have just cycled off at the very top of its 110°C (230°F) range. (I am certain that I had not left the steam switch on, which brings the boiler to 140°C [284°F].) The espresso even appeared to be boiling as it came out of the portafilter.

Wikipedia says that caffeine’s solubility in water increases dramatically with temperature.

Not being a chemist, I have to assume that caffeine’s solubility would continue to increase with temperature. So, it is definitely plausible that if the water was much hotter than normal for that fateful shot, the machine could have extracted much more caffeine than normal into my espresso.

If the solution to this is better temperature control, am I trying to talk myself into joining the ranks of people who have hacked their espresso machines to include a PID controller? Uh-oh.

That said, I don’t like wasting energy. Our electric company’s website has a tool that estimates your energy usage by category based on your responses to a questionnaire about what type of house you have, how many occupants, and what types of appliances you have. The questionnaire is sufficiently detailed to make me believe it presents a realistic picture of our energy use. It is an eye-opening look into where our electricity dollars go. After heating, water heating and laundry are the largest energy consumers in our house.

Within the category of water heating and laundry, the dryer is the second-largest consumer.

We already set the programmable thermostat to the lowest temperature we can tolerate, and the water heater is already set to the U.S. Department of Energy’s recommended 120°F. In my view, the next item that would have the most bang for the buck is to not run the dryer any more than necessary, so I take the clothes out before they start to get crispy. (Which brings me to my original acknowledgement: I do the laundry wrong. This post isn’t supposed to be about marital issues, so let’s move along.)

I thought, what if there is a happy medium? I know that there are dryers out there with moisture sensors that stop the dryer when the clothes are dry instead of just running until it hits the time you arbitrarily set at the beginning of the cycle. Since our dryer does not have a moisture sensor, perhaps I could build one.

Moisture sensors in fancier dryers have two metal strips in the drum that the clothes touch as they tumble around. Wet clothes are apparently slightly conductive, whereas dry clothes are not. By monitoring the electrodes, the dryer can determine when it is done. Since I do not have access to terminals like this, and I am unlikely to gain permission to hack up the dryer, I thought that a humidity sensor in the exhaust would be a good means to tell when the clothes are dry. I found an inexpensive humidity sensor at Sparkfun, and waited for a chance to experiment with it. With the rest of my family out of town, I have the perfect opportunity this week.

I placed the humidity and temperature sensors behind the dryer’s lint filter and connected them to the good old Arduino as a simple data logger, and then I captured humidity and temperature readings during the first load of laundry I did earlier this week. This is the humidity and temperature profile of a full 60 minute cycle (PDF, 16kB).

I learned a few things by examining the plot.

1. The most efficient way to mow is the spiral: start from the outside and do the border, spiraling in to the middle.

2. Next, you have the long stripes: mow the long edge-the length of the rectangle-and then u-turn, and go back forth, striping the turf till you’re done.

3. Next, the short stripes: same as long stripes, but this time you’re going back and forth across the short distance.

4. Finally, the diagonal stripes: make strips starting at one corner, and going back and forth across the diagonal of the rectangle.Aesthetically, you’re going to want to dial this one to 45 degrees.

4b. The Old Man “Keep Off My Lawn You Darn Kids” Deluxe Double-Diagonal Stripes: Do method 4, then do it again so the diagonals crisscross. Recommended for baseball outfields.

‘David’s Lawn-mowing Efficiency Hierarchy’ — Planet Money Blog : NPR.

Regarding the podcast that the letter writer refers to, the “efficiency expert” sounds insufferable. I mean, there are parts of my life that I like to optimize. I take pride in packing the dish washer as tightly as possible. I have favorite lawn mowing patterns. I have a set pattern for the weekly chores. But lining up items in the bathroom in order of their use? At least this guy made a career out of his OCD tendencies.