I'm ready to jump out a window too

[marathoner452]

My SMP advisor says that whenever I use "conversely" it makes him want to jump out a window. His words, not mine. I'm actually getting quite a kick out of that-good thing, 'cause I'm going to need a sense of humor to get through this week.

8.2 miles yesterday with 3.6 of those miles at tempo pace. For me, that's 8:27 miles/7.1 mph on the treadmill. Today was 4 miles recovery at just under 10:00 pace. Woo hoo for the Frederick Marathon in 9 days! I'm running the first leg of the two-person relay, so for all intents and purposes I'm running a 1/2 marathon.

www.frederickmarathon.org

Okay, back to work. Yes, I'm working on my SMP on a Friday night. Yes, I was in the library almost until it closed getting all exited over history stuff. I'm so cool. :p

~ Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Bravo on the tempo run...I ran hills on Thursday and my calves and hammies are still sore. I'm so evil to myself.

I've been wondering this for a while...what is SMP? I'm getting Senior Project out of it but I want to be sure I understand it.

I had a professor in college who wanted to throw me off the roof of the administration building every time I used "therefore" in a paper. Nothing is as much fun as watching a nun squirm.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

SMP stands for St. Mary's Project. My school is St. Mary's College. Basically, an SMP is an undergrad thesis.
Evil is good. It's the only way you're going to get faster. :-)

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. What's your major? I'm seeing history in your entry, but history of what?

I did my undergrad thesis on Stephen King and fear. It was so cool--I actually got to correspond with him a couple times.

And yes, I know evil is good...that's what I tell my girls...I just wonder if they think I'm a little too much on the sadistic side. I'm not sadistic--a little masochistic, but not sadistic. (I'm a marathoner--what do they expect?)

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

My SMP is called "Slavery and Freedom in St. Mary's County, Maryland and Key West, Florida." I'm up to 50 pages so far-yay!
And to think that I once enjoyed Gone with the Wind. Now stuff like that drives me crazy-such a simplistic and paternalistic view of American slavery.
Stephen King and fear. I'll bet that was fascinating. Was that with a focus on literature, psychology, something else...?

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Ah-ha...quite a focus. That's one hell of a long paper. Mine was only 20. And I do agree that stuff like Gone with the Wind is a little on the biased side. But you know the cliche--history is written by the winners.

Mine was a combination of the literary, psychological, and physiological. I went into detail on defense mechanisms, adrenaline, story structure, literary devices, the works. It was so much fun.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you what the wierdest part of my research was...looking at the slave schedules. Free black people are listed on the 1850 census as individuals with families and occupations and birthplaces, but the slaves who were just as human are listed as property, by age, gender and number. Disturbing and chilling.
"History is written by the winners'...but the South didn't even win. And historians have written against paternalism since the mid-1950's. So who's the winner here? Deep-seated racist ideology, I'd say.
(That's in no way intended to be a personal attack. It's me wrestling with my personal demons. Maryland's more southern than most people think-people in my hometown still fly Confederate flags. :O)
(I'm still afraid you're going to take that the wrong way, so I apologize in advance. No offense intended.)

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

No apology needed, and no offense taken. I actually rather enjoy passionate people and passionate discussions/rants/spats. I do it myself all the time. I've posted a couple of my own, as I'm sure you saw when you read my journal.

And I'll rephrase. History is written by those who have the power. The slave owners were rich, and therefore powerful, and many of them were politicians, which gave them even more power. Power corrupts...it's one of those vicious cycles.

I don't tend to take anything the wrong way. The only way I'll take things the wrong way is if you direct it at me personally, and you aren't the kind of person who would do things like that. I'm very good at reading people, and I have a good feeling about you. :-)

phew...

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

...racism is one of those subjects where you can easily offend someone. Good to know that you're not one of those people who's easily offended. Makes discussion much more interesting. :-)

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. What a lot of people (not you) don't realize is that we're still living with the legacy of the Civil War. Racism is not a thing of the past. One of the earliest revisions of my paper was changing "blacks" to "black people"...turning the subjects of my research into people who actively made history. Made writing a 50 page paper much easier when I reminded myself that history is people, not textbooks or census records.

~Bethany

Re: phew...

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I don't offend easily. I believe if something you say offends someone, they were looking to be offended.

And I do agree that the legacy (or maybe I should say scars) of the war linger, and the hardest part is making the past about people and not numbers, which most people today (at least in the US) tend to gravitate towards, because we're such a quantitative society.

As Albert Einstein said, "Ignorance is oblivion." It seems you don't have to worry about that. :-) A lot of other people, however, do.

Re: phew...

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Funny story about me as a lifelong history major...back when I was in middle school, my sisters and I used to play Southern plantation in our basement. We loved practicing our Southern accents. :-)
I first got interested in slave history my senior year of high school. We read The Peculiar Institution, the first modern historical examination of slavery, in my AP history class. I need to go back and tell that history teacher about the madness she created.

~Bethany

Re: phew...

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I did the same with my high school and college coaches...they've both created a monster. It's gotten so bad, I'm going back to school to get the three big degrees (BS, MS, Ph.D.) all in exercise science-related fields. I'm already a personal trainer.

I used to play Olympian when I was a kid with the guys down the street. I was the marathoner, they were sprinters or long jumpers, and one was the IOC President.

Talk about getting started early.

Re: phew...

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Do you have AIM or MSN messenger?

Re: phew...

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Both. My screenname for both is marathoner452. (My time in my first marathon-yeah, I've gotten a little faster since then.)

~Bethany

Re: phew...

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

roadwarrior230. Goal time for my first marathon.

Okay, so I aim high.

P.S.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

And I thought I raced a lot. I haven't run a half in 2 years. My next race is next month, and it's just a 5K. (I gotta start my racing season somewhere.)

Hey, do you have any photos of yourself online? I like to have an idea of who I'm talking to.

~Adam

race photos

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=7398&PWD=&BIB=546
(That's from the B&A Trail 1/2 about 2 months ago.)

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=3555&ID=6460149&FROM=photos&BIB=11227
(Miami Tropical 1/2 a little over a year ago-huge PR, hence the huge smile!)

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=1500&ID=2580364&FROM=photos&BIB=21939
(From the end of my first marathon, 2 1/2 years ago. Can't wait to do another.)

And just for kicks: http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=2581&PWD=&ID=3319156&FROM=photos&BIB=302
(That was my second marathon 5 months later. Yes, it's snowing.)

~Bethany

Re: race photos

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Here's some of me from Chicago last year...you can't see very well because you can't enlarge them, but my head was only shaved for the race for wind resistance. (I also lost a bet with my boss--long story.) Head now looks like my profile picture.

http://www.marathonfoto.com/order_my_photos.cfm?BFI=1u2dzb2rl3

Re: race photos

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

For some reason your link isn't working. It could just be my computer though; it's been acting up lately.

~Bethany

Re: race photos

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

weird...okay, try this.

Go to marathonfoto.com

Scroll down to Chicago Marathon

Last name: Webb

Bib number: 862

Re: race photos

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Lookin' good. :-)
Was that a 3:00 finish I saw on the clock?

~Bethany

Re: race photos

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I'm zoned out in most of those, but thanks. I'm glad I grew the hair back...I looked like a cueball.

Yes, it was a 3:00...I had another 5 minutes in me in that race...I could've run a 2:55 but I settled in too soon. My PR is 2:45, and I'm going for 2:40 in Detroit this fall. I had planned to run Boston, but the $$$ isn't rolling in this spring.

My training goal is to run a 2:20 by the time I'm 32. I want to run in the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Re: race photos

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

and PS...you're kinda cute...;-)

Re: race photos

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks. :-)

~Bethany

Re: race photos

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

:-) Very welcome.