Wired had a fun video today about a machine, made from Lego, that can build Lego objects.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/legobot:

"Here’s how the MakerLegoBot works: A feed system that’s about two-and-a-half feet tall and can hold about 35 bricks connects to the LegoBot. The object that the MakerLegoBot is to assemble is designed in MLCad, a modeling program. A Java app that runs on a PC takes the file from the MLCad software, determines a set of print instructions and sends those instructions over USB to the LegoBot.

The machine retrieves a brick from the feed system and places it in the exact location where it should be. It uses an axle-based release mechanism to leave the brick in place."

This morning I ran the Cannonball Half Marathon in Greensboro, NC. It was my first half marathon in 18 months, and given my lack of training while we were traveling earlier this year, I wasn't sure how this would go.

I'm so happy with the result! My time was 2:06, only a few minutes short of my P.R. and I felt great. I really should do this more often.

In fact, I only decided on Thursday to sign up for this race. I hadn't ran since last weekend -- lots of obligations this week made running in the evening impossible -- and I decided to take advantage of this unplanned tapering.

Early in Greensboro

Greensboro is an hour driving due west of Durham, and I got up at 5.00 am to make it to the start line. The race was well organized, and I liked the fact that they had mile markers on every mile. It was great weather for a run -- at the start it was 45 degrees, two hours later about 58 degrees. After the race there was a band playing Blues Brothers music.

Negative splits

I really tried to control my pacing this race. Usually, I start a little too fast in the first two miles, for which I'd pay the price later on. I set myself the goal to finish within 2:15, which is pretty much a 10 minutes per mile, but with the understanding that if I felt strong half-way the race I could speed up. It has been 18 months since my last race, so I didn't want to start too fast.

Theoretically, if I did 10:00 minutes per mile the first 7 miles, I could finish the race in 2:00 hours if I'd speed up to 8:12 minutes/mile in the second half. (Once, I want to be able to get under 2 hours for the half marathon).

The first miles I ran beautifully on schedule: 10 minutes per mile, and I passed the 4 mile marker exactly after 40 minutes. I did feel strong, and 8:12 minutes/mile is a little too ambitious for me (see past results), so I decided to speed up from the fourth mile marker. From the until the 10th mile marker I ran an average of 9:20 minutes/mile. Unfortunately, the last 2 miles were uphill, so I did slow down a little bit at the end. From the 10th mile marker to the finish I ran an average of 9:42 minutes/mile.

I'm quite happy with the result which is only 4 minutes slower than my P.R. from Raleigh's City of Oaks, two years ago. A next time, I can be more ambitious from the start. To break the magic two hour limit, I could for example start at 9:00 minutes/mile, slowing down to 9:20 after mile 7. I did like the negative splits though, perhaps I should switch them around. In any case, running 7 miles in 54 minutes will require quite some training...

The start area around 7.00 am.

The start.

Yours truly, when I just got home.

Today I was at a French literature group in Chapel Hill. I found the group through Meetup.com, and a few weeks ago we received "Le Passe-Muraille" as a homework assignment. It's a short story by Parisian author Marcel Aymé about a man who can walk through walls.

We met at a coffee shop this afternoon and sat outside in a garden with beautiful weather and great coffee. There were 7 people and we spoke French for a full hour. It was great exercise and a lot of fun.

We walked the Al Buehler trail and had gyuveche for dinner.

Almost all my chervil plants died this week when I forgot to water them.

It is safe to say that growing herbs has been unsuccessful for me, and for the herbs.

Perhaps I'll find chervil soup when I'm in the Netherlands for a week at the end of November.

Tomorrow, October 10, the Federation of the Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist.

The islands of Sint Maarten and Curaçao, following the political path of Aruba in 1986, will become constituent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius, will become special municipalities of the Netherlands.

Curaçao and St Maarten will become fully self-governing, except in matters of defense, foreign policy, and judicial and financial affairs, which will remain the responsibility of the Dutch government. There will be specific exceptions for the islands, such as the phasing in of the U.S. Dollar as the official currency come January 2011 instead of the euro, and the islands can take a different standpoint on issues like abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage.

Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Máxima, are on Curaçao to attend the ceremonies around the transition.

The weather is wonderful this weekend; it's sunny and 82 degrees today.

After I went for a haircut I read my French book in the Eno River Park. My hair is short again, I enjoyed having it longer for about a year but it's been enough.

The book that I'm reading is L'Étranger by Albert Camus. It's the right level of difficulty but I can only read a few pages at the time because it's still tiring to read in French.

We're going for a walk soon.