Treading Water

4 miles, 31 minutes.

It's pretty frustrating when my training gets interrupted this close to a race. I had been hoping for a fast half marathon this month in SF, maybe not matching my 1:24:40 in Philly last November, but maybe 3 minutes faster than my Caesar Rodney time. It's pretty clear to me that I won't be able to put in my best performance, which makes it just that much harder to get out for a run in the morning. Hence, I skipped yesterday, and just got in a short run with Silas after work today. Strangely enough, even this run was shrouded in malaise. My legs were barely moving, I felt short of breath, and when I turned around I briefly considered walking home. I kept at it, though, and I'll just see if tomorrow is another day.

I watched NOVA tonight instead of the All Star game, which I've always found to be the most boring game of the season. They had a piece that relates to a topic from a Thursday night run last summer. The swarming behavior of insects, or flocking behavior of birds, or, umm, swimming behavior of schools of fish is described by emergence theory, or the emergence of complexity from individual actions. There are a few simple rules that govern this behavior in animals, like stay close to your neighbor, move when he moves, and avoid predators, but the result looks like these animals have a hive mind. They also interviewed some scientists who are applying this theory to neuronal organization - hypothesizing that thought and even consciousness can arise from complex networks of neurons - and self organization of molecules as a possible origin theory. Crazy scientists!