Yesterday found me training on the scanning electron microscope (SEM). This is a great instrument that has the ability to take detailed images with up to 800,000 magnification which is on the scale of nanometers. This is one of the most advanced SEMs in the world, so part of my training allowed me to image some parts of a 1mm long beetle and also a chunk of lung. It was cool because I always have been interested in the very small and I am completely curious about everything. I could probably sit there all day taking images of anything and everything at various magnifications if I could. Unfortunately I am primarily using the device for it's EDX or X-ray to ID elements in the mineral phases I grow, so I won't really be able to take great pictures to show off, but none the less it is a great opportunity to dive into another microcosm. I love playing with 1 million dollar geeky toys.
Beetle's foot magnified about 700 times (the beetle is 1mm long).
This is the ball joint to the same beetle's antennae. This is magnified 1500 times.
Here is a chunk of lung magnified 60 times, showing the air passages and the alveoli.
Since I enjoyed running Mount Work over the weekend so much I decided to run Mount Doug this week. Today I cranked out a 40 minute workout, which was way more fun and playful than it was a tough workout. I ran a combination of trails that I have never spliced together in this combination before and found it to be an absolute blast. I am not in "Mount Doug shape" by any means but hope to improve on my terrible fitness. I fear I have lost a good portion of leg muscle and stamina from this roller coaster of a Fall. I had a bit of a "near faint" and had to sit for a minute and let my heart's pace maker figure out the correct pulse, but not a minute later I was barreling down the south side of Doug. I really love the downhills. They are by far more challenging than the ups because they are so fast and really get the adrenaline pumping. It is amazing how tough the downs are on your quads, they just scream after a few minutes of fast downhill.
A fall photo of Mount Doug (unfortunately not my photo but from a flickr user, but I couldn't find his name to credit the photo - sorry anonymous).
Aerial map with trail overlay of the Mount Doug area taken from a GIS project by Brianne Ranta.
Today as I was cruising down the south side of Mt. Doug "Special Needs" by Placebo popped up and I was happy to have it accompany me to the bottom of the hill and through the waterlogged trail that circumnavigated the base turning me back to the North. This is a great song and has been one of my favorites from the band for years now. It reminds me of some of my early trail runs up Mueler park in Bountiful, and hot dusty workouts on fire break, and also some of my first runs on Mount Doug. It was nice to listen to today and recollect where I have been with my running obsession, and dream big as to where I am taking it in the future. I will include this live version from Germany in '06. The music video disabled the embedding, but is cool as well, albeit steamy. Enjoy!
1 comment:
Those pictures of the beetle and lung were abslolutely AWESOME! Its amazing the detail they have when magnified so close. That picture of Mount Doug looks AWESOME!!!! Beautiful place to go run it looks like. Hopefully your running will get a little more consistant as summer approaches.
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