TC the Terrible

I have no idea the origin of this one and couldn’t find it on Snopes.com so take it for what you will. Personally, I agree with the sentiment even if the facts are a bit off

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, here’s a sobering statistic:

There has been a monthly average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theaterof operations during 

the last 22 months, and a total of 2,112 deaths.

That gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000 persons for the same period.

That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in the 

U.S. Capital than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington.

Or at least I will be when this morning catches up to me later on today.

Since I’m headed back to work next week (bummer) and everyone there is a fitness freak I figured it might be time to start running again. Two things to keep in mind here: 1) I really hate to run and 2) our new home sits at the peak of a ridgeline. The first part can sort be compensated for with my iPod shuffle and some decent tunes. The second part, there’s just no way to change that one. And I’m not talking about a subtle little ridge line either.

The graphic on the left shows the couple of miles that I put in today. Notice that the start point (my house) sits at just over 300 feet above sea level. The turn point is about a mile out and sits below the 240 foot marker. A sixty foot climb in less than 3/4 of a mile is a real mofo. Especially for those of us not inclined to run in the flat lands.

The real kicker was when I got home. I was still sweating like a hog when the woman comes down the steps in her running gear. Needless to say, the pout on her face when I told her I had already ran told me that I was heading back out.

Thankfully she was doing a shorter route and at a much reduced speed. If she’d been up for a full throttle run I’d be dead by now. As it stands, my legs are already stiffer than boards.

Nice.