Rocker template

I promised I would post how I made the rockers on the kids rocking chair.  Basically it is an arch that I cut out with a router and circle cutting jig.  I bored holes for clamps.  There are three important things to remember with this jig:

1. Put tape, either packing or masking, on the top of the fixture.  The thin strips are then put on top of the tape.  This allows you to remove the part once the glue dries. 

2. Have one of the thin strips protude a little more than the others.  This allows for a clean edge to cut off the excess glue and clean up the edges.  Make sure you allow to cut about 1/4-3/8" off the width for this.  I also use the top piece to be my larger/off set piece because glue does not drip over the edge.

3. Use plenty of glue.  Once the thin pieces are laminated they can not be re-laminated if they separate.

I used 3/6" thick strips and and laminated five of them together.  They bent just fine.  there was about a 1/4" spring back so this needs to be accounted for in the fixture.

The Gerbil

This will be the first puzzle that I created.  I stole the basic design from a picture on the web and then put the letters in.  If you would like to take the design, please do.  Copy the picture and print it out.  Trace the lines with a black pen and enlarge or reduce to the size you want.  This one is about 7" long. 

A little out of my league

This is not a post about wood working but about my life.  Yesterday I did a 10k trail run in the Chino Hills state park.  It was a little chaotic start because there was at the same time a 50k, marathon, and a half marathon all starting at the same time.  As I was warming up I was looking at the cars in the parking lot.  The bumper stickers and license plate frames told me this was not the same group who do mud runs, color runs, or zombie runs.  These people have ultra marathon finisher (78.6miles), iron man finisher, 100 mile Tahoe finisher. This was a little more extreme then I will take my running.  I have a goal to run a marathon next year, now I am not sure I am going to make it after this 10k.
The run was not my best performance.  I do realize that I cannot compare to my high school and college days but 1:01was not what I was hoping.  This is roughly 10 minute miles.  As for the course, not easy.  There was about 800 feet of elevation gain over the first 2.5 miles and a sharp decent in about 3/4 of mile.  So the climb killed my quads and the decent killed my knees.  When I came off of the decent there was 3 miles of relatively flat and I was in fifth place at the time.  Over the next three miles I fell to ninth, not because I wanted to but because I physically could not run any faster. I tried to pace myself off the people that passed me but could not keep the pace.
I realize I have to do some work on the hills.  I do not have any in my neighborhood so I have to look elsewhere.  My tactic is three miles 3 times a week and stepped mileage on Saturday (plus one mile each week)  Is there any way to improve my speed on road road running or am I going to have to go back to intervals? Can I train for a marathon like this?