Run #34: Varsity Lot, Varian Physics, Ventura Hall, Visitor Center, Wadsworth, Wallenberg (160), William H. Neukom Building, William R. Hewlett Teaching Center, Y2E2

We're done!

We finished our grand adventure today with a seven mile run.  Yes, that's right.  209 buildings in 34 runs, totaling almost 175 miles.

The final stats average out to about 6.1 buildings per run, and our runs averaged 5.1 miles (which seems like more than I thought).  And, lastly, we hit about 1.2 buildings per mile, or, if you prefer, each building was, on average 0.83 miles apart.

Before I hit the run down, two things you should know about today's run.  First, in the spirit of Sesame Street, today's run was brought to you by the letter "c". That's "c" as in "a squared plus b squared equals c squared", because today we took every "hypotenuse" we could possibly take.  We began the run thinking we might be able to finish it off, but we knew it might be too far, so we cut every corner we could.  We ran diagonally through the Oval four times, cut across grass fields and dirt areas.  Yes, paths couldn't limit us.  In the end, it paid off, as I had mapped this out ahead of time at about 7.5 miles, and we came in at exactly 7.0.

Second, Ira really dragged me along today.  I've been fighting off a cold and I'm still coughing a bit, so the run in the slightly cold air was tough.  I definitely felt my limited lung power.  There is no way I could have done it today without Ira pushing me.

Our first stop could not have been more fitting:  on the last day of our adventure to run to every building in alphabetical order, we began with someplace that is neither a building nor in alphabetical order.  The Varsity Lot is a parking lot between the stadium and Sunken Diamond.  Um, it is not a building, and there are many other named lots that didn't make the map.  Why is this listed, dear map-maker?  We were nervous that we wouldn't be able to find a sign, although we did pretty quickly.  And, of course, we couldn't actually touch a door, so we touched one parking spot with our hand.

Next is the Varian Physics Building.  You'll notice that, alphabetically, it is tough to justify why "Varian" comes after "Varsity".  This older building is near the Math Corner, and is one of the only buildings of the "old" engineering buildings that has made the cut and still stands.

We continued our trek to Ventura Hall, which is a cute looking building in the little grove of buildings near the corner of Panama Street and Campus Drive.  We found the sign pretty quickly, since it is the closest one to the street.  I have no idea what goes on here, but it seems cozy.

We made a u-turn (although we got our signals mixed up and Ira briefly ran left as I ran right) and basically retraced our steps back to the Visitor Center, which is on the corner of Galvez and Campus near the track.  We went through the Engineering Quad, cut across the Oval, and took the path between Frost and the new Bing Auditorium.  There was a tour starting, so we had to wait to touch the door for a second.

Sigh.  We then made yet another u-turn and headed back to Wadsworth, which is the final one of those old creepy "abandoned" buildings off Searsville Road.  As we ran there, basically taking the exact same route yet again, we wondered if this would be the last time in our lives we would ever be near the Wadsworth Building.  It seems likely.  We stopped and stretched there a bit, and I noticed that there was a little plaque on the building in commemoration of whoever Wadsworth was.  This building is basically made of aluminum siding, so maybe Wadsworth should get his money back.

We again turned around and headed back to the Quad.  This run didn't quite have the variety that some of the early runs did, although, as Ira said, we've basically been everywhere by now.  We ran along the front of the Quad and touched the door of Wallenberg (160).   Quoting a Stanford website, "Funded by the generous gift of Thomas Welton Stanford, Leland Stanford's younger brother, the building has served as the library, the administrative center, the law school and home of the department of political science during its 100-year lifespan."  So, yeah, this is an old building.  When you're looking at the front of the Quad, you're looking at Wallenberg.

I was exhausted by now, but Ira kept me going.  We headed back to the Law School for the William H. Neukom Building, which is the new building at the back of the Law School with the cool upper courtyard.  I was nervous for a second that we wouldn't find a sign, but Ira pointed out that that sign is cleverly inlaid in the sidewalk in metal.  This is certainly one of the prettier newer buildings on campus.  And, bonus fact: William "Bill" Neukom was the owner of the San Francisco Giants.  

I was exhausted, but we pressed on to the William R. Hewlett Teaching Center, another pretty new building near the Engineering Quad.  It sort of felt like the end of a marathon by now; we were tired but excited we were going to finish.  And, finally, props to the map-maker for the difficult alphabetical decision of "William H." versus "William R."  Although, again, why not use last names?

This is a pretty incredible building, though.  It kind of looks like a spaceship.

We've known for a long time that our last stop would be Y2E2, and we noted it almost every time we ran by it over the last several runs.  This building is technically called the "Yang and Yamzsaki Environment and Energy Building", named after Yahoo founder Jerry Yang and his wife Akiko Yamazaki.  We couldn't have been more excited to touch the door to the Coupa Cafe located on the first floor and lumber back to Wilbur Field, holding our arms up like Rocky climbing the steps.

Distance: 7.0 miles (with a grand total of 174.2 miles)

It has been quite an adventure.  You might be wondering, "Hey, KMo and Ira, what's next?"  Well, we've discussed it, of course, but I'll save that for a future blog entry.  (There are other sections on the map, you know...)

Run #33: Student Services Building, Sweet Hall, Temporary Arboretum Child Care Center, Thornton Center, Tower House, Tresidder Union, Vaden Health Center

This blog entry sets the record for "most days behind the actual run".  The record is two, since we actually ran on Thursday, accompanied by Jake and Mo, and today is Saturday.  It is weird to run in the dark.  We still haven't adjusted to the lack of daylight savings time.

Our first stop was the Student Services Building, which we couldn't find at the end of the previous run.  We ran all the way around this building, and there is absolutely no sign that says "Student Services" at all.  It's a building near the new Munger graduate housing, and it has, among other things, the "Office of Accessible Education."  Hey, map-maker, we'll concede that this is a "student service", and a very worthwhile one at that, but so are so many other things, right?  Clearly all the "student services" aren't in this building, and, um, shouldn't the name of the building on the map match up with a sign somewhere on the building?

Next we ran the short distance to Sweet Hall.  I'm actually not sure what is there now, but when I was a student it housed a lot of the high-powered workstation computers.  As a CS major, I spent some time there.  The joke was that you weren't a CS major until you saw the sun rise through a second floor window at Sweet Hall.  I did so once.  And, in a historical note, I once gave a presentation there in 1995 explaining the new wacky idea of the "world wide web" to a bunch of people.  

Next was a long run to the Temporary Arboretum Child Care Center.  It is a bunch of portables in the parking lot near the corner of Campus Drive and Stock Farm Road.  We knew where it was a found it, but we had a bit of a tough time finding a sign.  When we did, we noticed a printed sheet of paper on the door noting that the center had returned to the original location (way down Palm Drive near the Hoover Pavillon) in August.  I think that, in a crazy coincidence, we ran there when we were on the A's back in the summer ("Arboretum Child Care Center") when they were moving back in.  So, yeah, this spot was actually a ghost town.

We headed back toward the middle of campus to the Thorton Center, which is the building standing near the reflecting pond where the old Terman Engineering Building used to be.  We've gone by this building on almost every run, and I bet Ira walks or drives by it every day, and he had never heard of it.  I had to look it up, but apparently this building is named after Tex Thorton, who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  You go, Tex!

We then ran all the way down Escondido Road (including a run across a grassy field near Sweet Hall that upset Ira because his shoes got wet) and headed toward Bing Nursery School to find the Tower House.  Ira knew exactly where this was, so he was our sherpa guide.  It is one of the oldest buildings on the entire campus, originally built in 1876.  Although, to be fair, it has drastically renovated after the 1989 earthquake.  Check out this crazy picture of it when it was the only thing around!

Two more places to go!  It was getting dark, so Jake turned on the light on Mo's collar.  Yes, if you've been reading this blog and you didn't know who Mo was, well, Mo is Jake's dog.  We ran back to Tresidder Union.  If you're reading this blog and you don't know where or what Tresidder is, well, that's weird.  We did have a tough time finding a sign, though.  It would be fun to make a list of all the various businesses that have been in Tresidder at one point.  When I was a kid, there was a bowling alley and an arcade.

Our last stop was the Vaden Health Center, right across the street from where we start and stop at Wilbur Field.  This building used to be called the Cowell Health Center when I was a student, although it is now much bigger and better.  That's where I found out I had chicken pox on the final day of classes during fall quarter of my freshman year.  Quite a memory.  The diagnosis went something like this:  "Take your shirt off. "  I took my shirt off.  "Yup, you have chicken pox.  You need to go home."

Distance: 4.7 miles (total 167.2 miles.)  We only have nine more buildings.  We're running Sunday morning, and we've got a shot of finishing the whole thing tomorrow if we go crazy, but it will probably take two more runs.

Run #32: Stauffer I, II and III, Storage Buildings, Student Housing Management

We only got to three places today, partially because we're being cautious about my gimpy knee, and partially because, well, there's a really good story at the end of this blog entry.

(Please note that every thing is relative; it is a "really good" story for this blog, but most people would read it and say, "Um, OK, whatever, you guys are weird.")

The first stop today was Stauffer I, II, and III, which are three older engineering buildings near the computer science building.  As we ran by, we passed the first building, and we weren't sure whether it was I or III.  We'd run by before, and we knew that they were in order, but we didn't know whether the direction from which we approached them meant they were ascending or descending.  We passed the first building, and Ira thought it was III.  We could see the second building by then, and we saw that the sign said "II".  He said, "See?" and then realized that the fact that the second building was II gave us no mathematical information about the other two buildings.  Silly Ira.  Though he was right that the building we passed was III.  In any event, these aren't the most picturesque buildings, but today's run didn't hit a lot of beautiful architectural highlights.

We thought our next stop was ridiculous; it's listed on the map as Storage Buildings, as if this is the only place on the whole campus where anything is stored.  They are, in actuality, just a bunch of those metal shipping bins that you see on freight ships.  Well, there was a lot of chain link fence and other stuff, but certainly not a sign that said "Storage Buildings" or, in fact, any sign whatsoever.  I'm not sure the map-maker should have included this as a place on the map at all.

Next, it was back across campus to behind the Cowell Cluster for Student Housing Management.  We had one big quibble with this listing, dear map-maker.  The sign on the front of the building says something like "R&DE Housing Management" or something like that.  "R&DE" stands for "residence and dining enterprises", something I had to look up.  I'm not sure that anyone would ever find this building under the S's, since you'd probably first looking up "Housing", then maybe "Residences", then maybe "Management", then maybe "Housing."  Isn't the goal of listing all the buildings to allow someone to lookup and find a building?  Our visit to this building was saved by the fact that nearby there was a woman training the world's cutest golden retriever puppy.  You know those little adorable puppies that are so young and tiny and fluffy and cuddly?  Well, we ran by one twice.

So, we've adopted some rules in our alphabetical adventure.  One of them is that we can't ask anyone for directions or help finding a building. If I've got my phone on me, we can look it up, but that's it, and we try to avoid even doing that.  We intended to visit one more building today, the Student Services Building, but notice that I didn't put it in bold, because today we had our first failed attempt in the entire journey.

We knew the building was behind Munger, the new dorm across the street from our ending point.  Ira thought he knew what building it was, but we couldn't find a sign that said "Student Services."  We ran inside one of the buildings and there was a guy at an information desk, who clearly saw us walking around inside this building looking for something.  He said "Can I help you find something?"  Ira replied "Actually, I don't think you can."  And then we walked out.  It was pretty darn funny.

We decided to abort our mission and call it a day.  It was an easy decision, since this building is so close to where we'll start the our next run on Saturday.  We won't have to backtrack at all, and at least we got a good story out of it.  I'm still not sure why this one random building merits an informational help desk.  Bizarre.  That must be a pretty boring job.  I hope we brightened his day.

Distance: 3.7 miles today, bringing us to 162.5 total

Run #31: Stanford Daily, Stanford Dining, Hospitality, & Auxiliaries, Stanford Hospital, Stanford Humanities Center

We're back, baby!

I guess I need to explain our hiatus for the last two weeks or so.  First, Ira was very, very busy a few weeks ago, planning and hosting a family Bat Mitzvah.  It was tough to find time to run when family was flying in from all over, and, oh yeah, he still had a job that it would probably take three ordinary men to do.

We did manage to run once last week, after the Bat Mitzvah, but Ira has this other goofy rule that he has to run to the Stanford Dish once every month.  He's been keeping this up for several years, although it is sort of lost to the dustbin of history how many.  Well, it has been harder to squeeze in these Dish runs during our alphabetical adventure, and he was approaching the end of October.  So, we ran to the Dish.

Then, I sort of got hurt.  My left knee was killing me.  I'd wake up and I'd have a huge limp.  This went on for several days, and there was no way I could run on it.  We planned to run last Friday and I had to cancel.  Then, we planned to run on the weekend and I had to cancel.  For a few days, I thought I had really injured myself, and might have to abandon my quest.  Then, I started using a foam roller a few times a day.  The first time: Yowza! it hurt like heck.  Then, it gradually got better each day, and yesterday I was able to run.  It wasn't perfect, and we didn't run as far as normal, but I think I'll be able to continue the journey.

Our first building was the Stanford Daily, which is sort of behind Old Union.  We knew exactly where we were going, although we struggled to find a sign.  Eventually, we did find a sign that said the "Lorry Lokey Stanford Daily Building."  We laughed about how Dean taught us that we were mispronouncing "Lokey" while simaltaneously being impressed that Mr. Lokey had an interest in journalism.  The Stanford Daily is a pretty darn good college newspaper, all things considered.

Next we ran to the Stanford Dining, Hospitality, & Auxiliaries building.  It is a nondescript office building down Serra Road, near the Stanford Auxiliary Library.   Not much to say about this one.

Then, we ran across campus to the Stanford Hospital.  We'd obviously been to parts of the hospital over and over again, but this time we had to go to "THE" Stanford Hospital.  This kind of reminded me of how NFL players always say "THE Ohio State University" when they are introduced before the game.  We decided to touch the front door, or what most people would consider the front door.  (Architectural note: Do you think Stanford is now regretting basing the entire hospital design on that lattice pattern?  Did it seem like a good idea in a meeting, but seems a bit overwhelming when it is replicated thousands of times?  Has anyone suggested getting rid of this pattern?  Doesn't it remind you of the 1970's?)

We headed home, but we decided to hit up one more spot: the Stanford Humanities Center near Tressider.  When we were students, this was the Alumni Center before it moved to the grandiose new building.  They were having a little reception in the lobby, and I was hungry by now.

Distance: 4.2 miles, not bad for the first run on a bad knee.  158.8 total.

Run #30: Stanford Auxiliary Library, Stanford Barn, Stanford Community Recreation Association

Yup, just three places today.  Today's run didn't fit together very nicely.  We hit three places in four miles, which is not a good ratio.

You may have heard the quote "Those in power write the history."  Well, I'm in charge of this blog, so here's the history of today's run.  I was telling great stories to keep Ira interested (high school football, "This American Life", our weekly "Shark Tank" recap, to name a few), so Ira was totally fresh.  He's very busy this week, and he therefore decided to run much faster than normal, to end quicker and to tire me out.  At about mile 3.5, he said "We're going to run four miles at a good pace."  I'm really tired, and it was totally his fault.

Our first stop was the Stanford Auxiliary Library, which is way down Serra Road, and is pretty much just a warehouse, I think, for all the books that don't fit someplace else.  Hey, is the word "Stanford" in the title really necessary?  It's an auxiliary library on the Stanford campus, so it probably doesn't belong to San Jose State.

We then had a really long leg to the Stanford Barn, which took us by the football stadium and the Mausoleum and near the mall off Welch Road.  Along the way, we wondered why this random building, which houses a Wells Fargo and some other offices, is worthy of recognition on the map.  Apparently this building has quite a history, as detailed on this webpage.  Can you image writing pages and pages about buildings that no one likely ever reads or cares about?  How tragic.

Our third and final stop was back all the way across campus to the Stanford Community Recreation Association (SCRA), which is a sort of swim/tennis club for the Stanford community.  I coached and swam at lots of swim meets here when I was younger.  They have built up a really good program, with some really good coaches.

OK, here's something someone needs to explore.  This building is listed on the map as the "Stanford Community Recreation Association."  But, I just googled it, and their official website calls it the "Stanford Campus Recreation Association."  Hey, map-maker, which is it?  I always knew it as "community" growing up.  Did they change the name?

That's all for now.  Today's distance was 4.4 miles, bringing us to 154.6 total.

Run #29: Sequoia, Serra, Skilling, SOM Loading Dock, Spilker Engineering and Applied Sciences, Spruce Hall, Stanford Athletics Shop

We had a nice Sunday afternoon run with our special guest star, our friend Dean!  He drove all the way from the East Bay to join us on today's run, since he is a faithful blog reader and wanted to experience it in person.

We began the run with Dean telling a story.  I won't repeat the story here, but it met all the criteria of great "running story":  funny, we'd never heard it before, relevant to the map, and long enough to chew up over a mile of running.  Great job, Dean!  Our first stop was Sequoia, which is a building near the Math Corner that houses the Statistics department.  I just looked up Sequoia Hall, and it has its own Wikipedia Page, with quite a history.  Apparently the building we touched today is "Sequoia Hall, Part II, the Sequel."  I should also mention that I thought the word "sequoia" is the shortest word in the English language that contains all five vowels, but it turns out that the word "Euonia" means "alertness of mind."  I'm not sure that should count: who has ever heard of that word?

Next we ran up to the Faculty Club for Serra (589 Capistrano Way).  We're not quite sure why this building gets an address in parentheses, but there it is.  This is a cute cottage that hosts the Institute for Gender Research.  There was a name on the building, and Ira made a snide comment about why it wasn't named for that person on the map.

We then ran back to the engineering side of the quad for Skilling, which is where I took my first computer science class.  Oh, the memories.  Here's something else to mention about this leg of the run: I've noticed that whenever there is a third person on the run, Ira and the other person enjoy poking fun at me.  It is all good natured: KMo is setting too fast a pace, KMo is getting us lost, KMo is taking us the long way, or KMo sometimes runs into me and injures me.  OK, that last one did sort of happen once, and Ira and Dean were enjoying talking about that on the way to Skilling when, ha ha, Dean ran into Ira.  Karma, baby!

Our next stop deserves a bit of a rant for the map-maker: the SOM Loading Dock.  First, I'm not sure it is that obvious that "SOM" stands for "School of Medicine", especially since the Medical School itself is listed under the M's under "Medicine, School of."  I think listing this place under the S's is very questionable.  Also, there really isn't even a permanent sign.

We moved along back to the new SEQ ("Science and Engineering Quad", just to show that you should explain your three letter acronyms) for the Spilker Engineering and Applied Sciences building.  We've run by this a million times, but I don't think either Ira or I actually knew what the building was called.  I bet you're wondering about who Spilker is, aren't you?  Well, he helped invent GPS, and this webpage tells you everything you want to know.

At long last, we've completed visiting all the buildings in the "Tree Quad", when we went to Spruce Hall today.  I've run out of comments about how unremarkable these buildings are, so I'll just move on.

We headed across the Serra Mall between the Oval and the Quad, weaved by Frost Auditorium, and ended up at the Stanford Athletics Shop, which is next to the track.  I once tried looking for running shorts here, but I thought everything was a bit too expensive.  They had a lot of cool jerseys and hoodies, but I guess I'm not really their target audience.  I have two Stanford sweatshirts, and today I was wearing a t-shirt from Rinc-a-Delt in 1994, my senior year.  It used to be a big concert party at Frost, and we hosted the band "They Might Be Giants", known for their song "Istanbul Not Constantinople."  I think it is funny that I wore a t-shirt that is twenty years old.  It must have been really, really well made.

We ran back to Wilbur Field, and Dean didn't realize that we always start and end at the same spot.  Yup, that's part of the rules we invented.

Distance: 4.97 miles, which I'll round down to 4.9 (up to 150.2 total)

We're in a stretch of the S's where a lot of buildings, not surprising, begin with the word "Stanford".  I think that will be all of tomorrow's run.  S is the most popular letter, for that reason.

Good job Dean!

Run #28: Recycling Center, Red Barn, Redwood, Roble Modules, Rogers: The Bridge Peer Counseling Center

We went on a quick run yesterday afternoon and finished all the R's.  It was a shorter run than we've been doing – just over four miles – and we wanted to squeeze in one run because we've got a special celebrity guest joining us on Sunday, and we didn't want his run to begin with the long boring segment that today's run did.  Aren't we thoughtful?

I guess, actually, we also completed the Q's, although there aren't actually any buildings that begin with Q.  In case you are curious, here are the letters that we "skipped", since no buildings begin with these letters: I, J, Q, U, X, Z.  If you rearrange those letters, you can make the word "quiz".

Our first leg took us to the Recycling Center, right next to the fire station and police office.  There are lots of dumpsters and trucks, and this certainly isn't the most scenic spot on our tour.  I bet they recycle a lot of paper here, though.

We were totally on the wrong side of campus for our next stop, which is the Red Barn.  It is a really cool spot, actually.  There were horses on the little riding area right outside, and we stopped and looked at the horses in the stalls, and even considered running through until we saw that a horse was being saddled up and we thought we might disturb it.  Someone has written a lot about the history of the Red Barn: you can find more information than you ever wanted to know here and here.  Just keep clicking "next" and "previous" and you'll get sucked in like I just did.

At this point, we had almost run 3 miles, and we had only visited two buildings.  Fortunately, everything else was pretty close, including Redwood Hall.  It is yet another one of those older buildings in the "All the buildings are named after trees except for Polya and Forysthe" quad.  I'm not exactly sure what happens at Redwood Hall; a quick search mentioned "Postdoc orientation" and "IT training", which seems important, I guess.  

Ira did float one theory about these buildings, though, that is worth mentioning.  As I said, all the buildings are named after trees (Cedar, Cypress, Pine, Spruce) as are the nearby portables (Acacia, Birch, Oak, Juniper, Laurel, Poplar).  The two exceptions are Polya, named after the great mathematician George Polya, and Forsythe, named after the first chair of the Stanford computer science department George Forysthe.  Why?  Well, our theory is that it is a incredible geeky inside joke.  One of Polya's great contributions to the field of mathematics was something called a "Polya tree", which has to do with graph theory and combinatorics.  And, George Forsythe no doubt had a hand in the theory of a "binary tree," which is an important concept in computer science.  We're going to believe that someone knew this and the naming scheme of these "tree" buildings reflects this inside joke.  

Our next location was the Roble Modules, which deserves a bit of a rant.  On the map, there are two different buildings in the "Roble Modules" area of the map: Bambi and Godzilla.  Loyal blog readers will of course note that Godzilla has been removed due to construction on Roble Field, so only Bambi remains.  Furthermore, there is no sign labeling the area as "Roble Modules" anywhere.  So, to sum up, we've visited a random trailer named "Bambi" three times now: once under the B's, once while we were looking for Godzilla, and once while we were looking for the Roble Modules.  Enough, map-maker!  We're done with Bambi!

(Hey Ira, someone else has a blog mentioning the wacky naming of Bambi.  And, hey look, the first link discusses Memphis BBQ.  I think you should get to know him, if you don't already.)

Our final stop was Rogers: The Bridge Peer Counseling Center.  It is a cute little cottage across the street from the Faculty Club near Tressider.  They do a lot of good work at the Bridge, and I know they have helped a lot of people.  I do have to question, map-maker, the way this building is listed on the map, under the R's and with the lengthy description following the colon.  Most people know this as "the Bridge", and I'd bet most Stanford students could locate "the Bridge" but have never heard of "Rogers."  I think it should be under the B's.  Maybe something like "Bridge Peer Counseling Center (Rogers)", since the parentheses are used liberally elsewhere.  I think this is the only use of a colon anywhere.  It is a nice building, though.

Distance: 4.2 miles (a grand total of 145.3 miles).  See you on Sunday for the S's.  There's a lot; several buildings, not surprisingly, begin with the word "Stanford".

Run #27: Police Station, Polya Hall, Poplar, Post Office, Press Building, Psychiatry, Puichon

Today was probably our first run in "fall weather."  It took some time for fall to come, but today it was probably only in the 50's when we ran.  Ira even talked about breaking out the long sleeve shirts and running pants.

Today we began with the Stanford Police Station, which is right next to the fire department on the corner of Campus Drive and Serra.  Not much to say about this building.  Um, it's a police station.  We did successfully cross through the round-a-bout, and Ira told a story of how he almost hit a cyclist.  I wonder how the police feel about the new round-a-bout.  I bet they don't like it.

Here's one weird thing I've never noticed before.  There's an area we've visited a lot that has all these older buildings behind the new engineering quad.  I've mentioned a bunch of times that, in the master Stanford construction plan, I'd bet these are probably the next bunch of buildings to get torn down, since they are old and pretty unremarkable.  Most of them are named after trees: Cedar, Cypress, Spruce, Pine, Redwood.  Well, today Ira pointed out that our destination, Polya Hall, is not named after a tree.  Actually, he said, "Is Polya a type of tree?"  No, Ira, it is named after famous mathematician George Polya.  You should check out his book called "How to Solve It" which teaches you how to solve math problems of any kind.  They should really give him a nicer looking building.

Next we ran the short distance to the nearby "tree trailers", which are a group of portables that are all named after trees.  This time we ran to Poplar, which is as unremarkable as the rest.  The only thing of note here is that we tried to go around one trailer before realizing we were boxed in and needed to backtrack.  We've been here at least five times, so you'd think we would have figured it out by now.

Then, we ran back to White Plaza for the Stanford Post Office.  Fun fact: when I was a student at Stanford my randomly assigned P.O. box number was 11011.   I majored in computer science, and 11011 is 27 in binary, and 27 is my favorite number!  How about that?  (OK, next stop.)

The whole run Ira was telling me that our next stop, the Press Building, was torn down due to construction.  Well, guess what?  There was no sign that said "Press Building", although we did find signs that said "Communications and Publications" with the name of various Stanford papers, so we were convinced we found the right place.  And, yes, we touched the door like always.  Thanks for asking.

We then had a long run through the Quad and the Oval and past the Masoleum to the Psychiatry building.  It was kind of a cool run down these paths by the Masoleum. (I feel compelled to say that, alphabetically, a building named Price should have come right before this stop, but we inexplicably had to go there on our previous run.)  Anyways, this looks like a nice new building, and some people gave us a curious look as we touched the door and then ran away.

 
We had some good conversation on this run, touching on dream dinner guests for Ira's dorm, the NPR Sunday puzzle, "The Daily Show", and a few other topics that aren't blog-worthy.  One conversation topic involved our friend Truth, his genius professor father, and an obscure math topic called a "Latin orthogonal square."  Ira made me promise to look it up and mention it in this blog, since I didn't actually know what it was.  OK, here goes:  imagine a Sudoku-like grid, where each row and column contains every possible digit.  A Sudoku is 9x9, but you could imagine a smaller one that is 3x3 or 4x4, for example.  That's a "Latin square"; there are lots of ways to fill in such a grid, depending on the size.  Now, imagine taking two different Latin squares and laying them on top of each other.  You'd end up with pairs of numbers "on top of each other", right?  If your two grids make every possible pair of numbers, then they are called "orthogonal."  Ta da!  You've got "Latin orthogonal squares!"

Our last stop was Puichon, one of those creepy run-down buildings over by Searsville Road.  We really need to find out what is going on here.  We had one crazy discovery: at the back of Puichon, which looks almost abandoned, there is a working soda vending machine.  This must be the most obscure, least utilized soda machine on campus, if not the world.

Distance: 6.4 miles (Although, I feel compelled to say that I always round down to the nearest tenth, and today's run, according to Ira's watch, was 6.498 miles.  How long is 0.002 miles?  Is that one or two steps?  So, yeah, we were pretty close to 6.5 miles.)  Our total distance is now 141.1, and we're done with all the P's!

Run #26: Parking Structure 7, Paul G. Allen Building, Paul Allen Center for Integrated Systems Annex, Pepper Tree House, Peterson (550), Physics & Astrophysics, Pigott Hall (Language Corner) (260), Pine Hall, Price

I saw two former students who are now at Stanford today.  At the beginning of the run, Kelsey rode by on her bike and said "hi".  (I guess it counts that Kelsey is my former student, although she did drop my class after a week.)  Then, as I was riding back after the run, I rode by Ricky and he said "hi."  Seeing Ricky was somewhat timely, as he is the SHP codingbat.com champion, and I just graded the first codingbat.com assignment of the year.

We started off today with Parking Structure 7, which is sort of underneath the new business school. We ran a few feet into the garage, and I jumped up to touch the sign that said "8 feet, 2 inches."  I touched it easily.  I've got mad hops.

Next was the Paul G. Allen Building.  OK, map-maker, I've got several questions.  The next building listed is the Paul Allen Center for Integrated Systems Annex.  What's the deal with the middle initial for the first building and not the second?  He didn't want his middle name (which, by the way, I looked up: it's Gardner) associated with the annex.  This also brings up the long standing issue we have with the inconsistency of alphabetizing by first name or last name.  Fine, you put this building in the P's for some reason.  But, then, shouldn't "Paul G. Allen" come after "Paul Allen", huh?  Our other big issue is that we never actually found a sign that said "annex." It sure looked like one big "Paul G. Allen" building to us.  In fact, if you go to the place on the map where the map-maker has labeled "annex", the sign says "Paul G. Allen Center for Integrated Systems."  What is that?  The closest we came to finding the "annex" was one sign on an enclosed chain link fence area that said "CIS", which I'll assume means "Center for Integrated Systems."  No "annex"?  Frustrating.

But, wow, look at what this building looks like inside.  I take back all my nasty comments.  This building is awesome!

Then we had a really long run all the way across campus down Escondido to the Pepper Tree House, which is a daycare center across from Escondido School.  Ira went on a rant as we were running, thinking we were going to another "Pepper Tree House" that was further away.  There were a couple of parents picking up their kids, so we didn't want to freak anyone out by going into the gate and touching the building.  Looks like a nice, fun place for kids, and I'm also happy to say that we ran through the new roundabout twice without getting hit by a car.

We headed back to the center of campus (which seemed like an eternity) for Peterson (550).  It's one of those numbered buildings up the little hill behind the Quad.  It is on "Panama Mall".  Ira and I have been trying to use correct "map lingo" as we run around, and we've noted that this section of Panama Street is blocked off to car traffic, which makes it "Panama Mall."  There's even a street sign!  As long as we're running around, we're trying to learn some vocabulary.

Next we ran down the hill for the Physics & Astrophysics building.  Again, map-maker, the naming scheme of the buildings seems totally arbitrary.  Let's say you were a visitor looking for the astrophysics department.  You'd never think to look for this building under the P's, would you?  Actually, you might, because if you were an astrophysicist, you'd probably be pretty smart, and I bet you could figure it out.

OK, so one more big rant for today.  Our next stop was Pigott Hall (Language Corner) (260).  You thought I'd complain about the weird double parentheses, huh?  Well, no.  I'm going to complain about the fact that WE'VE ALREADY BEEN HERE!  Yes, this building is inexplicably listed twice: once under the L's as "Language Corner (Pigott Hall) (260)" and again under the P's as "Pigott Hall (Language Corner)(260)."  Ugh.  This seems like such a goof.  How did this happen?  The only positives are that, today, I got to say "let's pivot back to Pigott" and, second, Ira knows the Pigott family, so he can share this experience with them.

We were pretty tired, but we kept going to Pine Hall, which is one of those older buildings behind the engineering quad.  Ira tapped on the door and someone thought it was a knock and answered the door, but we kept running.  With one more stop to go, I tried to take a shortcut through a parking lot, but it ended up to be a dead end, due to some chain link fences.  Sorry about that, Ira.  It probably cost us an extra quarter mile, which hurt a bit.

After backtracking, we made it to Price, which is one of those really sketchy, semi-abandoned buildings off Searsville Road.  They aren't labeled well, so we had to run all the way around it before we saw a sign that said "Price", and there is just a bunch of old broken furniture behind it.  Seriously, if you're looking to do something illegal, this is where you should go.  It feels like you've left civilization.

One last rant for today: Price is totally out of alphabetical order.  Completely.  The next few buildings are Police, Polya, Poplar, Post Office, Press.  So, yeah, this is totally, totally wrong.  I feel so negative today, but seriously, map-maker, how did this happen?

Distance: 6.6 miles (we're up to 134.7 total)

Run #25: Palo Alto Train Station & Transit Center, Parking & Transportation Services, Parking Structure 1, Parking Structure 2, Parking Structure 4, Parking Structure 5, Parking Structure 6

There won't be a lot of pretty pictures in this blog entry, since five of the seven places we visited began with the words "Parking Structure."  We knew this day was coming for a while, and I'd say we were both dreading it, but also looking forward to how weird it would be.  "What did you do today?  Well, I ran to all the parking structures on the Stanford campus."

First, though, was the Palo Alto Train Station & Transit Center.  It seems like a dirty trick that this is even on the map at all, as it only fits in a little inset in the upper left corner.  I'm pretty sure this is the furthest place on the map, and, as we were running, we pondered what other places could be in a map inset.  What if, for some reason, they listed SLAC in an inset?  Or San Francisco?  Or the overseas Stanford campus in Florence?

We ran back up Palm Drive to Parking & Transportation Services, which Ira knew because it is where he gets his parking permits, I guess.  It is sort of behind Maples Pavilion, and we couldn't touch the door because a gate was closed.  We certainly saw the sign, though.

We then ran to Parking Structure 1, which is sort of between the hospital and the Rodin Sculpture Garden.  We'd run through it several times.  Our self-imposed rules for this silly adventure have been that we have to see a sign identifying the building and then touch a door, if at all possible.  Sometimes, this isn't possible.  There may not be a sign, but then we run all the way around the building looking for one.  And, sometimes we can't get to the door, due to construction, a gate, or, once, a guard dog.  I was a bit worried about how these rules would play out for the parking structures.  Would there be a sign that said "Parking Structure 1"?  Yes, there always was such a sign. So, readers, you can sleep easy.  We always touched a sign and a part of the structure itself.

Next, was, duh, Parking Structure 2, which is on Panama Street sort of at the back of the new Roble Gym.  Nothing really of note here, so I'll share the anecdote that I apparently have a hole in my pocket, so my iPhone fell out twice during the run.  There was no damage though, and I don't even have a case.  I've never had a case in the several years I've had an iPhone, and I didn't even need one today.  I probably should fix the hole in my pocket, though.

If you thought we'd go to Parking Structure 3 next, well, you'd be wrong, since there is no Parking Structure 3!  Ha ha!  Gotcha!  A quick internet search says that it used to be by the hospital, and is now totally replaced by all the construction.  So, guess what was next?  Correct: Parking Structure 4.  It is the totally underground parking structure right as you drive up to the front of the hospital.  Aesthetically, this is the clear winner of the "best parking structure" category.  Very well though out, and no doubt very expensive, with some very nice greenery on top.  Kudos to whoever planned this!

On to Parking Structure 5, which is across from the intramural fields.  It is a big, multi-story structure, and we had a brief conversation about how it isn't really that close to anything, and how it fits in with  the commendable effort Stanford has made to move all the parking lots to the outskirts of the campus.  Oh, and for some reason, this sign was in Roman numerals, and said "Parking Structure V."

Our final stop was Parking Structure 6, which is kind of cheating, since it is underneath Wilbur Field, which is where we start and end each run.  Ira sort of forgot that we had a final destination, and he initially forgot to touch the building – there's a few buildings with elevators that take you to the underground garage.

I should also mention that, for some reason, Ira had difficulty stepping off curbs on this run.  Three or four times he stepped off a curb oddly and I was worried he might hurt his ankle.  Along with me dropping my phone, we apparently had some issues today.

Distance: 6.5 miles (128.1 miles total)

Run #24: Observatory, Old Chemistry Building, Old Union, Organic Chemistry, Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) Clinic, Owen

Yesterday was a weird and wonderful run.  We started much later than usual, at 6:15.  That meant that, by the end, we were running in the dark, which we'd never done before in this journey.  It was kind of nice, I must say.  Although the battery on my bike light was dead, so the bike ride back home was a bit scary.

Also, last night was "Full Moon on the Quad", perhaps Stanford's weirdest and sketchiest traditions.  Just a few short blog entries ago we ran on the freshman move-in day, and I welcomed my former students.  Now, just a few weeks later, they're making out with people in public.

Our first stop was up the golf course hill to the Observatory, which is a building that gives you a great view.  It was just about sunset, and we climbed up the several flights of stairs to get to the top.  The sunset view was beautiful, and Ira suggested we pause and take a photo to post on the blog. I refused; if you want to see it yourself, you'll have to run up the hill like we did.   Here's a picture of the funky observatory, though.  I think it kind of looks like a big tree house.

Next was the Old Chemistry Building, which has been surrounded by chain link fence for several years now.  It probably is one of the oldest buildings on campus, along with the Quad, and it looks sort of like a cool castle.  Or, as Ira called it, an old high school from last century.  We didn't actually touch it, of course, but we saw the sign that said "Department of Chemistry."  Except that a big piece of plywood was covering up part of it, so it kind of looked like "mistry", which made it look like the "Ministry of Magic" and reminded me of Hogwarts.

We then ran to Old Union, where we had to run through the Quad, and noticed the setup for "Full Moon on the Quad."  There were lights, a sound system, a check in station, and barricades.  Very different than when we were students.  Oh, and it was getting dark by now, and Ira stepped off a curb at the Quad and hurt himself a bit.    Old Union is right across from the Bookstore, and it's an administration building and used to a great frisbee golf hole.

Next was the Organic Chemistry building.  We actually had to bring out the map on the iPhone here, as we weren't quite sure exactly what building it was.  It was almost totally dark by now, and this building is set in a bit behind the Keck Science building.  It is not the most impressive looking building, actually, and we had to run all the way around it to find the sign that says "Organic Chemistry."  The building looks almost like a trailer.

We had a weird stop next: the map says "Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) Clinic" under the list of buildings, but it isn't actually labelled on the map.  It says the building is at "C-5", but when you go to "C-5" on the map, there isn't such a labelled building at all.  I remembered that is is somewhere off Welch Road, but I wasn't sure exactly where.  We ran through the hospital and ran down Welch Road (totally dark by now) and happened to find the building.  We were deep in conversation talking about human resources and trying to stay far enough apart so we wouldn't run into each other, and I was happy to see a sign that says "Otolaryngology."  Ira didn't even see it, either because it was dark or because the conversation was so interesting.

We had one last place to go, which was on our way home.  It's called Owen House, and it is right by Hillel, Haas Center, and those buildings close to home.  We were tired by then (and did I mention it was dark?) and I got mixed up and thought it was on the other side of the street.  Weirdly, Ira knew where this building was, because it has to do with his housing.  He didn't know it was called Owen House, though.

One other funny anecdote:  Sometimes when we're running, we run past other runners and ask each other "Do you think they are faster or slower than we are?"  On this run, the entire Stanford cross country team came flying by us, no shirts and long legs.  Without me saying anything, Ira said "They're faster."

Distance: 6.2 miles (121.6 total)

Run #23: Mitchell Earth Sciences, Montag Hall, Moore Materials Research, Mudd Chemistry, Music Rehearsal Facility, Nora Suppes Hall, Oak

A rare Monday run!  We're getting nervous that the weather will turn cold and wet before we have a chance to finish.  Or, at least, that's what Ira keeps saying as an excuse to get me tired.

First stop today was the Mitchell Earth Sciences building.  Ira said "I'm a fan."  "Why?" I asked.  "Because of the rock library."  Let's move on.

Next was Montag Hall.  You might think this has something to do with Fahrenheit 451, but, no, it is the home to the admissions department.  It is right by the Ford Center, and Ira claims this used to house the entire athletic department administration.  But, now, it's admissions.  Lots of dreams are either made or crushed here.  I wonder if they ever have crazy parents showing up knocking on the door.  I bet they have good stories here.

We headed back toward the Quad, and Ira really didn't know where we were going.  I did!  It was the Moore Materials Research building, named after Intel founder Gordon Moore and his wife Betty.  When we touched the door, a guy was walking down the hall in a white lab coat.  I bet they do all sorts of cool stuff in here, and I bet they have crazy equipment.  This was our first lab coat sighting outside of the Med School, I think.

It was a quick trip to the Mudd Chemistry building.  We'd run by it yesterday and made a mental note, so we knew exactly where it was.  You've probably heard the expression "Your name is mud," but did you know that it may come from the fact that a Dr. Samuel Mudd treated John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.  OK, a quick Google search says that may be an urban legend, but did you know that John Wilkes Booth evaded capture for two weeks and made it to another state?   Well, in any event, the Mudd Chemistry building was pretty busy today.

We had a good run to the other side of campus for the Music Rehearsal Facility, which is basically the Band Shak for the Leland Stanford Junior (pause) University Marching Band.  The band has been in at least two different places since I was a student, and they sort of trashed or destroyed both of them.  Now, they have a back room of the Avery Aquatics Center.  Here's what I think of the LSJUMB: they are probably only funny about 10% of the time, but, when they are, they are really funny.  I'm pro.  And I'm really glad that, at football games, they now publish the transcript of what they are saying on the jumbotron.  That makes it much easier to figure out what is going on.

Done with the M's, we headed to Nora Suppes Hall, all the way across campus near the Carnegie Institution.  (Or is it Carnegie Foundation?  I get mixed up.)  The route we took, by the way, was pretty excellent.  We have certainly gotten much, much better at taking the shortest route from one place to another.  Anyways,  something fun happened at Nora Suppes.  We touched the door a bit too loudly, and a man walked outside and asked if he could help us.  I said "no, we're just running," since it wasn't the right time to tell him about the blog.  I did ask him about the cool sign on the door that said "Center for Everything."  He explained that this was the department of interdisciplinary studies, so they do everything.  Good answer, although the Li Ka Shing Center of Learning and Knowledge might be in competition for "best building title."  Here's a picture of the sign.

Our last stop was right across the street at Oak, one of the tree trailers.  Not much to say about these, but I will tell you we ran pretty darn fast back to Wilbur Field.  Sub 8:00 pace, to make up for our pathetic running pace yesterday in the heat.

Distance: 5.1 miles (115.4 overall)

Run #22: Margaret Jacks (460), Mariposa, Math Corner (380), Mausoleum, McClatchy (120), McCullough, Mechanical Engineering Research Lab (MERL), Medical School Office Building, School of Medicine: Alway, Edwards, Grant & Lane, Memorial Church, Memorial Hall & Auditorium, Meyer Library

I'm writing this blog on Monday morning, as my class is taking a test, but we actually ran Monday afternoon at 3:00, at pretty much the hottest point in the day.  The theme of the run was "wow, I'm hot."  Ira actually brought two Gatorades; he carried his on the run, while I left mine in the shade at the end.  The choice to run in ninety degree weather reminds me of one of those "screw in a light bulb" jokes: How many Stanford graduates does it take to pick the most inappropriate time of day to go for a run?

Our first stop was Margaret Jacks Hall, which is building 460, right in the front of the Quad.  It houses a bunch of departments, including Linguistics and Symbolic Systems.  I just spent quite some time trying to learn who the heck Margaret Jacks actually was.  There isn't a lot of information out there, and it wasn't until page two or three of the Google results that I stumbled upon this wonderful and informative article.  Fun fact: Margaret Jacks' dad lived in Monterey, and was the first to market and popularize Monterey Jack cheese.  This fact alone makes the entire running adventure worth it.

Next we ran to Mariposa.  It sounds like it should be one of the tree portables, but, no, it is a cute little house near Bechtel by Tresidder. We weren't sure what was there, so I looked it up.  It houses the "Department of Diversity and Access" and the Ombudsman.  Stanford calls this "the Office of the Ombud," probably in a worthwhile attempt to be gender neutral.  Hey kids!  You know when you're little and someone asks you what you want to be when you grow up?  Wouldn't "ombudsman" be an awesome answer?

Our third stop was the Math Corner, building 380 at the corner of the Quad.  Per usual, there is no sign that actually says "Math Corner", but we looked for it fruitlessly.  My last final as an undergraduate was in the math department, but I enjoyed the freedom of Stanford's honor code and took the exam sitting on the grass in the Oval on a glorious spring day.

We then ran to the Mausoleum, where Leland Stanford and his family are buried.  It felt a bit creepy to actually touch the door, but we did.  There's actually a "knocker", which was even creepier, since, um, no one is going to answer.  We discussed that this is probably one of the most underrated spots on campus, since it is pretty awesome looking.  Ira poured some of his Gatorade in honor of Sir Mix-a-Lot, and only know am I realizing that I didn't ask him to elaborate more on that story.  I hope he does so in the comments.

Back to the Quad for McClatchy, which is building 120, right across the inner courtyard from Margaret Jacks.  We were really, really hot by now, and we ran through a gaggle of tourists taking pictures.  This happens to us all the time when we run through the Oval/Quad area.  I wonder how many pictures I've been in over the years?  Several hundred, probably.

Then, it was over to the older Engineering buildings for McCullough.  I think I once took a class there.  If I recall, it was class where I had to hook up chips and wires in a "breadboard" to make a simple computer.  It was really hard, and I remember bringing my project across campus thinking that it would be really, really bad if I got hit by a biker and dropped it and all the wires fell out.  (By the way, the buildings on this run are all pretty darn close together.  Nice!)

We then ran a short distance to the Mechanical Engineering Research Labs (MERL).  It's just up the hill a bit.  How excited do you think the mechanical engineers were when they realized that their new building's acronym spelled out a name?  I'm envisioning a lot of geeky high-fives.

Finally, we had a long trek over to the medical school for the Medical School Office Building.  We ran down Welch Road and we were now really, really, really hot.  Ira drank the last of his Gatorade by MERL.  Normally we talk a lot during our runs, but we weren't saying much now, either because we were way overheated or because by now we've totally run out of stories.  This building was pretty much a nondescript office building, as the name suggests.

Next was the School of Medicine, which is broken into four buildings: Alway, Edwards, Grant, and Lane.  They are all sort of connected and we found Alway right away, but then the construction was confusing. I suggested that the construction blocked us and we should run around the building, but Ira  wanted to go check out if there was a sign for Edwards.  He was right, thank goodness, saving us valuable time and distance.  We eventually found Grant and Lane on the other side.  This building still confuses us a lot.

Even hotter, we ran to Memorial Church.  Ira made us run straight up the center of the Quad, since that is clearly the most appropriate and reverent and scenic way to approach the most picturesque building on the entire campus.  This did, unfortunately, require us to run a long stretch in direct sunlight with no shade, and, wow, we were hot.  

Then things started getting weird.  Our next spot was listed on the map as Memorial Hall & Auditorium.  Every Stanford student knows where "Mem Aud" is, but we weren't sure about the building named "Memorial Hall."  Was it the same thing, or is it a side room off the main auditorium?  We ran around the side looking for a sign, and then, after a few minutes and a peek at the map, Ira saved us by noticing that there was a plaque right at the front, which was easy to miss in the bright sun.  I even took a photo.  So, yes, basically Memorial Hall is the building that houses Memorial Auditorium.  Whatever.

Our goal today was to get to Meyer Library, and we made it.  However, Meyer is now abandoned, and is going to be knocked down soon.  The final days have begun, as there is now a serious chain link fence completely surrounding the building.  According to Ira, this went up on Thursday or Friday, so we were not actually able to touch the building.  We did find one place where we could have probably slid under a gap in the fence, and, if it wasn't the middle of the day, we would have done so.  I did take one last picture for posterity.  Notice the fence encircling the entire building.  Ira and I wept a bit, thinking of the last time we played the famous frisbee golf hole up that outdoor ramp.  Sigh.

Distance: 6.0 miles, although we had to run alongside Wilbur Field for about fifty yards to make it to 6.0.  (Total distance is now 110.3.)

Run #21: Law School, Li Ka Shing Center, Littlefield Center, Lorry Lokey Labs, Lorry Lokey Stem Cell Research Building, Lucas Center (MSLS), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Main Quad, Maples Pavilion

Well, today we broke 100 miles for our entire journey.  That's something, huh?

Jake and Mo joined us today.  It was a hot day, so I hope Mo got lots of water at home.

Last run we saved the Law School for the beginning of this run, since it was so close.  Now is a good time to link to this Stanford Daily article about the top five spaces on campus.  Heck, we hit three of them today (#1, #3, #5).  We made a special detour to the terrace at the Law School, and a woman frowned at us for bringing a dog up there.  It sort of looks like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Next was the Li Ka Shing Center, which is over at the Med School.  I will admit that I had no idea who Li Ka Shing is, but a wikipedia search tells me he is the richest man in Asia.  Wow, that's something.  Asia is pretty big.  I love that this building's official title is the "Center for Learning and Knowledge."  You'd think that, at a university like Stanford, there would be learning and knowledge going on in almost every building.

We headed across campus to the Littlefield Center, which is at the old business school.  We knew exactly where this was, since we got confused a run or two ago looking for the Knight Building right next door.  After we touched the door and headed to the next place, we saw a really big rabbit just hanging out by the Keck Science building, but, incredibly, Mo didn't see it.

Right after the rabbit incident we touched the door to the Lorry Lokey Labs.  There was a guy who was just about to open the door, and he looked confused as the three of us ran up, touched the door, and kept going.  We get that a lot.  We found a little alley with some neat bamboo that took us to our next spot across Campus Drive.  I didn't know that Mr. Lorry Lokey owns Business Wire and was the editor of the Stanford Daily as a student.  Seems like a nice buy, according to wikipedia.

Mr. Lokey gave enough money for two buildings, and the second is the Lorry Lokey Stem Cell Research Building by the Med School.  Ira and I got in a silly disagreement here.  Earlier in the run, when we were at the Li Ka Shing budiling, he pointed to two buildings and said we'd be back to these.  I said he was wrong.  Well, he was right about one of them; he did correctly identify this Lorry Lokey Building, but he didn't realize the previous one was across the street.  So, partial credit for Ira. I would think Mr. Lokey could have cleared up this confusion by choosing to name of of the buildings after someone else.  Maybe the Cosmo Kramer Stem Cell Research Building?  

We then headed around the corner to the Lucas Center.  OK, map-maker, let's talk.  On the map, it is listed as "Lucas Center (MSLS)."  Some googling tells me that stands for "medical school lab surge", it doesn't say that anywhere.  Instead, the sign on the building says "Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging."  Very inconsistent with the first name and last thing, since Mr. Lokey's buildings are listed under his first name.  And no mention of "Imaging" on the map?  

Staying on the Med School side, we ran to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.  I find it tough to say any snarky comments here, as they do such incredible work here.  Let's just say "thanks" for all the sick kids who have been healed here.  I bet everyone reading the blog knows at least one.  We ran right up to the front door, by a young girl in a wheelchair and a gas mask.

Done with the L's, we proceeded to the M's.  The first one was odd: the Main Quad.  Um, map-maker, we've been here before, remember?  All the buildings are listed under "B", and we touched them all.  Why are some places listed twice?  We weren't sure exactly where the map-maker wanted us to go, and we actually couldn't find a sign that said "Main Quad."  There are lots of plaques and signs, including one for Stanford's contribution to the Spanish-American War, but none say "Main Quad."  So, we touched the rosetta in the very center and called it good enough.

At this point, Jake and Mo were tired, so they left us, and Ira and ran to Maples Pavilion.  (Note: I made a sharp right and almost ran into Ira again. Oops.)  We ran through the Business School (#5 in the Daily article) and touched the door.  Remember when Stanford men's basketball was really good? That was a really fun few years.  Maples was always crazy for those Arizona games.  Good times.

Distance: 5.5 miles (104.3 total!)

Run #20: Lake House, Landau Economics, Language Corner (Pigott Hall) (260), Lathrop Barn, Lathrop Gate House, Lathrop Library, Laurel

Today's run started out with what Ira called "without a doubt the most interesting find of the entire run so far."  He's referring to our first stop, the Lake House.  Before today, we weren't even sure that it existed at all.  But, we found it, and it created more questions than answers.  Basically, it is a private residence on the "shores" of Lake Lagunita.  It is surrounded by a fence on three sides, and it is really tough to peer inside (trust me, we tried).  There are all sorts of signs that say "Private Residence", so it felt like we were trespassing.  Who lives here?  Why is it on the map?  Can anyone live here?  What's the deal?  (Editor's note: after some Googling, I found this information.)

Then, we went to the Landau Economics Building, right near Memorial Auditorium.  This is one of those buildings you go by a billion times and never notice what it is called.  There probably isn't a reason to notice it unless you are studying economics.  Not that there is anything wrong with economics, of course.

We then went back to the Quad for the Language Corner (Pigott Hall) (260).  I'm certainly not crazy about the double set of parentheses, and this is the corner of the Quad closest to the clock tower.  There is a rant about this coming, but I'll save it for the P's, when, inexplicably, this building is listed again.  This corner is pretty much the busiest bike intersection on campus, yet I bet, if you did a poll, most students would have no idea where Pigott Hall is.

Then, it was up the hill to the golf course area.  Ira shared the story of the parking craziness around that side of campus, which sounds like it will be a mess for a few years.  We ran up the hill to the Lathrop Barn which is, um, a barn.  It is an old barn near the Carnegie Institution that is locked up, with no sign and no easy access.  No idea why this is on the map either.  It looked totally unused.

We headed back down the hill to the Lathrop Gate House, a private residence near the entrance to the golf course.  I'll admit we didn't actually touch this building, since, as we ran close, there was a person nearby and a large dog started barking at us.  Well, it may not have actually been a "large" dog, but it was a dog.  I found some information about this private residence at this article, where it is called the "Alta Vista Gatehouse".  Bizarre that today's run took us by two of the coolest private residences on the Stanford campus.

We were tired, but we decided to keep going to the newly opened Lathrop Library.  It's the old business school, right across from History Corner, and it contains a lot of the stuff that was moved out of Meyer Library.  Ira told the story of his new car on the way there, and we actually walked inside as Ira found the auditorium where he took CIV his freshman year.  It turns out that walking for a few minutes feels really good, but then feels terrible when you start to run again.

Lastly, we decided to check more thing off our list: Laurel, which is one of the "tree portables".  Do they really each deserve their own entry on the map?  We brainstormed other tree names that begin with the letter L.  (Loganberry, Lingonberry, Lime, Lemon.  OK, maybe those aren't trees.  We were at six miles at this point, and we only really went here to make the next stage of the run make more sense geographically.)

Distance: 6.3 miles (bringing us to 99.2 miles total)

Run #19: James H. Clark Center, Jen-Hsun Engineering Center, Johnson Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center, Jordan (420), Jordan Quad, Juniper, Keck Science, Kingscote Gardens, Knight Building, the Knoll, Koert Pavilion

We ran two days in a row this weekend, which is rare.  And, we also did two whole letters: all the J's and all the K's!  And, since there are no I's at all, I'm taking credit for three letters in one run.  How 'bout that!

The big topic of conversation on today's run was Ira's saga of buying a car.  When a story begins, "I know you'll find this hard to believe, but car salesmen don't always tell the truth."  He's trying to buy a car, and proceeded to tell the story of how a car salesman told him he had the car he wanted, but then, at the last minute, actually didn't.  That happened about five or six times.  Maybe Ira actually has a new car now, but that seems unlikely.

Oh, and Ira also had this new compression wrap thing on his calf, which seemed to help.  Plus, it made him look like a serious runner. You've seen the same sort of thing in the NBA all the time.  Sorry, Ira, I couldn't find a picture of Penny Hardaway wearing one.

Our first stop was the James H. Clark Center.  It is at the Med School, and we've passed by it a million times by now.  Very cool inner courtyard with a little cafe.  We seemed to run by lots of food options today, and at the end of the run we discussed how that might be the biggest change at Stanford since we were students.  How many places are there to get food besides a dorm cafeteria and Tresidder?  When we were students, there were about two.  Now it seems every building has a cool place to eat.  Here's a cool picture of the Clark Center, looking like it should be in a Tom Cruise movie.

Next is the Jen-Hsun Engineering Center.  We run right by it on just about every run, and, keeping with the food theme, I was excited when Ira told me that Ike's Sandwiches is still there.  I had heard it was leaving, but I guess that was premature.  I'll be picking up a sandwich sometime in the next month for sure.

Our longest segment today took us to the Johnson Pediatric Ambulatory Center on Welch Road, near the mall version of the Stanford Barn.  Pretty much the whole time Ira was talking about buying his car, and, amazingly, we didn't get mixed up in the construction around the hospital.  We're doing a much better job navigating than we were earlier in the run.

Then, back to the Quad for Jordan (420), which is the Psychology department.  This is, of course, home to the famous Stanford Prison Experiment.  I must also bring up the bizarre numbering scheme in the front of the Quad, where the buildings are numbered 380, 420, 460, 120, 160, 200.  OK, I guess that's not so odd, since they are all 40 apart.  But it sure looks weird when you consider the rest of the Quad, since some numbers are missing.

Then, a weird one: Jordan Quad.  This is not even a building, and is just a collection of buildings, many of which we've already visited.  These buildings are so old and uninteresting compared to the rest of campus that the entire place will clearly be torn down sometime soon.  In fact, here is my "power ranking" of the various "quads" on the Stanford campus.

1.  Main Quad (10 points out of 10, for many reasons)

2.  new Science and Engineering Quad (7 out of 10)

3.  Sterling Quad (3 out of 10)

4.  Jordan Quad (0.01 out of 10)

Then we ran to nearby Juniper, one of the "tree portables" that we've gotten to know well.  We briefly discussed the difference between Juniper and Junipero.

Next was Keck Science, which is right across the street from the Rodin Sculpture Garden.  I peek into the lobby and noticed a cool metal cube sculpture in the lobby, clearly not made by Rodin.  You can kind of see it in the picture below.  (I also feel compelled, dear map-maker, to comment on why the James Clark building is under the J's, but the William Keck building is under the K's.)

The hidden gem of this run was next: Kingscote Gardens, an apartment building right near the Faculty Club.  It is a bit run down, but has a beautiful quirky charm, and is surrounded by cool oak trees and a nice lawn and  driveway.  It would be a big perk to live here: fun and peaceful.

Tough to believe we had three more places remaining, but here goes.  We ran to the old business school and found the Knight Building, which now houses East Asian Studies, apparently.  This took us right by the new Lathrop Library, and we peeked inside and saw some people studying.  It looked pretty neat.

We were tired by now, but ran up the hill behind Flo Mo to the Knoll, which is closer than you think, all things considered.  Trivia fact: the Knoll was the home of Stanford's president before the Lou Henry Hoover House.  It now always seems abandoned, and has a bit of a haunted house feel.

Our last stop was pretty close: the Koret Pavilion, which is basically attached to the Hillel-Ziff Center.  It was very much on the way home, and Ira tried to run through the building unsuccessfully.

That's all for today's run.  Two letters on one run is impressive, and our pace was a bit too fast.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I saw my old student Ally at the beginning of the run, when I locked my bike up by Wilbur Field.  Good job on your first swim meet at Stanford!  (Note to all other students: Ally was leaving to do her math homework.  Are you doing your homework?  You should.  Homework is important.)

Distance: 6.7 miles (92.9 miles total, which seems like a lot)