amkean pronunciation

I ran a half marathon in my VFFs, which was going to be the farthest I've run in those things. However, I didn't allow enough time to take into account that I was parking two miles from the start line, so I ended up running those 2+ miles before the actual race even started. That shorter distance was mostly on grass, which will become significant later on.

I raced past the start line, past the 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 minute mile pace markers where the distance got wider and wider as the pace got slower, and finally found the bag drop where I could leave my sweats to pick up at the finish so that I wouldn't be cold at the end. I considered not checking a bag, and that would have been a really bad idea for reasons to be described later. I then ran back to get with my pace group with about a minute to spare since the race started a few minutes later than the scheduled time.

No one recognized my costume beyond "crazy hair guy."


I didn't spaz out at the start, instead running a conservative first mile with the intention of running negative splits. This worked until I hit an asymptote, but I didn't slow down after that, either. Normally, I'd be gutting out the last few miles, but I felt fine on this run. My big leg muscles weren't dying like in prior races of this distance. I credit the shoes. I was able to finish with a nice kick.

The shoes have drawbacks as well, though. Five days later, and I can still feel tightness in my calves. This isn't as big a downside as having the bottoms of my feet slightly bruised from running on pavement for that far. I've only run on grass this week, although I guess I could have put on conventional running shoes. Somehow, I got blood underneath one little toenail. I've heard runners talk about losing toenails, but it's never happened to me before.

We were supposed to take a shuttle bus back to the start, so I found out where the shuttles would be and we found the sign indicating the shuttle stop. We waited there about 20 minutes with about 20 other people before people started questioning whether we were in the right spot. But there's a sign that says we're in the right spot! On the other hand, there was a bigger group of people on the other side of the rose garden. Still, I didn't move because I had a sign backing me up. Then I saw an actual bus on top of the hill, not where the sign was, so I moved to the back of a now very long line and waited 40 minutes to get on the bus which was about 15 minutes more than if I hadn't stuck to my sign position and switched spots right away. It wasn't super cold, but I was glad to have my sweats while waiting for that bus. Not everyone in line did.

When I got home from the race, we were relaxing on the couch when I decided I just wanted to check in on the Stewart/Colbert rally to see what was going on. I hadn't been that interested in it to begin with, but I watched that thing until the end. It sucked me in and was entertaining and a little inspiring in a cynical age. Especially in light of Tuesday's events. I know they have lots of space to fill with election analysis, but isn't 95% of the result explained by bad economy and employment is bad for incumbents?

In case you were wondering, it's November 4 and I'm not planning on doing Nanowrimo for the first time since 2003. I don't feel like I'm in a place to do it right now.

Labels: running

I did get the Vibram five finger shoes this summer. I saw the interview with Christopher McDougall on HBO's Real Sports and was intrigued. I'm kind of a sucker for "natural" things. McDougall wrote a book with a premise that modern heavily cushioned shoes change the human running gait, contributing to injury. A big piece of evidence is his time with the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who run great distances wearing basically flip flops without the stress injuries of the Nike world.

I ran a 5k with them on yesterday, and a guy asked me about them while running. That's probably the worst thing about them—the attention they get. That, and the fact that I'm not very good at fitting them to my feet. Sometimes they're comfortable, and other times I have to adjust them before they're comfortable. Running in them blasts the calves and it's kind of fun. It's been motivating for me this summer to have them to run in. The best is sprinting up the stair/hills in the park where only the balls of my feet barely touch every other step. It's liberating.

Labels: running

I did the world's largest duathlon yesterday. The format was 5k run-18 mile bike-5k run. I'd never been in a bike race before outside of any informal heats on Winslow Avenue. There were some training days put on by Team Ortho leading up to the event and I attended one of them to get an idea of what the transitions would be like.

Besides seeing an example transition area during the training session, we ran-biked-ran. I biked the complete course in between my runs and found it enjoyable. During the actual race yesterday, I wondered if there was someone behind me holding a bungee cord attached to my back.

I didn't help that it was one of the windiest weekends we've had, or that my wave started at 9:30 when it was already feeling hot, or that I ran the second run after 11 in the morning when it was legitimately hot.

I'm glad I didn't bike to Eden Prairie the night before, which I was thinking about doing. I was still feeling the effects of Tuesday's run yesterday when I sprinted in my VFFs because a dog was sprinting attached to me.

The Team Ortho races are popular and fun, which means they fill up early and are expensive. The free stuff is better than any other races, and yesterday's race included a free beer at Brit's, where I was told they would have valets to take your bike. In reality, the Brit's parking garage was reserved for bikes and you just parked your own there while 15 year olds served as security at the door.

The one uh-oh moment happened when I was putting my bike on the transition rack. It's tricky because my bike is too tall to fit under without leaning it sideways. Some people made a comment about how my bike was too tall and then said I was in the wrong place. I don't know how they knew because I never cracked the code on the bibs. It must have been my wave number. Anyway, they told me my transition area had closed a long time ago. "That's crazy," I thought. "It can't be full." I asked a volunteer who confirmed this, but I remembered then that it wasn't closed because it was full, but because that's the scheduled closing time. When I had learned the day before that I would be starting at 9:30 instead of 8:30, I completely forgot about the transition area times. I was directed to a race official who took my bike into my transition area, and then I had to run back in being politely yelled at by volunteers because I forgot my helmet number. And then I still had to sit and wait.

Labels: biking, running

We ran the new TC half marathon today. We got soaked. It started raining about 20 minutes in, then started pouring 10 minutes later. It was a really crowded race. There wasn't any point where it really opened up, although we weren't running it super fast because it was so humid at the 6:30 AM start and also not training for the marathon carried through afterward.

There are so many more long (10 mile or more) races in the Cities than 10 years ago. That's a good thing, except that the races are counterintuitively getting more expensive. You might think with more competition that the race prices would get cheaper, but apparently there's enough demand. And races are expensive to put on. The New Prague half is cheap. Today's half was about twice the price.

I don't care for the grammar of the slogan on my shirt (as shown in the title of this post). Don't put sentence-ending punctuation in the middle of a sentence. COME!! ON!

Labels: running

The curious thing isn't so much that I've been silent, but that the 8 or so blogs of friends I follow have also simultaneously gone quiet or silent.

It's Grandma's Marathon weekend, and I'm watching World Cup soccer. I like a lot that my summer vacation coincides with matches every morning.

I learned that training properly for a marathon really does make a difference. Twenty years ago, there were a lot fewer marathons and fewer people in those marathons. The conventional wisdom was that although running was a salubrious endeavor, the marathon itself was detrimental to health. It was a test requiring extensive training and not to be repeated too often. With the increasing popularity of ultra races and the Oprah-ization of the marathon, people are focusing more on the participation rather than the time. I heard someone near me at the start saying he'd run 10 times this year.

I did almost all of my long runs, but I didn't build up weekly mileage, which I now believe is probably more important than long runs. So I ran the slowest marathon I've ever run, even slower than my first one. On one level I'm okay with that because you reap what you sow, but then again I wonder what I was doing instead of training. Not blogging.

Labels: running

Most of the street names on this map are inaccurate. I ran early in the morning, at daybreak, and so I didn't encounter many people. There's a loop where you run through an interpretive tour of Indian mounds, which I completely missed in the car.

Labels: running

The renovation noise in the hotel got me going and I didn't go running until the afternoon. It must have been close to 80 degrees, and I guzzled a gatorade after the run. I watched the Carolina game at Huey's, downing lots of sweet tea and a few beers, and didn't break the seal because I was dehydrated.



The Mississippi part of the run wasn't as exciting as I would have thought. They don't have retail/entertainment on the riverfront, probably because they're worried it would cannibalize Beale Street business. It looks, however, as if they're planning to extend the Beale Street fun to the riverfront. Instead of retail, they have some good park areas. Now I just ran through and know nothing about the area, but it seems like Mud Island is where the new nice development is while I didn't see many white people in the parks in the southern parks.

Labels: memphis, running

I ran 16 yesterday using pretty much the same route as last weekend, except backwards. It was sunny and felt like spring, so everyone and their dog was outside including on the lakes. The 16 miles came after two hours of handball in the morning when I was asked twice if I was American. I missed the practice last week, so I missed some new people. I'll take it as a compliment that they asked if I'm American. It's a compliment because they saw me play and I was competent enough for them so not assume I was brand-new. A German guy said I was good. The problem is that once my competition passes a certain point, I'm useless. I can dominate a mediocre team, be competent against a good team, but I'm ineffective against an excellent team. The reason the "are you American?" question is not really a compliment is because out of the 16 guys at practice yesterday, there were three Americans.

I've also finally started playing soccer in a league. I've known lots of soccer league players around here, but somehow never got on a team. That's the good news. The bad news is that I'm stuck in goal. I've received about five months' worth of decent soccer goalkeeper instruction in my life and haven't played the position since 1991. Then we showed up late for the first game and I was thrust into the goal without touching a soccer ball. It's coming back a little, although I caught a ball in the face last week that went through my hands. Not a hard shot, but a cross, so it was pretty stupid. My cheek is almost healed.

There was a Norwegian at handball and I spoke to him in Norwegian. He said something back, I understand one word, and panicked. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!!! I forgot to talk to him about the Olympics.

Once I finished the run, I gave myself permission to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day because I earned it. There is a problem with this thinking, and "nothing" is an exaggeration. I watched the entire painful, embarrassing Carolina-Duke game. Do you ever experience the cognitive dissonance that occurs when all you hear about is what a great coach someone is, but then you see evidence of subpar coaching? I don't think Roy or Tubby are bad coaches, and I think the truth is probably that coaching is actually more difficult than is understood. You can't argue with national championships won, but the underachievement of my two squads this year is confusing. I also experience this in game time when coaches fail to coach the game well even though they have enormous reputations.

Labels: basketball, handball, running, soccer

I ran 14 miles on Saturday after leaving the Senate District convention at the lunch break. I just couldn't stay there all day based on a cost-benefit analysis. I got to see what it was like in the morning and sat through 45 minutes of choosing alternates to the central committee (even though the primary delegates were chosen by acclamation).

So I left the democratic sausage making process to go running. Because I left in the afternoon, it was above 40 degrees out, and I was overdressed with long pants and a running jacket. I went along the greenway to the river where five guys dressed in fatigues were walking which was disconcerting and I might have called 911 if I had had a phone just to make a point, then went to the U of M campus, crossed the Washington Ave pedestrian bridge, and found a Big Ten track and field meet. I was passed by four Ohio State runners in their warmups, and had a TV camera right in my face, so if you thought you saw me on the Big Ten network, you did. The run went on to downtown Nordeast, then across the Hennepin bridge to downtown. I really like running down the Nicollet Mall. I crossed over through Loring Park, which had a bad reputation when I was a kid, and crossed the Sculpture garden bridge to Kenwood where there are a lot of really nice houses that are for sale. Lots of people were skating and playing hockey on Lake of the Isles, and I saw many cute dogs. I got back on the Greenway and started getting a stitch in my side during the final couple miles. Lived through the stitch, then watched curling.

It's so easy for me to be good about getting runs in, but not about other things. One lesson might be to clearly define tasks so that they are done when they're done. If I am doing a 14 mile run, that's clearly defined and chunked so that it can be completed in a short time period.

Labels: civic_participation, running

This weekend's long run:


I covered 24 miles running outdoors over the course of 4 days on this extended weekend, and today's post-snow run was challenging in that it was like running in sand much of the way. Friday's run was challenging in the sense that a skinhead walking on the Lake Calhoun path was yelling at me saying "get the fuck out of here! I'm an army ranger!" and more unintelligible but aggressive-sounding things.

Highlights of the 12 mile run were running by the new Twins stadium and that's about it.

Labels: running

On Tuesday, I did a couple unusual things for me. During the wintry months here, the Metrodome is opened up a couple times a week for runners to run indoors. The laps to mile ratio is a reasonable 2.5:1, which is much better than the South branch Y where we went growing up. What was it there, like 18:1? 25:1? Anyway, although running around a concrete concourse 15 times with lots of pictures reminding you of the heartbreaking loss the Vikings suffered doesn't sound like the most fun activity, there were maybe 200 runners there, and the social aspect was motivating. Not that I said one word to anyone else, but there was a feeling you were among your kind. I did notice that most people ran in pairs or small groups, which would probably make it easier once the novelty of the new venue wears off. I have handball today and a race tomorrow, so I'm not doing a long run this week. Just increasing mileage.

The race tomorrow is a 5k. I don't think I've ever run a 5k. Too short for my sweet spot. I'm running it because I entered in a competitive series to give myself some motivation and fun. I'm also starting a soccer league on Wednesday, finally, after years of intention. They need a goalie. My soccer goalie skills are beyond rusty. I hope I'm not stuck in goal all season. Also, there's no offsides in 7v7.

I went to caucus on Tuesday night. I had some resolutions to maybe present, but I forget them. And a pen. So I thought it would be okay for my first caucus to just watch. I thought of other resolutions after the fact. I did ask to be a district delegate and got elected through the "there are more spots than people who want to do it" method. So maybe I'll get a chance to support some of my resolutions later on. There was an election for presider of the meeting. The same guy who always does it starts off the meeting and asked perfunctorily "is there anyone other than me who has a burning desire to run this meeting?" and this young adult said yes, but I voted for the main guy because I thought it would go faster if someone experienced was in charge. The young dude got elected precinct chair without opposition. Rybak won the straw poll pretty easily, and Kelliher came in second. No one else was really close. I haven't been paying attention, though, and have no idea how to handicap the race.

They scheduled conferences, i.e., a near-14 hour work day, the day after the super bowl. SUPER BOWL. Sue me.

Labels: civic_participation, democracy_or_at_least_a_semblance_thereof, running

I forget how much I like running long distances. It was really cold on Saturday, and it took a while to warm up.


I listened to Kid A for the first part of the run instead of listening to podcasts. Then I put on Silversun Pickups for the second half.

I signed up for Grandma's Marathon against my better judgment. Two years ago, I was in the best running shape of my life. Then I ran the race as if Brad Childress himself had drawn up my gameplan, and after 13 miles, I was worthless, as Jason who ran with me for the last 6 miles can attest.

I don't know yet if I'll go for Boston this year. The reason I signed up was that I made peace with the concept of running the marathon at 80% or so. There's a lot of room between qualifying for Boston and the time above which I'd be very disappointed.

Sometimes I like running in the woods by myself, and sometimes I like watching people. This is why I run downtown, for the people watching. They had some sort of emergency drill going on on Saturday. I jayran past officers with reckless abandon.

Labels: running

I ran this far on Sunday.

It had been a while since I'd run more than a few miles, but I did fine by going slow.

Every spring, I get excited about races I could run, and then leave some to be decided the night before or the morning of, and I usually don't go in those situations. I don't like to drive far to run, which isn't a bad thing. I'm looking at everything early enough this year that I could be more competitive, which might be motivational.

I don't plan on running a marathon this year. I didn't run one last year, either. They take a lot of training time, and I could achieve the same fitness goals by running shorter events to keep the goal focus and the fun of competition.

Labels: running

I haven't been running a lot, but I went maybe 4 miles yesterday and 8 today. When I watched Dirk in the Twin Cities marathon, I saw lots of Boston Marathon apparel. Because that's what you do, you let everyone know that even though you're not running today, you've run fast enough to qualify for Boston before.

I see way more Vikings apparel on Sundays than I have in the last few years. The Vikes have their die-hard fans, but there's also a large group of fans in the area who just support a winner. These were the people wearing Packers stuff in the mid-90's.


There's a Create a Character contest for The Simpsons.

I don't think I really got to my point in a post yesterday about the reason I'm bored with the blog is that it's never really been clear what the point is. If you want to get a lot of readers (which is not the point of this blog), you're supposed to have a narrow focus. Far from it, right? So the lack of focus is a hindrance sometimes.

I'm not exactly sure what point I just supposedly made clear.

Labels: running

After taking ten days off of running due to "stuff," I ran 4 a week ago and then decided to run long last Sunday for the first time in two weeks. I made the 14 miles with sore knees at the end, and got a boost from listening to Neko Case sing in the New Pornographers. She's having fun and letting that voice loose.

One really joyous thing is to see a huge talent show off that talent. Especially when that talent involves music. I haven't prioritized "being musical" in my life, but feel that I should because we're hardwired to appreciate music. I've become conscious of the musical scores in TV and movies and think about how much less emotionally affecting certain scenes would be without the accompaniment.

Speaking of TV and music, new episodes of Glee couldn't possibly match the delicious perfection of the pilot, but I'm still watching for the music and for Sue Sylvester. The biggest problem I have is accepting the premise that the popular kids not only joined glee club, but are trying their hardest and putting in the work necessary to produce those numbers. Last week, they started to explain Quinn's motivation, but I still have trouble believing that Puck would give a shit about glee club and wouldn't have quit by now.

I'm on a four day weekend. Maybe I'll say more with this space starting with this extra time.

Labels: glee, running, tv

I'll talk more about the trip itself later...

It took me two days to get home from Lilongwe. Basically the entire first day was getting to my flight in Johannesburg. I really liked the Jo'burg airport, as far as airports go. It enticed me to buy a souvenir for myself, a Springboks hoodie, which I bought for all the wrong reasons, namely the color, the logo, and the flag. NOT because I like the team or rugby at all. If I ever go back to SA, I'll leave the garment at home.

Incidentally, I saw two different people wearing a Vikings Culpepper jersey while I was in Africa, one on the Victoria Falls bridge, and one in the Lusaka bus station. One of the entertaining ways to pass time while visiting Africa is to note all the apparel from American pop culture. "Why is that guy wearing a NKOTB shirt?" And as Kristy described, if you spend a Peace Corps tour amount of time there, there's a good chance you'll see a shirt from where you're from.

The second day of my journey back was the two long flights which seemed to go faster on the way back. I don't remember airport security being this way ten years ago when I last flew internationally. On my return, I had to pass through security at every airport I went through. In Lilongwe, I checked my bags and was told to go around the corner for a physical check. Huh? I went around the corner and saw the way to get back to where the ticketers were, and a door labeled "Restricted." I went back for clarification because I didn't want to be detained for entering a restricted area, and she told me to go through the door marked "Security." Which didn't exist. I asked someone at the "Restricted" door, and he waved me through to where my bags were coming on the conveyor to the x-ray machine. "Unfortunately, the machine is broken," the man told me, so he had to inspect by hand. In front of me, he went through the suitcase somewhat thoroughly, then declined to inspect inside my pack at all. I had started to open the pack first, but he wanted to see in the suitcase. Then that was it, and I went back through the restricted door. Or I tried, but this airport worker stopped me and started asking questions, then made me stand inside the door while I answered. Then he asked for some Kwacha for a drink, which I don't think counts as a bribe because I didn't need anything from him except for him not to make my life difficult, so I told him I was out of money but agreed to give him his drink "next time."

I bought Amarula at duty-free in J'burg, then Northwest security told me they'd have to "destroy" it when I was trying to board in Amsterdam. I (and everyone else) got asked a lot of questions in Amsterdam. It was way stricter than it had been the month before when I went through the other way. I didn't argue about the Amarula, just gave the guy my "Really?" face, then he was like "there might be a way...let me ask..." So I got to check my carry-on with the bottle inside. You're allowed to bring whatever you bought in the Amsterdam airport on the plane, but not stuff from other airports even if it's from the same trip. Because they only sell non-bomb-making liquors in Schipol, but they don't trust other airports to do the same. Or maybe they just want you to spend more money.

Things that have been odd in my adjustment back: I was watching a movie on the plane and wondering for a split second why they were trying to drive the car from the wrong side. Seeing people coming in Powderhorn Park and finding it noteworthy that they were white. Thinking it remarkable that kids are speaking English.

Movies watched on the plane (both directions):
Gran Torino (pretty good but not the greatest ever)
Man On Wire (infectious enthusiasm)
Marley and Me (tear jerker, obv)
Entre Les Murs (Eng: The Class) (French film that was like my school, except I didn't always buy how people were acting)
I Love You, Man (liked it, v. good for Rush fans)
Adventureland (LOLed at Bill Hader/Kristen Wiig and the baseball bat)

Movies I started but turned off
X-Men Origins (I was worried about being disappointed)
Taken (It's pretty common for the first person you meet in a foreign country to be a human trafficker)


I'm still unhappy with the customs guy but will soon be able to let it go. I went running the morning after I got back, the morning after that, then slept too late the next morning and thought I would melt, then ran 8 yesterday. I didn't run at all in Africa in case you're wondering.

CHG arranged a kind of welcome back party the night after I got back here in the newly fenced-in yard and I had a lot of fun. Everyone* was supposed to be coming and almost everyone did come. Even Grandma.

*with a few notable exceptions

Labels: africa, running

Like others, I compose wonderful posts in my head throughout the day and then remember 10% of them when it comes time to write. So much for universal capture.

I did not get to watch Tyler Zeller's return to the Heels since the game was only on Raycom in disgusting standard definition. I don't get Full Court, so I don't get Raycom games.

I'm still recovering from the lack of action after the injury. I've run "long" the past three weekends in a row, 8, 9, and 8, so I'm starting to get a tiny bit of momentum going. I'm still finding it very easy to skip runs in the middle of the week because "it's just one day." The cure, as I well know, is to sign up for a race that will motivate me to adhere to a regimen. I guess I should do that, then… Anyway, the bone is cured. I'm discharged from PT. I'm a ways from full functionality, but I'll get there.

A story: Sunday night was winter formal for school. A male student called me over to talk to him at one point, and said "they're not going to be too happy with us." He then led me into the men's room where one or two students had attacked the toilet bowl with toilet paper and...ahem, other solids. They probably thought it was hilarious, because they're very egocentric and lack an ability to anticipate long term consequences. I lectured the kids last week when I found one watching "fire in the hole" videos on youtube. Fire in the hole is when you're going through a fast food drive through, order a drink, yell the name of the game, then throw your drink into the window at the fast food employee. "But it's funny" was the argument I got when I explained, perhaps using a little hyperbole, how this was the worst thing you could do without actually injuring someone. "Their job sucks anyway" was the response I got when I asked why you would intentionally ruin a person's day/night who's done nothing to you to deserve it. So now, the kids see my point of view and have changed their ways. Just kidding!

I had another in my series of recurring Steveb dreams last night. He was fat in this one.

Labels: carolina, running

We had our annual softball banquet last Wednesday. My award was based on the wild beard I was sporting last spring. Because there are a bunch of new people on the team and one of them brought someone no one else had ever met, the party started a little slow, meaning there wasn't constant loud conversation. Luckily, people pointed this out several times so that I could write about it here. For some reason, people loosened up later on.

I pooh-poohed the choice of Sarah Palin until the psychology became clear to me. The GOP was supporting McCain, but in the most unenthusiastic way possible. They wanted to get excited, but it's McCain. Adding Palin to the ticket gave an outlet for that need for excitement, and apparently there was a lot of excitement pent up, because "Saint Sarah" is getting much love.

I ran a 25k yesterday after neglecting my running for two weeks. I finished in under two hours, so I was happy about that. If the weather hadn't been so cool, I would probably have gone much slower. We got a glass "stein" for our trouble, which is a pretty good takeaway for the $27 entry. Has anyone shown the most and least expensive races on a cost per mile basis? A little over a dollar per kilometer seems very reasonable.

I just can't figure out the Twins. I'd love to see them in the playoffs, because then that would be something to get excited about and watch, but they're not acting like a playoff team right now. Which I'm very accepting of, for some reason.

Labels: politics, running, softball, twins

I got sick of listening to Republicans, so I noticed the new 90210 premiere was on. I'm not sure how the show is any different from The O.C. except for the presence of Kelly and Brenda. They had a moment in the show that's so common in scenes taking place in the classroom that went something like this:

INT.CLASSROOM
A teacher is facing the chalkboard, addressing his class over his shoulder.

TEACHER
All right, class, you had homework last night. Who can tell me what a haiku is?

The teacher makes a stupid joke because the writers aren't the greatest, then the bell rings and the students all leave.

What's wrong with all these teachers in movies and TV who start new parts of their lesson plans with 30 seconds left in the class?

I finished the movie Chalk and can't really recommend it. There was nothing wrong with it, so if you're a teacher who is looking for movies to fill your time, it would be a good choice. It wasn't worth the time for me.

Re: the RNC. The Daily Show last night did an awesome part on Republican hypocrisy. This is what TDS does best: connect what politicians are saying today to things they've said in the past. I watched Pawlenty and almost barfed. I heard the intro of Palin with the guy's clever rhetorical device of repeating a call for "Sarah," later copied by "T-Paw," as the idjits at the Xcel were chanting, where he kept repeating "Country First," fanning the audience into a craze.

I just learned today that the namesake for this blog's URL is in recovery.

Running hasn't been going the best. I've run 2 of the last 3 days, but the track record before that (no pun intended) was really sketchy. I have a 25k on Sunday, so that will last all day for me in my weakened condition.

Labels: movies, running, tv

I finished the first season of Mad Men. It's a terrific show. It has interesting, complex characters, high production values so that it's visually gorgeous, and long, complex, and intriguing plot arcs. The show just got better and better as the season went on, as more and more information came out, and as you got to know the show better, and as the plot arcs played out. I also watched the Texas Cheerleader Scandal Lifetime movie, and was less impressed by that movie. To illustrate a difference, the characters in the Lifetime movie were caricatures; one-dimensional villians, with nothing of redemptive value. It drove me crazy, and if I had been in control of the remote, I would have turned it off. Contrast that to, say, Pete Campbell on Mad Men. So far, he's not even in the top few characters we've been given the most information about, yet I don't think I've ever seen a character quite like him on a show. He, like every other character on Mad Men, has good and bad qualities. So you root against Pete and for Don for reasons you might not be able to explain, since Don's no boy scout himself. The show's imbued with the sexism of 1960, which makes it all the more delicious when Pete's secretary is disrespectful towards him. They make jokes on the show about how times have changed (e.g., drunk driving attitudes, doctor-client privilege trumped by man owning wife), but not so much that it gets annoying. Although the characters live in a sexist world, the show isn't sexist. The women are really interesting.

I went to the filousa cabin Saturday night for a short overnight visit. I brought the dogs, who got another pontoon ride. It wasn't as cathartic as my last Luck visit, but I'm still glad I went. This was after I ran the Richfield half marathon in the morning. I tried to run fast, but I've somehow lost fitness since the marathon by running only sporadically.

The run might had gone better had I not had to dive back to second base last Wednesday night when a ground ball was hit to shortstop, covered by the angry third baseman, and I tried to get his attention to get the batter to first. He faked a throw to first, I fell for it because I'm a greedy baserunner, and then had to dive back headfirst to second. I hit the ground hard and can still feel it today. I haven't been running since Saturday.

Labels: running, softball, tv