After mewling in my last post, I found this video by Dr. Alan Goldberg. Good advice on how to deal with setbacks. I intend to follow his worthy counsel.
After mewling in my last post, I found this video by Dr. Alan Goldberg. Good advice on how to deal with setbacks. I intend to follow his worthy counsel.
Yes, November 7th, a Sunday, will see me once again attempt to master 26.2 miles. For the last 12 years I've been searching for a method of running that didn't cause me knee pain. If you have time, peek at this, or this, or this, or this, or this or this. My orthopedist tried talking me out of ever trying to run again. But I knew better. Such high hopes I had. I assumed I'd be knocking out another marathon sometime in 2010.
Today I'm into my longest runs. This Wednesday, I'll run 16. Then the following weeks will see long runs of 18, 13.1, 20, 10, 8, some speed work, then the marathon. I'll know my goal time more exactly after my half-marathon run. Right now it appears a finishing time of five hours and eleven minutes is doable. It's exciting. I'd forgotten so much. Like nipple guards.
More soon.
This guy made me laugh. I'm sorry to see him go so soon. Below is a clip from a longer piece on how Norm would approach the job of being a serial killer.
librarything |
I'd never read this particular Phillip Marlowe tale, but am enjoying it immensely. Absolutely loaded with fun descriptive Chandlerisms:
1. "She had eyes like strange sins."
2. "Below his eyes . . . there was a wide path of freckles, like a mine field on a war map."
3. The blonde sobbed in a rather theatrical manner and showed me an open mouth twisted with misery and ham acting."
4. "We looked at each other with the clear innocent eyes of a couple of used car salesmen."
5. ". . . and a granite coffee pot that smelled like sacks in a hot barn."
6. " He had a sort of dry musty smell, like a fairly clean Chinaman."
7. "From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away."
8. "My face was stiff with thought, or with something that made my face stiff."
9. "[Net curtains] puckered in and out like the lips of a toothless old man sleeping."
10. "Out of the apartment houses come women who should be young but have faces like stale beer; men with pulled-down hats and quick eyes that look the street over behind the cupped hand that shields the match flame; worn intellectuals with cigarette coughs and no money in the bank; fly cops with granite faces and unwavering eyes; cokies and coke peddlers; people who look like nothing in particular and know it, and once in a while even men that actually go to work. But they come out early when the wide cracked sidewalks are empty and still have dew on them."
brainpickings.org |
Behind the Voice Actors |
Sergeant Mike Cosgrove (who also used the name Ed Asner) is gone. Freakazoid's pal and law enforcement chum has cashed out his life chips and departed this plane of existence.
Ed was fun to work with, bummed cigarettes off the crew, and never seemed thrown by the often surreal dialogue he was called upon to read. I wish his family peace in this troubled time.
Adieu, Ed and may you know eternal rest involving offbeat wholesome fun.
finsmes.com |
Excellent points, all. But first a bit of crowing: they said it couldn't be done—running any distance. (At least one orthopedic surgeon uttered as much.) And for a over a decade he appeared right. But last Wednesday, I ran ten miles thanks to chi running and a generous assist from the weather.
Starting near the Pasadena Rose Bowl I loped up into the Angeles National Forest above Jet Propulsion Labs to the fabled Elmer Smith Bridge. The round-trip took me 2:12:03. I employed a modest 3x1 run-walk ratio ala the Jeff Galloway method.
1075 |
(There's a reason you're a minor heading.) So much to relearn. My feet burned on the last mile, a sign of inadequate shoe padding. The net uphill of the first five miles exposed my training. By contrast, the bridal trails of Griffith Park are mostly flat dirt with gentle rises, not the rolling terrain, patches of rocky ground and abrupt rises of Wednesday's run. Also, I sensed a need for more weekly miles, with emphasis on tempo runs. Increasing mileage can be tricky in the midst of training.
But a corner has been turned. I'm comfortable enough with chi running to cover longer distances. I'm still integrating the run-walk method, but the efforts show promise. In addition, my weight has dropped into the 230s, a plunge of around 30 pounds from January.
Rummaging around, I found an old pair of trainers that should wear better on the trails until I can buy new distance running shoes.
So then: a short three miles today, rest tomorrow, then 12 miles on Wednesday.
Wickipedia |
phukettimes |
Political commentary isn't my usual forte, but for the second time in my life I watch America scuttle out of a foreign policy disaster. Here are a few scattered thoughts.
In 1975, I was still in the service, stationed on an air base in South Carolina. I recall the veterans around me numbed by the televised chaos as the South Vietnamese struggled to escape their country's fall to North Vietnam. Years later, I visited Vietnam and Cambodia. Speaking to inhabitants, I learned what people endured under the communists. Awful things. Genocide, for one.
As an interesting comparison, the U.S. congress back in the day cut off all aid to South Vietnam. Lauren Zanolli writes in History News Network:
"Historians have directly attributed the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the cessation of American aid. Without the necessary funds, South Vietnam found it logistically and financially impossible to defeat the North Vietnamese army. Moreover, the withdrawal of aid encouraged North Vietnam to begin an effective military offensive against South Vietnam. Given the monetary and military investment in Vietnam, former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage compared the American withdrawal to “a pregnant lady, abandoned by her lover to face her fate."
ARVN troops@militaryimages.net |
Vromans |
I know when I've run well and I know when I've listened to that little voice in the back of my head telling me I've done quite enough for the day. It's a moment lasting an instant when you must choose between believing your training or responding to a play-it-safe voice that smothers dreams.
Training for a marathon in November, I've been battling the quits in hot temperatures. My times, to be frank, suck. But I've continued on as new inspirations emerge.
. . . a woman competing in only her third marathon . . .
. . . in eighty-degree temperatures . . .
. . . against Kenyans . . .
. . . became just the third Yank lass to medal since 1984.
Molly Seidel ran like a champ, pushed the pace, and stayed in the hunt for gold and silver until the very end. At 2:27:46 - only three hours ahead of my fall projected finish time - Bronze Medal Molly displayed the heart that inspires even an elderly, injury-plagued marathoner such as myself.
swimsuits.com |
. . . Allyson Felix won her eleventh medal—seventh Gold—in the 4 x 400 meter relay. She surpassed Carl Lewis to become America's top Olympic medalist. Dating back to 1996, Felix has notched her medals in between a difficult childbirth, brutal losses, and, at 35, the hour-glass draining fast on elite speed. Allyson's unquenchable perseverance and mental toughness rated her those eleven trips to the podium.
Atlanta Black Star |
. . . maybe I'll add another day to my running week.
A coy oily header. But where might this fellow be incorrect in a world where 60% of locked down U.S. businesses never reopened and Jeff Bezos, Big Phrama and their dear friends in government are swollen with cash like pufferfish?
'Twas suggested I post a few episodes of my work in a pleasant spot. I've chosen here. Sadly, not everything I've written has y...