The Macho Imperative

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  After a couple of days of little sleep and lots of driving, I got in a decent run.  After being cooped up in the car for 5 hours, it felt good to stretch my legs for a bit.  I considered going to my office and start my run from there, but the SEC tournament is in town (Go Vols!!!).  Downtown was a nightmare, so I headed to Centennial Park for my run.  By this afternoon, the rain had moved out and the sun was doing its thing.  So the park was crowded with runners.  As I started my run, I noticed this guy pass by me at a pretty good clip.  Clearly the exhaustion had gone to my brain, and against my better judgment, I decided that guy would have to learn who the badass in the park was.  So instead of starting out slow and warming up my muscles, I bolted out at a decent clip, caught up to the unwary passer, and proceeded to pass him.  I stayed ahead of him until I left the park and was able to slow my pace down a bit.  I may as well have thumped my chest, pissed in the middle of the park and claimed all that I surveyed as mine, but there are just some days, even easy days, that you want to be faster than the other guy.  That was my day.  Because I started out too fast, I never settled into a good rhythm.  At times I felt quick and light, but for several portions of the run, I just felt plodding, despite maintaining a decent pace.  Now for the hard numbers:  A 6.31 mile easy run at 8:01/mile.  After my run, my calves were burning, but I felt pretty energized.  Overall a decent run.



 

Geek review:  DC Comics is running a new mini-series:  Rise and Fall.  The story revolves around Green Arrow’s murderous quest for vengeance after the damage and devastation done to his family and his city.  I’m not familiar with the writer’s previous work, but I can’t help feel that I’ve seen this story time and again with Ollie.  And frankly, I’m tired of it.  I thought the whole point of Judd Winick’s GA run was to resolve Ollie’s tortured past with his role as a legitimate hero in the DC Universe.  And one of the ultimate tenets of the DC hero community is:  Thou shall not kill.  I get it, I do.  That’s the whole reason for the story.  Make GA dangerous.  Pit him against his friends and his enemies.  Again.  This story has been done and re-done so many times, it makes the Superman-Flash races look fresh and exciting.  Throw in the fact that the art work is relatively uninspiring and confusing (Does Ollie’s mask have lenses or not?  Why does Promethus’ body keep moving?), and I’m thinking that the current Green Arrow story line will have to go into the crap pile.  I think that the last writer to truly understand Green Arrow was Judd Winick.  Come back Judd, please!  Later kids!