The Post-Disney Re-Integration

I have returned from the land of the Mouse, and though I did not run a damn lick hardly at all, I had a super-awesome time with my family and friends.  We rode a ton of rides, and my son even rode Space Mountain for the first time.  Now that I'm back, I feel ready to get back into it and tackle that pesky marathon that is waiting for me on April 30.  My training this week has even been decent despite the craptastic weather that we've had lately.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not delusional enough to believe that it won't suck (I am delusional enough to believe that fairy dust will make you fly however);  I know it will.  But before now, I was kinda dreading it.  Now, I've made peace with it, though it's looming out there and I'm ready to have fun with it.

And speaking of delusional fun from the world of the geek, I saw Sucker Punch tonight, and big shocker coming...wait for it...wait....I loved it!  I had read the reviews giving it all the approval of Jim Tressel trying to delete his emails, but a movie about crazy, hot chicks with big guns and swords.  And steam-powered Nazis.  And killer robots.  No one could have kept me out of this movie.  Believing that the movie would be a steaming pile of poo, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fairly decent movie.  If your level of expectation is pretty low (like mine was), then anything better is step in the right direction.  Given that, I really dug this movie.  It was so over-the-top that not once did I have to suspend reality to buy the story, because the delusional flights of fancy (or wanton violence) lifted me of that burden.  The hyper-kinetic fight scenes were ferocious and smooth like some weird chainsaw wrestling match with fairies.  Unlike his other movies like 300 and Watchmen, this movie lacked the brutality and intensity of those films.  I don't want to give away the movie, but if I have to complain about anything, it would be this:  There was not enough wacked-out delusional violence and destruction.  Slipping between the levels of reality, though an interesting story-telling device, would bring my adrenaline rush down  faster than Space Mountain, and I was left wanting more insanity.  I probably would have liked it more if the fantasy of the sub-realities had come crashing through into reality more like a crashing log flume than an illusion for coping with atrocities and pain.  Still, I enjoyed it as much as any Wild Ride that had to end too soon.  Much better than I expected.  Definitely a rental, and possibly a matinee.

Will it win any Oscars?  I doubt it, but I'm sure that I'll add it to my collection of movies when it makes it to DVD.  That being said, my lovely wife reminds me that I loved Wrath of Khan also, so my taste may be questionable.  Just saying. 



(And yeah...I did it.  I wrote a blog about Disney, running, and Sucker Punch and made them all relate together.  That's just the way I roll.)

The Vacation Quarantine

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  A quick shout out from the World of the Mouse.  The weather has mostly cooperated (other than the heat), and my kids have had a blast at the parks with us and our friends.  One quick note, my son got a little stomach bug (awww), so he didn't get to go to Aquatica yesterday.  He's feeling better today, so we're going to take it easy and visit the parks this afternoon.

Now for the hard numbers:  I did a quick tempo run of 3.25 miles this morning with negative splits of 7:39/mi, 7:21/mi, 7:03/mi and a recovery jog of 7:14/mi.  That does it for me.  Later kids!

The Vacation Influence

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Today was my daughter's kindergarten graduation, tomorrow is my son's last day of school and in less than 2 days my family heads off on vacation with our family-friends to the southern Land of the Mouse.  Needless to say, my household is in high gear prepping for our trip.  We have snacks in the corner of the pantry, piles of folded laundry sorted for trip and non-trip, and stacks of comics and reading material (not all mine, I swear) to be crammed into duffle bags.  My kids have been so ready for vacation, they "packed" a week ago (I"m afraid to go through their bags, but I'm sure they're stuffed with every doll, action figure, Lego and DS game imaginable).  For my part, I have to sort through which running shoes (someone has to run and fetch Fastpasses.  It may as well be me) to bring, how many tech shirts I'll need (I need that breathable fabric for all my profuse perspiration!  Stinky.), and what kind of socks should I wear (I favor the ankle socks, but they leave a funny tan, after all).  At work, I've poured through every paper on my desk to make sure I leave as little as possible unfinished (to keep people from snooping through my office).  All this being said, I've had very little time to train this week (i.e. I'm tired and I want to take a nap).  I'd be upset if it wasn't still so early into my training program (i.e. It won't hurt anything if I have bacon with my pancakes).  I figure that I can afford a couple weeks of recovery time (sleep and eating candy) this summer before I really hit my training hard (to make up for all those pancakes and candy).  I'm still planning on doing some running next week (Ha!), but I figure my runs will mostly be early (Double Ha!  Not unless the trails are in your bed, lazy ass) before we hit the parks.  Probably just easy runs for not longer than an hour (you betcha), but you never know (not really, I do know.  And it ain't gonna be pretty), I may throw in a tempo run or two to spice it up (or just sleep in).

If you've been following Biggest Loser, like me, this season, then you most likely watched the finale last night.  Michael won losing over half his starting weight.  Say what you want about the artificial conditions of the show, but that is a HUGE weight loss in 8 months!  So a quick congratulations to him.  I hope he sticks with the weight loss (he said that he wasn't done yet), because I think the show, at the very least, gives a platform for living healthier lives that the contestants can promote nationwide.  On a side note, anyone else think that Daris's popularity screwed him and Koli?  If America hadn't voted Daris to compete in the final 3, he would have won the at-home competition prize of $100,00.00 and Koli would have beaten Michael by over 3% total weight loss.  Way to go America.  Where was the Samoan love?  

Now for the hard numbers:  Today I did a short set of half-mile intervals with quarter mile recoveries.  I did 5x.50 mi intervals at 3:14, 3:19, 3:22, 3:22 and 3:29 respectively.  My slowest recovery lap was 2:17.  All right, that's all I have for now.  Later kids!