I finished the race yesterday, and despite my misgivings at the start, felt pretty good about how it went. Before the race, checked out who the other master clydesdales were, didn’t really have great expectations – 19 other clydesdales, and some of them seemed to be pretty fast finishers. As usual, my start was going to be in the last wave, 20 minutes after the first starters.
During the swim, I found myself right in the middle of the pack, and for some reason, no one was able to swim in a straight line. After about my third collision, I realized that I was swimming towards the second turn buoy, out to the left. No wonder I people kept swimming into me! By the time I corrected course, I had added a nice crescent shaped detour to the first leg. After the first turn, I found a good rhythm and felt like I was actually swimming pretty well. In a wave start, it takes about half the swim course for the pack to spread out and once it does, it’s hard to know how well you are doing. Looking ahead, there aren’t that many swim caps of the right color, and there are always plenty of stragglers from the other swim waves to navigate around. There is no way to look behind without coming to a complete stop, so you’re never sure what’s back there. Yesterday, I felt like I might have been doing pretty well after my initial detour.
T1 went pretty quickly, no problems here. Ran the bike out to the mount line; already a bit of traffic – jogged past them to find some space to mount the bike in. A quick start, feet right into the shoes, nice. Out of the park, I got my cadence up pretty quickly and started rolling. The drops of oil on the spoke ends at the hub finally took care of that pesky creak coming from the front wheel; now I would be able to sneak up on the slower riders in front of me. I worked to keep the cadence high and not to push to hard, trying to save some legs for the run. Despite this, I was still passing plenty of riders from the earlier waves. I was watching the riders that were passing me – didn’t see anyone else marked with ‘MC’ on their calf. About five miles from the finish, I finally get passed by another clydesdale. As he comes by, I hear "different division, good." Over the finishing stretches, we trade places, he’s a bit faster on the flats and downs, I have better form going over the small hills.
The runs starts, but my calves don’t seem like they are interested in working – they don’t feel like cramping, but just super tight – making it pretty hard to jog. The run course is different this year, instead of the out and back, it’s a two loop arrangement. One of the trail sections had been moved by the park, requiring the change. So the new course runs out the park road then turns left into the trail for the return, two laps total. This year, the thunderstorms were earlier in the week and the trail is actually pretty dry – it’s still a lot of little ups and down, and not very straight. It’s a pretty challenging course. Towards the end of the first lap, my left hamstring starts to cramp up – I’m forced to walk. After 50 meters or so, I started my slow jog again and was able to hold it to the end. I’m passed by the second clydesdale on the last run lap, he’s marked with the ‘MC.’ He’s the only one to pass me (at least that I can see.) I must be doing better than I expected! I get to the finish and end up with a time of 1:35 and change.
Cooled off, changed clothes, generally composed myself. Met the clydesdale that went past me on the bike – turns out that Aaron is a special forces engineer (explosives and such) and a pretty nice guy. We talk a little about his overseas assignments, he’s been in Iraq and Afghanistan and is getting ready to go on another tour in a few months.
After a little while, I started looking for the intermediate results posting. Another change this year, no postings! It did encourage more people to stick around for the awards ceremony, including myself. The clydesdale results are announced first, Aaron finished third. I didn’t finish that far behind him! When the announcer called out the master clydesdales, my name wasn’t on the list. Shucks – I was getting my hopes up for nothing. Later last night, after the results were posted, it all came clear. There were only five of the younger clydesdales in the race. I ended up where I expected before the start, a nice mid-pack finish: ninth of nineteen. I wasn’t passed where I could see who was going by, but rather in the water where you can’t really tell what’s going on. Considering my early detour, that’s not terribly surprising.
The next event is in three weeks at Hillsborough.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight
2008 - Chris Nolan
The latest installment in the Batman pantheon is a dark and tumultous affair. Continuing 2005's Batman Begins, Gotham City police are about to close down the mafia that have run the city for so many years. Enter the Joker. He lets the mobsters know (in no uncertain terms) that the only they can regain control is to get rid of Batman; and from here battle for the city has been engaged.
The dilemna facing Batman now is simple - can he restore order to Gotham using his vigilante methods? And as much as this film is different from previous Batman incarnations, the vigilante question remains. Law enforcement in this Gotham not only have to take care of the criminals, but also the Batman copybats. Bruce Wayne can see a faint glimmering that he may be able to regain his own life, and maybe even his childhood sweetheart, with the appearance of Gotham's white knight, Harvey Dent. The two contrast in appearance as much as they do in their reaction to the Joker's antics.
This Gotham is very realistic albeit still very dark. This realism was emphasized by the director's restraint with car crashes: instead of the usual fiery explosion when a car was wrecked, or a semi flipped, it did not immediately burst into a fountain of flames. That is not to say there is a shortage of fireballs - the Joker was quite capable in orchestrating them. Some of the chase sequences were filmed in the IMAX format, this is also supposed to add extra clarity to the pictures as well.
The Joker is complex and serious, not at all a funny guy. He appears to take great joy in wanton killing sprees, not really worried about whether he is killing cops or criminals. Of course he really wants to engage the Batman - this is his reason for existence; he is Batman's yang. Ledger's performance of the Joker also lends to the realism of the movie - this clown is very much a twisted and disturbed mind. He is a media mastermind and expert at infiltrating every layer of Gotham's law enforcement offices. You get the feeling that he is everywhere all of the time. If the buzz about a nomination for Ledger comes to pass it will be well deserved - he is the after all, the high light of the movie.
Even though the movie is on the longish side at 2:32, it never feels long - it picks up right from the beginning and never really slows down. Despite the brisk pacing, the central morality play does weigh things down a bit, making for a heavy and serious batman. If you are looking for the light-hearted campy Batman, you won't find him here. If you are looking for a truly evil villain and an uncertain superhero you'll be right at home in Gotham City.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
2008 - Chris Nolan
The latest installment in the Batman pantheon is a dark and tumultous affair. Continuing 2005's Batman Begins, Gotham City police are about to close down the mafia that have run the city for so many years. Enter the Joker. He lets the mobsters know (in no uncertain terms) that the only they can regain control is to get rid of Batman; and from here battle for the city has been engaged.
The dilemna facing Batman now is simple - can he restore order to Gotham using his vigilante methods? And as much as this film is different from previous Batman incarnations, the vigilante question remains. Law enforcement in this Gotham not only have to take care of the criminals, but also the Batman copybats. Bruce Wayne can see a faint glimmering that he may be able to regain his own life, and maybe even his childhood sweetheart, with the appearance of Gotham's white knight, Harvey Dent. The two contrast in appearance as much as they do in their reaction to the Joker's antics.
This Gotham is very realistic albeit still very dark. This realism was emphasized by the director's restraint with car crashes: instead of the usual fiery explosion when a car was wrecked, or a semi flipped, it did not immediately burst into a fountain of flames. That is not to say there is a shortage of fireballs - the Joker was quite capable in orchestrating them. Some of the chase sequences were filmed in the IMAX format, this is also supposed to add extra clarity to the pictures as well.
The Joker is complex and serious, not at all a funny guy. He appears to take great joy in wanton killing sprees, not really worried about whether he is killing cops or criminals. Of course he really wants to engage the Batman - this is his reason for existence; he is Batman's yang. Ledger's performance of the Joker also lends to the realism of the movie - this clown is very much a twisted and disturbed mind. He is a media mastermind and expert at infiltrating every layer of Gotham's law enforcement offices. You get the feeling that he is everywhere all of the time. If the buzz about a nomination for Ledger comes to pass it will be well deserved - he is the after all, the high light of the movie.
Even though the movie is on the longish side at 2:32, it never feels long - it picks up right from the beginning and never really slows down. Despite the brisk pacing, the central morality play does weigh things down a bit, making for a heavy and serious batman. If you are looking for the light-hearted campy Batman, you won't find him here. If you are looking for a truly evil villain and an uncertain superhero you'll be right at home in Gotham City.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
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