Month: June 2008

Patron of the Arts

Feel like doing a good deed? Go throw crumpet a few bucks so she can enter a prestigious art competition. I’ve been reading her blog for years, and I’ve always appreciated her perspective on the process of making art. Not to mention the fact that when the Snook and I went to Melbourne a few years back, she and Mr. Crumpet insisted we come over for dinner at their place, even though I really only knew her through the Internet. So if you ever wanted to be a patron of the arts, I can’t think of somebody more deserving. (And when I get my inevitable talk show, I shall decorate my entire dressing room with crumpet’s works.)

RunningBlog: It’s all about form

Nike MiniIt’s all about form
I had my third session with the physiotherapist yesterday morning. I’d taken a few days off at the end of last week, so I was curious to see whether that helped or hindered my pelvic alignment issues. The verdict? It hadn’t budged since he’d straightened me out last week! So that was good. There was still a slight twist in my lower back, but that was quickly put to rights. I went through my exercises and stretches and Michael said he could already see an improvement in my core stability. He gave me a few new things to do, including a simple little exercise to work the glutes (which left me with a SORE BUM all day long). Michael said that by the time I run my next race, I’ll be one of those runners with a strong and stable upper body instead of looking like a floppy marionette. Sounds good!

Today marked the official start of my Melbourne Half-Marathon training, so I headed out for an easy 30 minute jog. I immediately noticed a difference in my form. My core muscles were engaged and I could tell my pelvis wasn’t moving around so much. I felt like I was running more upright. I was also going a little bit faster than usual, so I decided to push it and see how quickly I could do the second mile. I did it in 10:56. I know the iPod is slightly miscalculated, so my real mile time should be slightly less than that. Not bad! (I wonder how much faster I could do it if I actually ran it as a sprint…) I could tell that my form suffered a bit as I started to tire towards the end. I’ll get better.

Isn’t my Nike Mini-Me cute? I discovered them over on Max’s site. You can build them on Nike+ if you’re a member.

Please forward.

There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA. It is every American’s PATRIOTIC DUTY to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones…

I am so, so tempted to start forwarding this Barack Obama exposé to everyone in my Inbox right now. (Link courtesy of John.)