Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sundry

I caught the Phantom a couple of weeks ago; it was just as good as I remembered it; or it might have been better as the special effects were definitely improved. Grade: A

On Saturday I went to see Julie and Julia, more so because I love any movie with Streep than because I love cooking. Meryl was her usual self, outstanding as Child, even while she let slip a personal quirk here and there. Who would have thunk it that she could play a much larger woman than herself (as Child was quite tall, who incidentally was quite sexual- something I would have never guessed). This was achieved by filming her with much shorter women... and men. The juxtaposition of the two Js worked quite well. Amy Adams mannerisms reminded me so much of Meg Ryan, there were times I was confounded to "see" a different face. The movie focused on their lives, lives that were almost opposite yet shared a common bond: great food. If you haven't seen it: what are you waiting for? Grade: A-

Running has been hit or miss; more miss than hit. I have been averaging low mileage as it relates to marathon training. My long runs have been non-existent and my legs are taking much longer to recover. Any speed I had seems to have evaporated into thin air. I often find myself fatigued, which leads me to rationalizing not running for that day. Still, I remain optimistic that I can do a decent showing in Berlin (3:30-3:35) depending on how I feel that day. I do know that these "ruts" tend to hit me from time to time; they run in cycles. The difference now is that the rut is lasting longer than average. Grade: C-/D+

On a positive note, it was suggested that the soreness may be due to the low mileage... and Fran just may be spot on. So as he aptly put it: just run! And I will. I intend on running at least six days a week with a mini-taper week before Berlin.

Cheers