Scary Movie Month - Week 1

I've never had to worry about spoilers with my Scary Movie Month reports in the past, because the movies we were seeing were typically already many years out of the theaters (and because I report more on my response to them rather than details about them). But last weekend we saw two that were released fairly recently, with plot points that could, if known about in advance, perhaps lessen one's enjoyment of them. Just possibly. Not for someone like me, of course, who frequently skips to the end of books, but for someone like The Dude, who will avoid reading reviews of movies he's interested in so as not to sully his viewing experience. So I will be careful in this post.


The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2011)

Classic Joss Whedon. (Yes, it was directed by Goddard, but Whedon co-wrote it and it has Whedon stamped all over it.) Scary, interesting, sad, funny, disturbing. A treat to see so many familar actors used in very different ways. This is one that will stick with me... and that I had no immediate desire to see again. Because, in the end, I was left with such a feeling of sadness.

Except... as one reviewer writes about it (on IMDB):

The resolution. The end. The explanation to everything that's been going on, and also possibly the greatest 20 minutes ever shown in horror movie history. This is the part where the audience is silent and speechless as every die-hard horror fan's dream is realized on screen. All your dedication, love, and sacrifice for this genre is justified. The credits roll, you walk out of the theater saying to yourself, "Did that just happen?" - and then you buy another ticket and watch it again.

Yes. If you have any love of horror, you should see this movie. And yes, I will probably watch it again, avidly.



Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011)

Fantastic. Aliens attack. Home is threatened. Unexpected alliances are formed, an unexpected hero rises to the occasion. All classic alien-movie tropes, always satisfying if done well enough. But wait! Home is British council-housing, the hero is a thug. Not so easy to root for?

I think what I liked best about this movie is the richness to the characters (and the housing estate is itself a character). Not sterotypes, not easy to sum up. Lots to think about. And then just the pleasure in watching, a visceral satisfaction that I think we then go to great lengths to try to explain, but really can come down to a bodily pleasure. This is one that we will likely own someday.


Looking forward to this weekend's viewing! And in the meantime, we've gone back to Buffy, and our seemingly never-ending quest to actually finish the whole thing. We are finally in the seventh season, and things have finally gotten good. (Though I cringed through all of the episode last night, and didn't start enjoying it until the last third. That's what fast-forward is for.)

My Chicago Marathon Sunday (No, I Didn't Run)

This year, I observed the Chicago Marathon by:

• Cheering on my husband as he went for his long run before church;
• Making french toast for breakfast in honor of my friend B, who was running;
• Baking apple pie and cornbread (The Dude made chili) in honor of our anniversary and because I am too poor* right now to buy The Dude a nice present;
• Deciding not to do my long run so that we could have a more relaxed day at home with the kids (who knew it took so long to make apple pie?);
• Watching a scary movie and drinking good beer;
• Dreaming about running it next year!

Congratulations to all who ran it!

*Shorthand for "I am well aware that I am not really poor by any standards but I do not currently have much discretionary income in general, and none at all this month. 

Scary Movie Month Begins!

Last night. The Manchurian Candidate (1962). With Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra. And really good India Brown Ale and homemade pumpkin bread.

Very interesting ( I managed to stay up for the whole thing despite being desperately tired), and deliciously creepy in some key places. Not super scary, more thrilling, but I have to work up to the scare each year.

We've got a pretty packed schedule this month so it will be lighter on movies than some other years - all the more reason to really savor the ones we do get to watch.

Let the chills (and squeals) begin!

One Step Back to Leap Forward

Just been evaluating my training this season and thinking about what works for me and what doesn't, as I move into the last month of race training and start thinking about next year and what I'll do over the winter.

I like that I've added in rowing, it's great to have an intense workout that isn't running since I'm not a fast swimmer and don't want to be (and I'm building some nice arm and back definition in the process!)

But I need to add swimming back in as a regular workout because it helps me recover from long/hard runs in a way that rowing doesn't.

And while it was ego-satisfying to increase my mileage by adding in an extra run most weeks, I can't make this a regular practice, as I don't have the time to do all the recovery stuff I need to do to make that work. You know, since I'm forty now, and seem to be falling apart. I'm sure my fragmented sleep schedule doesn't help with that either.

I want to keep all this in mind this winter as I read up on marathon training plans and plan out my racing schedule for next year. Winter itself will be about maintaining my running base and losing the last pounds (knowing that winter here is defined as November through March).

And yes, I realize that I've chosen the hardest time of the year to make a weight-loss push, but I do not want to go into marathon training with any thought of trying to lose weight. I've made that mistake before and it was ugly.

So here's to smart training!

The Half That Wasn't

So, I don't really need to drill too deep into this (or at least not any more - it's a good thing I rarely manage to write right after an event). About half an hour after posting about the Chicago Half, I decided not to do it after all. I felt that my reasons for doing it, coupled with the impact it would have on my day/week, were not worth the risk of injury to myself. Not when I have another race in eight weeks that I am actively training for. Plus in talking with The Dude (who has done the half) it didn't sound like a fun race as much as a fairly serious one - not something to just go do on a whim (unless I didn't have kids or were in a lot better condition than I am now).

Instead I slept in a bit and then went out for a ten-mile run in the neighborhood. I decided I would make it a time trial and aim for 11:00 pace for the first half and 10:00 pace for the second (faster than any of my long runs). I struggled during the first half - not physically but mentally - it took me a while to stop feeling sorry for myself, and the music I was listening to was all over the place so that didn't help. Things finally started clicking about halfway through and I enjoyed pushing myself to keep at a steady, yet faster, pace. Then, with what I thought was 1.75 miles to go, I saw I had 16 minutes to hit my time goal, so even though a stretch of this was uphill I leaned into it and pushed as hard as I could until I rounded those last blocks and made it home. And then realized that I'd failed to turn my watch back on after one of the last traffic lights and so had no way of knowing for certain whether or not I'd made my goal. Utter dejection, and back emotionally to where I was at the beginning of the run.

Utter foolishness, yes? Because I still ran that 10 miles, and the second half considerably faster than the first. And it was a beautiful day, and I was out running, and my kids were having a great time with The Dude at home, and I had no reason in the world to feel sorry for myself at all.

(I've since mapped out that last stretch and found that it was only 1.6 miles, not 1.75, so I was in no worry of not meeting my goal for the morning anyway. The danger of trying to convert minutes into miles at the end of a run.)

I still had to go through a couple of cycles of alternately feeling sorry for myself and counting my blessings before I was done with it and could embrace the day. And it was a glorious day and I was so glad I was there to be available to my family, not trying to recover from a race I had no business running.

And the lesson learned from all this? To not mess around with my racing schedule too much once I've set it for the year. 5k's and 10k's excepted, of course.

Although, as a friend pointed out, I did end up getting those long runs in that I'd had trouble with...

Last Thoughts Before Tomorrow's Half

I've been trying to figure out why I'm even doing this half, since I've already run a half this year, I have another long race in just eight weeks, and I really have too much planned in this month already. I could just get up early and run long without having to travel all the way down to the other end of the city on top of it. But no, I'm going to do it, and I'm doing my best to be excited for it. Plus knowing why I'm doing it will help me know what my plan for it is.

And I realized that the main reason I'm doing this is to prepare for my race in November. I was having a hard time fitting in my long runs, and I very seriously thought, well, if I sign up for a half, then I'll have to get those long runs in. And I have.

So with that in mind, tomorrow I will go out and run a bit more carefully than I otherwise would. I'll still plan to start off relaxed and increase speed gradually as I go along, but I'm not going to do any of my crazy competitive stuff. I will exercise patience in the face of runner gridlock. I will not tear down any hills. I will not run on the side of the path if things get crowded. I may not even sprint at the end (though I'm not making any promises about that). I will do everything I can to run a good run and not get injured. And then I am taking two weeks off from running (and I can tell I need this because I've been excited about going to the gym and riding the bike - and I never want to do that).

And then I will have done the Chicago Half, which I have heard so much about and have thought so long about doing, and I will never have to do it again. (And I'll have a new long-sleeve running shirt to boot.)

P.S. Ten o'clock, and I have just decided not to run it after all. Feeling very happy about this decision and my alternate plans. More later.

Random Thoughts Before The Chicago Half

I hate tapering. Even though my taper for this half is short, I still feel all thrown off, mostly with food.

And I feel like I have been pushing pushing pushing on a number of things this summer and I am worn out. Two is more work than one (despite what my friends told me - liars). The outline of my life may not have changed much with having a second child, but there is a lot more packed into that space.

Thankfully in the last week I/we have stepped back a little bit from some of that pushing and have a more relaxed timeframe for some of the things I/we want to accomplish. Nothing like going away for a bit to put things into perspective.

Went to the Milwaukee Art Museum last weekend with the whole family. (Happy sigh.) I love that museum, and I love that museum campus. And I love being there with The Dude, and now, with Buddy and Goob as well. While it would have been nice to have been able to take in more of the exhibits, for now I will take what I can get.

I have been frustrated to realize that this little race, that I just signed up for on a whim four weeks ago, is having a more significant impact on my training for November than I had anticipated. And this week I am feeling run down, with strange twinges that suggest overwork. I think after Sunday I will take a two-week running break and stick to swimming and the gym for a while. I really want to be able to attack November's race and I won't be able to if I continue to feel so run down, or worse, hurt myself.

But as the week goes on  I start to feel more excited about Sunday!