My First Half

I have decided to train for a half marathon and have created a training plan over 11 weeks with the help of the Runner's World website. The first half I will train for is the Glass City Half-Marathon on April 26.

To that end I have sent in my money to run the Luckey 5k scheduled for February 14.
I also plan to run/walk a prediction run scheduled for Saturday. The prediction run is a Toledo Road Runners Club event so I have to renew my membership there and hopefully I will be allowed to run it. If I am not able to run it if they can't do the renewal on the spot I will try to run the same distance on my own.

However, I am only up to 25 minutes on the treadmill so I am basically starting from scratch as I do every year. Hopefully this will be the year I stick with it for good.

I have not given up the idea of running a full during my 40th year but we'll take it step by step.

As I am on Weight Watchers again, hopefully I can get this weight off for good this time. It has thus far been slow -- only 4.8 over the past two weeks and I probably gained it all back this week but again we'll see.

Good luck to everyone pursuing a goal this year -- I am right there with you.
Later

Yes We Can, Yes We Did and Yes We Will

I am back to my healthy self again while continuing a round of antibiotics for the severe cold I had for nearly two weeks.

I am also feeling optimistic after the inauguration yesterday. Mind you I do not think of President Obama as anything greater than human. But also believe there is a renewed sense of hope and hopefully a committment to bettering this country. . But he will make mistakes and do some good things as well so we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.I honestly did not think I would see an African-American president this early in my lifetime

The Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow and I am hoping some of my faves make it -- my top 5 films of the year are:
The Dark Knight (the first time I put such a film at the top of my list)
Milk
Frost/Nixon
The Visitor
Slumdog Millionaire

I also will be happy to see Heath Ledger get a nomination and possibly be the second actor to win an Oscar posthumously (after Peter Finch's Best Actor win for Network)

As tomorrow is also the first anniversary of Ledger's death I may watch Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight again in tribute. Or at least The Dark Knight. (I am also thinking of watching There Will Be Blood which earned Daniel Day-Lewis the Oscar last year for Best Actor.)

I was a big fan of Heath Ledger's before he died and honestly think his performance is worth the win dead or alive. It will just be sadder this way.

I also hope The Dark Knight gets nominated and wins though I have a feeling it won't even get nominated. In fact I am guessing that only Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire from my list will be nominated with the latter taking the win.

I have yet to see The Wrestler or Revolutionary Road, though I am looking forward to both of them.

I did see a couple of less than steller movies with friends this week: My Bloody Valentine 3D and Bride Wars. Truth be told I enjoyed the 3D effects of the former and chuckled a little during the latter. However, many of the films released just a few months ago demonstrate why this is such a great season for film.

I will likely be on IMDB the night of the Oscars posting with the other film nerds.


Until next time --
M

Run Down

Well, the last week has been mostly me being run down by a severe cold. I have not been able to make it to the gym. I tried today and was told by the trainers at the gym that it was bad to work out with a cold because it pushes all of the congestion down from your throat to your chest.

So I get home and Good Morning America is doing a report about sweating out a cold. The consensus from the show is contrary to what I was told at the gym I work out at. GMA is coming to the conclusion that it is good for the person with the cold. It opens up passages and releases certain chemicals. Of course the reprt also noted that it may not be good to work out where other people are in close proximaty due to the possibility of spreading the illness.

When I attempted to work out all that happened was that I had a difficult time breathing and made it no more than a few minutes.

Unfortunately I tend to get annoyed at other people minding my business so I was a little put off by a fellow exerciser who noted that I was in and out fast when she saw me putting on my coat. I croaked that I had a cold and was congested and quickly took off.

I do think that my taking of prescription strength cold medicine has been helping.

I may try to get out and see Frost/Nixon today. It is playing at a theatre 45 minutes away. It may very well open up locally next week, I have no idea. But I kind of want to see it before the Golden Globes tonight and I need to get out of the house as I am going a bit stir crazy.

There is a lot of snow out but I figure the theatre is right off the highway so it should be fine to drive.


Okay, enough for now.
Later!

First Films of the Year

I went to see The Reader a couple of days into the new year but did not complete it. After nearly 45 minutes of little more than sex scenes I walked out. Don't get me wrong it was not the sex scenes that had me walking out. It was just one of those very rare occasions when I suddenly did not want to sit still in a movie theatre. So I will likely get the film out on video when it hits the library.

A film that I did see through to the end was Valkyrie. I can honestly say that it was not as bad as I thought it would be. While you never really lose Tom Cruise when watching him act in this film it still managed to be somewhat suspenseful. This despite the fact that the viewer knows Colonel Stauffenberg and his comrades will fail to kill Hitler and will be executed. It was a bit disconcerting to see so many Brits (such as Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh and Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard) playing Germans but all were very good.

I believe that it is okay to cheer for the people trying to kill Hitler even though they were Nazis. If the film is to be believed they were fighting for Germany and hated the crimes being committed Hilter and his followers.

I also almost hate to admit that I was pleased when my brother sent me a birthday card a couple of years ago that played Flight of the Valkyries when I opened it. I have heard that Wagner was very much an anti-semite and while I am actually Catholic and not Jewish, I find this disturbing. I struggle with the idea that it is okay to enjoy the work of the person when you cannot approve of the person and their beliefs or activities. Another example of this is Elia Kazan. I love A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront but I hate the fact that the director of these great films named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950's.

I am looking forward to Gran Torino and Frost/Nixon when they open. I am a big fan of Clint Eastwood, especially as a director. I am not such a fan of Ron Howard though I have seen quite a few of his films. However, Frost/Nixon has gotten great reviews and looks like a very interesting film. I wish there was some way to see the real interview (and there may be but I just have not found out yet)

I just got There Will Be Blood for my birthday and am looking forward to watching it again. I could never decide which of this film or No Country For Old Men should have won Best Picture. At the time I believe I felt No Country For Old Men deservedly won but that may have been due to my affection for the Coen brothers. I did like PT Anderson's Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia but did not like Punch Drunk Love (I may need to try it a second time) but not as much as Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple and of course O' Brother Where Art Thou? and Fargo. So the Coens had my heart (which is interesting since the Coens are so often accused of lacking heart in their movies. This is something I debate though).

Okay time for some coffee!

40!

Okay so no new revelations just a low key day spent at the zoo and then getting a massage. I want to thank everybody for their kind wishes for a good day.

Right now I feel just so mellow because of the massage I want to curl up and take a nap. (But I probably won't do that!)

Bye bye Thirtysomething

Well today is the last day of my thirties. I went to dinner with friends last night at Poco Piattis, a tapas joint, to celebrate my birthday. It was an appropriate place to go as we were able to sample a lot of different dishes and I plan to sample a lot of different things this year.

I also think it will be funny to be in the Master's division when I start running races again. I do not think I have ever been called a master of anything.

I plan to get a good workout today and then return to yoga.

Some of the other things I want to get back to doing are my collages, my pastels and do some serious photography as well as get back to my writing.

I will do my best to look forward to this new era in my life, not with trepidation and fear but with excitement and enthusiasm.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. May this year be personally fulfilling and may you have your best year yet.

Today I begin my journey to be the best person I can be inside and out.

I also plan to do what I will call bloging my face --that is -- try to take a picture or two everyday to see how a face evolves over a year.
Again, happy New Year -- make it a great one!