I was making fun of the Philadelphia Eagles on Twitter (and their cheerleaders), when I posted a picture of a cheerleader from my team the Bengals. The more I looked at it the more it struck me how right I was. The mix of attitude, costume and looks makes for the quintessential cheerleader photograph. My hat is off to the photographer and the cheerleader, whoever she is. Truly stunning.
Being a running shoe junkie you become something of a shoe expert by default. You can’t help it! You see the good, the bad and the ugly of the shoe world real quick. Two of the premier running shoe makers are New Balance and Hoka. I happened to luck out and get the original versions of both the Zante and the Clayton pictured above. Originals are good to get because invariably shoe companies make a very good shoe and then muck it up with “improvements”. I have yet to find a shoe where V2 wasn’t heavier and harder than V1.
As far as weight, both the Zante and the Clayton come in at 7.8 ounces (in a men’s 9 1/2). Very good for shoes that are also nicely cushioned. For the casual runner they will take you as far as you want to go. I wasn’t particularly enamored with either shoe starting off. I’d been running in shoes that were a little more cushioned, in the 9.2 – 10.8 ounce range. Shoes like the Ghost, Clifton, Air Zoom Span, Glycerin, NB 1080.
Supposedly lightweight shoes like the Kinvara and Pure Flow turned out to be a waste of money. Hard, tight, uncomfortable shoes. The Zante and the Clayton came in lighter and infinitely more comfortable for the feet. By wearing the bad ones, I began to see the virtues of the good ones. The Zante has the most unique cushioning. Its outsole and insole do a wonderful job of protecting your foot from the pounding, but you retain incredible feel for the road.
The Clayton is nicely cushioned, but you lose feel for the road by being slightly more protected from sharp underfoot protrusions. I suppose I would give a slight edge to the Zante as it just feels nicer on the foot. There’s nothing wrong with switching between the two either! And perhaps best of all, by getting them after the new models were out, I got the Zante for $65 and the Clayton for $104! Arch support? Slight edge to Zante. Tongue padding? Slight edge to Zante. Collar padding? Edge to Zante.
None of this is to say that this pair of lightweight, nicely cushioned shoes are the only way to go. What I am saying is that in their class I can’t imagine a better shoe (for the neutral runner). For my tastes, I’m starting to think my feet prefer the maximum cushioned ride of the Ghost 10. I’m also waiting to try the Bondi 5. I’m willing to give up 2 1/2 ounces in shoe weight to pamper my feet. But for those other times…
Runner’s World [June 2018] had a very interesting article on obstacle/ultra runner Amelia Boone. I had never even heard of obstacle running (90 pound pack, freezing rivers, dead of winter) of which she had won 4 championships. There are pictures of her with a log on her shoulder and of her doing various other extreme things to her body. Which was kind of the point of the article.
She had grown bored with doing superhuman feats in obstacle running and had decided to take up ultra running (26.2 – 100+ miles) without benefit of a coach or training. A sucker for punishment she pushed through the pain and managed to break her femur simply by running. Not everyone can do that. The pain of a developing stress fracture will cause mere humans to stop before it actually breaks in half.
Not Amelia. Then she did rehab so incredibly bad (1 legged pushups, crutching it for 8 miles), her imbalanced body suffered a sacral fracture at the base of her spine when she incorrectly returned to running. Another 6 months rehab. This long painful journey eventually caused her to get at the root of her psychological problems that were causing her to abuse her body.
Despite all the winning and associated glory she was secretly miserable and lonely inside. She had come to believe that if she didn’t reach the podium after every race people wouldn’t love her. Sponsors would drop her. That failure would own her. This despite being a successful lawyer at Apple and a champion runner!
Wow. That someone so accomplished could suffer self-esteem issues is mindboggling. What Amelia came to realize was that sometimes she wouldn’t win, and that was okay. Friends and family would still love her. The world would turn. She came to be grateful to be able to do what she does and not look at it as she has to do what she does. She began to find joy in the journey. And in her friends. And in herself.
Samantha sometimes had to pinch herself to remind herself it was real. 34 years ago she had met Jake. 8 years later they had married. Last October they had celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. When Jake had gone off to college two years before Sam they had dated other people, but they both had known. From the first time the ‘lightening bolt’ had struck them in her sophomore year.
She had picked up over the years from her friends that not everyone had what she has. Being married to her ‘ideal’. Some had, but a lot of them had “settled”. Her own sister Ginny had divorced Rudy after 3 years. Not everyone was lucky enough to be married to the person who makes your stomach jump when you look at them. The person who makes your skin tingle for hours after they touch you. When locking eyes with that person physically rocks you.
3 kids and 3 decades later she couldn’t imagine her life turning out any other way. Sure there had been bumps in the road and the scars that life leaves you, but all in all she considered herself the luckiest woman alive. She had seen the effects of not living with your soulmate. Not living with the person who builds you up, but tears you down. A relationship where the sum is greater than the parts.
She had taken for granted that everyone could look across a crowded room like she could at Jake, and have it be just like having sex. The sex itself being out of this world. As they grew older the wrinkles came and a softness that comes with age. But they prided themselves in taking care of themselves for the other person. The feeling that comes with knowing you have the 1 person in the world that makes your life complete.
Once there was a tree….
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come
and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples.
And they would play hide-and-go-seek.
And when he was tired,
he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree….
very much.
And the tree was happy.
But time went by.
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone….
https://allpoetry.com/poem/8538991-The-Giving-Tree-by-Shel-Silverstein
What a film. Unless you lived through 1973 its hard to explain. There was a mini revival of sorts going on in popular culture. In song you had Spirit in the Sky, Jesus is Just Alright With Me, Day by Day. In film you had Godspell, Thief in the Night, Jesus Christ Superstar. All within about a 12 month period. Nicky Cruz from Cross and the Switchblade was doing revivals at high schools. Billy Graham was at the peak of his popularity. I swear there was a different feeling in the culture then. One of hope. Not the gloom and despair of today.
I tend to “discover” singers, books, films and such decades after their popularity has waned. Better late then never I suppose. What struck me about this film is how it flies in the face of modern Hollywood. Modern films seem to be concerned only in appealing to 12 yr old boys. If it doesn’t come from a comic book, it doesn’t get made.
JCS in a theological sense is just fine. I’m sure you can find someone with a complaint. What struck me about the film was its production value. It has aged so well over the last 45 years. Andrew Lloyd Webber did the music. Robert Iscove was the choreographer. The picture above is 21 year old Yvonne Elliman who played Mary Magdalene singing ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’. Incredible. I was trying to imagine someone that age in that role today. Couldn’t do it. Robin Lamont was about 22 when she sang Day By Day for Godspell that same year.
This dance number towards the beginning where the followers of Jesus dance for him at the ruins was one of the best in film of all time as far as I’m concerned. The enthusiasm, talent and sheer audacity of it was mindboggling. The sun, the dust, the 100 degree heat of the Israeli desert would have daunted other people. Not this group of twenty year olds who didn’t know they couldn’t do it. They just did it. The lithe dancers. I swear people were skinnier back then.
Ted Neeley as Jesus and his wonderful rock star voice. Joshua Mostel as King Herod will put you down in his song and dance number (“Prove to me that you’re no fool, walk across my swimming pool!”). Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate was wickedly delicious. The two Pharisees with these huge black plastic hats! Roman guards with machine guns. Tanks and fighter planes. Director Norman Jewison made a wonderful film. And not one computer generated graphic. Its an incredible musical, couldn’t recommend it more.
– Emily Dickinson
All photos DME
Only hardy folk venture out onto the frozen playground in the frigid extremes of northern Iowa. One of the store marm’s who works at a shop on Main Street there had never been out on the ice!
The snowy confines of Adventureland Park.
Gary (the best dressed judge) and a Turkish Angora
My favorite, Lorenzo (Persian). During his breeds competition he was the most playful and entertaining.
This little pistol, Elliot from Happy Tales Rescue.
American Curls.
Lizzie the Maine Coon.
Dorothy the Scottish Fold.
Reginald Jeeves (with bib).
And last, but not least, Ty the Exotic Shorthair.
All photos DME
Iowa life 