Tuesday, September 2, 2008

It is not my 'duhg'...


If you're old enough, you might get the reference to an old Peter Sellers movie, one of the 'Pink Panther' series, where Inspector Clouseau gets nipped by a dog, which turns out not to belong to the apparent owner. "Does your duhg bite?" I noticed that a remake of the Pink Panther movie is soon to be released, with Steve Martin in the role of Inspector Clouseau. The trailer does not look very promising.

Talking about movies, do go and see 'Man on Wire', a documentary about Philippe Petit, the French tightrope walker, who walked a cable between the two World Trade Center towers in New York City in 1974. Although the movie (a BBC production) is a documentary, it plays out like a heist movie, with some amazing old footage interwoven with newly shot material, to create a riveting, highly entertaining and at times 'laugh out loud' funny build-up to the main event. Not a boring second, especially when Petit is on screen. He is definitely a nut but in a harmless, life-enhancing way. Stuck in high gear, both mentally and physically. Neither his mind nor his body seems capable of relaxation. Which is probably why he sought refuge on a wire, hundreds of meters above the ground, without a net. Only place he could concentrate and get away from energy overload? The movie is showing at the River Oaks Theater. Go and see it!

I absolutely killed the hills today (Tuesday) with Katy Fit, at Barker Reservoir. One of the (much) younger guys I run with, asked me afterward if I had taken some 'energy pills' prior to the workout. Nope. My secret? Relatively fresh legs (two days of complete rest last week) and a light meal about one hour before today's run. A little left-over couscous from last night, plus a bowl of mixed green salad with some apple cider vinegar as dressing. Just what the doctor ordered. I will be doing that before all Thursday afternoon runs in future. Yesterday (Labor Day) was an easy day, just 3 miles with Kathleen along Buffalo Bayou, about 30 minutes on the rowing machine and a 30-minute weight-lifting workout. Nothing too strenuous. My typical workout includes a mix of barbell workouts such as incline, supine and decline fly and press, bent over dumbbell row, reverse grip pulldown, lateral pulldown, pec deck, lateral raise, standing overhead press, low cable pull, cable pushdown, reverse cable pushdown, hamstring curls and pullups. Mostly aimed at salvaging what is left of my upper body strength.

TOUR de ART RUN

Don't have anything exciting planned for 6:30 pm on September 19th? Then come out to Sam Houston Park (Bagby and Allen Parkway Downtown) for the 3rd Annual Tour de Art Run. A tour of 15 of Houston's finest outdoor art pieces in a casually-paced 5 mile run. All are invited to this free event, no registration or RSVP required. Refreshments provided after the run. The race has no affiliations other than with the Road Runners Club of America. Just Roger Boak and Steve Shepard doing what they can to promote running in the Houston area.

The photograph, by the way, was taken in a suburb of Montreal. Apparently dogs are not allowed to poop in nice Canadian suburbs? I doubt that it will work here. I can't idly cross any grassy stretch on my way to Terry Hershey Park, for fear of ruining a perfectly good pair of running shoes with at least a 100 miles left on them. By now I know more or less where the worst minefields are. Only because dogs have an annoying habit of returning to the same spot day after day. And if they are anything like our two Boxers, sometimes THREE TIMES per day. What on earth do they put in those giant sacks of dry dog food? Put some of that in your over-priced box of cereal, and you will never have to worry about fiber to keep you regular.

2 comments:

Fishmagic said...

Good job on those hills, Bert. Speaking of couscous, they offered couscous over salad after the Livestrong event. I never would have thought about combining the two, but it is really good. In fact, I'm preparing grilled chicken and couscous over salad for supper this evening.

Watch for "dugh" poop.

Van 1- Hall said...

I've added cous cous with salad and also through it in with a egg and veggie scramble in the morning. Good job on those hills and you do a pretty good lifting routine. As far as cooking goes for me, it's a big passion/hobby of mine. I just like experimenting and have people try my new recipes. When your a single guy who doesn't like junk food or fast food, you gotta learn to cook. Chicks dig it too!