Chariots o' fire

Every now and then I get a pleasant surprise.

Last night, the enjoyable shock was an unexpectedly fast performance in a running time trial. This represents further evidence that joining the Revolution Running club was a good decision.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am obligated to share that my 15-minute time trial was not "fast" in any objective, dictionary-based interpretation of the word. But in the relative sense of "Terry is usually as slow as molasses on Pluto at Christmas," the term applies. I exceeded my optimistic goal distance by a couple hundred meters.

I went a little over 3000 meters in 15 minutes. That's around a 7:45 per mile pace -- when I was hoping to hold around 8:00. I am very happy with that result!

For those readers who are not runners, a little perspective is probably in order. World-class runners run at a pace that's around 3 minutes faster than that per mile...for an entire marathon. And I, myself, held pretty close to that 7:45 pace for a full marathon once upon a time.

But that was many moons ago. Many moons. In recent years, getting close to an 8:00 mile was a major triumph, so logging a faster time this early in the summer season is indeed a cause for celebration.

Let's examine the elements involved. First, it was a time trial, involving a coach with a watch and a whistle. That in itself is motivational. Then there were competitors. These competitors are my friends, and knowing that they were running hard, too, provided additional inspiration. The clouds rolled in, so the temperature was nice. And there were coaches on the track shouting reminders about form, breathing, and turnover rate that help me retain focus under high effort. There is no way I could've gone that fast without those contributing factors.

Yes, I know that most of my readers are much faster than me, and are probably yawning and thinking "I could run that fast wearing ski boots and carrying a walrus." I cheerfully acknowledge that fact. But one of the things I love about athletics in general is that we each have our own summits to strive toward. And we support each other in those quests, and can celebrate every PR that any of us achieves.

Of course, the bad news is that we'll probably do a similar time trial at the end of the summer to see if we've improved. That means that I'll have to work even harder to squeeze more speed out of these geriatric legs. I shall thank you in advance for your support in this endeavor.

In the meantime, I have a question for you to ponder: Do you ever confuse two actors who resemble each other?



This example is just a teaser. These guys don't really look that much alike. But when I first saw "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as a kid, I did think that Captain Nemo was Ben Cartwright. But he was actually played by Herbert Lom, who is most famous as being the crazed Chief Inspector Dreyfuss who is driven insane by Clouseau.

But I have a few others I'll be posting next week that I have confused on more than one occasion. I'll include yours if you have any good suggestions. (Note: Chris Pine and William Shatner don't qualify. Sorry. But Buddy Ebsen vs. Boxcar Willie? Well, maybe.)

As for the title of this post, did you know that the original "Chariots of Fire" quote came from the Bible (2nd Kings, 2:11). It's not about fast runners, or Ben Hur, or anything that's really a good reference for athletic triumph. It's actually some sort of nonsense about celestial smiting, salting the earth, and casting out -- but you'll have to ask someone else if you want a more spiritual take on the passage. The bottom line is that British Olympians and flaming horsecarts really don't have anything to do with each other. But a catchy theme song can create linguistic links that endure...so I am allowed to associate a wing-headed DC Comics character with a burning buggy and nobody blinks twice. What a country!

Extra credit: How do you connect Commander Adama and this guy?



That's all for now. Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!