Photos From Buffalo Bayou Park

Photos taken during my "carless afternoon" trip to the revamped Buffalo Bayou Park:

What looks like a big pile of sticks waits for kids at the playground near Sabine Street.

Peace between cyclists and pedestrians might be achievable if more separated paths like these are built.

I found these canoe-stranded-in-trees sculptures whimsical. They serve as gateway arches to the Sabine Street facilities. 

Dog park with a nice pond for splashing. I'm still looking for the cat park.

Near Sabine Street, an elevated green looks like the perfect place to host an outdoor concert or festival.

A statue of the statesman James Baker overlooks the bayou as it passes downtown Houston.

Kayaks! I still have difficulty thinking of Buffalo Bayou as an actual navigable waterway.

I spotted these masking tape labels on the ramp leading to the elevated plaza. Based on the names I think they may have been stage marks for VIPs to stand at during the recent ribbon-cutting.

Skate park

One of the "Tolerance" sculptures near Montrose Boulevard. Each figure is made up of characters from various language alphabets.

An Afternoon Downtown, While The Car Took a Rest

I'm a regular visitor to the Energy Corridor area trails alongside Buffalo Bayou. Last weekend I went farther down the waterway  to get a look at the revamped greenbelt facilities immediately to the west of downtown. I decided to go carless for the afternoon, taking the bus downtown and rambled the trails on a B-cycle bike. This blog post is some thoughts on the local transit situation.

I'll share pictures from the park in a separate post.

In August, Metro re-launched its bus route network from scratch. Seeing these local lines below get beefed-up service means that Energy Corridor area transit has finally made a baby step forward in convenience for getting to in-city weekend fun at least:

82 Westheimer -- featured as part of the "Frequent Network" but can be crowded and rather slow as it makes numerous stops on what is probably the busiest commercial corridor in the city
160/161/162 Express lines (via Memorial City) and 152/153 Harwin Express -- these lines form alternatives that can get Westsiders into inner-Loop destinations in about an hour.

Another welcome addition: real-time bus arrival information via text messages. Every bus stop has a number, and if I text that number to 697433, I get a text back letting me know when the next bus can be expected. This is great for finding out if my bus is delayed. Metro's interactive service map will show routes and the bus stop locations and their numbers. Checking the text-backs of adjacent stations will tell me if I can make a timely transfer between routes.

(For my personal workday commuting, however, even the new network is still useless. I'd only need to cover 10 miles, but the way the buses run would mean a two-hour trek with two transfers each way.)

Longtime residents might remember when many blocks of downtown Houston were used as cheap surface parking lots. I think that time is past. With more attractions downtown and less real estate to store cars, the parking operators have responded with a rising tide of rates -- $80 to park near the stadium for a recent Astros playoff game; $100 to park for a Taylor Swift concert!? Just the normal weekend charges have convinced me to use Metro for the coming marathon expo, as I don't need to pay $10-$15 just to stop by the GRB to pick up my race packet. For race morning, though, private transportation still appears to be the winning choice.

I did find B-cycle useful for my time around Buffalo Bayou. Growing up in the quiet suburbs, I'm not yet comfortable with the idea of riding across Midtown and the Montrose. The actual bikes remind me of the rental shoes at bowling alleys: they're functional, but clunky and certainly not the kind of equipment you'd desire to own for yourself. I did notice that Bike Barn has a rental shop near the Sabine Street bridge with much nicer looking bikes if you're ready to part with more money, of course. At $5 for a day pass, B-cycle is a bargain if you're OK with checking-in at a station once an hour.

Concerning cycling here in the Energy Corridor: The bayou trails are excellent cycle paths separated from car traffic. Howver, the on-street bike lanes on thoroughfares are still only 3-4 feet wide, in uncomfortably close confines between car traffic and curb. That has to change before cycling becomes a popular choice for everyday errands and commuting.

More Android smartphones belong in a museum

Last week, the Houston Museum of Natural Science released a nifty little smartphone app that gives us more background text and images to go with the vast new Paleontology Hall that opened in the summer. The next time I stroll those exhibits, I look forward to having this guide in my hand. I recommend that everyone install it before their next museum visit.

If you can, that is.

While reading the app's Google Play page, I took notice of the operating system requirement -- Android 4.0.3 or above, a.k.a. "Ice Cream Sandwich." That statement took me aback because AT&T had only released Ice Cream Sandwich for my phone model, the Motorola Atrix 2, just the previous week, and this was for a phone that was purchased new this year. Only recently had I joined a small minority of Android users that could install the app.

At first I thought it was a bittersweet oversight on the part of HMNS's part to go to the trouble of reaching out to a limited audience. But then I suppose this only underlines the laggard manner with which the wireless carriers have been taking in regards to OS updates. The cynic in me says that this is a ploy to get customers to buy new handsets on a frequent basis. But it's even worse, because there are STILL brand new handsets that are being sold with Android 2.3, a.k.a. "Gingerbread,"

And these new phones are being unboxed in an environment where there's no assurances that they're not already obsolete. It's a real waste to see one-year-old devices being left behind. Consumers should start taking note of which manufacturers and wireless providers are most guilty of this behavior and spend their dollars elsewhere.

Most expensive trip to Burger King, ever.

I think it was when we got passed by the KPRC-TV Houston news truck near Lake Pontchartrain that it was made evident that our original vacation plans were getting blown away. While we were en route to Louisiana, the forecast track of Hurricane Issac was changed from a Florida landfall to a line that would bring the storm to meet us.

Arriving last Sunday evening in New Orleans, the city was already in shutdown mode. After checking into our hotel, we checked the surrounding blocks in search of dinner. At one point we thought we had walked into a still-open place, only to be told by the hostess that the restaurant was also closing early to allow employees to start hurricane preparations.

Figuring that there was no point in staying longer than necessary, we would be checking out of the hotel and leaving town the next morning. After travelling all the way to New Orleans, the lone attraction we enjoyed there was the neighborhood Burger King that we found still serving dinner that night.

Originally, we were supposed to be in New Orleans for most of the week, but instead we fast-forwarded to our second destination city of Baton Rouge, where we rode out the storm. Unlike Ike in 2008, which rumbled through Houston in the space of hours, Issac arrived and departed Louisiana like a loaded drunk taking his time to find the exit of a French Quarter bar. After 3-1/2 days indoors in Hunker Down Mode we were finally able to emerge to do a little sightseeing in the downtown area and watched the LSU football game from high atop Tiger Stadium this weekend before returning home.

I know most everyone says they "need a vacation after a vacation," but in this case, it's very, very true.

Summer drips away like softened mint chocolate chip down the inverted incline of a waffle cone

So how has summer been working for you? After being scorched and burned last year, the dam area has just finished draining after a really wet July. I feel like it's time for another bullet-point post to recap random stuff.

• Pittsburgh-based Cello Fury made a tour stop in Houston at the end of July and we got to enjoy a free performance at Market Squre. A trio of cellists backed by a drummer, Cello Fury's expressive sound spans that gap between chamber music and Headbangers Ball that you didn't even ask to be bridged. Their YouTube channel is well worth the visit.
• Last weekend the summer Olympics left us for another four years. Requiring a cable or satellite TV subscription turned the online offerings into a non-starter for me, and made NBC look like the old legacy media company that I guess they are. So among the garbage I had to scrap for the worthwhile moments on the network broadcast -- especially Meb Kefleghizi's fourth-place finish in the men's marathon. My gut feeling told me that he was the USA's best shot at a medal, and I was correct.
• We took a tour of the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting. As a contributing member of KUHF, I finally got to see exactly where my dollars go, including the studio where The Front Row is recorded and the workday desks of news staffers like Carrie Feibel.. Our guide was Eric Ladau, whose voice I've heard on evening traffic reports. 
• My running mileage is on the upswing. This morning I hung on pretty well during our group run of five miles. The Aramco half is now less than five months away.
• I've been surprised that site traffic on Houston Running Calendar has merely leveled off during the summer when I thought it would nosedive. On August 1, the Facebook "fanpage" reached 500 Likes, which I think is a happy metric for something that isn't being actively marketed; people are searching for this stuff.
• My "must-see TV" right now is Breaking Bad. The conclusion of season 4 was so decisive that it could have easily served as a series finale. But I suppose the fans now get one last season to see exactly where "ever after" takes the characters. As counterweights to that heavy drama I've discovered Portlandia and The Guild on Netflix; both are comedy gold.

Now, if you'll pardon me, there's a carton of Breyers waiting for me in the freezer....

Catching Up: Girls On The Run, Flash Mobs, Lottery, etc.

For the first time in eight years, I did not take part in any of the area races on Independence Day. I was up a little on the late side as I watched my first MLS game on Tuesday night at the Houston Dynamo's new downtown stadium. For all the wonderful crowd buzz that abounded in boisterous shades of orange, it felt like nothing really happened as we all went home after a nil-nil conclusion in the match against the Chicago Fire.

But to resume my running story here on the upper reaches of Buffalo Bayou, there's been a little more than nothing as I've been trying to keep the fitness fires lit with some fun runs close to home. It's just that I hadn't felt motivated to blog much about them. In late May, the Greater Houston Girls On The Run organization held their annual fundraiser 5K and I rolled up the neighborhood concrete course in about 32 minutes. Then last month, I tried something new as Sun and Ski Sports put together a weekly Flash Mob Race Series. I made a couple of the races. Each course was roughly 3 miles or even less, but on the cross-country terrain of Terry Hershey Park and George Bush Park. Combining the late p.m. heat and the off-road footing meant slow times but fun times. At least I came away with a copy of Jason Robillard's The Barefoot Running Book as a door prize. From what I read online, there may be more Flash Mob madness yet to come.

And finally, it's already time to start aiming the training towards winter goal races. I successfully made it through the lottery and registration process for the 2013 Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Unlike the Independence Day runs, my Houston Marathon weekend participation streak is a meaningful one I'd like to keep rolling.

CitySolve Urban Race

Outside the Chase Bank tower, the sculpture Personage and Birds by Joan Miró was one of our final checkpoints.

Yesterday afternoon the rain clouds blanketing the city took an intermission just long enough to let the lovely Laurie and I race CitySolve Houston under dry skies. And after the gusty soaking we took in 2010, it was a relief to be able to keep the umbrellas stowed away this time around.

♫♪ "Red Solo Cup
you're more
than just plastic.
You're more
than amazing
you're more
than fantastic." ♫♪

CitySolve is a scavenger hunt that asks racers to solve pop culture trivia or other puzzles to derive their photo checkpoints. For example, one of yesterday's clues referencing Ashton Kutcher's relationship troubles was pointing us to take a picture of ourselves in front of Demi's Dog House in Neartown.

At high noon all teams assembled at Little Woodrow's for this battle of wits to the death . . . or about four hours, whichever came first. After a kickstarter question led us under the freeway to Discovery Green, we picked up our full clue sheets and sat down to plan our attack. At 12:35, we had finished our phone-tapping and paper-scribbling and set out for the Main Street Square METRORail station.

I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 205 and after boarding, the spring bars for the wrist strap popped loose. Rather than try to fix it aboard a shifting train, I thought it best to stow it away in my backpack. Even hidden away there, the GPS receiver would go on to record our entire journey. So that Couldn't-Have-Worked-If-I-Was-On-A-Bus alibi by marathon cheater Rob Sloan is still very much busted!

In hindsight, there were a few places where more careful reading of the clues would have made our wanderings more efficient. Our biggest goof added an extra half-mile to our race by forcing us to double back south into Midtown to complete a cup-stacking challenge at Maple Leaf Pub, which must be the only sports bar in the city of Houston to have hockey on every screen.

CurrentlyVince Field-Tested-and-Approved Pro-Tip:
CitySolve is much easier if your phone
isn't turn-of-the-century tech.

By the time we plopped our butts down on the sofas back at Little Woodrow's at nearly four o'clock, we were far from contending for the cash prizes, but we had experienced eight miles through city neighborhoods in a way that you simply don't get while cocooned in an automobile. Better yet, we logged our nine checkpoints, so unlike our soggy mess two years ago, we finished the assignment and avoided DNF shame. And as the new season of The Amazing Race begins on CBS tonight, I'll certainly have a little more empathy for the contestants scrambling to keep their directions straight!

Our journey!

Don't Do The Bartman: Playing a cog in the machinery that minted Team USA

Caution: This post steers into logistics and running nerdity. You've been warned.

My favorite action snap of the morning: Jeanne Cooper of Colorado splatters a mile 19 Powerade at my table. Cooper went on to finish in 2:49:16.

When I got the Thanksgiving-week email from the Houston Road Runners Association soliciting a little more fluids crew help with the Olympic Trials that would happen yesterday, I decided to inquire. Growing up, I learned that the Olympics were a Very Important Television Event that only happen every four years in far-off lands, and even the partially-jaded sports fan that I am now still thinks it's a special thing. So I felt that being even a small part of the process that will send our best athletes to the coming London games will give me a vested interest in seeing them succeed when I watch them from the comfort of my living room in about six months.

So how does an aid station for world-class athletes differ from the table, Igloo cooler and Dixie cups found at the turnaround of my typical neighborhood 5K? For starters, there are more tables -- lots more tables. The last thing you want to see is a slow rush-hour-like crowd stacking up around a small area. These tables get spaced far apart. With approximately 20 feet between tables, our fluids station would consist of 44 tables covering a five-block span of the turn at City Hall. (There were two additional aid stations elsewhere on the course, each with a similar number of tables.) The spacing would make it easy for athletes striding by at 12 miles per hour to pick up a drink.

The next difference is the personal attention: Most of the tables would have eight large dots spread out on them, Each dot was the spot where a specific athlete could expect a bottle pre-filled by the athletes themselves with whatever they thought they would like to drink at that specific point in the race. With the triple-loop course layout, the runners would meet us at the mile 3, mile 11, and mile 19 points. So, as an example, the two volunteers at our table number one were entrusted with the three bottles top-seeded Ryan Hall would fill and label "Bib 1, Mile 3," "Bib 1, Mile 11," and "Bib 1, Mile 19" as well as the similarly-labeled bottles from seven other athletes. (Table two would have bottles from second-seeded Ritzenheim plus seven others, and table three would have bottles from third-seeded Keflezighi plus seven others, This staggered arrangement would help prevent closely-seeded runners from reaching for the same table at the same time.) As the race progressed, the volunteers would be responsible for having the right bottle on the right spot on the table at the right time.

I suppose they decided that this task was too complicated for me, so I was assigned to one of the last couple of tables. My job was to make cups of Powerade available, just in case an athlete wanted something in addition to (or instead of) their pre-filled bottle. On the preceding Wednesday, I left an orientation meeting with a belly full of pepperoni pizza and these words from our team leader -- "Remember Steve Bartman."

In case your baseball trivia synapses in your brain didn't fire just then: On October 14, 2003, the Chicago Cubs hosted the Florida Marlins in a playoff game. With the Cubs leading 3-0 in the eighth inning, a Marlins player hit a foul ball just over the railing into the left-field stands. The Cubs' left-fielder attempted to reach over the railing to make a catch, but previously-unknown fan Steve Bartman deflected it and possibly prevented the Cubs from recording the second out of the inning. The Marlins would eventually score a bunch of runs in that inning, and angry Chicago fans would point at the Bartman "interference" as the turning point that cost the Cubs the game and eventually the league championship series.

"Remember Steve Bartman" meant that we had specific instructions to not become part of the action in any way. We were asked to stay off the course if there were athletes in the vicinity. Drinks would be set out on the table, but unlike my neighborhood races, athletes would be expected to pick them up on their own. USA Track and Field officials would be watching, and handing a bottle or cup to an athlete could be counted as outside assistance and a possible reason to be disqualified. And none of us were interested in becoming infamous in the running community for interfering with a competition that would be aired on NBC later in the afternoon. (Can you imagine the hate mail that Houston would get if one of our volunteers tripped Ryan Hall?)

In the end, my assignment went exactly as planned. My table partner and I served up a few Powerades, provided soft-spoken encouragement (no cowbell-level cheering!) and marveled at sports history passing us by. The frontrunners, as some of you may have seen on the TV broadcast, looked invincible. But even in the Olympic Trials, many of the back-of-packers looked like they were visibly struggling on their last pass by us (mile 19). One woman made a grasp at four different Powerade cups at my table and fumbled them all. And at the end, we waited around for nearly an extra thirty minutes for an update on one female straggler that was injured. Eventually we got word that she decided to drop out, and then we dismantled our refreshment stands.

Thanks for reading all this text. Your reward at the end is more of my pictures from my smartphone camera! (Click for larger versions.)

On Friday night, opening ceremonies happened in Discovery Green. The Trials hopefuls were introduced as a group, followed by speeches and presentations from Team USA officials and past Olympics greats. Trials competitors Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor were recognized for their medal accomplishments in the 2004 Athens games. "Elder statesmen" Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson were recognized for their accomplishments by being named honorary captains of the men's and women's teams and were gifted with cowboy hats. It was like a pep rally for the Olympic Team.

The opening ceremonies concluded with a smile-inducing fireworks show.

My partner Rachel stands behind our ready Powerade table early on a chilly Saturday morning. This is the view the runners would see if they glanced in our direction heading north on Bagby Street. Eight cups are in the positioned in front for easy grabbing, and we had a bunch more in the back to replace them as necessary.

This was the table next to ours, with athlete-filled bottles ready to go. In general, the men didn't do much other than fill their bottle, slap the supplied labels on, and turn them in. Some athletes taped energy gels to their bottles. The women got more creative, attaching stickers, glitter paint, or in one case I saw, pink foam flamingoes. The "LSS" bottle on the corner belonged to 50-year-old Linda Somers Smith of California.  I remember this because when she drank and discarded it, it came right at me and landed at my feet.

The race itself didn't yield any real dramatic turns of events. The top seeds went to the front of the pack  and were the only contenders in the competition to secure the top three spots and be named to the Olympic Team. This is the men's lead pack passing us at mile 11, approximately 55 minutes into the race. In front is Ryan Hall, who eventually placed second. Dathan "Ritz" Ritzenheim would get the dreaded "not quite" fourth-place finish. I believe behind Ritz in this picture is third-place finisher Abdi Abdirahman. Way in the back with the blue cap is the eventual men's winner of these Trials, Meb Keflezighi.

The athletes arrived in waves that got further and further spaced out as the race progressed. This is the mass of women appearing after they made the turn from McKinney onto Bagby at mile 3, at around 16 or 17 minutes into their race. They are led by the NBC cameramen on a motorcycle.

And here is the front of that mile 3 women's pack. The Olympic squad would eventually become Shalane Flanagan (right, with blue top and her just-about-trademark high socks), Desiree Davila (red/yellow/black top) and Kara Goucher (left, blue top, obscuring her bib in this shot). 

Bayou City Art Festival

The temps have been running about 10 degrees above normal for late March, so I really appreciated the cooling effect of the tree canopy at Memorial Park yesterday. I dropped in on the Bayou City Art Festival for the first time. A lack of gallery space at home or a fat wallet precluded me from bringing anything home (although I did linger at the Misrata watch tent). Overall, it was just like a stroll in a museum, except most of the artists don't care if you take pictures or approach their works with a beer in your hand.

What is the scoop on POOP?

This is the greeting we got when we came downtown to see Blue Man Group last night.

I've located one other blog post that claims this handiwork has been up since Friday night at the intersection of Louisiana and Prairie streets. Otherwise my Google and Bing searches haven't been fruitful.

Is this subversive advertising for a new show in the Theatre District? (Hey, I do see that Urinetown is coming in April.) Or is this a prankster making a commentary about the Birraporetti's that faces this sign across the street?

So, I offer this up to the blog community and ask if any of you know the scoop behind.

I believe there comes a time when everything just falls in line

Another Katy Fit group run is in the books, and it turned out to be a really good one. This particular Saturday the marathon and half marathon training groups were starting together. Coach Maria took us 10:1ers on a three-mile loop, during which nothing of mine was hurt, bloating, or crashing into the pavement. Most of the run portion was roughly in twelve-minute pace, and that left plenty of energy for a strong finish. Even finding a parking space was easy today.

Sure, the post-stretching core routine kicked my butt again, but at least it felt like it left the steel-toe boots at home this time. I'll be working more of these exercises into my in-week workouts. (Hey readers, do you have any first-hand comments on Wii Fit, specifically on core?)

And after devouring a plate of whipped-cream-topped waffles and posting this blog update, it will soon be nap time for me. I was slightly shorted on sleep last night after coming home from Pat Benetar's show downtown. Yes, at age 57 she's on tour and still dealing aces from her deck of hits. It doesn't get better than being part of a packed-house chorus of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" with a future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. (They ARE going to induct her someday, right!?) Have a rockin' weekend, y'all!

Here's Your Sign

Standing at this spot, facing a sidewalk on Eldridge Road in Sugar Land, this beacon of clarity helps pedestrians figure out which structure is the church, and which is the Valero gas station. Just imagine all of the confusion this expenditure of our tax dollars has prevented. Bravo!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Last night I took advantage of an opportunity to get into a preview screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I went into the theater as a Gen-Xer unfamiliar with the graphic novels that serve as the movie's source material and in this post I'll share some observations as a non-fan of the series that might be useful for those trying to decide whether to go see it when it goes into wide release in mid-August.

Michael Cera plays the title character; Scott Pilgrim is a 22-year-old Toronto slacker who gets riddled with grief from his roommate, sister, and bandmates when he starts dating high school student Knives (Ellen Wong). Pilgrim's interest in Knives is barely lukewarm, though, and at first sight during a party he begins pursuing the aloof Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

At its core, this is a boy-getting-the-girl flick for Generation Y, with comic book and "augmented reality" gaming visuals splattered all over the frame. I found it all a little tiresome, though, and I was already trying to glance at my watch before the first hour was up. Despite the fast-paced activity seen in the first part of the movie, I still felt as if the plot wasn't appreciably moving forward fast enough. The plot itself is something that could have been lifted from a video game: To win Ramona, Pilgrim must defeat a series of her ex-lovers in fantasy encounters that are conducted as live-action video game duels. And in true video game fashion, there is hardly any backstory shown to explain why the "League of Exes" finds itself so united and motivated in defeating Pilgrim. I can only presume these are items much better explained in the books. Michael Cera does a bang-up job of being, well, Michael Cera -- which left me never completely sold on why we should be rooting for his Pilgrim to reach his desired destination of being with Ramona.

Kieran Culkin delivers many of the funniest moments in the film as the gay roommate who tries to get Pilgrim on the road away from going-nowhereness and eventually towards literally "getting a life." As I watched Wong's portrayal as Knives, I breathed a sigh of relief as she wasn't steered into any embarrassing movie Asian stereotypes. I wouldn't be surprised if Pilgrim turns out to be a film that pulls in lackluster numbers at the box office, but grows legs in the DVD market and eventually picks up a cult following. It's not an in-theater must-see in my eyes, but if your movie house also dabbles in adult beverages, I'd endorse the idea of marinating a viewing of Scott Pilgrim with an adult beverage of your choice as the show begins. It would likely enhance the appreciation of this off-the-wall graphic presentation. By the end, however I couldn't help but draw comparisons to an earlier Cera-getting-the-girl comedy -- Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist -- that I found more enchanting.

My verdict is "wait-for-rental" on this one. It will lose nothing when transferred to the small screen. In fact, the film would probably feel even more at home played on someone's living room XBOX.

Sky Show

The biggest advantage to running outdoors is that the environment demands that you pay attention, which keeps your mind engaged. Earlier in the week my attention was drawn to the ground. Wednesday's run on the dam featured several deer sighting, but with multiple snakes also encountered directly on the trail in front of me I was watching my every step.

During this morning's six-miler, it was just about the exact opposite. My eyes were scanning what was above me from beginning to end. Not only did I want to get my run over and done before the sun was up and scorching, I also wanted to experience the uncommon treat of a partial lunar eclipse. I got some pictures, but my digital camera fails to convey the true beauty of the moon's colors and light very well. The shrinking moon fell away to the west, almost as if it was being melted by the heat of the rising sun to the east.

When I began my run, I wasn't decided on which direction on the trail I would go. At the end of the eclipse viewing, my eventual choice was rewarded as I found a crew firing the burner under a large ready-for-the Fourth balloon. A hot air balloon is a simple pleasure made nearly larger-than-life and I stood admiringly and snapped a few photos as balloon and basket sailed up and away over the trees.

On the sun-drenched return leg of my journey, I thought the sky show was over, but it wasn't. A pair of nesting birds -- sparrows I believe -- are raising a brood close to the driveway right off the road. As I approached, I heard them squawk, then turn and perform a high-speed fly-by towards my head. They kept repeating this, pursuing me for about a tenth of a mile as I scampered past, waving them off with my arms.

Good luck finding a program for this stuff on any treadmill.

Running America

After hassling with more than an hour of Houston rush hour traffic to cover 13 miles to the theater, I settled in with a few hundred others in one of the Alamo Drafthouse's larger auditoriums for last night's Houston premiere of Running America.

This documentary follows ultrarunners Charlie Engle (Running The Sahara) and Marshall Ulrich in the fall of 2008 as they attempt to break a time record for crossing the United States on foot from San Francisco to New York City. Their adventure coincides almost too neatly with the fall presidential campaign. Remember back when we thought that terrorism and the wars on foreign soil would be the dominant issues of the campaign? Well, as Ulrich and Engle started their trek in California and Nevada, the financial crisis story takes center stage instead as the political fight ignites over the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout. The filmmakers spent a lot of time interviewing random folks they met in America's heartland about where they think the country is heading.

I found myself with mixed emotions about this movie by its end. On one hand, the actual running portion of the story was great. And outside of the closeup blister-popping scenes, this is a beautiful one to watch, with many great views of America from the road. But I did feel emotionally manipulated as the words of Barack Obama's acceptance speech overlaid scenes of Ulrich arriving triumphantly in Manhattan on Election Day. (Engel found himself sidelined with plantar fascitis earlier in the attempt and couldn't complete the mission.)

After the film, Marshall Ulrich and his wife Heather took the stage for a Q&A period. I had some fun while livetweeting some of their responses via my still relatively new Backflip:

• Ulrich lost only a net four pounds during the entire trip. He was eating 10,000 calories a day -- the same as his entire four-person crew.
• Colorado was Ulrich's favorite state to run in, because he's from there and does like hilly terrain.
• Ulrich used 32 pairs of Pearl Izumi shoes, not because of outside wear, but because the inners were breaking down.
• Charlie Engel is working on a future run across Cuba, after Badwater.
• Ulrich has a book coming out in 2011 about his experiences on this run.
• The best way for a marathoner to transition into ultras is to run a lot! (Duh!)
• Heather Ulrich accompanied her husband during Running America as part of the support crew. She admitted that she was yelling "quit" in her head numerous times, but managed to keep her mouth shut.
• Ulrich has "circumnavigating Death Valley" as a future goal. I'm not sure what this means exactly, but he said it's something that hasn't been done yet.

After the show, I bought one of the DVDs and got it autographed.

Cool: Going home with an autographed DVD
Not Cool: Discovering that it won't play in any player in my living room (three so far).

I have Ulrich's business card, so I'll be sending him an email to describe my problem. Let's hope his organization can make this right.