Maybe It's Time to Try Something Different

Here's some photos from Grete's . . .

I showed them to Erin yesterday and told her I looked like a "drowned fish." She didn't really get it, "How exactly do you drown a fish?" she says. My reply: "It takes a lot of water."

So, I did the 4.1 mile Pulaski O&B today, which is supposed to be a recovery run. (Geez, this post feels like deja vu!) I didn't look at the watch until I was about 1.5 miles in because I was just trying to run a nice steady pace. Anyway, at 1.5 saw I was well under 7:20 pace. Finished up at 7:02/mile. I'm thinking I need some new routes. I always go slower when exploring and that should make my recovery days more recovery-like.

Hopefully today doesn't kill the legs for tomorrow's 18 miles in Central Park. Since this will be my last pre-taper run, I'm thinking of getting there early to do 4-6 before the 18 starts, and if any of you in NYC want to join for that part, drop me an email.

Erin and I went to City Opera today to see their matinee production of Carmen. The show was nice, although Erin is sick, should've been at home in bed, and appeared to have quite an awful time. I really don't have enough opera knowledge to analyze the show; so, I'll just say I enjoyed it.

In other news, the Cats are in the process of losing again to Steve Spurrier.

Speaking of the devil, the Times has an article on the fear among Evangelicals that they're losing their youths. The gist is that someone published a "study" that if Evangelicals continue losing youth membership at the rate they currently are, they'll be only 4% of the population in 20 years, or something like that. (The numbers really don't matter since it appears that pretty much everyone agrees they're not legit. They've just been quoted extensively to unquestioning flocks to build an apocalyptic recruitment frenzy.) However, I found this segment, which is from near the end of the article, partilcuarly illuminating:

Outside the arena in Amherst, the teenagers at Mr. Luce’s Acquire the Fire extravaganza mobbed the tables hawking T-shirts and CD’s stamped: “Branded by God.” Mr. Luce’s strategy is to replace MTV’s wares with those of an alternative Christian culture, so teenagers will link their identity to Christ and not to the latest flesh-baring pop star.

Apparently, the strategy can show results. In Chicago, Eric Soto said he returned from a stadium event in Detroit in the spring to find that other teenagers in the hallways were also wearing “Acquire the Fire” T-shirts.

Does this strike anyone else as a modern day sale of indulgences?