Another medium I won’t be using…
June 27th, 2009
Another day, another half marathon completed
May 17th, 2009
I suppose the title says it all really. Today it was the SMH Sydney Half Marathon , attempt #6 and another successful one at that.
Starting off at the briskly time @ 7:30am, we (Hools, Lucy and myself) started on a good pace however this time around I was not feeling the 100% mentally that I usually feel, but more on that later.
Kilometres 1 through 5 went relatively well, though these are what most runners know as the hardest of km’s. This is the time when your legs aren’t quite firing on all cyclinders and your brain is telling you that ‘you really don’t need to be out here at this time in the morning, just quit now and go back to bed!’ …. and I promise you every time i’ve run these things i’ve seriously considered it.
Kilometres 5 through 10 is where things started to get rough for me.
….But before I get into that I want to provide short set of history on how I got to feeling dehydrated. Over the past 4 months, our personal trainer has been providing advice and support on food, nutrition when running, dealing with psychological barriers and how to keep your body in one piece to see another marathon on another day.
So today, instead of having a Gu (energy food in liquid form, once you get used to the taste they’re quite good!) before I started the race along with a decent drink of water before I go to bed and before I get up, I listed to the PT and did neither of these.
…. and that gets us back to kilometres 8 through 10 … I was becoming dehydrated ….. and that’s not a good thing to be doing less than 1 hour into a 2 hour run.
By the time we clocked the 7 kilometre mark, Hools (poor thing) was starting to suffer with a sore knee and a body that just wasn’t coping with strain of having it pounded with hard bitumen for kilometre after kilometre. And so at that stage, Lucy and I broke away (after a quick debrief with the fiance!) and that’s actually where things started to go wrong. My body was firing on all cylinders, but the brain was feeling it has has never felt at the halfway mark, it was emotionally drained, finding it difficult to concentrate and completely lacking in motivation.
And once you’re dehydrated, there’s absolutely no going back.
Kilometres 10 through 15 turned bad for me as around km 11 Lucy started to break away from me and psychologically I couldn’t make myself keep the pace that was required to stay with her. Of course once she disappeared around a corner, my spirits started to plummet and things started to head bad….. I actually walked for a total of 5 minutes over this break…… sad …… (that’s never happened before!)
Kilometres 15 through 21 were painful as this track is a dual-loop (a format that i *hate*) and I now knew how far we had left.
The only shining light in this was that The Picture magazine had a model who was getting her (very impressive) rack out for mini-lap-dances and taking photos for an upcoming shoot in the magazine. While I was completely shocked with this it still gave me a bit of a smile (it was @ km 20, so close to the finish!) and I pushed on until I rounded the last couple of loops and onto the finish line.
I believe my time will run in at about 2 hours 9 minutes, and while that doesn’t seem like a great deal off 2 hours 6 minutes, it is a damn sight shy of 2hrs and 54 seconds that we ran 2 years ago.
My hope for today was around 2 hours 3 minutes - 2 hours 6 minutes so that I could trim down to sub-2-hours when we hit the Gold Coast half marathon in July (it’s an all-flat course so you probably save 3-4 minutes just from that in itself), alas it wasn’t to be.
As for Hools, she struggled and did some pretty serious damage to her knee which will require a few days of compression, ice and TLC from our chiropractor.
However, this is part of our bodies getting older, and while we choose this sport we need to accept the consequences.
c’est la vie!
Adam
I did something tonight that I should have done a long time ago…
May 10th, 2009
I registered a new domain for myself, and started a new blog….
(and no, i’m not telling *anyone* about it).
I realise now that in some ways I made a grave error when I first registered this site. I told people about it.
And by doing that, all the great benefits of anonymity went flying out the window, leaving me in a position where to get the things off my chest that are really going on would be to compromise myself in ways that were both not in my best interest, but more importantly could and would be perceived by others as something completely outside of my ‘real’ reality.
And almost certainly hurt people unnecessarily. And that’s just not cool.
(i’m not sure if that makes sense)
So i’ve done the best thing I can do, i’ve registered a new space and i’m not telling anyone about it.
And now that I have ….. i’ve started to write again …… and I realised how absolutely and utterly delightful it is to just write what I feel and not have the repurcussions other than to get it out of my crazy headspace, turn it into a pseudo-reality and then from there … discard it as exactly that, the crazy and incoherent ramblings of someone who’s just human, who has learnt to deal with most of his limitations but still fucks it up sometimes and somebody who’s not the bad guy, just needs to have his own headspace once in a while.
It feels good to write and only be accountable to myself, and by writing about all the craziness, i’m freed from it.
And the best thing is that all the people I love and care about won’t have to deal with me (so much) when I decide to have an unnecessarily selfish and crazy bout of self-doubt, self-destruction and self-loathing.
And i’m already starting to feel better about it.
So from here on out i’m going to try to write more about my life, try to use facebook less and write about the things that are good, that are interesting, that are hard and that are what I work for.
And i’m going to keep the insanity to someone where only I can find.
Hope you still drop back here from time to time to read about my ‘normal’ life.
Adam
You know you’re really getting married when …
April 23rd, 2009
You go into the jewellers and get your wedding band designed.
And then it all hit me ……
While I can’t wait to be hitched, i’m actually i’m happy that i’m scared about it. Means i’m going to make the commitment with all my heart and soul.
Adam
Bali
April 5th, 2009
In Bullet Points:
- It’s hot… very hot (why do I keep forgetting this each time I go to SE Asia?)
- I bought muchos clothes… muchos…
- Things are cheap over there.. deceptively cheap…
- I got Hools on her first ever ride on a motorcycle (well, scooter)…. she’s now in love with two wheels.
- That’s one more reason why i’ll be marrying her later on this year.
- We surfed, paddled, ski-ed, swam, white-water rafted, hike, sight-see’d (?), fed wild monkeys, avoided malaria, lounged by the pool (with built-in bar and endless cocktails.. hmmm, cocktails), drank 8,000,000 long-island-iced-teas, purchased near on 500 DVD’s (serious).
…. and generally lived the life of someone who has afforded themselves the opportunity to relax.
Still, glad to be coming home, I miss the insanity of my normal life …. I think … 
Adam
Weddings….
March 25th, 2009
The perfect way to start ridiculous arguments!
I won’t get into my rant here tonight this morning as i’m simply being irrational at this moment.
However I will say that the complete and utter lack of regard that people seem to have when you’re getting married (’what, you mean *your* wedding isn’t all about *me* … huh?!?!?!) has simply astonished me.
Warning to the wise folks : elope.
Adam
Stranger Than Fiction … Is this your life?
March 15th, 2009
This is an extension of a post I wrote quite some time ago, right about here…..
Because the last time I saw this post I was in a different mindset.
The core of my post today is to encourage you to watch the movie : Stranger Than Fiction. A brilliant tale starring two geniuses of the the screen (Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, both supporting), and a lead in Will Farrell that was completely unexpected however brilliantly cast.
The movie I will not go into a great detail about. The meaning of the movie I will indulge a little in my post here:
Stranger than fiction asks the basic question : If you knew you were going to die, how would you rate your life? (ok, two questions, the second being: What might you do to make it the life you truly want?)
Sounds pretty simple in reality, but dig deeper and you realise that life is chaotic, difficult, mundane (and let’s be honest) inconsequential …. and many would say that the biggest and most influencing items are really out of our hands…
What this movie does is go to town to challenge you that your life is something that you are active participant in, even if you choose to make no choices, you still make choices (know what I mean?). For while you need to accept what you can’t be in control of, and while you can’t make it all turn in your favour, there are a huge number of things that you can do to make your life the life that you want them to be.
This view of the world has been synonymous with my view of my own life over the past couple of years. After some pretty reasonable weight and alcohol issues, I have slowly, but surely put my life on a steady path, and the more steady this path becomes, the more I find that I ask myself the real questions.
- Am I a good person?
- Where do I fit in the world?
- Do I deserve all the shit i’ve accumulated?
… and for the most part you can either be ignorant, arrogant or terrified as the media and external influences generally tell you that you’re either wonderful and fabulous (and have you seen our new hair product to make you even *more* fabulous?!!?!) or that you’re morally corrupt and basically if you don’t repent (ie now!) you’re going straight to hell.
So what does one do?
You need to live your life. You just need to live your life. Make choices, take risks, be awed by those things you don’t understand and constantly curious about the things that you’d like to understand.
Go to space camp, learn how to back cupcakes, commit to something that scares you, walk away from things that are hurting you, take that new job, get a new car, give money to charity ….. and for something different, tell those that matter to you most that you love them every.single.day.
Because we all need to remember, none of us are going to make it out of this thing alive.
Adam
This damn printer….
March 10th, 2009
Has JJJ made itself irrelevant?
February 16th, 2009
So my question posted above, has the mighty JJJ made itself irrelevant is one worthy of at least some of my time today.
A couple of pieces of background info here before we lead into the main game that will help provide some context on this piece.
First and foremost, JJJ was a radio station that came into it’s own about 10-12 years ago. I was a teenager and the Big Day Out festivals started to come onto the scene. And the radio world was somewhat different…. Back then you had two options of radio stations, you had the 2DayFM’s, the B105’s, the pop-rock stations of the world.
And then you had JJJ.
Aimed squarely at the late-gen-x’ers, introducing music that appealed the alternative side of the psyche, JJJ became a rousing, and well-known success on the Australian landscape. To be entirely fair, JJJ did what no other major radio provider in the country did, it supported new/up-and-coming/talented artists that otherwise would not have made it on the Australian radio.
And without going into detail here, there are many exceptional artists in this country who can directly point their initial successes the the dedication and support of the JJJ network. And for that i’m (honestly) entirely grateful.
With that in mind, for many years you could only be in one camp. You were either an alternative-against-the-world-hippy or you were a middle-of-the-road-wannabe-pop-listener. And never the two shall cross.
So for someone like me (definitely in the second camp I might add), the sly ridicule of not being within the educated or ‘cooler’ psyche was the standard fare. Listening to Pop and Rock was the equivalent of a ticket that said ‘Please deride me’.
Alternatively, for the most part us middle-of-the-roads saw those alternative-types as not much more than wankers caught up in their own navel gazing.
And so the world continued relatively peacefully.
And then a few things happened pretty much in succession:
Firstly, us late gen-x’ers got older. We got older and we weren’t replaced by more Gen-X’ers, no no folks, we were replaced by Gen-Y’s. And the Gen-Y’s, they …. how shall we say this …. they think Gen-X’ers are a waste of space and don’t know our musical taste from our behind……
… and in a slow-moving instant, one which most of us completely missed …. the Gen-X’ers became seriously uncool …. (ed: I’ll note that Gen-X’ers believe they are still cool, get over it people, you’re way past your due date …)
Secondly, a itty-bitty radio conglomorate came along … thy name was BMG….. (*sigh* for those who don’t know who BMG is, they run Nova around the country … and they’re one of the largest radio networks on the planet). And Nova decided that a new era in radio was on the cards. They realised that Gen-X’ers are cashed up, discerning, and above all else, cooler (in their view) than the rest of the world.
And Gen-X’ers didn’t want to listen to endless pop music 24/7. They wanted edge, they wanted class and they wanted style….
They also realised that Gen-Y’s are flighty, unpredictable, unreliable, uncommitted, selfish and generally self-focused. So trying to cater to them with one stream of radio, one style or one theme, just wasn’t going to work. So it’s all about short-attention-span time capture.
And a new era of radio was born. That of the ‘we play everything’ radio.
And in an instant, listening to radio became an entirely different ball game. Suddenly Nova, 2DayFM, JJJ and everything other radio stations were playing alternative, new, up-and-coming artists…. but on top of that, they started playing music from everywhere back as far as the 60’s and 70’s and in a heartbeat caught the attention of the Australian music public. Now you could switch on and hear Merrick and Rosso (from JJJ), some Kings of Leon (they’re CD is on now so they’re on my mind.. *and* they had the number #1 song on hottest 100 this year!) and some 70’s rock all without flicking the station.
Suddenly Australia didn’t need JJJ to listen to something that wasn’t middle-of-the-road-pop.
Thirdly (and possibly finally), those same radio conglomorates realised that promoting new talent was the great untapped niche. For the Gen-Y’s, the new, just-released, pre-released and almost-famous is the thing to be listening to. To be cool to a Gen-Y you need to have an edge, be unique in a world filled with senseless repetition (their view not mine). And to get that edge, to be cool, to be up and coming you needed to new and interesting artists into the country and on stage, you need to get them to festivals and at events or every type. You need to start promoting the types of bands that JJJ has been promoting for years, for that is the great untapped niche. And that type of promotion takes money.
And the big stations have what JJJ doesn’t, cash…. lots of it.
So today, switch on Nova or 2DayFM or any other number of the big stations and I guarantee you that the artists you will hear in any 60 minute period are likely to have as many ‘almost there’ artists as JJJ turns out. For the big stations it’s an easy win. Festivals are now not aimed at those who scour together $60 for a ticket, now you’re upwards of the hundreds of dollars per ticket for a major mult-day. And let me assure you, the Gen-X’ers, they’ve got that type of cash going on. For those with less cash, the smaller festivals out there still top the $100 mark but make it in at a point that a Gen-Y can still attend, still be seen as cool and meanwhile make those massive radio stations an absolute bucketload of cash.
Just look at the V Festival…..
So where does JJJ go from here? The angles of new, alternative, up-and-coming, foreign is no longer their primary domain. Their listener base got more cashed up and realised that they didn’t need to move stations and the Gen-Y’s (hard to hold onto) are accepted in the fact that they have no loyalty, will move, quickly, dependent on who’s bringing them ‘the next big thing’.
And JJJ just simply doesn’t have the cash to fight the big groups on their own terms.
Or let’s look at this from another angle ….. for those that will (inevitably) start ranting about how JJJ is still at the core supporting the little guy, roll right on over to the JJJ Hottest 100 page.
I own 18 of the top 20 tracks in my music collection……
And if i’m listening to everything that’s big on JJJ, then they really have lost their edge…
Adam
p.s - If you think i’m missing the mark, check out the demographics for listeners and numbers for radio stations in Australia. 8 years ago JJJ owned (easily) the 24-32 age group, now they’re just a blip on the radar…..