Lost in the City

A very special event took place tonight: the premiere of "Maman", a short movie written, produced and directed by my college friend Lucie Viver. It was at 7:30 pm at the "Ciné 104" in Pantin.

It's impossible to explain what happens in the movie without ruining the fun of it: since it's a short movie, spilling out the juicy part would be spoiling the whole thing. So let's stick to the general topic: it's a scene including a young mother, a kid and a swing. Nope, not telling more about what happens...

What I can say is that I loved it. Frankly, I had no idea what to expect. Okay, knowing Lucie, I was expecting something well done and meaningful. But as to the content, I didn't have a clue. Well, I wasn't disappointed at all. In 9 little minutes, she manages to raise questions, convey amazingly well a strange atmosphere, and all that with very few spoken words.

So... Congrats Lucie!!!

The movie as be selected by two short films festivals :
- Courts devant: Sunday, Oct. 28th, noon, "Cinema des cineastes"
- Ciné Banlieue: Saturday, Nov. 10th, 4 pm at "L'Ecran de Saint Denis"

to read more about it: http://www.lesfilmsextramuros.fr/maman.htm

The new Ludi version is now available... it's version 26.2 as in 26.2 miles. Yes, I did it! I ran my first marathon today in Chicago!!!
Since it couldn't have been drama free, we had some serious heat going on during the race. So much heat that the marathon officials cancelled the race around noon! BUT, even if they cancelled the race and times were not officially taken, they allowed all those who had crossed mile 13.1 to finish. Since I was way beyond that point when it happened, I got to cross the finish line!
First impressions? My legs are killing me! Seriously, it was tough. I walked several times in the last 10Ks, partly because I was dead on my feet, partly because we didn't know what was going on with the race. They were saying the race was cancelled, that times wouldn't count, and were encouraging everyone to walk. But I didn't want to walk to the finish line, so I ran and walked for the last stretch... which got me to the finish after 5 hours of running. My knee bothered me a little at the beginning, but it passed very quickly, so all the pain I experienced during the race was "good" pain.
The heat didn't bother me. Hey, I grew up in southern France, where 87°F is nothing to be afraid of!! ...particularly if you consider that the temperature wasn't that high when we started the race at 8 am. I just tried to be cautious: I didn't skip a gatorade or a water station, by mile 5 or so, I started pouring water on my neck at every water station, and a few miles after that, I started pouring it on my legs as well. That was enough to keep me in great condition until the end.
Now, I'm already thinking about the next one... the one I'll get to really train for, without having to preserve my leg and knee. And I'll be aiming at 4:15 or less.