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What I Learned at the Melbourne Marathon

10/15/2016

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I awake at 5am, a blessed night of sleep after a 20-hour+ transit, eager to make my way downtown to participate in the Melbourne Marathon.  Well, not the 42km marathon, but the 10km run part of it, my first.   I book an Uber for the first time, which is a game-changer (as everyone knows), at least as far as the guy can drive me before the roads are cordoned off approaching Flinders St.    My toes still feel the phantom nibbles of the grey rabbit that shared last night’s abode, a friend of a friend’s place, in a neighbourhood in northern Melbourne called Travencore.  The rabbit’s name is Tanpopo.    There is also a girl who stays up all night listening-watching Celine Dion on Youtube.   She was awake listening-watching to Celine Dion when I crashed early at 8:30pm.  She was awake listening-watching to Celine Dion on Youtube when I awoke at 5am.   She says she is nocturnal.
  1. Runners are a tribe.  They wear tribal gear (luminous running shoes, moisture-wicking material, ankle socks).   I join the tribe as they gather towards the starting line, striking up a conversation with a man who is also running the 10k (first wave).  He tells me he ran the marathon once, and will never do it again.  He explains that 35km is actually only halfway, because then you hit a wall.  At speed.  With force. 
  2. My childhood friend Brad is running the marathon, because doing 42km while he is 42 years old is on his bucket list.  Judging by how he looked after his triumphant arrival inside the MCG after 4 hours and 10 minutes of running, he also hit a wall, at speed, with force.  He says he will never run a marathon again.
  3. I arrive in time to watch 6000 runners depart on the marathon.  They come in every shape and size.   There is a wonderful sense of anticipation in the air.  A lady sings the Australian national anthem before the starter gun.  It does not sound like Waltzing Matilda.  
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Marathon start at 7am, shortly before battery dies
  • I hurry to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to deposit my warm clothes.   There are line-ups.  Since I arrived in Brisbane yesterday, missing my connection to Melbourne because of line-ups, I have decided that Australians embrace line-ups like Soviet-era Russians.  It is very orderly, but hundreds will miss the start of the race because they will still be in line.  I skip the queue. 
  • Fate and circumstance deposits me in front of thousands of 10k runners, right beneath the Start arches for the 10km run (second wave).  The weather is perfect for running:  cool, overcast and breezy.  A pretty girl next to me (there seem to be a lot of pretty girls in the Running tribe) tells me the crowd will set the pace.   The tribe is ten people across, going back as far as the eye can see.  32,000 runners participated in today’s Melbourne Marathon.
  • Brad lent me an old iPhone 4 to take photos along the way.  It runs out of juice shortly before the starting gun.  The battery lasted 40 minutes.  Apple and their “planned obsolescence” can once again go to hell.
  • We start running.  The sound of thousands of high-tech running shoes hitting asphalt in the early morning with nigh a giggle of conversation about is entirely unique.  It sounds like butterflies flapping in a forest.  I find myself smiling.  It feels good to contribute to the tap-tap-tap of wing-running.
  • Another man had advised me not to start too fast, a common mistake for beginners stoked o nerves and adrenalin.  I keep my pace as hundreds of runners pass me on all sides.  Serves me right for being at the front of the 10km group (second wave).  Second wave means those of us who expect to do the run in over an hour, as opposed to under an hour (first wave). The guy who wins the marathon this year - Thomas Do Canto running his first ever marathon - finishes it in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds.  Virginia Maloney took the Women's title at 2:34.28.  
  • The streets are closed for us, and I quickly realize that we’re doing a tour of downtown Melbourne’s greatest hits.   We will pass museums, theatres and parks.   The city’s architecture is famously eclectic, with medieval, Victorian, baroque, gothic and ultra-modern facades.   I’ve always liked Melbourne.   It’s my favourite city in Australia. 
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Flossing teeth during my first visit to Melbourne, 2005
  • At the first noticeable marker – 3km - fun runners begin to realize that 10km is not 5km.  Some look emboldened (I feel great!) and others sink their shoulders with defeated resignation.  I feel great.  
  • Every age demographic is represented, except young males ages 18–24.   I would bet that most of the men are dads.    They look like dads.  It is inspiring to see the diversity.   Giants run past me. A midget runs past me. Grannies run past me.   Kids under 10 run past me. A guided blind runner, a runner with a prosthetic leg, fat runners and thin runners.  Several wheelchairs past me too.  I keep my pace steady and do not let pride get in the way.  When you run these kinds of things, the only person you’re racing against is yourself.  
  • The wind picks up, along with the bugs.  There are clouds of flies in some stretches.  I’m pretty sure I swallow a couple.  The sticky Australian fly never met an orifice it never loved. 
  • Lining the course are crowds cheering runners.  I’m encouraged by their support, and decide that I will line the course of the marathon and cheer other runners in turn.   Later, when I’m yelling out “You’re doing great!  You’re on the home stretch!”  I hope it adds a tiny boost of morale.
  • My knees start creaking at 7km.  
  • Our numbered bibs have a small device that allows organizers to instantly track our splits and finishing times, uploaded to an app. Technology is awesome.  Pity the iPhone died. 
  • It’s my first run since I started training 2 months ago without music, a podcast, or audio book.   I decide it’s much better to run listening to music, a podcast, or audio book. 
  • There are water stations along the way, manned by volunteers, many of them males aged 18-24.
  • The race finishes up in the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the world’s great stadiums.  I sprint the last 400m. I pass at least a hundred of the people who I recognized passed me earlier. There’s a line-up to receive victory medals, and we’re funnelled out the stadium.  I feel a rush of endorphins, walk across the road to the Pullman Hotel, where I meet Brad’s wife Tamar and kids, aged 7 and 5.  They have made signs. One of them says:  Go Esrock!   
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Finishing line inside the MCG
  • I check the app on Tam’s phone and my time is 1:02:28, with splits around the 6:30 mark, and the final 2.5km under 6 minutes.   It is my best time for the distance yet.   Tortoise vs Tanpopo. 
  • We head down to the marathon course, about the 40km mark, and spend a half hour cheering runners on.  I can’t believe these folks have run four times more than I have, and still have a couple to go.   Some of them are clearly struggling, others look impressively strong.   They are young and old, make and female, although most have the a slim, runner’s physique.  You don’t show up for a marathon without a lot of training. 
  • Eventually we see Brad coming down the street.  Mentally, he is clearly hanging on in his special place.   He stops to hug his wife and kids, in a state of physical delirium. 
  • Outside the stadium are tens of thousands of people.  They wear a red numbered bib for the marathon.   A green bib for the half marathon.  A black or grey bib for the 10k.  And blue bibs for the 5k.   I am perturbed how many people are wearing red and green.  It is a wonderful exercise in humility. 
  • I bid Brad, who can hardly walk, adieu.  They’re off to the airport to fly home to Sydney.   The Running tribe is nothing if not committed.
  • There are no cabs. Uber’s fatal flaw:  A phone out of battery.  It takes me an hour to get back to Travancore.  I check in with a cheeky Nandos at the top of the street. Tanpopo is waiting for me when I walk though the door.  He licks my sweaty feet.  I love this rabbit.
  • It is too easy to stay on the couch. Too easy to eat, drink and use another hole in the belt.  Tens of thousands of people awoke early on a Sunday morning to run as a community.  Some of them were raising money for refugees and charities.   Others were racing themselves, meeting a dare, facing a challenge.  Others were ticking off their bucket list.  Oh yes, there are worse tribes to join.
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This is Tanpopo
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Seven Movie Locations You Can Visit

10/5/2016

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Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland. There can be only one.
Have you ever been travelling somewhere and suddenly thought:  “This looks familiar!”   That’s because it is, as Hollywood location scouts scan the world for places that look just as dramatic on film as they do for tourists on the ground.   Here’s seven of the best:
Britain
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I love those offbeat romantic English comedies, a guilty pleasure on long-haul flights.  I also see if I can pick out the locations used, like the big wedding scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral, filmed at the St Bartholomew the Great Church in London.   Snowdonia, a national park in northern Wales, has served as Camelot in First Knight (starring Richard Gere) and is also seen in James Bond’s From Russia With Love.  The historic manor of Chatsworth can be seen in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice, as well as The Duchess (starring Kiera Knightley) and the 2010 production of The Wolfman, with Anthony Hopkins.  The Highlander, a classic fantasy film, had locations including  Eilean Donan Castle and Glencoe, a beautiful part of the Scottish highlands.   Back to Hugh Grant, Notting Hill is a popular area of London, and hosts the boisterous annual Notting Hill Carnival. ​
Hawaii, USA
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Whenever the scene calls for a thick jungle, you can bet there’s a producer on the plane to Hawaii’s oldest island, Kauai.   Remember that scene in Jurassic Park as the helicopter approaches a dramatic coastline, and lands right by a waterfall?  Helicopter tours over the Na Poli coastline are hugely popular, and Island Helicopters even land right by the waterfall, now known as Jurassic Falls, just like the movie.   You can swing on the same rope as Indiana Jones (in Raiders of the Lost Ark) right into Huleia River., or swim in the Fountain of the Youth as featured in Pirates of the Caribbean.  Tropic Thunder, Hook, Outbreak, Lord of the Flies - if you think Wailua Falls look right out of Fantasty Island, that’s because they are.
Thailand
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Although it was inspired by the Philippines, The Beach, a hit book and movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio, was set and filmed in Thailand.    Tourists flock to Phi Phi Leh to see this celluloid paradise for themselves, including the iconic beach of Hat Maya.  There are daily ferries from popular resort towns of Phuket and Krabi.   While in Phuket, you might recognize scenes from Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, and you can also take a boat out to James Bond Island, also known as Phang Nga Bay, as featured in the Man with the Golden Gun.  More recently, the Hangover II used Bangkok as an able substitute for Las Vegas. ​
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Hobbit tours in New Zealand
New Zealand
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The Lord of the Rings trilogy put the Kiwi film industry on the map. The South Island, around the tourist mecca of Queenstown,  was a perfect choice for Middle Earth.    There are daily tours from Queenstown to over 20 locations featured in the movie, such as the Lothlorien Woods (Paradise Glenorchy),  Rivendell (Lake Manapouri) and the Ford of Bruinen (Arrow River) where Arwen summoned a flood to dispel of the RIngwraiths.   Fantasy fans might also recognize locations in the Milford Sound, and Kingston Beach on Lake Wakatipu, as featured in the movie Wolverine.  There is also the Cook Strait, which was used for the ocean scenes in the Peter Jackson remake of King Kong.  As for the film’s Skull Island, it was none other than Lyall Bay near the capital of Wellington. ​
Paris, France
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Paris inspires lovers, and filmmakers too.  The list of films set or filmed in Paris is a long one.    Amongst my favourites are The Bourne Identity, mostly filmed in Paris and Prague.   You will recognize the Gare Du Nord, one of the busiest train stations in Europe, the Hotel Regina opposite the Louvre,  the Jardin des Tuileries, La Grande Arche de la Défense in the business district, and the Pont des Arts, where Bourne disappears into the credits.  Before Sunrise, starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, is a love letter to the city, as our two lovers discover the city and each other.  They walk through the Sorbonne, along the Seine, on the Promenade Plantée, above the old Viaduc des Arts.   As they tuck behind the Notre Dame at Quai de la Tournelle, it’s no wonder they didn’t bump into Jason Bourne, who was featured in the same spot in the Bourne Identity.    Paris, je t'aime is a beautiful romantic comedy that will inspire travellers, but avoid From Paris with Love, a John Travolta disaster doing no favours for the tourism industry!
Tunisia 
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This North African country has not hosted many Hollywood movies, but the few that it has have been illustrious.  Tunis doubled as Cairo in the Oscar-winning English Patient, along with Sfax on the coast.  More famously, Tunisia doubled for Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine in the first Star Wars movie.  There actually is a place in Tunisia called Tatooine, but the scenes were actually filmed in Matmata, where people have been living in sandstone caves for centuries.   A huge salt flat called Chott el Jerid allowed Skywalker to gaze longingly at two suns, while visitors flock to nearby Sidi Bouhel, now known as Star Wars Canyon, where R2D2 was captured.  The series returned to Tunisia for its Tatooine scenes in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  Scenes from Monty Python’s Life of Brian were filmed in the Ribat monastery at Monastir.  Indiana Jones pops up again, with the “Egyptian” desert scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark actually filmed around the Tunisian UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kairouan.
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Vancouver gets a familiar sci-fi makeover
Vancouver 
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Vancouver has the third largest film and television industry in North America, and the city often doubles for other locations.  Simon Fraser University has been seen in Underworld 4 Spy Game, the X Files and Battlestar Gallactica.  The Lions Gate Bridge makes a cameo in Tron: Legacy.  The Fantastic Four flew into North Vancouver’s Pier 97, while X-Men: The Last Stand invaded Lynn Canyon Park and its popular local hiking trails. Chinatown doubled for San Francisco in Romeo Must Die, and the apocalyptic future in iRobot.  Even the airport gets some screen time.  YVR has been featured in Final Destination, Fantastic Four, The Killing, and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.  More recently, the smash hit Deadpool did something unusual for Hollywood. They filmed in Vancouver, and didn't pretend it was something else.
Czech Republic
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Fantasy, science fiction and spy movies gravitate to the Czech Republic, so don’t be surprised if some of the scenery looks familiar.  Alien vs Predator, The Brothers Grimm, Hellboy, Von Helsing, Mission Impossible, XXX and From Hell were all filmed in locations around Prague..   Casino Royale was filmed at Barrandov Studios as well as in Karlovy Vary. The Bourne Identity pops up again, as Prague doubles for Zurich. Still on Matt Damon, the creepy Bone Church of Kutna Hora made an appearance in the Brothers Grimm, as did Kačina Castle and Kost Castle.  In the Chronicles of Narnia, the winter park scene was filmed amongst the odd sandstone formations at Adrspach National Park on the Czech Republic-Poland border. ​
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  • HOME
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