See Jane Run

SJR is a store in Boise that caters to women runners. I recently joined their running group, and today was the first workout. I ran and talked with a young woman from Minnesota (a town near Redwing) who graduated from U Dub in Madison. She has a degree in Art History, and works as a producer for a local film video production company. Her name is Lana. She is a Very Nice Person. Minnesota people are like that. I hope we get to be friends.

After the initial training run, we met at a workout studio and looked over training plans for the duration. Originally, I planned on training for a half marathon in October, but my trainer/coach, Lynn B., said that she thought I could do a marathon by October. (There is also a possible 1/2 marathon Aug.30 in Pocatello that I could try, but she said it is not necessary to do that. It just gives you a better idea of what the actual marathon will be like later.)

I am going to be training for an October marathon, and if it proves too formidable, I can always switch to the 1/2 marathon in October.

It is fun to have Abby back home. Girls are so much more fun than Guys to have around the house. They like to do fun things, and you can have conversations with them. It was hard to have them both suddenly gone at the same time.

Aimee and I went out Thursday to see Nim's Island because I saw trailers that actually looked interesting for a shallow movie. For some reason, Brent was not interested. I don't think he cares for shallow movies... After seeing it at the dollar theater, Aimee gave a terse, accurate review: "I would have really liked it if I were a 6 year old girl." There you have it, Laura and Rachel, rent the Nim's Island Video and have a slumber party!

The funny thing is that I have loved being an urban dweller for the last 25 years, and even I was intrigued by living on that island. It just looked like fun despite the level of the acting, the costuming, and the writing. I want to try her zip line in the worst way. I have talked to people who have done great zip lines in Costa Rica through the top of the rain forest. There is nothing quite like it, according to them.

I have to say that I really enjoyed one scene in which Jodie Foster, an agoraphobic adventure writer, (this reminded me of Romancing the Stone) is being pulled/pried out of her San Francisco row house by an invisible hero just so she can make it to the cab. It is an excellent visual of what it takes to get people to leave their comfort zones and actually take a risk to help someone else. Pastors who use video clips in their sermons should find it extremely useful.

How to improve the movie: It really needed an actor of a similar caliber of Foster to play Jack. There was too much repetition and it moved too slowly, most likely for the kid audience. But hey, it is a darn good kid movie.