Archive for the Running Category
Dawn on Wear [jatp]
Posted in pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags #ERCSyG, dawn, Durham, Durham university, ERC, jatp, Low Burnhall Woodlands, Northumberland, Oceanerc, River Browney, River Wear, sunrise, The North, trail running, Woodland Trust on September 4, 2026 by xi'an
last sunset on the roaring twenties
Posted in Kids, pictures, Running, Travel with tags 30th birthday, beach, Marseille, Méditerranée, Plage des Catalans, summer light, sunset on September 2, 2026 by xi'an
a journal of the chaos year
Posted in Books, Running, Travel, Wines with tags Battle of Hastings, BD, Belledonne, Black Plague, book reviews, Cambridge, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Detroit, England, fairy story, fantasy, Gloria, Guillaume le Concquérant, horror story, Iceland, Japan, Journal of the Plague Year, Paris - Texas, pissaladière, Roma, Spaghetti alla bottarga, sumo, Sunset Boulevard, tapenade, Thelma and Louise, tuna on August 27, 2026 by xi'an
Read a few other books from my (physical and virtual) piles, starting with Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey, an horror story set in post-conquest England, when Mathilda and Stephens are competing for the throne and the country suffers. While the setup is much to my liking, right after Guillaume‘s conquest of Britain at Hastings, the story is too lame to be continued, with cardboard characters and an awful style, if trying to create a fake 12th Century feel. (With potatoes!!) I think I bought this book upon The Guardian’s recommendation. Or maybe it was Tor Reactor Mag‘s… And then Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett, another variation on the fae theme, with a mock scholarly approach but too much infodump and a contrived scenario. Not to mention idiotic characters and an incomprehensible avoidance for acknowledging Iceland as the location of the story. Volume 1 of a series shortlisted for the Hugo Awards, I wonder how it ended up there. (Same question about it being Elle Best book of the year!) I also went quickly through The Human Division, which is Old Man War #5 by John Scalzi, essentially made of several short stories in the OMW universe, regrouped into a single one, rather loosely. Not worth the time. Thanks to Andrew, who was in Paris at the time, I borrowed a great BD, DETROIT ROMA, which is a road movie, from Detroit (Michigan) to Roma (Georgia), drawn in an unusual if not pretty style, with many links to film classics like Gloria, 8 ½ and Sunset Boulevard, but also Paris, Texas (of course!) and Thelma and Louise.
Under the relentless heat, I prepare salad after salad, an uninterrupted series of rhubarb preserve, and my own version of Banh mi, with Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp oil (what else?!), peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, coriander and HM Breton tuna tataki, in a fresh whole wheat mini-baguette… I also made another batch of red onion pissaladière, cooked long enough to turn the onions into a tapenade. And had the pleasant surprise to see spaghetti alla bottarga on a restaurant menu (and have a great meal).Upon my son’s recommendation, I watched Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ-聖域) a Japanese series centred on modern sumo. While it is quite interesting and revealing for someone like me who never paid attention to the sport (it being as far as possible from running! Or climbing!), it is also a challenge to watch with a high level of violence and bullying, and not truly any frankly positive character. Plus a rather ambiguous perspective on hazing and harassment. It also made me wonder at the impact on bodies the training and combats involve.
buenos aerodinámic
Posted in Running with tags Argentian, Buenos Aires, half-marathon, World record on August 25, 2026 by xi'an
refuge de la Dent Parrachée [souvenir]
Posted in Books, Mountains, Running with tags Aussois, avalanche, Dent Parrachée, Le Monde, O'Bayes03, refuge, ski touring, Vanoise on August 23, 2026 by xi'an
