A good run in spite of post Ovo achey butt

Last night was was interesting. We chose to park on Spiller road near where Linda used to work, and walked into Stampede park. We passed dozens of cars filled with people willing to pay $13 to park for the evening. I thought there were a lot of cars for a show with about 2,000 spectators, but it turns out the Interior Design show was on, plus a concert by Keith Urban, which is an odd name for a country singer. I guess that explained the groups of young women heading into the show wearing cowboy boots, shorts, and tank tops.

The only downside of Ovo was the seats. It wasn't the sight lines, we were within a few feet of the sound mixer or whatever that one guy was doing, and could see everything. By the end of the evening my butt, and back, and legs were aching. I was so glad to stand up and walk back to the car. I'm also glad there was no encores.

The show itself was AMAZING! I had seen clips of various Cirque productions, and had no doubts of the athleticism of the performers. I thought the costumes and show story lines, and well, to tell the truth, the whole productions were just a bit fru-fru in a French artistic over the top sort of way.

The story line of Ovo didn't do much for me, but the show itself, and the performers had me riveted in a way I seldom am for a live performance. I almost don't know where to begin. They guy playing on the swirly bar, as I think of it, that had a flat disc at the top, a few inches across. He would do one handed hand stands, and wave his feet around, then switch hands, then get himself rotating. The troupe of 6 people playing with giant Kiwi and corn cobs using only their feet, while themselves being bounced from person to person, all in time. The rope dancing couple. The trapeze group. The gumby girl, as I thought of her. She could do a standing back bend, touching her heels, get her weight on her hands, and go to a hand stand. She was so flexible it was actually a little bit creepy. There was the slack wire guy riding his unicycle, hands on the pedals while doing a handstand, while riding back and forth, as he deliberately swayed from side to side. There was essentially no struggles for balance. The wall trampoline group. Who else? I may have forgotten someone. Totally worth the price of admission.

Since starting to get into better shape I have a lot more appreciation for what athletes do. And make no mistake, all these people are athletes. Absolutely amazing athletes. The ticket prices were in line with what we would pay for other attractions, such as the CPO, or nosebleed seats at a Flames game. The parking was about double what I remember paying to park there, and the food was expensive. Popcorn was $7, a beer was $8. The merchandise was probably overpriced by a similar margin. It struck me that a family could easily double their ticket price on parking, food, and merchandise.

Although I was tempted, we did not go out to Tubby Dog after. One of these days.

The other thing that is amazing here is the weather. Today was hot. Actually, really hot. 30 C (86 F). I ran anyway. I did some stretching after a leisurely morning that involved a BBQ brisket sandwich at Big D's at the Calgary Farmer's market. Walked a bit more, then ran. My legs and feet felt surprisingly good, given how creaky they were after the show. I hate being jammed into small seats. The whole run was an hour, including walking before and after. Ran easy, and picked up the pace several times to run fast. I wanted to remind my legs about this running thing. I totally stopped once, just to make sure my posture was good, and started easy, trying to control my pace by leaning forward, rather than trying to run my legs faster using more muscle. It all felt good, and I didn't over do it. I am tapering, after all.

Dinner was home made BBQ bison burgers, just as good as they sound, with all the trimmings.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice too. This is nicer weather than we got for most of the summer, and this was a pretty good summer. Next thing is to get my head around running a half marathon race next weekend. I'm not quite where I wanted to be on training, but overall I'm pretty pleased. No time predictions thought.