I Can Tell You Right Now That Crooked Arrows Is Going To Be A Terrible Movie

"Crooked Arrows" which has coined itself as the first great (Native) American lacrosse movie lands in cinemas nationwide this weekend.

And it's about darn time. Baseball has "Field of Dreams", "Bull Durham", "Moneyball", and "A League of Their Own". Basketball has "Hoosiers", "He Got Game", "Space Jam", and "Air Bud". Even chess has "Searching for Bobby Fischer". Time for lax to hit the silver screen besides American Pie.

Hennyway, it's about a dude who wants to take over his family's casino but must prove himself to the tribe by coaching a lacrosse team. Makes sense. Dude can coach lax, dude can run a casino. I get that.

Source

Looks like there's a good looking squaw he chases after. There's a rival team that is white, rich, has first names like Hunter and Barrett, and is generally douchey. The Native American team is a ragtag bunch that is not that into lacrosse, their heritage, each other, hard work, or having cool uniforms. But I'll bet our main man can change all that.

So now that my brief overview and that trailer have got you all excited for it, you're thinking, "Sounds like a quality flick, what's LSF's deal? How could this be bad?" Well I'll tell you: I'm not in it.

It just so happens that I auditioned to be in it about a year ago. They were doing a casting call for players in Wellesley and a friend at work asked if I had heard about it. I checked the web which said they were looking for talented lacrosse players age 18-25. Well shoot, at age 27, in a helmet, I didn't look a day over 32 and was passable as 25... which was supposed to be passable as 18.

A chance to be a part of the first great (Native) American lacrosse movie? Sign me up.

On a day's notice, I showed up to the audition, not having held a stick in 16 months with kids that were on summer break from their college programs. I blended in ALLLLLLRRIIIIIIIGHT until the agility drills. The cleats I used in high school weren't working on the fake turf. When going from full speed to full stop I fell straight on my butt and was immediately cut from the audition.

The morals of the story?
-Agility takes training
-Equip properly
-This movie is going to stink

Anyway, if you lax go see it. I'm going tomorrow.

Join the Tribe,
LSF

PS: I'd say Stiffler absolutely nailed the lax bro part. Chris Klein missed the mark a bit. It wasn't until "Just Friends" that he truly embodied lax braudacity by seducing babes left and right with "Jamie Smiles". Just Jamie in this case though.
PPS: Just looked it up on IMDB and one of the first 20 in the cast is "Titly Sunglasses Guy". Why have I not seen this twice?
PPPS: The prep school team is named "Coventry". I am going to love to hate these guys.

It's Lax Time, Let's Go

Well, the 2012 Major League Lacrosse season is underway and the Boston Cannons are kicking butt. What can they do that I can't?

Well obviously they were all Division I (some D3) standouts in college, can sprint, stop, turn, and shoot 7 times faster than me, can shoot, pass, dodge, check, and hit with surgical precision, AND just won the national, nay, global championship of lacrosse last year it may be safe to say there are some things that they are better at than me. In a rare moment of Long Sox humility, I feel comfortable and correct in saying, that I am not the athlete that each of the Boston Cannons are. Swallow sadness.

Regardless, summer lacrosse leagues in the Greater Boston Metropolitan area are coming up and I don't want to look like a jabroni (defined as "One who talks the talk, but could never walk the walk" on the academic and always reliable website, www.urbandictionary.com). In fact, it would be the bee's knees if I could stand out. Sounds like GOOAL SETTINGGGG TIIIIIME!!!!! (imagine this with your best Oprah surprise voice. Yep...... we got Oprah references).


So Croart Lacrosse hosts a number of Summer Leagues, some of which are by invite only. Not having done my on-the-field-recon, I'm guessing those are for folks who played competitively in college but no longer spend 2-5 hours/day focused on the sport. Which I haven't done since 2002. 

UPDATE: Due to business and recreational travel, it looks like I'll only be able to attend 1 of the 5 games I registered for. Swallow more sadness. Unrealistic goal. Back to the old drawing board.

Marvin the Martian references?! Get out of town! Get. Right. Out! OF! TOWN!!!

The War on Inefficient Foot Strikes: Mission Accomplished

I completed the Barefoot Running Festival 5K in a very average 23 minutes and 2 seconds in duck feet. So I thought I'd update everyone on how becoming a runner... went.

I'm declaring victory on the War on Inefficient Foot Strikes. I fully transitioned to a gentle forefoot strike that forced me to put more mental effort into stepping gingerly and efficiently. My evidence is in a 92 minute half-marathon and 68 minute 10 miler with minimal running beforehand.

Here's how I waged the war.

-Barefoot Training: I ran fully barefoot for a quarter mile to 3 miles every other week as a refresher of what right feels like. 

-Minimalist Training: I ran in Brooks Pure Connects, minimalist shoes, to further build calf muscles and stay in touch with the road. I ran progressively longer distances to build the muscle and am able to sustain a forefoot strike for 10 miles. The link up is a great critical article from a true shoeru (GET IT?!), give it a click if you're thinking of getting some minimalist shoes.

-Cushioned Racing: I went back to the highly cushioned Reebok Zigs for races. I was able to run with my new stride without focusing too much on foot placement or reducing speed. I was also able to revert back to a mid-foot strike once my calves were too tired during the half-marathon. 

-Circuit Training: I still push it in the weight room harder than anyone else around me. Upper body, lower body, complex lifts, and Olympic lifts (still setting personal records for the deadlift) are all contributing to cardiovascular fitness. 

-Trying: Seriously, I try. I push as hard as I can without injuring myself every single time I train. Don't get me wrong, if I start to feel a "bad" pain somewhere or lightheaded, I take it easy. However, I'll be taking it straight to the house after I recover. If you do not do this, enjoy your life of unathletic mediocrity.... UPDATE. Ow, my back.

-Moderation: Don't step off the starting line at a full sprint. Gauge how you feel each mile, estimate how much energy you've got, and pull the trigger on your 90% pace as much as possible within the last few miles without having to cross the finish line on a stretcher.

Real runners, I'd glad to hear your two cents on any of those factors. You know what to do.

Keep running,

LSF

10 Milers and More

No excuse. I was keeping the world entertained with about two posts per week and all of a sudden... nothing. I didn't write, I didn't call, I didn't text. I'm sorry. I missed you as much as you missed me, reader. Here's what I've been up to:

-Ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC. Killed it. Murdered it. Destroyed it. Made it go bye bye in a mere 1:08:53 or something. Whatever I did, I did it a lot faster than I expected. A little technique, a little DNA, and a lot of heart can make you do awesome things. Here's the proud picture of me and my mustache at the finish. I'm holding up 7 which represents the number of minutes it doesn't take me to run each mile in a 10 miler.

-Ran the Tarheel 10 Miler in Chapel Hill. When you take me off a totally flat course, it does take me more than 7 minutes to run each mile in a 10 miler. Finished in 1:10:45 or so. 45 seconds off a 7 minute pace. Way too many hills for a personal record that day. Finished 133 out of ~2700 people, pretty happy about it. 

-Hung up the gi for a while. Lost some interest in jiu jitsu for the time being. I saw a lot of improvement but I never got the blue belt I was shooting for. I still have a lot of time this year so I may take a weekend seminar later this year to see if I can boost my skill and get the promotion. It was very sad to go in and talk to the folks I roll with. I learned a lot with the Royce Gracie program.

-Amped up the gym review spreadsheets. I've been buried in Microsoft Excel for the past month figuring out exactly how raw data translates into 1-10 scores for evaluated gyms. Keeping an evaluation as objective as possible has not been easy but then nothing worth doing is... right? This is ongoing and painful. 

-Made a workout routine for my dear mother. Assessed what she can do and what she wants to do and set her up with the best workout plan anyone could come up with. She may eternally, unconditionally, totally love me... but she ain't gonna do these workouts. I've faced the truth, you've gotta get in the gym with people to train them.

-Doing some other things: It's almost time for summer lacrosse, golf, surfing, and a friend just lent me his skates so I'm going to see what kind of an ice-skater I am since I haven't worn blades in 18 years. 

Coming up on LSF: "Reconstructive dentistry and physical therapy" OR "The Bruins better make room on the 2012-2013 roster because there's a new sheriff in town."

Keep training,
LSF

UPDATE: If stopping is not important, NHL here I come. 

Duck Feet

I took the coward's way out of the Barefoot Running Festival 5K by taping up my long sox with duct tape. It gave that minimalist feel without the gravel-induced, skin-tearing damage that Boston paths, roads, and sidewalks invariably cause.

To toughen up my feet for this 5K, I dried them out by walking around barefoot. I cracked my feet on a redundantly long walk which caused open wounds. I didn't want goose poop to infect the cracks and inhibit performance at the Tarheel 10 Miler next week so I went with this skin-protecting, minimalist solution.

Here are some photos for your eye-buds:

Duck Feet

Starting line photo op. The epicenter of the barefoot movement.

Duck feet, duck lips. OR Too sexy for my shoes. You pick.

It really happened. Groovy crowd.

It was this dude's first time ever running barefoot. He paid for it but kudos for sucking it up.

The staff was ready for him.

And my damage. None on the left foot though. Not a terrible wrapping job for a rookie.

Keep running,
LSF


PS: I highly recommend attending one of the New England Barefoot Running Meetups if you're in the area and want to get a free lesson on how to run barefoot. World-class instruction from some of the pioneers in the movement. Sundays at 1PM by the Hatch Shell. Chill, nice, welcoming folks.