The Goal

So, what now.

While training for the 2017 Gold Coast Half Marathon, I kept seeing the fanciful times that the Race Predictor on my Garmin was displaying and scoffing - "A 1:31:35 half? Poppycock! A 42:50 10k? As if!" Despite allegedly being backed by well founded research, I just couldn't relate those times to how I was feeling in my running.

Well, a few weeks ago I found myself tearing up as I watched Eliud Kipchoge fall short of a sub-2 hour marathon by less than 30 seconds. Despite the artificiality of the setup, the effort was painfully real and it was still a truly incredible thing to see. It made me re-consider my attitude somewhat and despite my better judgement, I got inspired.

If the expected race time for someone with my VO2 max and lactate threshold was as stated, why shouldn't I commit to actually doing it? And if, at that point, I was allegedly fit enough for a 3:18 marathon, with the training I would be doing, that time would only decrease. So, why not go for a Boston Qualifier (BQ) and be done with it.

I've learnt that I need to take things like this slowly, so allowing 2 years or so seems prudent. Righto, that means aiming for a BQ at the 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, when I'll be 41.

The BQ time for a 41 year old is 3:15:00, but if the field is over-subscribed, only the fastest get in, so let's make it 3:10:00 to be safe.

So, the goal: 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, sub 3:10 or 4:30/km

And I need to figure out how to get there, from here.

Gosh it's been a long time

I forgot all about this, but it was hardly a thing really. Might try something different with it, for a bit anyway.

My last post to this was in 2007, and since then, well music is still important to me, but also now is running. and motorbikes. Both relatively unexpected developments to be honest.

Anyway, I decided to get fit at the start of 2008, did my first half marathon that year (Mount Isa Mine to Mine, 1:55:30 or something) , a second half marathon a year later (Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:57:09). Then in 2010 after a third half marathon (NQ Games Half Marathon, 1:59:06) I tackled the big one at the Gold Coast, finishing in 4:24:34. And with that I was done for. I got more involved in a local running club, discovered the joys of trail running, and well and truly overdid it.

2011 included the:

1. 34km Black Snake Trail Race, with >900m of elevation, along with the recce run a few weeks previous which I started intending to do only 20km, with no water and no food, and got a bit lost for a while. The recce took 6 hours. The race was way better at 4 and a half.
2. 45km Mt Haig Trail Marathon, with 1200m of elevation gain (yet somehow easier than the Black Snake)
3. 2011 Gold Coast Marathon, in 4:11:34. I wanted sub 4 but over-reached, so this run featured my fastest half-marathon so far at 1:50:30, and my slowest at 2:11:04. 
4. 64km Kuranda to Port Douglas, in about 8:55. My garmin ran out of battery at 61.5km and 8:44.

Awesome right, except it was way too much way too soon, and when I moved to Brisbane later that year, I soon discovered after a bout of sciatica (I hope never again), that lower back pain would be my good mate for a while to come. 

Fast forward through 6 years of physio, chiro, pilates, the gain and loss of 15kg, and multiple false starts, I made it to the finish line of the 2017 Gold Coast Half Marathon in the unexpectedly good time of 1:46:04, and it's time to reflect, and decide on the future. 

Coz I'm back, baby.

Low - Drums and Guns

man this is a dark album. Low's melodies and harmonies are as crystalline and luminous as ever, but they've been turned to some of their blackest ends ever. It's a rough juxtaposition. The songs are very very bare of instrumentation. "Dragonfly" is just voice, some backwards masked guitar and an echoing, stuttering drumbeat that sounds like a gunshot reflecting off a hillside.

good album though, but very unsettling.

Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time

damn this album has grown on me. first time I heard it, I was a bit m'eh about it. The reverby sound and high voiced singer seemed too derivative of My Morning Jacket and the Flaming Lips.

but as time went by, I started to get songs like The Funeral and Great Salt Lake (maybe not lyrically, but the music started to gel for me).

6 or 7 months on and I love near the whole damn thing. the closer "St Augustine" is, for me, one of the more memorable tracks. and I just can't articulate why I like it so much now. Maybe because it's sound is a good mix of upbeat and melancholy, even within the same song.

At least, it's meshing with my mood very well today.

Dazza

This post is about Darren Hanlon. I should note I'm drunk.
Essentially, he's awesome, and he's been awesome for a good 6 or 7 years. And speaking of Dazza,I can't beleive Candle Records is closing shop this week. The fact that Candle Records is closing is gonna mean a real change for how singers like Dazza ply their trade. How will the community that's built up around The Simpletons, Anthony Atkinson and Darren Hanlon survive without the label to support it?

you know what, I reckon they'll thrive despite- based on his Brisbane show just before Christmas, Darren Hanlon (at least) has a passionate audience just waiting for the next song. At least the Lucksmiths have the same. At least they did 3 years ago, the last time I saw them, and where the Simpletons or Dazza go there's a strong audience ready to follow.

I can't wait - bring on the next Simpletons or Darren Hanlon or Anthony Atkinson or Girls From the Clouds. It's going to be interesting (from this non-Melbournite's view) how things pan out for the Candle bands. I wish Chris Crouch all the best - all the best from someone from Casino, 2470.

About Dazza - I saw his Christmas show in Brisbane complete with barbershop quartet. The quartet was awesome. Dazza's show was awesome, full of the human touches that make each Dazza show so unique. Manilla NSW solo was great, considering the complexity in the song, as was A to Z and hearing Record Store live and solo was something I won't soon forget. The Globe is an excellent venue - good sound and punter friendly. On top of that, it was just great to hear a tops songwriter sing his tops songs to an entirely sympathetic crowd.

anyway - what's been good.

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
It's what Akron/Family should have been, but better.

Subtle - For Fool:For Hero
Just amazing.

Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
Awesomeness for the 1980's. I'm not kidding. This is amazing stuff.

1.Lambchop - Damaged
This is a stately, considered album that merely presents itself to you. You have to come to it. Otherwise it just kind of floats there, pretty enough but not really engaging. But once you dig into the skin, or let it get it's teeth in, it's a finely observed masterwork. It's full of character studies that the band fully inhabit. It's got moments of absolute splendour (the horn breakdown in "Beers Before the Barbican") amongst sections that evoke abject fear without declaring specifics (unsurprisingly, the song "Fear"). Kurt Wagner's thick delivery struggles against the backing music, but it's an effective and emotive instrument despite its small range and unclear diction.

The album also ends on an awesomely cantankerous rant against the indie-rock coolocracy. It doesn't fit the rest of the album, but it is nice to revel in a good tirade once in a while.

2.Y’s - Joanna Newsom

I don't think I've ever heard such an ambitious album come off so effortlessly. The songs are wonders in themselves, but the way the accompaniment sweeps and shudders underneath, full of filigrees and curlicues, is audacious and bloody amazing really. Nothing is simple, in fact it's almost like it wants to be more complicated. "Sawdust and Diamonds", the sole exception is all the more special for it's simplicity. There's such an amazing amount to be unpacked from this album, it's easy to forget that it's also so moving and human.

3.Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
It's up here for a few reasons. I love her voice. I think the songs are excellent, and I think the arrangements are top notch as well.

It keeps me interested, and it engages my emotions. Also, it seems to be fairly deep conceptually. It's some sort of concept album about innocence and experience or something.

4.TV on the Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
The depth and scope of it is amazing. I have no idea what they're on about 90% of the time, but this is one album where the lyrics contribute very little to my overall impressions. I just want to dive into the sound of this album and explore.

5.Holly Throsby - Under The Town
So, she's won my heart again, with an album of obviously personal lyrics, somewhat awkwardly sung over some quite surprisingly arranged tunes. The spritely ramshackle nature of "Making a Fire" sits very comfortably with the solo piano confessional of "On Longing".

Her manner is intimate and open, and the effect is just stunning, full of a gentle melancholy that is manages subtle and surprising humour sometimes too. This is quite private music, both for the artist and the listener, but I want all of you to know about her too. I think she's pretty special.

This is all my fault
I have many things done wrong
I've been longing for a dove
or an olive in a cup
and I'm so sorry sorry love
I want us to make up
(from "On Longing")

6.Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Yeeeaaaarrgggghhh, watch out for the Birchmen, find the Crystal Skull, reach the Capillarian Crest. It's hyperactive nerd metal, and I love it more than I should. Cause it rocks. rocks like a fox

7.Bluebottle Kiss - Doubt Seeds

We're getting to the truly exceptional end of the list here. This album is a monster, calling on 50 years of popular music while maintaining a truly identifiable sound. Never mind that there are some amazing songs on here too. Over the 9 months or so this album has been out, I've noticed Miles Davis, Spiritualized, The Stooges and Harvest era Neil Young all fighting to be heard over Jamie Hutchings own talents, both music and lyrical.

Individual songs worth mentioning are "The Judas Hands", "Little Disappearer", "Silent. Golden.", "Your Mirror is a Vulture" and "Harold Holt". There are at least 3 or 4 others. That this is a double album is less important than the fact it is an economical double album, just a shade over 80 minutes in total, and only a minute or two wasted.

It's bold and challenging and it deserves to be heard by many many people.

8.Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Not just the years best shoegazer record, but probably the decades best shoegazer record. It's full of catchy tunes, bright melodies and chirpy vocals. I like it, a lot. It just goes to show that no genre is ever really played out; there's always room for good songwriting and honest performances.

13. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Good old predictable YLT. Although, they're predictably unpredictable . Predictably, this album sags a bit in the middle, but starting with the 10 minute drone machine of "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" is excitingly unpredictable.

This is better than "Summer Sun" and "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One", but not as good as "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out".

12. Isis - In The Absence of Truth
As so aptly put on Allmusic, this is music that seeks the white heart of nothingness that beats in most music; that centre of the song that tunes out everything else. In the right frame of mind this album approaches that intensity and weight. It's incredibly heavy, yet it moves and mutates with a grace and litheness that's occasionally breathtaking. I'm only just starting to unearth this properly.

11. You Am I - Convicts
Attitude is sometimes all you need. If it gets you back up on your feet, dukes in the air, swinging at shadows at least you're back. This was such a surprising and energetic return from You Am I. Maybe I should rephrase - sometimes attitude and a break are what you need to relight the fires. You Am I are back and burning bright, and I don't think they're burning up.

10. The Knife - Silent Shout
Such a cold and calculated album, full of strange sounds, but it's metallic heart beats like any other. It's got a streak of otherness running through it - it's undenaibly and absorbingly weird.

9. The Drones - Gala Mill
This feels like an important album - it's one of the few albums around that deals honestly with the horrors in Australia's past in an unapologetic and disarmingly straightforward way. But it doesn't rest with tales of Australia's convict nightmare - the state of the world gets a thorough damning in opening track "Jezebel". It's a mean, ragged and nasty song, just like it's subject matter.

14. Darren Hanlon - Fingertips and Mountaintops

big post of the top 25 today - I'm going away for a few days to Adelaide for a wedding. Should be tops.

But to business...

15. Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go
Another top notch album from BPB. I like the backing vocals - they sound alarming and jarring at first, but they eventually sound absolutely perfect, which kinda sums up the whole Will Oldham oovra.

16. Laura Imbruglia - Laura Imbruglia
Yes, it's Natalie's sister, and this couldn't be more different. There's quite a few missteps on this album. "Lettuce and Anarchists" is the kind of half smart character study that Darren Hanlon does a billion times better and with a million times more empathy. But the crazy, she'll-try-anything vibe that infects the rest of the album more than makes up for the flaws. "Tearducts" is a catchy pop song with pedal steel guitar, "My Dream of a Magical Washing Machine" is as fun as it is odd (it doubled as a jukebox). You can tell she's having a great time just trying out what ever takes her fancy, and that makes it fun to listen to.

17. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
This was a real grower, a REAL grower. I think I hated it the first time I heard it, now, I'd say I enjoy every minute of it. My highlight is "St. Augustine".

18. Mogwai - Mr. Beast
A definite improvement over Rock Action and Happy Songs..., it still suffers from a sense of familiarity and complacency on a few tracks. The highlights, like "Glasgow Megasnake", "We're No Here" and "Folk Death 95", are astonishing despite the more mundane sections.

19. Sarah Blasko - What The Sea Wants The Sea Will Have
Probably more beautiful than he last album, but a lot less immediate. I think this is gonna take time, but it's not compelling enough for me to want to put in the effort. I think this'll click in 6 months or not at all.

20. M. Ward - Post-War
I like M. Ward a lot, but his music is settling into a very narrow vein. It's all still very good, but this slips into the background way too easily.

Top 25 of 2006 - Beginning


21. Cat Power - The Greatest

"The Greatest" and "Lived In Bars" are two of my favourite songs of the year, and the rest isn't too shabby either. I get a bit bored in the middle, so it loses places there.

22. Augie March - Moo, You Bloody Choir

Oh, how the mighty have blanded. Actually, I think the songs are still there, but all the interesting (and fun!) sharp edges have been worn off, leaving the whole thing sounding all very nice and worthy and literary, and well, just a bit dull.

I haven't heard this stuff live though, and I think it could really take off, especially "Just Passing Through".


23. Deloris - Ten Lives
In which Deloris discover brevity, spark up a bit and put out 10 pretty good tunes, one nice intro, and one confounding cover of "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain".

que? I mean it's a nice enough song, but still.

That said, the rest of the album has the stuff I like about Deloris. Plaintive melodies, great lyrics, and some tops drone thrown in there as well. It's a lot more immediate than "Fake Our Deaths", but will it be as long lasting? I don't know.

24. Built To Spill - You in Reverse

It a good good album, and it's here mainly for two reasons. Firstly, "Going Against Your Mind" is one of the best drawn out rock songs I've heard in years. It swoops and climbs and just plain rocks, and never gets boring.

Secondly, their previous album put me to sleep within half a song (a record!). That this album kept me interested means that Built To Spill aren't boring anymore, and that is reason to be happy.

25. Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun

An instrumental post-rock/metal album about the Great Leap Forward, the man-made locust plague that caused a famine, and the dangers of blind idolatry.

"Annhilate the sparrow, that stealer of seed, and our harvets will abound; we will watch our wealth flood in".

The music does a very good job of alluding to the events described in the song titles. The song titles are very long.

Quite a few people out here have boats, mainly because there is this bigarse lake that acts as Mount Isa's water supply.

Lake Moondara

The lake is bloody huge, as I suppose it has to be considering the last time it rained here was April, and that was really only a shower.

So anyway, quite a few people have boats, and I've been out a few times in the last week to go skiing with a bunch of people. Or in my case, towed behind a boat on an inflatable... thing.

I tried kneeboarding this morning, but I couldn't get onto the damned thing. Siz or seven goes was enough.

My mate Dan organised to hire the Lion's Youth Camp at Lake Moodara last night. It's a pretty typical school camp, but we had the place to our selves. There were about 15 people there for dinner and about 10 stayed overnight. It was pretty good fun. A couple of photos follow.






Music-wise, I've been listening to a lot of "13+God". It's excellent. I didn't really know how The Notwist would go with Anticon, but it's very atmospheric. The mood is pretty dark and contemplative, and the music is, how would you say, experimental.

I suppose an update of my life would be appropriate too...

I've moved from Brisbane to Mount Isa, where I'm a graduate Electrical Engineer with Mount Isa Mines. I've just finished a rotation with the Copper Mine and I've had a lot of fun running around underground (everything's happy underground) and buying bits of equipment here and there for copper concentrators. I started over in the Lead/Zinc stream of the company yesterday, and the difference is big, and there is even more stuff to learn.

Huzzah!

I've bought a car. Huzzah. And here it is. Photo taken halfway between Mount Isa and Cloncurry.
















My music collection is growing at an alarming rate. It doesn't help that all this music I'm buying is all pretty damn good too. Case in point: Heligoland - "A Street Between Us". Unfortunately little known band, and they make gorgeous dream-pop. It's really beautiful stuff, and they are the first band I've bought because of their MySpace page. shocking.

Just to finish things off, here is the whole list. In the intervening 9 months, it hasn't really changed that much.

19. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
18. The Panics - Sleeps Like A Curse
17. Decoder Ring - Fractions
16. The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute

15. Giants Of Science - Here Is The Punishment
14. Sigur Ros - Takk...
13. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
12. Hood - Outside Closer
11. Spoon - Gimme Fiction

10. The Dirty Three - Cinder
09. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
08. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
07. Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
06. Sunn O))) - Black One

05. Low - The Great Destroyer
04. The Drones - Wait Long By The River and the Bodies Of your Enemies Will Float By
03. Bonny "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
02. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Proposition OST
01. Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union - Ghost Songs/Dirty Ron