A few musings

A few things today, as I have a bit more time to Blog this morning.

I know this is a running blog, and I've been mentioning poker a few times.  Well, that's because I absolutely love poker and kind of see it as a sport....my mates think I'm mad when I say I can sit down and watch a poker game on TV, but I love the tension, gamesmanship and tactics.  I also love the poker terms: limping in (calling, without raising, considered weak play), raising it up (betting), under the gun (acts first before board cards are dealt), he's got the hooks/ladies/cowboys/bullets/kojack (Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces, King-Jack) he's flopped the nuts (the best possible hand on the flop), etc.  The great players really do have "reads" on other players and can win a pot with the worst hand, which for me is the great thing about poker.  The players can win a huge pot with not necessarily having the best hand, or in some cases any hand at all.

The Internet has really shaken up the poker world, with loads of young players from the Internet taking on the old guard.  When they meet in live tournaments it can be a great watch.  I'm "friends" with a few poker pros on FaceBook as it's great seeing their pictures and videos and reading their blogs and hand reviews.  There is a fantastic player called Luke Schwartz, who plays as FullFlush online.  Here is a great example of Luke taking down a huge pot with a rubbish hand, pre-flop, with the legendary Jesse May ("voice of poker") and Phil Helmuth (arguably, the worlds most successful poker player) commentating.

I guess it's a very tenuous link, but most of poker is in the mind, which as I've blogged in the past, is the same with getting the training in and running long distances.

Anyway, back to running and stuff.  I woke this morning after my long run yesterday, and my right leg had seized up!  I've stretched it out and it's better now, but I'm still hobbing around a bit.  I'm sure I'll be fine in a day or so....I'm glad I've got a couple of days off work after the main event on 25th April.

Music wise, I'm of to see Pendulum in May and as WikiPedia puts it Pendulum's "sound is typically heavy beats accompanied by low, buzzing basslines, overlaid with synthesized leads", which basically means they somehow manage to merge rock and dance and do it brilliantly.  I have one of their albums so stuck that on to run to yesterday, and it's great.  My favourites were 9000 Miles, Midnight Runner and Propane Nightmares but the whole In Silico album is good to run to.

I've mentioned Eddie Izzard's great achievement in the past, which was really motivating and inspiring.  There's another guy on the TV at the moment, who is a world record holder for cycling around the world, and videoing it himself.  Currently, there is a show called Cycling the America's where the same guy is doing another endurance event over several months and is another great watch.

Anyway, that's it from me.  I'm off to watch the Malaysian F1 Qualifying.