Running Naked?

Most weekend mornings, my neighborhood is flooded with folks of all shapes, sizes and ages "learning to run" as part of a program organized by a successful local running store/road race promoter. I applaud the energy and effort of those who attempt to finish (if not "run") organized races of all distances, and I have noticed that nearly all of them are dressed to "the nines" with the latest apparel including Garmins, aerodynamic tights, running jackets, and headlamps. Always one for minimally gearing up, I remember finishing my first road race 10+ years ago and telling my wife "I can't see myself wearing tights" which, of course, I do regularly in cold weather.

Somewhere between Laramie, Wyoming,
and Steamboat, Colorado, circa 2006.

Like any capitalist endeavor, it is in any store's best interest to promote the significance of these items, though I, a simple on-again-off-again recreational runner, might not see the need for much of it. (The only time I've worn a head lamp is when I was running alone in Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado, at 2 a.m. way back in 2006.)

I do, however, occasionally find myself falling into the habit of relying on some tech (in the past, for example, a heart rate monitor or online mapping software) at the possible expense enjoying the run (though some might rightly suggest that my blogging about running in this goofy post is an example of over doing it with tech). This brings me back to the idea of being a retrogrouch, one which crystallized for me when I read Just Ride by Grant Peterson. Petersen (the original bicycling "retrogrouch") wrote his book with the intention of getting people to "enjoy bikes again, the way you did as a kid, before you got so serious." On a personal level, I think maybe the same sort of backwards design philosophy might benefit the recreational running world, too. In effect what I am thinking about is how one can strip down, or get naked, when it comes to jogging, running or racing. It is amazing how the dynamic of a run can change even when one leaves his watch behind...

This is not to suggest I will only be running barefoot (though I have read a number of books promoting the idea and have my cross-country athletes perform barefoot strides during practice) from here on out or that, in the spirit of Born to Run, wearing sandals for trail races. Nor am I suggesting that streaking attire would be a grand idea for my next 5k. On a completely personal level, I think it might be helpful to minimize being overladen with lamps, cumbersome hydration systems, and specialized unloosening laces, especially when the terrain, elements or course do not necessitate their use. On a much smaller scale, perhaps running occasionally without my timepiece as a pacer, just running to run guided by my internal clock.

For me, training naked means taking advantage of the opportunity to tune into one's breathing with only that equipment which is necessary to comfortably get outside. With the understanding that I am not training for the Olympics, but rather running to enjoy the moments and the environment through which I can move, the choice to  minimize, or run naked-er, is an easy (and personal) one.

Retro Gaming: Hellboy: Science of Evil (2008)

I can't recall wanting to like a video game as much as I had hoped to enjoy Hellboy: Science of Evil. A fairly recent convert to Mike Mignola's universe of characters (Hellboy in Hell, B.P.R.D., Witchfinder, etceteras.) published by Dark Horse Comics, and a fan of both films, I had not been aware of the previously released Hellboy movie tie-in console game.


When I came across a used copy for $9.99, I snatched it up, excited to get going. So excited was I that I did not even wait to spend the money to follow my traditional pre-purchase ritual of checking online reviews before plunking down $60 on an X-Box 360 game. This was an inexpensive used version, and was, after all Hellboy, so how bad could it me. It was only after returning home and checking online reviews that I became worried. Hellboy would appear to be a fairly reviled gaming experience. Really though, for the price, what did I have to lose?

Sometimes, reviewers are not that far off: as a gaming experience Hellboy: Science of Evil was incredibly frustrating, not just for what it was, but worse, for the potential it squandered.


Chances are great that if you're reading this, you are already familiar with the well-loved characters, and perhaps marginally curious if this game is worth picking up for a certain amount of "fan-factor", so I'll cut to the chase and simply start by mentioning positives and negatives as I experienced them:

• Positives: the story adheres to both comic book and movie "universes," the voice work is done by the actor who portrayed Hellboy in the films (let's face it Ron Perlman, IS Hellboy!), the cut screen graphics are adequate and the characterization (movements and vocals) of Hellboy are solid.
• Not-so-positives: repetitive game play, including some odd game play moments when jumps aren't jumps or necessary objects or paths are off screen and difficult to find, the game play is not very intuitive, repetitive game play, the other characters from the book/movie are missing from the main story (though appearing on the box), this lack of playability of other characters makes the gameplay even more... repetitive.

There are also the standard (for older-generation games) dissolving rocks and melting set pieces, ghost graphics and dead spots. The game play was VERY frustrating and were it not for a gamefaq/walkthrough, I would have given up on this game after the first chapter during which it was impossible to figure out just what I, as the player, needed to find to move onto the next chapter.

Say "goodbye" to the only video game I've ever "walked out of" before it was over...

Retro Gaming: Call of Juarez (2007)

Though not nearly as lucrative as that other XBOx 360 "Call of..." franchise, I have recently begun playing my way through the Western-themed first person shooter Call of Juarez series, of which there is a second sequel (or first sequel following a prequel) due this summer.

The original Call of Juarez, developed by Techland and released in 2007 (and purchased just last week by yours truly at Gamestop for $10) follows the story of both Billy, a young Mexican-American who has previously succumbed to the Gold-lust of hidden riches, herein refereed to as the call of the title, and his uncle Reverend Ray. Apparently, upon returning home to visit his mother after wandering for riches in Mexico, Billy is accused of murdering both his parents. It is at this point that Reverend Ray, with a dark secret of his own, sets out to "redeem" Billy (translation: revengin'), as well as any other evil-doer he come across, brandishing both guns and a Bible.

While the game play does not offer nearly the open environments one may have grown accustomed to with Red Dead Redemption (now the accepted becnhmark for Western-game greatness), it does offer a cinematic, if somewhat limiting, storyline. The gunfights (think "boss-battle" but with an Old West aesthetic) were not too challenging, which I would attribute, in part, to what was in 2007, very early generation approach to the mano-y-mano shootout.

Game play challenges lay in some problem solving moves which are required to advance the game, some of which were especially challenging given some visibility issues with the shading of certain scenes. I actually found myself referencing an online walkthrough after fifteen frustrating minutes attempting to work through some points in the story.

The characterization was fairly impressive and the voice acting, admirable, though Billy was played a little too "Gee Whiz" in demeanor given the character's implied rough and tumble backstory. One interesting consideration is that this game was developed by an Iceland firm, so one might safely infer that their perspective was colored and influenced by old television Westerns as much as by any indepth historical research.

For $15 this was a solid purchase--especially if you consider that one can't even see a new movie in theaters once (with popcornand soda, of course) for the same price!

Retro Gaming: Red Dead Revolver (2004)

Though I haven't had too much time of late to watch (and comment on) any spaghetti-type films, I did recently take the opportunity to pop in an older Western-themed XBOX game.

Red Dead Revolver is the predecessor to the wildly popular (and playable) Red Dead Redemption. I have been playing Redemption, as well its numerous donwloadable updates, for nearly eight months, and though I have yet to "complete" all facets of the game, I have been hankerin' for another similar game play experience. About a month ago I came across its 2004 prequel, Revolver, on Amazon.com and purchased it for $14.

Originally developed by Capcom (a fact which can be seen in the nuanced anime-style facial expressions of the characters), it was eventually purchased and partially re-engineered by Rockstar Games prior to its release in 2004. Like most sequels/prequels, Perhaps the easiest context in which to consider Revolver is to do so in light of Redemption. Technological advances such as textured graphics and more complex environmental interaction (walking through a door into the main street in Redemption as opposed to walking to a door, cutting to a screen then magically reappearing on the street in Revolver), the storytelling and game play are remarkably similar... and to Redemption players, somewhat familiar, as some the main characters do turn up as playable characters in the XBOX 360 LIVE Mulitplayer mode.

If anything, the influence of the Spaghetti Western genre is more pronounced in Revolver. By employing a "grainy film effect" on scenes, in addition to the use of film scores by Morricone and others, Revolver plays like a more stylistic Western than the (at least to these eyes) ultra-realistic Redemption. Huge, gloppy blood spatters and appropriately broad characterization add to the Spaghetti-vibe. It is almost impossible not see the Eastwood's squinty-eyed Man With No Name, as the basis for Red Harlow, Revolver's games protagonist bounty hunter.

My only quibble is one that is likely the result of the system that I played the game. Originally released for the first XBOX system, I played Revolver on the more contemporary XBOX 360, which might be the reason that the graphics were not nearly as clear as those seen in the trailer above or in the pictures I've come across online. The high level of playability though, despite the visual inconsistencies, speaks to the overall quality of the game, offering an interesting look at the early beginnings of what woudl become the Red Dead Redemption franchise.