The SkyRun 56k
Everything's a go in Zimbabwe. And here.
Eli 24.4 starts at 4 a.m. Saturday morning. All the races of various distance start at the same time, which is great, because he'll have fewer stretches by himself. He'll be greeted by excellent weather except for a significant chance of rain. He'll already have been running for eight hours (at least) by the time I start, and I got lucky. The weather here will be cold but entirely tolerable.
I don't really know how this will go. If he doesn't get the 70,000 steps he expects, I may be in big trouble, because I'm not sure I can put in more than 30,000.
It's just walking, though. All I have to do is keep walking.
The Headington Shark: Late-Breaking News
David Gloier let me know that the shark has actually been in that house since 1986. Incredible!
The
Wikipedia entry has lots of interesting information. Oh, and its length? 25 feet.
Oxford (3): The Headington Shark
You find the funniest things in the strangest places, sometimes.
We had a long discussion at a pub on graduation night about the Headington Shark. In Headington (only a few miles from Oxford), a man decided--for unknown reasons--to put a fake gigantic shark through his roof.
None of that was a typo.
The city council fought him on it for 5+ years and finally gave up. Which is how the shark now has a permanent residence in Headington.
The discussion (with three of Eli's friends) was long and complex. The neighbors must all hate it, we agreed, but what could they do about it? I suggested they put animals through their own roofs (a giraffe, for example) in hopes of driving down the shark's novelty. We went into such detail that it almost approached Shaq v Gorilla complexity.
The next morning, Eli 24.4 was running 30k as part of his Zimbabwe training program. I felt quite ill, but couldn't stand the thought of being in the room for hours while he was running, so I decided to go see the shark. About six miles, round trip.
Less than a quarter mile from Nuffield, I passed a prison nearly a thousand years old, which had tours prominently advertised. In fact, I could go in and see one in ten minutes.
Let's see. Thousand year old prison, full of history and unforgettable lore? Or a shark through a roof?
It was an easy choice. Off to Headington.
What they don't tell you about Headington, though, is there's not much else to see in Headington. Not the part I was in, at least. And once you've walked nearly three miles to see a shark, and you look at it for thirty seconds, there isn't much to do except turn around and go back.
That thirty seconds, though, was glorious:
That's not a small shark, as you can clearly see. I both felt awe at the sheer zany stupidity of it all and tremendous empathy for the neighbors who have to put up with it.
Greatness, as always, has its costs.
Oxford (2)
Oxford is a remarkable place, particularly on or near campus. You're in the company of so many highly intelligent, hilarious people, and every conversation is interesting (a detailed discussion of the Headington Shark--which I'll tell you about tomorrow--followed by a deeply philosophical discussion of advanced directives, for example). It's totally unique.
The Harry Potter tourists that blanket the shops around campus are neither amazing nor unique. That part isn't so great, and Eli 24.4 said it was a light time for tourists (who were absolutely everywhere). He said you can't even walk on the sidewalks in summer.
One of the things that consistently happens near campus is seeing something that you'd literally never see anywhere else. Like this:
The person on the right is walking down the street holding a scepter. Business as usual here.
Plus, there's the architecture:
The buildings are centuries old and look like something out of the seventeenth century (or sooner) because many of them are. It's utterly memorable.
Everywhere we went, Eli was welcomed as a friend. Teachers, administrators, friends, even places like coffee shops or retail shops he frequents. He's filled his life with healthy, friendly, warm people. It made me so happy to see. He said once that Oxford was the place where he felt like he most belonged, and I understand why now.
Oxford (1)
Sorry, it took me a while to get to this because I've been sick.
I can hardly keep up with Eli 24.4--he sent me pictures yesterday from a trail run where there were giraffes and zebras--but let's go back to Oxford first.
I've shown this before, but this is the theatre (the Sheldonian, designed by Christopher Wren, built 1664-1669) where the ceremony was held:
Waiting in line, seeing all the people in line to celebrate their kids (now adults), I started tearing up. Everyone seemed to have two parents and grandparents and siblings, and Eli had...me. I felt so bad that Gloria wasn't there, too. She deserved to be there.
This is the inside of The Sheldonian:
It's shockingly beautiful. Hard to comprehend, really.
Eli walked in, saw me, and waved with a big smile on his face.
This graduation ceremony was first performed over eight centuries ago, and the only change has been the addition of a presenter explaining why most of the ceremony is in Latin and why there's so much doffing of caps (it's done as a sign of respect).
I did everything I could to not start crying, even though I was tearing up quite a bit (later, Eli told me he'd been doing the same). The arc of his life is hard for me to fathom in moments like this. He's so young, but what a life he's already had.
Here we are after the ceremony.
I don't think either one of us could have been any happier.
