To begin this, a confession. I am a whovian. Since the restart of Doctor Who, I have seen all the episodes, all the specials. I quote it in normal conversation whenever I get the chance. I search for it on pinterest and tumblr. I even went to see the 50th anniversary prom in the royal albert hall.
So surprisingly enough, I was excited for the 50th anniversary special. Who saw that coming? I didn't go to see it in the cinema due to other plans, but I was excited. The return of David Tennant and Billie Piper sent the fan boy in me racing. The concept of the war doctor appearing and the story of the time war was great. Paul McGann reprising his role for the short of teh nigiht of the doctor got me even more pumped. 4 Doctors already?
But how were they going to use 10 and Billie? Their storyline was complete, with the human doctor trapped in the parallel world with her. How could they add to that?
In the end they didn't and I was very glad they didn't. They came up with a new fun way to include Billie. The concept of the "moment" having its own intelligence was brilliant, and that being in the form of what would matter most to the user was great. But what was really interesting was that the most important person in all of the doctor's life was the Bad Wolf.
The most important person in all of his lives? We know that the doctor has been married and had children. We know that he marries River at some point in his future (different to the mother of his child). We know he loved Rose, Clara is the impossiblel girl who saves him throughout his life, and has seen his grave, Donna was his best friend when he needed one, Sarah Jane he sees in multiple regenerations and all the other companions have touched him in more ways than we ever saw. And this isn't even begining to think about the TARDIS when she took human (?) form.
But the Bad Wolf was the most important person throughout his history. She who only existed for that brief time just as he regenerated from 9 to 10. Who made it that Jack couldn't die, turning him into an impossible thing. Who defeated all the Daleks, the first he had seen since the time war. Since he thought he had ended it, killing his own race as well as all of his enemies. And I think this is why Bad Wolf, not Rose or anyone else was the most important person in all his lives. She was there, at the time he saw the return of the aleks and saved him. She gave him hope that there are better things out there, and that if theh Dalkes didn't all die during the time war, maybe not all the time lords did too. Maybe, just maybe, he could once again set foot on Gallifrey. Hope came to him that he may be able to go home.
That this is how the episode ended too makes me think this may be the case. He's going where he has always been going, where everyone always goes. He's just taking a longner route than them. But he still is ging home. Because of the Bad Wolf.
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Becoming the Trainer
Last winter in the build up to Reading half marathon, I spent numerous weeks helping one of my friend train for it. I didn't mind hte idea of it, I waas training myself and by doing that I got to do longer runs, and at a forced slower pace than normal, which was good for me. And this year I get to do the same, with a different friend for a different race.
When I tarted doing it last year, I had only been running for about 9 months. Maybe less. I started after the Reading half the year before. I'd been out, watched, cheered and then it got me thinking, why not. I had always been one of the more active fitter people out of my various groups of friends, but after moving here I was suddenly not. Everyone it seemed was going to the gym, or doing something and I was feeling a bit unhealthy. I think more than anything it was the shame of that which drove me to pick up a pair of trainers and head out the door. I started with the simple of goal of doing the half marathon the year after. I had 3 times in mind, one that i would be disappointed if I took longer than, one that I wanted to do and one that I would be thrilled if I managed. They were quite spread out, andwent from very challenging to something I should have been able to do from day one.
When the autumn rolled round I entered a couple of races to see how I was coping. Henley and Gosport came and went and I suddenly had to changee my goals. I'd done Henley in 97minutes, when my top target was 90. Suddenly that wasn't quite so out of the question, but it was still going to proof difficult.
It was with the confidence from this that I started helping my friend train. She had one main goal which was to complete the cursed thing. As time goals went, she would have loved to been able to do it 2hrs 6 - steady at 6 minutes per km. It doesnt sound much, but trying to keep going at a solid pace which is as fast as you can for voer 2 hours? It is not an easy thing to do, even if you think that pace is slow. It is something that is personal, not one sizee fits all. So my goal in this was to try and seee to it that they could run the whole thing, not get scared by the distancee, and hopefully be able to run at a constant pace.
Starting from about half distance we went for weekly runs, gradually growing in distance up to just a couple of kms short of the full distance. We rarely went at the full pace, because the thought wass that the race efffect, having a rowd cheering and the adrenaline going, and people to try o catch would help spur on. This is something I had found hugely helpful in Henley; I think it saved me about 8 minutes.
The race came and went, and she finished, frustratingly a little bi outside of her target time. I'd managed to shave another 5 minutes off my own time, aganisingly close to my initial ridiculous goa, but it wasn't to e in the end. There's always the next one anyway.
Bu I was hugely proud of her. I spent months helping (or so I like to think) and to see someone achieve something they didn'tt think because of that is hugely rewarding. May even have been more so for me than for her, but I doubt that. I can't explain the feeling, it was just fantastic.
And now i get to do it all over again! I get to see someone go from the fear of half the distance, to hopefully completing it, and maybe even getting the time that they want. When it is something that doesn't come quite naturally to people, being able to help them achieve it is such a great feeling.
I just hope that i am actually helping!
When I tarted doing it last year, I had only been running for about 9 months. Maybe less. I started after the Reading half the year before. I'd been out, watched, cheered and then it got me thinking, why not. I had always been one of the more active fitter people out of my various groups of friends, but after moving here I was suddenly not. Everyone it seemed was going to the gym, or doing something and I was feeling a bit unhealthy. I think more than anything it was the shame of that which drove me to pick up a pair of trainers and head out the door. I started with the simple of goal of doing the half marathon the year after. I had 3 times in mind, one that i would be disappointed if I took longer than, one that I wanted to do and one that I would be thrilled if I managed. They were quite spread out, andwent from very challenging to something I should have been able to do from day one.
When the autumn rolled round I entered a couple of races to see how I was coping. Henley and Gosport came and went and I suddenly had to changee my goals. I'd done Henley in 97minutes, when my top target was 90. Suddenly that wasn't quite so out of the question, but it was still going to proof difficult.
It was with the confidence from this that I started helping my friend train. She had one main goal which was to complete the cursed thing. As time goals went, she would have loved to been able to do it 2hrs 6 - steady at 6 minutes per km. It doesnt sound much, but trying to keep going at a solid pace which is as fast as you can for voer 2 hours? It is not an easy thing to do, even if you think that pace is slow. It is something that is personal, not one sizee fits all. So my goal in this was to try and seee to it that they could run the whole thing, not get scared by the distancee, and hopefully be able to run at a constant pace.
Starting from about half distance we went for weekly runs, gradually growing in distance up to just a couple of kms short of the full distance. We rarely went at the full pace, because the thought wass that the race efffect, having a rowd cheering and the adrenaline going, and people to try o catch would help spur on. This is something I had found hugely helpful in Henley; I think it saved me about 8 minutes.
The race came and went, and she finished, frustratingly a little bi outside of her target time. I'd managed to shave another 5 minutes off my own time, aganisingly close to my initial ridiculous goa, but it wasn't to e in the end. There's always the next one anyway.
Bu I was hugely proud of her. I spent months helping (or so I like to think) and to see someone achieve something they didn'tt think because of that is hugely rewarding. May even have been more so for me than for her, but I doubt that. I can't explain the feeling, it was just fantastic.
And now i get to do it all over again! I get to see someone go from the fear of half the distance, to hopefully completing it, and maybe even getting the time that they want. When it is something that doesn't come quite naturally to people, being able to help them achieve it is such a great feeling.
I just hope that i am actually helping!
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