Another Season Begins

Last night I watched the Malaysian Grand Prix with my friend Brian, a week ago we watched the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix. Only sixteen more to go! Brian and I have watched almost every race together for thirteen years now. A bit of a ritual...

Quick summary of the two races: No computerised traction control allowed this season, so there will be plenty of driving errors and greater speed differences at the start.

In Melbourne "my" driver, Kimi Raikkonen, managed to survive two serious braking errors and fought his way up from 16th (owing to a problem in qualifying) to third before his Ferrari coasted to a stop in the closing stages. The McLaren's ran strongly all day, Lewis Hamilton started at the front and stayed there comfortably. The Ferrari's were perhaps the fastest but that meant little as both cars failed to finish. The first race of the season is always a bit chaotic and this year was no exception. Lots of collisions and other incidents. Only 7 of the 22 cars finished!

In Malaysia the Ferrari's were on the pole and it was the McLaren's starting down the grid because of a penalty assessed during qualifying. Kimi and Massa were untouchable. Kimi got past Massa on pitstop strategy, but Massa was bitten by the lack of traction control late in the race anyway and spun out. Lewis Hamilton fought his way up from 9th to 5th, but was never really competitive. His teammate Heikki Kovalainen made it up from 8th to 3rd though, putting two Finns on the podium.

Otherwise last week was a busy one for me. I did a two day photo shoot for Ontario Tourism out in scenic Prince Edward County where my "wife" and I had a cooking class, went antiquing, visited an art gallery, a winery and a brewery, relaxed in a luxury suite, and browsed in a bookstore. With a production crew of ten following our every move. You should go there! :-)

I also did two days of fitness modeling on The Shopping Channel. Bowflex four times on Saturday and four different gadgets, five times each, on Sunday. All this while I was hoping, but failing, to get a solid long run in before resting up for the 30K "Around the Bay" race in Hamilton this coming Sunday (bib number 4270 if you want to check my results). I did manage to do a 15K workout before heading out to The Shopping Channel on Sunday morning.

Listening to: Where The Streets Have No Name by U2 from The Joshua Tree.