The Great Train Robbery Review

I liked the Great Train Robbery. This is the same type of Crichton book as Eaters of the Dead- as opposed to the high-tech, adrenaline-fueled adventures, it's more of a period piece. The plot itself isn't all that original or compelling, but the manner in which the story is told makes it extremely interesting.

Also like Eaters of the Dead (hereto referred as EotD because I'm tired of typing it), the story purports to be true. In this case the story is told through the transcripts of Edward Pierce's (our protagonist/thief) trial. This is explained at the very beginning of the book, so I'm not ruining anything for you by letting you know that he gets caught. We follow Edward through a year-long quest to determine how and when gold is transported, how many keys are needed, who has them, etc., leading up to the heist itself. While intriguing, it's not all that groundbreaking in this respect.

However, by the end of the book the reader feels like an expert on 1800's London and a member of the criminal underworld. We get to hear about all the different types of criminals (Screwsmen, Eel Skinners) and what their specialties are (Safe Crackers, Illegal Tool Crafters, respectively). I feel Crichton does a masterful job of immersing you in the Victorian society- he often explains things like locomotives and safes as the technological marvels they were then, which is a nice contrast to the nonchalant way we view them now.

The Great Train Robbery has made me appreciate Michael Crichton more, because this book reads like it was written in the 1850's, not the 1970's. I really respect all the research that went in to making the story feel authentic. This brings me to another point: if you're like me and you shy away from 30 year old books, don't worry. Like EotD, it takes place in the past anyway, so there's no dated technology references.

All in all, I'll give it an 8 on the Marc approval scale. I thought about going 8.5, but we'll stick to whole numbers. I realize that an 8 ties it with EotD, but on the whole it is a better book- I'm reserving my first 9 or 10 for something that really blows me away. A slight disclaimer though: Kate thought this book was "boring" and struggled to finish it. So, maybe it is better suited for us history buffs.

To Gu or not to Gu?

I haven't been blogging very much lately. It's really a side effect of trying to plan a wedding and train for a (half) marathon at the same time- there just aren't enough hours in the day. Actually, no time seems to be the main effect of all this planning and training. I feel bad for Kate because she's also doing grad school during this mess.

So last Saturday was an 8-mile run. I was pretty nervous going into it, because I barely survived the 7-miler. Since we're really pushing the envelope now, we decided to look into some of those energy-gel power-bar type deals to see if they help at all. I've always subscribed to a policy of not eating or drinking during the run and just rehydrating later, but that becomes less practical the longer you run. So, Saturday I brought a Cliff Shot. I opted for chocolate flavor, and Kate brought raspberry. Mind you these aren't something you eat as a snack because they're tasty, but they weren't as bad as I feared. The raspberry kind of tasted like nasty donut filling, and the chocolate was like nasty chocolate. You're supposed to take them with "lots of water" which I think everyone would probably do anyway.

So, I was getting a little tired around mile 6, so I ate my Cliff Shot. Within 5 minutes or so, I wasn't very tired anymore. Pretty soon I felt like "rrrRRRAAAAHHH!" similar to Popeye after eating spinach. Next thing I knew I had gone 7 miles. Then 8. I was supposed to stop there, but I wasn't even tired, so I went on another mile to 9. I stopped there, but seriously, I could have kept going.

I know what you're thinking, because I'm thinking it to: This has to be some sort of placebo effect. It could just be some mental thing. I've thought it over, and I've decided that I'm fine with that. If mentally that gets me through a (half) marathon, then so be it. It's weird though, because I'm the one who didn't think there was any merit to the whole energy-gel scene. Honestly though, I was dead on my feet after seven miles, and with the gel thing I did a solid nine miles in 82 minutes and wasn't even tired. Another point is that I usually don't drink while I run, and I was chasing the gel with water. It's totally possible that the water helped just as much as the gel.

So anyway, I guess you could say I'm a believer now. We're going to test out some different brands and formulas, and hopefully we'll find something to get us through the race. The important thing is to practice like we're going to run. You know, make sure we eat the gel and drink water at mile 6, etc. The marathon is March 12, and it's coming up quick.