Sunday 15 April 2012

A Record Run

Today I did some contrasting things.

In the morning I took part in the Sun Run, close the the largest event it's kind in North America if not the world. It is a 10 km run through Vancouver streets with about 50,000 participants. With so many people involved I did not even start until almost 9:30, 1/2 hour after the "official" start. Another 20,000 people started after me, and the fastest runners finished around the same time I crossed the start line.

I had no expectations of doing well, but actually took a couple of minutes off last years time. Considering I did not train at all, I did ok...but I won't tell you my time.

In the afternoon I went to a record swap at the Croatian Cultural Centre, a twice yearly event. Again I had no expectations of doing well but also did better than expected. It cost me more than the Sun Run though (the run entry fee was partially paid by work, plus there were free tights and shirts), entry fee of $3, and I spent about $60 on 25 records.

Records 1

Records 2

Considering the state of record collecting right now, I did alright. I could have spent $60 on 1 or 2 discs.

Several of these I have been looking for, and a couple are duplicates. 4 of them were free and I mean that literally. They were not just thrown in, the table had 3 or 4 boxes of records that he was simply giving away with no minimum purchase or other strings attached. They were not crap or in crap condition either. The free ones were the Ahmad Jamal - Happy Moods, Johnny Case - At Folsom Prison, Herbie Mann - At The Village Gate and Taj Mahal - Happy To Be Just Like I Am and none of those I would consider junk. I was very impress but the quality of what he was GIVING away. Too bad it was a 4 disc limit. I bought $20 of other stuff from his table.

You can also see I ended up with 2 copies of Led Zeppelin - Presence. This one I have been looking for and one table sold it to me for $2, but it had one bad scratch but the cover was in very good shape and it had the original picture sleeve. A few tables later I found a better copy but not as good a jacket so I picked it up too.

At least on of the Elvis Costello's is a duplicate I realized when I got home, but that will end up at the cabin. The Yes album came with the single version of Roundabout. The Chet Atkins I had been looking for as well. Wishbone Ash - Argus was a must buy (I used to have it and remember it well).

A couple are gambles, such as The Specials AKA - In the Studio and Eddie Kendricks - Boogie Down but they were at yard sale prices. And how could I resist Monty Python's Previous Record.

Funny thing is I don't think many people did the same 2 activities I have described here. I was chatting with one vendor at the record swap and he was amused that I had just come from a 10k run. "most people here are more comfortable in leather with a cigarette" we sort of agreed on. I don't care, Santana is spinning right now and I think I did ok.


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