Clock’s running.

Runner's World, 3/3/2025

When I was a young man I might ask myself, when did I run last? Then I started keeping this blog, and now I know. And that's it.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:11

Ran out of sertraline, having difficulty renewing. Should I lay off the stuff for a while? I don't think so. But then, what if I tried?

Three miles. No stops.

Route: Rec Center
Mood: ?
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2018 Playlist

Don't Lose Ur Head (166 BPM) - Christina Modestou (from "Six")

Hollywood - Gorillaz ft. Snoop Dogg & Jamie Principle

Heaven On Their Minds - Brandon VictorDixon (from “Jesus Christ Superstar”) 

This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) - David Byrne (from “American Utopia”)

Television - Idles

5 Out of 6 - Dessa

Ripping through these playlists. Onto the twos!

Heartbeats sounding.

That springtime conundrum. Do I run in the morning, when it is best for me, or wait until it is sixty degrees, some time in the afternoon? Should I run this morning, and then again when it is sixty degrees but before it drops back down to twenty degrees on Thursday?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:04
Route: rec center
Mood: angsty
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

So, anyway. The Rec Center. I have a lot of anxiety today ... is it because I didn't take my meds last night? Is there a possible correlation?

2008 Playlist

Golden Age - TV on the Radio

Nine In the Afternoon - Lincoln! In the Bardo

Full Moon - Black Ghosts

Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Detroit - Black Gold

Echoes Round the Sun - Paul Weller

So What - Pink

Blind - Hercules & Love Affair

After winter must come spring.

Waiting for that fifty degree day when I can take a run to the park. But at least it’s March, God damn it.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:55
Mood: better
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

Saw the Ohio Shakes production of Romeo & Juliet, and it was lovely. Left right after, no post-show cocktail or anything, came right home, got in bed at midnight. This is why I will never be in a show in Akron.

1998 Playlist

Everything Is Everything - Ms. Lauryn Hilll

Sexy Boy - Air

Punk Rock Girl - Dead Milkmen

The Incumbent - Soul Coughing 

Just a Test - Beastie Boys

Sneaking’ Out the Hospital - Beastie Boys

Roygbiv * - Boards of Canada

One Week (Pull’s Break Remix) - Barenaked Ladies

I keep trying. I’m not lying.

Good lord. The very first thing I did this morning was pay for something with a credit card. Terrible night's sleep (snoring) I checked my email, the local independent movie series sent a renewal query and I paid it.

Local business, yes. But with a credit card. Fuck. I can't even boycott right. 

Distance: 24:35

Duration: 3 miles

Because I slept on the couch and was running "pink noise" (makes me think of pink slime, gross) I needed to charge my phone before heading to the gym super early. Then I discovered my earbuds needed charging ... after one lap. So I left.

Also, I discovered I had a flat tire. Not kidding. This day came at me hard.

Mood: better now
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 169 lbs.

1988 Playlist

Blue Monday '88 (12" Version) - New Order

Joy and Pain - Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock

Fuck Tha Police - N.W.A.

Was It Worth It? (12” Mix) - Pet Shop Boys

Microphone Fiend - Erik B. & Rakim

We finish the day strong, just like we do. And I didn't buy anything else but a lip balm that I paid for in cash from a cornershop.

I'm like a spinning top going round and around.

As many months in February -- a short month -- as in January. Even through illness. Remarkable. It's quite a year already. We are creating, yes. We are engaging with the world, yes. We are finding satisfaction through our work, mostly, yes. We are loving and living and communicating, yes.

But what of March? Moving forward? Or relapse? 

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 33:32

Taking a puff is fun, but it really means the day is over for me. And I have to make sure I am not compelled to consume. That's where Noom is helpful. If I have hit the "finish the day" button then I have a reason not to eat anything else. Or drink, the other night I thought, sure! A second beer would be fine, right? And then I really thought about it and decided in my state a can of fizzy water would taste the same, and so I had one of those.  

Of course, then there are those nights nights you’re totally straight and think, three beers? Sure, that always works for me. Jesus.

Mood: hoo-boy
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

1978 Playlist

One For You, One For Me - La Bionda

My Best Friend's Girl - The Cars

I Know But I Don’t Know - Blondie

Peanuts - The Police

Spinning Top - XTC

What a Fool Believes - Doobie Bros.

Atmosphere - Joy Division

Chase - Giorgio Moroder

Got To Get You Into My Life - Earth Wind & Fire 

Damn! This playlist. Oh! And I watched the Yacht Rock doc. Surprised to discover they played it straight.

I’m not trying to run your life.

My cold is almost through. I feel fine, but the snot just keeps collecting in my throat and my sinuses. Last night, I spit up an oyster the size of a silver dollar.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:21

It is fifty degrees today. I could run outside. But there may be slush.   

Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

1968 Playlist

(Poor Mi) Israelites - Desmond Dekker & The Aces

Suzanne - Leonard Cohen

Savoy Truffle - The Beatles

Ain’t Nothin’ But a Houseparty - The Showstoppers 

I Say a Little Prayer -Aretha Franklin 

Who’s Making Love - Johnnie Taylor

Birthday - The Beatles

Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones 

The Horse - Cliff Nobles

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison 

I feel hot and cold.

Crises big, crises small. And I remain so cold. Just walking around, even at work, even at home. Cold feet. cold head. Still stuffed up. Had a bit of a relapse, though I may chalk it up to a steady diet of Benadryl.

The next week will be spent on my own. I need to make plans in advance, where I'm going to eat, how I am going to spend my evenings.

And when, exactly, I will gym.

Distance: 1.6 miles

Duration: 14:31

TIL on Saturday the gym closes at five. No matter, I was feeling not so great and was going to stop at two miles, anyway. No, really.

Mood: okay
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

1973 Playlist

I Can't Explain - David Bowie

All the Way From Memphis - Mott the Hoople

Right Place Wrong Time - Dr. John

Paris 1919 - John Cale

20th Century Boy - T.Rex