Stone cold munching

Yes, I signed up for the Cleveland (Half) Marathon. Not heard good things about "The Cleveland" ... this past year they famously tacked on a few extra miles to the 10K when the lead car took a wrong turn, and folks in Akron were telling me finish line refreshments are limited to potato chips and apple juice. ("Cleveland+" indeed.)

But hey, if I can't schedule training for a 26.2 every year, I can at least fit in a Halfer every year, maybe even twice a year. And as long as it is in town, why not? What is disappointing is that my favorite part of the route is the second half, which follows a route I am all-too-familiar with, down MLK and the Shoreway.

Meanwhile, if you didn't check this one out last month, here's a piece that might piss off a good number of you. I know it did me:

How Oprah Ruined the Marathon - Salon.com 11/3/2007
America's competitive spirit has been wrecked by feel-good amateurs like Oprah whose only goal is to stagger across the finish line.

So blame race organizers for making such events open to anyone. Then go f*ck yourself, you fascist.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 174.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sit-Ups: 40
Snack: Zone Perfect Bar
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 2.40 pm
Temperature: 32º
Weather: cold
Gear: Long-sleeve, thermal jacket - but with shorts and no gloves. Got away with it because there was no wind, otherwise that may have been painful.

I took care of the children. I made lunch. I washed dishes. I earned this.

Playlist: (In alphabetical order!)
The Boy in the Bubble - Paul SImon
The Boys - Dragonette
Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
Burn - Nine Inch Nails
Bust a Move - Young MC
Busy Child - The Crystal Method
Cooldown: Call On Me (Radio Edit) - Eric Prydz

Day 3: This body is my ticket out

Taking the bike path by South Green brings forth a barrage of memories every times I take it. Maybe this path was the first place I had ever run using headphones - a brick-heavy Walkman in my hand, wearing a cotton shirt, cotton shorts, and cotton underpants (I'm 18! Who needs support?!) and whatever shoes I had in those days. Can't even guess.

I'd provide the playlist, God, I believe I may even know exactly where that cassette is up in my attic ... but it wouldn't be pretty. Sunday Papers, I believe and Hounds of Love, I don't mind admitting those.

But Twist and Shout? What wretched BPM. And who can forget the George Michael, Aretha Franklin duet, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)? That really says "pour it on."

Yesterday, holiday cheer included Bailey's in my coffee virtually all day, a beer, an Old Fashioned and two glasses of wine. How I woke with a clear head, I do not know. Lucky me.

Calvin G.'s Old Fashioned
Muddle a spoon of sugar with a dash of bitters and two drops of water
Stir in 3 oz. bourbon and ice
Twist of lemon; drop peel in glass
Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry. Spill a little syrup in, too.

Stats:
Distance: roughly 4 miles
Stretches: yes
Sit-Ups: 40
Snack: Zone Perfect Bar (Cinammon Bun - man, the flavor selection is better here.)
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 1.45 pm
Temperature: 47º
Weather: Amazing. Bright, sunny & Warm. Wish I hadn't been wearing the jacket.

Playlist:
I'm Afraid of Americans * - David Bowie
Other People * - Prick
Tracking Treasure Down (Dave Seaman's Group Therapy Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden
All Good Things (Come to an End) - Nelly Furtado
Can You Feel It - The Jacksons
Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit) - Noisettes
Starting Over (Elite Force Mix) - The Crystal Method
Cooldown: Tribal Dance - 2 Unlimited

"The blood inside of me is inside of you." Happy Boxing Day.

Day 2: Come run, run, run, run, everybody move, run ...

It does not take much for my belly to go slack. And then none of my pants fit. It's a little depressing, but seriously, what does it take for me to remember, and then execute, some simple 20 or so sit-ups a day? It doesn't take much, not really.

Oh, hey - for the Secret Santa thing in my office this year, H. got me a $25 gift card from Dick's! Is that cool or what?

I love the campus during the holidays. There's no one in it.

Stats:
Distance: roughly 4 miles
Stretches: yes
Sit-Ups: 40
Snack (like I needed a snack): Zone Perfect Bar; Chocolate Almond Biscotti - Merry Xmas, yo.
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 1.30 pm
Temperature: 43º
Weather: bright and sunny, wore a hat with a visor, shorts and a jacket. Midwinter bliss!

WARNING: Old Man Toilet Talk

Some kind of constipation action going on here, can't figure that out. Oh sure, maybe it's all the cookies, stuffing, meat and Bailey's in my system, but I have been force-feeding myself fruit and water, too. I had this righteous dump after prezzies but I still felt like sitting on the john for another hour.

Until I took that run. The natural laxative!

Playlist:
Warmup: Road to Recovery - Midnight Juggernaut
Pon de Relay- Rihanna
Body Language - Queen
Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Mix) - Rob D
Five Fathoms - Everything But the Girl
Collision and Improvisation- Pizzicato Five
I Wanna Be a Flintstone - Screaming Blue Messiahs
Get Down (Calvin Harris Remix) - Groove Armada
Cooldown: Doctor Who Theme - Murray Gold & the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Day 1: Where have all the flowers gone?

Most overdo it with eat, drink and cheer for the holidays, it is my intention to overdo it with running these five days of Christmas.

Since my last outing, everyone has been ill, again. That, coupled with our kitchen being remodeled (at long effing last) has made for a stressful and busy December. Also, it's been hellishly cold.

We are spending the holidays with the out-laws, which means there are others to look after the weeuns. And the wife.

Stats:
Distance: roughly 4 miles
Stretches: Yes!
Sit-Ups: 20!
Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich w/mustard & mayo, chips, quahog chowder
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 1.30 pm
Temperature: 38º
Weather: bright, sunny & beautiful, with the wind at my back ... on the way out ...

Playlist:
Lake Shore Driving - Duran Duran
We Prick You * - David Bowie
Voulez Vous - ABBA
Not Sleeping Around - Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Freedome (Back to Reality Mix) - George Michael
Shake It - Metro Station
Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
Don't Box Me In * - Stan Ridgeway
You're So Damn Hot - OK Go
Def. Con. One. - Pop Will Eat Itself
Cooldown: The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani

He's making violent love to me, mother.

Jingle Bell Run Playlist
About You Now - Sugababes
Jesus Is Pissed - Hostile Omish
Snowman - XTC
It's A Wonderful Life (Gonna Have a Good Time) - Fishbone
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight) - The Ramones
Black Christmas - Hot Tin Roof
Father Christas - The Kinks
Merry Christmas - Wesley Willis
Little Drummer Boy [demo] - Sister Soleil

Fishbone
"It's A Wonderful Life (Gonna Have A Good Time)"


It was not my intention to take two and a half weeks off. Maybe it was a run in 19 degree weather, maybe it was the kids terrible illnesses prior to Thanksgiving which put me flat on my back for a week. Then the demo guys came in to demolish or kitchen. Suddenly, a squad of Nazi frogmen burst through the front door ... in any case, I'm back.

Did not gain any (more) weight, and yet, it feels like everything which had moved up has slid back down. I mean that phsycially, as well as metaphorically. Chug, chug, chug. Enjoy the holiday tunes.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 170.5 lbs.
Stretches: in a minute ... in a minute ...
Lunch: egg salad sandwich, green salad w/Caesar dressing, pear slices
Drink: water
Start Time: 1.30 pm
Temperature: 39º
Weather: wet

Calvin G.'s Manhattan
5 Tbsp. Old Overholt
3 Tbsp. sweet vermouth
1 dash bitters
build over ice into rock glass
add two maraschino cherries, spill in a little of the syrup
Cheers!

Funkytown!

- or - There's No Stoppin' the Cretin Avenue Hoppin'

Macalester to Mississippi Run

Yes, that was stupid cold. Visiting my brother in St. Paul, felt an extreme need to take off some of yesterday's turkey. Thought I managed myself pretty well during dinner (well, except for that unfortunate business about Juan Williams) not eating everyting I saw but only what I was hungry for ... but I didn't need to have a second dinner before going to bed.

God. That was stupid cold. Cold but fun.

Stats:
Distance: 4.1 miles
Stretches: no
Snack: PowerBar Gel
Drink: coffee
Start Time: 8.00 am
Temperature: 19º
Weather: bright and cold

Playlist:
Lo Bueno Siempre Tiene un Final - Nelly Furtado
Funkytown - Lipps Inc.
Thnks Fr Th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy
Decent Days and Nights * - The Futureheads
Low Rider - War
Gary In The Tardis - The Timelords (The KLF)
I Don't Want to Fall in Love * - She Wants Revenge
Cretin Hop - The Ramones
Burning Down the House - Tom Jones & The Cardigans
Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.

I'm shaking like milk

Time and temper. Those are the elements I have been lacking. Tonight the wife and kids are off at a friend's for a play date. They won't be back until bedtime. I was under orders from the wife to take a run. So run I must.

And glory-be was that satisfying. I was so sleepy driving home from work today. I am sick of waking up every day, maybe every other day, with a sinus headache. Allergies, seasonal change, late nights, children nudging me in the middle of the night keeping me awake, it all adds up to bad rest and a terrible headache.

I have been taking over-the-counter sinus meds instead of my migraine prescription and usually it works. Cheaper than the Imitrex, too.

But wow, that felt good. Perfect running weather, after dark, great tunes - and for the first time in a while my mind wandered where I wantd to go, to my writing. Time and temper, they keep me from that, too.

Excuse me, I have to cut my hair and take a luxurious, uninterrupted shower.

Stats:
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 170 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 6.00 pm
Temperature: 55º
Weather: damp and cool - excellent

Playlist:
Let's Go to Bed (Milk Mix) - The Cure
Kalifornia - Fatboy Slim
Ooh La La - Goldfrapp
Mea Culpa - Enigma
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) - David Bowie
Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic
World In My Eyes - Depeche Mode
Got the Time - Joe Jackson
Master and Servant (Slavery Whip Mix) - Depeche Mode

That cloud looks like Ireland!

Tired run today, very tired. Done lost my pep. I asked the wife to talk me into going out, it would have been much easier to get back to do housework. She has been picking up the slack in the personal energy department, signing up for cardio-kickboxing twce a week at the rec center, and trying to create and maintain a personal yoga routine. It's been a good two weeks - for her.

To compensate for feeling like I have been slacking in the personal envirnoment arena, the minute I got back from my jog (it was like a jog, not a run) I didn't even stretch or change, I just got the rake and gloves and got to work on the front yard. So now I feel good all over.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 171.5 lbs.
Yardwork: yes
Lunch: Beef cinnamon noodle soup with spinach
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 1.00 pm
Temperature: 45º
Weather: cool, overcast

Running Playlist:
The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stafni
In Between Days - The Cure
Wogs Will Walk - Cornershop
Compression - Everything But the Girl
Kinda I Want To - Nine Inch Nails
Stupid Girls - Pink
Big Sky - Kate Bush

Yardwork Playlist:
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
Dangerous Power (Cicada Radio Edit) - Gabriel & Dresden
Gett Off - Prince
I Would Die 4 U - Prince
Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box - Radiohead
I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow

The Cure
"In Between Days"

The way you right and left it

Big truck in my way this morning, hauling a mobile home. "Oversize Load." Yeah.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 169.5 lbs.
Stretches: no
Breakfast: cinnamon banana cream of wheat with butter, brown sugar & milk
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 9.40 am
Temperature: 39º
Weather: bright & brisk

Playlist:
Brokeback Mountain Theme: The Wings (Gabriel & Dresden Organized Nature Remix) - Gustavo Santaolalla
This Charming Man - The Smiths
Beat On The Brat - The Ramones
Get Around To It - Tracey Thorn
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean
This Is Pop - XTC
Mr. Blue Sky * - Electric Light Orchestra

XTC
"This Is Pop"

Will nature make a man of me yet?

It was not lost on me last Friday that it's been a year since we departed for NYC for the 2006 marathon. Recent events have made it necessary, even desirable, to cut back. But there have been astonishing drawbacks. Let me tell you about them!

As I have relaxed into sleeping in for a change, my headaches have returned. These past two weeks have been just awful, a return to days I was hoping I had put behind me. But the causes are much clearer. Lack of exercise, lack of proper sleep (I said proper - getting five hours of sleep all week and then taking in ten on Saturday is not a good thing for me) and being nudged in the crotch all night long by a restless child all adds up to woozy, sick-making mornings.

WARNING: This is gross.

And then there's the mosaic. Do you mind if I continue to call it that? It's like saying "departed" for dead or "popular" for whoring around. The formaldehyde treatment has been going well for over two months. But it has taken its toll, and the skin between the warts has dried severely, and that combined with the callouses that develop had created a serious mess by last Sunday night. There was still seepage Monday morning, so I called my podiatrist, whom I love, and he bumped up my appointment to Tuesday.

I love that part where doctor's ask you about your kids or how work has been going, or something specific about what you are up to that they know is important to you. I means they are about to inflict pain. I am ready for this. I am game. He went at my foot with a razor while I talked about all the great time I have been spending with my kids (mmmnnn) and how much they were looking forward to Hah-hah-Halloween and how much driving I have been doing lately and mmmnnn-I am sorry I am not taking this better, sorry, sorry about that. It is an interesting conversation.

I laid off the treatment for a week, padding my foot, letting everything heal and dry out - funny, there was a lot of raw skin, but no blood! Man, he's good. And, of course, I have avoided the street.

Stats:
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 1.30 pm
Temperature: 48º
Weather: brisk

And if I can make five miles, once a week ... it's not great, but it's better than nothing.

Daddy Runs Fast 2006 -or-
Tunes That Got Me To The 2006 NYC Marathon
It's My Life (Vocal Mix) - Liquid People vs. Talk Talk
This Is Where It All Begis - Plasticman
The Glamorous Life (Club Edit) - Sheila E
Upside Down- Jack Johnson
Callas Went Away - Enigma
This Charming Man- Stars
Hips Don't Lie - Bamboo (2006 FIFA World Cup) - Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean
Mi Tumbao - Tres Corona
Badass - The Crystal Method
Cooldown: Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae

Last night, over dishes, I was sharing some minor bit of info about the NYC Marathon - we'd talked about Ryan Shay, I was telling her how I'd probably be paying attention to the Olympic Marathon for the first time in my life - and she said something like, "You wish you were there now, don't you?" In a way, yes. But honestly, no. I liked having a summer and fall this year, more time with the kids, later mornings and nights. It was so difficult. But I still plan on going back in 2011.

Another damn word on headphones.

First to pull over when the atmosphere is less than perfect

The past week has made my head very unhappy. Whatever physical revolution I went through since the beginning of the year, I feel as though I have returned to where I began.

Spetember is a wearying month, but not an unbearable one. Waking very early to run, followed by long rehearsal days and few hours of sleep. The wife has been very kind, letting me sleep in the past few weekends, being with the kids so I can snooze peacefully. I've been feeling great.

Then the winds shifted, fall blew in and my head began to expand. Every day last week I had a fragile stomach. I would get very hungry, and gaseous, and then I would eat something and almost immediately feel queasy. I had some stoamch thing. I has just about filtered it out by yesterday, when I slept in a little, until 8 am, and was all headachy and miserable.

My dreams were odd, the actors' nightmare variety, tedious, so tedious, and I would wake with a furrowed brow. It had something to do with the four year-old nudging me in my sleep, it wasn't really sleep, that had a lot to do with it. In any case, it wasn't a good body day, though I ept myself busy enough to distract me from feeling truly bad.

I blew my nose around dinner, which threw off my equilibrium - my ears were out of balance, it made me dizzy and unwell. I woke feeling the same way. I just two two generic sudfeds, we'll see if that makes any diff.

Oh, and the running, you say? Yes, working on that. I had to take off at somethng like seven every morning this week, and by the time the day was through, I was too unwell to consider hitting the road.

My head started throbbing the moment I started, it would come and go. I would breathe deeply, regularly, I was trying to run fast enough that I wasn't thudding along, but not too fast. (Songs asterisk'ed below indicate my BPM.) At my normal 3.25 turn-off I decided it was either push on through until the headache went away or resign myself to a lousy afternoon. I am glad I did. And yet, I feel crappy. But not as crappy as if I hadn't run, and that's what it's all about, hey kids?

That's not even addressing the unholy mess that is my right foot.

Stats:
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 170.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Snack: GU "Chocolate Outrage" (outrageously fetid)
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 12.00 pm
Temperature: 54º
Weather: sunny, cool & loverly

Playlist:
Glass Breaker (Force Mass Motion Mix) - The Crystal Method f. Charlotte Martin
Song for Shekter _ Fatboy Slim
Angst In My Pants * - Sparks
Head Like a Hole (Copper) - Nine Inch Nails
Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago - Soul Coughing
She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
Doctorin' the Tardis - The Timeslords (The KLF)
Is That Love * - Squeeze
Yestreday Never Tomrrows * - The Stills
Canary In a Coalmine - The Police
Cooldown: U Got Me Up - Dajae w/Cajmere

Runner Down (NY Marathon)

(Low budget M. Doughty.)

I tried and I failed to teach you.

Daddy gets about ninety minutes of alone time on Saturday mornings while mom and the kids go to their music classes. I could have pushed it out to 5 miles or so, but that's all the time I get and there's preening to do. It's not easy to keep this shorn look alive. One day too many and I start looking shaggy.

Beautiful end to a difficult week last night. C. came over for a session of sketching, then she, mom and the kids contributed on making handrolled tortellini while I cleaned up - and there was "witch" cake as a surprise. Later I went with E. downtown to "celebrate" the 15th anniversary of the weekend we started our first theater company.

Fifteen years. Jesus. There was much drinking.

UPDATE: Following my shower I "shaved" the callouses that have built over the mosaic ... only they aren't so much callouses anymore, some have become scabs. There is actual bleeding, which I have been careful to avoid. I applied the Formalaz anyhow, which, as you might have imagined, felt like pouring formaldehyde into an open wound. "Felt like," because that is what I was doing.

The pain affects my entire foot. My toes instinctively curl in reaction to the pain, which affects the muscles in my entire foot. I limp. It takes a while for the pain to subside. It still really hasn't, some three hours later.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Breakfast: eggs, beans & toast
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 10.30 am
Temperature: 57º
Weather: bright & windy

Playlist:
Sydney/Dangerous Power/Tracking Treasure Down - Gabriel & Dresden
Synchronize - Tomboy
A Tab for the Holiday - Lilys

The muscles flex and the fingers curl

I will die on Monday, October 7, 2047. Or says the Death Clock. I find this difficult to believe - dying at the age of 79 - as half my family has a history of longevity. The other half ... well, I don't know, Dad is adopted as has never sought out his birth parents. But he's 72 already, in spite of living his adult life on the heavy side and smoking until he was 40.

I quit when I was 32, if you must know. In any case, if you hadn't noticed, I run, which I figure will win back some of the days or years I lost through bad habits. Of course, they're saying now that having a son will give you an early grave, if you are a mother. But I act like a mother so I assume the boy will kill me.

I had a dream last night that I told someone I had once climbed Mount Everest. I can't remember what the point of the conversation was, and I've never climbed Everest, I've only read Into Thin Air. I think what I meant was I have run a marathon, which to me, once upon a time, was as likely.

Anyway, squeezed a fast one in (that sounds nasty, doesn't it) between bathtime and bedtime. I seem to have slowed from one run every two, to every three days. My left ankle has been acting up, I haven't been stretching enough before these evening runs.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: a little, not enough
Dinner: spaghetti & meat sauce, broccoli, greens, kalamata olive bread with butter, water
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 8.30 pm
Temperature: 64º
Weather: warm & misty

Playlist:
Jazzhole - Free The Robots
Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac
Street Life - Roxy Music
The New Style _ The Beastie Boys
Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Strict Time - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3 A.M. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.) - The KLF
Cooldown: Making Plans for Nigel - XTC

I ain't fooling, give me your refueling.

Fall has fallen. And so has my mojo. I've got the gear to get out there and keep going, but the wind and clouds and chill put me off, especially when I look around and see what disarray the house is in.

A half-hour run can take ninety minutes - suiting up, snacking, hydrating, stretching takes 30 minutes, running another thirty, thirty minutes to warm-down, log my run and rinse off. This is time which could otherwise be spent folding laundry, picking up, writing, for G-d's sake ...

In exchange for good health, a clear head, warm blood, lack of general aches, even distribution of whatever it is I eat. It is a worthwhile trade-off, except for the times that it isn't.

Then there's that thing about regular exercise keeping me from being maudlin, depressed and generally no fun to be around.

Today we attended the "Fall Party " at the kids' school. The girl scrambling all over the monkey bars, the boy kicking a ball all over the yard. My wife says I have turned our children into little athletes. I can't think of anything more ironic.

Anyway, I got out tonight. Getting chilly. Long shirt time, still the shorts.

Stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 169 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Dinner: salmon, cabbage salad, potatoes, red wine
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 9.30 pm
Temperature: 55º
Weather: very cool

Playlist:
Tell Me Why (Original Mix) - Supermode
High (Higher Mix) - The Cure
Born To Be Alive - Patrick Hernandez
Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite
Whammy Kiss - The B-52s
Cooldown: Fascination - Everything But the Girl

My world's on fire. How about yours?

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 170 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Snack: Balance Bare bar
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 6.00 pm
Temperature: 65º
Weather: warm

Playlist:
All Star - Smashmouth
Out of Control (State of Emotion) - Kenna
Big Apple Boogaloo - Brooklyn Funk Essentials
Never Coming Home (Gonna Live My Life Remix) - Sting
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush
Velvet Pants - Propellerheads
Rock Lobster - The B-52s

Put lotion on me

A friend of mine is working towards her first 5K - and a potential marathon. She'd never really run more than a mile before she started training in earnest a few weeks ago. She gives me periodic running updates, which are fabulous (she should create a blog.)

It feels really good that she chose to ask me for advice, I love being helpful. And it's so easy, there's so much basic stuff that you just never know right off the bat and someone needs to tell you so you know you are doing the right thing. Always drink before and after (during on long runs) and eat something before you go. You don't have to run every day, run every other day, rest is important, too. Things like that.

She's already pushed past three miles, so she knows she can do the run next month.

Speaking of friends, I was tracking R. in Chicago until the site crashed from overuse. I was worried, I can't imagine running a marathon in mid-80s heat. I took a run this afternoon in sympathy, it's ridiculous. The only thing that felt worse than running was walking, taking away the wind resistance I could really feel the surface temperature of my face and back.

I ran without a shirt. In broad daylight. I'm sorry, citizens, I went crazy. It won't happen again.

But he finished! 5:17.26, not the number he was shooting for, but that was before someone decided summer in October was a good idea. Nice for baseball, sure (even better if you live here, ha ha ha) but unhappy for running.

But he made it! Woo-woo!

By the way, Walgreen's brand toe separators suck. But kids have hidden the really nice ones I get at Target. They love those things. If I find one in the boy's mouth, I think I will vomit.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Mea; Ramen w/egg
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 2.30 pm
Temperature: 88º
Weather: bright & sweaty

Playlist:
Ohh La La - The Ditty Bops
Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Kiss You Back - Digital Underground
All Night - Sam Phillips
Black Calfironia - Kaada
Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - MIKA

Workout Music: Soothing or Aggressive?

Aggressive, of course. Loud, obnoxious, aggressive ... disco. To each their own. But still.

UPDATE: Jesus. I had no idea things were so terrible in Chicago, excuse me for sounding flip - I was just pleased to see my friend had made it across the finish line, if I thought his life was in danger I'd wish he hadn't. Apparently it was hotter than what I found on the Internet, I know one man died, and I hope those hospitalized will recover soon.

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away

My thoughts are with everyone running the Chicago this Sunday, especially R. - who will complete his fourth marathon! In any event, it's supposed to be mid-80s, deathly humid ... with thunderstorms. Oy. Drink, drink, drink!

The Doritos ... must ... stop ...

WARNING: Disgusting Wart News

Wednesday I visited my podiatrist about those nasty things on my feet. So you know, I have tried Compund W (the regular kind, and the kind for Plantar warts which use pads) as well as the "duct tape" method. There was another podiatrist I had been seeing a few years ago, but he was way on the West Side and my visits were irregular.

In any case, nothing ever worked. The "mosaic" is on the pad of my right foot, close to the "drop-off point" to my toes. Treatment like duct tape did a treat on necrotizing the flesh underneath, but in that particular place it not only gave a burning sensation, but effected the tissue underneath, making my foot feel like it was broken. I was hobbling everywhere - or slithering. Like Byron.

More and more white, crumbly skin would come away, but it was apparent by the never-shrinking footprint that remained that I wasn't getting anywhere.

Eight weeks ago this new doctor prescribed Formalaz, which has worked differently than all those salicylic acid treatments. He says there is progress but I am withholding hope. I am supposed to use a pumice stone to strip away the callouses that the body creates to protect the foot in response to this severe treatment, but these callouses have gotten so thick I feel like I am not scraping away the dead, hard skin so much as buffing it to a shiny luster.

I'm not even using a pumice stone, I am using a metal corn remover. After what the doctor used to strip away the callouses, a scalpel and then a handheld sanding drill, I don't feel so bad about the harsh treatment I normally give them. He stripped them down to skin ... and large white footprints. Again, I don't see any progess. But he's really nice. I'll see him again in November.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 10.20 pm
Temperature: 68º
Weather: warm & dark

Boy, running at night is so much more pleasant, I can't tell you.

Playlist:
All Good Things (Come To An End) - Nelly Furtado
Starbursts Over Orion - Modaji
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
Mister Sister - The Tender Box
+ Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat
He Can't Love You Like I Love You - Michael Stanley Band

+ This one's for you and all your Man-Friends, Mrs. Beasley. Thanks for reminding me that the old hometown really is a great place to raise your kids ... unless they're gay.

Nelly Furtado
"All Good Things (Come To An End)"

SPOILER: Final six minutes of "Six Feet Under"
This song is better than the one they actually used.

I've powers o'er a woman's body

Who inspired me to go running that first time? Kit Mambo - of course!

"With You I Can Run Forever"
from Animalympics


I'm just another in a long line of goons to admit he was an adolescent aroused by a cartoon character.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 166 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Accelerade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Start Time: 6.00 am
Temperature: 64º
Weather: warm & breezy

Since the race, I've have had an insatiable urge to eat nothing but junk food. It takes all my will and determination to make sure I pack a lunch to prevent me from visiting a fast food joint. Meanwhile, I really should stock up on bananas.

Playlist:
Kit Mambo - Graham Gouldman
Catapult - R.E.M.
The Sensual World - Kate Bush
Mirror in the Bathroom (Best of Music and Rhythm Version) - The Beat
Call Me - Blondie
The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch nails
There There (The Boney King) - Radiohead
Cooldown: No Tomorrow - Orson

Where do we go from here?

No real opportunity for a recovery run yesterday, I began suffering migraine symptoms in the late morning which would not abate until I took my perscription. If I had run, would they have subsided without medication? Sometimes they do.

Then again, sometimes they subside for the run and then come back with force.

Anyway. Next?

Distance: 1.62 miles
Weight: 170 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Accelerade
Snack: none
Start Time: 6.30 am
Temperature: 59º
Weather: cool

Playlist:
Big Time (Extended Version) - Peter Gabriel
Games People Play - Alan Parsons Project
Six Feet Under (Photek Remix) - Thomas Newman

The Akron Half Marathon makes me want to smoke pot

Official time: 01:48.38

My half-marathon split last year in New York was 2:00.17. And I took the first half much faster than the second half, I added fifteen minutes getting to the finish. So the big question was whether I could break two hours this time out. If yesterday was any indication, it wasn't going to happen.

I must have spent over four hours in my car yesterday, from home to Shaker Square, then to the offices downtown, to the rehearsal space, out to the far West Side, back to the rehearsal space, to dinner with the wife, out to Akron to pick up registration materials and back home again.

I do not like driving Akron after dark. I can't get the hang of the one-way streets in broad daylight.

At night the kids were wired, full of anticipation of the following day's activities, and the wife was also truly wrung out and exhausted. How could we put everyone down for the night, prepare for a day on the road including assmelbing all the necessary race clothes and materials?

The only solution was none at all. I put them to bed, and slogged through, cleaning up, making sandwiches, laying out my gear, pinning on my bib number, double-checking everything. There would be no time to do any of that in the morning, and I was already planning to wake at 4:30. I went to bed at 11:30. Five hours of sleep before a Half Marathon.

Of course, I was up checking the clock every hour, then every half-hour. Rolled out a little after four. Got my wife and the kids in the car by five-fifteen, and she drove me to the starting line by a little after six. I'd made it. Now all I had to do was run.

After a day spent in a car, the idea of two hours of exercise out of doors sounded like bliss, no matter what shape I was in, though I had to admit I felt pretty good. I'd had coffee, an energy bar, a sunbutter sandwich and mixed my first batch of Accerlerade.

Wow, that stuff tastes like ass.

At the tent I also had a banana, some Gu, water and Powerade. I was full of running product. Two trips to the port-o-johns (remembering to force myself to exonerate my bowels, which I was in no mood to do) and dropped my bag with the FedEx people, forgetting to keep my lip balm with me or apply and body glide. Luckily, I did not come to regret lacking either.

I won't say the run was easy, but it was a breeze compared to a full marathon (or as one announcement put it, the "real" marathon, which was kind of a pisser.) In the attempt to make two hours, I did a quick calculation an decided to start with the 8:24/mile pace team. This was also the 3:40 Marathon pace team, so I figured if I could keep that sign in my sights, I would make the run in 1:50.

Much to my own surprise, I not only kept the sign in my sights, I kept it right in front of me almost the entire way.

At mile 4 the race went past the photo lab where I broke my heel in April, 2005. That was a marvellous surprise, and a delightful vindication.

At a water stop at mile 5 I was frightened by a blonde woman in a pink top who began running the other way at the end of the water line screaming "Oh my God! I missed all of them!!!"

There were two marching bands at high schools, a steel drum band on steps at U of A, and a live blues band in someone's front yard. All of them were playing songs like Everything's Gonna Be Alright and Low Rider and others with strong drug associations. Where are the Techno marathons?

At mile 6.6 I grabbed one too many Gus, but I still have the one I didn't consume, I tucked it in my waste band. God, are those vile ... but extremely effective. By mile 9 I needed to pass a drink station (I had been alternating, water, Powerade, water, Powerade ...) because I finally began to feel a little bloated and like I actually needed to sweat a little more. That, and I was beginning to need to pee.

At mile 11 the "real" marathon and the Half Marathon split. There were far more of them, and we were sent in a much spottier line down the highway. I shared with some of my fellow travelers the fear that this was a big joke, and they were just sending us losers down the highway with no real finish anywhere.

Keeping my own pace, without a "pace leader" was not as difficult as I'd feared, and as we turned into Canal Park Stadium, I actually sprinted, passing several people. The clock at the finish had passed 1:49 (not my time, it took a minute for me to reach the start - chip technology is really super) and I really didn't want to go longer than 1:50. So I didn't.

There's more ... the girl ran the Kids 1K which started, or was supposed to start, at 9 am. I not only made the run, which they did not expect, but it took over a half-hour for the kids run to commence. I can carp more about that later. The good, great news is I got a PERSONAL BEST, my feet are in excellent shape, no blisters, no bleeding (anywhere) and, well, hey. What's next?

Who's to say I can't do everything?

The fine print on the Akron Marathon states quite clearly NO HEADPHONES. So for those of you who disdain runners with iPods, or my taste in music in particular, here's my comeuppance. I have serious concerns about my running for two hours without my music.

But then, I really did run most - which is to say more than half - of the NYC Marathon with my headphones down around my neck, listening to the crowd, the bands, the everything. I only really needed them near the end - after I'd gone 18 miles.

The girl and the boy have signed up for the 1K at 9 am. At first, I just thought the girl would run it, she's been asking about it for weeks. Monday we went for a test run/walk around the block, I'd mapped out what 1K is so she understood how long it is. The boy was suppoed to ride in the wagon, but he refused. I couldn't get him to stop running. She needed to stop every few house length to wait for us to catch up, but he just kept huffing and puffing and wouldn't quit until we got there.

I have created two, unstoppable running monsters.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: coffee, Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Start Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 68º
Weather: humid, following a rainfall

Watching the wildlife this morning. One skunk, three deer and a bunny. The world without us.

Playlist:
I'm Alright * - Kenny Loggins
Car Wash - Rolls Royce
All Things (Just Keep Getting Better) - Widelife f. Simone
Shake It Up - The Cars
Europa and the Pirate Twins - Thomas Dolby
SexyBack - Justin Timberlake
Rehumaize Yourself - The Police
No Expectations - I Am The World Trade Center
Cooldown: Gave Up - Nine Inch Nails
Cooldown: Upside Down - Jack Johnson

And when are you going to hear those last two songs back to back?

I Am The World Trade Center
"No Expectations"

In an alternate universe, this is the top dance hit of all time.

Baby, the stars shine bright

July 4, 1980 - my first five mile run. My first run, ever. Check out those Keds. Just rolled out of bed and started running. You can do that when you're 12.

What a morning. Welcome, new moon, haven't seen stars that shiny in ages. Hello, Venus.

I understand it's been raining a little bit in London. Henrik says bits of Run, Fatboy, Run are "hopelessly naïve" - trying to train for a marathon in 3 weeks. I say yes, that's what makes it a comedy. If he took 3 months, that would be a documentary.

Received my first copy of Running Times magazine in the mail this week, a perk of signing up for the Akron Halfer. The wife thinks it's amusing - an article on Brian Sell and Eritrea's Elite Running Program? Pinch me! But I did find several pieces of interest.

Having said that, what price, writing? There's a column in there about hitting the road at 5 am that is much less interesting and, frankly, less well-written than your average daily blog entry. I'm wondering what future first-person human interest articles have in the New Media, you can get such better stuff for free.

I'm not talking about me. I just quote New Wave tunes from the 80s.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: coffee, Gatorade
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Start Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 57º
Weather: perfect

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Do It Again - Steely Dan
Warsaw * - Joy Division
Steppin' Out * - Joe Jackson
Music Time - Styx
Water From a Vine Leaf - William Orbit
Sin (Long) - Nine Inch Nails

Everyting But the Girl
"I Don't Want to Talk About It"

Let the bass from the speakers run through ya sneakers

Ten Miles to Gandhi and back. Toe separator? Check. Gel? Check. Water break mapped out? Check. Lip balm applied? Check. Band-aids on nipples? Check.

Route: Home to Gandhi

Distance: 10 miles
Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Breakfast: Cream of Wheat with butter and milk, banana, water, coffee
Drink: 8 oz. Gatorade before and after, 2 water breaks at 3.5 and 6.5 miles
Snack: PowerBar Gel at 5 miles
Start Time: 10.00 am
Duration: about 90 minutes
Temperature: 72º - 75º
Weather: sunny & warm

Ooh-ah, seriously chafed nipples. Something I forgot since last year, I simply have too much hair to rely on a small finger band-aid, I need to restock on the big, waterproof ones. Those suckers were flapping inside my shirt before I got halfway.

And halfway was so nice. I have missed MLK Blvd. since last year's training, but going out there and back is just not worth that kind of effort on a regular basis (check out the elevation) but the new Indian Cultural Garden was dedicated after my long runs were through, so I never got to stop and look at it.

I took off my headphones (sorry, Haircut 100) and took a brief stroll around, reading the quotes at the stone stations and trying to peer up at the old man but the sun was right above him. Go figure. I was sucking on a gel, which I tried not feeling odd about.

Ten miles is too far go so on a sunny day without lip balm in my waistband. And the gel and the water breaks made it much less of a slog than my last long runs down MLK were. It's amazing, all of those runs last July, August and September, and I still hadn't learned most of what I did in the last month before the marathon. I'd figured out water breaks and bathroom breaks, but absolutely nothing about eating on the go.

Playlist:
Pon de Replay - Rihanna
Get the Party Started - Pink
The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson
The Distance - Cake
Let Go (canto de ossanho) - Astrud Gilbetro
Wound Up - Office
Grinding Halt - The Cure
Elephants & Flowers - Prince
What's On Your Mind (pure Energy) - Information Society
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Face the Face - Pete Townshend
Love Plus One - Haircut 100
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) - De La Soul
Closer - Gabriel & Dresden
They Boy From Ipanema - Crystal Waters
Crosseyed and Painless - Talking Heads
Late Bar - Duran Duran
Rock and Roll Part 2 - Gary Glitter
The Power - Snap!
A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley
We Got the Beat - The Go-Go's
Cooldown: Remember the Time - Michael Jackson

Here's my recent observation about the whole headphone thing ... is this a Boomer vs. Gen X thing? I mean, we're the ones who can't live without a pop soundtrack - I mean, who just check out without one. From Sesame Street to Electric Co. to Schoolhouse Rock we learned everything through music. Then came music videos, Miami Vice and all the rest. If your Revolution doesn't have a beat, I won't dance to it.

Or am I just talking poop?

On the wire between will and what will be

Were you aware that Doritos now comes with two flavors in one bag?! It's crazy! Hot Wings flavor in the same bag with Blue Cheese flavor! It's like a party in my mouth! Literally - there is an actual party going on in my mouth!

It is because things like this happen that I will never have a flat stomach.

Still a little rub on the left heel, I'm going without gel cups for the first time in years. I tried stuffing my old ones in there but they don't fit. I believe I will pick some new ones up this afternoon. Otherwise the news shoes are feeling pretty good.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 166 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 67º
Weather: warm

Playlist:
Real Gone - Sheryl Crow
Dancing Queen - ABBA
Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads
Verb: That's What's Happening - Moby
The Globe - Big Audio Dynamite II
Maniac - Michael Sembello
Block Rockin' Beats - Chemical Brothers

Sheryl Crow
"Real Gone"

The Boy loves the talking cars.

I am the neatest thing in town

Wore the new dress shirt the wife got me for my birthday to work for the first time. Very stylish, minty green on green. My nipples were chafed withiin a half-hour and I was scrambling around to find a co-worker with band-aids, but the damage has already been done. Forgot about that little incident by this morning and found by halfway through my run that I was in discomfort, I'll have to wear the damn things for the rest of training.

Speaking of which: The Biomechanics of Women's Breast Movement During Running Puerile - yet so informative!

New shoes! Picked up a pair of Asics Gel-Kayanus at Second Sole yesterday. Guy kept calling them "Keanus" which made me nervous. Little rub on my left heel, have to watch that.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Slim Fast Optima Meal Bar
Time: 5.20 am
Temperature: 54º
Weather: cool

Playlist:
Dangerous Power (Gabriel & Dresden Extended Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden
Rainbo Conversation - Stereloab
Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
Barok - Plastik - Stereloab
Hold It Now, Hit It - The Beastie Boys
Don't Care * - Klark Kent
Keep It Dark - Genesis

"Freestyle"
WARNING: Advertisement

This American Life
"Crispy With the Rock"

Never comprehending the race had long gone by

Am I not in training? Just got all my confirmation mats for the Half Marathon - which is in a day less than two weeks. I keep thinking that 13 miles, while no walk in the park, is something I can just do, and not worry about, as long as I put in regular runs every other day.

It does not help when I have one too many drinks at the wife's birthday party, and then have four hours of sleep. Yesterday was a monster, and fortunately I had the generous fortune of getting in ten hours of sleep last night. Yay, ten!

But seriously, I have put in a few eighters, tried to stretch to at least five or six every weekend, and just keep putting down three milers every other day. However, in spite of trying, very very hard, to keep my water consumption up I have urine the hue of golden honey, and the past two runs have been like moving through sludge. That and my head is expanding through my bandana, another symptom of dehydration.

And there has not been a moment to buy, let alone break-in, a new pair of shoes.

Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: energy bar
Time: 11.20 am
Temperature: 51º
Weather: crisp & cloudy

Playlist:
Make a Circuit With Me - The Polecats
The Robots - Kraftwerk
Pop Goes the Weasel - 3rd Bass
Stupid Girl - Garbage
La Colegiala - Gary Low
Gone Daddy Gone * - Violent Femmes
I Melt With You - Modern English
Keep Hope Alive (JDS Mix) - The Crystal Method

Just wishing

Almost too cool to sweat. The difference between Tuesday night and this morning was vast. Five hours of sleep, long days behind and ahead of me ... I don't know why I did not opt for another hour of sleep, but it's never very good sleep.

But I fulfilled my mandate. I ran. I have no concept of how I am going to be able to make it through to bedtime.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 51º
Weather: brisk

Playlist:
The Way I Are - Timbaland
Sixteen Military Wives - The Decemberists
She's Lost Control - Joy Division
Banquet - Bloc Party
Take California - Propellerheads
We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife
Rhythm Is a Dancer - Snap!
Wishing (If I HAd a Photograph of You) - A Flock of Seagulls

Joy Division
"She's Lost Control"

Stylish.

No better time than right now

9/11/2007 I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies.

Wow. Wish I had a time on that, I just tore. And maybe I tore something, can't tell yet. Was planning on running tomorrow, as per my ritual, but the wife is trying very hard to establish her own exercise routine, and just signed up a the rec center. So it will be she getting up at 5 am.

I have been so wrung out lately ... which was part of the reason I just needed to get out. Bad day. Don't want to talk about it.

The girl insists on my reading to myself in her room while she tries to go to sleep. Usually I am just place-holding for Mom until the boy is down, and that irritates me. The girl fidgets and I don't get any real reading done.

Recently I have been looking over my running journal from the NY Marathon, and she wanted me to read that to her, out loud. I thought it would bore her, but instead she just had a million questions about all the strange words. Gear, splits, goo.

I got to the part where I whine about my father not inviting me to run with him and she asked why he never invited me to run with him, and I said he probably didn't think of it, and when I thought of asking him, I feared being a mile or so out and having to come back by myself.

She asked why he didn't think of asking me, and I said it's like how grandma gets down on the floor to play with her and brother, she never did that with us, because it didn't occur to her to do it. But she learned to.

"Did her mom and dad teach her to get on the floor and play with her grandchildren?" the girl asked, and I said no - your mom and dad taught her how to do that. Her mom and dad would rather be caught dead than get down on the floor to play with a child.

I didn't say that part, about being caught dead.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 166 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: NutriGrain Bar
Time: 10.40 pm
Temperature: 62º
Weather: cool & breezy!

Playlist:
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Chains of Love - Erasure
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Holiday - Green Day
No Time This Time - The Police
Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold
Cooldown: Dust In The Wind - Gabriel & Dresden

Andrew Gold
"Lonely Boy"

Born to be a god among "Salesman"

Everybody play Nude Runner! (Warning: nude runner)

My co-workers have been arguing over whether I have a flat butt or a bubble butt. Can I have them sued for that?

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: banana
Time: 5.40 am
Temperature: 66º
Weather: very pleasant

Playlist:
Proper Education (Club Mix) - Eric Prydz vs. Floyd
Dead Man's Party * - Oingo Boingo
Blueeyed Devil - Soul Coughing
I'm Still Standing - Elton John
Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris
Pressure - Billy Joel
Cooldown: I Do Not Want This - Nine Inch Nails

To work. To play. To live. To love.

Daft Punk is playing in my head. In my head.

September is difficult. If I want to get out I need to rise at 5 am at the latest - and then after a full day's rehearsal, and spending the evening with family and closing up the house, there's about a half-hour to myself before going to bed around midnight.

If there's one thing I have learned in the ast several months, it's the effect rest has on the human body, or rather, the effect the lack of it has.

But I'd set the clock for five, and knew I would not be happy or get back to sleep - I needed to go running. Right now I am glad I did.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Balance Bar Gold
Time: 5.40 am
Temperature: 73º
Weather: balmy, overcast, with a broken up sliver of moon

Playlist:
Eleven (Extended Club Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden
Verb: That's What's Happening - Zachary Sanders
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Digital Love - Daft Punk
Enola Gay - Orchestra Manouvers in the Dark
The Brooklynites - Soul Coughing
Turning Japanese - The Vapors
Cooldown: Emerge (Daft Punk Mix) - Fisherspooner

Zachary Sanders
"Verb"

Diet Coke and a pizza, please

Is it me? Is it an odor?

Recent Running Blog Posts is ignoring me. I keep sending them emails, asking them to add me to the list, but I get no response. This has been going on for almost a month. I am glad to have a listing at Running Blog Family Directory but I'd like my regular posts to reach a wider audience.

Which is to say, any.

I have been lulled by those who would suggest it is not necessary to warm-up before running, but that it is only necessary to stretch after running. This may be true - if you begin your run as a warm-up. Mika has a tendency to turn the start of your run into a race.

I have heard from my shins today for the first time in a long time. Watch it, dummy.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 168.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes (but not before, schmuck)
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 67º
Weather: balmy & sweaty

Playlist:
Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - MIKA
Just Like Heaven * - The Cure
Neat Neat Neat - The Damned
Antmusic * - Adam and the Ants
Gypsy Woman (Red Hot + Dance Remix) - Crystal Waters
Friends Forever - Puffy Amiyumi
Burning Love - Elvis Presley
Something Like A Mama - Underworld

You've gone and got sick on my trainers.

This will be my kids memories of their grandparents; car trips to the hills, playing in the muck by Dow Lake, running around naked, tractor rides, a big bonfire to the moon and the countless visible stars.

Having said that, diet for the last two days have consisted of burgers, hot dogs and pizza, Cheetos, White Cheddar Cheez-Its and Wavy Lays, Cosmos, margaritas and beer.

Yesterday was hot, oppressive, and searingly bright. The night was cold ... and I learned that if I lay on my back, I'm fine. If I lie on my side, I get a headache. I lie on my back, it goes away. It went like this until I woke up for the final time - as usual - three minutes before my alarm went off.

Running the bike path along the Hocking is beautiful at sunrise. I need to ask my wife what the birds were. Shared my morning shower with a deer.

Distance: 6.75 miles
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Balance Gold
Time: 6.00 am
Duration 1 hour 4 minutes
Weather: cool, misty & humid

Outtake
"Run, Fat Boy, Run"

Never Over

Stressful week, peaceful weekend. Woke when I woke, there's grandparents to look after the kids, got to the bike path before it started getting too warm. The outlwas have an outdoor show behind the garage facing a wide field circled by thick trees. At this time of day the sun is facing the deck, and after your shower you can just sit in a chair and dry in the sun.

If you have a better idea for a Saturday morning, you can keep it.

Hocking River Bike Path
Uhm, I didn't mean to say it was grass, it's not grass. You can't edit those once you make them.

Distance: 6.75 miles
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Balance Gold
Time: 8.20 am
Duration 58 minutes
Temperature: 60º
Weather: warm & a little humid

Summer 2007 Playlist:
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Stronger - Kanye West
Blockbust - Sweet
Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
Shine - Take That
Vegas - Calvin Harris
Mass Repeat (Extended 12" Version) - Gabriel & Dresden
Girls and Boys In Love - The Rumble Strips
Malegria - Manu Chao
Totally F*cked - Soundtrack from "Spring Awakening"
Sorry (Man With Guitar Mix) - Madonna
Foundations* - Kate Nash
The Girls - Calvin Harris
Cooldown: Disco Heat - Calvin Harris

Summer 2006 Playlist

Daddy's Red Margarita
juice 1 lime
equal measure Tequila
2/3 measure Couintreau
Shake
lime rim of glass, coat with Kosher salt
add ice to glass, pour
add 1 tsp Grenadine, 1 maraschino
serve

Manu Chao
"Malegria"

You better beware ... you better take care ...

Last time I saw two skunks. Today, it was a deer. Just a deer, standing there, eating a neighbor's hedge out on Monticello. As I spotted it, it spotted me, and started to run in that goofy way towards the street where an oncoming car would hit it ... but then it dodged back owards the sidewalk as I came to a stop. We looked at each other. I averted my gaze, looking straight ahead, and walked past it. Just as I passed, it ran away, and so did I.

A co-worker is going for her first Half-Marathon. She says she's been having difficulty getting past six miles. I ask if she's been eating and hydtartiing and she sayid yes - but not on the run. I suggested a water break, she's running through town, there must be a public fountain somewhere in a six mile radius. Said she hadn't thought of it. I also told her about supplements (GU, ecch) and other things she might consume as she's going.

She was, like, wow, how do you know these things? And I said, well, I asked another runner how to get past six miles.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 164.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Balance Gold
Time: 5.30 am
Temperature: 69º
Weather: balmy with a full moon

Playlist:
Blockbuster - Sweet
Eat for Two - 10,000 Maniacs
I'm Too Sexy (7" Version) - Right Said Fred
Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
88 Lines About 44 Women - The Nails
Turn to Stone - ELO
Shoe Box - Barenaked Ladies
Bus to Beezebub - Soul Coughing
Cooldown: Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Catz

I can't sleep at night

 Random Notes ...

• Didn't feel like eating anything before heading out, force-fed myself a banana. This was a very good idea and another testament to man's ability to actually learn from his experiences.

• The stuff is called Formalaz. Its effects are not yet painful, though drying is definitely taking place.

• My shoes are entirely blown and I need to make time to get a new pair. I was on my feet for close to ten hours in them on Friday, a lot of it just standing. Yesterday my feet hurt in a way they hadn't since I was engaged in major training last fall.

Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 168 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: banana
Time: 4:00 pm
Temperature: 72º
Weather: sunny & hot

Playlist:
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House - LCD Soundsystem
Acceptable in the 80s (Tom Neville Remix) - Calvin Harris
Everybody Everybody - Black Box
Music Plus 1 - Cornershop
Spinning Top - XTC
I Didn't Mean To Turn You On - Robert Palmer
Obsession - Animotion
Next To You* - The Police
SOS - Rihanna
Bazamba - Sister Soleil
Cooldown: Idioteque - Radiohead

Daddy's White Russian
2 shots Smirnoff
1 shot Kahlúa
stir in rock glass with two ice cubes
Two tbsp heavy cream, 1 tsp sugar, beat until pleasantly creamy
Pour whipped cream slowly over ice, serve

Mom and Daddy enjoy this number with a big bag of Corn Twistees while curled up watching Life On Mars.

I found a fox, caught by ducks ...

Visited my new podiatrist on Tuesday. I like him. Maybe because he's young and cute and says nice things about my feet.

They are in good shape, apparently, my feet. They bend well, they have a good pulse (who knew?) there's just problem A and problem B.

Problem A, yes, the warts. He has a new treatment, something I never heard of before, A prescription that is 10% formaldehyde. That's right, you f*ckers are already dead you just don't know it yet. We'll see how well the stuff works (or how hideously painful it is) in the next six to eight weeks.

Then there's the bunion. He praised my use of the toe-spacer, which actually seems to work, somewhat. He also recommended orthopedics, but my health care plan, which kind of blows, does not cover them (they have also refused to pay as much as they used to for my migraine meds, God I love this country.)

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 163.5 lbs. (?)
Stretches: yes
Drink: PowerBar Endurance Sun Tea
Lunch: sunbutter & preserves sandwich, baba & celery sticks
Time: 1:00 pm
Temperature: 77º
Weather: hot & sunny

Playlist:
Shine - Take That
Regret - New Order
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Miami Vice Theme (1985) - Jan Hammer
Gimme Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - The Ramones
Around the World - Daft Punk
I Must Confess - Everything but the Girl
Happiness In Slavery - Nine Inch Nails
Warmdown: I Created Disco - Calvin Harris

Take That
"Shine"


Pingu - get it?

Umgawah!

It's about time I chimed in on whether or not it is kosher to wear headphones while running. I mean, it is obvious from my blog that I use my iPod every time I run. And there is a reason for that.

I have been running, on and off, mostly off, for over twenty-five years. Since I got my first iPod in 2003, I have run more often, more consistently, faster and with greater joy, than I ever did before.

I'm all for the sound of the outdoors, your feet on the pavement and your own healthy breathing. But first off, I am easily bored. And music is an outstanding motivator for me. Running is one of my few opportunities in the day to listen to the electronic pop music I like (though, I have to admit, my son is becoming one crazy dancer) and planning playlists and looking forward to listening to them has gotten me out of bed many, many times.

The first time I ran a 5K wearing my iPod I broke twenty minutes. I do not believe I could have finished my first marathon without it.

Yes, if I were hit by lightning I could send raw electricity right into my ears and destroy them. So I will refrain from using them in a thunderstorm. And there is always the chance of getting hit by a car, so I stick to the sidewalks, always look both ways when I cross the street, and otherwise pay attention.

To each their own. This is mine.

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: PowerBar Endurance Sun Tea
Snack: Slim Fast Optima
Time: 6:00 am
Temperature: 65º
Weather: misty

Playlist:
Girls and Boys in Love - The Rumble Strips
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
Space Age Love Song - A Flock of Seagulls
Malegria - Manu Chao
Leilani - Hoodoo Gurus
Merrymaking At My Place - Calvin Harris
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
It's My Life (Vocal Mix) - Liquid People vs. Tak Talk

Trailer
"Run, Fat Boy, Run"

Play Fatboy Frogger.

Count the rings around my eyes

For fun, and because I am supposedly in training for a half-marathon, I took the downhill route through Little Italy. Dawn on Murray Hill, running past the vacant stalls and ducking under raffle signs. Another Feast of the Assumption literally washed down the drain.

Stupid ... man needs more than five hours of sleep before running that far. And good sleep, too, that boy still loves to stick his feet in my crotch. Woke at 4.30 feeling as though I'd been socked in the eyes with a wet, heavy, sock-like thing. Took some Tylenol. Usually the run takes care of that but I still have that wretched feeling. Took my migraine meds, I hope that does the trick.

How young are you? How old am I?

Distance: 7.35 miles
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Time: 6:00 am
Temperature: 58º
Weather: cool & overcast w/light rain

Playlist:
Tracking Treasure Down (Gabiel & Dresden Club Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden
Future Sightings - I am the World Trade Center
I Send a Message - INXS
Touch the Sky (ft. Lupe Fiasco) - Kanye West
Push It Salt 'N Pepa
Are You Trying to Be Funny? - Everything But the Girl
Wannabe - Spice Girls
I Will Dare - The Replacements
Song for a Future Generation - The B-52s
Save a Prayer - Duran Duran
Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above (Calvin Harris Remix) - CSS
Call On Me (Filterheadz Remix) - Eric Prydz
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Lullaby of Clubland - Everything But the Girl
Red - Sister Soleil
Cooldown: Toxic - Britney Spears

Gabriel & Dresden
"Tracking Treasure Down"

Hot as a Baker

Let us pause for a moment to luxuriate in the absence of pain. No shin splints. No pulled hamstrings. My feet feel ... all right. No back strain. No migraines. She's in love with me and I feel fine.

The toe spacer seems to be doing some good work, I think. Maybe. I see a podiatrist in a week, there will be more details then, though I may be loathe to share them here.

What to run on Sunday morning ... six miles? Nine? I haven't dipped down into University Circle since last fall.

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect Bar
Time: 6:00 am
Temperature: 68º
Weather: humid and overcast

Playlist:
Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns
Sure Shot - The Beastie Boys
Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
Acceptable in the 80s - Calvin Harris
Doctor Who Theme - Candyman
Town Called Malice - The Jam
The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
Cooldown: Synchronicity II - The Police

The sun and the moon

Thunderstorms and iPods — Not a Good iDea
New England Journal of Medicine, July 2007

"A 37-year-old man was brought to the emergency department at our hospital. He had been jogging in a thunderstorm, listening to his iPod, when an adjacent tree was struck by lightning. Witnesses reported that he was thrown approximately 8 ft (2.4 m) from the tree.

The patient had second-degree burns on his chest and left leg. In addition, two linear burns extended along his anterior chest and neck to the sides of his face, terminating in substantial burns in the external auditory meatus bilaterally, corresponding to the positions of his earphones at the time of the lightning strike.

Both of his tympanic membranes were ruptured, and he had a severe conductive hearing deficit. He also had a mandibular fracture. Computed tomography of the mandible and of the temporal bones showed bilateral dislocation of the incudomalleolar joints ...(more)

In other words, "both his eardrums were ruptured, small bones in his ears broken, and his jaw disclocated on both sides and broken in four places." - Snopes.com

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 165 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Slim Fast Optima
Time: 6:00 am
Temperature: 70º
Weather: humid with light rain (but no thunder)

Playlist:
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
Radio Free Europe (Original Hib-Tone Single)* - R.E.M.
Solsbury Hill (12" Version) - Erasure
Say No Go - De La Soul
Broken English - Queue Up
Mama Told Me Not to Come - The Wolfgang Press
Cooldown: I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters

How do you train for a half-marathon? Haven't even looked anything up. Something like this, I imagine. Keep up the regularity, run further on the weekend. Maybe 6 miles back to back was pushing it, I have been feeling worn down the last two days. Skipped yesterday, today was a bit of a chore, but then it was unpleasantly humid.

Humid and dark. We're headed to the other side of the sun, days getting shorter. Almost forgot what it was like to run before dawn.

And my head burst open

Lakeshore Trail
Distance: 6.25 miles
Stretches: yes
Drink: orange juice
Snack: toast with honey
Time: 6.30 am
Weather: sunny and warm

No Hay Igual (Club Mix) - Nelly Furtado
Hold Your Tongue* - Soundtrack to "Lysistrata"
One Hundred Years - The Cure
Vogue - Madonna
Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
Dry County - B-52s
Let's Go Crazy - Prince & the Revoution
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Estelar - Captain Melao
In the Morning - Junior Boys
Come Closer Together - The Beatles vs. Nine Inch Nails
I Saw the Light - The The
The Killing Vous - ABBA vs. Echo & the Bunnymen
Da Da Da (Ich Lieb Dich Nicht) - Trio
One More Time - Daft Punk
Cooldown: Wish - Nine Inch Nails

Yes. Yes I did.

The Junior Boys
"In the Morning"

Is Chicago!

The Second City

Lakeshore Trail
Distance: 6.25 miles
Stretches: yes
Drink: orange juice
Snack: bread with preserves
Time: 7.00 am
Weather: sunny and warm

Playlist:
Mass Repeat (Extended 12" Version) - Gabriel & Dresden
A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins
I Want You To Want Me (Live) - Cheap Trick
Breathe - Télépopmusik
Big Time Sensuality - Björk
Water of Nazareth - Justice
Rocket Ride* - Felix da Housecat
Rock With You (White Label Mix) - Daft Punk vs. Michael Jackson
In Between Days* - Ben Folds
Tandem Jump* - Jonathon Richman
Just Keep Me Moving - k.d. lang
Hindi Sad Diamonds - Soundtrack from "Moulin Rouge"
Smack My B*tch Up - Prodigy
Cooldown: My Love - Justin Timberlake

Finally got my Chicago run in. Good one too, running along Lakeshore Drive reminds me of running along the lake front in Cleveland.

No, it doesn't. Not at all. That was a joke.

What an awesome lakeside running, biking, walking, whatever path. Seven am on a Saturday and the place is packed with movement enthusiasts. I had printed out a run through Lincoln Park before I arrived - just a few blocks from the B&B where I am staying at North and Hudson. But then I spotted this blonde who looked like she knew where she was going and I followed her all the way to Lake Michigan.

If I had planned ahead (I always forget to do this) I would have found out the Elvis Is Alive 5K is taking place this evening at 6pm, and scheduled my other events around that. Having said that, 6 pm - in the middle of August - is a weird time to have a race. Or even a "fun run."

Great place, where I'm staying, a single apartment in the middle of Old Town. I made myself two eggs and toast as a celebratory breakfast after. If my kit dries I might do it again tomorrow.

I'll find my soul as I go home

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 165 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: PowerBar Triple Threat
Time: 6:00 am
Temperature: 70º
Weather: humid with lightning flashes

Playlist:
Dangerous Power - Gabriel & Dresden
Policy of Truth - Depeche Mode
Girl and the Sea - The Presets
Temptation - New Order
Irish Blood, English Heart - Morrissey
Collapse - Soul Coughing
Cooldown: Making Plans for Nigel - The Rembrandts

XTC
"Making Plans for Nigel"

"This is called a déjà vu experience ..."

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Time: 6:30 am
Duration: about 34 minutes
Temperature: 77º
Weather: overcast but muggy

Playlist:
Vegas - Calvin Harris
Random - Lady Sovereign
Parsec - Stereolab
Situation - Yazoo
Jimmy James - The Beastie Boys
Another View Point - Cornelius
Cooldown: Housequake - Prince

I broke my leg on December 7, 1980 - a date which has gone down in infamy largely because it was the last full day John Lennon spent alive. Having no reason to, as I did not participate in any sport, I had no physical therapy. So the muscles in my right leg became stiff and I had a habit of twsting my foot out rather than bending correctly at the ankle.

I do not know if this has contributed to what I have decided must truly be a bunion developing on my right foot. I first noticed this bony protrusion on August 9 but it didn't make any sense. Besides, it seemed to just have appeared out of nowhere.

They say it has to do with toe alignment, and I assume the gross repetition of the past year and that bad habit have worked together to start changing the shape of my feet, and in a bad way. I have made an appointment with a podiatrist for later this month to look into this and a host of other shoebox horrors.

Yesterday I got a set of Pro Foot Vita-Gel Toe Spacers. Read online they may realign my big toe.

I used to have such beautiful feet. They were like dancer's feet. Now they're like old man feet.

I will hear your name called out from passing cars

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: none
Time: 1:45 pm
Duration: about 30 minutes
Temperature: 82º
Weather: hot but pleasant

Playlist:
Foundations* - Kate Nash
Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing
Mr. Bitterness - Soul Coughing
My Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council
Winners - 7 Seconds of Love
Serious - Duran Duran
Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge) - De La Soul

Kate Nash
"Foundations"

My ex-wife would so totally love this song.

Verruca Salt

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Time: 6.00 am
Duration: about 35 minutes
Temperature: 65º
Weather: full moon!

Podrunner: 178 bpm -Rapid I Movements
Dreamlike and ethereal, building to a crunchy peak, then back to dreamlike. Surprisingly gentle for such a fast mix.

Discoveries in Children's Literature:
Verruca: a Plantar wart.
Epsom salt (also magnesium sulfate): Has been used as an agent for drawing (dehydrating) boils, carbuncles and warts.

And you may find yourself in another part of the world

NYC Marathon 2006
Between Miles 18 & 19


Distance: 4.75 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: banana
Time: 6.30 am
Temperature: 67º
Weather: cool and hazy

Podrunner: 149 bpm - Running Out of Summer
A breezy, summery feel that gets hotter as it goes. Summer can't last forever, so take advantage of it while it's still around.

Hey - that was a good one. I don't generally like listening to a mix that is just under my normal pace, but that was just what I needed today. Starts like a glass of iced tea and before you know it you are slamming margaritas.

Maybe I should write his blurbs.

Followed roughly the same route as L. and I had been traveling the past two weeks. Nice excuse to make it to Cain Park.