Prevention is better than cure

Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 62º
Weight: 151 lbs.

Now that is what I am talking about.

It has been a mild winter, at least since February, at least compared to last year. Little snow. Bearable temps. By this time last year I had logged twelve years in my yearly playlist - I have just finished 22. I am more than halfway done.

After dark, cool night, light breeze, infrequent light rain. I have had twinges in both knees, sometimes they are sore and I worry. But on a night like tonight, I felt like I could have just kept going until dawn.

So tonight, it's good.



1982 Playlist
That's Good (152 bpm) - Devo
Melt The Guns - XTC
Eaten By The Monster of Love - Sparks
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Michael Jackson
Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant
Don't Go - Yazoo
I Eat Cannibals (Part One) - Toto Coelo
Beyond Belief - Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Girls on Film (Night Version) - Duran Duran
Town Called Malice - The Jam
Space Age Love Song - A Flock of Seagulls
Cooldown: Don't Pay the Ferryman - Chris de Burgh

Your music sucks.

The knees. Little bubbles. I do my stretches, the discomfort goes away. Or moves. I feel like I am performing a penance when I step into my gear. But for what?

That run absolutely blew. A great, mild spring day, chilly at times but mostly sunshiny and calm. Would have gone out yesterday, but there were chores to do and kids to spend time with. Up so late both nights that I slept in past when it would have been opportune to get out.

Today, again, all about the others. That's what I call my family, "the others." When they finally got out to leave me time to myself (to run, and you know, pick up after them) it was rainy and cold. I headed out anyway, and the wind whipped up, the rain stinging my knees.

And suddenly I thought ... "And why?" I came back in a haste (wind now at my back, perhaps it's not as bad as I - drop that line of thinking right now) and I will now shower, pop a beer ... and pick up sh*t.

1987 Playlist
Big Love - Fleetwood Mac
We're The Replacements - They Might Be Giants
Lips Like Sugar - Echo & The Bunnymen

Distance: about a mile
Temperature: 48º and hey-ho the wind and the rain
Weight: 153 lbs.

I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused.

1977 Playlist
Jungle Fever - The Chakachas
In the City - The Jam
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Elvis Costello
Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
Leaders of Men - Joy Division
Orgasm Addict - The Buzzcocks
Lookin' After No. 1 - The Boomtown Rats
Holidays In The Sun - Sex Pistols
Neat Neat Neat * - The Damned

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 42º w/light sprinkles
Weight: 151 lbs.

Who's your daddy? Yes, I am.

The magic question is; Is it all right that my knees hurt? Is it scar tissue acting up, or am I still hurting my knees? I used to think (and there is no basis in fact for this) that I needed to be lighter. When I have a little weight, I can feel it moving around, it shudders through my frame. Right now, when I am stupidly lean, nothing. Is that sick?

I need to follow my former regimen of stretches and exercises, I do some, but not enough. There has to be a balance. I need more padding, more fat and muscle, to help cushion these blows.

I will say this, my knee, my shins and calves, do not hurt the way they did now that I have new shoes. But my toes aren't used to them yet.

1997 Playlist
Discoteque (New Mix) - U2
Brakhage - Stereolab
Star People 97 - George Michael
Loops of Fury - Chemical Brothers
Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Walking On The Sun - Smashmouth
Da Funk - Daft Punk
Absurd (Landslide Mix) - Fluke
Battle of Who Could Care Less - Ben Folds Five



Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 57º
Weight: 151.5 lbs.

I just came here to party

Just got in, and the girl asked if we could go for a run. She put on her shoes and just took off up the street until I caught up. She's a fast runner. Then we ran back. I love that.

2007 Playlist
Merrymaking at My Place - Calvin Harris
Mistaken for Strangers - The National
The Way I Are - Timbaland
Who Knew - Pink
Umbrella - Rihanna ft. Jay-Z
Chelsea Dagger * - The Fratellis
Split Needles * - The Shins
Foundations * - Kate Nash
Road to Recovery - Midnight Juggernaut
Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free - Zombie Zombie
Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna

Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 47º
Weight: 153 lbs.

This is for those whose minds are as healthy as their bodies

I'm a man.

1983 Playlist
Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) - A Flock of Seagulls
I Go Swimming * - Peter Gabriel
Sex (I'm A ...) - Berlin
Love Machine - Wham!
The Fanatic - Felony
Funk Pop a Roll - XTC
The Greatest Thing - Elvis Costello

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 35º
Weight: 153.5 lbs.

Never talk to me during "The Jackal"

NEW SHOES!!!

Onyx Asics Gels, mid-range support, great cushioning. Just couldn't spring for the Kayanus, not this year. Very disappointed with my local running store, they were extremely unhelpful. Just wanted to order me exactly what I had, no suggestions, I made it clear I was trying not to spend that much, they didn't want to make any alternate suggestions, just order the same model from Youngstown.

So I went to Dick's. Sorry. Saved a lot of money - and I needed new shoes. I have put this off for way too long, and after dropping a bundle on a new knee, well. It seemed very penny-wise.

Speaking of knees, they have both been giving me grief. And I am not even in high gear. I fear the future.



I do not want to see Rob Lowe do that ever again.

1993 Playlist
The Jackal - Ronny Jordan ft. Dana Bryant
Too Much Information - Duran Duran
Cantaloop (Instrumental) - Us3
I Like To Move It (Eric More Club Mix) - Reel 2 Reel
The World Has Turned And Left Me Here - Weezer
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 52º
Weight: 152 lbs.

Well - Let's GO !!!!!!!!

Oh yeah. Gotta love The Sweet.

1973 Playlist
Life on Mars? - David Bowie
Free Ride - The Edgar Winter Group
Jungle Boogie - Kool & The Gang
The Jean Genie - David Bowie
Rock & Roll Disgrace - Sweet
Nineteen Hundred & Eighty-Five - Paul McCartney & Wings
Blockbuster - Sweet
Pills - New York Dolls
Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
Stuck In The Middle With You - Steelers Wheel
Street Life - Roxy Music
The Ballroom Blitz - Sweet

These annual playlists have taught me an awful lot of about early 80s rock music. I started listening to the radio in 1977. So as far as I knew, everything recorded before 1977 was recorded in 1977.

Why are so many early 70s rock songs about rocking?

And why do two little skinny ladies still have bubble-butts which span the entire double-wide sidewalk?

Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 40º
Weight: 151.5 lbs.

your blood, your sweat, your passions, your regrets

Finally checked out Run, Fatboy, Run. Sweet movie. Not a waste of my time. Love Simon Pegg, who was one of the few British parts of this movie which ostensibly took place in London.

Spoiler alert: He finishes. Oops, sorry.

I don't get Thandie Newton, I really don't. Why have I seen her in as many movies as I have, and I haven't even seen the ones she's been in that everyone else has seen. And I had no idea she was English. I still don't.

You know, it's weird, I'm a runner, and I thought the dialogue was odd and clunky. I mean, no one really says, "I'd love to, but I have a run tomorrow," do they?

Okay, they do. I mean, I have. But having someone actually say that, out loud, in a movie? That's embarrassing.

Here's the bit that absolutely killed me, though ... the imaginary marathon in this movie - the N*ke River Run - concludes with its final stretch across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's. And so, at the end, we have Pegg's character, finishing the race in terrible pain, hobbling up the steps to St. Paul's towards the finish line in the middle of the night. It's the middle of the night because he is the last person to finish the race (sorry, gave away that part, too.)

So, what we have missed is the elite runners, those who run the race, taking five steps at a time up a flight of stairs in their final sprint. We missed the hundreds and hundreds of runners following them, tripping, falling, breaking knees and fracturing hands and faces as they crowd up those stone steps.

I mean, come on, it's a movie, for God's sake, for years film directors have put whatever building they like across the street from Central Park, David Schwimmer couldn't remove the steps from in front of St. Paul's?

It's the dumbest f*cking thing I'd ever seen in my life.

2003 Playlist
We Want Your Soul - Adam Freeland
Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters
Hey Ya * - Outkast
Jerk It Out - Caesars
Bangin' On - Johnny Marr
Mainframe - Kaada

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 26º w/little, tiny snowflakes
Weight: 151 lbs.

Sinuses!

For a week now, I have been struggling with a swollen head. Fluctuations in temperature and air pressure, illness, bad sleeping habits ... last night I went to bed with my socks on. It's fundamental, sleep with my socks on, wake up with a head like a pumpkin.

I've been eating so much Sudafed they have my picture of at all the local Walgreen's.

A week projected to be in the 40s. Keep it up, little Pengo. It's winter again.

1978 Playlist
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Devo
This Is Pop - XTC
Tragedy - Bee Gees
Take Me I'm Yours - Squeeze
Pump It Up - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Sunday Girl - Blondie
I Love The Nightlife - Alicia Bridges
The Eton Rifles - The Jam
I'm Gonna Love You Too - Blondie
My Best Friend's Girl - The Cars

Someone must have gotten Devo's Greatest Hits recently. Hmn.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 34º
Weight: 152 lbs.

Why walk when you can run?

You know, calling out "Passing on left!" scares the sh*t out of people as much as just suddenly passing them does.

2008 Playlist
Down to Earth - Peter Gabriel
1,000,000 - Nine Inch Nails
Black & Gold - Sam Sparro
Detroit - Black Gold
Hometown Glory - Adele
American Boy - Estelle ft. Kanye West
Lights & Music - Cut Copy
Disturbia - Rihanna
Why Walk When You Can Run - Paul Weller
Mansard Roof * - Vampire Weekend
Mercy - Duffy

Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 67º
Weight: 150.5 lbs.

Yes, it's worth living for.

Not only is there no snow scheduled in the six day forecast - it's supposed to be in the 50s and 60s! It's almost worth all of the illness and physical misery this house has been suffering to have this break.

It has to snow again, right? I mean, why get my hopes up? Just so long as it waits until, I don't know, April or something.

I am concerned about my physique. I need to continue with the weigh bearing exercises, but they are arduous, and frankly, boring. I do miss waking up extra-early last fall to do physical therapy - I listened to Capital Radio, boned up on all the recent pop music, and after all, I was under a doctor's orders. Nothing motivates like having someone in authority telling you what to do.

You know, like Rush Limbaugh. (drum fill)

1988 Playlist
Def. Con. One - Pop Will Eat Itself
Under the Milky Way - The Church
The Right Stuff - New Kids On The Block
Dragnet '88 - The Art of Noise
A Little Respect - Erasure
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward * - Billy Bragg
Drug (It's Just a State of Mind) - Duran Duran
Tropical Flesh Mandala - Robyn Hitchcock
Was It Worth It? - Pet Shop Boys
Lake Shore Driving * - Duran Duran
All Night Long - Peter Murphy

Distance: 5.15 miles
Temperature: 40º
Weight: 151.5 lbs.

Come and keep your comrade warm

I don't mind the cold. Really. Just ... don't ... snow.

1968 Playlist
White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
Banana Splits (Tra La La Song) * - The Banana Splits
Grazing in the Grass - Hugh Masekela
Back in the U.S.S.R. - The Beatles
Hush - Deep Purple
Sister Ray - The Velvet Underground

This is as far into the past as I go. Literally. It took a seventeen minute songs from the VU to even make 30 minutes of music with any BPM at all.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 12º
Weight: 152.5 lbs.