It was my intention to run 2 miles today. Because I did not, I am disappointed. Having said that I have never run sixteen times n the month of January. Never. You can check my blog here to see that I never ran at all the first month of 2007 (following my NYC Marathon) and five times in January 2008. Last year I was training for the Big Box production of ATYD, I think I actually ran five times. Sixteen times through snow and ice. And because I have usually only resumed running in February for the past four years I know the worst is still ahead. But an excellent start - at least physically - for 2010.
I had to shave my beard for a new show I am acting in. It is a little depressing. Just as I am feeling positive about things, I am reminded what a potato head I am. Did I ever have a chin? I have assumed the jowls that are an essential trait of my mother's side of the family. Sigh.
Here's the thing ... with these playlists I keep at the beginning of the year, one for each year of my life, I always end with the current year. Because I usually start in February and because it takes three, four, sometimes five months to run 40 times, well, there are usually enough run-worth songs released to make up a decent playlist. What will I have to take me to the finish line in late March?
Hmn. I think I will need to press certain quarter-life work colleagues for a hot list.
1981 Playlist Let's Groove - Earth Wind & Fire Spirits In the Material World - The Police Chant No. 1 (Don't Need This Pressure On) - Spandau Ballet The Voice* - The Moody Blues Working For the Weekend - Loverboy Late Bar - Duran Duran Sausalito Summernight - Diesel Strict Time - Elvis Costello & the Attractions Sat In Your Lap - Kate Bush Burnin' For You - Blue Oyster Cult Love Action (I Believe In Love) - Human League Hold On Tonight - Electric Light Orchestra Family Man - Mike Oldfield Working In a Coal Mine* - Devo
Distance: 6 miles Temperature: 19º Weather: cold and sunny Road conditions: patchy ice Weight: 158 lbs.
Again, snow. In the midst of January, reaching out for the middle of May. I do wonder on some runs whether I will ever go 26.2 again. I do not feel any pull in that direction - Tuesday I was running and thought of New York and all I could remember was how difficult it was, not how thrilling. Of course, it was cold and I was weighted down with winter-weather gear.
Training for the Half suggests going beyond the half - to peak at fifteen miles. And when I remembered that I thought, why not run to Mom and Dad's again? This time, packing proper fuel. I would like to make that particular journey again.
1976 Playlist I Wish - Stevie Wonder Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult Shout It Out Loud - KISS Fly Like an Eagle - Steve Miller Band Blinded By the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band Crazy On You - Heart Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones Car Wash - Rolls Royce Dance On a Volcano - Genesis
What a great early morning, snowy day playlist. Did I mention Heart rocks?
Distance: 4 miles Temperature: 21º Weather: cold and snow Road conditions: snow Weight: 158.5 lbs.
Okay. Someone needs to explain the phenomena wherein I lose two and a half pounds by running. Seriously. Two and a half pounds.
Goodness me, but the wind was ripping my face off. Running. I cannot lose weight these days apparently, so running is the only thing holding me together - literally. Pulls me in here and there, makes it possible to wear these pants I bought last winter.
1999 Playlist Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix) - The Beastie Boys Southside - Moby Theme from "Futurama" - Danny Elfman Lullaby of Clubland - Everything But the Girl The Generator (159 bpm) - Lilys Smooth - Santana Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters
Distance: 3 miles Temperature: 25º Weather: snowy Road conditions: dust of snow Weight: 162.5 to 160 lbs.
Thirteen runs since the beginning of 2010 - and I don't usually run in January at all. A wet, rainy day, the pavement is finally clear of ice and snow ... and it will snow tomorrow. The winter has barely begun.
One hundred-eleven days until the Half Marathon. I trust I will be ready. If nothing goes horribly, hideously wrong.
So ... snow tomorrow, rehearsals for the outreach tour begin Tuesday. I have three (four?) grants due a week from tomorrow. And there's that script I have to write. It's going to be a busy week February.
2006 Playlist Supermassive Black Hole - Muse Mothership (176 bpm) - Kid Beyond F*cking Boyfriend - The Bird & The Bee Wound Up - Office Shine - Take That Beware of the Dog - Jamelia Mass Repeat [Extended 12" Version] - Gabriel & Dresden
1972 Playlist All the Young Dudes (156 bpm) - Mott the Hoople Rock and Roll Part 2 - Gary Glitter Stairway to the Stars (172 bpm) - Blue Öyster Cult I'm So Free (159 bpm) - Lou Reed Popcorn - Hot Butter Burning Love - Elvis Presley Call the Police - Thin Lizzy Superstition - Stevie Wonder John, I'm Only Dancing (156 bpm) - David Bowie Suffragette City - David Bowie Blockbuster- Sweet Astral Plane - The Modern Lovers Jimmy Loves Mary Ann - Looking Glass
Distance: 5 miles Temperature: 40º Weather: decent Road conditions: still crispy Weight: 161.5 lbs.
Wow. What a difficult ... week. And it's only Thursday. I hate this week. Hate, hate, hate. And the last thing I wanted to do tonight was go running.
It was right for me to run. Uh-huh.
1982 Playlist Cockpit Dance Mixture (158 bpm) - XTC Da Da Da (Ich Lieb Dich Nicht) - Trio Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100 Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band Situation - Yazoo Vacation (158 bpm) - The Go-Go's Mickey - Toni Basil I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow Pressure - Billy Joel
Ah, Billy Joel. You aren't John Lennon. You're not Paul McCartney, Elton John or Elvis Costello. You're just ... Billy Joel.
Distance: 4 miles Temperature: 39º Weather: nice Road conditions: mostly without ice. mostly. Weight: 160.5 lbs.
What a day. It started groggily, as a weekend of being the "on" parent (the wife, having taken ill with the flu late Saturday evening) staying up past midnight every night to hold down the fort meant that the three-day weekend really didn't add up to much relaxation.
It progressed angrily, and then pathetically as I mentally gave myself a major muscle pull in my back, between the shoulder blades.
The day limped on miserably, as I felt like even the basic work-related project took about five times longer than expected.
Then it went quite dreamily (as in dream-like, not as in Patrick Dempsey-ish) as I said f.u. to my family and headed off to my foot reflexologist and massage therapist Rachelle, who I have not seen since my feet were a mess (hey, and check out Rachelle's new website) who did amazing things to my physical and mental self. This was followed by an awesome run, and the reading of a truly bizarre chapter of Mary Poppins to the children.
Now I am baking cookies.
2004 Playlist Wake Up - Arcade Fire Beware - Punjabi ft. Jay-Z Call On Me - Eric Prydz One of These Things First - Nick Drake She's a Rebel (159 bpm) - Green Day Hounds of Love (168 bpm) - The Futureheads Ohh La La - The Ditty Bops
When I can no longer run 3.30 at 168 bpm, then I will truly feel old.
Running two miles in shorts! In near freezing temps! No, bad, bad, bad idea! Already my left knee, which has been giving me some grief in the past week, is aching. Exposure to the cold has such a profound effect on my muscles, it always has, reaching back as far as college.
During the winter of 1992 I actually used a cane to get around for a week or so. This was when I was 23 years old, which meant, of course, that going to a doctor and getting advice was out of the question.
Tomorrow - a day off. From running, from work, from everything but home and family. And of course, Dr. King.
1992 Playlist The Statue Got Me High - They Might Be Giants Humpin' Around - Bobby Brown My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue The World's Green Laughter - The B-52's
In 1977, when I was 9 years old, I knew this song was about having sex in a car. What I did not understand was how funny it is.
The training schedule for the Cleveland Half is so ... Cleveland. You should run 3 miles today ... or two, it's okay if you run two. And don't run on Saturdays, sleep in, eat a big stack of pancakes. But do run your peak-to-date distance on Sunday, so that on Monday, when you also shouldn't run, you can hobble around feeling weak and miserable and hate yourself.
I ran today.
1977 Playlist Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac Holidays in the Sun - Sex Pistols Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - The Ramones Swingtown - Steve Miller Band Jungle Fever - The Chakachas I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick Nothing Achieving - The Police I'm Not Angry - Elvis Costello Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees
In the early-mid 80s we produced a comedy program for local access cable. This is a video retrospective of three years of sub-par hilarity.
My, but it was FREAKISHLY balmy this evening! I had hoped to run in the sunshine (hello, yes) but after four hours of giving workshops in Shakespeare I discovered the sun had set and feared that the temperature would dip considerably. It didn't. I overdressed, but it was marvelous. Three miles winding through the side streets of CH.
Tomorrow is the last time (hopefully) I need to wake up at 5 am, for a while. And no rehearsal Saturday! Looking forward to checking out Josh & Kelly's show at CPT on Saturday night - join me! There will be blood!!!!
1984 Playlist Dance Halls Days [12" version] - Wang Chung I Will Dare (167 bpm) - The Replacements Cue Fanfare - Prefab Sprout Two Tribes [12" version] - Frankie Goes to Hollywood Harborcoat (157 bpm) - R.E.M.
First day of training! And look - you can train yourself!
The fact that I took a run this morning at 5 am is no indication of my dedication to my sport. It is because I have no f*cking time. Next I am going to drop ten pounds my cutting off my head.
2007 Playlist United State of Pop (2007) - DJ Earworm Uninvited - Freemasons Merrymaking At My Place - Calvin Harris Girls and Boys In Love - The Rumble Strips Henrietta - The Fratellis 15 Step - Radiohead
The temperature may rise above freezing on Wednesday. The streets are clear-ish, where snow remains it is even enough to may running just a little slippery, and in some cases pleasantly cushioned. Like running on a sandy beach. Only freezing.
My normal route goes out and around a familiar track, mostly level, but uses main arteries of traffic. With the snow entirely untouched in front of abandoned homes, it would be necessary to run in the street, which is stupidly dangerous on those streets. So I stick to the side-streets around my home, infrequently traveled and below the speed limit. Two miles is fine, next week I will need to raise that to three and will no doubt just do another circuit very near my house. Safe. Sane.
Initiating my running routine, prior to getting a gym membership in 1998, It was always such an endurance test getting up that first street. Was it my weight? Was it the fact that I still smoked? Well, it is only with modern technology that I have gone online and checked the elevation of that first street, and what do you know - it is steep!
I have been running it the past week. It is still steep! But not such an endurance test anymore.
1974 Playlist Junior's Farm - Paul McCartney & Wings Waterloo - ABBA Killer Queen - Queen You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive Loose Booty - Sly & the Family Stone Verb: That's What's Happening - Zachary Sanders
Distance: 2 miles
Temperature: 24º
Weather: face is freezing, torso sweaty. discuss.
Weight: 161.5 lbs.
Twice in two days? Sure, that's what a weekend is for.
That's right, betches, I will be running the Cleveland this spring, 13.1 of it, anyhow. Me and not one - but three of my colleagues from work. My young, fit colleagues. Big sigh.
What is up with this city that they have a marathon in mid-May? Training officially begins Tuesday, so we are, all of us, training in the snow and sleet - those of us too cheap to have gym memberships. But I have to say, running on a treadmill is not a good way to train for a marathon, nor any road race. It's too gentle.
Today, the past two days, no, three, I have been achy and miserable physically. Today I have been sinking into bad sinus/migraine business. Getting out into the night air was a goal and it was extremely helpful. The cold did not even trouble me, the air was still, I just felt bright and strong. I could have added another mile tonight.
I will have to add that third mile soon enough, anyhow. I hope the winter is kind.
1994 Playlist Locked Out - Crowded House Mr. Bitterness - Soul Coughing All that She Wants - Ace of Base Ripper Sole - Stomp Gel - Collective Soul Supernova - Liz Phair
Distance: 2 miles Temperature: 19º Weather: clear & cold ... but not cold enough
That was like a f*cking video game. There's this winter storm advisory going on, right? And it's been snowing and the traffic was ridiculous coming home and all I can think is - get these kids in bed, I am running in powdery snow. I'm geared for it.
The wife is worried, I am going to hurt my knees or something, I promised to stop if I was in any kind of soreness, but I planned to keep to the home route, a two-mile course going up and down the streets in my neighborhood, no distance, no big loop just weaving up and down these side streets. I can be in the street that way, head up, ears clear, ready for anything.
But the snowplows. I hit it just right, and those monsters (which I thought our city wasn't paying for, not for the side streets, not anymore) were going around each street - twice - and just when I was on them. So I was bounding through deep, unshoveled sidewalk snow and getting hit with the stuff these trucks were blowing in the air.
Crazy. I feel awesome, however. I had a nasty headache earlier ... due to lack of sleep, I think. And eyestrain.
I'm going to bed now.
1969 Playlist The Ballad of John and Yoko - The Beatles Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley One - Three Dog Night Undun - The Guess Who You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones
How the hell did I put together a set from 1969 with no repeats from last year?
Distance: 2 miles Temperature: 25º Weather: snowy Weight: 162.5 lbs.
Citizens of Monticello Road, I am putting you on notice.
I am insane. That is insane business. And I LOVE IT.
Fact is, I would much rather run in unbroken snow than the winding trail of people hiking through the unshoveled drifts. Much less likely to break my ankle, or slip and fall ... but it does mean picking up my legs, hoisting up those knees. Really, two miles is enough. Really. 1989 Playlist Steppin' to the A.M. - 3rd Bass Veronica - Elvis Costello Eye Know - De La Soul Sin (Long) - Nine Inch Nails King For A Day (12" Version) - XTC
Distance: 2 miles Temperature: 25º Weather: at least it's not 18º Weight: 160.5 lbs.
You know you live in Cleveland when ... there's a two hour wait to dine at a place that serves fried cheese sandwiches.
2009 Playlist United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It On The Pop) - DJ Earworm Don't Stop Believin' - The Kids from "Glee" Sugar - Flo Rida ft. Wynter Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) - A.R. Rahman ft. The Pussycat Dolls I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria Rehab - The Kids from "Glee"
I usually wait until February to begin the XX Playlists for XX Years cycle. But I can't, not this year. I am already stir-crazy, and getting out into the insanely cold temperatures is the only way to defeat them.
Two signs you are old in 2010: Whining about modern interpretations of classic fictional detectives. Whining about modern interpretations of classic hits by Journey.
Distance: 2 miles Temperature: 18º Weather: cold. snow. what have you. Weight: 162.5 lbs.
New Year's Resolution: Do you have to eat that? I have officially gained 15 pounds since last January. This is not necessary.
Over the holiday weekend, two of my (young) co-workers were fb'ing about doing The Cleveland. I asked if it were a private party and (one of them) said "Sure!"
So I guess I am running The Cleveland, or half of it, this spring. It always falls around the boy's birthday. Training begins next week. Wish me luck, or something.