I used to feel super

I have this bug, I think. It laid my wife out for a week last week. I do not feel ill, not too ill ... but I do have a low grade nausea from time to time, this has been going on for several days. And when I eat, I do not need to eat too much to blow up like a balloon.

Thanksgiving we drank too much. Yes, we did. But the eating was under control, just a modest plate. Which made me blow up like a balloon. The night was seriously unpleasant.

There were a lot of people in the house yesterday, getting away for a run would have been rude, so it was just as well that it rained, non-stop, every second of the day. This morning, though surprisingly cold, was bright and gorgeous.

I was geared for it, and set out along the bike path with nostalgia music in my ears. Soon enough it became apparent that the cold was not going to be any issue. My abdomen, however, would be.

I had had a piece of bacon for breakfast, and three silver dollar pancakes. Normal stuff. I had had my coffee. But absolutely anything makes me feel huge. But my stomach muscles remain in decent shape. Nothing approaching six-pack territory, but there is muscle. It was pissing my physician off last week when I had my physical exam, she kept trying to poke and prod and kept demanding I relax. "I know you have this runner's stomach," she'd say, "but give me a break." Runner's STomach I like that.

However, though I have used "sausage casing" as a metaphor far too many times in this blog, to describe numerous points of expansion, the feeling of this expanding stomach held in by muscles working during the act of running ... it was exhausting and made me short of breath. Unpleasant. But not unpleasant enough. There was no one on the path (well, one or two others) bright, beautiful, autumn colors on the hills, waiting geese. It was lovely.

Ohio University Nostalgia Mix
No Myth (Damascus Mix) Michael Penn
Flute Interlude - Duran Duran
The Sweetest Taboo - Sade
That's Really Super, Supergirl - XTC
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Pet Sematary - The Ramones
Oxford Street - Everything But the Girl
Garden of Earthly Delights - XTC
I Want Your Sex - George Michael
The Gas Face - 3rd Bass

Distance: 4.25 miles
Weather: cold & sunny

My head is full of space junk

Eleven days since my last run. I have developed kinks in both knees, and a hip. Entropy, man, get a clue. The good news is the ideas are coming, the words flow, I am motivated, inspired and it feels good to be alive. The bad news is ... well, you can see what the bad news is.

I had my first complete physical exam last in four years. I am in excellent shape. My blood work is awesome, my cholesterol is very good, my weight, good, ekg, lungs, musculature inside and out, I am in fine shape. Could use more Vitamin D, but my wife says that's what everyone is saying these days.

Recent Acquisitions Playlist
Space Junk '97 - Wang Chung
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones
Get It Get It - Girl Talk
Come (Live) - Queue Up
Zombie Nation (Dave Clarke Remix) - Kernkraft 400

WARNING: Horse-eating Zombies


Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 61º
Weather: cool & lovely
Weight: 166 lbs.

One hundred and sixty-six pounds? How does he do it! It's simple really - I eat anything. Anything at all. And we're in holiday season. The office will have a new basket of cookies, chocolate from the guys who publish our programs, there will be pleasant odors coming from everywhere. Can I resist? Will I exercise more? Who knows! Stay tuned and find out.

Bleeding forehead

Wow. Wow. I did not want to do that. I have never wanted so badly not to do something that I went ahead and did anyway. I really did not want to run today. Thought I did, but motivating myself to actually do it, that was nearly impossible. In theory, great! Let's run! In reality, really? Do I have to?

Huh. Kind of like writing.

PODRUNNER: “CHUTES AND LADDERS” 165 - 170 - 175 BPM

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 52º
Weather: cool & bright
Weight: 162.5 lbs.

Witness the fitness

Good luck to my brothers and sisters running the NYC Marathon this weekend!

(And to the wife, who is going to see Paul Weller at the Apollo.)
Yes, my wife is flying into New York on a huge travel weekend to the City. Am I nervous? You bet. But it's Paul Weller. At the Apollo. I did not want to stand in the way of that.

At least, not when I thought she would be driving there.

A Beautiful Mine Genius Mix
A Beautiful Mine - RDJ2
Witness (1 Hope) - Roots Manuva
Bring The Noise - Public Enemy
Hip Hip Hooray - Naughty By Nature
The Rain - K-OS
Fit But You Know It - The Streets
Me Myself And I - De La Soul

The Big Question: Will I apply for NYC 2011? I suggested on the day after the big race in 2006 that I might want to try again in five years. I even had two aborted attempts in 2008 and 2009 to get back. Should I apply? I do not forget how difficult training was. And that was with an infant and a three year-old. The demands today are greater, not less.

But this is all about me, right? I mean, any marathon has to be.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 39º
Weather: wet and yes, a tiny bit of snow
Weight: 164 lbs.

Tonight out on the streets

The good news ... medication allows me to write. I have written more in the past month than in the past year. I have more patience. I have not been depressed, not seriously, not worth mentioning, in some time.

The bad news is I do not want to run.

I do run, I have run, and when I get out I enjoy running. But I have finally noticed that I have ceased to obsess about running, to plan running, and to get depressed when I am not running.

I am amazed, following the almost non-stop sugarfest of the past several days that I have not gained five pounds. But my belly has gone slack, I can feel that tingling sensation in my thighs ... when I ran this evening, my lower back began to seize up.

The weather may have had something to do with this. But it was lovely last week. The fact is, it is difficult to run and have time for other things. It is almost 11 pm now. And I want to do some playwriting. That makes for a late night.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 43º
Weather: very cool
Weight: 163.5 lbs.

Most Played Songs On My iTunes
This Must Be The Place - Miles Fisher
Mothership - Kid Beyond
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend
Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
15 Step - Radiohead
Tigerlily - La Roux
Tracking Treasure Down (Gabriel & Dresden Club Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden