It's a lonely road I run.

Are there any other men of precisely my age who have a deep, psychological, sexual/emotional connection to Animalympics?

I cannot remember exactly when this first aired on HBO. Wikipedia states it wasn't until 1984, but that cannot be correct, because I recorded the entire movie onto audio cassette (remember that, kids?) something I did for a few, select movies and only during late 1980 or early 1981.

Animalympics was seventh grade to me. Approaching thirteen. That makes all the sense in the world.

Originally created to be a series of animated vignettes to be played ruing the 1980 Olympics, only the winter sports scenes were broadcast on NBC because the summer games in Moscow were boycotted by the United States.

Cobbled together, it may not be the finest animated film ever made (and there one major, cringe-worthy Asian stereotype) but it is surprisingly successful at capturing the emotional arc of two whole weeks of Olympic competition, with a variety of interesting characters who come and go.

Before I even knew what a marathon was, my first sexual desire was for a shapely, African, Ultra-Marathon runner. A woman who could run 3,500 km – a fourteen-day course. She was an Egyptian Queen, with green cats-eyes, and sleek, short blonde hair covering her entire body. And she had a tail.
- from And Then You Die (How I Ran a Marathon in 26.2 Years)

The one storyline which carries through the entire program is the marathon. Two characters, a lion and a goat, keep pace with each other from the very start, and running in tandem, without saying anything to each other proves to induce a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, in which their professional antagonism mutates into obsession then helpless affection.

This can also describe how relationships in middle school function.

This video is everything.

The soundtrack had one run and has since been out of print. Why? You'd think Rhino or some other Gen X nostalgia factory would be all over this. Like the film itself, you can only find it on YouTube, posted by dedicated fans. I had to cobble together an album on my own using an online mp3 converter and it doesn't sound great.

Composed by 10cc frontman Graham Gouldman, the soundtrack is loaded with catchy earworms that make delightful athletic metaphors sound romantic and not at all dopey. Well, maybe a little dopey.

With you I can run forever
With you I can run forever, mm-hmm
'Cause you gotta be my inspiration
Side by side through every nation, mm-hmm

We ride the world just like a rollercoaster
As we take each road and we take each turn, you bowl me over
'Cause you gotta be my inspiration
Together we can run forever, mm-hmm

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Distance: 4 miles
Route: Cain Park Loop
Temperature: 72°
Climate: hot and bright
Weight: 166 lbs.
Mood: good

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. My brother is in town from St. Paul, we're having dinner with Mom tonight. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.

Animalympics - Graham Gouldman (1980)
Go For It
Underwater Fantasy
Away From It All
Born To Lose
Kit Mambo
Z.O.O.
Love's Not For Me
With You I Can Run Forever
We've Made It To The Top

Skill with the quill.

Goose quill.

New label: Albums For Running. Sometimes my playlist is all or part of an album, and I comment on that. Why this album. So I wanted to make these not-reviews easier to find. Not sure I've tagged them all yet.

No seriously, waking up with a headache on a weekend is so totally not fair. This morning I got up earlier than I might have, because I knew any further rest was pointless. Headed onto the deck with a notepad and the Times. Writing made my head hurt, reading was a distraction.

Sitting on the deck, writing, or trying to write. Like in the winter, heading downstairs to sit in front of the fire. New fireplace, new deck. We have created sites for living, and we use them. The house I bought kept getting smaller, and now we're making it bigger. It's like a new world of home ownership.

Boy Bike/Run
Distance: 3.6 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 77°
Climate: overcast & hot
Weight: 164 lbs.
Mood: uncertain

First boy bike/run of the season. He asks which I prefer, running to music or running with him. I didn't immediately say, "oh, running with you, son," because I thought that would sound disingenuous. I told him the differences, but emphasized how I like to have him to talk to and how much fun it is to be with someone and observe things.

So, yeah. I made it clear I'd rather run with him.

Though we had made long runs together went I was training last fall, this is the first time we went into Forest Hills together, and I was able to show him all the things I get to see when I run there. The goslings are now in their "late-teens," still golden and smaller than adults, but with those long, goofy necks.

How do you feel, I ask. "I feel good," he says. "We should do this more."

We will. I promise we will.

There's a part of me hoping it's true.

National Junior Honor Society
End of year means celebration.

Staying up late in our tiny TV room to watch not only the Cavs but also the Western Conference Finals  has become a thing and as a result we are all exhausted, exhilarated, and talking a lot about basketball. Primarily, however, we are all exhausted.

Now that summer weather has settled in, deciding when to run and how will be a thing. The Cavs took the Eastern Conference last night, and it was a nail-biter (well, they said it was a nail-biter, we were actually in the lead the entire game) and so we got to bed by midnight and rose at a relaxing eight in the morning. So the sun is out, and it is hot already. If I run now, I may exhaust myself for the day.

But who cares, right? Gotta run.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

I ache. Started in my chest (chest pains? no.) and then my neck seized up, and it ran through my shoulders. It's kind of a drag.

Hot weather, suddenly the part of my brain which dictates music wants modern disco. What does that signify?

Temperature: 79°
Climate: hot!
Weight: 164.5 lbs.
Mood: positive

Over and Over Playlist
Over and Over - Hot Chip
Past In Present * - Feist
In the Morning - Junior Boys
Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

In The Morning will always remind me of my last solo weekend in Chicago. Good lord, that was almost nine years ago. Ran the Lakeshore Trail, it's a beautiful urban run. Would that we had something like that, a long trail in the heart of the city. I mean, we do, but it's right next to the highway, there's no beach-like buffer between the lake and the city.

The song also makes me feel positive, forward-thinking. Something was about to happen at that time, was happening, is still happening. It is a slow revolution, but it continues to move within me.

Warmdown 
The Lovecats * - The Cure

I was running. You were walking.

Mr. Applegate & Joe
Damn Yankees - Bay High School, 1985.
I am smoking a lit cigarette on stage.

Went out for drinks with an old friend last night, someone I hadn't really spoken to in about thirty years or so. It was good to see Rob, if you looked at him you'd say he is a middle-aged lawyer with gray hair, and you'd be right. He has gentle eyes and a kind voice. A good guy. That's also the way I have always thought of him, and I was comforted by the fact that we share so many thoughts about things, especially considering how many ways I think differently from when I was in high school. Sometimes I am afraid to earn what the people I used to know now believe.

We're both Bay Village expatriates, each of us chose Cleveland Heights after college and feel so much more at home here. Our children were raised here, they will tell their children they are from here. It is quite a different world.

We ran into each other at a street fair years ago and said we'd catch up, but it took years. Facebook helped, he proposed a meeting and I said yes, and it finally happened. First the Wine Spot, then we moved to Brennan's. Heights!

Facebook cuts down on small talk. How many people do we know from high school, from college, from other jobs, who we used to date or were even once married to, who we may acknowledge or interact with only briefly, over years ... and yet, they know how old our children are, if we have been through a major illness, where we are and where we have been?

I didn't need to tell Rob my father had died, he knew already. (Strange, I keep finding myself surprised by people who I see every day who I surprise with the news, and only because they don't use Facebook.) We were talking about my half marathon, and the terrible weather, and how I have become this runner guy, and how impressed he was by my dad because he didn't look like a runner, and yet he was always heading out to run.

Rob said, "He'd run at night," meaning my dad, and that surprised me, so much, because I'd never thought about it. I mean, I couldn't picture him going out to run. Certainly not at night. If you asked, I couldn't tell you when he would take his runs. Only makes sense, he left for work before dawn, and came home in time for dinner. But honestly, I never thought about it.

But Rob could picture it. He described my home as a cool place to be, we'd hang out, my parents were nice to talk to, we'd watch TV all hours, it was great. And Dad would take off, maybe ten o'clock at night to go running. Sometimes I do that, too.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

We're in it for the duration now, the summer weather. Stepping onto Euclid Avenue last evening, people in the streets in shirt sleeves, so many people. The city is alive again.

Temperature: 70°
Climate: hot!
Weight: 163 lbs.
Mood: good

Spring 2016 Playlist
Send My Love (To Your New Lover) * - Adele
Wedding  - Poliça
Angels * - Chance the Rapper ft. Saba
Go! - M83 ft. Mai Lan
Born Again Teen * - Lucius
Breathe Life - Jack Garratt

Yes, Adele's new single could be performed by Taylor Swift. I don't care, I don't care!

Warmdown
Voices In My Head * - Bob Mould

Hi there!

Sledgehammer was released a little over thirty years ago, on April 25, 1986. In a year that was recently - scientifically - determined to be the worst in popular music history, I was astonished and thrilled by this song. Awesome horns, excitingly syncopated guitars, a funky, funky bassline, that slippery percussion, and lyrics that playfully extend absurd and absurdly obvious metaphors for fucking.

My interest in his work had started with his last complete album of original work, Security, and in the intervening years (1982-86, my entire high school career, actually) I has absorbed pretty much everything he had ever recorded, on his own and with Genesis, including their justifiably difficult to find first album, From Genesis To Revelation, which is really, really, really bad.

But I bought it.

And that was kind of the point. While I enjoyed delving into early 70s prog rock, and had piecemeal discovered that a great many tunes from my preadolescence for which I had a deep, subliminal affection (Solsbury Hill, for example, or Follow You, Follow Me) came from the same interconnected ensemble of artists, by my senior year in high school they were all a bit passé, weren't they? And you couldn't dance to them, and that was extremely important.

Listening to Sledgehammer for the first time, driving in my car (well, Mom's car) cruising down the highway from visiting my new girlfriend downtown, I was first struck by the fierceness of the attack, and immediately recognized the vocals, and that was so exciting.

A new Peter Gabriel album! A new girlfriend! These two events are intricately connected.

Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 40 minutes (or so)
Route: Boulevard-Noble Loop

The album So was released on May 19, 1986.

I have always found it gratingly ironic that an artist who had championed the end to apartheid long before most of his contemporaries lost out on the Grammy for Best Album for this record to a man who exploited the effort and talents of numerous black South African musicians to create Graceland.

So alternates, track by track between funky and upbeat - Sledgehammer, Big Time - and dour and downbeat - Don't Give Up, Mercy Street ... which I have chosen not to include in my running playlist, not because I don't like them but because I came to run, not brood.

Visceral and ethereal. He loves doing that, sliding back and forth, striving to represent his idea of godless, earth-bound spirituality. Peter Gabriel was thirty-five when he recorded this one. Once upon a time I might have thought that was when a man was at his physical strongest. Maybe some are. Not me.

Long before the movie Say Anything (1989) the song In Your Eyes was that summer's signature tune for walks on the beach, crazy-long make-out sessions, and basically any time the evening stretched on well past that point you know you really have to begin driving home because she has to be back by ten and you have to get up for school tomorrow, but five more minutes doesn't really make a difference at this point, right?

Temperature: 57°
Climate: The light! The heat!
Mood: I am complete.
Weight: 164.5 lbs.

Well. Today would have been a good day to run a half marathon.

So - Peter Gabriel (1986)
Red Rain
Sledgehammer (Extended Dance Version)

That Voice Again

In Your Eyes
Big Time (Extended Version)
This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds) ft. Laurie Anderson

All I want is to forget how old I am.

Because fuck you.

Once again, I made a personal best, and under such oppressive conditions. How is this even possible? I mean, it's not Olympic, but I am how old I am. I have been running with regularity since 1998, and I keep doing better.

And I am depressed, for two reasons. One, I fear this could be it. I thought that in Minnesota, I am thinking it again. When do I do less better? How will that hit me?

In addition, what if I had started earlier? Why did I not go out for track when I was in eighth grade, or entering high school? Why marching band, why not something original, exciting, new, and uniquely my own?

The extent to which athletics was considered a non-possibility in my house when growing up makes me very sad.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

New shoes! Josh got some Asics and they don't work for him, so I am the benefactor. A little snug, on the smaller side of 10.5, but after one run they loosened up a bit. We'll see if they work out for me.

Thanks, Josh!

Temperature: 61°
Climate: warm!
Weight: 163.5 lbs.
Mood: good

Didn't run since the half. No time, too much going on. End of the school year affects my home life and work life, and there are so many places I have to be. And that's good.

But for a recovery run, it was pretty fast, free and fun. No goals right now, no timing my run, just listening to my body as I move through space.

Spring 2016 Playlist
2AM  - Bear Hands
Soundcheck - Catfish and the Bottlemen
I Know You Got Soul - Eric B. & Rakim
The Only One I Know - The Charlatans
Crown On The Ground - Sleigh Bells

Warmdown
Water - Ra Ra Riot

Dude thinks he's Annie Lennox. That's cool.

2016 Rite Aid Cleveland Half Marathon

That was utterly ridiculous. Ridiculous, and in its way entirely awesome.

Official Time: 1:41:21
Avg. Pace: 7:43

Place Men 45-49: 14

Previous Best: 01:43:35 (Cleveland 2010)

The morning was ominous. The forecast was perfect in its awfulness -- upper thirties and rain. Rain, everything will get wet, especially the feet. Upper thirties is exactly the temperature where I could wear long pants or shorts. Rain and wind means my legs will freeze, long pants just suck.

I decided to go with the shorts, long-sleeve shirt with a short-sleeve over it, gloves ... I would wear a rain jacket and my pajamas as long as possible before dropping off my gear bag.

And the toe separator. Introducing something foreign into your shoe before a long run doesn't sound like a good idea, but maybe it was the weather but this old man was feeling a pain in his bunion.

Stepping out of the house it began to snow. Yes, today is May 15. In a little over a month it will be summer. However, for now, we have snow.

Chris and I met at the garage and walked over to the Q. It seemed like the worst was past, it was misty but not rainy. I had memories of how cool it was last fall before Twin Cities, and the morning just got better and better. This is not, however, how nature always works.

We found our pace group. The goal was an hour forty-two. I did not tell Chris that I hoped to beat my previous, I didn't want him to encourage me to go on without him if he started feeling it somewhere along the line.

Long story short, the weather became increasingly ridiculous. There was rain. There was sleet, there was more snow, and yes, there was hail. Hailstones. Lots of hail.

This is the first time I have ever run a long race with a partner, and it was really great. I mean, seriously, I do not believe either of us would have gone as fast, or even finished, without each other's good cheer and support. If I had been alone I would have been entirely miserable, I can tell you that.

However, we crack each other up, and were riffing with great skill until about mile ten when our chatter noticeably slowed. We succeeded in keeping up with the pace group (7:49) for most of the run, and it was at about mile nine that I felt were were slipping behind, and made an effort to catch up. Soon after we were both feeling it, though neither would admit it. It was all very positive.

The most amusing part of the route may have been the decision to take Train Avenue. I mean, really? You people won't send the marathon into the east side neighborhoods, but a dismal, chuckhole cratered wasteland is good enough for the tourists?

We started in on all the real estate possibilities of the hip new neighborhood soon to be referred to as Downtown Train.

The shitty weather kept crowds to a minimum (but a big thank you to all those who came out) and it's only upon reflection that I realized that I missed out on a lot of crowd interaction because we spent so much time in the middle of the street, to avoid the great puddles that form by the curb. I didn't read many signs, there were also much fewer of them.

When we turned onto Detroit from West 29th, after the mile eleven marker, we were suddenly struck by the devastation power of a Great Lake. It is a beautiful thing to live in proximity to such a majestic body of water as Lake Erie. However, when weather is inclement it can be an angry and unforgiving force. My grandfather sailed around the world, and he said the most dangerous body of water he had ever traversed was Erie.

But we did it. Onto the Shoreway, that final incline, we kept each other's spirits high, worked past the pace captain, and made it to the finish line.

It remained ghastly, every celebratory aspect of the finish line we were being pelted with rain and sleet. Grabbing food, receiving medals, I had to get my bag and put dry clothes over my wet ones, just to keep out the chill. My legs were terribly red. My fingers were numb, they could barely untie my laces. Later I would discover my wet socks had worn a nasty tear into my left heel.

Fact is, I have not felt this miserable after a race in a very long time, Years. When I got home, took a bath, had a nap, I ache, my knees hurt, Just ugh. Horrid weather. But, hey! Cleveland.

Chris and I had been joking about the post-race beer for days, and we actually went to get it. Because dammit! After a few sips, and attempted conversation with another runner, we decided this was pointless and pitched our cups to head off to get something to eat.

Inn on Coventry. Eggs Mando. Breakfast of champions.

13.1 Half Marathon Tips From A Complete Asshole

Over at the Andrew Runs A Lot Blog he created an inspiring and very helpful 13.1 Tips for a Great Half Marathon.

So this is my list:

1. Every time you pass someone you get a cookie. Every time someone passes you, you give back a cookie. These are for real cookies, and you will be asked for your tally at the finish line.
2. Be sure to look up and take in the beautiful Cleveland Cultural Gardens on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., only you have to do that on your drive home because the Cleveland Marathon is a West Side deal. 
3. The night before the 2012 marathon I ate a cheeseburger and onion rings at Bearden's, and yet the next day I totally crushed my personal best. This won't work for you.
4. Don't pee by the side of the road. This is acceptable at the New York City marathon, but for some reason in Cleveland people will yell at you.
5. A "Half Marathon" is not actually a thing. On any given Sunday I run 13 miles before church.
6. Take two cups of water at each stop. If there isn't enough for the people at the back of the pack that is totally not your fault.
7. You do not need to wear your bib number on the front, they tell you to do that so they can sell you crap with your picture on it after the race.
8. Wear a Marvel Superhero branded shirt. That way you can repost their official photos as much as you like without paying for them. You may be violating their photographer's copyright, but they will be violating Disney's copyright if they tried to sell it to you.
9. Hells yeah, wear the headphones. You paid a hundred bucks for this day, too.
10. Speaking of that entry fee, bring your own coffee and pre-race snack. They charge you for stuff at the starting line.
11. Motivational signs featuring misused apostrophes or quotation marks will be mocked.
12. Avoid the hoses, they'll get your feet and then you're screwed.
13. There are a million things that can go wrong. Don't let one happen. Good luck!

Here's my point-one: Now go back and read Andrew's 13.1 Great Tips, because they are sincere and helpful. And then have an awesome run on Sunday. It may rain, but we are all going to do great.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:32
Duration: 22:38
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Expo!

Training for the half marathon began on March 7. My father had died a little more than two weeks before, with all that was going on I had forgotten about the race, remembering pretty much that day. His picture keeps popping up, wen I am looking for other things. I still don't understand.

Yesterday Chris and I hit the Expo. It was amazing, he knew, like, everyone there. For real, that guy knows everybody. We got our bibs (he, 4911, me 4912) our shirts, bought some gels, at a bunch of free stuff, it was great.

Tonight, pasta. Tomorrow we run. This one's for Chris, because I wouldn't be doing this this spring without his encouragement, and all things considered I am very glad I am. So, for Chris. Chris and dad.

Temperature: 48°
Climate: cool and overcast ... but not rainy!
Weight: 161.5 lbs.
Mood: good

Teenage Kicks - Live on The Current
Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.
Kid - The Pretenders
Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies

[Live interview with Dave Wakeling]

Save It For Later - The English Beat
When You Were Mine - Prince

DID YOU KNOW ..? Dave Wakeling gave Prince the "rude Boy" pin he wears on the cover of Dirty Mind. True Story.

I'm a little tired out but I'm feeling OK.

Running a half marathon this weekend. Want to follow me? Go here. The name is David Hansen.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:27
Duration: 22:21
Route: Forest Hill Loop

The rain this weekend is gonna mess with, like everything. Noblefest, the annual yard sale, the orchestra's Cedar Point trip, and then there's the big run. Also, I am never going to water seal my deck at this rate.

Temperature: 57°
Climate: overcast
Weight: 161.5 lbs. (-1.0)
Mood: good!

160-164 BPM Playlist
Soul Bossanova - Skeewiff
Light of Day - Joan Jett
I Stand Corrected - Vampire Weekend
Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz
Kiss Ne On The Bus - The Replacements
Why Should I Cry For You - Sting

That's my shit right there. Easy tempo, encourages longer strides. Good warm-up for the day.

Warmdown
Ride Your Donkey - The Tennors

Is it so wrong to be human after all?

Hamilton humor.

Knee still making itself known yesterday, but not so pained. Easy tapering runs this week.

Looking forward to getting a map at the Expo, the one of the marathon website is just stupid, it's a Map My Run scan of the map, so you aren't able to zoom in for more detail, followed by a list of the "details" of each turn.

It's like your tech-averse mom printed it out for you and then sent it to you through the mail.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:28
Duration: 22:26
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 64°
Climate: warm!
Weight: 162.5 lbs. (-0.5)
Mood: good

1985-86 School Year Playlist
Something About You - Level 42
Seven Day Weekend - Elvis Costello & Jimmy Cliff
Smooth Operator - Sade
Tarzan Boy - Baltimora
The Brazilian - Genesis

Remember when every pop song had a sax solo? Man, we were fucking suave.

I could feel her coming from a mile away.

Cowboy.

Yesterday, my knee hurt all day. From when I ran in the morning, it just got more uncomfortable. Not difficult-to-walk painful, just a constant singing ache. No injuries throughout the entire training period, a short, three-mile run and my knee hurts all day.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:20
Duration: 22:02
Route: Forest Hill Loop

As a child the end of the school year was a moment of closure; a point of transition, true but a clear ending of something. Neat. Specific. Then moving on.

Thirty years ago we were preparing to graduate from high school. Promise was enormous, but what the hell was I doing? This is one of the central issues of the new play I have written, the one which will be workshopped at Last Frontier.

My high school reunion will be celebrated this June. I always say I won't go, I always do. Inevitably I feel uncomfortable, unsatisfied. This year I can't go, I will be in Alaska. The future trumps the past.

Temperature: 61°
Climate: overcast and breezy
Weight: 163 lbs. (-1.0)
Mood: good

Could have run forever this morning ... with no idea where I was going.

1985-86 School Year Playlist
I Wanna Be a Cowboy - Boys Don't Cry
This Is Not America - Pat Metheny Group ft. David Bowie
Throwing It All Away (168 bpm)  - The Police
And We Danced - The Hooters
Sheila Take a Bow - The Smiths
Another Generation (171 bpm) - Fishbone

Warmdown
The Pleasure Principle - Janet Jackson

When someone great is gone.

Brief run, We wind down toward the race. Chris and I have made plans to walk to the Expo during lunch on Friday. Very glad the Expo is once again downtown, the last time I ran the CLE it was out at the I-X Center, a fact which I was kinda whiny about.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

This weekend I performed I Hate This for an audience of fifty at Talespinner Children's Theatre. Pretty epic. Check it out. Someday, perhaps, I will revisit the marathon play.

Temperature: 52°
Climate: cool
Weight: 164 lbs. (+0.5)
Mood: not the best

BABY GEESE! LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF BABY GEESE AT THE PARK!

Crown On The Ground Playlist
Crown On The Ground * - Sleigh Bells
Song For No One - Miike Snow
Infinity Guitars * - Sleigh Bells
I Think Ur a Contra - Vampire Weekend
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
Diane Young - Vampire Weekend

That woman at Gerber. Her name. It actually was Diane Young.

And I only just got that.

I am leaving many people feeling worse than before.

Last night I performed I Hate This (a play without the baby) at Talespinner Children's Theatre. I took the photo at right backstage, minutes before the show began.

I first performed this piece when I was thirty-five. The events it describes happened when I was thirty-three. I am now nearly forty-eight.

I had, on occasion, used hair dye to cover those patches of gray which were arriving daily, to keep my appearance more in line with how I looked in my early thirties.

Now that seems kind of pointless. My skin sags, my eyes have sunk. If I darkened my hair or put pink in my cheeks I'd look like Aschenbach. (Literary allusions for 100, Stephani.)

Besides, the whole point of this endeavor was to tell the story from now. Not in any obvious way (though I did add a brief, new scene to represent Calvin's most recent birthday) but if this go-round has taught me anything it is that the piece works best when I just tell it. More telling, less acting. The writing has always been better, anyway.

Distance: 6 miles
Avg Pace: 7:37
Duration: 45:42
Route: Cain Park-Noble Loop
Week Nine Total: 22 miles
Training To Date: 194 miles

We move into week ten of training, the final week. By this time next Sunday, we will be well past the finish line.

Temperature: 55°
Climate: cool and bright
Weight: 163.5 (+2.5)
Mood: relieved

Great run. Check out the playlist. Before the show last night we played Kid A, which has been the traditional pre-show music since the beginning. The set, the props, everything was retro last night, so why change the music? Made me think I would run to that this morning.

But not after last night. so much joy, so much life. I would rather be in the now, thank you.

2015-16 School Year Playlist
Cake By The Ocean - DNCE
Giving Up On You * - Wild Belle
Run - San Cisco
Stay Alive * - Company from "Hamilton"
Restless - New Order
Water - Ra Ra Riot
Snakeskin - Deerhunter
I Can't Give Everything Away - David Bowie
The Party Line - Belle & Sebastian
Leave a Trace - CHVRCHES
Price Tag - Sleater-Kinney

A blade of grass. A grain of sand.

Been working on the callouses on my feet, with a combination of salicylic acid and careful dead skin removal (scraping.) Get the combination wrong, get too aggressive, and you can develop nasty blood blisters. I have been pretty successful. Last night I was using pumice to smooth them and borrowed some of the girl's Burt's Bees foot lotion.

I used to have such lovely feet. I will have lovely feet again.

Distance: 4 miles
Route: Cain Park Loop

Popular New Exercise App Just Tells Users They Ran 5 Miles A Day No Matter What (The Onion, Oct. 3, 2014)
“With ProMiler, achieving your exercise goals is as simple as turning on your device in the morning and being notified that you’ve already run five miles,” ProMiler spokesman John Lyons said while demonstrating the app, which uses advanced GPS technology to display a new, randomly generated five-mile running route near the user’s location every day.

Temperature: 48°
Climate: bright and cool
Weight: 162 lbs. (+1.0)
Mood: all right

2015-15 School Year Playlist
Cream On Chrome - Ratatat
FloriDada * - Animal Collective
Bad Blood *  - Ryan Adams
Breathe Life - Jack Garratt
Voices In My Head * - Bob Mould
Bury Our Friends - Sleater-Kinney
Don't Wanna Fight - Alabama Shakes
The Shade - Metric

Got a heartbeat like we're only sixteen.

1. Why does this keep appearing on my internet?
2. How can I make it stop?
3. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

We approach the end of another school year. My son will have completed elementary school. The wife and attended our last elementary school music concert the other day. Doors open before us, but they close behind us.

You're looking at that terrible photo at right, aren't you. It keeps popping up on my internet feed, something to do with high blood pressure. I am fit as fuck and yet I keep getting that hideous looking ad. I just had to share it with someone.

Tonight the girl will have her spring solo recital, the first my father will not be able to attend. He was not present for her spring concert at CIM last Saturday, either. Her playing made him very happy. It makes me happy, too.

Distance: 5 miles
Avg Pace: 7:22
Duration: 36:54
Route: Boulevard-Noble Loop

Temperature: 52°
Climate: glorious
Weight: 161 lbs. (-0.5)
Mood: good

2015-16 School Year Playlist
Born Again Teen (150 bpm) - Lucius
Lazarus - David Bowie
A New Wave (174 bpm) - Sleater-Kinney
Return To The Moon - EL VY
Non-Stop (182 bpm) - Company from "Hamilton"
S.O.B. - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Wait For It - Leslie Odom Jr.
The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box - Modest Mouse
Disappointing - John Grant ft. Tracey Thorn

Better run, 'cause ...

Trail run! This BPM was way too slow, 155-159 beats per minute is a running through the snow tempo.

But I tried it, wanted to see what the pace would be. And as I was heading out of the park, this dude pops onto the bike path from the hiking path. And I thought, that could be fun.

It was! I wouldn't do it often, I got a bit turned around and then I wanted to start heading back and wasn't sure how to get out, but it's not a large park and soon enough I found the bike path.

Good morning run! Yay! Except my car is in the shop. Boo.

Distance: 5.5 miles
Avg Pace: 8:20
Duration: 45:52
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Up until midnight last night, send out info for this weekend's performance of I Hate This. Slow morning for me, but at least the kids and wife were on top of everything. We make a good team.

Temperature: 46°
Climate: nice!
Weight: 161.5 lbs. (-3.0)
Mood: anxious

155 - 159 BPM Playlist
Who Are You - The Who
I Don't Want To Fall In Love - She Wants Revenge
Numb - Portishead
Now We're Getting Somewhere - Crowded House
Hey Ho - The Lumineers
So Light Is Her Footfall - AIR
A Million Miles Away - The Plimsouls
I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
Surfing On A Rocket - AIR
Shapes Between Us run Into Animals - Robyn Hitchcock
Mirrors - Justin Timberlake
The Long Hair of Death - Stereolab

The ghost of a steam train echoes down my track.

Cavs win. Big night. Dropping my car off at the mechanics' so it is cold tomorrow when they check for that horrible screeching its currently making. Late run.

Distance: 2.3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:58
Duration: 18:18
Route: Boulevard Loop

And that's it.

Temperature: 42°
Climate: cool
Weight: 164.5 lbs. (+3.0)
Mood: headachy

What's That Lyric?
Town Called Malice - The Jam

Overcast days never turned me on.

Almost entirely forgot about running. The wife asks, did you run nine miles today? Well, no, when would I have done that? It was just and me this morning, and we had a nice lay around. Then there was everything else.

And besides, nine miles? No, not today. Not ready yet. I think my taper began last week. Alas. Big deal. But I greatly appreciate the encouragement.

Distance: 6 miles
Route: Cain Park-Noble Loop
Week Eight Total: 17 miles 
Training To Date: 172 miles

One running, Orthodox man, two deer in my neighbors yard, and three dog-walkers whose animals came at me. Fuck you, people. I got into the street yards away and yet you didn't bother to shorten the leash. Fuck you, and your stupid, dangerous animals.

Temperature: 52°
Climate: overcast & cool
Weight: 161.5 lbs. (-0-)
Mood: all right except for those fucking dogs

One of the best features of my new iPod is that it has an actual radio.

Erie Effusion - LIVE on WRUW 91.1 FM
America (12" Version) - Prince
Raspberry Beret - Prince
The Dance Electric - Andre Cymone
Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar - Sheila E.
Out of Mind Out of Sight - Models
Exception of Love - Truth
New Way of Life - The Sound
Positively Lost Me - The Rave-Ups