Slow down before we fall down.

That's too much, man!

Therapist recommends a treadmill, or track. Something not as shocking as pavement. There is a decent track at the middle school, so that is where I am headed.

To keep me occupied during stretches, I have been binge-watching BoJack Horseman. God, some of this is bleak. I do not know whether that is currently a good thing or a bad thing.

Distance: 1 mile
Route: Monticello Track

Walked to the middle school. Eight minutes. The wife asked recently why I was so irritated when the kids ask for a ride to school. I know I asked for rides to middle school and my mother would oblige, I also took the RTA up the street sometimes, because then it was pretty cheap to take the bus.

My middle school was a mile from my house, which is not long, a twenty minute walk. But we live less than half a mile from our kids' school. It takes eight minutes. When they can walk, they should walk. When the weather is very poor, or they are injured, or not feeling well, or have a large package to transport, sure.

Because their walking or not walking isn't really the issue. It is that I hate driving to the middle school. I hate starting the engine of my car, and burning gasoline to go less than one half mile. Turning onto the main boulevard during rush hour, idling at the stoplight, negotiating the parking lot during drop-off. That's what really makes me unhappy.

Driving to the middle school to go to the track, like driving to the gym - driving to exercise - it just drives me a little crazy. Parking so I can have a run. It makes sense in Athens, when the roads around my in-laws do not have sidewalks and the bike path is a mile or so away, that I can justify. But not driving to the track around the corner.

My daughter got to walk to her school for three years, my son for only one. I have lived around the corner from that school for getting near a quarter century, and I only got three years worth out of it. Hrumph.

Temperature: 72°
Climate: bright, sunny, beautiful
Mood: not good

Felt okay. Going to stretch now.

What's That Lyric?
Millennium - Robbie Williams

Oh my God, the season three finale of BoJack Horseman. Jesus Christ, universe. What the fuck are you doing to me?

Here we go down a long dark road.

Today is the Cleveland Marathon. Last year it snowed. This year, my wife encouraged me to take a brief, to see how it feels.

Distance: .85 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:13
Duration: 7:49
Route: One time around the clock

Did my stretches first, which is weird, because I never stretch before I run. Took it easy, or as easy as I could. Yes, the therapist told me to wait until after I saw him next, but the wife suggested I do this. And at the moment, the only thing that hurts are my knees. Odd

Temperature: 66°
Climate: cool, overcast, humid
Mood: all right

Last night the daughter and I walked home from the middle school, because there was no room in the car (not an interesting story why) and she was walking fast. She was exhausted from a day at Cedar Point, but she was trucking, and it was hard for me to keep up.

Metaphors, please. Go ahead. Hit me with your metaphors.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 169.5 lbs. (+5.0)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

Yes and I gained five pounds in the past month. Not a big surprise there. Another five and I will be right back where I started. Is it necessary to run to keep my weight under control? It better not be.

What's That Lyric?
Do I Have To Talk You Into It? * - Spoon

Physical therapy continues.

More exercises added last week. No less than twenty minutes spent stretch my back in the morning, and again at night, which is the kind of time I used to spend running.

Not sure how effective it is. It feels like there is no sciatic pain at all one day, the next there is irritation. The therapist asked I wait another week to see about the resumption of running.

You would be doing five miles your first tie out, he said, as though that's not obvious. But I was hoping to do the Pride Run on June 2. We shall see about that.

Physical therapy.

Last night I took a brisk walk around the soccer field but not for as long as I had planned. The exercises continue, and at my appointment a few days ago I neglected to ask the therapist if I could resume running, or if I should.

The girl is struggling to move up to peak performance after a lag time between futsal and soccer, and recuperation following a mild concussion. She has developed shin splints (we believe) but unlike previous injuries she is confidently making plans to work through it, with bandages and proper exercises.

This is my own concern. Should I attempt to plow through my pain? Ibuprofen helps, the exercises help. Actually, just not sitting so much for so often helps. I had shin splints when I first trained for a marathon, over ten years ago. It felt like running with a broken leg, which is much how the girl describes it.

I was running fast last winter, but through this pain. It seems stupid to continue, like I am only making it worse for myself. I wanted to apply for the 2018 New York Marathon, to run it when I turned fifty. Now I am not sure that can happen.

Interlude

Visited the physical therapist yesterday. Resuming a regimen of lower back pain exercises. My slipped disc may be a contributing factor to the sciatica, something out of place touching something else. I didn't get it, but whatever.

Yesterday I did the exercises in the morning, which made my sciatica act up throughout the day. Sitting through a play was murderous, and so was the play. But I dutifully did them again last thing last night, and again first thing this morning.

I had written every morning this week, but today we slept in a little, I did my exercises. It is frustrating when physical limitations get in the way of the work.