2018 Friendship Day 5K

25th Annual Friendship Day 5K
Start: 7:45 am
Our Time: around 28 minutes

The wife stayed in this morning, to write. I agree to run both races, with him in the one mile, and her in the 5K. He made 10:30 which I think is pretty respectable. I may have made better time in the 5K and she was not thrilled that I kept one step behind her the entire way, but that is what I wanted to do and I did it.

After, pancakes!
 
This is our last day, tomorrow we return via Boston. There's a little summer left, right? I mean, it's not even August.

Everybody's coming to my house.

Last night.

Long, relaxing day of birthday revelry yesterday. Did not stray far from the house, except for a walk out to Beatrice Bay.

As we were stepping down out of the woods onto the beach, I hear a muffled crashing sound. The wife said she didn't hear it, but it sounded to me a like a tree falling. Making our way back after some time out on the rock, we discovered that something like a tree had fallen, a very large dead branch lay right across our path.

I was a bit unnerved. That may have struck one of us, or both. She was not concerned. I remain so.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Route: Martin Point
Temperature: 72•
Climate: cloudless & sunny
Mood: worried

Fast run! The fog has burned off (mostly) and it has become a bright beautiful day. About time. My glasses steamed with sea spray by the beach, I had to remove and wipe them off. But it was a brisk run, I felt strong. Even yesterday I did my exercises. I will commit. I will work to achieve. I will be strong.

Exercises: yes

We had a full deck for wine hour last night, and lots of things to eat. The wife made spaghetti and meatballs and a beautiful carrot cake. Michele and her family were present for dinner, of course, and also children of my cousins; Nathan his family -- and Anne, who we happened to run into Wednesday at Round Top. Incredible! I have not seen Anne in perhaps twenty years. Thanks to Facebook, we recognized each other.

So, there's that, Facebook. Thanks.

"We'll Figure It Out"
(Music From the Big Love 2015-2018)

Disc Two:
Dead Sea - The Lumineers
Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
Want You Back - HAIM
tonite - LCD Soundsystem
Remember Me (Ernesto de la Cruz) - Benjamin Bratt & Company
The Way - Fastball
He's a Rebel - The Crystals
The Crown Main Title - Hans Zimmer
All the Stars - Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA
Everybody's Coming to My House - David Byrne
Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
Heaven On Their Minds - Brandon Victor Dixon & Company
Bad Bad News - Leon Bridges
This Is America - Childish Gambino
Remember Me (Lullaby) - Gael García Bernal, Libertad Bernal & Gabriella Flores

Disc One yesterday.

Oh, and I got tickets to see David Byrne!

Look up here. I'm in Heaven.

This is 50.

The week has been damp. A damp, foggy week. Not particularly cold, but absent the sun it feels cooler than it is. Nice to sleep with the windows open, with just a sheet. To listen to the rain on the roof. The dreams this week have been deep and faraway. Animals and adventures. No idea of what, where or when.

Today is my birthday. Please enjoy the new banner, incorporating a photo by Amy Arbus. We move on.

Prepared dinner last night, it was aggravating, there is no counter top at the proper height, I have to bend over to chop. Even in the car, running some errands during the afternoon, there was pain on my left side. I did exercises after dinner, resting overnight has quelled the pain, but it lingers.

I intend to do exercises every day. I have to do them every day. I do not wish to do them every day. I want the pain to stop.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Pace: 8:37
Route: Martin Point
Temperature: 68•
Climate: misty & cool
Mood: decent

Good run, brisk. Mornings you run into people you know! Mom was headed back from a walk in the woods as I hit the first hill, I passed my cousin Nathan on my way back from the turnaround just after Camp Evergreen. There's a little pain, but it felt good to move and to move swiftly.

Foggy, moody, breezy, nice. They say there will be a party this evening. I wonder if it will be indoor or out.

Exercises: yes, god dammit

Three years after we started dating, I gifted my (then) girlfriend with a cassette of songs commemorating our time together. I was unaware at that time that I had begun a triennial ritual.

Included were not just pop songs from the era -- songs we both liked, not just me -- but also clips from films we had seen together, scores from dance concerts or songs that were used in plays we had seen (not produced, but had attended together, in the audience.) They did not need to be contemporary, they could be from the past as long as they had relevance to us.

This worked well from 1994 to 1997, and from 1997 to 2000. But what happens when your life takes some unfortunate turns? When you lose a child or your nation is lunged into chaos? It turns out there are songs for that, too.

She received a new set of discs as we set out Saturday morning, and that was intense. So much loss. But also, so much life.

"We'll Figure It Out"
(Music From the Big Love 2015-2018)

Disc One:
Hello - Adele
Lazarus - David Bowie
Stardust (Live at Oberlin) - Dave Brubeck
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison & Prince
Wait For It - Leslie Odom Jr. & Company
Come To the Fun Home - Sydney Lucas & Company
Should I Stay Or Should I Go - The Cash
Hallelujah - Kate McKinnon
Immigrats (We Get the Job Done) -  K'naan, Riz Ahmed, Residente, Snow Tha Product, K'naan, Snow Tha Product, Riz MC & Residente
How Far I'll Go - Auli'i Cravalho
Careless Whisper (Live at Mountain Winery) - Ben Fold & Rufus Wainwright
COH-CAINE - Stilly Dan

Disco Two tomorrow.

Martin Point Walk/Run

The day opened up yesterday, a very pleasing afternoon in which the boy and I were able to head out in the motorboat to do a bit of fishing. Getting the boat into the dock was a bit trying, however, as there was a knot in the mooring. I actually had to use a kayak to attending to the mooring and run the knot through, ripping up my hands a touch and taxing me in general.

I am not a weak person. In fact, I have been successful with my exercises and it gives me strength .. but trying to maintain balance in a kayak while wrestling with unhelpful objects, bobbing about in the water is very aggravating, physically and so mentally. I was not able to stay out in the boat as long as I otherwise might have.

I hate this. I hate my complaining, I hate the hurting. Falling asleep last night was challenging, as I had pain down my left side.

Distance: 2.25 miles total (1.2 running)
Route: Martin Point
Temperature: 69•
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: good

The boy used to balk at running. He was young, of course, but his sister started early. But she has been a dedicated soccer player, used to running in spite of her asthma. He is bigger, he carries more weight. In that way, he is like my father.

But he would also complain of his feet hurting, and other issues that would make him stop after a few yards. I didn't know how much was your basic human desire not to run. I wasn't forcing him to, I never compelled him to he would try it and not like. That's why he bikes while I run.

Lately, however, he has been running. He uses the treadmill at the rec center, which is great way to begin. Twenty years ago my wife and I (before we were married, actually) gifted ourselves a gym membership, and so I trained myself to run for a long duration than I ever had previously. It was six years before I started truly running in the streets.

So when my wife proposed to him this morning that he accompany me on my run, I was surprised when he agreed. He's still at the point where he will run for a while, and then walk, but I was impressed.

And we got to talk. Which is always good.

Exercises: indeed.

With a couple of kids running in the yard.

We are in Maine. It has been a long, relaxed morning, spent reading. I bought The Witches by Stacy Schiff last year, and it has taken some time to complete. I mean, even now I'm not close. It' a thick book, with small print, but that's not the problem. It's just maddening ... I will write about it soon, I'm sure (or, uh, maybe not soon) right now I will continue to plow through. Sitting by a fire in New England is certainly motivating.

I know. Maine isn't really New England. But it did used to be part of Massachusetts, so step off.

So, anyway. Took my time getting out. Cool morning. Fog only just now burning off. The wife and boy went out to Beatrice Bay, she to commune, he to fish. And I, the other way, to run.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Pace: 8:30
Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 69•
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: good

Driving here was literally a pain in the ass. Driving the first leg on Saturday was not actually difficult, it was when I became a passenger that the nerves down my left side began to ache. Taking a nap, it became increasingly painful and I asked to pull over so that I could do some exercises and return to driving.

Yesterday we were stuck in some backed up traffic, and it was then that my right side began to hurt, with all of the braking. My right side. It was truly awful. I enjoy driving with my family, and returning to these old old roads, and it makes me very unhappy to wish so dearly for the journey to be over.

The wife asked if the exercises my chiropractor advised are having any effect, and I believe they are. I just have to do them. I did a sequence at the hotel yesterday morning, but they can't really help if I am in the unusual circumstance such as we had on the highway yesterday.

Exercises: Yes. Thank you.

Today's run was truly glorious, and fast. It felt good. The hills can be wearying when it is bright and hot, but today it is pleasant, cool, and cloudy. Ideal for running.

The girl spent the evening with a school chum on Squirrel Island, and will rejoin us this evening. I wonder if she will want to run with me this week.

What's That Lyric?
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles

Bodies in motion.

A trio to the gym this morning, the wife is not feeling well. Hope she's better by tonight, however, because we're all going to see Hamilton downtown. You heard me. Suck on that.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: good. fast!

Exercises: yes!!

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 166.5 lbs. (+0.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

I don't need to walk around in circles.

All family gym trip. Everyone working out. It's a new world.

Gym etiquette is challenging. I the jerk, because I am running in the morning when it's walking time. But there are signs everywhere saying FOR YOUR SAFETY: Walkers Must Use the Two Inside Lanes.

Senior men do not want to admit that they are walkers, however. So they use the outside lane, making their twenty minute mile, with their elbows up like they are running. I have to change lanes to pass them.

Then there are the ladies who walk two-by-two. When one pair passes another, they do not look behind them but just walk past their counterparts using both of the outside lanes. I can a) warn them I'm coming or b) slow down until they switch back to the inside lanes. You can guess which I actually do.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: good

Did not run nor exercise yesterday, and I felt it while sitting. Felt it when I got up today, too. But not currently, now that I have exercised.

I have to remember to make note of this later, if conditions change.

Exercises: yes

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 166 lbs. (-0-)
Goal: 160 lbs.

What's That Lyric?
Circles - Soul Coughing

Rather see you on the run.

Gym run complete with exercises. The girl's dedication is remarkable, exercising most mornings, then twelve hours at CIA before coming home to unwind playing the violin (that was a joke, the unwinding part) then going to sleep whenever it is she goes to sleep. She is one disciplined fifteen year-old.

Distance: 3miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: positive

Exercises: yes!

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 166 lbs. (-0.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

Work. Get below 165 again.

What's That Lyric?
Push - Prince & The New Power Generation

You're making me run when I don't want to think.

Another hot afternoon run. That's three runs, three days in a row, which is nice.

Went to the chiropractor yesterday. I think there is progress, which is hard to tell. I need to do the exercises every day, and not just when I run.

I need to work on my upper ... and, yes, lower body strength.

And I need to run at least every other day. Today was much less mechanical, I felt less stiff. They change up the exercises every week, which is good, because it makes me feel like we're working toward something.

I do miss doing stretches on the deck in North Carolina. That was special, inspiring, and very, very helpful. I hope exercising on the porch at Barnstable offers as much solace and motivation. It probably should.

Distance:3.3 miles
Pace: 8:42
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 84°
Climate: hot & sunny
Mood: all right

Exercises: yes!

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 165.5 lbs. (-1.0)
Goal: 160 lbs.

Ok. Keep going.

What's That Lyric?
There's No Other Way - blur

It's poetry in motion.

Exhausted this morning, difficult getting up. All the others have a morning game plan this week, which centers around getting the girl to CIA for pre-college by nine. They made a plan to hit the gym, the three of them. There was no reason for me not to be involved, only I hadn't expressed any interest in joining them.

Why not? No idea. Can't fathom. I have been unhappy with my lack of exercise, as though there is no time for that. But there is, there's bags of it. Anyway, as I was lost in my thoughts after waking I realized there was nothing preventing me from joining them. So I did, an entire family, headed to the gym for forty-five minutes. Plenty of time for a run and exercises.

Good work.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: all right

Exercises: yes

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 167.5 (+0.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

wut.

What's That Lyric?
She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby

Forest Hill Bike/Run

Hey, ho. Another hot jog through the park with my son on his bike. So that's a good thing.

Distance: 4.36 miles
Pace: 9:10
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 80°
Climate: hot & sunny
Mood: anxious

Exercises: yes

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 167 lbs. (+1.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

Okay, here we go ...

Cain Park Bike/Run

Good lord, did I eat a lot of crap watching the Brazil v. Belgium match this afternoon. What am I, still on vacation?

Distance: 4.1 miles
Pace: 9:02
Route: Cain Park Loop
Temperature: 71°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: all right

The boy and I took a trip around the Heights. Much cooler weather, but still. And trying to keep up exhausts me. However, the bike can hold a water bottle, and this is very convenient.

Exercises: a few. not enough.

Forest Hill Bike/Run

Ow, shit. Pulled a muscle in my thigh doing stretches. It was a hot run, the boy on his bike and I trying to keep up. Sometimes on these excursions I go too fast, on a hot, sunny day like today it's all too fast.

The boy has gotten so moody, it's distressing. I try to keep positive, and to engage, but sometimes it's just too much. I remember how much he used to love these runs, and he probably still does, inside. But he doesn't let me know about it. He seems so down.

Distance: 4.3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 85•
Climate: HOT
Mood: all right

We did have a conversation though, about music. I had been thinking about music today, and wanted to hear from him. I was patient, asking a question, and waiting for a response. For this I was rewarded with an answer.

Exercises: a few

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 165.5 lbs. (+2.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

That I ate all that fried Southern cooking and other junk food for over a week and only gained two and a half pounds is amazing.