Noble Elementary Loop

It is my daugher, now, who encourages me to run. A pre-school (not preschool, you know, before school) run in the icy coldness.

My eyelid is messed up, I'll be heading to the doctor's this morning. But hey. New President.

Distance: 2 miles
Duration: 21:31
Pace: 10:32
Route: Noble Elementary Loop
Temperature: 30°
Climate: cold

Pavement: icy streets and snowy sidewalks
Mood: all right
Baseline: 185 lbs.

Current: 189 lbs. (+4.0)

No playlist, pre-dawn run with both kids. Want to keep our ears (and in my case, eye) open.

I need to get these kids their own running gloves, The girl got a kink in her neck, holding her sweatshirt sleeves closed to keep her hands warm may have contributed to her muscle stress. So, too, her brother, who prefers to run in the middle of the street. That stresses me out.

Take off your clothes and leave on your shoes.

Above freezing, I guess I owed it to myself to take that run. Wore shorts and a long sleeved shirt, gloves. A bit huffy and puffy. But at least I didn't stop to walk.

1990 Playlist

Metropolis - The Church

Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction

Feels Good  - Tony! Toni! Toné!

Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest

Do Me! - Bel Biv Devoe

Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode

Pilcy of Truth - Depeche Mode

Vogue - Madonna

Listening to the 2010 playlist, and then to this one, I realize I was born at just the right time.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:11
Pace: 9:44
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 45°
Climate: cool, nice

Pavement: dry
Mood: all right

That 808 bump.

School work resumes. Work work resumes. Creative work must also reume. And the running, the exercise, by fits and starts, continues. Exercise is a nice thing.

2010 Playlist

Dynamite - Taio Cruz

Love the Way You Lie - Eminem ft. Rihanna

Like a G6 - Far East Movement

Super Bass - Nicki Minaj

Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aquilera

Califronia Girls - Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg

Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

Bright sun, but cold. Winter gear, hard work. Panting like an old man. But good.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 29:47
Pace: 9:36
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 34°
Climate: cold & bright

Pavement: dry
Mood: not bad
Baseline: 185 lbs.

Current: 185 lbs.

And we're back.

Everybody everywhere is gonna feel tonight.

This week, I can not stop eating. All day. Just grazing constantly. It's a compulsion. There are ways to fight this. More water. Keep your mouth clean. And stay healthily occupied.

Sleep has been better the past two nights. Easing off alcohol again would help, I am sure. The soporific tea works better than Bendaryl, that is for certain. I wish I didn't have to purchase it at Whole Foods.

It helps that we stay up later to watch The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I retire exhausted.

1980 Playlist

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da - The Police

The Magnificent Dance - The Clash

All Over the World - Electric Light Orchestra

Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend

The Breaks - Kurtis Blow

Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie

Also, goons stormed the Capitol.

Distance: 2.25 miles
Duration: 21:53
Pace: 9:43
Route: Horizon Loop
Temperature: 36°
Climate: cool

Pavement: wet with ichy patches of snow
Mood: ?

The heart is a bloom.

I miss sleep. Plain, uninterrupted sleep. My sleep was, for a time, interrupted by the need to change a small child. Today, I just can't sleep. I sleep for a few hours, wake, and then my mind is racing.

A year ago I was practicing a form of meditation, I was able to make my mind go blank and I would drop into sleep. My thoughts were so terrible then, as my mother was dying. I guess the need was greater. My thoughts aren't troubling (or mostly not troubling) they are just there. 

And I am not angst ridden enough to motivate me to get out of bed, to sleep somewhere else, to try something different. I just lie there. For an hour. Or two. Until I fall back asleep.

I really need to work on that meditation.

2000 Playlist

What a Fool Believes - Self

It Wasn't Me - Shaggy ft. Rik Rok

Music - Madonna

The Real Slim Shady - Eminem

It's Gonna Be Me - *NSYNC

Beautiful Day - U2

Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead

The girl asked to team up, but we listened to music. I love having these kids to run with.

Distance: 2.23 miles
Duration: 23:07
Pace: 10:22
Route: Horizon Loop
Temperature: 37°
Climate: cold

Pavement: wet & crusty with icy snow
Mood: good
Baseline: 185 lbs.

Current: 187 lbs. (+2.0)

Let's go, left foot, right foot ...

The point of running is to run. Whatever else is happening, running will help.

New Year's Eve was spent at home, much like it was last year, at home, grazing on cheese, crakers, bits of fruit, hummus and pita, and some generous but not terribly indulgent cocktails and bubbly.

The difference was the girl was with us, the boy spent the evening at a friend's house. We binge-watched The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. It means a lot to her to share this with us, and it's fun.

But staying up late does not work for me. I love New Year's Eve, because it is our special night. We met on a NYE so many years ago. Last year it was important to be together, on our own. My mother lay dying across town. My wife an our togetherness made even more poignant. 

What will happen? No idea. Hopefully I will muster the strength and desire to exercise, in spite of medication, to feel properly. I need this body to get it all done.

Ladies and gentlemen, we begin. 55 Playlists for 55 Years (1967-2021).

2020 Playlist

Hollywood - Car Seat Headrest

Dance of the Clairvoyants - Pearl Jam

If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know) - The 1975

Dying to Believe - The Beths

lucy - Soccer Mommy

Levitating - Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna ft. DaBaby

Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

WAP - Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion

Straight to the Morning - Hop Chip ft. Jarvis Cocker

Well, damn. A bunch of great songs I never ran to last year.

Here's the deal. If I run solo, I will post a year playlist. If I am running with one of my children, I won't. There's no agenda, no need to get through all the playlists as soon as possible. If I am still listening to them in September, so be it. At least that means I will be alive in September.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:51
Pace: 9:56
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 34°
Climate: cold, rainy

Pavement: wet with patchy snow and puddles
Mood: confident
Baseline Weight: 185 lbs. 

Here's the thing. I never broke 170 last year. Never even made it to 170. But I should totally live at 170 lbs. Over that, I have pain issues. It is difficult to sit without pinching certain nervse. Prefereably I will live at 165 lbs., so I don't have to worry so much.

So that's the goal. 165 pounds, and to be there by the end of the year.