You put your cleanest dirty shirt on then you stagger down to meet the dawn.

When I need to run in my sleep, it doesn’t go very well. My feet have little traction and seem to slip, or my legs are just too dense and weighty to move very fast. Bad news when you are trying to escape villains.

The Big Express - XTC (1984)

Wake Up 

All You Pretty Girls
Shake You Donkey Up
Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
This World Over
The Everyday Story of Smalltown
I Bought Myself a Liarbird
Reign of Blows
You're the Wish You Are I Had
I Remember the Sun
Train Running Low on Soul Coal

Another testosterone-infused record from Partridge & Moulding. Not one I glommed ontp during my college years, but later during my alt-theater years. It's shame, too because the upbeat tempo and aggressive self-centeredness would have much suited my sophomore mindset.

Recently I have been obsessing the song "I Remember the Sun" which is not actually about climate change and global annihilation, but just a sweet memory of getting the shit kicked out of you by a local bully. 

The air is bad again today. We have all the windows closed. Maybe I shouldn't run. But it's so sunny out.

Distance: 4.7 miles

Duration: 43:31
Pace: 9:15

Route: Forest Hill Loop +

Temperature: 77°
Climate: overcast & muggy

Mood: all right

That album closes well.

Stretches: yes

Sit-Ups: 10
Planks: 90 sec. 

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream 

Lunch: ice cream in a cake cone

Treat: butterscotch sundae w/pretzels (yes.)

Dinner: brisket tacos, chips & salsa, coke

Alcohol? Market Garden Lemon Shandy

Movie time: popcorn

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 170 lbs. (-1.5)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Most of all, I remember the sun.

One hundred runs in the first half of the year. I made only a little over that in all of 2022.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 8:33
Pace: 9:12

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 66°
Climate: sunny & humid

Mood: all right

Air quality has improved today. Still not super. Going to run, anyway.

 

Post-Punk Testosterone Playlist

I Remember the Sun - XTC

Across the Antheap - XTC

All Mod Cons (168 BPM) - The Jam

Up All Night - The Boomtown Rats

Horsin' Around - Prefab Sprout

Ballet For a Rainy Day (160 BPM) - XTC

Sole Salvation - The Beat

Asking Me Lies - The Replacements

Machine Gun Ibiza - Prefab Sprout

 
Stretches: yes

Sit-Ups: 10

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, banana w/granola & yogurt, cookie

Lunch: pasta & sauce w/parm

Treat: assorted Starbursts

Coffee break: latte with oat milk

Snack: pretzel rod

Dinner: ham & egg ramen

Porch time: tangerine soda

Alcohol? Old fashioned 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171.5 lbs. (-1.5)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: tbd

Writing: tbd

Blog? not yet

Let me get further.

Represent.

I have evolved into a person who craves fruit at breakfast. Not sausage or pancakes, but something fresh with vitamins and a bright taste and lots of it.

Distance: 1 miles

Duration: 9:05

Route: Haselton Loop (thanks, O)

Temperature: 62°
Climate: hazy & humid

Mood: okay

 

Off for two days, that's weird. Suddenly feeling lethargic. Might have something to do with the smoke in the air. You can smell it, you can taste it. Not good. Short run.

 
Stretches: yes

Plank: 180 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, regular smoothie bowl w/fresh mango pineapple & strawberry, blueberry granola & honey

Coffee Break: Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: sushi & salad

Coffee break; latte w/oatmilk

Happy Hour: old fashioned

Dinner: salad w/chicken

Movie Time: popcorn, Whoppers & Sweidh Fish

Alcohol? Yes.

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 173 lbs. (+3.0)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Big weekend of fried foods. My lips hurt.

Writing: yes 

Blog? not yet

What's That Lyric?

Here Come the Girls - Ernie K-Doe

I'm too thin.

Why the redface?

First time I heard "Crosseyed and Painless" was that summer "Salute to Talking Heads" they aired on Night Flight. The song was five years old by that time, a single from Remain In Light which never received airplay in Cleveland, at least not on commercial radio.

Host Pat Prescott told me the music video for "Crosseyed" was the first ever to include breakdancing, and I guess that's true? It was directed and choreographed by Toni Basil (Mickey!) and did not include any members of the band.

Distance: 4.5 miles

Duration: 42:24
Pace: 9:25

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 80°
Climate: sunny & hot

Mood: a little anxious

Remain In Light - Talking Heads (1980)

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Crosseyed and Painless (Alternative Version)

The Great Curve (152 BPM)

Once In a Lifetime

Houses In Motion

Seen and Not Seen

Listening Wind

The Overload 

 

"The Overload" is not a good song to end a run to.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec. (2x) 

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

I am in a place where I don't obsess about eating. This is good, because I don't have to say no to things. Ice cream? Sure!

We are headed to Cincinnati for a couple days, for our son's orientation. I think I will leave the shoes at home. I will run in Cincinnati eventually.

Pre-run: banana

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, oatmeal w/dried fruit, butter, brown sugar, cream

Lunch: Turkey gravy & biscuit

Car food: Vanilla Coke, Cheezits, Pringles, Slim Jim

Dinner: smash burger, truffle fries, wedge salad

Alcohol? 50W Double IPA

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 170 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: no

Writing: yes

Blog?

Young and warm and wild and free.

Big puddle o' jazz.

What a big weekend! Jazz, jazz and more jazz!

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:37
Pace: 9:14

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 67°
Climate: overcast & muggy, then rain

Mood: prideful

Teenage Kicks: PRIDE Edition (Live!)

Sexuality - Billy Bragg

Everyday People - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Go West - Village People

Goody Two Shoes (Demo) - Adam Ant

Boy - Book of Love

Love Is the Drug - Grace Jones

It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd 

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream 

Lunch: fresh strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, banana w/granola & yogurt

Snack: Bugles (1C.)

Dinner: peanut butter mudslide ice cream cone

Alcohol? Dortmunder, Hazecraft IPA

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 170 lbs. (-0-)

Final Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: yes

Writing: yes

Blog? no

All I want is to breathe.

Angélique Kidjo
(Mimi Ohio Theatre, 2023)

Camp comes to a close. When I'm in it, I feel it will never end. Then, "pouf" -- it's over. Wednesday was the longest day, but when it was over I thought, hey! That's done. Let's enjoy the last day together.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 36:27
Pace: 9:06

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 66°
Climate: overcast & cool -- ideal.

Mood: very good

 

Last night we saw Angélique Kidjo perform at the Ohio Theatre, the opening act of the 44th Tri-C Jazz Fest. Yes, I have lived here the entire time and never attended. This year, however, our son is a participant, and we are on board!

I was familiar with Kidjo's voice but her performance and movement is so powerful. She got everyone on their feet, dancing. She also took time between songs to advocate for justice, which was also good.

Five years ago she dropped an album that covered the entirety of the 1980 Talking Heads album Remain In Light. White rock and roll artists have always been appropriating Black American music (have you ever really listened to Mick Jagger? It's actually quite cringe) but in the late 70s there were a number of white "art" rockers who were appropriating not just African American music but African sound and rhythm: Talking Heads, The Police, XTC, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel.

Kidjo took David Byrne's Afrobeat inspired record and reclaimed it for her Benin, and for Africa. Last night she played Crosseyed and Painless and Once In a Lifetime and it was gorgeous.

 

Remain In Light - Angélique Kidjo (2018)

Born Under Punches

Crosseyed and Painless

The Great Curve

Once In a Lifetime

Houses in Motion

Seen and Not Seen

Listening World

The Overload

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd 

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: Turkey on rye w/American cheese, tomato & pickle, Bugles

Second lunch: Bianco slice, garlic pillows, coke

Dinner: no

Treat: salty, caramel truffle ice cream in a sugar cone

Alcohol? Yes, Dortmund

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 170 lbs. (-2.5) 

Goal: 170 lbs.

The summer will be active, but will it be productive? As long as I use this blog to keep track of running, diet and other exercise, should I not keep track of other necessary daily tasks? This blog is a checklist, a reminder. It has been very helpful. The other blog ..?

Reading: yes

Writing: yes

Blog? No

Time to sit back and unwind.

The anxiety I feel leading in camp. The expectations. The emotions. The concentration. It can be wearying. But it’s exciting when it works.

Distance: 1 miles

Duration: 8:57

Route: Haselton Loop 

Temperature: 67°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: nice

 

Boy got up early today, not sleeping well. So I proposed a one-miler. Perfect for the day-before-end-of-camp run. Tonight the wife and I are seeing Rufus Wainwright, and after that something every freaking night until the weekend is over. I'm excited. I'm apprehensive.

 
Stretches: 
Abdominals: tbd 

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee with cream, fresh, strawberry, blackberries, raspberry, blueberry, banana with granola and yogurt.

Lunch: pepperoni pizza (1 slice), celery

HappyHour: cherry coke zero

Dinner: hot dog, Boss Dog IPA (2x)

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 172.5 lbs. (-0.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.

What's That Lyric?

Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Promote the hustle because it keeps me thin.

Decisions.

Day two, second week of theater camp. 

So much to do! 

So much to see! 

So many adolescent emotions to experience vicariously!

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 30:54
Pace: 9:58

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 67°
Climate: sunny & humid

Mood: good

Got up a little earlier this morning, to provide more time to run. And yet, what I really want to do is go back to sleep again. I'm looking forward to this week being over. 

Stretches: yes
Plank: 90 sec.

Sit-ups: 20x

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Feeling a little sick to my stomach heading out the last two times, running on an empty stomach. That hasn't bothered me recently.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberry, blueberry, banana w/granola & yogurt

Treat: doughnut

Lunch: brisket, turkey & cheese on roll, strawberries

Snack: Haribo cola bottles, pretzel rods (2x) 

Happy Hour: fizzy water

Dinner: Don Corleone Pizza (1 slice), strawberry macadamia salad

Alcohol? No

When doughnuts are offered, you take one.

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 173 lbs. (-2.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

What's That Lyric?

A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays" - De La Soul

Move your hips from left to right.

A day for white Americans to reflect and to repent.

Distance: 2 miles

Duration: 18:44
Pace: 9:21

Route: Horizon Loop (clockwise)

Temperature: 60°
Climate: cool as June

Mood: good

 

Juneteenth Playlist

Take Me With U - Prince & the Revolution

Whole Lotta Love (158 BPM)  - Ike & Tina Turner

Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin

Dance to the Music - Sly & the Family Stone

Kiss - Prince & the Revolution

River Deep, Mountain High (155 BPM) - Ike & Tina Turner

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Just doing light stretching makes all the difference. I have had different philosophies about stretching and warm-ups, some times a complete ritual, other times just not doing it at all. And a small amount of gentle stretches can go a long way

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberry, blueberry, banana w/granola s& yogurt

Treat: Haribo cola bottles

Lunch: Turkey & brisket sandwich w/cheese & pickles

Treat: Haribo cherries

Snack:,pretzel rods (3x)

Dinner: spaghetti & meatless w/greens sauce, salad w/roasted beets

Alcohol? No. Two nights in a row.

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 175 lbs. (+4.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Big weekend. Big eating.

Everywhere I turn, I lose.

Big weekend. The Z is in town. Grad party for the boy. All kinds of stuff going on.

Distance: 5 miles

Duration: 46:50
Pace: 9:22

Route: Forest Hill Loop +

Temperature: 63°
Climate: sunny & nice

Mood: good

Pathetic Geek Stories Playlist

Don't Stand So Close To Me - The Police

My Best Friend's Girl - The Cars

Hot Child In The City - Nick Gilder

Good Girls Don't - The Knack

Dream Police - Cheap Trick

Does Your Mother Know - ABBA

Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor! Doctor!) - Robert Palmer

I Was Made For Lovin' You - KISS

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy - Rod Stewart

Miss You - The Rolling Stones

Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris

Love Is Like Oxygen - Sweet

Dreaming - Blondie

Gen X, why are you the way you are?

This. This is why. 

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, broccoli noodle bake

Treat: cookie, tiny cream puff, lemonade

Lunch: apple cake w/cream

Dinner: pastrami sandwich, Mac & cheese, rice Kris oh treat, fizzy water, chocolate cake, Coke, s’mores (2x) 

Alcohol: Beer (3x)

Attending a party at someone else's place that you can't leave is very challenging. It was a party, so I wanted to try everything, and still be careful. Also, I drank a non-alcoholic beverage after every alcoholic one.

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Got to move your feet.

Goodness. My goodness. What a week. Everything went the way it was supposed to. Some thing better than they were supposed to. And yet, I possess a low-grade anxiety which does not suit with my summer vibe. Maybe because it is not summer, literal summer, not yet.

Maybe soon. Maybe very soon. I don't know. What I do know is that I wanted a more comfortable body, and with the exception of aches in the knees, I have created one. I can even reach way over my head without difficulty or pain.

I still always feel like there is crap in my eye. I do not like that. Alas. Here on out, it's about maintenance and mindfulness. 

Distance: 4.1 miles

Duration: 38:33
Pace: 9:23

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 63°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: good

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: no

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: smoothie bowl w/fresh mango, strawberry, blueberry & chocolate peanut granola, Nutella drizzle

Dinner: grilled chicken sandwich, corn on the cob, salad, watermelon, Collision Bend IPA

Dessert: strawberry rhubarb crumble, apple cake, ice cream & whipped cream

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 172 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Wham! Playlist

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Club Tropicana

I'm Your Man

The Edge of Heaven

Everything She Wants

Bad Boys

Wham! Rap '86

Young Guns (Go For It!)

Battlestations

Replace us with the things that do the job better.

DM me for the phone number.

I’ve become a slow walker. I think it has something to do with my son graduating from high school. I have walked all ways with a certain urgency, like I’m late, or I desire to be early.

Now that I am no longer in a rush to get home, to take someone to practice, or to attend some school related event, I am working into my amble.

I’m not annoyingly slow, I still get there. But I feel a lot more relaxed.

Distance: 1 mile

Duration: 9:06

Route: one time around the block 

Temperature: 55°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: good

 

Brisk run, feeling good. I think? Yesterday was disturbing in a number of ways. They are things that happened to me, at close range, not things I did. So I can be circumspect, but it's hard when something goes off in your face like that.

Too vague? Can't not be. Why can't everyone be as well adjusted and competent as I am?

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh cherry, blueberry, strawberry, banana with granola and yogurt

Lunch: pasta w/black eyed peas & kale

Porch Hour: ice coffee w/ milk & sugar, flavored almonds & dried cranberries 

Dinner: ramen w/chicken & fried egg

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 173 lbs. (-0.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.

What's That Lyric?

Huarache Lights - Hot Chip

Keep coming up with funky ass shit like every single day.

Yesterday I made a camper cry.

Also: Never let yesterday use up today.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:44
Pace: 9:35

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 56°
Climate: sunny & damp

Mood: good

Wednesday! We are halfway through a four-day week of camp. No rain, warmer temps, took a proper 5K run. 

When I have somewhere to be, when I feel pressed, the run can go poorly. Short breath, maybe hurt my legs. I felt myself going to that place when I first started out and made myself aware of it. I brought myself back to the moment, and enjoyed every step as it was happening. No future, just the eternal present.

Guerrilla Years Playlist (1991-1994)

13 Steps Lead Down - Elvis Costello

Big Time Sensuality (Fluke Remix) - Björk

Gin N Juice - Snoop Dog ft. Daz Dillinger

Uh, Zoom, Zip - Soul Coughing

Model - Balanescu Quartet

Constant Craving - k. d. lang

Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C+C Music Factory

Gett Off - Prince & the New Power Generation ft. Eric Leeds

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberry, blueberry, banana with granola & yogurt 

Lunch: sunbutter & jelly sandwich, carrot sticks

Treat: Grimace Shake (yes)

Happy Hour: old fashioned

Dinner: kielbasa buns (2x), chicken wing, dumplings (2x)

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 173.5 lbs. (-0.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Got a new scale. Can't read it.

The way is long.

Distance: 1 mile

Duration: 9:10

Route: one time around the block

Temperature: 50°
Climate: sunny & cool 

Mood: good

Had a headache. Thought of going back to sleep for twenty minutes. Took a run instead. No more headache.

We're ready for this.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fried egg w/fries 

Lunch: nut bar, fruit snacks

Happy Hour: iced coffee w/cream & sugar, flavored almonds & dried cranberries

Dinner: pasta w/kale & black eyed peas

Alcohol: no

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 174 lbs. (-2.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

What Lyrics Is That?
The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES

Friends and neighbors ... Treat Williams. 

I want to go out but I want to stay home.

I handle vertigo by ignoring it, then taking a run. That's how I deal now. Every morning I'm a little woozy, I go for a run, I forget I had vertigo. Obviously, this is a minor case. No idea how that works, but there it is.

Distance: 1 mile

Duration: 9:47
Pace: 9:46

Route: one time around the block

Temperature: 60°
Climate: rain

Mood: all right

Recently napping. Naps were a big deal during the pandemic. And that was fine. Now, however, I believe I nap because I am bored, not because I’m tired. What I need to do, especially on a long Sunday, is to refocus. To look at my to do list. Also? Reading is nice.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

What if I get up early every morning this week, write, drink coffee, and take a short run?

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, two fried eggs over toast w/marmalade

Lunch: sunbutter & jelly sandwich, carrot sticks & applesauce

Happy Hour: fizzy cola bottle gummys, beer

Dinner: popcorn, beer

Alcohol: yes

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 176 lbs. (+1.0) 

Goal: 170 lbs.

What's That Lyric?

Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party - Courtney Barnett

We think that you are John or Dave.

What are we going to do to remain ... motivated? When I have more time, will I know what to do with it? When will I resume writing, and how? About what? I have some ideas, something to futz with.

But. Avoiding the compulsive feeding. And the exercise. Moderating the drinking. Even the drinking -- I tell myself that I'm not drinking during the week, but I am. At the movies on Monday. At the game on Thursday. 

How are you doing, David? How are you doing today?

Distance: 4.1 miles 

Duration: 40:21
Pace: 9:50

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 76°
Climate: sunny & hot

Mood: good

My left knee hurts all the time. Except when I'm running. Discuss.

 

High School Playlist (1982-1985)

I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Hall & Oates

Ball of Confusion (US Version) - Love & Rockets

Whip It - The Treacherous Three ft. Philippe Wynne

New Day - The Cure

A NIght Like This - The Cure

Rock the Casbah (Ranking Roger Version) - The Clash

Oh! Pretty Woman - Van Halen

Fake Friends - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Conditioning (153 BPM) - Howard Jones

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes (not enough)

Saturday, we indulged in a true summer fashion, sneaking beer at Parade the Circle, scarfing kettle corn (God, I love kettle corn), and picking up food where it was presented; brats at a booth, or tacos at a grad party.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: fresh cherry, blueberry, strawberry w/granola & yogurt

Afternoon Delight: Coke over ice

Dinner: sesame chicken & Szechuan broccoli over rice

Snack: fizzy water, flavored almonds, dried cranberries

Alcohol: no

Camp begins this week. Let's stay focused. Think I can run at dawn every morning?

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 175 lbs. (+2.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

I just want to taste your Chapstick.

Driving lesson.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 35:25
Pace: 8:51

Route: Cain Park Loop

Temperature: 61°
Climate: sunny & cool

Mood: good

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps. (3x)
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh cherry, mango, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry w/granola & yogurt

Lunch: ramen w/fried egg, edamame

Coffee Break: coffee w/cream 

Dinner: egg roll, sesame chicken & Szechuan broccoli w/rice, IPA

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 173 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

What's The Lyrics?

Chapstick - COIN

Life is so brief. And time is a thief.

Air quality is hazardous due to Canadian wildfires. Those with health conditions should spend little time outdoors.

But what about me?

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:38
Pace: 8:54

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 57°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: all right

Sometimes it’s all too overwhelming, the beauty and the horror. And sometimes someone reminds me what it’s all for, why I do what I do, and the way that I do it.

Sometimes I feel a fool, and others like a good and decent soul.

 

Middle School Playlist (1979-1981)

Young Turks - Rod Stewart

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

Keep It Dark - Genesis

She's Lost Control - Joy Division

Spirits In the Material World - The Police

Over You - Roxy Music

Sausalito Summernight - Diesel

I'm Not the One - The Cars

 

Daddy is running fast again. The flatness in my stomach acts as bellows, as it should. This is not easy with a pillow down there.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, granola with yogurt

Lunch: Paprikash, Starbursts (2x)

Dinner: chicken tenders, fries & Fat Heads Bumble Brew (1x), Dortmunder (1/2x) 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 174 lbs. (-2.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.

There's a new me coming out.

Cooler temps now, which is fine. Camp planning. Mornings are for me, now. Evenings are … I’m not sure. I need focus. I need a plan. So far, it’s just … I’m not sure.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:19
Pace: 9:08

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 55°
Climate: sunny & cool

Mood: very good

Middle School Playlist (1979-1981)

Arrow Through Me - Paul McCartney & Wings

Atrocity Exhibition - Joy Division

Hateful - The Clash

Porcelain - The Pretenders

Centerfold - J. Geils Band

Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend

Madness - Madness

I'm Coming Out - Diana Ross

I didn’t listen to all of these songs when I was a preadolescent, but some of them slipped in. A vibe, as the kids say. It truly was an epic era of music.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Did I mention I am pansexual? I'm pansexual. Always have been.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh blueberry, raspberry, yogurt & granola

Coffee Break: latte w/oatmilk

Lunch: half leftover BBQ beef sandwich, Starbursts (2)

Happy Hour: fizzy water

Dinner: edamame, sushi roll, broccoli tempura

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 176.5 lbs. (+1.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Godammit.

Better run — there's a God and He's coming for me.

Let's take it easy for a day. I have aches in both knees and I have also inflamed my varicose vein (do your own research) but, you know? I am still running.

Besides, what new music have we been listening to?

Spring 2023 Playlist

youth+ (165 BPM) - Jean Dawson

No Reason - The Chemical Brothers

Death Wish - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

One That Got Away - MUNA

Leaving the Light (172 BPM) - Genesis Owusu

Lipstick Lover (170 BPM) - Janelle Monáe

Massive BPM on the new tracks. Man, that Genesis Owusu. I love him.

Distance: 2 miles

Duration: 18:13
Pace: 9:06

Route: Boulevard Loop

Temperature: 57°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: all right

Cool weather is important, too, I guess. Nice cool run, after a few steps it's not even cool to me anymore. I don't prefer it, though.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd

Upper body: 10 reps. (3x)
Water: oops

Drink the water, man. Never forget the water, I don't care how short the run is.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh apple, banana, strawberry, blue berry, raspberry, blackberry w/granola & yogurt

Coffee Break: latte w/oatmilk, cinnamon cake doughnut (worth it)

Lunch: leftover Paprikash

Snack: apple, flavored almonds (28)

Dinner: TBA

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 175 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Well, we know where we're going. But we don't know where we've been.

The New Psychedelia.

Speaking of summers long past, my brother completed his studies in early 1985 and returned home for a year or so while he searched for his dream job, or the nearest thing to it. This mainly involved his creating cover letters on my dot-matrix printer for days on end (the noise: iykyk) addressed to every single NPR affiliate in the United States.

He was twenty-three, I was nearly seventeen. He weren't friends yet, he still joined his friends in lavishing me with verbal abuse when they were around, but when we were on our own we became friendly. We dropped wisdom, stayed up late to watch Night Flight, he bought Heineken and taught me about the simple pleasure of potato chips and good onion dip.

One evening Night Flight produced a salute to the Talking Heads, to celebrate the release of Little Creatures (released June 10). The program featured clips I had never seen before, like the one for "Cross-eyed and Painless" which they claimed was the first to include breakdancing, and also their newest track, "Road to Nowhere" which my brother and I watched on repeat, laughing ourselves silly. 

Little Creatures - Talking Heads (1985)

And She Was
Give Me Back My Name
Creatures of Love
The Lady Don't Mind
Perfect World
Stay Up Late
Walk It Down
Television Man
Road to Nowhere

Distance: 4.15 miles

Duration: 38:45
Pace: 9:20

Route: Forest Hill Loop +

Temperature: 70°
Climate: sunny & warm

Mood: excellent

 

The program also including the promotional video for Stop Making Sense, in which David Byrne stages a film junket where all the interviewers are played by himself in various guises. The piece includes quotes I still incorporate into daily conversation. Unfortunately, one of the interviewers is DB in blackface, because, you know. "It was a different time." 

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.

Upper body: 10 reps. (2x)
Water: yes

Keep up the exercises. I missed a day and it hurt.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: fresh strawberry, banana, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry w/vanilla yogurt & granola

Treat: chocolate chip cookies (2x), milk

Happy Hour: grapefruit soda, fizzy water

Dinner: potato & mushroom Paprikash, cucumber salad

I believe I have lost twenty pounds.

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 174.5 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 170 lbs.

You can't not finish strong with this album.

Road to nowhere.

Love me 'til my heart stops

"1983 - The summer we got MTV, I started smoking pot and had my first compulsive masturbation. I don’t think those things are unrelated." - from "And Then You Die"

Fact, when we first got MTV I wanted to leave it on all day. If I had had a TV in my bedroom, I would have, so that it was just on when I walked in the door.

Many music videos, the best ones, were transportive. They took you some places new and different. Like, really different. Either exotic or weird or just not here.

Like so many of the artists that were revealed to us (or to me, anyway) their image and sound arrived simultaneously. I would learn later that Talking Heads did that cover of "Take Me to the River" I'd heard on the radio was back in 1977. 

First, however, I would meet the band named Talking Heads through the sweaty nerd in "Once In a Lifetime" (Remain In Light had been released three years earlier, but I don't remember hearing that on the radio at all) and "Burning Down the House" which was on some serious heavy rotation when the album Speaking In Tongues was released on May 31, 1983.

Speaking In Tongues - Talking Heads (1983)
Burning Down the House
Making Flippy Floppy
Girlfriend Is Better
Slippery People
I Get Wild/Wild Gravity
Swamp
Moon Rocks
Pull Up the Roots
This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)

That last, "This Must Be the Place" has, over time, become one of my very favorite songs ever written. A love song composed of abstract and unassociated phrases of love that add up to a lifetime.

You got light in your eyes.

Did I find you, or you find me?

Sing into my mouth.

Make it up as we go along. 

I would fail to put it any better.

Distance: 5 miles

Duration: 49:18
Pace: 9:51

Route: Forest Hill to Horizon Loop

Temperature: 78°
Climate: sunny & hot

Mood: very good

 

Why run when it is over eighty degrees? Why not wait until the sun goes down? Well, I'll tell you. Because I can't run in the dark anymore. Really. Not a good idea. And you know, I think I never could and I just got away with it. One of these night I am just going to wipe out and I would rather that not happen.

So, anyway running in the heat doesn't bother me, which should be obvious by now.

 

But man, one hour before sundown? Perfect.

 

Pride.

Stretches: yes

Plank: 90 sec.
Abdominals: 10 reps

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, banana, granola & yogurt

Lunch: pepperoni slice w/spicy ranch dunk, coke

Happy Hour: iced coffee w/milk & sugar

Dinner: spinach salad w/citrus vinaigrette, fresh strawberry, blueberry, cherry tomatoes & toasted walnuts, beans & greens, OJ 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 174.5 lbs. (-1.5)

New Goal: 170 lbs.

Too fat, fat you must cut lean.

These monkeys.

Weak and tired Wednesday morning. No surprise there. Twenty runs in one month? Two months in a row — not counting March Mildness? That's amazing. I am a different person than I was three months ago. I love how the human body can do that.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 38:15
Pace: 9:33

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 76°
Climate: blues skies & heat

Mood: good

Speaking of months, last night we brought the craziest month of my recent existence to a close, with our son's high school graduation and a big meal at Edwins on Shaker Square. But then I had to drive my brother to the airport at 5:30 in the AM and that threw everything off kilter.

Still. A celebration!  

Soul Coughing Playlist

The Idiot Kings

Houston

St. Louise Is Listening

Mr. Bitterness

Super Bon Bon

Misinformed

Bus to Beelzebub

Down To This

Collapse

Unmarked Helicopters

Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago

 

So, we were listening to Soul Coughing. Dude talks a lot about losing weight.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, banana

Coffee Break: latte w/oatmilk

Lunch: fruit smoothie bowl w/strawberry, mango raspberry & (OMG) chocolate peanut butter granola & Nutella drizzle

Happy Hour: Pineapple guava seltzer

Dinner: mac & Cheese (1 C.) & marinated brussels sprouts

Cocktail Hour: Ruby Grapefruit fizzy water

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 176 lbs. (-3.0)

Goal: 175 lbs.