Flood's Cove: Run Seven

Yes, rest between runs. So very important. We are watching the Olympics, intermittently. And reading. It has been a cool several days, which is nice. That is one of the reasons people vacation, after all. To escape the heat.  

However, this has also had a seriously debilitating effect on my knees. Tuesday I was practically limping, stiff and pained. What helped to alleviate that pain? Ibuprofen, for one. Also, cannabis. Finally, in the evening, ice.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Duration: 33:44
Pace: 9:38

Bit weary today. That's okay, it was worth it.  Also, I have completed The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph, a lovely read.

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 72°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: good 
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

Flood's Cove: Run Six

Saturday evening, my brother and I read the play Victoria Station by Harold Pinter, for the enjoyment of the rest of the cabin. I think that was the first time my brother and I have ever read a script together.

The Hansen UK departed mid-day on Sunday, we were four until MIL arrives on Tuesday. The house seems a great deal empty now.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Duration: 32:34
Pace: 9:18

Unfortunately, the winds have changed and I woke today with a headache, one which has lasted into the afternoon, and I have spent the morning either sitting up and feeling unwell or lying down half-asleep.

Eventually, you need to take drastic action. In this case that means running  

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 68°
Climate: overcast & misty
Mood: determined
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: all morning

Brisk, alert, strong, and closed without a headache. Well done.

New Discovery:

Welcome to Family of 4 - Aska Matsumiya

Flood's Cove: Run Five

Nights are cool and can be damp. A nice fire can make us dry and take off the chill. These are lovely days.

Yesterday, I received a special birthday gift: I was asked to make muffins with the blueberries that Sarah picked, and for before she departed for home (she left yesterday). 

I’ve never made muffins from scratch, so I reached for the 1962 edition of The Joy of Cooking that has always sat on the shelf and opened it to the chapter on muffins, where I found mother’s own recipe for blueberry muffins, in her own hand, was neatly tucked.

And the muffins were a success. 

Distance: 3.5 miles
Duration: 32:42
Pace: 9:20

Deadpool & Wolverine Playlist

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & the News

The One That I Want from "Grease"

Bye Bye Bye - *NSYNC

The Lady In Red - Chris de Burgh

The Greatest Show from "The Greatest Showman"

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Like a Prayer - Madonna

  
Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 74°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: not enough

Pain Reliever: TBA

Flood's Cove: Run Four

Happy birthday to me. You know what hurts my knees? Standing. Standing and cooking, for example. Or teaching. These things hurt my knees, much more than running. or in addition to running. 

Yesterday, in advance of my birthday, but because insisted upon it, all occupants of the Barnstable went to Thomaston to watch Deadpool & Wolverine. It was okay.

Distance: 1.25 miles

Duration: 12:00
Pace: 9:30

After two days of (well-received) clouds and rain, it is once again sunny and clear. Just what I asked for for my birthday!

Route: Martin Point Run
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

The boy and I took a run out of the cove, turned around at one mile, walked for a bit and ran down the hill back to the cabin.

Flood's Cove: Run Three

Big downpour yesterday morning, which was very nice. Eight people, one cabin, things getting a little close. I feel like my mom, tidying up, pushing in chairs, making rules.

Doesn't everyone know by now you shouldn't use the toaster and the microwave at the same time? Geez.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Duration: 32:17
Pace: 9:13

Carnival (EP) - Duran Duran (1982)

Hungry Like The Wolf (Night Version)

Rio (Night Version)

Planet Earth (Night Version)
Girls On Film (Night Version)

Pengo Bonus Tracks:
Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix)

Save a Prayer

Forty-one years ago I was in Rockland (I think) and bought a very special vinyl disc. It was 1983, the year we had gotten MTV and New Wave music, which had previously arrived at a trickle, just exploded into my life.

Carnival was an EP of tracks from Rio which Duran Duran had lengthened in duration and in a case or two entirely re-recorded for play in discos. Twelves inches had gone from something that was available only to DJs and we now being mass marketed.

I had to wait until I got home to listen to it, of course, but it was a special treasure.  

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 68°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

Last night we played bingo, it was a joyful time and the kids asked to go again next week.   

Flood's Cove: Run Two

Yesterday was a short run, and easy. I can justify two days back to back. The boy/young man has taken a pass so I will head all the way to the end of Martin Point Road and back, a healthy four miles on a beautiful July morning, made all the more hopeful by recent events on the political landscape.

Can we do this? We must do this. Only now I believe we actually may.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Duration: 32:26
Pace:9:14

Yesterday was just lovely, the wife and I were on our own for a bit. To shop for groceries, but also to have lunch and talk and love and buy farm stand produce and cannabis.

My brother and his family arrive from Britain (via California) this afternoon, and we shall have a full house, indeed.  

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 72°
Climate: sunny w/light clouds, perfect
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

Gorgeous day. projected high of seventy-four degrees. It's breezy and nice, and I think I may sit on the porch and read until my family arrives.

Flood's Cove: Run One

"Morning."

We are at Barnstable. We had a goal for the journey; Friendship Day, an annual celebration of all things Friendship (and, in large part, a fund raiser for the volunteer fire department) was pushed up a week. This meant, among other things, that I would not be able to participate in the Long Haul 5K. 

But the (young adult) kids were disappointed to miss out on the parade, the craft sales and the opportunity for lobster rolls, etc. So it was decided that we would drive all on Friday and then a short jaunt on Saturday to make the 10 AM kick-off of the parade.

And it all worked out very well. Yes, successfully departed more or less by 6 AM on Friday, and by 5 AM on Saturday, so that we not only made the parade with an hour to spare, but even indulged in the traditional (post-race) pancake breakfast beforehand.

And so we settle in for two indulgent weeks on the cove. I finally realized that I am now the Old Man on the Porch, a mantle passed down from my grandfather to my father to me. This is not a position I ever thought I would hold, nor did I ever show much interest.

Distance: 1.3 miles
Duration: 12:38
Pace: 9:31

The boy and I headed out, I was so happy to learn he'd brought his shoes. We headed out a mile and a third, then walked back to the top of the hill and ran down and back to the house.

Route: Road to Martin Point
Temperature: 74°
Climate: partly cloudy
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

So tonight I’m drinking to your health.

Last run before the big drive. Feeling listless again, aimless. And yet, not helpless. I continue to read, to make artistic plans, to write (more writing please) there are things I hope to do, and also things I need to do, right now. And I am doing them.

The best thing I can do, is to focus, literally, on what is right in front of me, literally. To see, not metaphorically, but literally, with my eyes, what is in front of me, my person, my actual physical body, and ask myself what I want to change, and set about changing it.

This applies to household items, piles of things, what is currently on my screen -- change that, please, if you don't like what you are looking at, change that thing.

There is new art on the wall, and suddenly it is like being in a new place, a place that has been thoughtfully considered, and changed. And that is only one example. 

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 29:19
Pace: 9:27

We touch 170, and then resume munching. Ate a lot of Monday, what I get for forgetting to pack a lunch. It's quite simple; eat half. I did this on our cruise, and I enjoyed so many things, so many, many things! But I never finished them.

Monday I got a salad from a restaurant. A salad! Salads have no calories! Right? Except it was a chicken Caesar salad, with lots of croutons, and I ate the whole thing. No. Too much.

We're going on vacation, and I would like to enjoy myself. So I will eat half.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 74°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: anxious
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: yes

Core Strength: 

   Planks: 270 sec.

   Sit-Ups: 70

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 171 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, tuna melt on everything bagel (half), 

Coffee Break: latte 

Lunch: tuna melt on everything bagel (other half)

Lecture: 2 ipas

Dinner: pizza (1xl), Greek salad

What's That Lyric?

13 Steps Lead Down - Elvis Costello

Life goes on day after day.

Good morning! It is peak summer, and I am a little unmotivated. Why not create a playlist of songs produced by Trevor Horn, staring with a thirteen minute banger that will take me all the way and into the park?

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:59
Pace: 9:20

Trevor Horn Playlist

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood  
Close (To the Edit) - Art of Noise

Leave It - Yes

Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 74°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

Yes. Every other day, yes. That is how we rest and recuperate, and not hurt all day.

Upper body: 

Core Strength: 

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 171 lbs. (+1.0)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, two fried eggs on toast

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: chicken Caesar salad

Dinner: pepper jack Doritos, Bumble Berry ale, tomatoe beef orzo soup, roasted string beans 

Nike+ Original Run

45:33 - LCD Soundsystem (2006)

In the mid-aughts, Nike commissioned artists to create albums of music designed for exercise. Drive by the Crystal Method was one I bought as I began training for my first marathon, and I listened to it several times, so that hearing it now creates strong visual memories of the streets of my neighborhood (and beyond) lit only by streetlight.

I did not know, until very recently, that LCD Soundsystem had also produced an album for this Nike+ Original Run series, also released in 2006 (the year when I was training) and that at least one theme would appear in Sound of Silver the net year.   

At the time, James Murphy reported claimed he had "refined" the mix while running on the treadmill, later admitting this was a complete lie, because he doesn't run. 

I love James Murphy.

Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 47:11 
Pace: 9:26
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 74° → 77°
Climate: sunny and hot
Mood: with anticipation
Stretches: Yes
Water: Yes

Not crazy about that last five minutes. Murphy is more into cooling down than keeping it going. They sounded like the track I use to fall asleep at night.

Upper body: 80 reps.

Core Strength: 

   Planks: 120 sec.

   Sit-Ups: 40

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 170 lbs. (-1.0)

New Goal: 165 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Early Lunch: spaghetti, buttered toast

Afternoon Cooler: GLBCo. Mexican Lager

Movie Time Treats: Swedish Fish, Raisinets, Caramel Frappuccino

Dinner: popcorn

Evening: old fashioned 

I'm doing this only for you.

How have I never done an album run for The Cure? Maybe because I didn't really listen to The Cure between 1996 and 2020. Like Nine Inch Nails, an act I adored and then moved on from. Not dismissed, just, you know. I was full.

Yesterday I got so old it made me want to cry.

That summer, when my brother and I would get high and watch Night Flight, there was a "new sounds" episode that featured songs by The Smiths, New Order, Dream Academy, and yes, The Cure. My first exposure to the group, the only other tune I knew from them was "Grinding Halt" which was on my brother's copy of the Times Square soundtrack. 

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 37:33
Pace: 9:22

Lying on the floor

Of the night before

With a stranger lying next to me

The Head on the Door - The Cure (1985)

In Between Days

Kyoto Song

The Blood

Six Different Ways

Push

The Baby Screams

Close To Me (Brass Version)

A Night Like This

Screw

Sinking

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 67
Climate: overcast & nice
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Head on the dork.

Jangly and synthy and beaty and femmy, it was another year before I listened to the rest of the record, other than just watching the video for "In Between Days" over and over. It was the start of a new world, one I would carry with me into college.  

Six sides to every lie I say

It's that American voice again

Still working not to run two days in a row. It's just better for me, for my knees and ankles and I can tell. Then when I do run, I can feel energized and strong and not weighted down and weak.

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 171 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Your trust

The most gorgeously stupid thing 

I ever cut in the world

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh fruit, granola, yogurt & sunflower seeds

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: courgette ricotta tart, apple

Dinner: pasta & sauce, bread

Evening: beer (2x)

Let's move to the beat like we know that it’s over.

Watched Jaws last night, for the first time. Sceery movie. Woke this morning not only a bit tender-headed, but also my back hurts? With the time I have this am I will take a light run, if just to clear my head. Get my heart racing.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:32
Pace: 9:51

The Cure Playlist

High

Close to Me

A Night Like This

Fascination Street

Underneath the Stars

Burn

Pictures of You

Chief Brody (Roy Sheider) and oceanographer Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) have an instant rapport and respect for each other. If Jaws were made today, Brody and Hooper, before each knew who the other was, would have some misunderstanding that would result in the two getting into a fist fight. After a grudging reconciliation, they would spend the rest of the movie insulting each other.

 

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 78°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Upper body: 40 reps

Core Strength:

   Planks: 240 sec. 

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 172 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Monday

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh berries w/granola & yogurt
Lunch: ramen w/chicken, fried egg & vegetables

Happy Hour: beer

Dinner: popcorn, old fashioned, cake!

Tuesday

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh berries w/granola & yogurt

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: Protein Bar

Treat: wine gums

Dinner: pepperoni pizza, beer

Dark Room: more beer (2x)

… for a long time.

An extensive, four-day holiday weekend. Too much time can be as debilitating as too little. I did not run yesterday, no, because I must, must rest between runs. 

My knees hurt when I am on my feet for too long, something which happens more often than I realize. The past two days, my ankles have also been complaining, they will also require special attention.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:22
Pace: 9:09

Seen a lot of movies this weekend, which was not my plan. It's part of my "open nest" plan, however, to catch up on all those movies I have always told myself I should see, but never have. The Coen Brothers' first film, Blood Simple (1984), Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin (2013), Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957), and Vera Drew's The People's Joker (2022).

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 76°
Climate: sunny & beautiful
Mood: determined
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Best of all, the thing I was most concerned about, was returning to the Ur-text, the script that started it all, Cleveland Centennial! It's been left in a creative limbo and I was recently, perhaps due to the impending collapse of the Republic, motivated to create a final, appropriate, complete rendition of the text. A ninety-minute Living Newspaper, full-stop.

Upper body: 80 reps.

1999 Time Capsule Playlist

Clubbed to Death - Rob Dougan

I Want You To Want Me - Letters To Cleo

Cleveland Rocks - POT USA (get it? pot?)

Run On - Moby

The Rockafeller Skank (Short Version) - Fatboy Slim

Compression - Everything But the Girl

Dear God - Sarah McLachlan

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 172 lbs. (-4.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: sunbutter & jelly sand, chips, strawberry milk, cookie (1)

Happy Hour: mineral water, iced coffee

Treat: Klondike Bar

Dinner: orange beef  broccoli w/fried rice

You gave your body. You gave your best.

Yes, things are awful. Like, they are pretty bad. What would my father have made of this? People keep seeking saviors, eschewing collective action. What can I do? What am I effective at? Writing. I think that's what I need to do. Writing has saved us where brute force has not. And besides, I am not violent by nature.

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 39:25
Pace: 9:51

I need to take pain reliever more often. It really helps. Also, I need to run more often. Even when I am not having a running day, and therefore a record, I have been (mostly) mindful about consumption. Portions, snack, etc.

We did go to a ballgame yesterday, where I have been enjoying two beers a game (which is a lot) and shared a thing of chicken tenders & fries, but even that wasn't overwhelming.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 79°
Climate: sunny & hot
Mood: good
Stretches: yes 
Water: yes

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 176 lbs. (+2.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: pizza & salad

Writing Hour: GLBCo. Mexican Lager

Dinner: TBA

What’s That Lyric?

Hello - The Cars

You were running out of time.

Small complaints. There is a stinging in my right big toe. A verruca? Cannot tell, not even up close. Must keep aware of that.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:55
Pace:  9:58

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 72°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: anxious
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Such cool days, also feeling kind of listless and ... alone? Can I say that? It's the post-party thing. All of our big anniversary-related summer plans are complete.

But hey! It's summer! It's July! And democracy is ending! Let's have some fun!

And keep running. Always keep running.

Upper body: 80 reps.

Core Strength: 

   Planks: 90 sec.

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 174 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: bread w/marmalade & cheese

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: spicy tuna roll

Pick Me Up: Cherry Coke Zero

Treat: vanilla soft serve, cherry dip

Dinner: popcorn, midwestern hipster IPA

Cocktail: Manhattan

What's That Lyric?

Cities In Dust (Extended Version) - Siouxsie and her Banshees