Keep on pushing.

Okay, here's a week. Residency rehearsals, last night the season kick-off party. So that was a long day. But the spouse is out of town, and I am on my own tonight. I have been good about going to bed at a decent hour, to get seven and a half hours of sleep if not eight -- I have resumed morning pages. And that is very good for me.

So, we keep on running. And writing. And drawing. And making ice cream. Can I do all these things and still get to sleep at nine?

We made pasta salad over the weekend. That stuff as fed me for days. God, I love pasta salad.    

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:20
Pace: 9:28

Stopped on my run, hailed by an East Cleveland neighbor. Fine looking, svelte , in a tracksuit, and holding an extinguished cigar. He wanted to know how far I run, I told him by couple times a week, right past his house. Told him he has a fine house, I drove by on my way to work every day. It is a fine house, done a lot of work, they have a great yard maintenance company.

He’s 75, he doesn’t inhale the cigar. Told me it’s his only vice. He asked me my age, I told him, he said I looked about 50. I guess the running has taken a couple of years off.

Man. I hope I look like him in 20 years.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 71°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: good
Stretches: no
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 175 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Maintain.

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

Coffee Break: PSL

Lunch: salad with chicken, candy, a pickle!

Dinner: pasta salad, fizzy water

Evening: old fashioned, Oreos (4)

What's That Lyric?

Push - Pharoahe Monch

I made myself so strong again somehow.

But do we run when we have had a seriously messed up sleep schedule? Dropped the wife at the airport at 5:00 AM, drove home and got back into bed. So sleep has happened but I feel dizzy and weird.

Then again, I did have a flu shot and also a Covid booster yesterday! That may also have something to do with it. Okay, we're going with that. 

Distance: 2 miles
Duration: 18:04
Pace: 9:02

JIM STEINMAN SUPERSTAR PLAYLIST

It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion

This Corrosion - Sisters of Mercy

Paradise By the Dashboard Lights - Meatloaf  

Route: Burlington Loop
Temperature: 80°
Climate: sunny & hot
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

Upper body: 30 rep

Core Strength: 

Yes, pumping iron when you had a vaccination the day before.

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 175 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, sausage, egg & cheese McMuffin, hash browns, monster-sized orange juice

Coffee Break: shitty Whole Foods root beer (DNF)

Lunch: pasta salad & Nosferatu

Snack: PB&J, strawberry milk

Writing time: old fashioned 

Dinner: ramen w/fried egg

All those years ago.

Summer 1981. Turning thirteen. Picking up skills. Yearning, longing. Lying in a hammock next to the Birchview, listening to my first mixtape -- a collection of contemporary singles -- on a borrowed Walkman. Dreaming of a kiss. 

Were we ever so old? 

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:48
Pace: 9:17

The subject of Jim Steinman came up the other day. One of the actor-teachers speculated on what it must have been like to have been alive when Total Eclipse of the Heart was released and did they know it was the greatest song of all time?

I could attest, we did not. But it was huge. And did you know that was a Jim Steinman composition? And do you know who Jim Steinman was? This is what it is like to be drawn down a rabbit hole by David Hansen. 

So, anyway, I made a playlist for 1981 starting with Jim Steinman's own Rock and Roll Dream Come Through but also one just of songs written by Steinman. I will run to that eventually. But first!

Summer 1981 Playlist
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes

Boy From New York City - Manhattan Transfer

Time - The Alan Parsons Project

Elvira - The Oak Ridge Boys

You Make My Dreams (Come True) - Hall & Oates

All Those Years Ago - George Harrison

Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

Believe It Or Not (Theme From 'The Greatest American Hero') - Joey Scarbury

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 73°
Climate: sunny  beautiful
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

Weight: 175 lbs. (-0-)

Gained no weight during rehearsal period. Huh.

Upper body: 

Core Strength: 

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: leftover sub, pizza

Snack: PB&J, beer

Dinner: TBA

You gotta move it.

The album after the big comeback can be a challenge. Duran Duran (1993) also known as "The Wedding Album" was a return to prominence for the Fab Five, but what came next? A covers album. Not exactly aspiring for relevance, or popularity. Their version of "White Lines" was cringe-worthy at the time, though I would argue it is now a classic.

After some necessary time off following devastating life changes, The B-52's Cosmic Thing (1989) was the most successful album they'd ever had, and was an important component of the closing of my college experience. The follow-up, Good Stuff, was like a sequel. Not groundbreaking like their previous, Nile Rodgers produced epic, just kind of similar.

And yet, timing is everything, and this album landed at a very important time in my life and has stayed there. It was part of the soundtrack of a twenty-four year-old artist, embarking of his first major artistic endeavor, and we listened to this album while building sets, painting walls, fucking around and, oh yeah, writing. All that writing.

The instrumental track "The World's Green Laughter" was the curtain call music for the first several weeks of our late night extravaganza You Have the Right to Remain Silent. When the composed of our theme music finally attended a performance (Adam lived in L.A. at the time) he was so disappointed the show didn't end with his work he wrote us an original theme immediately.

I love his work. To me, "The World's Green Laughter" still means it's midnight and time to get to Edison's.

Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 46:45
Pace: 9:20

My tuchus was sore this morning. Weird.

Good Stuff - The B-52's (1992)

Tell It Like It T-I-Is

Hot Pants Explosion

Good Stuff

Revolution Earth

Dreamland

The World's Green Laughter

Vision of a Kiss

Breezin'

Bad Influence

Five miles on a Tuesday night might not be the best idea anymore. Weird, my supporter broke just as I was heading out so I came back and changed it. Glad that didn't happen out on the run.

Route: Forest Hill/Boulevard Loop
Temperature: 75°
Climate: nice but humid
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, Pop Tarts (blueberry)

Snack: Pirate's Booty (1)

Lunch: PB&J, chicken orzo soup, GS cookies (3)

Snack: Pirate's Booty (1)

Dinner: pasta w/tapenade, garlicky kale, cassata cake (not in that order)

No, really. Don't eat while you're cooking.

I can’t stop pushing it.

Spotted on my run through East Cleveland.

Well. I am having a physical discomfort. In the past, I have felt tremors or pulses in my back, for example. These are not painful, only, you know, Weird. Unfamiliar. And recurrent so that you may think there were something wrong. Not a sudden pangs, but a pulse, if you will.

Right now I am feeling my literal pulse, the buzzing, as opposed to throbbing because it is not that strong, of the push of blood through my body, and I a feeling it in a very specific place and it is not pleasurable. It is also not painful. It is distracting. It is bothersome. I do not like it.

And I wonder. Why? But not enough to ask a doctor about it.

Anyway, I need to run. It's the weekend. Running must happen. 

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 39:33
Pace: 9:53

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 83°
Climate: sunny & bright
Mood: yes
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

Upper body: 30 reps.

Core Strength: 

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

Lunch: ramen w/veggies & egg, Nosferatu

Dinner: PB&J sand, milk

What's That Lyric?

Tenderness - General Public

We are North American scum.

Fatigue sets in. I am rousing myself to run this evening, even as there is dinner to be made, because I'm trying to keep up. But I don't know what to listen to, and I feel a bit weary and listless.

There are more than physical reasons why this is so. But it's challenging. 

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:12
Pace: 9:05

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 74°
Climate: cool ... but humid
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: no

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

Snack: fruit snacks

Lunch: slaw dog, chocolate mint frappe

Snack: kettle corn, orange juice

Dinner Prep: White Russian

Dinner: Turmeric coconut rice w/greens

Stay in sync.

We went to New York! A lovely weekend. Actually, it was one weekend end, departing CLE on Saturday night, and returning Sunday night.

And yet! Cocktails at the Rum House in Times Square, listening to jazz performed by three white men all well over sixty. A relaxing lie-in on the 25th floor of a fine hotel with tiny but very well-designed rooms, followed by a breakfast that was better than it should have been.

We walked to and through Central Park, enjoying a new, natural meadow as well as a whirl around the carousel before heading back to Midtown to settle into our seats at the Lyceum to enjoy my 56th birthday present, a performance of Cole Escola in Oh, Mary! 

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 27:57
Pace: 9:01

Ugh. Kink in my ankle. I suffered that on Saturday, it troubled me -- just a little -- in New York. We did a lot of walking, but it only troubled me a few moments. But it still hurts. But oh, well. 

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 72°
Climate: beautiful!
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

160 - 169 BPM

Welcome to Family of 4 - Aska Matsumiya

Koka Kola - The Clash

Can I Be Free From Crying - Bim Sherman

Easy Rider - Big Brother and the Holding Company

A New England - Billy Bragg

Slow Down - The Beatles

Fall Out - The Police

Who'd Have Known - Lily Allen

Haunted When the Minutes Drag - Love & Rockets

Wow, Andrew Hickey is right. Big Brother and the Holding Company was a terrible band.

Core Strength: 

   Planks: 90 sec.

Breakfast: bagel half w/cream cheese, coffee w/cream

Coffee Break: PSL, banana bread

Lunch: chicken Caesar salad

Snack: Fruit Snacks

Pre-Dinner: plums!

Dinner: rotisserie chicken, salad

Nightcap: White Russian, gummi candy

I know that I am strong.

Wow! Did I want to eat on Friday. Okay, then. The weather has turned, I think I'm trying to hibernate? In any event, I will continue to be thoughtful, even as we head out of town for the weekend. I thought of packing shoes for a run in Central Park, considering the duration of our stay (about twenty-four hours) I think I'd rather stick close to my person. 

Also, with the turn of the weather, it feels like time for zombies.

A Regular Meds Run 0113

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 29:23
Pace: 9:21

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 60
Climate: breezy w/light rain
Mood: excited!
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

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

Coffee Break: PSL

Lunch: bread  potato salad

Dinner: TBA

What’s That Lyric?

Believe - Cher

I ain't missing no steps.

A successful week, so far. Yesterday, I almost bonked after lunch. Not sure how to counter-act that. I get sleepy. I always have.

The best thing to do after work is be a homebody, to come home and do something that makes me happy to be home. Yesterday I made gazpacho. Today I hung a print of our beautiful Puffball, now we have two pieces of art created by the elder that adorn our walls. I miss that sweet kitty but what a treasure,

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:13
Pace: 9:45

There has been a great deal of snacking. Snacks are plentiful. I must be careful.

"Kiss Me While the World Decays"

(Music From the Big Love 2021-2024)

Disc Two:

Crosseyed & Painless- Angelique Kidjo

What a Day That Was (Live) - Talking Heads

Dance the Night - Dua Lipa

Bandits - Josh Ritter

Murder on the Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Girls Talk - Tegan & Sara

Yeah x10 [MIXED] - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross ft. Boys Noize

Take Me to the River - Lorde

Also, try as hard as you can not to lean forward. You're not in a hurry. You timed this perfectly. Stand up straight. Be kind to your back. 

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: cool
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes

Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD 

 

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 175 lbs. (+1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh fruit, bagel w/cream cheese 

Snack: Fruit snacks, Cheez-Its

Lunch: leftover brisket sand, baked beans, baba w/pita

Dinner 

Dark and getting darker all the time.

Every three years since we began courting, I have created a mixtape/CD/playlist for my beloved, which drops during the summer, usually in time for a big road trip. They are a chronological document of the songs we enjoyed together, concerts we attended together, movies we had seen together, moments that surprised us together, even times that we had suffered together.

The series is called Music From the Big Love, this year I created collection number ten. That's thirty years for those of you scoring at home (and if you are scoring at home, knock it off). The past three years have seen us from the closing of the quarantine through the emptying of our nest and so many other occasions.

Things that go to make up a life.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:49
Pace: 9:17

"Kiss Me While the World Decays"

(Music From the Big Love 2021-2024)

Disc One:

Chaise Lounge - Wet Leg

Benny's Dispatch from "In the Heights"

America from "West Side Story" (2021)

Radioactivity - Kraftwerk

Wedding Song from "Hadestown"

Cracker Island - Gorillaz ft. Thundercat

Nothing Left to Lose - Everything But the Girl

Theme from Succession - Nicholas Britell

Route: Boulevard Loop
Temperature: 52°
Climate: cool
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes 
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: yes

First morning for the new year of the residency. Poor sleep (the cat visited me a half dozen times) but I rose early to have a run before we begin. I plan to continue in this way for the next several weeks. I hope that I do. Every other day, a run.

And the world has turned. Literally. I must run through the city, where there are lights, and not through the woods, where it remains dark. I will return to them over the weekend.

Upper body: 

Core Strength: 

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight:  174 lbs. (+1.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, bagel & cream cheese

Coffee Break: coffee w/cream, oatmeal cookie

Lunch: sushi & salad, Fruit Snacks

Snack:: Cheez-Its

Dinner Prep: Nosferatu, almonds

Dinner: Gazpacho, crusty bread

There's still so much for me to do.

What's this?

A couple days spent in Athens to visit our elder child, and to meet new old friends. Residency rehearsals begin on Tuesday, the great turn of the wheel. The Guardians languish at the top of the AL, struggling to maintain preeminence. Harris remains a couple points ahead -- as of September 1. This can change. It can all change. I take a moment to feel a temporary flash of gratitude before descending again into doubt and insecurity.

Also? My back still hurts, driving four hours without a break last night was not a great help, nor sleeping in a strange, firm bed. I will take a run on the bike path, and listen to songs from my youth.

Oh, my youth. By the time I was our elder child's age, I had met my wife. I was seeing my ex-wife, but I had met Toni. That's how old they are, or how young I was. Twenty-one years old. And what have I accomplished since? And am I any kind of better person?  

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 37:03
Pace: 9:15

College Years Playlist

I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat

Why Can't I Be You? (Extended Mix) - The Cure

Reptile - The Church

You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Kill Eye - Crowded House

Don't Forget Me (hen I'm Gone) - Glass Tiger ft. Ryan Adams

Candy - Iggy Pop ft. Kate Pierson

Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead

Route: Hocking River Bike Path
Temperature: 77°
Climate: overcast & beautiful
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

A lazy day around the New House. Late breakfast, casual conversation, time with family. So glad to see the kid after so many months.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, leftover Dr. Pepper

Brunch: eggs w/sour cream, salsa & scorpion hot sauce, bacon, rye toast w/jam, more coffee

Afternoon Bevvy: Dortmunder