Let them drink inside of my house. Make them smoke outside of my house.

The madmen are running the asylum, but what are you gonna do? I write letters. Actual letters that I send through the mail. Why? Because they are physical objects which travel to their offices. They must be dealt with. And maybe they are shredded, who knows, but that is a physical act which must be performed by someone who is aware that they are destroying communications from a constituent to their elected official.

It is not a social media post, which they will never see. It is not an email which can easily be deleted. And I do not always have the time nor energy to show up. I am grateful for those who do. I am thankful for those who do. I am doing this. I am writing letters.

I am also getting on with my life, because that is important, too.

Distance: 1.75 miles

Duration: 15:49
Pace: 9:01

Took a risk! Stepped out, headed for the rec center , but the air was so nice I decided to head for the park. I knew it might rain, too, and it did. If I'd stuck it out it would have subsided, but I didn't know, that, the wind picked up, the rain went sideways, so I turned around.

Still. Very nice.

Route: To the park & back.
Temperature: 54°
Climate: overcast & rain
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2007 Playlist

Timebomb - Beck

Merrymaking at My Place (Radio Edit) - Calvin Harris

Foundations - Kate Nash

The Boys - Dragonette

Acceptable in the 80s - Calvin Harris

Fifteen runs in one month. Every other day, more or less. Well done.

I feel the wind.

The weather turns, my head does not know what to make of it. Also, I need to resume writing. The past several weeks have been disorienting. Writing every morning, by hand, lends a consistency, it helps me better understand time. But it has been a strange winter.

It is a Saturday, my first in several weeks (guests, out of town trip) that I spend on my own. It is cloudy and raining but it is also above sixty degrees. Bring on the late 90s techno beats!

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 36:14
Pace: 9:03

March is the month we break out and run the most.  

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 65°
Climate: overcast w/light breeze
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight:160 lbs.

1997 Playlist

Elektrobank (Dust Brothers Remix) - The Chemical Brothers

Y'All Know - Will Smith

We're In Yr Corner - Cornershop

6 Underground (Nellee Hooper Mix) - Sneaker Pimps

The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) (160 BPM) - Missy Elliott

Change My Pitch Up - The Prodigy

One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds Five

Tickertape of the Unconscious - Stereolab

History Repeating (Knee Length Mix) - Propellerheads ft. Shirley Bassey

I ain’t losing track.

The new cat, a goblin, has turned to waking us up at 5:30 for breakfast, and there's not much we can do about it. A squirt bottle has proven ineffective.

I must resume letter writing.

Chilly these past few days, it should warm up soon and I can get outside again.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:37

No stops.

Route: rec center
Mood: anxious
Stretches: yes
Water: not enough

Weight: 161 lbs.

1987 Playlist

Crying, Waiting, Hoping - Marshall Crenshaw

I Want Your Sex (pts. 1 & 2) - George Michael

Midnight Blue - Lou Gramm

Little Lighthouse - Dukes of Stratosphear

Lost In Emotion - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jim

Big Love - Fleetwood Mac

Got to keep on dancing.

Another few nights out of town, this time for our elder’s thesis show in Chauncey. The days are cooler, which is fine, it is Spring, after all.

Started a campaign a couple weeks back, for the summer project, and it has born fruit. Being a producer of one has long been a thing for me, but at least I have been largely successful. I think, in spite of my telling myself the contrary, I prefer to be in charge of managing my own work.

Also, I need a new book. I brought one to Athens but I finished it and spent Monday night on my phone. I must remind myself there are plays on there, too.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:35
Route: rec center
Mood: good 
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

1977 Playlist

Boogie Nights - Heatwave

Dust In the Wind - Kansas

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury

Don’t Stop - Fleetwood Mac

Cold As Ice - Foreigner

California Sun - The Ramones

Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - The Ramones 

Telephone Man - Meri Wilson

Ça Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand 

Who's tripping down the lanes of the rec center?

"Almost, Maine"

Spent one night in Minnesota to see my niece in the school play… there’s had been so much familial celebration the past two weekends. And more to come! I have dined out considerably the past two weeks. It’s like we’ve been out of town or something.

I mean, we have. I have. But also not.

I look first to eating less, and better, again, you know?

Distance: 2 miles

Duration: 17:02

Seriously, since last Saturday, I have eaten bacon on five separate occasions. And these days I never eat bacon.

Route: rec center
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

Consistency. I think I have actually learned something.

1967 Playlist

Trip to Your Heart - Sly & the Family Stone

Funky Broadway - Wilson Pickett

Windy - The Association

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free - Nina Simone

Lucifer Sam - The Pink Floyd

Little Games - The Yardbirds

Mary, Mary - The Monkees

Fourteen consecutive every-other-day runs. Good work. Let's see how the next month goes.

I wish I didn’t miss you anymore.

Today is Calvin's Day, his twenty-fourth birth anniversary. Been thinking about how to appropriately celebrate twenty-five years in 2026. The wife says she doesn't want to think of it. Twenty-five years? How?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 27:02

It rains, so we head back to the gym. And isn't that nice?

Route: rec center
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2001 Playlist

Wicked Little Town (Hedwig Version) - John Cameron Mitchell

19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) - Gorillaz

Wish I Didn’t Miss You - Angie Stone

Tanto Tempo (Peter Kruder Remix) - Bebel Gilberto

Because We Can - Fatboy Slim ft. Jim Broadbent

Fell In Love With a Girl - White Stripes

Hash Pipe - Weezer

Get the Party Started - Pink

“The Fates are vicious, and they’re cruel.”

Like a dark horse, see how she ran.

Snow on Monday morning. Tuesday, it's sixty degrees. Discuss.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:13
Pace: 9:05

I have seen a surprising number of the best picture nominees for the past year — eight out of ten. That's a lot for me. 

Last night we saw Anora. Folks said it was good. No one said anything about all the fucking.

The wife is right, Mark Eydelshteyn and Timothée Chalamet need to make a buddy movie.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 64°
Climate: sunny & gorgeous
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

1972 Playlist

Soul Love - David Bowie

Bra - Cymande

Gudbuy T'Jane - Slade

Saturday Night Special - The Sundown Playboys

Sliced Tomatoes - Just Brothers

Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones

**** *** **** (**. *) - **** *******

Junkie Chase - Curtis Mayfield

Old World - Modern Lovers

Virginia Plain - Roxy Music

ALL the samples!

You run for cover ... and there's heat.

Racing before imminent rain. Can hear the high wind. Will try not to hurt myself. 

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:21
Pace: 9:08

Gorgeous day. Bright blue, cloudy skies, windy. Could have gone an additional mile, the rain will come later, maybe. Doesn't matter, felt so good.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 60°
Climate: partly cloudy, windy
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

Great fun seeing Marshall Crenshaw with my brother the other night. I could say a thing or two about mortality, suffice it to say my picture of him is as a clean-cut, proto-Buddy Holly type in his music and his style. Now he's a man in his early seventies who is still on the road, wears a t-shirt and cap, and though he does play the hits, his voice is not what it was when he was in his late twenties.

However, he's kept writing songs, those more suited for a man his age, about long life and even regret, and those are the ones which were really strong. It was a weird show. We had a good time.

1982 Playlist

Cynical Girl - Marshall Crenshaw

G**** - Fleetwood Mac

Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant

One Thing Leads to Another - The Fixx

Promised You a Miracle - Simple Minds

Don’t Go - Yahoo

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

Let It Whip - Dazz Band

Twelve every other day runs. Let's see how far we can take that. It's all right if we drop a date.

I think of my fear of motion.

Short walk/run with the elder, then a run on my own. Full house this weekend, both kids and my brother. Springtime activities afoot!

Run One

Distance: 1.6 miles 

Duration: 17:50
Pace: 11:06

1992 Playlist 1
Music For Boys - The Suburbs

Into the Fire - Sarah McLachlan

Sexy M.F. - Prince & the New Power Generation

The Sweater - Meryn Cadell

Eastern Bloc - Thomas Dolby 

Run Two

Distance: 2 miles

Duration: 17:49
Pace: 8:54

1992 Playlist 2
Galileo - The Indigo Girls

Free Your Mind - En Vogue

Tennessee - Arrested Development

Gold - Sugarcubes

I'm Every Woman - Whitney Houston

Route: Neighborhood loops
Temperature: 72°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 161 lbs.

Parents still listen to Elvis.

Trip to Cincy and back, another lovely day.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 26:58
Pace: 8:42
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 52°
Climate: sunny & cool
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2002 Playlist

Fuck the Pain Away - Peaches

Ez Pass - Har Mar Superstar

Where Do They Make Balloons? - They Might Be Giants

A Little Less Conversation (JXL Remix) - Elvis Presley

This Charming Man - Death Cab for Cutie 

Without Me - Eminem

Dilemma - Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland

Starry Eyed Surprise - Shifty

You're like a breath of fresh air in my lungs.

That's a cold ass honkey.

Why are there so many references in pop songs to running?

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:32
Pace: 8:52

Hell, yeah. Beautiful day, perfect weather. We run outdoors again.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 59
Climate: breezy! sunny!
Mood: good
Stretches: yes 
Water: yes

Weight: 163 lbs.

2012 Playlist

Carried Away - Passion Pit

Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch

Brokenhearted - Karmin

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

Thrift Shop - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz

Ready Or Not - Bridgit Mendler

Don't Want to Go the Other Way - Cody Chesnutt

Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars

You got me running through the turnstile.

Thursday morning I started getting this low-grade anger as I drove across town and I was like, nah. I'm getting that prescription back.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:05

For around twenty days I have been consistently 160 pounds -- and I mean consistently. Usually, my weight fluctuates from day to day. This consistency is, I believe, the result of not eating after dinner. That is where the matter comes into my system and stays overnight. It's never something particularly healthy, nothing "green" but always "orange."  

Route: Rec Center
Mood: maintaining
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

We're back on track (heh) running every other day. We are well again.

2022 Playlist

Power Station - Cory Wong

Here to Forever - Death Cab for Cutie

Wild Child - Black Keys

Postman - Toro y Moi

Welcome to My Island - That Freaky White Girl

Hi-Fidelity - Lava la Rue ft. Biig Piig 

Telluride - Jordan Conrath

Music for a Sushi Restaurant - Harry Styles

Shatter - Maggie Rogers 

Clock’s running.

Runner's World, 3/3/2025

When I was a young man I might ask myself, when did I run last? Then I started keeping this blog, and now I know. And that's it.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:11

Ran out of sertraline, having difficulty renewing. Should I lay off the stuff for a while? I don't think so. But then, what if I tried?

Three miles. No stops.

Route: Rec Center
Mood: ?
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2018 Playlist

Don't Lose Ur Head (166 BPM) - Christina Modestou (from "Six")

Hollywood - Gorillaz ft. Snoop Dogg & Jamie Principle

Heaven On Their Minds - Brandon VictorDixon (from “Jesus Christ Superstar”) 

This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) - David Byrne (from “American Utopia”)

Television - Idles

5 Out of 6 - Dessa

Ripping through these playlists. Onto the twos!

Heartbeats sounding.

That springtime conundrum. Do I run in the morning, when it is best for me, or wait until it is sixty degrees, some time in the afternoon? Should I run this morning, and then again when it is sixty degrees but before it drops back down to twenty degrees on Thursday?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:04
Route: rec center
Mood: angsty
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

So, anyway. The Rec Center. I have a lot of anxiety today ... is it because I didn't take my meds last night? Is there a possible correlation?

2008 Playlist

Golden Age - TV on the Radio

Nine In the Afternoon - Lincoln! In the Bardo

Full Moon - Black Ghosts

Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Detroit - Black Gold

Echoes Round the Sun - Paul Weller

So What - Pink

Blind - Hercules & Love Affair

After winter must come spring.

Waiting for that fifty degree day when I can take a run to the park. But at least it’s March, God damn it.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:55
Mood: better
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

Saw the Ohio Shakes production of Romeo & Juliet, and it was lovely. Left right after, no post-show cocktail or anything, came right home, got in bed at midnight. This is why I will never be in a show in Akron.

1998 Playlist

Everything Is Everything - Ms. Lauryn Hilll

Sexy Boy - Air

Punk Rock Girl - Dead Milkmen

The Incumbent - Soul Coughing 

Just a Test - Beastie Boys

Sneaking’ Out the Hospital - Beastie Boys

Roygbiv * - Boards of Canada

One Week (Pull’s Break Remix) - Barenaked Ladies