Incidental highs.

Gabriel & Dresden's eponymous debut album was released twenty years ago, on June 1, 2006. My first record of having run to any of its tracks was Tracking Treasure Down, in February 2007.

The first time I ran to the entire album was on April 28 of that year. 

"I have been waiting some time to attempt a run listening to the entire Gabriel and Dresden album. That's my record of the year. I picked up a track on iTunes a few weeks back and really liked it, and then they started the "complete your album" promotion and so I got the whole thing — which includes the entire album mixed as one, uninterrupted track. Except for this Pink Floyd-esque thing right in the middle, the entire record makes for a dynamite run."

Distance: 5.9 miles

Duration: 55:35
Pace: 9:25

A few downbeat tracks are a bit of a drag, and the whole thing is one hour thirteen. Today, I have chosen a mix which suits my recent summer weekend loop. It's one of the only albums I have returned to (and more than twice) as part of Albums For Running.

Gabriel & Dresden - Gabriel & Dresden (2006)

Let Go

Enemy

Dust In the Wind

Mass Repeat

Closer

Sydney

Dangerous Power

Tracking Treasure Down

 

Route: Forest Hill-Cain Park Loop 
Temperature: 69°
Climate: nice
Mood: mostly good

So, no. It was not something I listened to while training for New York in 2006. But it was a major inspiration while I was writing And Then You Die. It is my mid-life crisis soundtrack. Regret, yearning, aspiration, doubt, determination, guilt, and on and on. 

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 163 lbs. (-3.0)

Heading out I had pain in two points in the back of my right knee. Unpleasant, not debilitating, and it subsided soon enough.

Around mile five, I got a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee cap, and that was debilitating. I stretched, I hobbled, I endured. It, too, subsided. Oof.

Anyway, here's Father's Day.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: tba

Sit-Ups: yes

Thank you for blessing me with a mind to rhyme and two hype feet.

Yesterday was the No Kings march, which was pretty well attended. Last night I hooked up with old college friends which was also a good time. Big days. Also, damp.

Happy Papa Day, to all who celebrate.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:52
Pace: 3:58

Early 90s Workout Mix

Move This (Shake That Body) - Technotronic  

Jump - Kris Kross

Horny - Hot 'N' Juicy ft. Mousse T.

Please Don't Go  - K.W.S.

This Is Your Night - Amber

U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer

Finally - CeCe Peniston

Tonight Is the Night- Le Click ft. Kayo

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 71°
Climate: sunny & hot & beautiful
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: no (shit)

Weigh: 160 lbs.

Perfect day in the park. Lots of families. Lots of dads. Lots of white dads I've never seen before.

My mother, God rest her soul.

Woke late, almost nine o'clock. I was expecting to be woken up and served for Father's Day, but the wife is ill so I rolled out to pick up last minute breakfast things and wash some dishes. But the boy prepared my bagel and I get to sit on the porch and relax and enjoy a beautiful morning.

There's work to be done, preparing for camp for the week, but not too much work. God, I was so wrecked by Thursday ... for many years, camp ended with our leaving for North Carolina, and I am grateful that is not the case this season. I will miss the place (we didn't go last year, either) but I just want to hang around and work, for goodness sake.

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 38:34
Pace: 9:38

Summer Throwbacks
Hot In Herre - Nelly
Fly - Sugar Ray
Mambo No.5 (a Little Bit of...) - Lou Bega
Everybody Lives the Sunshine * - Roy Ayers Ubiquity
Get Lucky - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell & Nile Rogers
Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
Livin' la Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
Move Your Feet - Junior Senior
Summer in the City  - The Lovin' Spoonful
Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
Here Comes the Hotstepper - iNi Kamoze

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 85°
Climate: sunny & hot
Mood: anxious
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Upper body: 

Core Strength: 

Breakfast: everything bagel heavy with lox, tomato, red onion, capers & cream cheese, coffee w/cream

Lunch: tortilla chips, beer

Dinner: steak, potatoes, asparagus, mule, red wine

Father's Day Run

I feel more socially disconnected than I did during quarantine.

Distance: 3.15 miles
Duration: 30:47
Pace: 9:45
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 79°
Climate: overcast & HUMID
Mood: good
Weight: 178 lbs. (-1.0)

Father's Day late morning run with the boy. We used the 150-159 bpm list. Good pace. Easy. He is engaged in wrestling conditioning now. Already! And it makes him so glad. We did not allow him to wrestle last year. Yesterday was his two week mark from his second innoculation. He is vaccinated. We are moving forward.

Anyway, yesterday he did runs and sprints. So we took it easy. Maybe tomorrow we will pick it up.

Father runs fast.

Also, I got three new running shirts! 

Run fast for your mother. Run fast for your father.

It is a nice thing, to have your family pay special attention to you on a certain day of the year. I mean, I am blessed with a wife and children who pay special attention to me every day of the year, but on Father's Day I get breakfast and gifts, too.

For the past several years my mother has remembered me on Father's Day, abent my own father. This year I am missing that. I should be thinking of him, but I am thinking more of her.

Visited the house yesterday, walked through its many rooms, and sobbed uncontrollably. I cried this morning, too.

Just feeling sad today. Maybe it will pcik up as we go.

Distance: 2 miles
Duration: 18:30
Pace: 9:15
Route: Two times around the block.
Temperature: 75°
Climate: not a cloud in the sky
Mood: mourning
Weight: 183 lbs. (-1.0)

Lost ten pounds. I'll gain it all back today.

What's That Lyric?
Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

why dont you run from me

Father's Day, I got decadent. A cheeseburger and chips for lunch, with a Coke. For dinner, an annual celebration at the Melting Pot ... it began as a celebration of the children's great work over the previous school year some five years ago, now it is a tradition. Why fondue? A Groupon. And yet, sure, why not, stale bread with melted cheese. Totally worth it.

So, that was an exception. Let us remember to make wise diet decisions.

And now, ladies and gentlemen ... 56 Playlists for 56 Years (1964-2019)

2019 Playlist
Can't Knock the Hustle - Weezer
Take On Me * - Weezer
Juice - Lizzo
seconds (electric lady sessions) - LCD Soundsystem
bury a friend - Billie Eilish
Funny Business - Alison Merton
Tempo - Lizzo ft. Missy Elliott
This Time It's Different - Heart Bones

There we go. Doesn't usually take me until June to have this many runs, if it's going to take half a year, perhaps I should abandon this tradition and just create playlists on Spotify, or go back to using Podrunner.

No idea what Podrunner sounds like in the late 10s, perhaps I should find out. I think my iPod is retired.

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 25:32
Pace: 8:30
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 60°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Good run, brisk and exciting. Killer geese, a distressed heron and one plucky deer.

Three mile runs, all week. I should find an alternate route, to pick things up. I, too, need tempo.

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 167.5 lbs. (+1.0)
Goal: 165 lbs.

Remain human.

This Father's Day I am on my own with the boy. I did not get to sleep until after midnight, but slept peacefully until around 8 am, free of any head pain. I had gotten up around six to have a glass of water and two ibuprofen, which no doubt helped.

The wife had suggested to the boy that he make pancakes, which would have been nice but it wasn't what I actually wanted and besides I was hungry right then. Instead we went to the Inn on Coventry for Eggs Mando (Eggs Benedict with avocado) which I probably haven't had in five years.

Then we watched Revenge of the Sith, not for father but because I am a father and sometimes you have to put yourself through these things. Boy, what a piece of shit.

Finally, the run. A few days ago he and the wife went to the local police auction and picked up a sweet new bike for fifty bucks. This afternoon he biked, I ran and we both walked down Mayfield to Lakeview Cemetery, and down Euclid to MOCA and back up through Little Italy towards home.

Distance: 8 miles
Route: Lakeview Cemetery Loop

He also got an XBOX 360 for ten bucks at the auction, and we're headed out now to get controllers and a game.

Week One Total: 24 miles
Training To Date: 24 miles

Temperature: 79°
Climate: overcast and humid
Weight:157 lbs. (-3.0)
Intake: Eggs Mando
Hydration: yes
Stretches:yes

Senses working overtime.

Walking Warm-Up
Distance: 1 mile

The girl has had difficulty running since the last week of school. There was a field trip to a skating rink where she fell several times and her coccyx is sore when she attempts to run. We're looking into treatment, in the meantime she asked if I wouldn't join her in walking around the neighborhood route she has created for herself.

We talked about our plans for the summer, about Heights Music Camp and our impending trip to North Carolina. We talked about friends and enemies and how to deal with both.

This morning I rose not too late, not too early. Did some writing on the side porch, drank coffee,  and got a nifty new running shirt for Father's Day. And it's only just gone eleven.

Temperature: 68°
Distance: 4 miles

She and I are already discussing plans for running on vacation next week. She wants to run on the beach, and I remember too well how I overdid it the first day two years ago and seriously ripped up my feet. We will be careful.

Happy Hour Playlist
Happy Hour - The Housemartins
Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Senses Working Overtime - XTC
Oblivious - Aztec Camera
Think For A Minute - The Housemartins
All Together Now - The Farm
Stand And Deliver - Adam Ant
Poison Arrow - ABC
Caravan of Love - The Housemartins
Panic - The Smiths

In America, the world is neither football nor biscuit shaped.