I get on my trek with a headstart back to you.

We voted, you Fascists.

Summer is winding down. Vacation has passed, and the festival, too. The eldest heads back to Athens today, we take the boy to school next week. Still a lot of things planned for August, but really? It feels like we are starting to pack up the season.

And yet. Days on the porch. Runs to be had. Movies to see. Patriarchies to be crushed. 

Distance: 3.25 miles

Duration: 31:11
Pace: 9:35

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 67°
Climate: overcast, light rain

Mood: weak

Turning out to be one of my biggest running years yet. Just passed the number of runs I took in 2013. To think, last winter I thought I was done with this, and yet I still love it.

160-169 BPM Playlist

Someday Someway 99 Volt Version) - Marshal Crenshaw

Girlfriend - Avril Lavinge

Black - The Shroud

Can I Be Free From Crying (Underwolves Mix) - Bim Sherman

Headstart for Happiness - The Style Council

Lake Shore Drive - Duran Duran

Vasoline - Stone Temple Pilots

Wide Awake - Katy Perry

Give Him a Great Big Kiss - The Shangri-La's

Single- Natasha Bedingfield

 

Difficult morning. No alcohol yesterday, little on Saturday. But I had spicy food last night and had something like a body hangover today. Vertiginous, clammy, sweaty, first time I took a run and felt I might shit myself along the path. This did not happen. But I don't like feeling this way, no.

 
Stretches: yes

Planks: 90 sec. (2x)

Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, strawberry, cherry, banana w/yogurt & sunflower seeds

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: spinach pie, baba ganouj w/pita

Dinner: popcorn, beer

Cocktail Hour: fizzy water

Alcohol? 1 unit

And I'm like, yeah! Eat everything! It's summer!

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 170 lbs. (-2.0)

Goal: 165 lbs.

I'll go crawling back to the city I love.

Hey, y'all. Good mornin'.

Woo. Scored some terrific chafing these past two runs (sorry if that is too much information, this is a runner's blog) but when you get a morning in the fifties in March, you take it. Glide it is.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:05
Duration: 26:18
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Also, intestinal distress. Man, I have all the complaints this morning. What did we eat last night? Vegetarian tacos, spaghetti squash tacos. Hmn. No one else seemed affected. And this morning I celebrated #NationalCerealDay with, well, what I usually eat, granola and yogurt. No idea. You're losing it, old man.

Pavement: wet
Temperature: 54°
Climate: refreshing, light rain
Mood: progressive

Not a goose.

Great springtime-like run. Geese out in force. I am glad to say I have never been attacked by a goose, at least not yet. The lagoon is swollen from last night's rain, but the path was still clear.

The neighborhood association does a wonderful job keeping the park clear and beautiful, but some of the ancient stone and brickwork needs repair. Like the man says, such a crumbling beauty. Aaah, there's nothin' about her municipal funds wouldn't fix.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 163.5 lbs. (+1.0)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

2008 Playlist
In the Heights - Lin-Manuel Miranda & Company
I Caught Myself - Paramore
Echoes Round the Sun - Paul Weller
Freeway - Aimee Mann
American Boy (Soulseekerz Club Remix) - Estelle
Coney Island - Good Old War

On this morning, last year, we were probably listening to Hamilton.

Getting Hamilton tickets was much easier and cheaper the second time.

They know what is what but they don't know what is what they just strut ...

Week 5 Total: 29 miles
Training to Date: 123 miles

Five weeks? For reals? Well, I'll be. One more month and it will be Spring. The winter has been mild, so far, but that does not mean anything. It could turn fierce soon, and stay that way until April. For now I am grateful for clear pavement.

Distance: 4 miles
Route: Neighborhood loop

Temperature: 28º
Climate: cool & dry
Weight: 174.5 lbs.
Supper: Mac & cheese, carrot/raisin salad & beer
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

That is an example of everything you do not want in your stomach when setting out to have a pleasant, evening run. The burps ... the burps were awful. Simply awful.

2001 Playlist
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors - Radiohead
Drop - Cornelius
August Day Song (Chateau Flight Mix) - Bebel Gilberto
Get the Party Started - Pink
Point of View Point - Cornelius
Aerodynamic - Daft Punk
This Charming Man - Stars
Star 69/Because We Can - Fatboy Slim

Cooldown:
Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa & Pink

Thank you for this

Weak. Eyes livid, moist-searing edges. Practically trembling. This was before I ran. It's been over two weeks, there has been no time nor opportunity - nor much desire. The weather turned, it has been below freezing ... until today.

I fried chicken and made french fries for our children, who missed their mom - the wife was out of town last night. So I tried something new. I feel like I have swallowed a pound cake. I have gained weight. I need to play an emaciated vampire this winter. I need to stop eating poorly.

I also need to run again, but mostly I need to stop eating poorly. And so often. But I have found out I make a very good fried chicken (thank you, as always, to Mark Bittman.)

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 50º
Weather: damp and cool. extremely pleasant.
Weight: 160.5 lbs.

Phone call at 12:10 AM
Leah: So I started watching Twin Peaks.
Pengo: Oh, you never?
Leah: No, I remember seeing that part you showed us when we were making THE GULF.
Pengo: Man.
Leah: Yeah.
Pengo: That was ... a heady time.
Leah: It sure was.
[awkward pause]

I meant 1991. She meant 2001.

It Won't Be Long Genius Playlist
It Won't Be Long - Alison Moyet
Wrap It Up - Eurythmics
Antmusic - Adam and the Ants
Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Let Me Go - Heaven 17
Take a Chance on Me - Erasure
Fame Is - Crowded House
Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) - Eurythmics

If you are not yet a follower of my other blog I wanted to announce I am 2010 CPAC Creative Workforce Fellow. It is a great honor, and a wonderful opportunity. I had submitted a portion of And Then You Die in my application, so thank you to you for supporting this play.

I love this record, baby.

You do not want to read this.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 46º
Weather: cool
Weight: 159.5 lbs.

I sh*t you not, I just took a dump and dropped a pound and a half. But come on, Pengo - pushing 160? This will not pass.

(drum fill)

Thank you.

This does not bode well for the holidays. There are already cookies on the front counter at work almost every day. Or chocolate-covered peanuts. Tomorrow there will be left over Halloween candy. I seriously have to get this under control.

On a different note ... this might be transparent to anyone paying attention, but all the whining about being a failure as a graphic artist in spite of my best intentions - especially since the resumption of my efforts in early 2007 - I have written four plays in that time ... which is four more plays than I had written in the previous five years.

Twilight Playlist
15 Step - Radiohead
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
4 Minutes - Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake
Full Moon - The Black Ghosts
Spotlight (Twilight Mix) - Mute Math
Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
Go All The Way (Into the Twilight) - Perry Farrell
Mothership (176 bpm) - Kid Beyond

Yeah? So? Shut up.

Too high. Too far. Too soon.

Hey, its February! You know what that means!

1985 Playlist
Jungle Love - The Time
Party at Ground Zero - Fishbone
Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
Are You Trying To Be Funny? - Everything But the Girl
Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting
The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys
One Vision - Queen

XX Playlists for XX Years! Two years ago I tried creating a playlist for every year, going back as far as I could comfortably come up with forty minutes of running music. It gets me through the winter.

God, the past two days have been awful. On Friday, I was driving from school to school, and thought I would give myself a "treat." Fast food. I haven't had junk food for months, and thought what the heck?

BK double-cheeseburger, onion rings and a b.a. Coke. You ask Dusten and Allie, I was acting like I had shot heroin. And I felt like I had eaten a small child.

That night, my sinuses closed up. I woke in the middle of the night feeling like I had a nail in my eye, and took my migraine meds. I lived through the girl's birthday party all right, but by bedtime, my ears were ringing like schoolbells.

And so they have all day. Running, getting out into above-freezing fresh air. Man, that's the stuff.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 44 degrees
Weight: 152.5 lbs.



One flesh. One bone. One true religion.

I thought I heard the shuffle of angels' feet.

"You better run on ... for a long time ..."

And I did. The past several days have been hellish.

Warning: Poop.

We returned from NYC safely enough, and had our traditional Monday night pizza with our dance class friends.

The next morning I had the runs. I felt a little sheepish leaving work early due to a bout of diarrhea (blame my mother) and not a little concerned about soiling the driver's seat of my car. I needn't have worried - by the time I got home I was no longer running. I was blocked.

And it wasn't the food. Our friends reported no ill effects and we had shared the same pizza and a big salad. The wife had a class to teach and I took care of the kids and it was awful. I discovered I could only relax without pain if I were lying down ... but that's hard to do with kids, especially when you need to feed them, put them in peejays and get them into bed.

By nighttime my back was aching terribly, and every time I sat on the toilet, I would get nothing but serious abdominal cramps for my efforts. Credit the feminist in me that I was overwhelmed with thoughts of how grueling childbirth had been for my wife if I felt like this.

By Wednesday things were progressing, in a manner of speaking, though things are still not ... solidified. But OMG did it feel good to get out and move. It made my insides feel good, it made my back feel good, it just felt good, good goody-good.

Run stats:
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 171 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 10
Sit-ups: 29 - and then I realized I shouldn't press my luck.
Temperature: 39º (Really? 39º? I don't believe you.)
Weather: cool ... but not 39º. Couldn't be.
Gear: long-sleeve shirt, windbreaker, hat, shorts, gloves

1999 Playlist
Leo Ryan (Our Pharoah's Slave) - Lilys
Push Upstairs - Underworld
What Would Brian Boitano Do? - South Park soundtrack
Big Pimpin - Jay-Z ft. UGK
Run On - Moby
In the Street - Cheap Trick
Lullaby of Clubland - Everything But the Girl

(Last Year's 1999 Playlist)
Five Fathoms - Everything But the Girl
All Star - Smashmouth
Accepting Applications At University - Lilys
Cups - Underworld

UPDATE: Neglected to mention ... the strain on my abdomen has made the area around the hernia operation I had in 1995 inflamed. It hurt for two days, and I worried (as I have worried for thirteen years now) that it was time for another operation. Today, nothing. "As you hear from me, so think of me."

Day 2: Come run, run, run, run, everybody move, run ...

It does not take much for my belly to go slack. And then none of my pants fit. It's a little depressing, but seriously, what does it take for me to remember, and then execute, some simple 20 or so sit-ups a day? It doesn't take much, not really.

Oh, hey - for the Secret Santa thing in my office this year, H. got me a $25 gift card from Dick's! Is that cool or what?

I love the campus during the holidays. There's no one in it.

Stats:
Distance: roughly 4 miles
Stretches: yes
Sit-Ups: 40
Snack (like I needed a snack): Zone Perfect Bar; Chocolate Almond Biscotti - Merry Xmas, yo.
Drink: Gatorade
Start Time: 1.30 pm
Temperature: 43º
Weather: bright and sunny, wore a hat with a visor, shorts and a jacket. Midwinter bliss!

WARNING: Old Man Toilet Talk

Some kind of constipation action going on here, can't figure that out. Oh sure, maybe it's all the cookies, stuffing, meat and Bailey's in my system, but I have been force-feeding myself fruit and water, too. I had this righteous dump after prezzies but I still felt like sitting on the john for another hour.

Until I took that run. The natural laxative!

Playlist:
Warmup: Road to Recovery - Midnight Juggernaut
Pon de Relay- Rihanna
Body Language - Queen
Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Mix) - Rob D
Five Fathoms - Everything But the Girl
Collision and Improvisation- Pizzicato Five
I Wanna Be a Flintstone - Screaming Blue Messiahs
Get Down (Calvin Harris Remix) - Groove Armada
Cooldown: Doctor Who Theme - Murray Gold & the BBC National Orchestra of Wales