Everybody wants a box of chocolates.

Gracious. I have now logged more runs than I did in 2009 -- and those weren't even all runs. I was recording blog posts about the play And Then You Die that year. So, 2023 has been far and away the year I have taken the most most individual runs, except for 2015 when I not only had a diabetic scare, but trained rather successfully for the Twin Cities Marathon.

Not sure I can make another twenty runs before end of the year, but who knows? Seems kind of arbitrary. Why this year? Another health scare, the scare of just getting old?

Regardless. It's still enjoyable. I hope it continues to be so.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 30:05
Pace: 9:42

Took shoes to Athens and Cincinnati. A beautiful weekend, perfect weather, no chance to run.

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 50°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: all right

 
Stretches: yes

Upper body: 30 rep.
Water: yes

What's That Lyric?

Everybody Knows - Leonard Cohen

Let's all get baked like Anita.

We made it, or almost have. The rehearsal period, waking up every week day morning at five am or earlier, to write. Every day, for over a month, I have resumed the practice. And what happened? I started writing a new play.

And I ran everyday, or most days, until this week when I had to get out by six. But I kept going. It's hard, to maintain the diet, to continue the exercises -- the exercises have fallen away, I need to pick those up again. But I run. I run. I fantastize about running.

And running must be a pleasure, not a chore. I am feeling sore, a bit out of the spirit. How do I maintain without hurting myself? It's a challenge. It's a challenge.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:49
Pace: 9:37

Route: Forst Hill Loop

Temperature: 75°
Climate: sunny & humid

Mood: good

Heading out was good, sunlight is so helpful. Coming back I felt a bit weighted. Keep going. 

 
Stretches: yes

Water: yes

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

Lunch: parfait, lemon bread, apple, coffee w/creamer

Treat: chocolate muffin

Pre-run Snack: Almonds & dried cranberries

Dinner: steak, potatoes, beans, duck pastry, fizzy water

Alcohol? no, but

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: Corley, E.

Writing: 30 min.

What's That Lyric?

A Roller Skating Jam named "Saturdays" - De La Soul

When I am unhappy there's nothing that can move me.

Camp days are long. Maybe I should have slept this morning, but I can't run after camp. I'm too exhausted. Yesterday I slept for an hour after camp.

It was raining when I got up, but I sat on the side porch and wrote. The rain subsided with the dawn. Time to get out. No time to dawdle on a camp morning.  

Camp camp camp.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Duration: 30:24
Pace: 9:21
Route: Boulevard Loop
Temperature: 67°
Climate: cool, humid & damp
Mood: all right

Stretches: yes

Abdominals: no

Water: yes
Weight: 184 lbs. (-0.5)

Goal: 180 lbs.  

Getting there. No pain, easy breathing, some bursts of speed.

1982 Playlist

Sat In Your Lap - Kate Bush

It's Nearly Africa - XTC

She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby

Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant

Don't Pay the Ferryman - Chris de Burgh

The Loved Ones - Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Rock the Casbah - The Clash

Stray Cat Strut - Stray Cats

Kiss Off - Violent Femmes

Yeah, there are some songs I can't listen to anymore. (I skipped them.)

Running up that building.

These days! These bright spring days! I am trying to talk myself up! They are full of writing, I am currently 1) editing passages from my notebook for one class 2) redrafting a script that was workshopped last month and 3) writing scenes for a new work for another class.

That last has come with difficulty. This morning was something of a breakthrough. It has required a great deal of discipline, making sure I touch on each every single day this month, and this morning the temperatures were high enough that I could also include a run in that equation.

Distance: 3.75 miles

Duration: 36:36
Pace: 9:45
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 50°
Climate: partly cloud & cool, ideal
Mood: good
Weight: 188 lbs. (-1.5)

Intake

Breakfast: coffee (2x)

Lunch: tukery reuben, notso fries, Pepsi

Dinner: vegetable teriyaki stir fry over rice

Cocktail: old fashioned

Nightcap: Cocoa w/marshmallows

Coming out of the park can be a struggle, today I had Eighties by Killing Joke with a bpm of 151 which is not terribly fast, which means it was perfect. And the final lap? Crushed it.

Don't mess with my toot toot.

1985 Playlist

Take Me Home - Phil Collins

Tarzan Boy - Baltimora

Fire In the Twilight - Wang Chung

How To Be a Millionaire - ABC

Miami Vice Theme - Jan Hammer

Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush

Eighties - Killing Joke

The Highest High - China Crisis

In Between Days - The Cure

My Toot Toot - Jean Knight

Phil Collins retured last week, and I wrote a thing about him.

Come all this distance.

It is happening. Meeting Chris, I have to run a mile to the meeting places, then we run about three miles through the park before we return to the meeting place. That means another mile back, on my own.

The past several times we have met, I have stopped running at five miles and walked the rest of the way. I was just tired. This morning I wanted to keep going, ran the last half mile home. Didn't feel any need to slow down. In fact, that half-mile was 8:08. It was my fastest length of the morning.

Distance: 5.5 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:41
Duration: 47:48
Route: Forest Hill Run

My running partner is named Chris. So is my father-in-law. Do not let this confuse you.

Temperature: 66°
Climate: sunny, cool & humid
Mood: all right

My wife is home after being in Columbus and then Athens, looking after family. She will leave again on Thursday, and I will look after the kids. This is how we do these things.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 175 lbs. (+3.0)
Goal: 170 lbs.
Ideal: 165 lbs.

What's That Lyric?
Don't Break This Rhythm - Peter Gabriel

When I look back upon my life it's always with a sense of shame.

Don't know about you, but I can watch the Taylor Swift treadmill ad all day. Except I don't get that bit where she says she hates cardio. Why you got to be like that?

Distance: 5 miles
Avg Pace: 7:44
Duration: 38:43
Route: Boulevard Loop

Sure, two runs in the past fourteen hours, I felt draggy at the start. Chugging along. Also a bit over dressed, rain jacket, gloves, long pants. Thought it might rain, didn't.

But then, here is the breakdown:

Mile One: 7:53
Mile Two: 8:13
Mile Three: 7:56
Mile Four: 7:22
Mile Five: 7:16

So, I guess it depends what your definition of "draggy" is. Mile two is the incline, by the way. Guess I am doing better than I am able to conceive.

Temperature: 43°
Climate: coolish
Weight: 162 lbs. (-1.0)
Mood: angsty

Before school the boy and I were rough housing and I poked him in the eye with my thumb. I was wearing my knit running gloves, so he's got a scratched spot in that tender spot below the eye. Freaked him out for a few seconds, but then he was fine. I mean, it hurt, and I felt terrible. Got him ice, pain reliever, drove him to school.

One day. I need one good day.

What's That Lyric?
It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys

Don't need to walk around in circles.

Yep.

This morning the girl asked if I would ride bikes to school with her. Last week we did this, I borrowed her brother's bike because I thought, you know -- fun. I almost got a hernia.

So I swiftly dove into the basement and brought out my own bike. I pumped the tires and sprayed WD-40 into the gears and off we went. The gears kept slipping and there was nothing I could do about it, this poor, twenty year old machine was kept in a leaky garage for most of that time, neglected and dirty.

I'd like to take it in but I am afraid the bicycle guy will inform me that fixing it will be more expensive than buying a new one. Of course, I could always repair it myself ...

One thing I did realize on my way home after dropping the girl off at school is that cycling isn't a real sport. How can it be when you can just stop moving when you come to a decline? When I am running and I stop ... I have stopped.

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 23:08
Avg Pace: 7:42
Route: Boulevard Loop

This morning we learned one of the girl's schoolmates had a migraine yesterday, and during our walk to catch the bus I explained to the boy what a migraine is, how to treat one, and what it feels like. Since then, I have had a headache.

The run was good. Strong, fast. But I do not believe I can run 8 minutes for the entire race. Not sure I should run any of the race at that speed. However, 8:30 would be good. I think. Maybe I can do that. So much depends on how my body feels on the day. Not much I can do about that except eat well and rest.

Temperature: 75°
Climate: okay
Weight: 157 lbs.
Intake: flavored almonds
Hydration: yes

What's That Lyric?
Circles - Soul Coughing

What are you looking at?

Ladies and gentlemen ... Master Robert Jeffrey, age 9.
1991 Playlist
Too Much Passion - The Smithereens
The Other Side Of Summer - Elvis Costello
Why Should I Cry For You? - Sting
Crazy - Seal
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Unbelievable (Boot Lane Mix) - EMF

Lawsy. In spite of any distress the past several runs have caused, I must say I have gotten used to running five miles. Three-point-two-five seems all too brief. Still it was well after 10.30 pm when I took off, and who knows, maybe I will have the opportunity to run tomorrow night.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 73º
Weather: yes, humid.
Weight: 175 lbs.