Running miles. It doesn't stop for you.

Paranoid Android.

Yes, two beloved artists passed away within days of each other. What is bizarre is how people have started posting new articles of people who died years ago as though they just happened and everyone piles on with shock and distress until someone points out that Dave Brubeck actually died in 2012, for example.

Actually, this happens all the time. I once re-mourned Lena Horne, and was embarrassed to have forgotten she'd died in 2010. I should have known that, I'd been reading about her when she passed.

Of course, when someone posts the death of Bob Denver (d. 2005) as the "third" in a row we're all waiting for, you have to wonder if you are being snowed. Because when I think of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, I am immediately reminded of Bob Denver.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Avg Pace: 8:01
Duration: 26:04
Route: Forest Hills Loop

2010 Playlist
Psychic City (Classixx Remix) - YACHT
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
Blow - Ke$ha
Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club
Too Dramatic - Ra Ra Riot
Tightrope - Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi
Rocketeer - Far Eat Movement ft. Ryan Tedder
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj

Temperature: 32°
Climate: cool
Pavement: wet

Brisk day. Good morning run through the park, the short version. Thought I would get that in before it gets colder. Wondering how long I will be able to run in the park. When it snows, I am sure they do not shovel the paths. I will report if they do. But any time it thaws, the stuff just runs into the lagoon.

Which makes for a pretty full lagoon. We'll see. It does take a mile to get there and a mile back, just so I can run for a mile (or so) through trees. But it's worth it. I am preferring it to running through town. Fewer obvious inclines, less traffic to worry about.

Weight: 163 lbs. (+1.0)
Mood: good

I live and breathe.

For René, who can't google.

Weddings in Tremont. Significant personal anniversaries. Low-budget performances of Romeo & Juliet. Yet, there is far too much going on now to be wistful.

Temperature: 72°
Distance: 3.25 miles

Night time run at the end of productive day. Been reading a biography of Jim Henson. It's a bit fawning, and every page is steeped with ominous predictions of his early demise, which makes the entire book feel less like the celebration of a happy genius and more like a race to imminent death. But the details are very interesting.

I like biographies about artists, and he was a giant.

1994 Playlist
Get the Message - Electronic
Get Ready For This - 2 Unlimited
Closer to God - Nine Inch Nails
Night In My Veins - The Pretenders
Blueeyed Devil - Soul Coughing
It Could Be Sweet - Portishead
Buried at Sea * - MC 900 Ft. Jesus

Where nightmares disappear in dreams.

Adventures In Slumberland
"If you have kids, you need to check this out."
- Sarah Valek, CoolCleveland

Slumberland Playlist
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Only In Dreams * - Weezer
Dreamland - The B-52s
Dreaming * - Blondie
Not Sleeping Around - Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Dream Police - Cheap Trick

Fifty-seven degrees out? Are you kidding me? I am out of here!

Temperature: 57°
Climate: What month is this?
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 176 lbs.*

The past two night I have gone to bed with a headache, and woken up with even worse headaches. Right now there is a pain lurking behind my right eye. I don't know what to do about this. More water, more sleep ... though last night we had about eight hours of sleep. Only they weren't very good.

There is something ominous about running after dark, in the winter, when the weather is nice, and the wind is up. There is this feeling, which I can only think is psychological, that during the twenty-five minutes I am out, the temperature is going to suddenly dip fifteen degrees.

This did not happen. We are going to have another day of this before returning to winter on Friday.

There is a completely outrageous Christmas lights display on Compton. I mean, it's usually there, I just don't get to enjoy it as often as I have this year. Or week. As often as I have this week.

*Latkes.

I will not accept defeat.

Yes. They cancelled rescheduled the Towpath Marathon due to the Tea Party Government Shutdown. Now, that's a nitpicky complaint, compared to poor being denied food assistance, but it is a handy illustration of  people from all social levels who will remember this entirely pointless and damaging political stunt come November 2014.

Or at least we can hope so.

Temperature: 64°
Climate: cool and humid
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 174.5 lbs.

This, from my INBOX:

How do it know?

Sigh. I do believe if I actually did some kind of cross-training, any cross-training, this wouldn't be an issue. This was an obsession early in the year, when the weather was horrible, but even then I am not sure there was much difference. I would like to return to a 32" waist, and probably could if I drank less, ate less, snacked less, drank less, and did at least a dozen sit-ups a day. As opposed to, you know, none at all.

Even one extra run a week will help. Last year I ran six times in October, the year before that only once. It makes a difference.

Good Times Playlist
Good Times - Chic
The Hustle - Van McCoy
Obsession - Animotion
Into The Groove - Madonna
Finally - Ce Ce Peniston
Sowing The Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears

Stop passing me, you jerks!

I'm friends with the President.

I find it almost amazing to believe that I have been running in the clown shoes for over a year. In that time I have suffered no negative effects, to the contrary my feet feel strong and devoid of pain, my knees have not troubled me, my hips and other joints have felt fine and springy. No complaints.

I run fast in these shoes, maybe not as fast as in traditional running shoes, that's my major observation, it seems to take more effort to run in zero drop shoes. But so what? I don't need to get anyplace so fast I have to hurt myself any longer.

Temperature: 66°
Climate: cool and lovely
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 173 lbs.

Cool fall running at dusk. This is most perfect. So many half marathons this season, and not a moment for training. But I am glad to be out now, every other day, the way it should be.

Ringfinger Playlist
Everyday Is Halloween - Ministry
Join In The Chant - Nitzer Ebb
We're A Happy Family - The Ramones
Stone Cold Crazy - Metallica
I Wanna Be a Cowboy - Boys Don't Cry
They Say - Scars on Broadway
In The End - Green Day
Down In It (Shred) - Nine Inch Nails

And now my Millennial children, let us speak of government shutdowns. Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it. So totes chillax, brah. We got this.

I just want to fly.

Morning Boy Run
Temperature: 61°
Distance:  .85 miles

Very windy, and so was he. I don't mean he was windy, I mean he was winded. We ran about half without stopping, but it was a bit arduous with the wind, so we walked most of the rest of the block.

Temperature: 59°
Climate: just awesome.
Distance: 4 miles

First summery day of the spring, and I feel whiny, exhausted and depressed. But wait there's more, please allow me to elaborate. The exhaustion comes from finding it very difficult to sleep last night (which is the new normal) yet not awake enough to sit up and read, which would have been a much better way to spend my time.

Dreams, too, about alligators. Four of them. Never been pursued by any kind of large animal before, that's new, especially not four of them.

Anyway, the exhaustion sits in my eyes, which means it's real, and not just being lazy. The kind of weary that makes me sink to the floor. And yet ... beautiful day. Will running make me feel better or worse. Only one way to find out.

1994 Playlist
Get Ready For This - 2 Unlimited
Live Forever - Oasis
Buried At Sea (175 bpm) - MC 900 Ft Jesus
13 Steps Lead Down - Elvis Costello
Missing - Everything But the Girl
Bus To Beelzebub - Soul Coughing
I Do Not Want This - Nine Inch Nails
Come Out and Play (157 bpm) - The Offspring
Troubled Mind - Everything But the Girl

So, yeah. Nineteen Ninety-Four. Perfect. I know I am glad I ran. I do not know if that was good for me. With a day like today, sunny and cool and all the time in the world, I would have preferred a six mile run, but at the last turning I started to feel a tingling in my right shin. That's new. It's still there.

It is four in the afternoon on a Sunday when I do not feel I have contributed very much to this world. If I take a nap, which I feel like doing, then I may as well get a bumper sticker which reads I give up.

More on my wife: she drinks. [[sigh]]

I'll catch up to you one of these times, baby.

You're nocturnal, only come out at night.
- Duran Duran,  Nite Runner

Yes. That's what that means.

Tried using Wii Fit for my post-run cooldown yesterday. Not stretching after a run may be the key to all my life problems. Doing one rep of 30 knee bends after each run last winter seemed to help alleviate the pain in my shins, but doing the upper body workout is where I just lose momentum.

And you know, part of that is know what to do, which exercises to choose. After knee surgery, I was given a specific list of exercises which I followed with great fealty, because someone told me to. I follow orders. I would have made a good Nazi. Maybe that's why I find it so easy to follow the instructions of a kind, Aryan Wii personal trainer whose lips don't move.

Temperature: 30°
Climate: Oh, here it comes.
Distance: 3.25 miles

Received a Facebook post that it is deceptively cold out, due to high winds. Good Lord, he was right. Thanks, Karl! Freezing winds, light snow. Winter's comin'.

2007 Playlist
Nite Runner - Duran Duran ft. Justin Timerblake
Flathead - The Fratellis
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Acceptable In The 80s - Calvin Harris
My Moon My Man - Feist
Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free - Zombie Zombie
Foundations * - Kate Nash

Cooldown:
All Good Things (Come To An End) [Spanish Version] - Nelly Furtado

So, recently someone posted 99 Life Hacks To Make Life Easier (that's an ill phrase, a vile phrase, "life hacks to make life easier" is a vile phrase) which in many cases illustrate how to store shit you don't need in shit you don't throw away. I was thinking of making my own list of "life hacks" but they end up just sounding like "advice".

1. See those vegetables in your fridge? Eat them.
2. See that pile of discarded toilet paper tubes? Recycle them.
3. See that trick with the soda pop bottle? You really shouldn't buy soda pop.

And so on.

I want you to know I feel completely at ease.

Damn you, Ridiculously Photogenic Guy.
Week 12 Total: 34
Training to Date: 321 miles

Wow. Yesterday I actually got a mild sunburn from my run.

And now seriously, why does my left foot hurt? On or around the lateral cuneiform bone. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone know why my lateral cuneiform bone hurts?

Distance: 4 miles
Route: Hocking River Bike Path

Temperature: 62º
Climate: God-like.
Snack: coffee
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

My Ever Changing Moods Genius Playlist
It's Only Natural - Crowded House
How She Threw It All Away - The Style Council
Maxine - Donald Fagen
Sowing the Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears
Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
New Frontier - Donald Fagen
Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
Headstart for Happiness (161 bpm) - The Style Council

Cooldown:
The Weaver - Paul Weller

Huh. Two Shakespeare quotes in one short playlist. Name them - both - and I will give you a dollar.

Our procession lurches on.

Ridiculously Photogenic Guy
Route: Hocking River Bike Path
Distance: 6.75 miles

Knocked off training by circumstance and travel. But here we are, in Athens for the weekend, I believe I may run three tomorrow, and thirteen on Easter Sunday. We shall see, depends on if
this weather holds and if it looks like icky, cold rain.

For today, however, it is outstanding. It is on days like today, when the banks of the Hocking a emerald and alive, the trees are budding and the sun is high, that I understand the outrageous state of tuition.

Q: Were all the young women at O.U. this attractive in the late 1980s?
A: Of course not, silly. Only the ones on the bike path.

Temperature: 59º
Climate: fucking gorgeous
Lunch: Casa Nueva seasonal enchilada platter
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

Do You Believe In Shame Genius Playlist
Do You Believe In Shame? - Duran Duran
Waiting (Reprise) - George Michael
Destination - The Church
I Don't Want To Be A Hero - Johnny Hates Jazz
Love Is A Stranger - Eurythmics
The Hearts Filthy Lesson (Alt. Mix) - David Bowie
Dancing On The Jetty - INXS
Same Old Scene - Roxy Music
Ship Of Fools - World Party
Desperate But Not Serious - Adam Ant
People Are Strange - Echo & The Bunnymen
How Beautiful You Are - The Cure
Left Of Center - Suzanne Vega ft. Joe Jackson
The One Thing - INXS

Cooldown:
Big Thing - Duran Duran