Going round and round.

New-to-me shirt.
(Non-compression.)

Weight maintained. Getting there is the really hard part. Maintaining it does not mean starving, or even feeling hungry. When I am hungry between meals, I have become very thoughtful about what and how much I eat.

And it’s not all vegetables or nuts or fruit. I eat chips. I just don’t eat out of a bag, I put them in a bowl, I count them. I had fish fry yesterday, just not the whole plate.

And I drove to Canton and back without stopping at Swenson's, even though, believe me, I thought about it.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 24:15

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

Weight: 160 lbs.

1971 Playlist

Bitterblue - Yusuf (Cat Stevens)

It’s Too Late - Carole King

Jump In the Fire - Harry Nilsson

Strawberry Letter 23 (171 BPM) - Shuggie Otis

Oh! You Pretty Things - David Bowie 

What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye

Won’t Get Fooled Again - The Who

Man. 1971. Lot of shit going on. Speaking of which, when does the trade war become a real war?

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.

You glorify the past when the future dries up.

We are in Athens, MIL is having hip replacement surgery, and we came down last night to assist, to make meals, to care.

What will we do? This is not the country I promised my children. There is nothing to say, white America is stupid and angry. Decades of misinformation and nonsense have led to this moment. The American experiment is holding as it was designed, to protect wealthy white men. And I have lost faith. Change will come, but not in my lifetime. I tried. So many of us tried.

Eight years ago we were shocked, surprised. What does this mean? And we protected each other, knit hats, wore safety pins, met and told stories, signaled virtue, protested in the streets -- even created art. And we hoped that things would change, because we did not know where it was headed.

And it has headed to this? Seriously? You can't blame our candidate. She ran a flawless campaign. But white America is terrified of people of color, of women, of transgender people, and that they may lose their dominance over them. Is this because white people assume if you are in the majority you necessarily must harm the minority? That there will a reckoning? Or is that they never learned to share? Or do they just hate and fear.

People will suffer, they have before and they will again. And people will die. And those of us who do not, who are in positions of education and communication will be instructed in what we can and cannot say.

There will be a reckoning, that is for sure. And it will have been avoidable.

This is the essay I told myself I would not be writing today. Because it isn't very good, or insightful, or helpful. But this is my running blog, where I record my general well-being as well as log my runs, my each and every run, as I maintain my health through my middle years. And for the sake of my mental well-being, I will abstain from social media for the foreseeable future. I can not stand to listen to people I care about wail in the darkness.

Distance: 6.75 miles

Duration: 1:0:58
Pace: 9:37

College Run (1986-1990)

The Only Way Is Up - Yazz

Go Lil Camaro Go - Ramones

Fuck Tha Police - N.W.A.

Talkin' Bout a Revolution - Tracy Chpaman

Summer's Cauldron - XTC

Slow Ride - Beastie Boys

Praying For Time - George Michael

Honey Bee - The Bears

Losing My Mind (Disco Mix) - Pet Shop Boys

Vibrating - Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians 

The Passenger - Siouxsie  the Banshees

Can't Hardly Wait - The Replacements

Musique Non Stop - Kraftwerk

I Still Believe - Tim Cappello

Desire - U2

Hippychick - Soho

Crucial Bar-B-Q - Murphy's Law

Route: Hocking River Bike Path
Temperature: 72°
Climate: overcast & authoritarian
Mood: just nauseous
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

What's That Lyric?

God Part 2 - U2

(It's not actually on the playlist. I hate this song.)

I'll show you heaven, if you let me.

George Michael Bench
Waterlow Park, London

Full of anxiety this weekend. Had a project deadline, which I fulfilled, but there was that. Also? The world. The world is fucking with me and I don't like it. Don't like feeling helpless.

Camp starts tomorrow, too, and that is always a step into the unknown. More anxiety.

On the other hand, we did get Parade the Circle yesterday and that's always nice.

Let's just listen to George Michael on this run.

Distance: 3.75 miles
Duration: 35:29
Pace: 9:27

George Michael Playlist

Too Funky

Cowboys & Angels

Freedom '90

Secret Love

Fastlove

My Baby Just Cares For Me

Everything She Wants (Live)

Amazing

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 64°
Climate: sunny & nice
Mood: anxious
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Baseline: 185 lbs.

Weight: 177 lbs. (-+2.0)

Goal: 170 lbs.

I ate all the kettle corn.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream

Lunch: IPA, notso fries, fr. artichoke, Caesar salad w/grilled chicken

Intermission: beer

Dinner: leftover Caesar salad

Gonna use my fingers.

Junk Miles is a podcast out of Philly in which two guys talk about "comedy, music, movies, running, pets, and other assorted nonsense."

They have also created the Fraud Street Run, an eleven mile run on Saturday, November 28, from Four Seasons Total Landscaping to the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia.

If you need me to explain why those two locations are relevant, you haven't been paying attention.

There's also a "virtual run" which means you can run eleven lonely miles wherever you are. But it's a thing, you know? But it's eleven miles, which is not my normal gig. An I may or may not run the "virtual" Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, which is five lonely miles, but much more do-able.

Guess I picked the right year to stop racing.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:34
Pace: 9:12
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 45°
Climate: bright & cool
Mood: anxious

The weather gets cooler. Had a sinus headache yesterday, not deathly but enough to put me down for half the day. God, I hate that.

Pathetic Geek Stories Playlist

I Was Made for Loving You - KISS

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? - Rod Stewart

Miss You - The Rolling Stones

Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris

Love Is Like Oxygen - The Sweet

Dreaming - Blondie

Brass In Pocket - The Pretenders

Hot Blooded - Foreigner

Continuing my exploration of embarrassing  sex pop of the late 70s. Today I realized Brass In Pocket is about masturbation.

Oh, yes it is, you boys.

Just what I needed.

I had a good run Saturday,
but it wasn't as good as hers.

This weekend I repainted our light pole. The last time I painted it was in 1996, it was a khaki gray, like the trim on the rest of the house. We have since painted the trim green, but I painted the post black, just a flat black.

This time I use an oil-based paint, it is now a glossy black. I need to replace hardware, do some gentle bending of metal, replace some glass with plastic. Looks good.

The weather has been very nice. The election results are in, we will have a new president. Strange, we are not elated, because we know there is so much work to do. But there is a certain sense of dread which has ebbed.

These are difficult times. We are in a pandemic. The world is on fire. We need responsible governance. I hope for the best.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 
Pace: 9:24
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 61°
Climate: bright & cool
Mood: muh better, thanks.
Weight: 179 lbs. (-1.0)

We've been watching The Queen's Gambit, watching this young woman consume so much alcohol reminds me of my own consumption. We were drinkning, then not drinking, now there is casual drinking again. We have cut my medication in half, but there is still an evident reaction when drinking happens. Also, too much sugar. Too much candy.

While I am not losing any weight, I do feel the difference engaging in this "plank challenge" (see Nov. 3.) Up to one minute today. Yes, it makes a big difference. A surpising aount of difference.

Sixty degrees at 7:30 AM. These days will not last.

There's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop.

Feelings of helplessness are entirely acceptable at this point. We do not know what the future holds, but we do know that inspite of massvie voter turnout, just as many showed up to say they like this as those who sought to repudiate four years of bellicose hatred and ignorance.

America is a fucking lazy country, full of lazy, stupid people. This is by design.

I am on a self-imposed media blackout. There is no point in commisserating with my fellows and I will not stand for Wednesday morning quarterbacking. I-told-you-so's from cynical white men are not welcome.

One thing I can do is exercise.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:35
Pace: 9:32
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 54°
Climate: sunny & cool
Mood: 
Weight: 180 lbs. (+1.0)

Sweeping Up at Grebe's Playlist

Too Shy - Kajagoogoo

Love My Way - Psychedelic Furs

Space Age Love Song  - Flock of Seagulls

Human Nature - Michael Jackson

King of Pain - The Police

Time (Clock of the Heart) - Culture Club

More Than This - Roxy Music

Pleasure of Love (Instrumental Version) - Tom Tom Club

Those gangster presidents.

Okay, so we're doing this.

Today has been a mental mess, I am absolutely unable to accomplish a single thing.

But wait! It's fucking gorgeous out! I should run!

So that's what I did.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 29:19
Pace: 9:27
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 52°
Climate: sunny! nice!
Mood: desperately anxious!
Weight: 179 lbs. (-0-)

Yeah, so. It's sugar season. Bought way too much candy for Halloween (actually, bought a lot - and then more showed up) so there's a lot of candy around and I am trying very hard not to eat it.

But seriously, it's Election Night 2020. There are literally no calories tonight.

Sweeping Up at Grebe's Playlist

Legal Tender - The B-52's

I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow

Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100

Oblivious - Aztec Camera

Come On, Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

Black Coffee In Bed - Squeeze

She's a Beauty - The Tubes

I Melt With You - Modern English

Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes

I swear, as that long song started to play, I thought I could smell discarded industrial cooking grease. I feared I was having a stroke.

Towpath Four Mile

#IBelieveSurvivors

Caught a Twitter thread the other day. A woman asked, "what would you do if all men had a 9:00 pm curfew." The responses were breathless and ebullient, and also sad, because it's a fantasy.

Many said they would run. Run after dark, without fear, without looking over their shoulder. Through the woods, on the streets. In a sports bra.

Distance: 4 miles
Pace: 9:14
Route: Towpath Trail
Temperature: 55°
Climate: cool
Mood: good

Allie wanted to get eight in, Chris invited me to join them, so we could do a (slower) four mile; three miles out, one mile back and then walk for two.

The temperature was perfect, we made good time. Breakfast at Original L.A. Pete's.

Exercises: not yet

The wisdom on your face denies the number of your years.

Anniversary dinner.

Difficult days. It is hard to understate my distress over the national situation, like being under occupation yet the oppression has not yet struck me directly. What are we supposed to do? Get in the streets? Which streets? And when? Things are not yet so horrible for enough people to have created the conditions for drastic action.

We spent so much time protesting cabinet positions and knitting hats, and now that families are being torn apart and the borders are closing based on religion, we're just keeping our heads down and bitching on Facebook.

Anyway. This is why I don't want to talk about it.

"I'm fifty, mark you ..."
- Long John Silver
Treasure Island (1883)

Yesterday we celebrated our nineteenth wedding anniversary at the Beach Grill, sitting at a table on our own two tables away from the rest of the gang. It's easy to remember the date of our anniversary because it's one month from my birthday ... which means I turn fifty in a month.

What the fuck have I done?

Anyway, I'll have to change the banner of this blog.

Distance: 1.5 miles
Pace: 9:26
Route: Topsail Beach Run
Temperature: 76•
Climate: partly cloudy & sun
Mood: Good, you know? In spite of everything.

Barefoot run in the surf. Kept a straight back, hitting the sand in the middle of my foot. When I lean forward, I then dig with my toes. This is how the blisters start, and the abrasions begin. Anyway, I will run with shoes tomorrow.

Nice breeze, cool surf, shore birds. My son on Instagram telling everyone I was drunk last night.

Exercises: not yet, there's time.

What's That Lyric?
Gypsy - Suzanne Vega

See how I've changed now? My head's so clear.

Last week I gave up. It has been a long time since I have done that, but I just stopped exercising entirely. The fact that it has been cold has a lot to do with it, but also because I have been in pain and I was tired of exacerbating the pain. In my hip, my sciatic nerve. Monday morning I woke up and my legs just felt horrible, heavy and pained.

Also, depressed. Uninspired. Without motivation of any kind. These moods come. They also go.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:15
Duration: 26:49
Route: Forest Hill Park Loop

Meanwhile, I ate everything. I ate all the things. Just stopped caring. And as I passed the ten day mark I realized I had become afraid of running.That doing so would be a bad thing, not a good thing. The pain would return, and I would be depressingly more aware of the pounds I had added, after being so judicious and careful since New Year's.

I have been through this for more than half my life. But I have never been in this kind of existential quandary about running itself. Not that I can't run, that I am prohibited from running, physically. Nor that I am depressed and that I do not want to run, emotionally.  But that I actually feel what is the point of all this running? Why do it?

Personally, I blame Trump.

Pavement: dry
Temperature: 54°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: trying.

Did I mention the headaches? Allergy season. It was between fifty and seventy degrees yesterday, but there was just no way.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 168 lbs. (+3.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

Winded at first, just like starting over. Eased up as I went. First I felt a twinge in my right knee (did I mention I had an evening last week when my right knee was in a great deal of pain) then a twist in my left ankle. Both went away. Kept moving.

Felt good to visit the park again. Trees that fell over two weeks ago, cut up and waiting to be carted away. Wonder if I would get apprehended for taking a few of the smaller ones for the fire pit.

Did I mention I got a fire pit? The wife is out of town for the week, and there will be a few pleasant surprises around when she returns.

Did I mention my wife is out of town?

1992 Playlist
My Name Is Prince - Prince
Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega
My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue
Freedom (Back To Reality Mix) - George Michael
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - XTC
Fascination (Live) - Everything But the Girl

This was the year everything happened. Started my first theater company, Bill Clinton was elected, also I was married -- for the first time.

Good Lord, but that last one describes the feelings I had about her. Sad lesson.

What was it we were thinking of?

Now they call me Mr. Bitterness.

Every day another national indignity. Congress just wanted to erase the legacy of Barack Obama, this guy is seriously doing all the bad things that lead to authoritarian government. Censoring facts, oppressing the weak, aggrandizing the self.

The question is, are our democratic systems strong enough to fight the power? The Internet has proven to be the most powerful tool in this war of misinformation, can it be harnessed for truth? Is that even possible?

Distance: 3.6 miles
Avg. Pace: 7:54
Duration: 28:28
Route: Forest Hills Loop

My hamstring continues to irritate, on the left side, all the way down. It's in my thigh, in my calf. Sometimes it sings quite loudly. Cold weather exacerbates the condition. It's a drag. I keep massaging my leg in public, it's not a good look for me.

Pavement: very light precipitation
Temperature: 36°
Climate: cool, wet
Mood: bitter

Brisk, light run. Feeling stronger. The cold does not bother me, got pretty sweaty and warm, actually. Not below freezing, not yet. We'll get there.

Seventeen runs in January already? That's a tie for second place and it's not even the girl's birthday yet. Ran twenty in January, 2012. Can I make that before Tuesday? Mmmaybe.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 167.5 lbs. (-1.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

1994 Playlist
Voodoo Lady - Ween
Welcome to Paradise - Green Day
Sure Shot - The Beastie Boys
Live Forever - Oasis
Mr. Bitterness - Soul Coughing
Get Me - Everything But the Girl
Chewbacca - Supernova
Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails

You're better up and running in another direction.

When the air is unseasonably mild and I do not have or take the opportunity to take a run,even a brief one, it can throw me into a depression. Is this what we Americans so inelegantly call Indian Summer (the wife has just informed me the British call it St. Martin's summer) or the result of global climate change, I cannot say.

What I can say is that I ran once over Thanksgiving weekend, which is excusable in so much that we were all pleasantly occupied with family and friends and writing and such. Eight runs in November is the recent average.

Distance: 3.3 mil;es
Avg. Pace: 7:55
Duration: 26:08
Route: Forest Hill Loop

They say there will come steady rain. Today was very nice, and I am feeling strong and motivated. Every day there is a new depression, you can't have an interaction with anyone without the election being part of the conversation ... I guess attending a lecture in which Tony Kushner and Sarah Vowell discuss the legacy of Abraham Lincoln (as we did last night) such a conversation is inevitable.

But we do have solidarity. We weren't defeated, we only lost. But it would be too easy to dismiss, it may not hurt me, or my family, but it will cause damage to so many other lives, and we will never lose sight of that.

Temperature: 55°
Climate: cool and breezy
Weight: 168.5 (+1.0)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: still anxious

Snuck through Thanksgiving weekend just a little heavier, can I tread lightly before all the cookies emerge?

Obama Years (2009-2016)
Compared To What - John Legend & The Roots
All You Need Is Now - Duran Duran
Don't Wanna Fight - Alabama Shakes
Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris
Rumour Has It - Adele
Happy Idiot  - TV on the Radio
Hi Friend! - Deadmau5 ft. MC Flipside

Touching from a distance.

Butcher Billy

Friday they expect a high of seventy. And then winter blows in for the weekend. It's nice to have that kind of warning, especially when it means getting additional runs in.

It also means making time to bring the deck furniture, bring up the awning, clear the yard of stuff. Pack up summer, pack up fun.

You know. Forever.

Okay, that was dire. Time to move.

Distance: 3.3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Run
Temperature: 48°
Climate: cool and overcast
Weight: 168 lbs. (+0.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: pissed

Wondering what will become of my daughter as she begins her high school years, which will be overshadowed by the Trump administration.

Artists tend to react strongly to fascists, and while some in this country (not a majority) would take offense to that description, if you look at his rhetoric that is the platform he chose. Peace through strength. Sit down and shut up.

She says she wants her septum pierced. Once I would have objected to that, but who knows? The Thatcher Era created the punk scene, and her parents do go on about how the late seventies was the very best time in music.

No Love Lost Playlist
No Love Lost - LCD Soundsystem
Transmission - Joy Division
Ceremony - New Order
Run, Run, Run - Velvet Underground
White Light, White Heat - Velvet Underground
Rusholme Ruffians - The Smiths

Into the dark. Actually not a wallower, just wanted something aggressively pessimistic today. Then I get to spend the rest of my day bringing light into the world.

Gotta get up, gotta get up. Move.

"Oh, shit."

Hey. Remember when Cleveland was up three games to one in the World Series, it was seventy degrees out and the polls predicted an electoral college landslide for Hillary Clinton. Me, too. Good times.

I can't even articulate the feelings, but I'm working on it. Unlike so many of my friends, colleagues, over half the electorate, I have not posting my thoughts on the past week in emotional bursts on social media. I do not have a problem with people who do, so many have been articulate, heartfelt, and good. It's a way of coping. I just can't, anything I might express feels inadequate.

If anything, I have been avoiding Facebook because ninety-nine out of one hundred posts have to do with the election. I dip in from time to time, but it's just too much. Weeping and wailing is good, but there's also so much to do.

Distance: 3.3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Meantime, I have been ill. Literally sick and tired. Weak, headachy many days. Yesterday I realized I had been squinting pretty much every day since November 8, like the world was out of focus. All of my thoughts have been about what just happened, I can't attend a meeting or have a conversation without thinking, What? What happened? What does that mean? What happens next?

Then realizing I just missed the last minute, or two, and trying to concentrate on what is right in front of me.

This morning I rose early, I had a headache but it went away. I sat by the fire and wrote a children's play. I wrote for an hour, by hand, creating a tale, a conversation between two women. There is a conflict, one which is resolved through communication and understanding and assistance which results in reward.

There is another play I am working on, which will end in violence and horror. That play relates directly to our present moment, but I can't focus on that right now. Now I am looking for the helpers.

Temperature: 43°
Climate: cool
Weight: 168 lbs. (-0-)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: not great

Cool and brisk, using gloves, not sure I needed them. No wind, that makes a difference. Cleared my head a bit, I mean literally, that's where the congestion is. My nose, my ears, my sinuses. Still, the usual rise I have in my chest after running is serving to amplify the same anxiety which has possessed it the past few days.

I hope having done this does not make me feel any more ill. Sickness like colds take much longer to shake as I get older. At the very least I need to run, and run often. You can't do if you are not able.

We are not defeated. This is very wrong, historically wrong. A friend said, well? If she had won, we'd all be so happy and go back to sleep. My white colleagues and confounded. My black colleagues ... they are sympathetic, you know?

Wake up. Back to work.

What's New Playlist
Move - Saint Motel
Satisfied - Sia ft. Miguel & Queen Latifah
Run Sister Run - Cass McCombs
Cruel World - Phatntogram
New Song - Warpaint
My Shot [Rise Up Remix] - Busta Rhymes, Joell Ortiz & Nate Ruess

Heart's like crazy paving.

You can say it happened in Cleveland.

Like so many in this city, we were up pretty late. What can you say, that was a tremendous series. I am looking forward to sensible bedtimes and less stress. Not an absence of stress, we still have an election to get through and the family will be knocking on doors this weekend and driving folks to the polls on Tuesday.

This must not happen.

Last night I thought I would miss the entire game, anyway. We had a rehearsal scheduled for tomorrow evening's reading. That was a much more enjoyable way to spend an evening, the process of creation (like sitting in a shop window, writing a new play) is considerably less stressful than sitting, witnessing, and worrying.

Distance: 3.3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Brisk, strong run this morning. Dawn run in light rain, no jacket.

Feeling well, in spite of the exhaustion. What am I running for anymore? The keep this heart alive, for one. I didn't run three marathons because dad ran two. I ran three so that I could run four.

This weekend is the tenth anniversary of my first, in New York City.

I understand Chicago is very beautiful this time of year, and that the people are very happy.

Temperature: 57°
Climate: rainy and cool
Weight: 168 lbs.(-1.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: not bad

The Honeythief Playlist
The Honeythief - Hipsway
Talk Talk - Talk Talk
Shiny Shiny - Haysi Fantayzee
Birds Fly (Whisper To a Scream) - The Icicle Works
Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
Some People - Belouis Some
Don't You (Forget About Me) [Extended Mix] - Simple Minds

We were so fucking suave.

Gotta run for shelter.

The era of the Nike Fight headphone has passed. For ten years this has been my favorite model, they have been discontinued and while I have been able to get them on eBay for a while - without paying any extra - they have become rare. Ah well.

Got the Puma branded Reactor Sport Earbud om sale at Marshall's. It was listening through a cardboard tube. I actually headed back after half a block to fetch the phones my brother gave me a few years ago.

Distance: 3.6 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop

There was a piece I was working on, making notes for, delving into a subject I find distasteful but also urgently current, but then I stopped. Just stopped writing about, thinking about. Why did I stop?

Well, certainly because my last entry on the subject was the first week of February. I may have come back it before now but fate intervened. I think I am prepared to return to that now.

Temperature: 64°
Climate: warm and humid and perfect
Mood: feeling better

You know else has been making me depressed? The election. Okay, there. I said it. Funny, even four years ago, it was also about Trump. Last night's debate, while nothing to get complacent about, was at least a boost of positive energy. It's still six weeks to the election, but that shimmy though.

What's That Lyric?
Too Hot - Kool & The Gang

Glorious run. Energetic. We can do this. We can do all of this.

Unlock my body.

We begin with a song from one of Bowie's last albums before he took his mysterious break, before he released The Next Day in 2013. Rumors were circulating even then that he was on death's door. This track, A Better Future, some theorize as a conversation with God. Where are you? Why do you not take care of us when there are so many who suffer?

That is not what I think of when I listen to it. This refrain:

I demand a better future
Or I might just stop loving you

This could be the underclass insisting from the powerful a change in the present order. Ensemble Theatre made just such an allusion when they used this song to open their 2011 production of Waiting For Lefty.

Recently I have been reading the boy H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, which suggests a future in which the division of humans into Master and Servant have split the species in two, those small, soft, ignorant folk who play on the surface - the Eloi - and those who serves the machines below the surface of the earth that keep the Eloi alive, but also rise from the depths once a month, during the new moon, to slaughter and feast the surface beings. These are the Morlocks.

This in turn puts me in mind of the film Metropolis. Masters above, servants below. In this case the working classes rise up, led by a false prophet, and in the process of their rebellion succeed only in destroying their own homes. I could make a cheap political analogy ... and I guess I just did.

The boy heard O Superman for the first time the other day, and after brief consideration, he said it made him think of the pre-recorded, automatic voices found in Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains. His ability to free-associate across media rivals my own and I am so proud of him for that.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 39°
Climate: cool and bright
Weight: 164 lbs.
Mood: all right

2002 Playlist
A Better Future - David Bowie
Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco
Emerge (Daft Punk Mix) - FischerSpooner
Breathe In - Frou Frou
Cry Me a River - Justin Timberlake
Straight Aces - Cornershop

Warmdown
Daybreaker - Beth Orton

He's got his health and he knows he can't complain.

Running down Compton, alternating Bernie and Hillary signs. But, you know, only those signs. Because I live in the Heights. Word up.

Don't forget to vote Tuesday.

Distance: 5 miles
Avg Pace: 7:17
Duration: 36:29
Route: Boulevard-Noble Loop
Week One Total: 17 miles

Fast morning. High bpm. Slept in today with no ill effects. Yes, remembered to turn the clocks forward.

We sat on the couch, in front of the fire, before the kids rose, talking about my parents.

Who knows. I began the year in a deep, uncertain unhappiness. Opening the tour was an emotional crisis for me. Then, tragedy. And I just don't have time for that nonsense anymore.

Temperature: 50°
Climate: light rain
Weight: 161 lbs.
Mood: good

1992 Playlist
Digging In The Dirt * - Peter Gabriel
Fat Man and Dancing Girl - Suzanne Vega
Then She Appeared - XTC
Wish You Dead - Curve
Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
The King of Bedside Manor * - Barenaked Ladies
Jimmy James - Beastie Boys
Enid * - Barenaked Ladies
Rooming House on Venice Beach - Jonathan Richman

Gardening at night.

Today I made my first garlic scape basil pesto, which I am proud of because usually the wife makes it but this time I did and it really didn't suck.

Tomorrow our governor will be making a special announcement which probably means he is announcing a run for president, though knowing him after making all these visit to New Hampshire and designing a logo and everything he'll probably announce that he isn't because he's such a jerk.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:53
Route: Boulevard Loop

Hilarious. You know that stretch of Monticello I am always complaining about during the winter, because no one shovels their sidewalks?

They did a lot of road work in June, and ripped most of them up. On the north side of the street, there are smooth, recently paved sidewalks. For over a month the side most convenient for me to run upon (the south) are gravel ditches blocked by plastic netting and barrels.

Temperature: 75°
Climate: humid
Weight: 158 lbs. (-2.0)
Intake: yes
Hydration: yes
Stretches: yes

A night time run this time of year can be delightful, especially at this time of night. Many young parents walking children, couples holding hands, the odd bike rider, Regnier walking that big-ass dog of his.

But when it's really dark, when the streetlights on the side streets are obscured by trees, it is very disorienting. The absence of sight, the music in my ears, it's delirium inspiring, like a scene out of Altered States.

Killing something ... a goat.
 
What's That Lyric?
Gardening At Night - R.E.M.