Out there on the run again.

What have we learned? Not sure. Where do we go from here? That either. I need to take time between runs to rest and heal. Wednesday night I was not only feeling ill but my right knee was in great discomfort. I can run, I don't need to hurt.

I look forward to a drink now and then, but I will attempt not to have one too often. Not every night. I have been enjoying myself the past week, on vacation, eating what I choose to, but not everything that is offered to me.

Not much more to say other than what has already been said. I jump started my running regimen. I made it through the month. Looking forward, never back. Right?

Distance: 3.25 miles

Duration: 31:32
Pace: 9:42

Route: Boulevard Loop

Temperature: 53° 
Climate: damp & windy

Pavement: wet
Mood: good

However, there is this. I have been very productive this month. Like, extra productive. Doing the things I tell myself I "should" be doing that I usually console myself about. How much of that relates to this period of abstinence?

 

2016 Playlist

Restless - New Order

Go! - M83 ft. Mai Lan

Rebel Heart - The Shelters

Ex's and Oh's - Ellie King

Run Sister Run - Cass McCombs

Voice In My Head - Bob Mould

Move - Saint Motel

FloriDada - Animal Collective

What was 2016? The end of the beginning. The death of father. The Secret Adversary. Hamilton. The NBA Finals, and that incredible parade. Cleveland as the center of everything, until the World Series defeat, and the election that followed. My children aged twenty years that night.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: 90 sec.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/oatmilk, mango strudel

Lunch: mango lassi, pasta & mushroom meat sauce

Snack: flavored popcorn (1C.), fizzy water

Dinner: mac & cheese (1C) & broccoli w/butter & lemon 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 184.5 lbs. (-0.5)

Goal: 180 lbs.

Went on vacay, didn't load up on calories. Good news.

Get started. Get stupid.

Keep going.

Last year I ran twenty-six times in June. And I hurt myself. I don't even remember that. My hip was in pain. I think that was the result of running every single day. It was a mania, I guess. I was then, as now, trying to slim down to a manageable size. I was 185 lbs. in June. I was able to drop another five pounds, but then put it all back on by the holidays.

Running every day, I didn't write about it. Too busy? In quarantine? I had nothing to say? It was a difficult, depressing time.

Not that tings are rosy and bright. But they are better. I was exposed to lots of hillbillies this weekend. Really testing the limits of this vaccine.

I have been in a creative frenzy this past year, too. The writing, the schoolwork, all the Zoom productions. But I'd like to make exercise something that is part of my head, what I think about, and not just something I do and get over with, to try not to think about. Some of my favorite moomenst I am thinking about running. Or actually running.

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 37:54
Pace: 9:27
Route: Hocking River Bike Path
Temperature: 67°
Climate: sunny & nice
Mood: good, you know?

My current mental exercise in delayed gratification. I will be eating X later, so I will not eat Y right now. If I did this on Noob (or whatever it's called) I could find out exactly what the calories are in X vs. Y, too. For now, I choose to be merely mindful.

It's not really a diet. I am not eating different. Just less grazing. 

Intake:
Breakfast: coffee (2x) 
Lunch: General Tso's Tofu

Snack: deviled eggs, tapanade w/crackers

Dinner: cheeseburger, onion rings, milkshake

Also, Manhattan (1x)

Okay, holiday's over.

2003 Playlist

Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie

Crazy In Love  - Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z

Toxic - Britney Spears

Let's Get It Started (Spike Mix) - Black Eyed Peas

We Will Become Silhouettes - Postal Service

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

Move Your Feet - Junior Senior

Hey Ya! - OutKast

Emerge - Fischerspooner

The year 2003 was a big year for me, aurally. We had discovered iTunes. I was listening to Radio K. And then there was the girl. All the music that emerged from being a new father, the father of a living child. It was a rebirth. The latest rebirth.

Wave goodbye.

The days unwind and leave me anxious. Yesterday was tremendous. Bloody Marys and huevos rancheros at Casa. Guinness and video games at the Skull. The wife and I left the kids fiddling with their iPods (such generous gifts) and went to see Philomena at the Athena. The evening was spent playing games, watching football, reading books, lazing about.

We will pay for this. We will all pay dearly.

Philomena includes a lot of scenes that feature Steve Coogan jogging. Those were my favorite scenes.

Temperature: 29°
Climate: overcast w/light snow
Distance: 2.8 miles

In the past month alone, family and friends have born children, become engaged, or received new lungs. When I get word of such great tidings, I cannot help to reflect on my own progress. If they, then why can't I? I am blind to my own achievement.

Tomorrow we head home. This will be my final run of a momentous year. Three speeding tickets in twelve months, impressive. I need to calm myself. Slow down, and focus. And so I feel I haven't really gone anywhere at all.

Great Literary Moments of 2013: Getting into an argument with Paula McLain about the lyrics to Blurred Lines.

2013 Playlist
Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke ft. T.I. & Pharrell
Everything * - Nine Inch Nails
Mirrors * - Justin Timberlake
Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey
Diane Young * - Vampire Weekend
Where Are We Now? * - David Bowie

As long as there's me. As long as there's you.