Dawn escapes from moon-washed college halls.

So far, I have been doing a lot of housework, and chores on behalf of others. I need to get my personal writing into my daily schedule.

Today is the first day of school … but not in this house.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:51
Pace: 9:18

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 65°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: good

I hope to be inetentional about my time. Just because I have it doesn't mean I use it well. There is houseowrk, to be sure. But in addition to work work, that can take a good part of my evening. Tonight, the wife is engaged and so I plan to have a date with myself, to get organized artistically. To write.

 
Stretches: yes

Sit-Ups: 20
Planks: 90 sec.

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

My thigh has been bothering me, nothing strange nor unusual, just a pull in the quad, the sartorius muscle, at least that's where it seems to be. That long, narrow muscle that crosses the thigh. It is irritating throughout the day. 

This is, I believe, the result of hours of driving the past several weeks. It was a problem I endured a great deal when I drove a stick.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh banana, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry w/granola & yogurt

Coffee Break: latte

Lunch: pizza (1 slice), watermelon, cookies (2x)

Happy Hour: Cherry Coke Zero

Dinner: turkey sandwich, orzo salad

Alcohol? Knowledge Imperial IPA

TV Time: popcorn

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171 lbs. (-1.0)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Writing: 1 hour

What's That Lyric?

Kayleigh - Marillion

I got all the boys.

I need new sneakers. My ankles were weak on the run Friday afternoon, and pained Saturday morning. I put on my brace bandages, but I think my shoes are entirely flat. Pain shot up my right thigh and sitting was uncomfortable Friday evening. 

Wearing the braces tonight, see what happens.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:44
Pace: 9:16
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 73°
Climate: overcast & humid
Mood: all right

Stretches: yes

Abdominals: 30 sec. (3x)

Water: yes
Weight: 186.5 lbs. (+0.5)

Goal: 185 lbs.  

Okay, now I am running like the mother fucking wind, my dudes.

Intake (Friday)

Breakfast: banana, coffee (2x)

Lunch: last of the pasta salad (1/2C.)

Dinner: pancake w/butter, syrup & cotage cheese, sausage links (2), egg -- breakfast! 

Evening: beer, ice cream cone

Also, fizzy water (1x)

2007 Playlist

Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash

1973 - James Blunt

Love Song - Sara Bareilles

Nan You're a Window Shopper - Lily Allen

The Boys - Dragonette

Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - MIKA

I Feel It All - Feist

Kids - MGMT

It seems farther than ever before.

My high school crowd.

Fun Fact: Running Up That Hill? Not actually about swapping places with God.

Such an awesome run on Friday, but we went out that evening and I was a little uncomfortable in my theater seat and now my thigh hurts in a really odd way. I'm thinking blood clot.

No, not really. But really? It could be a blood clot (not really.)

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 31:04
Pace: 10:01
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 68°
Climate: sunny & bright
Mood: all right

Stretches: yes
Weight: 189 lbs. (+0.5)

I do love the smell of cannabis in the park

Intake

Breakfast: coffee (2x)

Lunch: big, beautiful salad

Dinner: popcorn, beer (1x)

Nightcap: old fashioned

Also: Fizzy water (2x)

2003 Playlist

Heartbeats - The Knife

Emerge - Fischerspooner

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie

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

All Wrong - Kaada

Such Great Heights - Postal Service

We Will Become Silhouettes - Postal Service 

Not a bad year for music.

I'm running underground.

Thigh pain persists, a burning sensation deep in my right thigh. It is an affliction I generally associate with the winter, and with being off my regimen. Yet I have been exercising most days. This bout began yesterday afternoon, and continued even after my hard evening run. I went to sleep with this feeling, and also woke with it.

This is not meralgia paresthetica, the condition I developed fifteen years ago. That would be on the outside of my leg. Rather, self-diagnosis suggests this is greater trochanteric pain syndrome, which relates to minor tears in the nearby muscles, but perhaps I should ask a doctor.

However, whenever I ask a doctor about conditions like these, the general advice is to take an anti-inflammatory. This is something I have neglected to do.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:07
Duration: 26:25
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Fewer clothes, dry, safe pavement. We pick up knees, we run, we fly.

Pavement: dry
Temperature: 66°
Climate: clear blue skies
Mood: tired

End of a Saturday work day run, before we go out for the evening. Feeling drained. leg pain, running every day just to keep up. Glad I went out. The breeze was a bit strong heading out, but it was all at my back heading home.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 166.5 lbs. (+1.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

I should eat only vegetables tonight.

1998 Playlist
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger
Rock Is Dead - Marilyn Manson
Rolling - Soul Coughing
Cascades of Colour - Ananda Project
Sexy Boy (Live) - AIR
Jump Jive An' Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra
Mezzanine - Massive Attack

Holiday, still so far away.

"Lightning pains" was the term Édouard Manet used to describe the flashes of torment which would suddenly flare up in his left leg, a symptom of the syphilis would would eventually take his left foot, and then his life.

This is also the term I use when there are flashes of pain (though nothing so dramatic, nor painful) down my right thigh when I have gotten off my routine.

I have been using the Wii Fit Plus, almost every day of the week, to compensate, and to have a better all-around workout. But it's not running.

This is why a nighttime run in sub-freezing temps. I have to move, people.

Temperature: 19°
Climate: frigid
Distance: 2 miles
Weight: 177.5 lbs.

Oh my. The first quarter mile there was a little wind, my face was stinging with pain. I just held it with one hand, it was really miserable, and I thought I would need to turn back ... then it stopped. It was just cold. And then my internal generator kicked in, and I was warm. I stopped stooping over, my spine lengthened, head high, heat rising into my face. It felt so good to run.

And listen to Christmas music. I like looking at the neighborhood light displays, at night, listening to Christmas music.

Holiday Run
Wonderful Christmastime - Straight No Chaser ft. Paul McCartney
Must Be Santa - Bob Dylan
Last Christmas - Billie Piper
All I Want For Christmas Is You - The 88
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Death Cab For Cutie
Holiday * - Vampire Weekend
Fairytale of New York - The Pogues Ft. Kirsty MacColl