I like the way you move.

Guy Richards Smit

Stress. Stress and insecurity. There is much to do. I prefer that to having nothing to do. I made lists for each of the past four days, with very clear objectives for each day. I got half of it completed. Not true, I got half of each task completed, which is better than all of half of them, if you follow me. Things got started, and needed additional time, information, fortitude, time. 

That is an accomplishment: starting.

My back still hurts.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:51

Translation: Gosh! Whatever's in those Epstein files must be really, really bad!

Route: rec center
Temperature: 27°
Climate: overcast & cold
Mood: less anxious

Woke this morning with a headache. In spite of that, I was able to write a new scene, which means I am, in fact, in charge of things. Right? That's all it takes. Keep moving forward.

Let's make this the best week ever.

2005 Playlist

Que' Onda Guero - Beck Hansen

Chicken Payback - The Bees

Movement - LCD Soundsystem

The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Don’t Look Back - Télépopmusik ft. Angela McCluskey

I Like the Way You Move (Radio Edit) - Bodyrockers

Robot Rock - Daft Punk

Wilderness - Sleater-Kinney

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 165 lbs. (-0-)

I have had a slight touch of the vertigo since last week, but man. There were no fewer than three individuals today who couldn’t stay in one lane if they were duct taped to someone who could.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Commitment: Run Tuesday morning.

It'd be safest if you ran.

In 2007, the Death Clock said I will die Monday, October 7, 2047.

Now it says I will die Wednesday, May 7, 2042.

What the fuck, Death Clock?

I don't want to die on a Wednesday.

Seriously, though, and to paraphrase Logan 5, "Do I get my five years back?"

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:09
Pace: 9:04

Now avoiding all the pre-Halloween Halloween candy in the office. And yet, at home I have started just putting things into my mouth. When it's the other half of the banana I had as part of breakfast, okay, I guess. When you are putting away the leftovers and decide, at the end of the night, to have another "little" bowl of pasta and sauce, that is not okay, that is weirdly compulsive.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 50°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: all right

He's got legs.
He knows how to use them.

Capsule review: FRANKENSTEIN (2025)
Given the essential subject matter and also popular trends in gothic horror this film featured a surprising lack of dong.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 161 lbs. (-9.0)

It's cool and damp, but the sun is shining so brightly. An indoor run would be a crime.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Spooky Workout Mix

Rasputin (Club Mix) - Boney M. ft. G. Mart

Mother - Danzig

Sick, Sick, Sick - Queens of the Stone Age

Blood in the Cut - K.Flay

Into The Void - Nine Inch Nails

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? - Revolting Cocks

Tooth - Lady Gaga

Shit, got some new ideas for the Monster Bash Mix.

I feel anxious when I'm high.

Temperatures rise. Good news yesterday, very good news. It's about the summer. Can't share, not yet. But soon.

It's happening, Reg! Something's actually happening, Reg!

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:32
Pace: 8:53

Yesterday was Shakespeare's birthday (by tradition) and I was surprised to learn that I have only performed in eight full productions of his works, which is not too bad. But you'd think it were more.

Actually, that seems like a lot. I don't know. I've also directed seven. Two overlap.  

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: sunny & gorgeous
Mood: okay
Stretches: yes
Water: not really

Weight: 160 lbs.

So, we've been watching sport. The Cavs are in the playoffs, and we are watching. Then there's all the baseball. It was the best of times, it was the blurst of time.

2020 Playlist

Jerk - Olive Tree

Pink Pony Club - Chappell Roan

Compression - Monica LaPlante

Yucky Blucky Fruitcake - Doechii

Caution - The Killers

Dynamite - BTS

Intrasport - King Gizzard & Th Lizard Wizard

Your Love (Déjà Vu) - Glass Animals

Everyone’s a little queer.

State Sen. Jerry Cirino defends bullshit
higher education bill in Cleveland talk
Ideastream Public Media, 4/17/2025
(Can you spot my spouse?)

The year playlists will be through before I know it. I don't even know what 2025 is yet, apart from national chaos and much more personal creative hibernation.

At least, thanks to my constant but not overwhelming running schedule, a third of the year will have passed before playing the 2025 Playlist, so there will be (there already is) over thirty minutes of music there, so I can get at least a 5K in.

However, as is usually the case, it's not necessary a great list, but just the most recent releases from artists I am familiar with, which generally catch my ear first, before other tracks that have already been (or will eventually be) released have gotten my attention, from artists with whom I am not yet familiar.

Is this interesting? I do not know. 

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 37:40
Pace: 9:24

When one is stuck in an existential malaise, a three-day weekend isn't actually something to look forward to. "Oh, look. Another day searching for meaning and now I don't even have work to shirk from."

Warrants a longer run, I suspect. Especially on a lovely day such as this.  

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 60°
Climate: overcast & breezy
Mood: good?
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight:160 lbs.

1996 Playlist

Sea of Heartbreak - Johnny Cash

Tombstone - Suzanne Vega

Spinning the Wheel - George Michael

Macarena - Los Del Rio

Broken English - Queue Up

Super Bon Bon - Soul Coughing

Season of the Witch - Luna

Pink Triangle - Weezer

Walking Wounded (Dave Wallace Remix) (158 BPM) - EBTG

Yes, sir. That's exactly what we were listening to in 1996.

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

Coke adds life (where there isn't any.)

Yep, there we go. Perfect running weather and I can't find time to run. Yes, this year it's classes and writing assignments, but it's always rehearsal period (except for last year) and family responsibility. I have to be training for a fall marathon to keep up.

And food. I like food. And I'm eating it to feel happy. And that's not why you eat food.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:30
Pace: 9:50
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 70°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: all right
Weight: 173.5 lbs. (-0-)

I hve stopped writing in the morning, or writing my feelings, which I has had a change in my psyche and focus. Each day runs into the next, and while that might be good for some it is not for me. I should resume at least a page of personal insight, dreams, persoanl commentary, just to make concrete in my own mind where I am and what is happening.

Intake
Breakfast: coffee (2x), banana
Lunch: iced coffee, granola & yogurt w/seeds & dried fruit and honey

Snack: Veg straws, chicken ramen, Coke (for my HEADACHE)

More snack: (because HEADACHE) almonds, dried cranberries, cornnuts

Dinner: bagel, cream cheese, cheese, porter

Also: fizzy water (1x)

Queasy, headachy, unsettled. Must continue to run, through the week.

What's That Lyric?

Koka Kola - The Clash

On my way back out of the woods.

Run, then sleep. No time to reflect.

Distance: 6 miles
Duration: 48:29
Avg Pace: 8:04
Route: Boulevard Loop

Temperature: 73°
Climate: heat lightning!
Intake: dinner
Hydration: yes
Water Stop: no
Stretches: no

What's That Lyric?
Out of the Woods - Foals

I trip over my shoelaces.

There is nothing wrong with my collarbone.

We've reached that time, the time when running begins to feel selfish. I hope it's a passing phase, brought on by my inability this week to run at dawn. Running in the evening, at night, is time not spent making dinner, cleaning up, spending time with the family.

It's okay. Really, it's okay. It's just tonight I'm feeling like this. We have to pack for the trip and I'm sure my wife would rather have me cook this evening, but she's told me not to worry, they support me. It's important.

So we run.

Distance: 6 miles
Avg Pace: 8:07
Route: Cain Park Loop

Delightful pre-sunset run. Not so sweaty tonight. Returning from work this afternoon I was exhausted and immediately took a forty minute nap -- which is a lot. A nap like that can render me delirious for an hour, and I guess it did. But getting out really cleared my head, and I feel much, much better.

Tomorrow is a day off! Whew.

Temperature: 75°
Climate: not as humid
Weight: 157 lbs. (-3.0)
Intake: banana, salted almonds
Hydration: yes
Water Stop: yes
Stretches: no

What's That Lyric?
Collarbone - Fujiya & Miyagi

... or run away from with flailing arms.

Mornings are more challenging when my run is in the evening. Maybe this is a duh moment, but it is worth noting. Waking up with muscles and joints feeling stiff, perhaps hobbling down stairs. Not my favorite way to begin the day.

Thinking of running slower. When, as yesterday, my goal is a swift three miles, I can push it out pretty fast. Longer runs should be more leisurely ... except they are already long and there's thing to do, man. Gotta get home.

Take it easy. This is training. And it's okay.

Distance: 6 miles
Avg Pace: 7:40
Route: Cain Park Loop

When it feels good, it is hard not to run fast. This morning the wife expressed concern for me, that may injure myself if I am not careful, that I might push too far. This morning's physical complaints might support that argument, and I do not wish to inflict any permanent damage.

But I am careful, I do stretch. I have been cross-training. I eat and drink well. But I promise to be careful.

The difference between my time in New York (4:15) and Cleveland (just below 4:00) was forty-five seconds per mile. I need to break a nine-minute mile to break a four hour marathon. When the time comes, I cannot be running eight minutes miles back-to-back. I won't sustain that. I will learn, through my long runs, how to go as an easier pace.

Temperature: 72°
Climate: sweaty!
Weight: 157 lbs. (-3.0)
Intake: banana
Hydration: yes
Water break: yes
Stretches: yes
Upper Body: 80 reps

Started feeling ill between the third and fourth mile, and believed that I was hungry. But there was a water break in the park. I drank deep, and the discomfort subsided. Not hungry, thirsty! These things are important.

What's That Lyric?
Eject - Pluto Jonze

Tell me all about your pain.

Here's the thing. I have fallen into the trap of believing that running is an inherently selfish use of time and that there must be a dozen other things more important for me to be doing at the moment.

I have lost my sense of myself as a runner. Not sure what to do about that.

Temperature: 52°
Distance: 3.25 miles

My wife said, "If there is anyone who can be thought of as a runner, it is you." So that was good to hear.

Night Kitchen Years
Boombastic (159 bpm) - Shaggy
The Brooklynites - Soul Coughing
The Idiot Kings - Soul Coughing
Local God - Everclear
Cupid De Locke - Smashing Pumpkins
The Interlocutor - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Never Here - Elastica
Ball of Confusion - Duran Duran

In the fall of 1996, I weighed about this much. But I didn't run, and I was a smoker. I could not, then, have run 3.25 miles. This is important to remember.

Superman or Green Lantern ain't got nothing on me.

Week 13 Total: 32
Training to Date: 353 miles

My left foot continues to pain. Scott M. is of the opinion that it's the shoes. I would be inclined to agree with him. However, I decided to take Thursday off -- very tired, many other items on the agenda. Friday morning the foot felt good ... until I put on the chukka boots for the first time in several days. Walking to work, this band of pain began again earnest.

See the record player? What the heck is a record player?
Distance: 21 miles
Duration: 3 hours, 5 minutes
Route: To Rock Hall and Back

2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony ... TONIGHT! Wanted to check it out.

Band-aids: check - Do not use Walgreen's Waterproof Bandages again!
Lip balm: check
Bottle: check
Body glide: check

Something's happenin' here ...
Questioned whether or not to take a jacket. 50º? No. 49º? Damn. I regretted it heading through MLK, because I was warm and thought it would get warmer. On the Shoreway, however, I was grateful for it. Especially after making a pit-stop at East 72nd Street (last cleaned Tuesday, keep up the good work!) allowing my sweat to cool.

Temperature: 49º - 55º
Climate: cool & overcast. nice.
Weight: 163 lbs.
Pre-Snack: banana
Road-Snack: GU 2x (Mandarin Orange & Vanilla Bean)
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

A few weeks back I mentioned how nice it was to get off the high-bpm playlists and just have a relaxing run. Well, I've had too many of those. The fact is, and I don't believe I have reported this yet, but I want to BREAK FOUR HOURS.

Not sure I can do that. Last time was 4:15 and change. And I was hurting. But I had not trained with more than one twenty under my belt, I've just done two, and will complete a third. I think. But the last five miles were difficult. However ... I'd only have to do five more! Could I, in my present state, run 5.2 miles in fifty-five minutes?

Mmmmmmmaybe. Of course, my time today was thrown by the conversation I had with the guy in the FOX 8 truck by the Rock Hall.

Podrunner ft. Rock Hall Inductees:
Jimmy James - Beastie Boys
Pound for Pound (168 bpm)
Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers (179 bpm)
Cartographer (160 bpm)
Sabotage - Beastie Boys (168 bpm)
Electric Beach (164 bpm)

Cooldown:
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I should mention that my feet are falling apart. I mean, they just hurt. And - surprise! A blood blister. Dammit! I had no idea that was going on, my socks felt fine. So here we are, we have entered the attrition phase of training. Building stamina, strength and timing before the wheels come off this 43 year-old body.

FOX 8 guy said this is Springsteen's stogie.
I think he was messing with me.

Let's run away and don't ever look back.

The 5-Mile Neighborhood Loop
Distance: 5 miles
Route: Neighborhood loop

Daily runs get longer. Must build endurance, can't do it by either trying to rush through my run, to get it over with, nor can I simply plod along with my head down, taking smaller steps. I need to keep my head up, and use longer strides.

Once I have completed the 45 Playlists I need to find music to listen to which will inspire me. I have been logging bpms in my iTunes for years now, and have 5 bpm interval lists which I will try experimenting with. Unfortunately, it's a lot of the same stuff I always hear.

There are a couple of old favorite, 45-60 minute workout podcasts I'd like to listen to, and there's always P0DRUNNER. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

Temperature: 48º
Climate: cool, breezy & bright
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Snack: banana
Hydration? yes
Stretches? no

Now ... having said all that, about running five miles ... we had a tour date this afternoon, right here in the Heights at the temporary home of the Cleveland Sight Center. As we were loading out I had my eye on my watch. Time was getting short if I were to run five miles before I needed to pick my kids up from their extra-curricular activities. By the time I got home I had forty minutes to spare.

I ran my ass off.

2010 Playlist
Tightrope - Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi
We Speak No Americano - Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP
Down For the Count - Girl Talk
Gonna Get This - Hannah Montana ft. lyaz
OMG [Almighty Mix] - Usher ft. will.i.am
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) - Shakira ft. Freshlyground
Velvet - Queue Up
Dynamite (Mixin Marc Remix) - Taio Cruz

Time is the space between me and you.

Yesterday afternoon I was leading a workshop at my kids' elementary school. I'm working with fifth grade girls during lunch hour, they are the Young Ladies of Noble and we are putting together a production for Women's History Month. Anyway, their advisor told me class ended at 12:15, we would need to break at 12:10 to put the room back in order. I'm keeping my eye on the clock, but we are doing "statue" exercises, there is motion all around the room, the kids are laughing, even their teacher is on top of a desk, doing the same exercise, and taking pictures.

Suddenly, the teacher is back on the floor, she's making her way towards me, stating flatly, "We have to stop now." I look at the clock, it's only 12:05, I thought we had another five minutes, and say so apologetically. She gets near and says, a bit quieter, that we have to stop -- she says a student has been hurt, I didn't catch the name, I'm looking around for who might have gotten hurt during this exercise, it was she who had been on the table ...

It's my daughter, she has "cut her head open" and I have to go. Oh, uh, yes -- my things? No matter, I go, and run down the hallway of the school to the office and to the girl, who has an iced sponge on her forehead. She looks ... tired.

Lucky for me, I guess, I was spared the image of that horrible gush of blood that comes with even a minor head wound, that had already been cleaned up by the time I got there. I was kind. I was not panicked. I was comforting. I was not smothering. I did not think of myself. I wanted to pick her up. I did not. But I held her hand.

Cellphones are tremendous things in an emergency. My wife and I discuss options, she said to call the doctor, and not to go immediately to an emergency room. Again, lucky. They would see us. A $15 co-pay, not a $1,000 trip to the ER. A short drive around the corner, not all the way to the hospital.

The girl was relieved, she has been to emergency rooms. She was grateful to be somewhere calmer. And I knew we would be seen soon, and not in a couple hours. Fortunate. And the cut was not so deep as to require stitches but ... glue? Really? Glue?

Upon hearing that there would not be stitches, the girl's mood lightened considerably. We had talked about this on the drive, she had brought it up, I was noncommittal, not wishing to make the situation worse one way or another. I couldn't say there wouldn't be. I could do nothing to prepare her if there were.

It was astonishing, this glue. I was truly stunned by this bonding material. I laughed. For now, it would be all right. Lucky.

Distance: 4 miles
Route: To Parkside Blvd. and back.

How had she been injured? She had been running. A relay race. She came in second, trip, banged her knee, and took a header into a gate. At the doctor's office she was lamenting her decision to leave her other friends, to take the challenge of this race. What am I supposed to say? Regret is a terrible thing. If I am struck by a car on my route today, that would be an accident. But it does not mean I should never run. However, try telling that to my family.

Temperature: 25º
Climate: dry & cold
Weight: 174 lbs.
Breakfast: Cheerios & cottage cheese
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

Safely under 175. Let's keep it there. I came home last night to a plate of nachos. They'd had nachos with beans for dinner, I came home from rehearsal and they saved some for me. Big plate of nachos. Cheesy nachos. Salsa and sour cream in the fridge.

I had a yogurt and went to bed.

1994 Playlist
Welcome to Paradise - Green Day
March of the Pigs - Nine Inch Nails
Moon Sammy - Soul Coughing
13 Steps Lead Down - Elvis Costello
Supernova - Liz Phair
Prayer For the Dying - Seal
Loser (171 bpm) - Beck
Dead Souls - Nine Inch nails
Troubled Mind - Everything But the Girl
Root Down - The Beastie Boys

Cooldown:
Tribal Dance - 2 Unlimited

Life goes in seven-year cycles.

2008 - Mid-life crisis, shift in artistic focus.
2001 - Losing a child, gaining a new career.
1994 - I stop following.
1987 - First heart-break, seeing different.
1980 - I first fall in love ... and begin to run.

All your money won't another minute buy

Making up for lost weeks, weeks spent acting and being very, very ill. That, and the weather hasn't been very happy. Today we are in Athens, a perfect day for running. Threatening to rain - but not. As I was finishing, the sun broke through.

A languorous jog from Union along the bike path. Past O'Bleness (where my wife was born, my brother had a major operation, and Calvin G. died) South Green (bad sex in Wray House ... well, bad sex all over South Green, actually) and out to all the new sh*t; the skate park, the Wall-Mart and everything, and back.

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 12.30 pm
Stretches: yes
Weather: 62º overcast, breezy and beautiful

Gabriel & Dresden (Continuous Mix)
1 hour, ten minutes.

I have been waiting some time to attempt a run listening to the entire Gabriel and Dresden album. That's my record of the year. I picked up a track on iTunes a few weeks back and really liked it, and then they started the "complete your album" promotion and so I got the whole thing - which include the entire album mixed as one, uninterrupted track. Except for this Pink Floyd-esque thing right in the middle, the entire record makes for a dynamite run.

UPDATE:

lan·guor (lāng'gər, lāng'ər) n.
1. Lack of physical or mental energy; listlessness. See Synonyms at lethargy.
2. A dreamy, lazy mood or quality: "It was hot, yet with a sweet languor about it" (Theodore Dreiser).
3. Oppressive quiet or stillness.

I meant the second one. Dream-like.

Spending two hours in a movie theater after taking a nine mile-run is kind of dumb. My left knee and hip are very, very unhappy.

Fingerpaint the sun on you

Distance: 5.15 miles
Time: 1.30 pm
Stretches: yes
Sit-ups: 60
Bicycles: 60
Drink: Gatorade
Weight: 164.5 lbs.
Weather: 27º windy and light snow

1982 Playlist
I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
Mexican Radio* - Wall of Voodoo
It's Nearly Africa - XTC
New Frontier - Donald Fagen
Situation - Yazoo
Angst In My Pants* - Sparks
Rock the Casbah - The Clash
Hold Back the Rain - Duran Duran
Mirror In the Bathroom* - The Beat
The Metro* - Berlin
Cooldown: Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100

"I feel a hot wind on my shoulder. I dial it in from south of the border."

Skipped a day, had a double yesterday, spent the past several trying to get my voice back, and desperately needed an afternoon nap. Then the temps drop, the snow blew in, and today I thought - I feel dumpy and slow and besides, it's terrible outside.

But then, I have run in worse stuff than this, and feeling dumpy I why I do this in the first place. No excuses.

It was a bear, though. The snow was crispy enough on the sidewalks for traction - some of the sidewalks. I did a lot of road activity, which is freaking dangerous. The mix was pretty fast, though, I was able to keep up.

Man, I actually listened to that stuff, then. That's a quater of a decade ago. I'll be happy when this obsession is past and I can resume listening to Podrunner.

What am I not doing when I am running? I am not washing dishes, doing laundry, reading books, writing plays, working on my sketches, finally starting to watch those DVDs of Firefly - everything, really.

But it's one hour, for me, every two (or so) days. Okay, maybe an hour and a half with all the warming up and cooling down. 90 mintes. Every forty-eight hours. That's not selfish, is it?