If your heart skips a beat, stay on your feet.

51º at 5:15 AM on January 31. All right, then. I'm wearing shorts.

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

Bit of a conundrum here as re: the Yearly Playlists. Following my first marathon in Nov. 2006 I took a well-deserved rest ... which lasted a bit too long. In order to motivate myself to run out-of-doors in deepest winter, beginning in February 2007 I began running to a playlist dedicated to a single year, every run. It was fun making the lists, and I think I went back as far as the late 70s. My music database did not, at that time, have many songs prior to that date that had the appropriate rhythm. I chose years at random.

In 2008 I tried again, starting at the year 2007 and going backwards one year at a time in sequence. I suffered a meniscus tear during that series, and stopped, again, in the 70s. By 2009, starting in January, I was able to successfully run one playlist for every year I have walked this earth (in no particular order) from 1968 to 2009. It took me until late May to run 42 times, by which time enough interesting singles had been released from that year (or late 2008) to make a reasonable playlist.

1987 Playlist
You're My Drug (152 bpm) - The Dukes of Stratosphear
Big Love - Fleetwood Mac
Need You Tonight - INXS
Fear Is Never Boring - The Bears
Smooth Criminal/Bad - Michael Jackson
Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison
Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson
New Sensation - INXS
Good Times (157 bpm) - INXS & Jimmy Barnes

Cooldown:
A Japanese Dream (remix) - The Cure

This year I started at 1968 and am running every year to 2012 in chronological order. Today I have run 20 times in the month of January, a record for runs in a single month. At this rate, I will be done with the annual playlists by early March. Suggestions for the 2012 playlist will be greatly appreciated as the year itself will have barely begun.

Temperature: 51º
Climate: cool & windy
Weight: 177 lbs.
Snack: banana
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

My aching little soul has started burning blue.

Sorry, folks. It's just a Honda ad. Oh yeah.
Week 2 Total: 22 miles

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

The wife and I went over calendars for the next several months. Busy, busy, busy. Travel, school, play, work, music, special events, social events, writing, creating, eat, breathing, living. No idea how I will fit all of these runs into my schedule, but you know? I don't care. I am enjoying this, I really am. Regardless of anything else I am (or am not) accomplishing, this is one thing I can successfully do, attempt, pursue, finish, every single day.

Except tomorrow, when Daddy takes his rest.

Temperature: 39º
Climate: mostly clear pavement, very windy
Weight: 178 lbs.
Snack: one slice, Hawaiian pizza
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

Big eating this weekend, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, dining in restaurants -- birthday celebrations for a nine year-old girl. Really? Nine? Halfway to adulthood.

Okay. Depressed again.

1986 Playlist
Bread and Butter - Devo
Oh Yeah - Yello
The Boy In The Bubble - Paul Simon
Crazy Mixed-Up Kid - The Smithereens
Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys
Infected - The The
Rise (172 bpm) - Public Image Limited
The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades (158 bpm) - Timbuk 3
Word Up - Cameo
Seven Day Weekend (175 bpm) - Elvis Costllo & Jimmy Cliff

Cooldown:
Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs

Anger is an energy. Indeed.

By day we run.

If it were not for my wife, I would not have gotten out of bed this morning to run. If I had not gotten out of bed to run this morning, I would not have had time to run later. If I had had a long run today, I would most likely be of a mind to bag the training.

Thank you, wife.

Distance: 6 miles
Route: Taylor-Cedar-Warrensville/Noble-Monticello Loop

1. Almost wiped twice on Taylor Road. Ice like glass beneath light, dusty snow.

2. New Bob Evans going up on Cedar Road. Which reminds me, I need to spend more time in the Inn on Coventry. Eggs Mando!

3. I did not think to notice there is no sidewalk on the West edge of Warrensville Rd. running past the de-forested park which will soon be Oakwood Commons, a shopping development. There was enough grassy room between the curb and the chain-link fence to run on when cars were coming toward me.

In the pre-dawn light I could see, well, nothing really, where there had once been many, many trees. About a hundred yards ahead of me a small animal dashed out from under the fence into the street and onto the median where it stopped and looked around. Too big to be a cat, too small to be a dog. In motion I thought it must be a racoon, but it was the wrong shape.

It was a fox. A silver fox. A homeless silver fox.

I stopped and watched. It turned and saw me, and swift as anything sprinted back across the street and under the fence. Nowhere else to go.

4. Almost wiped out twice on Monticello.

Temperature: 36º
Climate: snowy
Weight: 177.5 lbs.
Snack: banana
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

My friend Alicia is an official blogger for the Cleveland Marathon. I did not know there was such a thing. Having finally registered for the race, I enquired about becoming an official Cleveland Marathon blogger myself. However, I have been informed that since they announce one "class" of official bloggers each year, and that they have already does so for 2012, they will not be adding any additional bloggers.

I don't think I wouldn't mind so much if I felt I would ever been running this race again. It's taken me five and a half years to believe I could try again. Looking at it that way, I began to feel depressed. Recently however, looking at anything from any perspective has been making me depressed, so I can hardly blame any one individual or organization.

1985 Playlist
Eighties - Killing Joke
Nemesis - Shriekback
Stay Up Late - Talking Heads
Bittersweet - Everything But the Girl
Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
We Close Our Eyes - Go West
Shout - Tears For Fears
Take Me Home - Phil Collins
Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Baby Screams - The Cure
Don't You (Forget About Me) [Extended Version] - Simple Minds
Ball of Confusion [Extended Version] - Love & Rockets

Cooldown:
Take On Me - a-Ha

UPDATE: Mother-in-law is taking us out for EGGS MANDO. I love that woman.

Cue fanfare.

Did it. I am registered to run the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon on Sunday, May 20, 2012.

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

Up a good part of the night, fretting. We began rehearsals last night, I need to set rules for myself and follow them. Come right home, drink tea, go to sleep. Falling asleep has been troubling the last two nights, and I woke several times thinking Time To Run. It was a relief when I finally looked at the clock and saw it was only 3 am.

Rounding the block and heading for home, I just realized how good I felt, for the first time in days. Or since my last run, anyhow. It didn't last long, but I am glad to know it is still possible to feel that way.

Really feeling the burn in my left shin. Simple exercise: Stand with your back to a wall, place both feet one foot-length from the wall. Lift your toes to the sky 10 times without lowering them completely to the ground. Three reps. This is how I have taken care of shin splints before.

Temperature: 34º
Climate: light, wet snow
Weight: 177.5 lbs.
Snack: banana
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

No run tomorrow. 6 miles on Saturday.

1984 Playlist
Fuck Art, Let's Dance - The Adults
This Charming Man - The Smiths
Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Blue Light - David Gilmore
Romancing the Stone (12" version) - Eddy Grant
Birdmad Girl - The Cure
I Send a Message - INXS
Handsome Devil - The SMiths
Cue Fanfare - Prefab Sprout
The Glamorous Life (Club Edit) - Sheila E

Cooldown:
I Feel For You (Remix) - Chaka Khan

Nostalgia supplies.

I'm standing here on the ground.

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

Exhausted all yesterday, got to bed reasonably early (shot for 9, hit 9.45 - damn you, sexy POTUS) with a non-alocoholic beverage as my nightcap. Still, woke at 5 AM thinking ... what? No. No, can't do this. Long day today, first night of rehearsals, reports due, must rest, have solid, clear concentration ... so, of course, my mind was spinning and there was no way I was going back to sleep.

So I got up. Tomorrow morning is the Friday of Running. If I can make tomorrow, then I get a day off. That's how we do this.

1983 Playlist
Let the Music Play (12" version) - Shannon
Holiday Road - Lindsey Buckingham
No More Lies - Neil SHon & Jan Hammer
(Let's All) Turn On - Hoodoo Gurus
Don't Change (164 bpm) - INXS
Gone Daddy Gone (160 bpm) - Violent Femmes
Walking In Your Footsteps - The Police
Leave It - Yes
I Love You - Yello
Major Tom (Coming Home) - Peter Schilling
What Difference Does it Make? - The Smiths

Cooldown:
The Invisible Man - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Managed to run another morning in the windbreaker, when it dips below freezing again I will require something warmer. Took it easy this morning, I have been pushing it. Shins stinging, my left knee burning. It feels good to run. Sometimes it feels bad to stop.

Temperature: 33º
Climate: cold air, dry pavement.
Weight: 177.5 lbs.
Snack: no. just forgot.
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

People rushing round with no time to spare.

My pants are a mite looser around the waist. Not losing weight, just moving it around. Everything in its right place.

The zipper on my green thermafleece jacket has bitten the dust. So now I need new shoes and a new jacket. And, you know. To register for this marathon I am supposedly training for.

Just as well, temperature said above freezing but I did not believe it. If I had worn the 'fleece I would have burned up.

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

Feeling a bit tight in my shins before the run, so I stretched a little. I do not usually strecth before runs, only after -- and that seems to do the trick. However, as I said, I stretched before this morning. And now I feel a pinch inside my left shin, dammit.

Temperature: 36º
Climate: dry pavement. wow. crazy.
Weight: 179.5 lbs.
Snack: banana
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

1982 Playlist
English Roundabout - XTC
Shake It Up - The Cars
Let's Go To Bed - The Cure
It's Nearly Africa - XTC
Desperate But Not Serious - Adam Ant
Don't Go - Yazoo
Don't Pay The Ferryman - Chris de Burgh
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Michael Jackson
Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime) - The Flirts
Mexican Radio - Wall of Voodoo

Cooldown:
Space Age Love Song - A Flock of Seagulls

Roundabound.

My goal is moving near.

Week 1 Total: 22 miles

Distance: 3 miles
Route: To Green Rd. and back.

As the effects of global climate change become increasingly evident, sudden mid-winter spikes in temperature lead to terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad gusts of WIND.

Temperature: 41º
Climate: Bright sun, snowy & slushy pavement.
Weight: 179 lbs.
Lunch: Tuna mac & cheese w/lima beans.
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

One week into 18 weeks of training, I have stopped wheezing, breathe much easier, and lost one pound. My knees were sore this morning after yesterday's eight mile run, but they feel fine now and I haven't even taken any pain relievers. My shins feel strong. I have been hydrating, eating well (okay, last night was a but indulgent) and this weekend I was able to catch up on some well-needed rest.

It will be a challenging week. Many reports due at the end of the month, and outreach tour rehearsals begin on Wednesday. The weather suggests above-freeing temps all this week, which is a blessing because it means the sidewalks will clear up. Running in the street before dawn is simply out. No run tomorrow.

1981 Playlist
Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone) - Chilliwack
Hold On Tight - Electric Light Orchestra
TV Party - Black Flag
Primary - The Cure
Working In The Coal Mine (159 bpm) - Devo
Lovers' Walk - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
We Got the Beat - The Go-Go's
Sat In Your Lap - Kate Bush

Cooldown:
Super Freak - Rick James

Lovers trip. Lovers stumble.