Chase the rainbow's end.

Blew my Connections streak today. I'd like to think I did it on purpose, I mean, I kind of did, because I didn't care. I was ten days short of a year.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 26:35
Pace: 8:34

Get that? Every day since last May, I have been using part of my brain, fretting I would blow my streak. That's not a game, that's not enjoyable. That is a task.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 67°
Climate: light fluffy clouds
Mood: good

And it has affected my writing. I write in the morning. Spending the morning puzzling is not writing. It's not anything. I have been reading Barry Joseph's book on Sondheim's puzzling obsession, and the more I read it the more irritated I am. Sondheim spent so much time creating games and puzzles but also writing the great American musical.

165-174 BPM Playlist

Because I Got High - Afroman

You're the Best Thing - Style Council

Bitterblue - Cat Stevens

Boy in Luv - BTS

Past in Present - Feist

Magical Trevor - Mr Weebl

Take on Me - a-ha

Novocaine for the Soul - Eels

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 163 lbs. (+3.0)

It seems so specious, puzzling, you feel as though you are accomplishing something but it's just a diversion. Which is fine if you are also actually creating. He was, I am not. At least, not yet. I have plans. And part of that includes not wasting part of the morning puzzling.

Today, I wrote. And I had ideas. And though I am frustrated, it is a positive step forward.

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

Nice day, cleaning house, did the pre-show talk. The room was at capacity, good humor, I felt confident. Much better than, say, yesterday. And then a fast run! Like, really fast. Felt confident about that, too.

And last night we attended the game, which began in rain and ended with a Guardians victory! Cleveland!

Make your lungs hold breath inside.

Roger Daltrey at Woodstock, where they performed
almost the entire thing even though no one there
had heard any of it before.

We probably watched Ken Russell's film adaptation of Tommy (1975) in the early 1980s. I found it unsettling, which is only appropriate.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 36:09
Pace: 9:00

In the 1990s, a local theater produced the musical adaptation, and even cast an actual p*dophile as Uncle Ernie.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 53°
Climate: sunny! 
Mood: grateful

Tommy - The Who (1969)

Do You Think It's Alright?

Fiddle About

Pinball Wizard

There's a Doctor

Go to the Mirror!

Tommy Can You Hear Me?

Smash the Mirror

Sensation

Miracle Cure

Sally Simpson

I'm Free

Welcome

Tommy's Holiday Camp

We're Not Gonna Take It

You Better You Bet (162 bpm)

While it makes sense that Tommy would work as a musical -- it is entirely sung through, and comprehensible as such -- I believe the themes are so painful that depicting the story, visually, is unbearable. I can only enjoy the album.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 162 lbs. (-0-)

When I got home, I had zero interest in running, It was overcast and cool and windy and I thought, no. An hour later the skies had cleared and so had my mood.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

So, how to conclude. The first side was experiential, inside the mind of a traumatized child. Three expansive instrumentals. Side two is all plot driven. Brief, interstitial moments (Extra! Extra! Read all about it!) which propels the narrative to its conclusion. 

If I were listening to the entire thing I might find that sloppy -- a thoughtful, digressive musical journey, followed by a rush to tie up the plot -- but taken as two albums they are separate, and complimentary.

You're gonna hit the road.

When I was in the Twin Cities last month, I heard the finale to The Who's Tommy as part of the 1969 playlist. I have learned a great deal about the creation of this particular album thanks to Andrew Hickey and his 500 Songs podcast.

Distance: 4.25 miles

Duration: 38:45
Pace: 9:07

One of my brothers got big into this when I was maybe twelve years old. Sounds about right. I listened first, put the story together in my mind. It was very upsetting. But it made sense.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: overcast & perfect
Mood: good

I felt that learned a great deal about abuse and trauma and how the mind works from this album, and it came at an appropriate time in my life. I mean, it is a simple story, simply told. Sometimes we need those. And I just love the music.

Tommy - The Who (1969)

Overture

It's a Boy

1921 (156 bpm)

Amazing Journey

Sparks

Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)

Christmas

Cousin Kevin

The Acid Queen

Underture

Perfect side for running, by the way. The entire thing. Very rhythmic but also a lot instrumentals to let your mind wander freely. The Hawker should go before Acid Queen, though. I think they changed that for the movie.

One of Hickey's observations is that it is difficult to follow because different members of the band - Daltrey, Townshend and even Entwistle - they take turns singing various songs without any consistency to which characters they are singing for. This never bothered me, because I couldn't much tell the difference between their voices when I first heard it, and just followed the words.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 162 lbs. (-3.0)

As for what it has to say about hero worship, I dig that, too. We are relieved and even joyful when Tommy overcomes his inability to respond to the world around him, but that's no excuse to become a self-styled guru and capitalistic huckster.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Audition week. Audition month, actually. We don't always get things right just because we take more time. But it helps.

Next up: Disc Two!

The most alive I've ever been.

Friends and neighbors ... 60 Playlists for 60 Years.

2026 Playlist

The Arbiter - Bryce Pinkham and the Company of CHESS

NUEVAYoL (Live at Super Bowl LX) - Bad Bunny

The Great Divide - Noah Kahan

drop dead - Olivia Rodrigo

Dopamine - Robyn

Dry Spell - Kasey Musgraves

Dance No More - Harry Styles

Stampede - Genesis Owusu

Punk Rocky - A$AP Rocky

Yep, we saw Chess on Broadway at the end of last year and it was a good time, but most of what I really loved about it is not to be found on the original cast recording. Pinkham is a gas but he's not the best singer which is evidenced in this recording. The thing is, on stage that's part of the joke -- Me? The Narrator? I get a song? Oh, my!

I'd really like them to make available the single The Arbiter (I Know the Score) performed by Björn Skifs, a re-recording of the concept album version that includes a third verse:

As you settle down behind your pawns, power passes to me

You can play like Fischer, Karpov, Euwe, and Tal combined

I won't mind; please feel free

They all thought they were "the big fromage", but they don't have my clout

I control the match; I start it, I can call it off

Kasparov found that out

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:20
Pace: 8:49

Audition month. End of season. Beginning of new things. One day we will move beyond oh who am I kidding, that day will never come. Rather, let us embrace the generosity of now. My family, our home, our cats. Health, privilege, time.

And I can still run. This will not always be so.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: just beautiful 
Mood: all right

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

It takes 1/3 of a year to do the annual playlists, so "this year's list" doesn't represent the entire year, and yet. Pretty hot, right?

Also, I heard Olivia Rodrigo's new single drop dead for the first time on SNL just last night.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

What's next?

Don't you run away now.

Twenty years ago, on May 1, 2006, I described how our elder child was "in training" in preparation for for a one mile run that weekend. They were three. Whose idea was it for them to train? I have a feeling it was theirs.

Playlist:

Every Day Is Exactly the Same - Nine Inch Nails

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:48
Pace: 8:58

Fifty years ago, we were celebrating the Bicentennial.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 44°
Climate: brisk & beautiful
Mood: okay!

1976 Playlist

Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers

Knowing Me, Knowing You - ABBA

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Warren Zevon

Gonna Fly Now - Bill Conti

Squonk (170 bpm)  - Genesis

I Wish - Stevie Wonder

A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy

Pinball Number Count (164 BPM) - The Pointer Sisters

Stretches: yes
Water: yes 
Weight: 165 lbs. (+4.0)

Ow. Cold air made my ears hurt.

Planks: TBA 
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

My heart is aching.

Body by Perrier

Forty years ago, I would run occasionally. Honestly, it wasn't much of a thing. I was dating a young woman who had first inspired me to run when we were in middle school together. She's call and ask if I'd like to go for a run and we would run. 

Distance: 3,1 miles

Duration: 27:58
Pace: 

Actually we would run a little bit and then walk and talk. It wasn't dating in middle school, but it was romantic as fuck. When we actually went out, in 1986, we did all kinds of things, but running wasn't one of them.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 52°
Climate: overcast w/light rain
Mood: maintaining

Slight headache this am, would love to have slept longer. Never thought I would actually get out, but once again, the moment I started moving I was in love.

1986 Playlist

Oh l'amour - Erasure

Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys

Left of Center - Suzanne Vega ft. Joe Jackson

Shellshock - New Order

I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You) - Grace Jones

September Gurls - The Bangles

Gyneco zèbre - Gabriel Yared

Come On Home (Extended Mix) * - Everything But the Girl

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 161 lbs. (-4.0)

Is it? Really? I have been grazing, a lot. A lot of little candies at work. Chip bags now, that has to stop. I eat well, but OH! The junk food.

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

Fifteen runs in April. Well done. A consistent year, so far.

Did you get off on a bad foot, baby?

Content advisory: Discussion of D's.

D's what? Deez nuts.

Thirty years ago, I would run occasionally. I weighed somewhere between 180 and 190 pounds, still smoked, and would huff my way around the neighborhood dressed in a cotton T-shirt, cut-off sweats, and traditional cotton briefs. No special gear, even the shoes were several years old at this point, and much too small.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:27
Pace: 8:51

I started feeling pain in my lower abdomen and was worried I had developed another hernia. The doctor told me I had a varicose vein in one of my testicles. She found it, manipulated it, held onto it for a bit, all while telling me her diagnosis. It was excruciating. I had to ask her to please let go. She wasn't my doctor for much longer.

So, I started wearing compression pants. It was depressing, and I feared I would have to wear them for the rest of my life, but this was not the case. Maybe a couple years? Can't remember. What I know is this; the condition is exacerbated by a lack of support, so I never wear boxers, and try to find briefs which are just a little too tight. 

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 54°
Climate: beautiful
Mood: getting there

And when I started training for the marathon (ten whole years later) I purchased my first athletic supporter. Ever. I was thirty-seven. Everyone with junk, even a casual runner, should invest in one, early.

I have also found that additional weight can also contribute to this discomfort. This is an additional reason why I obsess about keeping it all under 165. 

1996 Playlist

Ugly Stadium - Tipsy

Star People - George Michael

Shadowboxer - Fiona Apple

Single (Photek Remix) - Everything But the Girl

Backpedal - Queue Up

Soundtrack To Mary - Soul Coughing

Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison

Man. The 1990s. That was wild.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 165 lbs. (+4.0)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Get it.