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.

Everybody, let's move.

So that happened.

Twenty years ago, I was in pre-training preparation for my first marathon. Scheduled training would begin in July. By April I was already running much more than I ever had in the past (and keeping a log of every run right here) and had developed shin splints.

It felt like running on broken legs. I found shin bandages -- which I wore upside-down the first couple times -- iced my legs after every run, and eventually found exercises which helped strengthen the front of my shins.

At the time, a friend said, "Oh no, shin splints. Those never go away." She was wrong. Lots of people were wrong about all sorts of things as I continued my training.

I also mused about how I would have water to drink as my runs got longer. So many things to learn!

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:09
Pace: 9:04

A Saturday entirely to myself. No work related responsibilities. No evening plans. The elder is in Cincy, the wife at the store, and it's Independent Bookstore Day. And I am home, doing laundry, cleaning house, listening to podcasts, and enjoying myself. And now I will run, on this cool, damp day in April.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 49°
Climate: overcast, cool & damp
Mood: driven

2006 Playlist

Another Sunny Day - Belle & Sebastian

Tracking Treasure Down - Gabriel & Dresden

Punkrocker - Teddybears ft. Iggy Pop

Say It Right - Nelly Furtado

Everybody Ona Move - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Bad Ass (Rogue Element Mix) - Crystal Method

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

Keep going.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Light a fire, hit and run.

Actual work conversation yesterday.

What a decade it has been. The kids are quick to point out it wasn't a great world when Obama was president, but at least there was a certain degree of accountability and considerably less bullshit.

Or not. I don't know. I suppose this was inevitable. It's going to be quite the Semiquincentennial this summer.

Distance: 4.2 miles

Duration: 37:29
Pace: 8:55

Here is some good news. I did not believe I would have much going on this calendar year, as far as my writing was concerned. But I have produced a commission (which will be performed tomorrow), there will be a first public reading in June, a remount of a fringe show at the end of October, and this week's big surprise, the publication of one of my very favorite scripts!

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 64°
Climate: beautiful
Mood: angsty

On Tuesday, The Current was commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of Prince Rogers Nelson. I mentioned this fact to our elder child and they said, "It been only ten years?"

Indeed.

2016 Playlist

Classic - The Knocks ft. Powers

Thank God For Girls - Weezer

Subways - Avalanches

New Song - Warpaint

Rebel Heart * - The Shelters

We The People ... - Tribe Called Quest

Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd

Troublemaker Doppelgänger * - Lucy Dacus

Cards - Company from "American Psycho"

Have Some Love * - Childish Gambino

You Don't Get Me High Anymore - Phantogram

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

Okay, you know what. Geez.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

We have not been doing the upper body work. This is not just laziness, I can't remember one day to the next and staying focused is an issue. I'm doing my job, and that's without much passion or interest, because I'm so disappointed. It's temporary.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

Never celebrate early.
Joshua Jackson passes Carson Mello
to win the Delaware Marathon
4/19/2026

Twenty-seven years ago yesterday two students committed an act of terror at one Colorado high school, and since then nothing has changed. In fact, it's gotten worse. This is not a good country. And it was never a great one.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:12
Pace: 9:06

DOGBERRY:
But, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.

- Much Ado IV.ii

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 67°
Climate: overcast & warm
Mood: all right

1967 Playlist

The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher

All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground & Nico

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher - Jackie Wilson

(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone - The Monkees

Here Comes My Baby - The Tremeloes

Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane

I Think We're Alone Now - Tommy James & the Shondells

Windy - The Association

Up, Up and Away (160 BPM) - The 5th Dimension

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

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

We are in the homestretch. Six runs to complete the list.

How can someone so young say words so sad?

Drive like your kids.

Take the note, guy.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:33
Pace: 8:50

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 47°
Climate: sunny & cool
Mood: I mean

1987 Playlist

Ahead - Wire

The Perfect Girl - The Cure

The Badger Song - The Dead Milkmen

The Dead Heart - Midnight Oil

I Don't Know - The Replacements

Heartbreak Beat - The Psychedelic Furs

Sheila Take a Bow - The Smiths

Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 165 lbs. (+5.0)

Hold up, wait.

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: yes