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These fall days. I can't sleep all the way to the alarm. I wake, my knees ache, my side. But so? I get up. I have a morning. I can write, eat a good breakfast. And I run. And I love the run. 

Not looking forward to the rec center. The park is a beautiful place to be at dawn. The geese, the deer. The turning of the leaves.

Distance: 3.1 

Duration: 27:03
Pace: 8:42

My brain is still adjusting to the absence of sertraline. It has been several weeks, and I still get dizzy and my brain buzzes.

I am adjusting very well to sobriety. I have entered into situations where I could drink, and I may yet, but I choose not to.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 57°
Climate: ideal
Mood: all right

Fall 1986 Playlist

25 or 6 to 4 (Alternative Version) - Chicago

When Problems Arise - Fishbone

Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland - The B-52's

Word Up - Cameo

Walk This Way - Run DMC ft. Aerosmith

Don't Stand So Close to Me '86 - The Police

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 167.4 lbs. (-2.4)

Got my annual fall vaccinations. Suck on that.

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

These zombies in the park.

HelenArt

Ultra-Violet 5K

Race Mission 1

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:12
Pace: 8:45

Yesterday began dark and miserable, cloudy and rainy and cold. By afternoon it was still cool, but sunny, bright and beautiful.

Fall is lovely.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 51°
Climate: light clouds & cool

Gear: long sleeves 
Mood: all right!

Also, though, the pain. With the cool weather has come complaints in my knees and hips, and in the muscles down my legs. I suppose this is just normal daddy stuff.

Autumn Mix
Babylon - David Gray

Crystal - Stevie Nicks

So Real * - Jeff Buckley

Cough Syrup - Young the Giant

White Horses - Wolf Alice

She’s Not There - THE ZOMBIES

If Yao Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 169.8 lbs. (+1.0)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

You feel you want to run away.

That's the face he makes.

Saw Tony again last night, this time with Toni. I liked it better the second time. First, because I wasn't taking it too seriously. Second, because the theater was full and there was a lot of laughter. Third, she was sitting with me.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:54
Pace: 9:01

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 55°
Climate: crisp & ideal
Mood: down in it

Songs from "Tony" (2026)

Magic Mountain * - War ft. Eric Burdon

Girlfriend - Modern Lovers

The Calvary Cross - Richard & Linda Thompson

Mighty Sly - Funk Society

Everything Merges With the Night - Brian Eno

Something On Your Mind - Karen Dalton

Strawberry Letter 23 - The Brothers Johnson

The more we make movies that take place in the 1970s, the deeper the needle drops have to get.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 168.8 lbs. (-0.4)

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Things are going great ... and they're only getting better.

I cannot see anything.

Forty years ago I was just beginning my college experience, and it was a lot. I think of what was on the television in he communal spaces. In my dorm, that was in the basement, and it was mostly music videos. In Hog's dorm it was Transformers. 

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:18
Pace: 9:07

The music videos all seemed to be communicating the same thing -- neon and pastel was dead, the playful first half of the 1980s was shifting into something more dour and serious (See: Miami Vice Season 3) in grays and blacks.

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 70°
Climate: damp
Mood: all right

And my girlfriend's dorm room, like all the dorm rooms, painted cinderblock and tile floors. It was a cold dynamic, and as the days also cooled, so did our attention for each other.

Not our affection, mind. Our attention.

Fall 1986 Playlist

Notorious - Duran Duran

Big Time - Peter Gabriel

The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades - Timbuk3

Higher Love - Steve Winwood

In Too Deep - Genesis

You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 169.2 lbs. (-0.2)

"Lombardo"

Last night was Pandemonium. When I performed at Pan ten years ago, I was enticed to extend the evening by going to a local establishment. It was so late I think I thought I was sober but of course I wasn't.  The next day I had a terrible hangover and actually got sick in front of the kids; we were driving across town for a photo shoot for Talespinner. I should have stayed home. Anyway, I was humiliated.

Last night, CPT was serving three premium NA beverages at the bar, a beer, a wine and a mule. When I arrived at the stage where we were performing with an Athletic Gold Lager, it began a conversation (starting with, "Oh! Where did you get that?") about the choice not to drink. It was really cool.

I was in bed by eleven last night. I was also up at three AM, uncomfortable and with my thoughts running, so I got up for a bit and did housework. That was also cool.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

More exercises, please. I feel good, by the way. My knees feel all right, minor pain during rehearsals last week (I was on my feet a lot) the rest of me is copacetic. That's where I am today.

Who's going to plug their ears when you scream?

As if the collective reputation
of runners wasn't bad enough.

The ADS has been hitting me very, very hard. Woke up on Thursday after a full night's sleep with something like a hangover. Only I haven't had alcohol since last Friday afternoon. Which just goes to show.

But seriously, I have been hit with rounds of brain farts and it is not pleasant. I hope these subside soon.

This is a new era. No antidepressants, also no depressants. I wonder what will emerge. It may be confidently angry.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:29
Pace: 9:10

Bero Noon Wheat is a banger, add a slice of orange, *chef's kiss* or whatever it is the kids say.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 65°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: not great, but determined

Fall 1984 Mixtape

Strut - Sheena Easton

The Warrior - Scandal ft. Patty Smyth

Cover Me - Bruce Springsteen
On the Dark Side - John Caffrey & The Beaver Brown Band

Flesh For Fantasy - Billy Idol

Rock Me Tonite - Billy Squier

Drive * - The Cars

Stretches: no 
Water: yes
Weight: 169.4 lbs. (-0.8)

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

There’s life after high school.

“Lombardo” at Pandemonium this weekend!

Beautiful days. Very busy. Talented, engaged actors. More performances in the mix. Evenings on the side porch with my partner, watching the game.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:19
Pace: 9:08

We are mindful, which is is nice. It doesn't last, which is acceptable. Already psyching myself up to attend Pandemonium and not drink. And that's okay.

I haven't gone so long without chemical abuse in such a long time. It means these feelings can't be explained away by depressants.

Speaking of which, I'm leaving Sertraline. And I think this is good timing. I ride the brain zaps mindfully (natch) by just feeling them, working not to be annoyed by them. Just breathe. There they are. Being still helps. They will not last. Nothing ever does, am I right?

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 71
Climate: moist

Mood: good

Fall 1984 Mixtape

Adult Education - Hall & Oates

Hot For Teacher - Van Halen

Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Take Me With U - Prince & the Revolution

The Glamorous Life - Sheila E.

I Feel For You - Chaka Khan

Uff. What a cuck I was. But, oh! What a season.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 170.2 lbs. (-3.0)

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

When the seasons change will you stand by me?

Lovely cool morning. We are having a dry season. Not a bad time for it, considering all the NA craft beer concerns which are popping up.

And we're home.

Aftermath 0123

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:01
Pace: 9:04

It's taken four years, but I have finally completed the first season of Zombies Run ... which debuted what? Fourteen years ago? We've been through so much, and yet it is as relevant as ever. Isn't that charming?

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: light fluffy clouds
Mood: better

American Sign Museum

fall running playlist!!

Sweater Weather - The Neighborhood

Hide * - Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Mind Over Matter * - Young the Giant

Matchbox - Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Seven - Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Cough Syrup - Young the Giant

Almost (Sweet Music) - Hozier

Jackie & Wilson - Hozier

Whoever created this playlist really likes Rainbow Kitten Surprise. But it’s a playlist. Skipped the Backseat Lovers song, which begins as a ripoff of Across the Universe and swiftly degenerates into childish wailing.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 173.2 lbs. (-0-)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: yes