Afraid to fall, I'll fly instead

Playlist:
Gabriel & Dresden (Continuous Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden

It would appear to be my annual Athens South Green Bike Path run with this album, the last taken April 28 of last year.

Last time I went out too far before heading back, forgetting the first and second songs after the halfway point are kind of downers. This time I thought I was making great time ... without realizing the way out I had the wind at my back - alot of wind. Still, I got in before the album ended, putting in nine miles in an hour and six.

My bunion has been acting up (I hate writing that, I sound like grandpa) and was making my feet tingle on the drive here last night, that was unpleasant. My foot has been looking pretty straight, I have been using a toe-separator regularly but something about the last few days has made it irritated.

Maybe it was the photo shoot - I have to wear these Chuck Taylor's for the photo shoot, my Chuck's from back when I used to buy them. I used to get my shoes in ten, but since I started running on a regular basis I am officially 10 and a half and all my old shoes do not fit right. Standing on a scaffold, trying not to fall over for two hours while assuming a Superman pose ... in hose ... does a lot of work on your calves, back and feet.

Really. I'm not kidding.

Run Stats:
Distance: 9 miles
Weather: overcast and warmish - beautiful

STOP ROCK VIDEO

It's been almost two years, and I find it extremely difficult to run past the fire house without think of the boy breaking his skull. While I was watching him, a beautiful summer morning, he was eating plums, I went into the next room and WHAM, he had a divot in his skull. I just can't get over that.

My children are never allowed to do anything dangerous. I can't believe I let them play soccer, you could fall this way instead of this was and WHAM, something, uh, bad might happen. God.

1990 Playlist
Serious - Duran Duran
Tokoloshe Man - Happy Mondays
Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
From This Moment On - Jimmy Somerville
Head Like A Hole (Copper) - Nine Inch Nails
Elephants & Flowers - Prince
Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite
Never Enough (Big Mix) - The Cure
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - The Thompson Twins
Mea Culpa - Enigma
Cooldown: I Am Stretched On Your Grave - Sinéad O'Connor

(Last Year's 1990 Playlist)
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
Everybody Everybody - Black Box
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C+C Music Factory
New Power Generation - Prince
World In My Eyes - Depeche Mode
Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays
Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb
The Power - Snap!
Burning the Ground - Duran Duran
Hippychick - Soho

Count the cover tunes!

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 23
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 167.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 20
Temperature: 54º
Weather: cool as June

Another song of David

Hey! I forgot to eat anything!

You know what? Rock music just doesn't do it for me. Makes me tired. That and not eating.

Mass produced candy bars taste waxy and not very satisfying.

Mass produced chips are caked in MSG ... which can lead to headaches.

Fast food has no flavor of its own, but has been flavored by chemicals you smell, which makes you think you are tasting something.

(Keep telling yourself these things.)

1991 Playlist
Evenflow - Pearl Jam
Valerie Loves Me - Material Issue
Who? Where? Why? - Jesus Jones
It Won't Be Long - Alison Moyet
Rush - Big Audio Dynamite II
Unbelievable (Boot Lane Mix) - EMF
Kiss You Back - Digital Underground
3 AM Eternal (Live at the S.S.L. - The KLF
Kiss Them For Me - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Mad About You * - Sting
Cooldown: Pop Goes the Weasel - 3rd Bass
Pain Lies On The Riverside - Live

(Last Year's 1991 Playlist)
Breaking the Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - PM Dawn
The Other Side of Summer - Elvis Costello
All This Time - Sting
Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless) - Crystal Waters
The Globe - Big Audio Dynamite II
Gett Off (Urge Single Edit) - Prince
Real Real Real (The Real Dance Hall Mix) - Jesus Jones

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 27
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 169.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 15
Sit-Ups: 60
Temperature: 54º
Weather: cool & misty

Song of Pengo

"It's 1992 and still no one to vote for." - Mike D

Pulled my back Tuesday morning - doing nothing. Just normal morning things, stood up the wrong way, the whole of the between-my-shoulder blades flared up. It's settled down a bit, I have been looking forward to a run to work it out. Feels good now, no idea what the morning will be like.

God, I hate winter. Lord, I love spring.

1992 Playlist
Rock In This Pocket (Song of David) - Suzanne Vega
The Skills To Pay The Bills (Original Version) - The Beastie Boys
Push Th' Little Daisies - Ween
Steam (Oh, Oh, Let Off Steam Mix) - Peter Gabriel
Lifetime Piling Up - Talking Heads
Tandem Jump * - Jonathan Richman
Hey Jealousy * - Gin Blossoms
Omnibus - XTC
Wish - Nine Inch Nails
The World's Green Laughter - The B-52s
Happy - George Michael
Cooldown: Disappointed - Electronic
Sexy M.F. - Prince

(Last Year's 1992 Playlist)
Happiness In Slavery - Nine Inch Nails
If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar
Jimmy James - The Beastie Boys
High - The Cure
Jump - Kriss Kross
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
Hit - The Sugarcubes

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 30
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 169 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 20
Sit-Ups: 20
Temperature: 60º
Weather: effing gorgeous

I came to win

Headaches! The week I have had is the kind that makes headaches - short nights of broken sleep. Friday night, nothing, no kids, no cats - BAMM-O! I wake up at 4 am with a blanket of pain draped across my eyes and forehead.

Nothing, not Imitrex, heavy-duty OTC sinus meds, extra-strength whatever, my morning was miserable. Then it just faded away around noon.

Today, exact same thing.

The run was more challenging for the weather, I've gotten spoiled. My shins are achy, and my ankles have that broken feeling. Ugh. Forecast says it will last two days, we'll see.

Damn, and I just put out grass seed.

1993 Playlist
Supermodel (You Better Work) - RuPaul
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
I Feel You - Depeche Mode
F*ck and Run - Liz Phair
Jump Around - House of Pain
Informer - Snow
Cannonball - The Breeders
Step It Up - Stereo MC's
Cooldown: Enid - Barenaked Ladies
Slow Emotion Replay - The The
Spin the Bottle - The Juliana Hatfield Three

(Last Year's 1993 Playlist)
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - U2
Big Time Sensuality - Bjørk
Regret - New Order
Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
Just Keep Me Moving - k.d. lang
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3
Dreams - The Cranberries
U Got Me Up - Dajae w/Cajmere

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 34
Distance: 3.6 miles
Weight: 170 lbs. (Nope.)
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 10
Sit-Ups: 80
Temperature: 36º
Weather: Sometimes it snows in April

I am the high you can't sustain

Snack avoidance. I have tried, without thinking too hard about it, not to eat sh*t.

On an ordinary afternoon it is difficult for me not to get a 99¢ bag of Doritos and a can of something (more often one of those cans that look like a battery) for the drive home. Not because I am hungry. Because I am bored. If I don't keep my jaw working, I begin to get drowsy and by the time I get home - and need to pick up for Mom - I am miserable.

Will power - as I said, passive willpower, I just try and think of something else - has gotten me through the past week and I have had nothing but food at mealtime and the occasional piece of fruit.

If there are cookies at the front desk I'll have one, and it will seem like a treat, and not just another in a parade of things I stuff in my gob.

And lately I have been chewing a lot of gum. A whole lot of gum. Little pieces of sugar-free gum. Mmmn. Gum.

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 36
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 169.5 lbs. (Can we keep this under 170, please?)
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 15
Sit-Ups: 80
Temperature: 61º
Weather: warm & breezy

1994 Playlist
Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails
The Becoming - Nine Inch Nails
13 Steps Lead Down - Elvis Costello
Don't Fade Away - Milla Jovovich
Root Down - The Beastie Boys
Didi (Funk Club) - Khaled
Buried at Sea - MC 900 Ft. Jesus
Tribal Dance - 2 Unlimited
Possession - Sarah McLachlan
Big Man With A Gun - Nine Inch Nails
Cooldown: A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins
Long View - Green Day

(Last Year's 1994 Playlist)
Ripper Sole - Stomp
Come Out and Play* - The Offspring
Sure Shot - The Beastie Boys
Girls & Boys - Blur
Missing (Terry Todd Remix) - Everything But the Girl
All That She Wants- Ace of Base
Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited
Closer to God - Nine Inch Nails
Bitterness - Soul Coughing

Elvis isn't dead

This winter the city - accidentally - knocked over the lightpost next to our driveway. How do I know it was accidental? I happened to be there when it happened.

They were doing sewer work in the street next to my neighbor's. The backhoe was blocking my drive, and I was loading the kids into my car, planning to ask them to move their rig so I could take my charge to work. Suddenly the backhoe lurched forward, hit the post and it went over with a stunningly fast and dull thud.

Wow. A half dozen workers standing very close - and me and my kids just up the drive. I don't even want to think about it.

Within a day the post was cut into four feet lengths and it sat on the curb more or less from the beginning of February until yesterday. I will give them a break - several feet of snow had been covering them for a long portion of that time.

However, I am going to call soon and make sure there is a plan in effect to replace it. Without that one post, our intersection is pretty dark at night. It's creepy.

God, what a blessed run tonight. And I have to say, an awesome mix for an after-dark run.

1995 Playlist
Supernova- Liz Phair
Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago - Soul Coughing
Troubled Mind - Everything But the Girl
Buddy Holly - Weezer
Hello - Poe
Connection - Elastica
You and Me Song - The Wannadies
Good - Better Than Ezra
The Things That I Used To Do - G. Love & Special Sauce
High Noon - Kruder & Dorfmeister
Mystery Train - Michael J. Sheehey
The More You Ignore Me - Morrissey
Cooldown: A - Barenaked Ladies

(Last Year's 1995 Playlist)
Scream - Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson
I Saw the Light - The The
I Don't Wanna Grow Up - The Ramones
White Lines - Duran Duran
The Hearts Filthy Lesson (Alt. Mix) - David Bowie
Car Song - Elastica
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
Cooldown: Geek Stink Breath - Green Day

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 40
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 170.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 10
Sit-Ups: 80
Temperature: 68º
Weather: blissful

Let the man through

1996 Playlist
Grossenhosen - Tipsy
The Distance - Cake
Birth-Day (Love Made Real) - Suzanne Vega
Super Bon Bon - Soul Coughing
Enter Sandman- Apocalyptica
Red - Sister Soleil
Shoe Box - Barenaked Ladies
... And Then You Die * - The Receiver
The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson
Cooldown: Wrong - Everything But the Girl

(Last Year's 1996 Playlist)
The New Pollution - Beck
Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Catz
Collapse - Soul Coughing
Broken English - Queue Up
To You I Bestow - Mundy
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bazamba - Sister Soleil
Before Today - Everything But the Girl

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 42
Distance: 3.6 miles
Weight: 170 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 10
Sit-Ups: 10
Temperature: 50º
Weather: sunny & cool
Gear: short-sleeved shirt, doo-rag, shorts - sunglasses!

Ever since I got back from NYC, I haven't been able to do sit-ups without feeling like I was going to blow it. What is up with that?

You gotta get with my friends?

Monday morning, we froze those f*ckers. Froze them. I managed the pain through seriously controlled breathing. I think I scared the staff. I hobbled my way home, took the day off, sat in bed and edited a playscript. There are some super blisters forming, but today I felt good enough to run.

I have absolutely no faith in this treatment. Nothing works. Nothing.

1997 Playlist
Miss Modular - Stereolab
Missing You - Basement Jaxx
Around The World - Daft Punk
Summer Bummer - Crazy Penis
My Baby Portable Player Sound * - Pizzicato Five
Dig Your Own Hole - Chemical Brothers
Busy Child - The Crystal Method
Water From A Vine Leaf - William Orbit
Cooldown: Wannabe - Spice Girls
I'm Afraid of Americans - David Bowie

(Last Year's 1997 Playlist)
One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds Five
Parsec - Stereolab
Burning Ground - Van Morrison
Block Rockin' Beats - Chemical Brothers
Smack My B*tch Up - Prodigy
The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails
Atom Bomb (Atomix 1) - Fluke
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
Good Sh*t - Cornershop

Man. Remember the mid-late-90s? Good times.

Run stats:
Days to Cleveland: 45
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight: 171 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Temperature: 37º
Weather: cool & sunny
Gear: jacket, thermal hat, sunglasses, shorts, long-sleeved shirt