Once I ran to you.

The last time I ran so many times in January was 2013, when it was above freezing almost every single day, often in the 50s and 60s. That's what we had gotten used to until the deep freezes of 2014 and 2015.

Working in the attic I found a cassette of singles - vinyl 45s I had transferred to tape. I listened to these same songs, over and over again, lying in a hammock in Maine in 1981.

This is significant to me because I remember this was the summer I turned 13. It was the first summer I didn't really wish to be out of town for the summer. In late June I had been to a summer camp where I had made new friends, after a year of watching all those friends who I'd had through my elementary school years fall away from me, or was it the other way around?

At this camp I had also, somehow, started a relationship with a girl who I'd had tried flirting with in sixth grade, in the only obnoxious, eleven year old way I knew how. Somehow I had become somebody she actually liked to be around. We held hands the last night of camp, and that was nice. As we approached her cabin he rather swiftly said goodnight and dashed into her cabin, because she was afraid I might have tried to kiss her, and I may have, I don't know. I was happy just to have been given so much attention.

Our dating relationship would have to wait, however. Over Fourth of July weekend I met someone new, and she kissed me first.

These girls and everything else went through my head as I lie there, hour after hour, listening to this tape on my Walkman. I wanted to be home. There was no communication with either of these girls from that place, just me in my head, going everywhere.

I won't tell you what was on the cassette. It doesn't matter, it was music, and music is where I live.

Distance: 3.58 miles
Avg Pace: 9:02
Duration: 32:18
Route: Forest Hills Loops

A week from today, my daughter also turns thirteen. Coincidence? Oh, I think not.

Temperature: 25°
Climate: cold with bright sunshine
Pavement: drifts of snow

1981 Playlist
Under Pressure - Queen ft. David Bowie
I'm Not the One - The Cars
One Step Ahead - Split Enz
Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) - Spandau Ballet
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
One World (Not Three) - The Police
Hungry For You (J'aurais Toujours Faim de Toi) - The Police
The Tide Is High - Blondie
Flexible Strategies - The Police

Weight: 161.5 lbs. (-0.5)
Mood: better