Life is short.

A chore-free Saturday. How far will we run?

Distance: 5.75 miles

Duration: 53:45
Pace: 9:20

The wife is having a tremendous west coast adventure (see photo) and I am celebrating the completion of the school year.

When she goes out of town, I have these fantasies of organizing and de-cluttering and that often lasts six hours on the first day.

As she is out over two weekends, not just one, I am hoping to accomplish more than usual. The weather has lifted my spirits.

Route: Forest Hill-Cain Park Loop
Temperature: 60°
Climate: ideal
Mood: good

Yesterday and today, I have felt pain across my chest. Not like "chest pain" but more like muscle pain, perhaps from overexertion, I do not know. After this run, I do not feel it any longer. 

High School Run (1982-1985)

Fantastic Day (12" Version) (152 bpm) - Haircut One Hundred

Since Yesterday - Strawberry Switchblade

Doctor! Doctor! (Phil Thornalley Remix) - Thompson Twins

New Religion (Carnival Remix) - Duran Duran

Don't Box Me In (160 bpm) - Stewart Copeland ft. Stanard Ridgway

Two Minute Warning - Depeche Mode

New Kind of Kick - The Cramps

Hello Again - The Cars

Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life - Indeep

What Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?) (Unsocial Mix) - Wham!

Black Diamond - The Replacements

Baby I'm a Star - Prince & the Revolution

(You Can Still) Rock In America (165 bpm) - Night Ranger

I Confess - The Beat

Remarkable, a longer run, a slower run, a casual run, a beautiful run. The result? My mind went places it does not normally go on a shorter run. I started thinking about the future, not the past, making plans for camp, for the writing workshop, and also the Wilde scene work.

Exercise is good. Thinking is better.

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

If you watch a David Lynch movie before bed, don't be surprised if you have odd dreams.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

We did it again! Fifteen runs in a month. Consistency. Three months running, a streak I have not maintained since 2023, the last period when I would try to run every day. It is a conscious choice not to run every day (unless making up for a missed day) and it has kept me, for the time being, from injury.

Leaving me here on my own.

The days are full and occupied. I have something of a groove? The running, yes. And the writing, journaling mostly, but there's also the reading. Turning old ideas around in my head, trying to see something new, to interpret a classic story through a modern lens.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:42
Pace: 8:55 

Putting things away, throwing things away, selling them on eBay. Yesterday, I adjudicated the annual Shakespeare competition at a local independent school. That went well. Making phone calls, trying to learn new things about potential candidates.  

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 61°
Climate: beautiful
Mood: good!

"Can one confide oneself to somebody of whom one knows nothing but how his laugh sounds."

- "Metropolis" by Thea von Harbou

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

Stayed up a bit too late last night, the kid came home from the studio and we sat up, just hanging out on the deck. Then Tiger wanted some 2:00 AM attention. Anyway, I didn't think I'd be up for a run this morning. But I am.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

What's That Lyric?

Cruel Summer - Bananarama

I need to choose what I am going to run to the night before. It is stressful trying to choose right before I step out. Not like big stress, but it brings me down. And it's not necessary.

Saturday run? High school music. I think.

Nice try. Get out the way.

One more week in the school year. Soon we will put this mess behind us, I hope. It's not even a full week, and yet. It feels as though a month is laid out before me.

Last night, I heard some reassuring words. Sometimes I lose faith. Sometimes faith is provided to me without my asking.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:53
Pace: 8:59

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 63°
Climate: gorgeous
Mood: let's go!

"Nothing happens in Metropolis which does not come to my father's ears."

- "Metropolis" by Thea von Harbou (See: Matthew 10:29)

Stretches: yes
Water: no
Weight: 165 lbs. (+1.0)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

What's That Lyric?

mangetout (The Dare Remix) - Wet Leg

Wonder why you stopped getting high.

The wife has departed for points west, not to return for almost two weeks. The elder will join me in a day or so, but they have such a busy schedule I will still be largely on my own.

The school year winds to a close, there is so much yet to do. The question is whether I will be able to take advantage of my time alone to be productive, remain focused, and feel satisfied with how I am spending my time.

Distance: 3.2 miles

Duration: 28:35
Pace: 8:55

Prepared my first batch of cannabis brownies last night, yes, a 57 year-old man making the pot brownies. Would I be successful? I was. They hit after about an hour, I wisely took a modest sample because they turned out to be pleasantly potent. For the first time in many days, I slept well and long -- and still woke up before eight am. What a weekend! 

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 68°
Climate: partly cloudy & nice
Mood: mellow

"For the inventive spirit of man there is no Utopia: there is only a Not-yet."

- "Metropolis" by Thea von Harbou

"And if you use crack now ... get help now!"
- Jenny Lewis (1986)

Block Rockin' Weekend - The Current

Charles Bradley:

   Changes

   Heart of Gold

   Stay Away

Hank Williams:

   Your Cheatin' Heart

   Jambalaya on the Bayou (165 BPM)

   Honky Tonk Blues

Jenny Lewis:

   Red Bull & Hennessey

   Heads Gonna Roll

My shins, both of them, have been stressed. No doubt the result of a week spent on my feet, teaching three days of classes in schools. I will take additional ibuprofen and wear some bandages.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 164 lbs. (-1.0)

It's easier to manage my intake when I am alone. I set alarms for meals so I'm not thinking about it. But then I don't have to wonder; when does she get home? Six? Seven? Eight-thirty? We had dinner Friday night after 9 PM, of course I was snacking before then.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Evel Knievel, you got nothing on me.

Beautiful days, busy days, dizzy days. Teaching in West Geauga, interviewing candidates downtown, Wednesday I visited my elementary school in my old hometown. Surprised its lasted this long, I have been wanting to see inside of it before it inevitably disappears.

Elementary School Run (1974-1978)

New York Groove - Ace Frehley

Young Americans (178 BPM) - David Bowie

When the Whip Comes Down - The Rolling Stones

Neat Neat Neat - The Damned

Peg - Steely Dan

#9 Dream - John Lennon

Riding the Scree (162 BPM) - Genesis

Come Together (160 BPM)  - Ike & Tina Turner

Distance: 63°

Duration: 27:48
Pace: 8:57

So it happens, it will be torn down, and very soon. It's an old building -- not as old as I thought it was, it was built in 1947, but still. Almost eighty. Weird to think it was only twenty-seven years old when I started attending that school in 1974. But then, 1974 is also ancient history.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 63°
Climate: damp
Mood: tired

They held an open house on Wednesday, and I am glad I heard about it. It was awkward conversing with fellow classmates -- elementary school classmates -- several of whom I have not seen since we graduated forty years ago this spring. I just wanted to wander the halls. It was a bit too much.

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

That was where I embarrassed myself during the utensil walk. That was where I shat myself doing sit-ups. That's the room where they taught me how not to lisp. That was where I told Tracy she was chopped. Where I learned that Santa's crystal ball was fake. Where I wrote on the mirror with soap and got sent to the office and saw the paddle with nails in it. Where we held the disco.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

Five years, from age six to ten, is all of your life when you are ten, and I spent them in that building.

Don't it get you moving?

Winding down the school year, lots of teaching, making up for those who walked out. My love departs this weekend, on a work trip (and side vacation) and she will be gone for two weeks. Have we ever been apart so long?

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 26:50
Pace: 8:39

The past several days have been hot! Today, it is cool. And I don't care for cool.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 51°
Climate: light rain
Mood: muddy headed

May 20, 2012

160-169 BPM Playlist

Where Nowhere Is - Hoodoo Gurus

I've Done Everything For You - Rick Springfield

Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles

Urinetown from "Urinetown"

I'm Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston

Still Breathin' from "Warriors"

Classical Gas - Mason Williams

The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzie

I'm Alright - Kenny Loggins

I feel a bit aimless on day's like today, like I didn't want to run because it was cool. But it wasn't that cool, and the rain was very light. And I chose a bpm list, one which would keep me moving, just the right speed. And I ran back-to-back nine minute miles, which is just fine. Better than fine.

I fret over gaining weight. I must admit, I am also afraid of having chest pains (I have never had chest pains) and yet, here I am, running every other day and I feel great. What am I so worried about?

Stretches: 
Water: 
Weight: 165 lbs. (-5.0)

Fourteen years ago today, I ran my second marathon, and the first when I broke four hours. That day was too hot, too. Nothing is perfect.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: yes

Why do you feel so underrated?

In-person callbacks. I hope we all survive.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:49
Pace: 8:58

Make sure those earbuds are charged, my friend.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 71° 
Climate: clear & warm
Mood: hopeful?

Suddenly, summer.

Stretches: 
Water: yes
Weight: 170 lbs. (+7.0)

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

What's That Lyric?

Banquet - Bloc Party

Move your feet (to the rhythm of love).

Le Hoodoo Gurus third album, Blow Your Cool! was a banger that arrived during spring quarter my freshman year at Ohio University.

It was a hot and sweaty season, we spent a great deal of time out of doors, throwing frisbee, drinking beer, and hanging brain. 

This one played on boomboxes in the quad, out the windows of our dorms, and on my Walkman headphones as I tried, tentatively, to develop a running routine around South Green. 

Party Machine is the closer every album should have.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 36:02
Pace: 8:47
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 67°
Climate: overcast & warm
Mood: good!

The summer of 1987 was the peak of New Psychedelia. The trend had started a couple years earlier, with Talking Heads' Little Creatures and Prince's Around the World in a Day. 

But in 1987 (the 20 year anniversary of the "Summer of Love") we received Sgt. Pepper's on compact disc, and the Grateful Dead scored their first and only number one single. The Monkees were on tour for the first time since the 1960s, XTC posing as the Dukes of Stratosphear dropped Psonic Psunspot, tie-dye made a huge comeback, and we got this album. 

Flip your wig. Blow your cool.

Blow Your Cool! - Hoodoo Gurus (1987)

Out That Door

What's My Scene (167 BPM)

Good Times

Hell for Leather

Where Nowhere Is (164 BPM)

In the Middle of the Land

Come On

On My Street

Party Machine

Bonus: Miss Freelove '69

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 163 lbs. (-4.0)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Last night, I attended a high school alumni event, a bunch of us went to see The Outsiders. The show is pretty incredible, but I was even more delighted to see and catch up with fond old friends, and beloved educators.

It's been a Big Bay 80s week for me, I guess. Teaching at the middle school, visiting the beach (twice), this show, and these albums.

The echo machine ran wild.

US Cover

I have older brothers, and they have friends who became my friends and so I was into a lot of cool stuff many of my contemporaries were not, like indie movies from the 1970s, and some truly great albums.

One guy did a two-person, acoustic gig with his roommate /in their mod at O.U. which went over gangbusters for the twenty or so people who were in attendance, and I got a bootleg recording (yes, we can call it that) which I listened to a lot when I was a junior in high school.

Most of it was covers and they did a devastating take on the Hoodoo Gurus Dig It Up. It's not exemplary of their work, it's more of a novelty song, but it inspired me to pick up Stoneage Romeos, their first LP.

The Hoodoos had this funky retro garage band style, like Violent Femmes with more polish.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:24
Pace: 8:46
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 46°
Climate: bright & cool
Mood: determined

AU Cover

Stoneage Romeos - Hoodoo Gurus (1984)

(Let's All) Turn On

I Want You Back

Arthur

Death Ship

Dig It Up

Leilani

Tojo *

In the Echo Chamber

Oh, dear. The same casual racism toward Asians as evidenced in contemporary tracks like Turning Japanese and China Girl.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 167 lbs. (+1.0)

When do I just stop recording my weight?

Here’s the thing. I have been drinking a lot. Like, I feel like I have consumed more alcohol in the first four months of this year than I did in all of last year.

That’s how bad things are. Not at home, not with the world in general. Just to calm my nerves about my work. I still love everyone I work with. But it is so hard to manage all these thoughts. To rest. To sleep. To focus on one thing; a book, a movie, a conversation. It’s all too much.

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA 

Sit-Ups: TBA

Hey. Only fools rush in and only time will tell if we stand the test of time.

This week has been challenging. A post-Mother's Day ball game was less-than pleasant because the air was just a bit too chilly (we did defeat the Angels, however.) 

Then on Tuesday, I played substitute at my old middle school (not the same building, but like ship of Theseus, it occupies the same space) and, I'm not getting into this, but agreeing to let my colleague run the class they way she preferred meant I was standing for the better part of five hours.  

I came home and took a two hour nap, which is not my custom, it's not something I can do, sleep for two hours in the afternoon. But I was exhausted. This morning, I woke exhausted, but needed to teach a day-long Romeo & Juliet workshop at my spouse's former place of employment.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:23
Pace: 8:49

I thought I would be destroyed, but it was a lovely day. My throat burns from two days of talking, and I did take a twenty minute nap after work, but you know? Sometimes I feel better after a run.

Even when it is cooler than I would desire

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 51°
Climate: overcast and breezy, nice
Mood: driven

Prom 1986

Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen

Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs

Red Red Wine - UB40

If You Leave - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

These Dreams - Heart

Your Love - The Outfield

Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes 

Don't You (Forget About Me) 12" Version - Simple Minds

We have this mini-class reunion happening on Friday, so I was in a mood.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 166 lbs.

Here we go. Can we bring it back. We've been enjoying a lot of high calorie leftovers. Also, cake.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

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