Here, take my shirt and just go ahead and wipe up all the sweat.

Happy birthday!

What has Noom done for me, now that I have unsubscribed? I take the stairs, every day, all the time. I drink more water. I am consistent in exercise. I am much more aware of hat I eat, how I eat, when I eat, what inspires me to eat, and how I choose not to eat things -- and to enjoy the shit out of what I do eat.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:12

Then, anxiety. I have so many things going on, and accompanying each is the fear that someone hates me for it. My job, my writing, my production, and yes, my government. The only people I completely trust are members of my family.

Anyway, back to work.

Route: rec center
Temperature: 11°
Climate: cold but sunny
Mood: getting it done

Man. That was a run I did not want to do. Sunday morning, stay home, watch SNL with the wife. It was slow at first, but I am glad I made it happen.

2013 Playlist

Chain My Name - Poliça

Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) - Marcus Mumford & Oscar Isaac ft. Punch Brothers

Tangled Up (Lokee Remix) - Caro Emerald

Pumpin Blood - Nonono 

Aria Math - C418

Lose Yourself To Dance - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell

Little Numbers - Boy

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 163 lbs. (+3.0)

Middle-aged fucks weaving across lanes, walking the wrong way for a short cut to the equipment they want to use. I mean, go on king, we’re all trying to stay alive but I don’t own this place, either.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

We’re all God’s children running.

Work. Managing a fleet of school buses through the sleet and rain. Yesterday, I thought I would drop but I kept my bearings and made it to five o'clock and felt much better. These are long, full, productive days.

Also, I have a stye. I am far too vain for this to be okay.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 27:42

Sower run today, just whipped. But it was good, and I am glad I went. There were younger runners, too. That's always a surprise.

Route: rec center
Temperature: 24°
Climate: icy
Mood: tired but determined

Pudding Mix 2025

Things Fall Apart - Cristina

Wintergardens (Chris Kimsey Mix) - Killing Joke

Winter Sky - Big Country

They're All Out of Liquor - The Waitresses

Candy Carol - Book of Love

Fear Not (While Shepherds Watched Their Flock By Night) - Before the Flood

Joy - Bogan Via

Everyone Should Light a Candle For Christmas - The Gold Needles

Give Me Back My Heart - Jona Lewie

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

Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

Two steps ahead of everyone.

How odd. By the end of the day on Wednesday, I was feeling poor, like I was getting a cold. I noticed during my run that I felt rather weak. Not weak enough not to run, and maybe that was it. I was using a BPM playlist and perhaps pushing myself harder than I should have been.

I thought I would wake up Thursday completely sick, but that did not happen. I am grateful. I don't want to be sick.

Still, in my torpor I polished off a bag of Peanut M&M's and what was left of a bag of Doritos from Sunday night. Illness as an excuse.  

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:01

I'd really love a brief uptick in the weather, for one more run in the woods. Committing to the rec center so soon is a drag. The fact is, I run faster in the rec center; it's flat, level, no dips or possible places to trip. I sometimes torture myself with images of losing my feet and going forehead-first into an I-beam.

But I can't tell if I'm the asshole or if it is everyone else. I know you are enjoying your time at the gym, but I am sick of people walking four abreast. They know there is a runner on the track, but they just chat and try to pay attention to when I come around but it's not that wide of a track. I come around in less than a minute.

I think they think I should just use the treadmill, but Jesus Christ, so could they.

Route: rec center
Temperature: 38
Climate: overcast & cold
Mood: driven

Best thing about the track is that I pause, briefly, after every mile and have a big healthy drink of water. That’s extremely helpful.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 165 lbs.

We're failing sugar season. Time to tighten up. But I did make this amazing pizza last night, using the marinara pasta with Romanesco as a topping.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

The Best of Everything But the Girl (2025)

Missing (Terry Todd Radio Edit)

Nothing Left to Lose

Tracey in My Room (Lazy Dog Bootleg Vocal Mix)

Walking Wounded (159 BPM)

Single

Corcovado (157 BPM)

This singles collection was released today, November 14, 2025. Most of the tracks I listened to today are from 1994-1996, so there's a lot of guilt and shame in there. My God, what would I have done without Tracey and Ben?

This race is all but run.

The weather has finally, truly turned. Depressing headache yesterday, as the clouds came in and the temperature dropped. It's rained for about a day, we're bringing the plants inside, I'm starting to close the windows, the heat is on.

And it is time to hit the rec center.

Distance: 3 miles 

Duration: 25:42

A few years ago, when I was having trouble turning a small idea into a big idea, I started to go on longer and longer runs. The urge was to make a metaphorical idea come true; by tracing a bigger area with my feet, perhaps I could trace a bigger idea with my mind.

-  by Ben Ratliff, "Run the Song"

Route: rec center
Temperature: 45°
Climate: rain
Mood: irritated

Just a few days ago, it was my Noomaversary. Surprised they didn't let me know, but that might run counter to their programming, drawing attention to the passage of time. Or maybe a lot of people quit after one year.

My recreation center membership renews in December. That's how late I signed up, how long I ran in the cold and rain before taking that step. Now, I just need to prepare in the morning, and I go. It's not a big deal.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 170 lbs. (+10)

How do you jump ten pounds in two days? It was surprising to me, but not too surprising. The fact is, the past two days, yesterday especially, were not "mindful." They were, in fact, ordinary. The headache compounded my desire, I sat in a classroom in Aurora, miserable, taking notes, and thinking how much better life would be with sugar and caffeine. I made a beeline to the nearest Starb*cks and got not only a PSL, my first, and hopefully only of the season, and why not, a slice of banana bread.

That banana bread is 380 calories, all by itself. This was after having had my traditional breakfast.

Lunch was packed, which was good. But it is sugar season and there is candy all over the office, I had one, two, I mean, they're so small, three pieces of candy. Two of them were chocolate.

Last night I was on my own and I made dinner. Leftover mac and cheese, but I did not measure it, and so it was closer to two cups, not just one. In that way I could just empty the container. Why not? And I grazed on pretzel sticks as I air fried sweet potatoes.

Later, watching TV eating dinner and having a beer, I decided not to let the honey mustard I made go to waste and fetched two unmeasured handfuls of pretzel sticks, but also made additional honey mustard to go with it.

Unregulated, unmeasured, unrecorded, unmindful. This describes what used to be a normal day for me. Just, eating whatever.

There is a lot of produce in the fridge, but I could not be bothered to make something good for just me, which is unfortunate. But there you go, ten pounds in two days. A lot of that weight is probably just working its way through me, waiting to get out. But some will remain.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

What’s That Lyric?

It’s Not Over (‘Til It’s over and Done) - Bleu McAuley

Stomp on the street when I hear a funky beat.

Every other day, for an entire month. That's something to be happy about. I have mapped out my runs for the next two weeks, I will miss some days but that is entirely acceptable, considering what we have planned.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:29
Route: rec center
Mood: anxiety
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

Going to take all my "Treat Days" all at once ... for two weeks. How will I fare? We'll find out.

1990 Playlist

This Love - Daniel Ash

Soul Free - George Michael

I Left My Wallet in El Segundo - Tribe Called Quest

Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite

Justify My Love - Madonna

Hippychick - SoHo

Sinister Minister - Bela Fleck & the Flecktones 

Woof. Too cold outside, but too warm in the rec center.

Sundown on the Union

It took illness to break up a very respectable every-other-day visit to the rec center. I suppose it was inevitable. I have been eating less mindfully, it's a slide, that's okay. It's so cold outside (which is a good thing, winter is necessary) and comfort food is a thing. But I need more fresh vegetables.

Fresh vegetables are by their very nature cold. And it feels counterintuitive to consume something that is cold when you feel cold, or have a cold. Why not some fried starch thing instead?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 23:30

Yes, that was my pace. A rare after work run at the rec center, just as I started a runners group took the track. I was instructed to get into the slower lanes. Even though I was faster than most of them.

Faster than I usually am.

I was sick for a week. I am already starting to regret this.

Shit, that was fast.

I hope I never see those people again.

Mood: malaise
Stretches: yes
Water: not enough

Weight: 161 lbs.

1983 Playlist

Stand Back - Stevie Nicks

Wrap It Up - Eurythmics

Union Sundown - Bob Dylan

Home By the Sea - Genesis

On the Dark Side - John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band

A Ray of Sunshine - Wham!

Tragic youth was looking young and sexy.

The rec center membership is paying for itself. This winter has been a proper one, first in ages it seems, with freezing temperatures and icy sidewalks. 

I have a feeling that spring will bring with it a national disaster the likes of which we have not yet seen. I don't normally like to point to the fences like that, but there's no way this continues without horrific repercussions.

You see? I am paying attention.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:39

Things in the running lane this morning:

Conversation between three people

Someone taking a photograph

The feet of a guy doing sit-ups 

Also, young person walking the wrong walk up the walkers lane then sprinting like a crazed person (in the correct direction) weaving through all the rest of us like an asshole.

Route: rec center 
Mood: maintaining
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

2003 Playlist

Molly's Chambers - Kings of Leon

Go Brown - Kaada

Kernkraft 400 (DJ Gius Mix) - Zombie Nation

Tour De France - Kraftwerk

Reality - David Bowie

Running Up That Hill - Placebo

Beware - Jay Z ft. Punjabi MC

Did two miles without stopping for water, that's new. It was the music, friends!

I hope it’s going to be all right.

"And all the words we said yesterday
That's a long time ago"

It has been several years since I ran this many times in January. I am very glad I have returned to the Rec Center, but I'm also looking forward to spring and running through the park.

Running at the Rec Center, I take a very short walking break after each mile, and take a healthy drink of water before continuing. That also makes a difference in my ability to keep going.

Distance: 4 miles

Duration: 33:01

Man. Walkers in every lane today.

Route: Rec Center
Mood: "alright"
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 164 lbs.

The art-work continues. I need to practice being artistic ... even though that is not what I would call myself. Isn't that odd?

1989 Playlist

Mr. Cab Driver - Lenny Kravitz

We Didn’t Start the Fire - Billy Joel

Rock and a Hard Rock Place - Rolling Stones

See a Little Light - Bob Mould

Get Up (Before the Night is Over) - Technotronic

Asking Me Lies -The Replacements

Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers 

It’s Alright - Pet Shop Boys

Doin Our Own Dang - Jungle Brothers

I'll be there to watch you run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run.

You might assume I run less frequently during the month of January due to the cold weather, but I realize this is not the case. It's the residency rehearsal schedule and the test week. There's just little time for exercise. But at least I am active.

Very, very active. I get anxious when I am so active. We saw a movie last Monday, I went to Dark Room on Tuesday, and attended a high school playwriting event in Canton on Wednesday. A lot of driving in the snow and cold and little time at home last week. Then there was the science fiction marathon, and we saw another film last night.

I should be excited about this. Life is to be lived, you know?  

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 28:51

Also, man. The cold. Makes my knees hurt, even when I am not exerting myself. I’m just. Older.

Route: Rec Center
Mood: I mean
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 163 lbs.

Cooling down, there’s a dude in the running lane who is literally slower than I am walking in the walking lane.

I’ll be that guy someday, but I’ll stay in the walking lane.

1984 Playlist

New Way of Life - The Sound

Beat City - The Flowerpot Men

Cue Fanfare - Prefab Sprout

Black Diamond - The Replacements

Talking In Your Sleep - The Romantics

Hold Me Now (12" Extended Mix) - Thompson Twins

I Love You, Suzanne - Lou Reed

The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now.

More illness, saddled by neck pain and fatigue. Is this winter? Is this ageing?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 27:24

Another go round the track. Noonish on a Friday, the place is full of walkers. Some of them were even using walkers. I felt a little pain in my neck and shoulders, perhaps that is how it happened in the first place. Holding my phone, to better manage the stopwatch, and counting on my fingers so I don't forget how many laps I've taken, that could certainly cause tension in my shoulders.  

Route: Rec Center
Mood: all right
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 165 lbs.

2004 Playlist

Jesus Walks - Kanye West

TKO - Le Tigre

Holiday - Green Day

Musicology - Prince

Me Plus One - Annie

Toxic - Britney Spears

Air - Owls

Ch-Check It Out - Beastie Boys

Decent Days and Nights - The Futureheads

I've been running a long time.

A visit to the gym -- suiting up, driving there ands back, running three miles -- takes only one hour. I think I can do this, one hour, every other day. Back on track -- get it?

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 27:06
Route: Rec Center
Mood: angsty
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

What's That Lyric?

Bitterblue - Yusuf

Kept the beat and kept it strong.

Slay.

Why hasn't Pengo had a run since Thanksgiving?

A. Eight performances a week

B. The weather

If you chose B, you would be correct. I would have made time for running in spite of or even because of the work, but it was cold and even snowy. But I have also (FINALLY) renewed my gym membership.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: no idea

MapMyRun is still unable to track running indoors. So, I need to use a stopwatch at the rec center.

Route: Rec Center
Mood: good
Stretches: no
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBA

What's That Lyric?

88 Lines About 44 Women - The Nails

I'm calling you to dinner.

Last run, I began to feel pain in my back, the lower right side. It hurt before bed, too. I hope this does not bode poorly for the summer.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 33:22
Pace: 10:10
Route: Rec Center (treadmill)
Mood: good

So yeah, back on the treadmill. When they reopened the rec center, they put machines onto the track to maintain distance. Not bad, though. One of the new machines has a fan, which is nice. The last time I used a treadmill I noticed how overheated I get when I'm not moving through air. Wish the fan had been stronger, but I could tell a difference.

Also. Running in a mask? Not great. But I did it. "Mask optional - but recommended," the sign read.

Intake

Breakfast: red velvet cake & ice cream, coffee (3x)

Lunch: big ass salad

Cocktail Hour: Sweet Old-Fashioned

Dinner: quinoa salad

Okay? Okay. Finished the cake. Now this has to stop. So far my pants still fit, but it's a struggle. Now that Calvin's Day is past, I think we can say good night to Sugar Season ... until October.

2010 Playlist

Shutterbug - Big Boi ft. Cutty

Fuck You - CeeLo Green

Tightrope - Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi

Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris

Dynamite - Taio Cruz

Firework - Katy Perry

Blow - Ke$ha

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: all right

We're stars in the ascendant.

The girl and I knocked this out in two days.

Went to the gym on Friday morning to do some upper body work. I'm just this weak little puppy, I must get in there more often to take care of myself.

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 23:31
Pace: 7:49
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 73°
Climate: hot & sunny
Mood: good, ok?
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

165 - 169 BPM Playlist
In The Meantime - Spacehog
Take On Me - Weezer
Baseball Theme - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Straight To Me Heart - Sting
Throwing It All Away - Genesis
Single - Natasha Bedingfield
Runaways - XTC

Ripped that up. Still feeling sore from yesterday morning, but I stayed (mostly) vertical and kept the beat.

Tomorrow Chris and I make nine miles. We plan to start early, not that it makes much difference. The temperature won't even dip lower than seventy-one all night. If we start at 6:0 AM, that's the coolest it will be all day.

Nine miles. Yeah.

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 164 lbs. (-0.5)
Goal: 160 lbs.

Good puppy.

March has been a busy month. That is no excuse, but it is a fact. Appearing in matinee performances of Witness For the Prosecution at Great Lakes. Attending rehearsals for two plays, then arriving home to clear the kitchen. Morning meetings, taking the girl to get her driver's license.

Then there is my diet, which is all fucked up. Last weekend I buckled and bought two pair of 34" pants. I almost used the "F" word but we don't say that any more, at least not in its negative connotation. I feel that pants are like a tank for goldfish, the fish is only going to grow to accommodate the size of the tank, and that so will I.

For the time being, I will track my intake. It's not a shaming device, it's a way to remind myself exactly what I am putting in my mouth. How much, and what it is.

Intake: coffee, fiber & D gummies, white bagel with oil butter & melted cheese

Distance: 2 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: good, yeah.
Exercises: yes

I could have gone three, I chose not to. It's been a minute. No need to exhaust myself on the first day back. Keep it up, the temperature is supposed to spike for the next two days.

2002 Playlist
Shoot the Dog - George Michael
Return to Paradise (Mark De Clive-Lowe Remix) - Shirley Horn
Shelf Wobbler - Mr. Scruff
Soul Bossanova - Skeewiff

Cooldown:
Emerge (Daft Punk Mix) - Fisherspooner

Ah, those days. Jazzy trip-hop, downbeat afterhours muzak. We thought we were adult, but childhood was about to re-emerge. It always does.

Here's a tip, keep the music playing during the exercises. It helps motivate. Why would you turn it off? What are you trying to document?

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Annie? Are you ok? Are you ok, Annie?

Last time I got a kink in my left ankle. I can still feel it when I wake up, though it almost immediately subsides. These little pains are so odd. They aren't new, it's just part of life. They come, they go. What are they?

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: getting there
Exercises: yes!

Okay. Ok, ok, ok. I keep thinking of the running play. I keep making little notes here about the running play. It's been ten years, it is time to revise the running play. And now I have the motivation.

Also, I am curious about my new experiment with weight machines. How stronger am I? Am I stronger? How will I change shape? Will I change shape? Right now I am quite pillowy. Maybe that will change. Maybe I will become big and pillowy, I don't know.

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 180.5 lbs. (+0.5)
Goal: 175 lbs.

Help.

1987 Playlist
Cry, Little Sister - Gerard McMann
Rock Steady - Sting
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
Hourglass - Squeeze
Girlfriend In a Coma - The Smiths
Nightclub Jitters - The Replacements
The One I Love - R.E.M.
Lean On Me - Club Nouveau

Cooldown:
Figure It Out - The Bears

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Hold onto me, pretty baby, if you want to fly.

Strange bug bite on the back of my calf. James assures me it's not from a tick, that if it were a tick I'd know, but it round and itchy and weird. A spider? Who knows. Where did I score that? No idea. Monitoring my energy. I think I'm okay.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: good!
Exercises: yes

Tour time, throws my schedule off. Was enjoying my work in the gym, using the machines. Just takes a day to feel like you haven't done a thing at all. Got a big show this spring, hoping to have more strength and endurance by then. You have to build up to be able to bread down, do you know what I am saying?

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 180 lbs. (+2.0)
Goal: 175 lbs.

Such a pleasant morning, weather-wise. It could have been an outdoor run in a cool mist, but I would have missed the machines. Seriously, I am on a machines kick.

There's this one guy, though, on the track. He bugs the hell out of me. There are four lanes, the inside two are for walking, the outside for running. This guy, he's maybe sixty or so. Tall. He's got airpods in, and he is just grooving, with his elbows working high, really lifting up those elbows as he bops along.

But he's in the outside lane. And he's not running. He's not even speed-walking, he's just walking. Mister, I don't care how high your elbows work, you have to lift your knees to run, get the fuck out of my lane.

2007 Playlist
Land of All - Sky Cries Mary
Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns
I Feel It All - Feist
The Boys - Dragonette
The News - Carbon Silicon
The Moneymaker - Rilo Kiley
Flathead - The Fratellis
Electro Man - Calvin Harris

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Keep on trucking.

Relaxing into the deep freeze. Yesterday it plunged to about four or five below, not further than that -- but OH! The wind chill.

I have no idea, actually, I went out side for about ninety seconds, total, and for the best of reasons. To have cocktails at Quinatna's Speakeasy (four dollar Old Fashioneds, a one-day, Polar Vortex special!) and the to get Chinese food because that's what the girl wanted for her sixteenth birthday dinner.

Sixteen years. Oh my. It took me a long time to realize the more they age, the more I do. But things are good. Feeling good. Life is good. Right? Isn't it? Even when nature is out there, waiting to rip your face off?

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: all right
Exercises: yes!

Oops. Forgot to eat anything.

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 181.5 lbs. (+2.0)
Goal: 175 lbs.

Oh! Jesus!

1973 Playlist
Living For the City - Stevie Wonder
Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
Skokian - Hot Butter
Keep On Truckin' (Part One) - Eddie Kendricks
Polk Salad Annie (Live) - Elvis Presley
Jungle Boogie  - Kool & the Gang
5.15 - The Who
Cindy Incidentally - The Faces

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Look at me, I'm happy.

Gym Pro: Moderate temperature on a cold rainy day, no inclines.

Gym Con: BORING.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Rec Center
Mood: all right, actually
Exercises: yes

Visited a urologist, on my doctor's recommendation. Still waiting for the results. They may be not good or very not  good or nothing at all. WebMD says I have cancer.

And if you think I think that's a joke, you are terribly mistaken. Welcome to the fifties.

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 178 lbs. (-0.5)
Goal: 175 lbs.

The boy and I went to the gym, him working out with his arm cast, me making my way around the track. Between each mile I did a few reps at a few machines, which is a good thing to do.

1988 Playlist
Wild Wild West - Kool Moe Dee
Pop Song 89 (acoustic) - R.E.M.
Don't Worry Be Happy - Boby McFerrin
Birth, School, Work Death - The Godfathers
Suedehead - Morrissey
Goodbye Sunday - Everything But the Girl
Walk the Dinosaur - Was Not Was

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