Come running at the drop of a hat.

And did we complete fifteen runs in August? Yes, we did.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:04
Pace: 9:22
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 77°
Climate: warm & humid
Mood: a tad weary

New For 2026 Playlist

My Dead Astronaut- Robyn Hitchcock

the feeling - Steve Lacy

American Cars - Noah Kahan

In The Stars - The Rolling Stones

I Won't Be Home Tonight - Tony Carey

Sun and Moon - Danielle Ponder

Lonely in the Future - The Strokes

Supersize - Megasound ft. Bad Bad Hats & Party Nails 

Seriously, Stones? How did you do that? Eighty year olds produce a stone cold banger.

Had to look up Tony Carey, I thought that got on by mistake. Sounds like 1983. But he's old, too. So is Robyn Hitchcock. We're all old guys.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 162 lbs. (-2.0)

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

I'm chill like that.

Pretty epic.

Here's the thing about my last run, or my last two runs. They were slogs. Often, I am feeling down but when I hit the road I feel great. It's kind of why I do this.

The last two runs, especially on Monday, and in spite of the lighter weather, it took effort to lift my feet. And then on Tuesday I just tapped out at work. I almost passed out, twice, I think. Not feeling well. No pain, no temperature, just malaise, dizziness, exhaustion. I slept thirteen hours on Tuesday night.

Distance: 3.5 miles

Duration: 32:19
Pace: 9:13

The consistency, it has been a gift. Sometimes you need time off. We have been driving to Maine, getting in and out of a car has been arduous. Just sitting down. Just walking. Sitting down is actually more difficult that standing up. I need to see a doctor. 

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 67°
Climate: light fluffy clouds & breezy
Mood: good

90s Summer Hip-Hop

Fantastic Voyage - Coolio

Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature

Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) - Digable Planets

They Reminisce Over You - Pete Rock & C.L Smooth

Full Clip - Gang Starr

Slam - Onyx

Award Tour - Tribe Called Quest ft. Trugoy the Dove

Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill

Stretches: yes
Water: yes

And now, we are on vacation. We are in Maine. I did not know if she would be with me, but she is. Beside me, holding hands, reading, drinking, writing, loving. It was a difficult drive (my leg, the weariness) but here we are. Currently at peace. 

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Straight to your heart.

Twenty years ago, on February 14, 2006, I noted how I felt running would prolong my life. I said that I hoped our elder child to be "older than this before I die." I was thirty-seven then. They are now twenty-three. So I just need to hang on another fourteen years.

February 14, 2006 Playlist

Remember the Time - Michael Jackson

Closer to God - Nine Inch Nails

Party Machine - Hoodoo Gurus

All Night Long - Peter Murphy

Burning Love - Elvis Presley

Atom Bomb (Atomix 1) - Fluke

Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo

Run On - Elvis Presley

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 28:36

This weekend we took the train to Poughkeepsie for a celebration of life event. I have suffered a cold the past few days (it started in while I was teaching Wednesday afternoon) and while I could have taken the mile long walk from Toni's cousin's place to the hotel, I am weary of being cold.

Temps pick up this week, for a bit. But will the pavement in East Cleveland be clear enough for the first outdoor run of 2026? We shall see.

Site: Heartwood Hotel at Vassar (exercise room, treadmill)
Temperature: 30°
Climate: cool & clear
Mood: addled

2012 Playlist

Another Night - Claptone

Five Seconds - Twin Shadow

Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch

I Knew You Were Trouble. - Taylor Swift

Default - Django Django

Youth Without Youth - Metric

Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton

Stretches: yes
Water: yes

We're reading more books! I made it a goal to read twenty books (or full length scripts) in 2026, and recently finished both Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt and Monsters by Claire Dederer.

"Love is not reliant on judgment, but on a decision to set judgment aside."

- Claire Dederer, Monsters

Now onto the play script, Up Your Ass by Valerie Solanas. Happy Valentine's Day!

It'd be safest if you ran.

In 2007, the Death Clock said I will die Monday, October 7, 2047.

Now it says I will die Wednesday, May 7, 2042.

What the fuck, Death Clock?

I don't want to die on a Wednesday.

Seriously, though, and to paraphrase Logan 5, "Do I get my five years back?"

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 28:09
Pace: 9:04

Now avoiding all the pre-Halloween Halloween candy in the office. And yet, at home I have started just putting things into my mouth. When it's the other half of the banana I had as part of breakfast, okay, I guess. When you are putting away the leftovers and decide, at the end of the night, to have another "little" bowl of pasta and sauce, that is not okay, that is weirdly compulsive.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 50°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: all right

He's got legs.
He knows how to use them.

Capsule review: FRANKENSTEIN (2025)
Given the essential subject matter and also popular trends in gothic horror this film featured a surprising lack of dong.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 161 lbs. (-9.0)

It's cool and damp, but the sun is shining so brightly. An indoor run would be a crime.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

Spooky Workout Mix

Rasputin (Club Mix) - Boney M. ft. G. Mart

Mother - Danzig

Sick, Sick, Sick - Queens of the Stone Age

Blood in the Cut - K.Flay

Into The Void - Nine Inch Nails

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? - Revolting Cocks

Tooth - Lady Gaga

Shit, got some new ideas for the Monster Bash Mix.

Run into you sometimes.

Oof. Some days I can feel my age. And then I ask myself, have I ever actually felt better than this? I have a hernia, that was thirty years ago. Thought I would need to wear compression pants the rest of my life, wore them about five years. What I learned was that if I gained weight (or wore boxers instead of briefs) I would hurt down there. So I try not to gain weight, and for the most part I haven't hurt down there in thirty years. 

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 28:10
Pace: 9:05

Now there's this thing in my wrist. I worry its a symptom of something great, like something to do wit my circulation. But then, maybe it's just muscular. I work out. I do upper body exercises. I have also made a doctors appointment, it's good to see how balanced my humours may be.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 65°
Climate: clear & beautiful
Mood: good

We run. It is still summer. And yet, it is summer still.

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 161 lbs. (-4.0)

Maintenance. Be smart, kid.

Planks: yes
Pushups: yes

Running Summer Mix

Murder On the Dancefloor (PNAU Remix) - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

123456- Fitz & the Tantrums

Dance Wiv Me  - Dizzee Rascal ft. Calvin Harris

Carried Away - Passion Pit

Big Energy - Latto

Levitating - Dua Lipa

Fortnight - Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone

Love Tonight - Shouse 

Well. Spotify is just culling from my own playlists now, that's hardly what you would call working.

When there's no destination that's too far.

I don't know who Elaine S. is, but they created the perfect playlist for the Fourth of July this year. Not just great songs for the current moment, but also amazing covers of those songs. Fire this up for your cookout, if you are even having one this year.

Independence Day 2025 

Cruel Country - Wilco

Living in America - James Brown

The Handing Down - Magnolia Electric Co.

All the Time - Zach Jones

No One - Solomon Burke ft. De Dijk

Drinking at the Dam - Smog

Pretty Roses in Your Hair - The Jayhawks

Philanthropist - Jesse Welles ft. Billy Strings

Pocahontas (Live) - Gillian Welch

Sweet Child of Mine - Luna

American Dreaming - Dead Can Dance

Distance: 4.25 miles

Duration: 40:37
Pace: 9:33

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 77°
Climate: bright & sunny
Mood: good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

The spouse remarked on the effects of ageing upon the capacity to heal. Scabs that do not close over, for example. For me, it is the soreness. I pulled something in my wrist or forearm a couple weeks back, and though I have wrapped it and avoided stress, it continues to hurt. Also, my heel.

And yet, we live.

Forest Hill Park Run/Walk

The clouds were oppressive. I had a headache for days. Also, running in the mist the other day was not good. My knees were aching as I ran, rather than after or later. I need to remember that, it's not just that I don't like to run in the rain, or in colder weather, it affects my joints now.

Distance: 2.15 miles

Duration: 23:45
Pace: 11:02

Took a lovely run/walk with the elder child this morning. We drove to the park so we could do all our running in the park itself. They had spent some time there yesterday, communing with geese and their goslings and some very weird ducks.

Route: Forest Hill Park
Temperature: 58°
Climate: beautiful
Mood: surprisingly good
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 160 lbs.

You just had a salad today.

It's just cold. I'm just cold.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 26:31
Route: Rec Center
Mood: distant
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Weight: 162 lbs.

2013 Playlist

Tangled Up (Lokee Remix) - Caro Emerald

Donatella - Lady Gaga

Little Talks - Of Mice and Men

Hot Cheetos and Takis - Da Rich Kidzz 

Goodbye Horses - Q Lazzarus 

Chocolate - The 1975

Love Somebody - Maroon 5

******* ***** - ***** ******

My year playlists are long. For 2013, it's 4 hours and 17 minutes. The lists from my teen years are four time that long. They're played on shuffle, you may assume, but I try to start with a song that I have added since last year. Every year, new songs, for every year.

I've said this before but it bears repeating. Doing this, going through every year of my life, year by year, has motivated me (more than I might have otherwise) to keep up with contemporary music. And that keeps my young and healthy and much less of an asshole about music than guys my age usually are.

I want to get out on my own.

Book jacket photo

Day Five at Sea: We really are some of the youngest people on the boat. Not the youngest, no. There are families, kids, young adults. But seriously. So many old, white people.

When I woke at six on the first day, I had to wait for coffee, and to run. We've crossed two time zones, now I can barely get out by nine. Still, a slow and steady adjustment. It helps!

Distance: 1 mile

Duration: 10 minutes

150 - 159 BPM Playlist

Concrete Jungle - The Specials

Talk To Ya Later - The Tubes

This Corrosion - Sisters of Mercy

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh fruit  yogurt

Trivia Time: latte, cinnamon twist

High Tea: tea w/milk & sugar, olive & tom sand, ham & chutney sand, apple tart, chocolate cream tart, scone w/clotted cream & jam

Cocktail Hour: Tanqueray martini, bean chips

Dinner: asparagus & red pepper marmalade, pork, cherries flambé, white and red wines

Is it appropriate for the band to play "My Heart Will Go On" on a Transatlantic crossing?

You've got my heart working ovetime.

But what can I do to stem the apocalypse? Of course, the world isn't going to end, the world will be fine. It's all the animals that are going to do, and not nearly all of them. When you look at it that way

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 29:44
Pace: 9:34

So, a day with mindful exercise. Can we do it again today? And then again tomorrow? And am I just going to hurt my knees again? These are good questions. 

2016 Playlist

Cheap Thrills - Sia  

Dear World, - Nine Inch Nails

Overtime - Knower

Breathe Life - Jack Garratt

OneHundred - Sims

TCR - Sleaford Mods

That's What I Like - Bruno Mars

Satisfied - Sia ft. Miguel  Queen Latifah

The Hamilton Mixtape is ... problematic.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 57°
Climate: overcast & cool
Mood: good

Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Upper body: 40 reps

Core Strength: 

   Sit-ups: 40

   Bicycle: 40

Baseline: 185 lbs.
Weight: 180 lbs. (-0-)

Goal: 175 lbs.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, smoothie bowl w/fresh fruit, PB granola, Nutella 

Lunch: baba w/pita

Happy Hour: old fashioned

Dinner: chicken Caesar, beer

I could not run fast enough to flee them.

The purge continues. I'm talking household items, not anything gross or violent. The November Purge in which we search for things we do not need and either donate or trash them.

Holidays coming. Must make room.

Distance: 3.25 miles

Duration: 31:46
Pace: 9:46

We're at that strange time of year when I have no idea what I want to listen to, and that makes it challenging for me to get out onto the road. That and the temperature. But it is a bright and sunny day.

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 45°
Climate: sunny & cool

Mood: good

 

Yeah, felt good. Not great, but good. Beautiful day, kink in my ankle and in my knee. Wishing for spring again.

 
Stretches: yes

Upper body: 20 reps
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, homemade pastry w/egg, sausage & cheese

Lunch: fresh fruit w/granola & yogurt

Snack: cinnamon toast

Dinner: cocktail, cheese board

Movie: popcorn, beer

What's That Lyric?

An Arrow In the Wall - Death Cab for Cutie

It's 7:00 AM! Move yourself to go again.

Pathetic Geek Stories

Oh! The pain! I was doing a lot of bending and kneeling in the kitchen last night, and I just didn't want to stand up. Also, sometime the muscles in my abdomen hurt, like where I had my hernia operation. This has been the case for years, I comes, to goes. When I am in shape, when I have been working my muscels, these pains do not happen (much).  When they go slack, they do.

I'm becoming an old man. Not yet. Getting there. How many more years of running?

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 30:01
Pace: 10:00
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 60°
Climate: after the rain, sunny & perfect
Mood: good
Weight: 189.5 lbs. (+3.0)

All right.

Intake

Breakfast: coffee (2x)

Lunch: Galley Boy, potato teesers, fried mushrooms, milkshake

Dinner: toasted macaroni & cheese with bacon sandwich, beer

Cocktail: old fashioned, chocolate

Late night snack: Bowl of cereal

Also, Fizzy water (2x)

Good call, running early. The clouds blew in, the temperature dropped, the rain resumed. Might snow in the next day or so? Warm again next week. It was beautiful, though I changed up the route a little to avoid dogs and their walkers.

1980 Playlist

Too Many Creeps - Bush Tetras

Rapture - Blondie

Echo Beach - Martha & the Muffins

Coming Up - Paul McCartney

Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie

Same Old Scene - Roxy Music

The Magnificent Seven - The Clash

We're just fucking animals.

I pull my soleus all the time.
What the fuck was I thinking?

We run because we can. As long as time is available we, should run.

There is also, ow, the consideration as whether to wait until the afternoon or evening, to run with one of my children. However, as the school year comes to a close, there are more afternoon activities. More business. More life, out in the world. So, morning runs it is.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 30:42
Pace: 9:54
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 72°
Climate: sunny & warm
Mood: good
Weight: 186 lbs. (-0.5) 

Passed a man on the trail by the pond. Maybe seventy? He may have appeared older because he was using a cane, his calf was bandaged. He called out to me, so I stopped.

He smiled and said, "I'm jealous!" 

I laughed and said, "You'll join me!" 

He laughed, too. But is that true? When will that be me? How soon? Last night we saw an outdoor concert on the lawn in front of the high school. And I thought, what if? What if my father had not suffered a massive heart attack (he was always going to suffer a massive heart attack) or had survived it?

Surely, he would have needed a cane to reach the high school. Or a walker. Or a chair.

2014 Playlist

Let 'Em Say - Lizzo & Caroline Smith

Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz

Happy Idiot - TV on the Radio

Turn Down For What - DJ Snake ft. Lil Jon

Dancehall Domine - The New Pornographers

Batches & Cookies - Lizzo ft. Sophia Eris

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke ft. T.I., Pharrell Williams

Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

Animals - Martin Garrix

Someone will come running.

Has anyone seen my shoes?

Met Chris at the Rec Center for a treacherous run around Forest Hill, the melting snow, standing frigid water, slippery ice. Running there on my own, down unshoveled walks, I was worried about slipping, falling, twisting, doing damage to my back just from the constant adjusting and re-adjusting.

Together, we ran and we walked. Trying to keep on our feet. I managed to make it without my shoes getting too soggy, Chris did not fare as well.

And yet. Running out of doors. What bliss!

Distance: 4.45 miles
Pace: 10:20
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 43°
Climate: sunny and cool
Pavement: a mess
Mood: not bad

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 178 lbs. (-3.5)
Goal: 175 lbs.

Ok.

2017 Playlist
IDGAF - Dua Lipa
Across the Room  ODESZA ft. Leon Bridges
Drew Barrymore - SZA
You Will Be Found - Ben Platt, Kristolyn Lloyd, Will Roland, Laura Dreyfuss & Original Broadway Cast Of "Dear Evan Hansen"
Always Ascending - Franz Ferdinand
tonite - LCD Soundsystem

Visit my Team Challenge Crohn's & Colitis page and support my bid for the Chicago Marathon!

My footsteps made me crazy.

Thank you, Pete Shelley.

Can we run? Run in the subzero temperatures? I am grateful for the rec center membership, I have come to terms with the gym. This is what it takes, and I can cope with that. If it means being surrounded by senior walkers, those who remind me of my own limitations, so be it.

I see old people, and I winder ... how much older than I am they? Five years? Ten? Fifteen? That's not very many years. How soon will I be shuffling, bent over and slow? It would appear to be soon.

Or I'm full of shit.

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

Weather has gone crazy. It rained yesterday, then the temperatures dropped and there is ice -- everywhere. It's pretty dangerous. Today temps are supposed to go down considerably, my friends are all freaking out. Does that help?

Baseline: 179.5 lbs.
Today: 179.5 lbs. (+1.0)
Goal: 175 lbs.

And we're back.

1983 Playlist
Telephone Operator - Pete Shelley
Wonderin' - Neil Young & the Shocking Pinks
Young Guns (Go For It!) - Wham!
Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Cool Places - Sparks
Taxman - Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble
New York New York - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Prove My Love - Violent Femmes
Don't Change - INXS

This mile, two machines, mile, two machines, mile and out regimen is working out very well. Increasing strength and duration. Keep going! Going into the deep freeze!

Visit my Team Challenge Crohn's & Colitis page and support my bid for the Chicago Marathon!

The wisdom on your face denies the number of your years.

Anniversary dinner.

Difficult days. It is hard to understate my distress over the national situation, like being under occupation yet the oppression has not yet struck me directly. What are we supposed to do? Get in the streets? Which streets? And when? Things are not yet so horrible for enough people to have created the conditions for drastic action.

We spent so much time protesting cabinet positions and knitting hats, and now that families are being torn apart and the borders are closing based on religion, we're just keeping our heads down and bitching on Facebook.

Anyway. This is why I don't want to talk about it.

"I'm fifty, mark you ..."
- Long John Silver
Treasure Island (1883)

Yesterday we celebrated our nineteenth wedding anniversary at the Beach Grill, sitting at a table on our own two tables away from the rest of the gang. It's easy to remember the date of our anniversary because it's one month from my birthday ... which means I turn fifty in a month.

What the fuck have I done?

Anyway, I'll have to change the banner of this blog.

Distance: 1.5 miles
Pace: 9:26
Route: Topsail Beach Run
Temperature: 76•
Climate: partly cloudy & sun
Mood: Good, you know? In spite of everything.

Barefoot run in the surf. Kept a straight back, hitting the sand in the middle of my foot. When I lean forward, I then dig with my toes. This is how the blisters start, and the abrasions begin. Anyway, I will run with shoes tomorrow.

Nice breeze, cool surf, shore birds. My son on Instagram telling everyone I was drunk last night.

Exercises: not yet, there's time.

What's That Lyric?
Gypsy - Suzanne Vega

2018 Rite Aid Cleveland Half Marathon

This guy has kept me running, and I am grateful.

I have done unwise things before big races before. Six years ago, I took the kids to Bearden's for dinner the night before running the Cleveland Marathon. Cheeseburgers and onion rings, not exactly pasta. But life is sweet and anyway, I nailed the run.

Yesterday, I escorted the middle school orchestra to Cedar Point for the annual Music In The Parks competition. My son plays bass. The good news is that all groups -- the orchestra, chamber orchestra and band -- had superiors ratings and took first place in their division. They all received a trophy for overall excellence!

The band news is that after a full day in the park I was in bed shortly before midnight. Four hours of sleep. And though there was no snow, it was a cool, slightly damp day. Perfect temperature, but my feet were wet. My feet were wet yesterday. I want dry feet every day from now until I die.

Official Time: 2:01:37.01
Avg. Pace: 9:17

Place Men 45-49: 81

Personal Best Half: 01:41:21 (Cleveland 2016)

Somewhere during the race I told Chris that I had already forgotten everything that had happened that morning, and would tomorrow have forgotten everything yet to come. It was a strange thing to realize, but it is mostly true. Unlike previous races in which I work very hard to recall details to set down for memory, I was just running my way through this one -- making jokes, for sure -- but just kind of dazed.

Four hours of sleep will do that to a person. So will pain.

The fact is, I ended this race feeling depressed. I had pain shooting down not one but both buttocks. I could feel it in my spine. I imagined that if I had attempted the full 26.2 I would develop serious back pain. Also, my right knee started to get sore. I felt like a mess.

We tried to keep up with the two hour group, we weren't looking to achieve greatness, but it was impossible. A 9:17 pace is actually a good average for what Chris and I had been making through our training.

I have to admit, I didn't train very well, in general. But then, what I was really trying to do was be able to run long distances and still have a daily life devoid of limping. In that I have been successful.

I keep telling myself I am just exhausted. Allie gave me a suggestion for a chiropractor and I must seek that out. I need to do something.

This happened ten years ago, as I was about to turn forty. My knee blew up and I wondered if I would ever run again. I had an operation, and I have been running fine ever since. Then I fucked up my back a little over three years ago, and the condition is getting worse.

I love running. Running has made getting older bearable. It is a source of pride and achievement, and it makes me feel so good. I am afraid of ever giving it up.

Keep it pumping.

This is only my third run since the 5K in Friendship? Feels like forever since we returned from vacation. August is not even in double-digits but the summer is winding down. We attended outdoor theater on Friday and it was uncomfortably cold. The children are speedily approaching back-to-school and my work is all about the fall.

Chris and I had made plans to take a long run yesterday, but I was exhausted and he was under it. Ah, well. This morning we continue our routine. It is a few degrees colder, and you can tell. That and the sun no longer rises before 6:00 AM.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Route: Forest Hill Run

This morning I set out on my own, a jog around the park. I have begun to walk a few steps, on inclines. It's mental, I wish I wouldn't do that. That part of my brain that used to push through weariness and pain now thinks I am too old to do that, it's stupid, it's not real, and it needs to stop.

Temperature: 62°
Climate: cool & overcast
Mood: all right

Yesterday I walked through haunted Tremont with a few friends. Had brunch in the former Actors' Gym space. That's something else that weirded me out, I have been in that space, I have performed in and produced shows in that space since the Guerrilla days. But sitting in there, eating food in that space. I was having a lot of uncomfortable thoughts.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 174 lbs. (-0-)
Goal: 170 lbs.
Ideal: 165 lbs.

Made it through the weekend without picking up any weight. That is a good sign.

Guerrilla Theater Years (1992-1994)
Hello City * - Barenaked Ladies
Too Funky (Extended Mix) - George Michael
So What'cha Want * - Beastie Boys
Refazenda (Live) - Gilberto Gil
Creep - Radiohead
Just Keep Me Moving - k.d. lang
Voodoo Lady - Ween

How long can a good thing last?

Pain comes, pain goes, but this ache in my left hip continues and I am taking it a bit easier and I don't like that. Can't tell what's going on here, my entire left leg has been affected this season, from my hip on down. Aggravation.

Distance: .85 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:44
Duration: 7:10
Route: One lap around the block.

And yet. Two days without a run, and my right thigh is doing that thing it does, the burning sensation, when I do not exercise. Can't rest, can't win.

Pavement: dry
Temperature: 23°
Climate: cold
Mood: tired

On top of that, a zipper on the cuff of my cold weather running pants busted. Admittedly, my brother gave me these as a gift well over ten years ago. Still, it was a little depressing. Used rubber bands on the cuff, plan to get new pants tomorrow. Big sigh.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 164.5 lbs. (-0.5)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

Not feeling it today. Heading out it felt too cold, a light breeze was making my cheeks ache with the cold. Also, my hip started hurting. Also, just felt generally tired. Staying up too late, waking up early. Eff Daylight Saving Time.

The wife wonders if she should be worried. I mean, I am fine, I felt I have pushed myself too hard this winter. Fighting too hard.

1972 Playlist
Pusherman - Curtis Mayfield
Soul Survivor - The Rolling Stones

Never want to put my feet back down on the ground.

Dig that little waistline.

Yesterday I'm picking up my son from his music lesson. There's a number of adults waiting for the band to break up. I'm looking at my screen, this guy is sitting at a desk making a note on something. I haven't met him before, but he turns to me and starts a conversation.

He begins, "You look about my age, can I ask you something?" He does look about my age. He wants to know, if it's going to make you hurt, what is the point of exercising? You're going to hurt one way or another.

He says this, and I think of how it pained me to get out of my tiny car, just minutes earlier. I had taken my run, cleaned up, cooled down, got into my car for twenty minutes to pick up the boy, and getting out of that car, yeah, it hurt.

"Some pain is better than others?" I offered.

It's a question.

Distance: 7:50
Avg. Pace: 7:49
Duration: 58:38
Route: Forest Hill/Boulevard/Noble Loop

Anyway, I found out this was not another parent, but my son's new instructor, so that was a cool introduction.

Pavement: dry
Temperature: 27°→32°
Climate: cold, then not-so-cold
Mood: determined

How to crush a sub-freezing Sunday run? College music. Seriously, that playlist is one for the thirty year reunion.

Baseline: 174 lbs.
Today: 163.5 lbs (-1.0)
Goal: 165 lbs.
Ideal: 160 lbs.

Lost ten pounds since New Year's. 160 is ideal.

1987 Playlist [Extended Remix]
I Know You Got Soul - Eric B. & Rakim
Hand To Mouth - George Michael
Never Let Me Dwon Again - Depeche Mode
I Want Your (Hands On Me) - Sinead O'Connor
Hard Day (Shep Pettibone Remix) - George Michael
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish - The Smiths
Rock Steady - Sting
Strange - R.E.M.
My Sister Rose - 10,000 Maniacs
New Sensation - INXS
A Japanese Dream - The Cure
Guns In The Sky - INXS
Rent - Pet Shop Boys
Diamonds - Herb Alpert ft. Janet Jackson & Lisa Keith
Big Love - Fleetwood Mac

Just couldn't stop running. Every song kept pushing me forward.

Now I'm really in pain.