A velvet sweat.

It has been rainy and cool. I am happy
with this. The kids make trips into town to get groceries and ice cream, while we lounge around the cabin.

I am working on Metropolis. I am reading the text again, and creating a synopsis. Of course, I could just feed the text (which is available online) into ChatGPT and have a synopsis of whatever length I dictate, and immediately. I could stick my head in the oven. 

Distance: 3.5 miles

Duration: 33:02
Pace: 9:26

This is a summer playlist I can depend upon:

Sweeping Up at Grebe's

Little Red Corvette (Special Dance Mix) - Prince & the Revolution

Don't Change - INXS

Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me - Trio

Saved By Zero - The Fixx

Whenever You're On My Mind - Marshall Crenshaw

Our House - Madness

Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix) - Duran Duran

See link to hear Amir "Questlove" Thompson talk about why the Special Dance Mix of Little Red Corvette is his number one song by Prince.

Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 69°
Climate: sunny & bright
Mood: all right

The other day I learned that Duncan Bowen Black, author of Eschaton, is a runner. He wrote a short piece (they're all short pieces) about how AI summaries have been forced onto his running app, and how they are all non-specific but always super positive, which is not only useless but terribly unhelpful. 

"I'm always doing the right thing, somehow. Long and fast? Smashed it! Short and slow? Perfect recovery run! It never says, That was a shit run, pal."

Stretches: yes

Water: yes

Total bummer, however ... the eldest and their partner have had their flights canceled not once (Tuesday) but twice (today). They have decided to cut their losses and are making no new arrangements. This is due to global climate change (see: Canadian wild fire smoke, tornados and flooding in NYC) and the fact that airlines are horrible.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: TBA

Sit-Ups: TBA

Most of all, I remember the sun.

One hundred runs in the first half of the year. I made only a little over that in all of 2022.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 8:33
Pace: 9:12

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 66°
Climate: sunny & humid

Mood: all right

Air quality has improved today. Still not super. Going to run, anyway.

 

Post-Punk Testosterone Playlist

I Remember the Sun - XTC

Across the Antheap - XTC

All Mod Cons (168 BPM) - The Jam

Up All Night - The Boomtown Rats

Horsin' Around - Prefab Sprout

Ballet For a Rainy Day (160 BPM) - XTC

Sole Salvation - The Beat

Asking Me Lies - The Replacements

Machine Gun Ibiza - Prefab Sprout

 
Stretches: yes

Sit-Ups: 10

Upper body: 10 reps.
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, banana w/granola & yogurt, cookie

Lunch: pasta & sauce w/parm

Treat: assorted Starbursts

Coffee break: latte with oat milk

Snack: pretzel rod

Dinner: ham & egg ramen

Porch time: tangerine soda

Alcohol? Old fashioned 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171.5 lbs. (-1.5)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: tbd

Writing: tbd

Blog? not yet

Life is so brief. And time is a thief.

Air quality is hazardous due to Canadian wildfires. Those with health conditions should spend little time outdoors.

But what about me?

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:38
Pace: 8:54

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 57°
Climate: overcast & cool

Mood: all right

Sometimes it’s all too overwhelming, the beauty and the horror. And sometimes someone reminds me what it’s all for, why I do what I do, and the way that I do it.

Sometimes I feel a fool, and others like a good and decent soul.

 

Middle School Playlist (1979-1981)

Young Turks - Rod Stewart

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

Keep It Dark - Genesis

She's Lost Control - Joy Division

Spirits In the Material World - The Police

Over You - Roxy Music

Sausalito Summernight - Diesel

I'm Not the One - The Cars

 

Daddy is running fast again. The flatness in my stomach acts as bellows, as it should. This is not easy with a pillow down there.

 
Stretches: yes
Abdominals: tbd

Upper body: tbd
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, granola with yogurt

Lunch: Paprikash, Starbursts (2x)

Dinner: chicken tenders, fries & Fat Heads Bumble Brew (1x), Dortmunder (1/2x) 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 174 lbs. (-2.5)

Goal: 170 lbs.