Pump up the volume (along with the tempo.)

Getting there. Still too cool. God, I hate to complain. But I am trying to move here, and I also need to concentrate on rolling through my right foot, realigning my calf muscles, keeping it straight.

It makes a difference. And when I am leaning forward, not paying attention, that's when I can hurt myself. And I am seriously anticipating the day I totally mess up my right foot.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 43°
Climate: cool
Mood: angsty

White Lines Playlist
I Know You Got Soul - Erik B. & Rakim
A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturday" - De La Soul
New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme) - Ice-T
Boom! Shake The Room - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Mind Terrorist - Public Enemy
Night of the Living Baseheads - Public Enemy

This American life.

Back to school days.

Clickbait sure is a thing. I fell for one the other day: Should You Wear Sunglasses While Running?

Why did I click on that? Did I think I was going to learn anything? The answer (yes, duh, thank you) was followed by bits of information like "UV protective lenses protect you from UV rays" and "You won't squint so much!"

I received one in my Inbox the other day titles Five Myths About Running. They may have been interesting to someone who doesn't run, but, uh, that doesn't describe me very well.

FYI - You will not lose a lot of weight as a result of running. No shit. Where do ..? Who thinks ..? Ucch. Nevermind.

Distance: 6 miles
Duration: 49:04
Avg Pace: 8:10
Route: Cain Park Loop

Using toe separators on both feet now. Some nights when I lie down and my feet entirely relax I can feel the aching in my metatarsals.

Temperature: 79°
Climate: bright and hot
Weight: 158 lbs.
Intake: fruit yogurt & granola
Hydration: yes
Water Stop: yes
Stretches: yes

This American Life #562: The Problem We All Live With (part one)

Trying podcasts now. Doesn't affect my pace very much. Perfect back-to-school episode. Thinking I may use podcasts for the long run tomorrow.

Make your body big and strong.

In 2013, Pamela Anderson ran a marathon.
Your argument is invalid.

Rose this morning, slowly and casually as is traditional while staying with the inlaws, coffee with Bailey's, realized I had no book, picked up one just lying around (today's selection: The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer, thank you) and realized my foot hurts.

Specifically the interior metatarsus on my right foot. It is the bunion, it has to be. I must be careful, or I will eventually be a hobbling, old man. At the age of 45, I may be only halfway through my life, I do not wish to spend the other half unable to run or even walk properly.

Or maybe I just tied my boots too tight yesterday, I have no idea.

Temperature: 38°
Climate: bright & cool
Distance: 4.25 miles

Running down the Hocking in shorts. Supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow before dipping back down again, let's see if I can make that in shirtsleeves.

Super Bass Playlist
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
Alive - Black Eyed Peas
Ring-A-Ling - Black Eyed Peas
Stupid In Love - Rihanna
Think - Aretha Franklin
Best Of My Love - The Emotions
Shining Star - Earth Wind & Fire
No Hay Igual - Nelly Furtado
Rimshot - Erykah Badu
I Would Die 4 U - Prince & the Revolution
Rockin' Robin *  - Michael Jackson

When my iPod shuffles Think to follow Stupid In Love, is it being ironic or just making social commentary?

I feel like an accident.

 

 Have the lambs stopped screaming?

Running late, going to bed right after. It puts me into a deep, deep sleep ... but one troubled by fast, dark thoughts of being out on the street, somewhere. Much more likely to give me dreams that take place at night, outside. Not scary, but surprisingly mind-bright and active. Waking is almost impossible, and lingering images linger.

Having said that, Friday was an extremely productive and positive day, charged with energy and mental action, even if I also felt somewhat lost and vacant. Does that make sense? Does it matter?

Temperature: 72°
Climate: muggy. sunny!
Distance: 3.25 miles

A three-day weekend with only one run, that is odd, and I would say unfortunate. Only these three days have been spent ripping up and remodeling the "master" bedroom ... we promised the girl her own room for fifth grade. She and the boy have co-habited since he moved out of our room. On Memorial Day weekend in 2009 their room was given a once-over which included a bunkbed and a fresh coat of paint.

Our room has been repainted a few times, though the crappy shag carpeting has remained -- until yesterday. God, what a disgusting mat. Underneath was newspaper from 1976. Seventies-era, chocolate brown shag, wall-to-wall carpeting. This was long overdue.

Middle School Playlist
Another Journey By Train - The Cure
C30, C60, C90, Go - Bow Wow Wow
Crosseyed and Painless - Talking Heads
Life Begins at the Hop - XTC
International Jet Set - The Specials
Sat In Your Lap -  Kate Bush
Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) - Spandau Ballet
Cleveland Rocks - Ian Hunter

The bunion on my right foot has been acting up, it feels more extreme, a bit more bent, sore, the area tingly. I have not worn a toe-separator - which for all appearances works successfully at keeping it in check - for some time, not since I began using zero drop shoes. An experiment, perhaps.

On December 7, 1980 I broke my right leg. It was a minor, hairline fracture. I treated myself like an invalid (the pain!) and no one stopped me. There was no physical therapy after, just some words of advice. "Walk normal." My right ankle stiff from disuse, I began to walk by turning my right foot out. It wasn't until movement classes in college that this was pointed out to me. I try, I try very hard to "walk normal" and even more importantly to run normal. Any photograph of me running shows how much I fail at this.

I can balance on my left leg, but not my right. And there is this bending of my right toe, which may have happened anyway, but that it occurred, suddenly, during my first, serious intensive training for a marathon should, in hindsight, not be a surprise, even if it was at the time.

Middle school. Some of the worst years of my life, some of the best years of pop music in all recorded history.

Don't believe in anything that you can't break

Nothing like a demented dash through the darkened, sub-freezing streets.

Applications for the 2009 NYC Marathon are now open. I deferred last year due to blowing out my left knee. I can receive automatic entry if I re-apply before midnight on May 1. The question is: will I blow out my right knee before or after I apply?

And speaking of injuries ... my right foot. Big sigh. I used to have plantar warts, and much to my continued disbelief, they are gone. But I do have (I shudder to state this) a bunion.

When I think of the word bunion I think of words like goiter and cancer of the lip. Crackers get bunions, or at the very least, old people.

It's basically like this, my big toe is bending towards my others toes, and the major joint of that toe is beginning to jut to the other direction, towards my left foot, to compensate. Sometimes it is more visibly noticeable. Sometimes it tingles in a disturbing fashion.

I use toe separators, which helps. I concentrate on rolling properly through my foot. It goes away from time to time. It comes back. It's back.

As in all things, I blame my parents. I broke my leg in seventh grade, and used a walking cast for a while. Those are dumb, they shouldn't make those. I am pretty sure they don't anymore, at least not like this. It was like having a pivot on the base of my foot, which encouraged me to twist my foot to the outside - because I was wearing a cast. I couldn't bend my ankle.

So my right foot naturally splays out to the right when I walk, run or do anything, really. I didn't know any better. Where was the physical therapy?

God, what would have happened to me if I had been in physical therapy. Might have changed my life. Or maybe just another thing to strenuously avoid doing.

1995 Playlist
Mama Told Me (Not To Come) - The Wolfgang Press
Making Plans For Nigel - The Rembrandts
Under - Filter
Stupid Girl - Garbage
Girl U Want - Devo
Cupid DeLocke - Smashing Pumpkins
Big Apple Boogaloo - Brooklyn Funk Essentials

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 21º
Weight: 152 lbs.

Afraid to fall, I'll fly instead

It would appear to be my annual Athens South Green Bike Path run with this album, the last taken April 28 of last year.

Playlist:
Gabriel & Dresden (Continuous Mix) - Gabriel & Dresden

Last time I went out too far before heading back, forgetting the first and second songs after the halfway point are kind of downers. This time I thought I was making great time ... without realizing the way out I had the wind at my back - a lot of wind. Still, I got in before the album ended, putting in nine miles in an hour and six.

My bunion has been acting up (I hate writing that, I sound like grandpa) and was making my feet tingle on the drive here last night, that was unpleasant. My foot has been looking pretty straight, I have been using a toe-separator regularly but something about the last few days has made it irritated.

Maybe it was the photo shoot - I have to wear these Chuck Taylor's for the photo shoot, my Chuck's from back when I used to buy them. I used to get my shoes in ten, but since I started running on a regular basis I am officially 10 and a half and all my old shoes do not fit right. Standing on a scaffold, trying not to fall over for two hours while assuming a Superman pose ... in hose ... does a lot of work on your calves, back and feet.

Really. I'm not kidding.

Run Stats:
Distance: 9 miles
Weather: overcast and warmish - beautiful

Put lotion on me

A friend of mine is working towards her first 5K - and a potential marathon. She'd never really run more than a mile before she started training in earnest a few weeks ago. She gives me periodic running updates, which are fabulous (she should create a blog.)

It feels really good that she chose to ask me for advice, I love being helpful. And it's so easy, there's so much basic stuff that you just never know right off the bat and someone needs to tell you so you know you are doing the right thing. Always drink before and after (during on long runs) and eat something before you go. You don't have to run every day, run every other day, rest is important, too. Things like that.

She's already pushed past three miles, so she knows she can do the run next month.

Speaking of friends, I was tracking R. in Chicago until the site crashed from overuse. I was worried, I can't imagine running a marathon in mid-80s heat. I took a run this afternoon in sympathy, it's ridiculous. The only thing that felt worse than running was walking, taking away the wind resistance I could really feel the surface temperature of my face and back.

I ran without a shirt. In broad daylight. I'm sorry, citizens, I went crazy. It won't happen again.

But he finished! 5:17.26, not the number he was shooting for, but that was before someone decided summer in October was a good idea. Nice for baseball, sure (even better if you live here, ha ha ha) but unhappy for running.

But he made it! Woo-woo!

By the way, Walgreen's brand toe separators suck. But kids have hidden the really nice ones I get at Target. They love those things. If I find one in the boy's mouth, I think I will vomit.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Mea; Ramen w/egg
Drink: Accelerade
Start Time: 2.30 pm
Temperature: 88º
Weather: bright & sweaty

Playlist:
Ohh La La - The Ditty Bops
Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Kiss You Back - Digital Underground
All Night - Sam Phillips
Black Calfironia - Kaada
Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - MIKA

Workout Music: Soothing or Aggressive?

Aggressive, of course. Loud, obnoxious, aggressive ... disco. To each their own. But still.

UPDATE: Jesus. I had no idea things were so terrible in Chicago, excuse me for sounding flip - I was just pleased to see my friend had made it across the finish line, if I thought his life was in danger I'd wish he hadn't. Apparently it was hotter than what I found on the Internet, I know one man died, and I hope those hospitalized will recover soon.

I found a fox, caught by ducks ...

Visited my new podiatrist on Tuesday. I like him. Maybe because he's young and cute and says nice things about my feet.

They are in good shape, apparently, my feet. They bend well, they have a good pulse (who knew?) there's just problem A and problem B.

Problem A, yes, the warts. He has a new treatment, something I never heard of before, A prescription that is 10% formaldehyde. That's right, you f*ckers are already dead you just don't know it yet. We'll see how well the stuff works (or how hideously painful it is) in the next six to eight weeks.

Then there's the bunion. He praised my use of the toe-spacer, which actually seems to work, somewhat. He also recommended orthopedics, but my health care plan, which kind of blows, does not cover them (they have also refused to pay as much as they used to for my migraine meds, God I love this country.)

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 163.5 lbs. (?)
Stretches: yes
Drink: PowerBar Endurance Sun Tea
Lunch: sunbutter & preserves sandwich, baba & celery sticks
Time: 1:00 pm
Temperature: 77º
Weather: hot & sunny

Playlist:
Shine - Take That
Regret - New Order
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Miami Vice Theme (1985) - Jan Hammer
Gimme Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - The Ramones
Around the World - Daft Punk
I Must Confess - Everything but the Girl
Happiness In Slavery - Nine Inch Nails
Warmdown: I Created Disco - Calvin Harris

Take That
"Shine"


Pingu - get it?

"This is called a déjà vu experience ..."

Distance: 3.15 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: Zone Perfect bar
Time: 6:30 am
Duration: about 34 minutes
Temperature: 77º
Weather: overcast but muggy

Playlist:
Vegas - Calvin Harris
Random - Lady Sovereign
Parsec - Stereolab
Situation - Yazoo
Jimmy James - The Beastie Boys
Another View Point - Cornelius
Cooldown: Housequake - Prince

I broke my leg on December 7, 1980 - a date which has gone down in infamy largely because it was the last full day John Lennon spent alive. Having no reason to, as I did not participate in any sport, I had no physical therapy. So the muscles in my right leg became stiff and I had a habit of twsting my foot out rather than bending correctly at the ankle.

I do not know if this has contributed to what I have decided must truly be a bunion developing on my right foot. I first noticed this bony protrusion on August 9 but it didn't make any sense. Besides, it seemed to just have appeared out of nowhere.

They say it has to do with toe alignment, and I assume the gross repetition of the past year and that bad habit have worked together to start changing the shape of my feet, and in a bad way. I have made an appointment with a podiatrist for later this month to look into this and a host of other shoebox horrors.

Yesterday I got a set of Pro Foot Vita-Gel Toe Spacers. Read online they may realign my big toe.

I used to have such beautiful feet. They were like dancer's feet. Now they're like old man feet.

God does not want me to run the 2006 New York City Marathon

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 164 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: yes
Time: 6.30am
Weather: quite cool

A hard lump has suddenly appeared on the inside of my right foot, something which could only be described as a bunion. It does not hurt, but its sudden appearance (I have been examining and taking care of my feet, believe me) in the past two days is alarming. It doesn't hurt, but it can't be good news. The websites suggest they are the result of constricting shoes, and lots of walking. We did a lot of walking on Monday at the zoo, but I was wearing good shoes, and my running shoes are not tight at all.

This just sucks.