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

I'm outside in the dark wondering how I got so old.

What will we do?

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 29:27
Pace: 9:29

Songs Of a Lost World - The Cure (2024)

Alone

A Fragile Thing

Warsong *

Drone:Nodrone

All I Ever Am

Endsong *

How does Robert Smith record an album that sounds exactly like a Cure album like it was 1989 all over again and yet it sounds absolutely contemporary?

I guess they are just timeless.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 62°
Climate: clear & cool
Mood: "nauseously optimistic"
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Pain Reliever: TBD

I'm not coming out until this is all over.

One more in before we hit the road. I have always been apprensive about looking forward to things. I do, you know very badly sometimes. But I have been very aware of my health: Is that a cough? Do I have a sore throat? A positive test and we are not going anywhere.

Today we fly to Chicago before boarding a train to Tuscon. That is the plan. All we have now is a plan. And a pair of running shoes.

The Old Mill: 0108

Distance: 3.2 miles

Duration: 29:30
Pace: 9:11

Good episode, I like the ones that are hopeful, even in the face of despair.

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 66°
Climate: sunny & perfect

Mood: good

 
Stretches: yes

Sit-Ups: 20

Upper body: 20 reps
Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, watermelon, macaroni salad w/egg

Lunch: pepperoni pizza (1 slice)

Dinner: TBA

Alcohol? 

Baseline: 195 lbs.

Current: 171 lbs. (+1.0)

Goal: 165 lbs.

Reading: tbd

Writing: tbd

Blog: tbd

What's That Lyric?

We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service

Life can always start up anew.

I am! (Am I?)

When you write a little every day, it can add up. I have something like a short play on my hands. No idea what to do with it. But there it is.

Running is the same way.

2007 Playlist
Boyz - M.I.A.
Breakin' Up - Rilo Kiley
Time to Pretend - MGMT
The Boys - Dragonette

Music from this time period is a serious influence on my next foray into the direction of Shakespeare. And that's all I have to say right now about that.

Distance: 1.7 miles
Route: Two times around the block.
Temperature: 42°
Climate: overcast & cool
Pavement: wet, puddles
Mood: all right

Chris and I were talking yesterday about what comes next. A marathon? Maybe a half marathon. Something to work toward. Meantime, in spite of my concerns about global climate change, I would love the paths to be clear for a short while longer.

I promised him it wouldn't snow.

Stretches: yes

Baseline: 178 lbs.
Today: 178.5 lbs. (-1.5)
Goal: 175 lbs.

Now is all we get.

 Ah-HA!

Out into the world. This afternoon a former actor-teacher and I met for Dynomite burgers on Star Plaza. Just as the weather breaks Playhouse Square, the neighborhood where I work is being festooned in preparation for a huge celebration.

Some colleagues of mine and I are preparing a special performance event, I am flipping between several rehearsals. Tomorrow I have events to attend at the Hanna, my folks and my brother’s in-laws are going to see As You Like It tomorrow afternoon, I have to be there to represent the company in a few capacities.

Sometimes I feel so tethered to me social media, like I can’t go two minutes without checking my email or Facebook, and yet there I also am, with the wife, watching soccer practice and talking to fellow parents.

Tonight a run, because who knows if I will get a chance tomorrow, I will be so away from here and busy. It is a goal to wrap up 49 Playlists by the end of April, and that will take commitment.

Speaking of which, I have decided never to run the same marathon twice. How many do I have left? So NYC and CLE are out. But there are many others and I may have chosen one.

Temperature: 54°
Distance: 3.25 miles

Oh, how I have missed a cool nighttime run! However, that is as close to a live possum as I ever want to be, ever again, ever ever never.

1979 Playlist
It’s Different For Girls - Joe Jackson
Ready for the ‘80s - Village People
Bad Girls - Donna Summer
Voulez Vous - ABBA
Planet Claire - The B-52’s
Plastic Passion - The Cure
Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

The snow turned into rain.

Niiiiice.

The snow has all gone, washed down the sewer by torrential rain. I expected last night that the temperatures would drop, I was entirely not expecting this.

Temperature: 63°
Climate: rain
Distance: 5.15 miles
Weight:174 lbs.

Running three days before Christmas, when there is so much to do, and clean, seems really selfish. But between weather and work, running has not been a priority and blah, blah, blah, depressing, lightning pains, slack muscles, what have you.

It was misting as I headed out, but so cool and refreshing I kept going into a five-miler. It was the last quarter mile that the skies opened up and gave me a taste of what was coming down last night.

The rain on my chest is a baptism. I'm born again.

- The Dark Knight

Yes. We all are. At the closing of the year, we are all born again. Because rain.

Holiday Run
Brick - Ben Folds Five
Linus & Lucy *  - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Christmas - The Who
Christmas In Hollis - The A.K.A.s
Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics
New Year's Day - U2
Christmas In Hollis - Run D.M.C.
Winter Storm '98 - Cadallaca
Sun Valley Ski Run - Esquivel
Same Auld Lang Syne - Don Fogelberg
Little Drummer Boy [demo] - Sister Soleil

You move so fast, makes me feel lazy.

So? Now I'm a pirate.

This is not the fall my parents promised. I should complain so much. It's lovely, but surprisingly warm, and will be for the next several days. But I am feeling good, running well, and now I am sporting a fluffy beard which makes me look like one of those old running guys.

Temperature: 79°
Climate: cool but humid
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 173 lbs.

My work has shifted, from a split-focus between education and development, to a split focus between one million education-based programs. I should complain so much. I wanted education, and for my sins, they gave me one.

Exciting plans are afoot, some work-related, others the work-related, and then there's the exhilarating prospect that we will be visiting Athens next weekend! We haven't been since June, or I haven't been, anyway, and I am really looking forward to it.

There will be running.

Somebody That I Used To Know Playlist
Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft. Kimbra
Guns and Horses - Ellie Goulding
Lotus Flower (Jacques Greene Mix) - Radiohead
Fragile Bird - City and Colour
Fences - Phoenix
Run Right Back - The Black Keys
Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

You wouldn't think that song would inspire iTunes to create such a good running mix.

Your perfect verse is just a lie.

It was the left knee.

We move forward, slowly. I feel as though I have been locked into one state for the past seven months, focused on one single task. And now I open my eyes and see so many wonderful opportunities lay before me.

And children. I see children.

I believe the pain in my left knee was some freak thing, but it's exactly the kind of thing I worry about. It has been five years since my operation, and I have been running full-steam since then. But for almost half a year I was deep in the doubt I would ever run again, and that was very, very challenging for me. I worry about what will happen to my brain if I am ever taken off the road.

Speaking of which, my new running gear is all black. Not the best choice for a before-dawn run.

Temperature: 75°
Climate: light rain
Distance: 3.25 miles

That was difficult. Getting up was difficult, getting out was difficult, the run itself was difficult, deciding what to write was difficult. And I really do not like using the word 'difficult'.

Underground Playlist
Selfless, Cold and Composed - University A Capella
Clark Gable - The Postal Service
Message To My Girl - Split Enz
One - Aimee Mann
Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House
Baby's Got Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce
Jane - Barenaked Ladies

Difficult. Difficult. Difficult. Difficult.

I want life in every word.

Initiating the new week with an early morning run. It is October. It is fall. It is below fifty degrees. Not sure where I am headed with this whole "running" thing. The clown shoes won't work well in the rain, certainly not in the ice or snow. Thinking of picking up some Yaktrax if I am to continue into the winter. Even giving thought to Cleveland 2013. It's going to be a big year, regardless. Or should be. I hope it is.

The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (154 bpm)
Such Great Heights (174 bpm)
Sleeping In
Nothing Better
Recycled Air
Clark Gable
We Will Become Silhouettes (155 bpm)

Cooldown:
Brand New Colony

Wearing an iPod, running a 5K in fall 2004 (I don't wear headphones at races anymore) listening to Brand New Colony, I realized I was faster than other people, that I could enjoy running fast. It was a revelation.

Temperature: 48°
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 176 lbs.
Knee bends: 20

Early voting begins tomorrow.