I hope this works out. Cardio.

I don't know if I have ever recorded this, but it is a remarkable phenomenon which has occurred many, many times at the very beginning of an outdoor run, but is forgotten by the time it has concluded.

It only happens out of doors, if it is particularly windy. A single tear will fall from my left eye. One tear, just once, and always and only from my left eye. Why is this?

Finally remembered to make note. Took long enough. Anyway, back to the gym.

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 27:08

Feeling particularly unmotivated this morning. Prefer to sit by the fire and do puzzles. I now believe puzzles to be the opiate of the masses. Sondheim was a master puzzler, but that was the way his mind worked. If he wasn't being clever he wasn't alive.

That's true of me, too. But I haven't written a Sweeney Todd yet.

Route: rec center
Temperature: 30°
Climate: cold 
Mood: uninspired 

2010 Playlist

One Day - Kings Go Forth

Too Dramatic - Ra Ra Riot

Rocketeer - Far East Movement ft. whoever

Pow Pow - LCD Soundsystem

Journal of Ardency - Class Actress

Holiday - Vampire Weekend

Cold War - Janelle Monáe

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 160 lbs.

The weather was nice, now it's not. That brings me down. The bash is behind me, so there's a letdown there. And I do have a number of things to do, right now, which is making me tense but it really shouldn't, they aren't bad things. They are just ... responsibilities.

Also? The year 2010 reminds me of being a poor artist and a weak father.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: TBA

Our tummy is getting flatter. We are no longer processing calories, we are transforming them. I'm talking about us here. The royal me.

The joy of repetition really is in you.

It is very breezy out, I fear for my life. But it's so warm out! Sacrifices must be made.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 31:24
Pace: 10:08
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 71°
Climate: very windy!
Mood: good!
Weight: 184.5 lbs. (lies?)

Wind holding me back as I ran out -- wind to my back on the way in.  I can deal with that.

I cannot run very fast when it's so windy, I also cannot run fast yet, because I haven't kept up, and because I am carrying a little weight. But I'll get there.

I may regret not having run further today, the temperature is due to settle back to normal, whatever that may be.

Intake

Breakfast: coffee (2x)

Lunch: chickpea soup, small SBJ on pita

Cocktail Hour: chips, beer (1x)

Poetry reading: cocktail

Dinner: pizza

2006 Playlist

Over and Over - Hot Chip

Life Is a Highway - Racsal Flatts

Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John

SOS - Rihanna

Cobrastyle - Teddybears ft. Mad Cobra

Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis

Stupid Girls - Pink

Technologic - Daft Punk

What do you want to be?

What a day. Teaching classes, attending meetings, drawing cartoons, reading fcition, completing assignments, taking a short nap and even gettin a run in before taking an evening class.

What does it all amount to, I am no longer sure. But at least I am too busy to question.

Distance: 2 miles
Duration: 18:53
Pace: 9:27
Route: Two times around the block
Temperature: 72°
Climate: bright & breezy

Mood: anxious

Weight: 188.5 lbs. (-0-)

The weather is so windy these days. Extreme gusts, and all the time. It is distressing, and it makes me not want to open the door, which sucks, because the temperature is good. Anyway, brisk run. Into the wind.

1978 Playlist

Le Freak - Chic

I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones

My Best Friend's Girl - The Cars

Hanging On the Telephone - Blondie

Y.M.C.A. - The Village People

I'm a little bit slow.

Home again. Long morning not-writing, scheduling opps, thinking about maybe running. It was a long, leisurely, pleasant vacation with the outlaws. Planning for the New Year is, in spite of everything, exciting. Once you have faced failure, what is left except to work for success?

The kids are well and in a good place, and so, I think, is the wife. It is freezing out, which is all the more reason to get moving.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:12
Duration: 28:44
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Pavement: wet, dusty snow
Temperature: 28°
Climate: windy
Weight: 172.5 lbs.
Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: leaning forward

Running in the cold, it works just fine. Thinking about Chicago, October 8. Wonder if there are tickets to Hamilton available, that would make the journey worth it, amirite?

It is a fact that the wind, when it blows, blows down Monticello from west to east. This is why both times I have run out to 271 and back (12 miles) the return trip is completely miserable. Fool me once, etc. You may have noticed I have not done that again, not since 2012.

So, heading out to the park was arduous today, but hoped the wind would be at my back on my way home, and so it was. Never realized was great, fast bpm "Wedding" has, but it also laid me out a little. The final tracks kept me going, however.

The Obama Years have yielded some amazing music - especially from women.

Obama Years (2009-2016)
Batches & Cookies - Lizzo ft. Sophia Eris
Believer - American Authors
Burn It Down - Sims
Cake By The Ocean -DNCE
She's Not Me - Jenny Lewis
Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend
Wedding * - Poliça
Rolling In The Deep - Adele
Starships - Nicki Minaj

Thanks for the extra push, Nicki.

Summer's here and the time is right.

Sunday was a day in, spent writing, cooking, cleaning, sorting, trashing, organizing. And eating. I could not pass on any carbohydrates that passed my way. Tried to take it easy at the beginning of the day with half a bagel, but by mid-afternoon I'd had chips, instant noodles and a beer. A lunch perhaps, but it left me feeling headachy and bloated.

Hand to mouth, hand to mouth. It's what the gum is for.

Distance: 1.7 miles
Avg Pace: 9:05
Duration: 15:24
Route: Two times around the block

On two separate occasions I decided to take a twelve mile run heading east on Monticello to SOM Center Road and back. Straight out six miles, and back. On both occasions I was surprised to discover that heading out was a breeze, and that heading back was torturous.

Stupid to be surprised by something like this twice. Once is surprised. Second is you forgot.

When wind happens, it goes from west to east down Monticello. If the weather is clement or warm, this is not a problem. When it is cold, it can be. Because my familiar neighborhood loop, around the elementary school, through the park, begins with a run up Monticello, it can often feel like driving with difficulty into a headwind -- no fun.

Last week, when there was snow on the pavement, I headed down my street to Monticello for a neighborhood run, and felt it, cold and hard. And I thought, forget this, I'm heading east on Monticello, around the block. Because heading back down my own street there is not wind, it's blocked by houses and trees.

Good plan. Running around the block. Good plan. Especially when there's a lot of snow. Because then I can tell myself I can stop whenever I want and home is just around the corner. Like today.

Temperature: 12°
Climate: SNOW
Pavement: SNOWY

1968 Playlist
The Memphis Train - Rufus Thomas
Love Child - The Supremes
Ride Your Donkey* - The Tennors
Grazing In The Grass - Hugh Masekela
Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones
Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash

Weight: 163.5 lbs. (+1.0)
Mood: all right

But why run when it's so cold, when it has been snowing all day? Because I can. Because I am able to.

As I headed out the door, the wife said, "I hope you get invigorated!" Invigorated. Yes, that is exactly what I wanted, and that is what I got.

Talking like a jerk.

2006 - 2015

Seasons used to change, that's how we would put it. Watch the seasons change. Today seasons rip into each other, the new seasons laying waste to the previous season and taking down a lot of tree branches in a process, or making your pipes burst. (Not ours, fortunately, but those of several people we know.)

Yesterday I walked up the street to the grocery store and it was bright and sunny. When I stepped back out onto Euclid Avenue with my bags, it was pissing downright, sheets of rain sweeping down through downtown. These things happen, but rarely with such anger.

Temperature: 48°
Distance: 3.38 miles
Avg Pace: 7.52
Climate: breezy & cool

A few days without a three-miler, a bit hard going into the wind. But it was at my back all the way down Taylor Road. Feels good.

Baseline: 178.5 lbs.
Today: 160 lbs.
Goal: 160 lbs.

Oh, uh ... I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. Seriously, I need to manage my diet better.

Sunday Alcohol Units: 1.0
Monday Alcohol Units: -0-

Playlist: LCD Soundsystem Radio on Spotify.

Yes, I have gone there. And they are correct, I will never pay for music again.

Today was the first day I used the new phone exclusively. For a couple weeks I have been using the old iPod and holding the phone, because I am lazy that way. I haven't figured out how to load music into my phone yet, and I am not sure I wish to. I guess I do not need to.

The strap pictured above is as old as the iPod itself, almost nine years old. Nine years on the road, I can't imagine how miles that is. It has been across the Atlantic, and at various points on its western shore. It has managed two marathons and several other races (admittedly not many of those.)

Now I have this big, heavy, stupid thing on my arm ... like my very first iPod strap, or carrying a Walkman. This to me is not progress.

But I do like the MapMyRun lady whispering in my ear. Ah, well.

He will swim and swim on further.

Gazebo at Wilson Mills & SOM Ctr.
That is not merely how we do it. That is why we do it.

Motivation has been a challenge. My schedule has left me exhausted and weak. I would rather, barring the limits of human endurance, rise early and get these long runs over with before the kids wake up.

It's that "over with" that isn't working for me. It's completely the wrong mindset. I have to want to do this. Making myself do it, day after day, is ridiculous.

The wife encouraged me to get out late this morning, There's nothing going on, it's my day off the tour, why not run! And heading out, I was enjoying myself. The sun was out, there was no pain, all was going well.

I did not notice that the wind at my back was that strong. And maybe it wasn't. But coming back, was ... it was horrible. Horrible, cold wind, without end.

And for a while, that was just miserable. Awful. But it challenged me. After all, I had to get home, right? And I charged. I ran. After a while, I was even smiling. This was just stupid. Stupid fun.

And I made it home. Home to a hot bath and tea. And soon -- beer.

Distance: 13 miles
Route: Monticello/Wilson Mills to SOM Ctr. Rd. and back.

Never before had so many runs during the month of February.

Shed 10 pounds in one month.

Just dropped $16.99 on eBay to pick up a set of never-used Philips SHJ020 Nike Flight Neckband Headphones. Made a pointless trip to the Apple store yesterday, not only did they not have this one, perfect example of sport 'phone technology, everything they did have cost no less than $50 and most much higher. People, please.

Repaired old headphones with duct tape, music goes in and out. But hey -- duct tape.

Temperature: 39º
Climate out: sunshine & breezy
Climate back: overcast & torturous, ceaseless wind
Weight: 170 lbs.
Snack: banana & fruit roll-up
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

2000 Playlist
I Feel the Air (Of Another Planet) - Stereolab
Soma - The Strokes
Can't Stand It - Wilco
Sem Contençãu - Bebl Gilberto
Someday - The Strokes
The National Anthem - Radiohead
Fruit Nut - XTC
Big Pimpkin - Jay-Z ft. UGK
Jumbo - Underworld
The Way I Am - Eminem
Idioteque - Radiohead
I Want You To Want Me - Letters to Cleo
All Star - Smashmouth
Hard To Explain (166 bpm) - The Strokes
Hold Your Tongue (165 bpm) from "Lysistrata"
Psyché Rock (Fatboy Slim Mix) - Fatboy Slim
The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
Over My Head - Lit
Take It Or Leave It - The Strokes
Dimes Make Dollars (177 bpm) - Lilys
Household Names - Stereolab
Barely Legal - The Strokes
What Would Brian Boitano Do? from "South Park"
Bruce Lee - Underworld
Thank You (160 pm) - Dido
A Tab For the Holidays/The Generator (159 bpm) - Lilys
Army (174 bpm) - Ben Folds Five

Cooldown:
Outer Bongolia - Stereolab