From this world to the next, and from the next back to this.

It has been a long week. My father's ashes were interred yesterday morning. That was odd. The small, black box which held his remains was sitting on a pedestal and they funeral director asked Mom if she would like to see them buried, and she said yes. This was something she hadn't been asked during her father's funeral, twenty-seven years ago.

They backed up a small maintenance vehicle, placed the box in the hole and covered it with earth and sod. I believe we were all very impressed.

We held his memorial at Lakewood Presbyterian Church. Family had come in from out east, from England. Standing in the receiving line, the oddest attendance, not only from his life but from mine. I was impressed and touched by those who arrived for him and also for the rest of us, many I hadn't seen in years or decades.

There followed an afternoon and evening of eating and drinking, telling stories, looking at photo albums. Talking, always talking.

Today my brothers are heading home. A week-long mourning period comes to an end. I have to get back to work.

Distance: 3.6 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 45°
Climate: cool and bright
Pavement: dry
Weight: 162 lbs.
Mood: yes.

Perfect day. Like an early spring day. We have a visitor in the pond, it is a swan.

Eleven runs in February. Not a record, but it is remarkable. Thank you for your time.

1993 Playlist
Stay (Faraway, So Close)  - U2
Sober - Tool
Lonely Planet - The The
Sodium Light Baby - The The
Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me) - Sting
Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
Lies - Cyndi Lauper

Round my heart I felt an aching pain.

Bay Days Five Mile Fun Run (1980?)

From the image at left, based on the bib number, I am almost certain this is the 1980 Bay Days Five Mile Run.

That was my first race. My number was 623, and it is the same type of unlabeled card, same large font.

That is a light cardstock, by the way. Perhaps there were holes punched into it, not sure.

Dad was running the race, and somewhere I got the idea that I would also. I did not do too badly. But he was out in front of me.

Do you see? His feet do not touch the ground.

Distance: 3.25 miles
Route: Forest Hills Loop

Head down into the light snow and wind. A beautiful run around Forest Hills. Brisk pace, great bpms, good music.

Temperature: 34°
Climate: wind and light snow
Pavement: wet
Weight: 163 lbs.
Mood: all right

2013 Playlist
Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) * - Oscar Isaac & Marcus Mumford
Pumping Blood - NONONO
Everything (155 bpm) - Nine Inch Nails
Harlem - New Politics
San Fransisco - The Mowgli's
Animals - Martin Garrix
Love Somebody - Maroon 5
Royals (170 bpm) - Lorde

Figures from the past stand tall.

Heights Six Cities Marathon (year?)

My father ran two marathons. Now I realized I do not know when they were.

One was the Heights Six Cities Marathon, which used to run through Cleveland Hts., Shaker Hts., University Hts., South Euclid, Lyndhurst and ... Beachwood?

The other was in Sandusky, mom believes in 1983. I am sure I can find this information in the house, at the moment I am just ashamed I don't already have this information at my fingertips.

This is what we are doing this week. Excavation.

Distance: 3.36 miles
Avg Pace: 7:56
Duration: 26:40
Route: Boulevard Loop

Running through the cold rain. It was glorious. Maybe it sounds unpleasant to you, but properly dressed, and as long as there is no wind, it is actually very nice.

I put on a cotton hoodie, because I wanted to wear my cap to keep the rain out of my eyes, but needed to cover my ears. Running in the cold with ears uncovered I can feel a little deaf for a period.

I need this time. Time to think.  I my writing my eulogy. It is coming together slower than I had thought it might.

Temperature: 37°
Climate: rain
Pavement: wet, puddles
Weight: 162.5 lbs.
Mood: anxious

Was 1979 the greatest year in pop music history? The wife might agree, so might my brother. I should ask him. This playlist is particularly good.

1979 Playlist
Look Back In Anger - David Bowie
Candy-O - The Cars
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Dead Souls - Joy Division
Boys Keep Swinging - David Bowie
Pulsing Pulsing - XTC
Hateful - The Clash
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Cleveland Rocks - Ian Hunter

Indeed.

Why must I? Why should I?

Some Police fans were a bit disoriented when Sting started recording solo albums. What's this soft jazz shit? I liked Blue Turtles a lot, and that was actually a hit album. However, fewer of my friends enjoyed Nothing Like the Sun, and I initially found The Soul Cages tiresome.

I really liked Nothing Like the Sun, and I was aware that he had written it after the death of his mother. The mother-son motif was something I could respond to. As Sting's father died shortly thereafter, Soul Cages was about him, which is probably why I didn't care for it.

Because the father-son thing. At the age of twenty-two I wasn't into the father-son thing. I loved my father, but there wasn't much understanding there. I mean, I tried. But it wasn't a thing.

The album grew on my however, even as I stopped listening to new Sting material altogether. We used several themes from Soul Cages in the Bad Epitaph production of Hamlet. The loss of fathers weighs heavily in that play, and my Hamlet in that production has lost his father a few years earlier himself.

One song in particular has always crushed me, even when dad was living; Why Should I Cry For You. It is not a disrespectful question, it is an honest, searching inquiry. It also has perfect beats per minute. It is hard to run fast and cry at the same time. I am glad I wearing sunglasses.

Distance: 5 miles
Avg Pace: 7:56
Duration: 39:45
Route: Boulevard-Noble Loop
Temperature: 30° → 34°
Climate: cool and bright
Pavement: dry
Weight: 161.5 lbs.
Mood: as you might expect

1991 Playlist

- or -

"The Soul Cages" by Sting

Island of Souls

All This Time

Mad About You

Jeremiah Blues (Part 1)

Why Should I Cry for You (162 bpm)

Saint Agnes and the Burning Train

The Wild Wild Sea

The Soul Cages

When the Angels Fall

Should you have to leave us it'll be all right.

The universe intervenes. Thought things were frustrating last week, with the opening of the outreach tour, cold temps and sidewalks crusted with slippery snow and ice.

That was before I received a phone call from my father's pastor Friday morning that my father had suffered a massive heart attack and that I needed to rush to Lakewood Hospital. It was too late, I found my mother, the pastor and my father - he, dead in the emergency room.

Such a beautiful weekend. High of seventy degrees. Spent almost none of it outdoors. No time to run, no desire to run. You know my father was a runner? Of course you do.

Distance: 3.21 miles
Avg Pace: 7:47
Duration: 25:01
Route: Boulevard Loop

Can't tell you how selfish I felt taking a run. Did anyone see me out there? What must they think. Mostly I felt selfish for feeling good. Not emotionally good, just physically well. In shape. It's been a week, and while my brain cannot cool my body has not had much movement. It felt great last night just to cook dinner for my mother and my brother.

And it was good.

This is going to be a long week. The memorial is on Saturday. Denny and I will go through things, our cousins will all be involved. And we have to keep mom in the game.

Temperature: 45°
Climate: cool
Pavement: dry
Weight: 161.5 lbs.
Mood: as you might expect

Recently, I made note on my other blog that the year 1989 was the greatest year in the history of popular music. This is an argument I would enjoy having with anyone. Go ahead, read the post, in which I highlight only three albums, with the intention of commenting on additional albums in the future.

We shall see if I ever get to that. In the meantime, it is the day for running to the 1989 playlist.

1989 Playlist
Zaar - Peter Gabriel
Garden of Earthly Delights - XTC
Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears
Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy
Dreaming I Am - Bob Mould

See? What did I tell you? 1989. Some playlist.

Those roads. These skies.

Mitch's Long Back (2016)
Daniel Maidman

No complaints. Really, none. The past two winters were arduous, and I accepted them as well. This one has been mild, only the past week dipping into frozen temperatures. I could run, I have run while the mercury is in the teens. However, between my children's schedules and my own, plus the deep freeze, it has not been possible.

Soon the temps will rise again. The ice will melt. See? No complaints.

However, I have been feeling pains, strange pains. My left gluteus maximus (yes, that) has been sore, intermittently, for several weeks. I believe I have been sitting far too much. I have had an awful lot of desk work lately and have been in front of that screen a great deal.

Then there's my car, a two-door Honda Civic (2005.) Driving slowly on these slippery roads has become a literal pain. I am used to the discomfort which comes with making a road trip to Athens, say. What is different is getting into my car as I did yesterday to drive the girl to a futsal game, and almost immediately feeling sore and crabby.

Following that, I got to sit in a chilled warehouse-like athletic facility for three hours. I should have watched the games on my feet. I often do more things on my feet. I should find some kind of secure platform on which to put my laptop for writing scripts.

The wife suggests incorporating my stretching exercises into my routine, which I think is a very good idea.

Instead of an image of my own ass, I decided to present you with a much more attractive piece of work, a sketch created by the extremely talented, Brooklyn-based artist and my friend Daniel Maidman.

Distance: 3.58 miles
Avg Pace: 9:34
Duration: 34:16
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Woah. That was a workout. Brilliant day, sun reflecting brightly off the snow, wore shades. The clumpy snow is hard on my knees and ankles, also I took the Forest Hill Park route, most of which was no different from the sidewalks (when I could stay on the paths) but the sidewalk up Forest Hills Blvd. I took back became extremely deep before I ditched it and walked in the street.

I had to walk because I had been lifting my knees so high to play over and through the drifts my heart was racing very fast. My heart is strong, but please. Let's not test that.

Temperature: 18°
Climate: cold and bright
Pavement: deep drifts of snow
Weight: 164 lbs.
Mood: decent

1999 Playlist
Thursday's Child - David Bowie
Futurama Theme - Christopher Tyng
Big Pimpin - Jay-z ft. UGK
Thank You - Dido
The Future of the Future (Stay Gold) - Everything But the Girl
Stars All Seem To Weep - Beth Orton
Porcelain - Moby

The winter gets cold.

Welcome back, winter. Cold plus snow. Feels like forever since I have moved. Spending long hours in front of the screen, writing and editing materials for the outreach tour.

And Hamilton. Listening to Hamilton. It's true. All of it.

Distance: 3.40 miles
Avg Pace: 8:45
Duration: 29:43
Route: Four times around the block.

Oh God. Oh, my God. That was ... something. It wasn't snowing when I headed out, not really. But it picked up as I went. And the wind, which while not unbearable, numbed my face.

But I kept going. Not two laps, though I though that might be a good time to stop. Not three. A complete circuit of four. And I was a little nervous. Scared of cars which might skid and jump the curb. Of plows going madly up and down short drive. Of anything, everything.

Glad to get out, outside, into the air, to move my body. But it was a little crazy.

Temperature: 19°
Climate: cold with snow showers
Pavement: fluffy

Worked at home today, guy came to install a new fireplace. The old one petered out well over ten years ago. We smelled gas, had the whole thing shut down. Why not? We had very small children, it was an accident waiting to happen. Blocked with a magazine rack since Bush's first term.

Last year the girl said, "Any chance of having a working fireplace, you know, while I still live here?"

Ouch.

Weight: 159.5 lbs.
Mood: not great

Why so anxious? Because I am seriously anxious today. Hmn.  Getting the tour organized? That's nothing new. New script? I guess, it's not really mine. It's Agatha Christie. Mom and Dad were over today. My father has become quite the old man. Slow moving, poor balance, weak voice. Quick to tire. I tucked him into our bed for a nap, that was new.

Yes, yes. I think that's it. Huh. That was a surprise.

Also, the end of Hamilton. That's also upsetting. So there's that, too.

2009 Playlist
Mute (Jokers Of The Scene Remix) - The Brash
Empire State of Mind * - Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys
Sugar - Flo Rida ft. Wynter
Sea of Heartbreak - Roseanne Cash ft. Bruce Springsteen
The Start of Something - Voxtrox
Lisztomania - Phoenix
I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked * - Ida Maria