Send You to Sleep After the Glovin’

Cold weather and the approach of winter means it’s time for people to start losing things. Gloves, to point a finer point on it. I’ve picked up dozens of ‘em in the two and a half years I’ve been running. Not so many last year, as I wussed out and ran indoors on the track most days. OK, really it wasn’t a wussy thing but rather a lazy thing. I didn’t want to have to figure out the appropriate layers of clothes for dashing  through the snow.

Well, it has begun again. I found my first glove of the season yesterday. Or at least it was the first one I bothered to pick up. A big camouflage righty of the fleece variety. I feel a little guilty about snagging it from the curb in front of a neighbor’s house in my old ‘hood. What if it just fell out of a car parked out front? What if it slipped from Sully’s pocket as he toted the trash to the terrace on garbage day? Maybe I’ll take it back and knock on his door to see if it’s his. After all, what the hell am I going to do with a mateless mitt? Though I told buddy Tom L., who lives in my building (but not for much longer) that if I left it on the free table it would disappear.

You see, we have this table in the lobby where people leave stuff they don’t want: day-old newspaper (sometimes even fresh ones, just late in the day), cake mixes, vitamins, clothes, hangers, books, magazines, cards and miscellany too random for me to recall. It all disappears. I’ve taken and I’ve given. Glucosamine supplements have been left there twice and I took both bottles. Seemed a good idea given my aching knee. Not sure it helped, but those are expensive pills and they were free. Why not give ‘em a try?

One day early in my tenure here I left my bike near the table to hop upstairs to grab some forgotten item out of my apartment. Two women were conversing in the lobby and one cautioned me, “Sir, that’s not the best place to leave your bike.” I was kinda perturbed, thinking she was getting on my case for leaving the bike in the lobby. “Stuff on that table is there for anybody to take. You wouldn’t want somebody to take your bike.” Heck, she was being helpful. Never jump to conclusions. Actually it was the little girl’s bike I was riding at the time and I wouldn’t have minded someone taking it; would have spared me more heckling.

Anyhoo, I also picked up a nice bungee cord yesterday. That I just may have a use for. But the glove…

Today's Stats (Nov. 29)

Temp: 33 degrees F

Distance: 5 miles

Weekly Total: 8.28 miles

Treasure: 1 camouflage glove; 1 black bungee cord; 19 cans.

iPod Playlist (On Shuffle):

The Walls Came Down – The Call

Dancing in the Dark – Diana Krall

The Great River – Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings soundtrack)

A Day in the Life – The Beatles

Walk Between theRaindrops – James McMurtry

Broken – Tears for Fears

I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner

That’s How Strong My Love Is (Live) – The Rolling Stones

Rock of Ages – Def Leppard

Nowhere To Run – Santana

Two of Hearts – Stacey Q

Absolute – The Fray

The Lazarus Heart - Sting

Today's Stats (Nov. 27)

Temp: 23 degrees F

Distance: 3.28 miles

Treasure: 7 cans.

iPod Playlist (On Shuffle):

Mr. Roboto – Styx

4:37 AM (Arabs With Knives & West German Skies) – Roger Waters

Rip This Joint – The Rolling Stones

Don’t Panic – Coldplay

Lady – Styx

Phoenix Song – Harry & The Potters

Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles

Everywhere I Go – Willie Nelson & Emmylou Harris

You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Kim Wilde

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (Anthology 3 version) – The Beatles