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

Runaway Bridesmaid

My wedding date.

We’re standing up tomorrow, but I was stood up today. By the matron of honor no less. We were supposed to have a ritual run, a pre-wedding 5K, for good luck or whatever. But the MOH woke up with cold feet. Well, cold everything really.

The thermometer was hugging 33 degrees and a sharp wind blew out of the southwest. “Cold n windy,” she texted. “Yeah. WTF? It was lovely yesterday,” I replied. “Too cold,” she made herself clear. “Wimp,” I shot back.

I was undaunted. I’d psyched myself up for this run and it was gonna happen with or without her. It was a little like being left standing at the altar, only let’s see the groom go through with the ceremony if his bride doesn’t show. Best man is right, baby.

MOH may have been the wiser of us. That wind was strong and really biting, at least on the open ground sections of the hilly Lake Story biking/running path. Tried to shoot video with my dumb phone to give you a sense of the wind gusts, but the audio didn’t work, so it’s just silent shaky-cam. I did capture a photo of the little baby whitecaps on the lake – surf’s up!

Whitecaps on Lake Storey.

So I labored against the wind like Bob Seger and finished my 3.1 miles. Coincidentally, on my return to the starting point I passed a group of people taking photos for, I assume, an engagement. The happy couple posed against a tree by the lake while a few friends loitered nearby, waiting for the photographer to finish so they could all get out of the cold.

Later I was off to Ducky’s Formal Wear for final fitting of my tuxedo (first time in a true monkey suit). As I wrap this up, the rehearsal is half an hour away. Let the fun begin.

Today's Stats

Temp: 33 degrees F

Distance: 3.1 miles

Weekly Total: 11.1 miles

Treasure: Zilch

iPod Playlist (80s Dance Mix):

You Keep Me Hangin’On – Kim Wilde

Prove Your Love – Taylor Dayne

I Wanna Be a Cowboy – Boys Don’t Cry

Wild, Wild West – The Escape Club

I Want Your Sex (Parts 1&2) – George Michael

Tell it to My Heart – Taylor Dayne

Two of Hearts – Stacey Q

I Thank You

Two years ago today I began this journey, this exercise in writing to complement the physical exercise of running. Ironically, as noted then, that inaugural blog entry was written and posted on a day when I didn’t run. I was regular as clockwork back then, three times a week – Monday, Wednesday, Friday – and sometimes added a day, never subtracted one. 

Street socks. I left them where they lay.

It seems apropos, and admittedly rather cliché, to write about that for which I am thankful today. But it’s all I’ve got. It’s really a daunting task. Too easy to overlook something, seem to basic, miss the obvious. Write too little and it seems disingenuous. Write too much and it comes across as self-serving.

I’ve been through a lot in the two years since this thing came into being. I’m thankful for the friends and family who have stood by me and behind me and in front of me through it all. I’m thankful for the new friends I’ve made since then, people who saw something in me despite my faults and frailties and wanted to be a part of my life – and conversely to have me be a part of theirs.

I’m thankful for good health and a good job, even if both have their cracks. I’m thankful for people who don’t litter and for those who recycle. (I spend too much time complaining in my head and aloud about those who do the opposite.) I’m thankful for the Internet and for newspapers and books and music and the people who have the talent and the heart and the desire to make those things. I am thankful for the relative safety of my community and country.

And then there is the greatest blessing in my life: three smart, beautiful, caring and loving daughters. I’m thankful for them and their continued faith and devotion.

Today's Stats

Temp: 51 degrees F

Distance: 5 miles

Weekly Total: 8 miles

Treasure: 15 cans; 1 pair of socks (left where they lay).

iPod Playlist (On Shuffle):

Reconsider Me – Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly (Zevon cover)

Songbird – Kenny G

Soul Kitchen – The Doors

Night Flight – Led Zeppelin

You’re theInspiration – Chicago

Desperados Under the Eaves (live) – Warren Zevon

Lady – Styx

O’Sullivan’s March – The Chieftans

Broken (New Version) – Lifehouse

Five O’Clock 500 – Alabama

More Than This – Roxy Music

Counting by tens – Discovery Toys Sounds Like Fun (How is this still in my iTunes?)

Rock You Like aHurricane – Scorpions

Other Possibilities – Rachel Portman (Chocolat soundtrack)

Castle Attack – Robert Kral (Angel TV series soundtrack)

Roll With the Changes – REO Speedwagon

Better Than Nothin'

I stepped out into a mild sprinkle, almost a mist it was so light, but so minimal that a mist would involve more moisture. It didn’t last, not that I would have minded a light rain. Been a long time since I’ve run in the rain and it would have cooled me off a bit.

First can in a long time.

I hate running in this between weather. Cool enough that I doubt shorts and a sleeveless running shirt would suffice, but too warm really for wind pants and a running jacked (the kick-ass Monster Dash jacket). I guess after two and a half years I’m still too inexperienced to be able to judge the best attire for days like this. ER visits notwithstanding, I pretty much prefer hot. Well, OK, 70s is about perfect. Yada, yada, yada.

It’s been a while – more than a week since I last ran or wrote. Well, blog-wise anyway. Honestly, I’ll admit my recent blogs (Monster Dash entry notwithstanding) have been a little dull. It’s hard to write about running and finding stuff when you don’t find stuff. Cans aren’t much to write about, though I have done so on memorable days (87 cans in one run, a full can of Budweiser!), but I haven’t been carrying a bag on recent runs to even collect those. Today I did. And while I gathered only 5 cans and a couple of random castoffs, it was better than nothin’.

Let’s look at the castoffs. The “Country Sweethearts” CD likely won’t play. And I’ve no idea what’s on it Yeah, there’s Google, but I might just clean it up and see if it’ll play. I’ve been surprised by a couple of others that did play. 

The real find today, however, was a handwritten recipe card for someone’s “Date Puddin’.” Interestingly it was lying in the doorway of the now shuttered Rooster’s lunch spot on Seminary Street. I was gonna say it was ironic, but I like to use the word correctly when so many don’t. Hmmm. Maybe it is ironic to find a recipe card in the doorway of a defunct restaurant. You decide.

So what the hell is date pudding? Is it like figgy pudding? Check out the recipes online. I guess they look similar. I’m no cook and I haven’t the patience nor time to make a complete comparison. Call ’em cuisine cousins. And I see by the date pudding recipe at Taste of Home that it’s a holiday tradition for some. The timing then of finding this recipe the week of Thanksgiving is indeed coincidental, not ironic.

Hey, maybe my friend Jane Carlson would like to try this recipe for her great blog, Sweetened and Condensed, though it is not one of  Marilyn's.

I am glad that my lame leg is none the worse for the wear, despite my forgetting to use my knee support-thingy. I hate being lamey, and this buttock/hamstring soreness is wearing on me, as is the patellar ligament pain. Maybe it’s time for a professional opinion.

Today's Stats

Temp: 46 degrees F

Distance: 2.77 (3.03 with cool-down walk) miles

Treasure: 5 cans; 1 CD – “Country Sweethearts,” 1994; 1 recipe card, handwritten, for Date Puddin’

Seen during my cool-down walk along Main Street.

iPod Playlist (On Shuffle):

Say You Love Me (live) – Fleetwood Mac

Narrow Way, Pt. 1 – Pink Floyd

Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin

Heaven, Hell or Houston – ZZ Top

Ruby and Carlos – James McMurtry (Great lyrics, give it a listen)

Come Go with Me – Expose

All My Loving (mono) – The Beatles

Mohammed’s Radio(live) – Warren Zevon