Blogging Ain't Cheap

Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repeat.

Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repeat.

Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repeat.

Approaching the northwest corner, looking southwest.

OK, enough of that. You get the point. I'm about to repeat myself with this entry, at least a little. That'll happen when you run in circles. The scenery is the same, there are no treasures lying in the path. But I think it's been a while since I described the track or shared any images from the old YMCA gym.

Here’s a quick refresher: For those who don't know, I live in Swing's Leisure Apartments, which happens to be the old YMCA here in Galesburg. The gym is used mostly for storage but is divided by a temporary wall with a door in it. A couple months ago the east side of the gym was cleared out. Now all the old refrigerators, stoves, air conditioners, bookshelves, chairs and miscellaneous detritus of SLA residents and other Swing properties is confined to the west side.

Somebody kindly installed a rim and net on the basketball backboard on the east side and half a dozen chairs line the north wall. Pickup game, anyone?

The mezzanine level, accessible from the second floor, is flat and carpeted and plastic netting helps keep errant shots within the confines of the court below (nobody wants to chase up the stairs to retrieve a ball from amongst the musty mattresses and dust-covered couches that line the perimeter of the mezzanine.

Nice morning light streaming in through the northeast corner window.

Level three houses the track. It's tiny. I'm told it takes 34 laps to make a mile and that seems about right. That's a lot of counting for a numerically challenged guy like me. But it's comfortable, despite the threadbare condition of the patchwork carpet that covers the former wood surface (I'm speculating it was once a cool hardwood surface). Like a mini-velodrome, the curved ends of the oval are banked and even the straight-aways have a bit of an inward tilt. Metal railing and cross-hatched grillwork prevent weary runners from tumbling into the appliance graveyard below.

Cold weather is in the forecast so I should have made an effort to run outdoors today. Again, for those of you who haven’t been with me from the start, I ran outdoors all last winter, even in temps in the zero range. I’m not a wuss about this, just lazy. I don’t feel like suiting up for a cold run right now, especially since I don’t have to these days. I suppose I will soon, just to get out in the air and in hopes of finding some goodies.

Anyway, I suppose you're wondering about the title, what it’s got to do with anything and what's so expensive about blogging. It’s a good-natured poke at a photographer buddy of mine who Facebooked an item about the cost of doing photographry and how people should realize that the craft is expensive and requires knowledge and all that. Expect to use a photographer’s work without compensating him/her, then you’re insulting the artist. I mostly agree. Now I'm not suggesting you pay for this drivel, but it doesn't come free. Let's take a look at the cost of writing for pleasure and entertainment.

Digital camera: $90 (I usually use my cellphone but needed better light-handling capabilities today.)

Running Shoes: $60 (That's cheap, by the way, and they were on sale.)

Running Shorts: $20 (Admittedly I have two pair I found while running that I sometimes wear, so that balances out.)

Running Shirt: $10

Rent: $325/month (That's how I have access to the awesome track.)

3 lbs. of sweat: ? (The bathroom scale read 201 after this morning's run and it read 206 last night just before bedtime. I figure a couple of pounds can be attributed to sleep-thrashing and whatever.)

TOTAL: $505 plus a bit of me.

I just hope you appreciate all that I give for you. You'll note there was no computer cost involved. Thank you, First Presbyterian Church, for allowing my personal use of the laptop on which I program the weekly worship service presentations.

Today's Stats

Temp: 27 degrees F outside

Distance: 3.5 miles

Treasure: Really nothing. The gym is half full of castoff appliances and furniture, but I've already claimed what I wanted from the heap.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Canary in a Coalmine - The Police

I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You - Alan Parsons Project

Burning Down the House (live) - Talking Heads (Thought myself quite clever to notice how the white lines on the highway went up the nose of David Byrne's projected face when I first saw this video before a movie at WIU in 1984 or '85.)

Don't Interrupt the Sorrow - Joni Mitchell

I Don't Wanna - The Call

For the Love of a Princess - James Horner ("Braveheart" soundtrack)

Give Me Back My Wig (live) - Luther Allison

Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - The Yardbirds

Soda and Salt - James McMurtry

Watching the Wheels - John Lennon

It's That Time Again

Yeah, I was insinuating "Tebow Time." Now, I'll admit I had no faith in the Denver Broncos today. I'm no fair-weather fan, but I'm also not a fool. The second quarter of that game was about as stunning as the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII (Broncos vs. Redskins), though in a good way this time. Of course it's that sort of history that had me in a state of skepticism. Or shall I say realism?

Joe Mahoney / AP

Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas breaks away from Pittsburgh defensive back Ryan Mundy.
Thomas' 80-yard touchdown was the game-winning score in a 29-23 win on Sunday.

I suffered three increasingly worse Super Bowl losses in four years in the infancy of my Broncos fandom. I stuck with them through the years, like any faithful fan, and my loyalty was rewarded with back-to-back championships to send my hero John Elway into retirement on top. The team faded fast, showed a glimmer of hope a few years back, then watched the sun set again. After a allowing myself to believe in 2005 only to suffer another humiliating defeat, this time at the hands of the Steelers in the AFC Championship, I returned to only passing interest in Broncos football.

So, I still love the Broncos, but I don't get so caught up in the excitement and I hold fast to realism and skepticism. And that's how I feel about next week's matchup with the Patriots. I'll hope and pray (not really pray) but I don't expect another win. Still, today was fun, if a little anxiety-inducing. The 29-23 OT win, the fastest OT win in NFL history, was awesome! That's entertainment, folks.

To celebrate, I did a couple miles around the track. That felt good. 

Today's Stats
Temp: 35 degrees F outside
Distance: 2.25 miles
Weekly Total: 10.75
Treasure: 1 Denver Broncos playoff victory (found before the run).

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Come Go With Me - Expose
Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears
Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
You Keep Me Hangin' On - Kim Wilde
Cordy Meets Fred - Robert Kral (Angel TV series)
Mockingbird (live) - Ryan Adams

Cheer Up, Sleepy Jean

Not exactly daydream believin', just sleepy. I'm amused by people who say they can't sleep in. Not a problem. Conversely, I've done my time waking before the cock crows, too. The last few years that The Register-Mail was an afternoon paper I found myself rolling out of bed between 4 and 5 a.m. 

I never relied on a lot of sleep, overnight anyway, but these days I find I have trouble waking early. Perhaps it’s the night owl hours I keep so frequently because of the morning paper schedule. But even an early bedtime tends to leave me sleepy when the alarm sounds. And if I don’t have a morning commitment it’s all too easy to roll over and enjoy the comfort of the comforter. Hence it’s name, I suppose.

And so it was Friday when the buzzer sounded at 6 a.m. Ah, no need to rise so early today. Besides D3 is staying over and we were up late. Just a while longer. But that is so dangerous. It is so easy to give in to that temptation and just sleep away half the day. That wouldn’t go over well with certain friends now that I’ve declared my resolution to stick to my regimen of running and writing (even if the writing part is sometimes delayed by the rest of life’s schedule).

Anyway, with a house guest asleep in my abode, I had intended to run on the indoor track. But the unseasonably balmy weather was too great a lure and I headed out the door for a road run after informing D3 of my change of plans. It was a joy to be in the fresh air – in T-shirt and shorts no less (or should I say “nothing more”?).

It wasn’t quite a bonanza day on the scavenging side, but I did gather a few cans and picked up a peck of litter. The 1000 block of North Cherry Street was strewn with pages from one of those quirky catalogs you receive unsolicited. This one was Signatures. I first simply photographed the mess, but a bit of guilt creeped in as I considered the ugly mess. Were any of the residents of this lovely brick street neighborhood likely to pick up the pages? No. And I’m claiming any virtue by my action. I just felt I would be a jerk not to do it.

Eighty pages later I was on my way.

Back home I thumbed through some of the leaves. Just what can you buy from Signatures? Plenty.

“Here is … the Johnny Carson Show” – a 3 DVD set

“Best of Eddy Arnold” – 2 CD set

The “AmazingTransforming Mini Sphere” from Hoberman

The famous “As Seen on TV” Snuggie!

“The Very Best of Andres Segovia: Guitar Genius” – 4 CD set of the Spanish guitar legend

Pre-seasoned cast iron skillets

“Black Beauty” – The complete mini series on DVD

“How Not to Act Like a Little Old Lady” – sounds like a good bathroom book

Rogers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” – with Hugh Jackman!

The easy and elegant “Cami Secret” mock camisole to “hide cleavage” – WTF? Boo!

“Eggies” – A clever set of plastic pieces for making hard-boiled eggs without all the fuss of peeling that damned shell

And loads of other stuff from jewelry to clothing to purses to ultra-fancy tweezers for the most stubborn of nose hairs.

Boy, am I glad I stopped for that mess!  

Today's Stats

Temp: 42 degrees F

Distance: 2.5 miles

Weekly Total: 8.5 miles

Treasure: 80 pages from a Signatures catalog; 16 cans; 1 cigarette pack.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

The Marauders - Tears for Fears

The Lie - Matthew West

Pursuance - John Coltrane

Monkey Wash, DonkeyRinse (Cover) - David Lindley & Ry Cooder

Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon

Rip This Joint - The Rolling Stones (live)

So What - Miles Davis

A Working Title Production

Music as motivator? Sometimes. My friend and fellow runner (wait, did I just include myself as a runner?) Carmen was talking about the importance of motivational music, and its fluidity, Saturday on the way to the Run Your Ice Off Hardcore 5K in Kewanee. She made note (pun intended) of how a certain song can be a motivator one day but may fall flat (yep) another.

Nothing on the indoor track, but I found two frozen shirts
on the street Monday while biking and driving.

I see her point. And yet, as much as I love music and as much as music can affect my mood, it doesn’t often affect my run. Let me explain. (I’ll try to pick up this track after I actually go for my run in a minute here; just wanted to get the thread started while it was in my head.) What Carmen was talking about is being “in the zone.” Literally hitting her stride. I won’t deny that music can affect mine, but for me that’s more a physical/mental thing, whereas music is about emotion. For me.

Oh, music affects me physically, too. I can’t help but move to it (no, I don’t really dance – I’ve been accused of being an SNL head-bobber). Just as certain tunes entice me to put the pedal to the metal (“Hair of the Dog” for example), some have a beat that affects my pace, or at least my cadence. Ben Lee’s “Catch My Disease” does something to me. My arms pump more dramatically when it starts. I kind of sway side to side as I run, sort of turning my torso from the shoulders because of the increased arm-pumping. “Hungry Like the Wolf” inspires a little burst of speed.

I think, though, because of my physical limitations (are they in part psychological? probably) I don’t allow music to dictate my pace. I can’t maintain it. My zone is mental and physical. The emotion of music lingers below the surface. Fortunately, the endorphins produced by running tend to counter any sadness triggered by music as it draws memories to the fore. Maybe Rob Gordon should have taken up running.

Today's Stats

Temp: 28 degrees F (outside)

Distance: 3 miles

Weekly Total: 6 miles

Treasure: 1 Danskin Now shirt, women’s LG (13-14), navy blue; 1 Fruit of the Loom tank, men’s XL, orange (both found Monday while on errands, one biking, one driving).

iPod Playlist (KGHS mix - partial)

Caught Up In You - .38 Special

Somebody’s Baby – Jackson Browne

More Than A Feeling – Boston

Time For Me To Fly – REO Speedwagon

Rosanna – Toto (For you drummers out there, check out this video of "Jeff Porcaro laying down his fine shuffle work on the tune Rosanna."

Mr. Roboto – Styx

Owner Of A LonelyHeart – Yes (Not the video you think it is. Brilliant!

Out of the Darkness

I couldn’t sleep. Bed before 11 p.m. is a new experience and my body apparently didn’t like it. Or maybe just didn’t know how to react. So I was awake, tossing and turning in an attempt to return to peaceful slumber, at 3 a.m. or so. Around 4 I decided to make use of the time.

Too dark, too boring on the track for pix.

I lumbered out of bed, donned some do-fer jammies (an LL Bean “River Driver’s Shirt” and plaid flannel sleep pants) and busied myself clearing out some stuff in my closet. Then I sorted some mail that’s been ignored for a couple of days. Finally it was time for the track. I know I need to hit the streets again soon, if for no other reason than I need to scavenge something to write about. After all, that’s half the purpose of this exercise.

The track was dark in the predawn, the air warmer than I expected. What dim streetlight blended with moon that seeped in the windows was enough for running on a track with set bounds. I checked my playlist to have an idea when I’d complete 3 miles (based on my usual pace) and set off. It seemed to sync pretty well. I have new information from an old-timer who told me the other day that it takes 34 laps of the track here to equal 1 mile. I suppose that’s about right, again, based on my pace. I think I kept pretty good count of my laps, maybe dropping a couple (not in my favor, shorting myself in the count). And I walked three or four cool-down laps anyway.

I think a contributing factor to my sleeplessness was a fretful mind over financial matters. How am I going to make everything work? But worry isn’t helpful, so I tried to put those thoughts out of my head and think of how I will make it all work. And then other numbers began to clog my mind. Numbers of laps run. Really that’s kind of a pain in the ass. It’s so easy to slip up and drop a lap or skip one ahead. I always err against me in the count if I question the number.

What I came to realize this morning was that a positive attitude is totally up to you (me). One can fret and fear and dither over the unknown or one can marshal positive thoughts, work toward solutions and be determined and focused on positive outcomes. If that sounds like motivational bullshit, so be it. This is a new year and time for a new beginning. It’s only the second day of 2012, the first day of fulfilling my resolution. But like a smoker who snuffs that last stick and 24 hours later is still smoke-free, I mark this as a success.

Footnote: The KGHS Mix playlist is a compilation of songs I particularly liked during high school. I shared the mix with a couple of friends a few years ago and they liked it, too.

Today's Stats

Temp: 21 degrees F (Much warmer indoors, though)

Distance: 3 miles

Treasure: Peace of mind.

iPod Playlist (KGHS Mix – partial )

Roll With the Changes - REO Speedwagon

Hold On Loosely - .38 Special

In The Dark - Billy Squier

Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions

Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins

Wrapped Around YourFinger - The Police