Still running, still lazy

Too lazy to get out of bed and run this morning. Too lazy to dress and run outdoors. Too lazy to think of anything worthwhile to write. I really gotta turn it around.

I do have a couple of ideas in the works, but they’re not quite ready for public consumption. Soon, I think. I realized tonight as I labored through 3.5 miles that I have to get my rear in gear if I’m going to do the Bix again this year. I haven’t done even 5 miles at a clip since August. Bix, for those of you who don’t know, is 7 miles, with some significant hills, in the heat of July.

I have running friends who do half-marathons, marathons, 50Ks, ultra-marathons (we’re talking 50 miles!). I’m not comparing myself or measuring against their yard stick. But I’d like to reach my own goals, which include doing the Bix again. I think I’ll shoot for the CASI St. Patrick’s Day 5K again, too.   

Today's Stats

Temp: 33 degrees F outside

Distance: 3.5 miles

Weekly Total: 6 miles

Treasure: Nada.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes

Slipstream - Jethro Tull

Seasonal (Acoustic) - Ryan Patrick

Heartbreak Warfare - John Mayer

Caught Up In You - .38 Special

Father, Son - Peter Gabriel

(I've Had) The Timeof My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (I'm man enough to admit I like this and suffer your slings and arrows. Screw you, "Dirty Dancing" haters!)

Love Comes to Everyone - George Harrison

Running To StandStill - U2

One Lonely Night - REO Speedwagon

"Positively no one allowed on playing floor with street shoes!"

Timing Is Everything

Again I couldn’t drag my butt out of bed with the alarm this morning. I knew I should. I wanted to. Perhaps it was the looming day shift and a noon blood donation (platelet pheresis) that left me lacking the necessary motivation. Or maybe it was my aching legs.

I'll try to remember to share a pic of the goodies after they've been washed.

  Whatever it was, I delayed, figuring I could hit the track after D3 (my youngest daughter) came for dinner and some time with Dad. As it turns out, the outside temp seemed comfy enough that I decided to hit the streets again – finally. Boy did it feel good. OK, so the watery eyes and runny nose from the crisp night air weren’t the greatest feeling, but it was refreshing to be outdoors and I found some cool stuff. That’s got to make everyone happy.

I headed out the door about 9:45 p.m. The cans came quickly, with the first appearing just across the street from my apartment. The second was noteworthy, though, because as I banged it on the ground to knock the dirt off it regurgitated a stash of used insulin syringes. I figure most insulin users are responsible folk who dispose of their syringes properly, so these were likely repurposed for illegal drug use. Nice.

Pepsi, choice of a doper generation.

Through the course of the next 2.25 miles or so I picked up a stocking cap, a mitten and a couple of stuffed toys. And some more cans. But that’s not bad after a month and a half of zilch. I call it the Broad Street Bonanza. Everything was found along Broad Street from Ferris to Fremont.

All in all it was a pretty good run.

Today's Stats

Temp: 33 degrees F

Distance: 2.43 miles

Treasure: 1 black stocking cap; 1 Spider-Man stuffed-toy football; 1 stuffed-toy chipmunk; 1 United Facilities employee ID tag; 1 black and grey mitten (fingerless conversion); 9 cans (1 stuffed with 5 used insulin syringes).

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Right Here Now – James McMurtry (This guy is great!)

I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner

Everywhere I Go – Willie Nelson & Emmylou Harris

Hold On Loosely - .38 Special

The Night Is StillYoung – Billy Joel

Lawyers, Guns and Money – Warren Zevon

Best of Times - Styx

Yo, keep your freedom to yourself

That seems to be the dominant philosophy of freedom in the United States these days. You believe in God. Great, keep quiet about it. You believe in gay marriage?! Whatever, just don't flaunt it in front of me. You believe in global warming? All well and good, but don't mock my big car. 

Why does it seem that expressing your beliefs is suddenly taboo? You're free to believe what you want, just don't tell anybody about it. At least not publicly. And especially if you're famous and in the limelight where the public is "forced" to hear you.

Just ask Tim Tebow. Or you can just let me tell you about it, because he's busy talking to God. What follows is a rant I started last weekend and just never got 'round to finishing. 

God wants Tim Tebow to win, and you, too

That's right, God, as our father, wants us all to win, to succeed in life, to be prosperous and happy. Don't all parents want that for their children? Well, all but the dregs of humanity like Susan Smith and the Shues. 

Does that mean when Tebow and the Broncos pulled a win out of their nether regions that God had anything to do with it? Not really. At least not in the way Tebow haters seem to think Tebow believes. And I think that's all a misinterpretation of Tebow's beliefs by religion-hating folks who think anytime somebody espouses his or her beliefs publicly it's "shoving it in my face."

I've heard that from a lot of people. And I'll tell you, even as a church-going Christian, I find Tebow's expression of faith disturbing. OK, not quite disturbing, but I was going for a spin on Darth Vader's line. But even Kurt Warner, another QB known for his reverence to the Lord, suggested Big Tim back off a bit.

It's disturbing, or at least discomfiting, because the end result of public praise is misinterpretation and malignancy. As a church-goer and one who is thus somewhat familiar with modern Christian theory, I'll attempt to explain why Tebow, and other athletes who acknowledge God in their successes, do that.

I don't remember people hating Mark Bavaro for
genuflecting after every touchdown he scored. I always
thought it a wonderful gesture, much more classy than
spiking the ball or leaping into the stands.

1. God has a plan for me
The Bible says God knows everything. In fact he knows your name before your parents do and he knows how many hairs are on your head (or would be if you didn't shave it). Does that mean God chose for Tebow and the Broncos to beat the Steelers, then a week later chose to favor Tom Brady and the Patriots? Brady's blood relation to God notwithstanding, I don't think Tebow or any other player ever meant "God wanted me to win this game because I am the chosen one." When Tebow said, "God has a plan for me," he was simply stating a common Christian belief that God knows the course of your life before it happens. He doesn't take a hand in it, per se, affecting events around you to ensure a particular outcome.

2. The Great Commission
You may not have heard of that, but you know about it. The Great Commission is the charge embraced by evangelicals, from Matthew 28:19-20. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

I don't believe that's a call for jihad but rather a directive to spread the Good Word. Teach others about God. Enlighten the world to His goodness and bring them into the fold so that they, too, may have everlasting salvation. Yadda, yadda. 

That's where some of us fall short as "good Christians." We've succumbed to the peer pressure to keep our beliefs to ourselves. To many who are averse to religion and lump faith in with that, any public expression of one's faith is offensive and tantamount to attempted brainwashing. Don't misunderstand me, there's plenty wrong with religion, just as there's plenty wrong with government. Likewise, there's a big difference between religion and faith just as there is between government and democracy. There are elements in the framework of each, however, that are worthwhile. One, for example, is the camaraderie of a church community.

Anyway, this diatribe aside, I don't tend to wear my faith on my sleeve (though I did wear a symbol on my ear the past two weeks). And I don't suspect that'll change. I'll talk about it freely and willingly should the subject come up, but I didn't pause to praise God last year when I collected my AP award for headline writing. (Maybe that's why I haven't had as many great headlines this year.) But should the occasion arise that I feel compelled to credit Christ for my personal achievement, I would hope others wouldn't hate me for it. After all, God is love, baby. Save the hatin' for Satan.

Today's Stats
Temp: 16 degrees F (outside, ran inside)
Distance: 3 miles (plus .25 mile cooldown)
Weekly Total: 9.25 miles
Treasure: Same ol' nothin'.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
The Grand Illusion - Styx
Narrow Daylight - Diana Krall
Werewolves of London (cover) - Adam Sandler
Studebaker - Jordan Zevon
One Room Country Shack - Buddy Guy
Desperados Under the Eaves (live) - Warren Zevon
When You Sleep - Cake
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me (cover) - Jackson Brown

Wednesday's Stats
Temp: 10 degrees F (outside, ran inside)
Distance: 3 miles
Weekly Total: 6
Treasure: Nil.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Yer Blues - The Beatles
I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
I'll Take My Sorrow Straight - Iris Dement
4:37 A.M. (Arabs With Knives & West German Skies) - Roger Waters
Red Dress - James McMurtry
Virgin State of Mind - K's Choice (From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series)
Friends (live) - Page and Plant

I’m lazy, but I still run

I did indeed run Monday morning. Then I just got too lazy the whole rest of the day to bother with the blog. I even had the afternoon off. I napped. I lounged. I did a little laundry. I watched some “Foyle’s War.” But I couldn’t generate the necessary motivation to write.

Now, by virtue of a morning of laziness before working the night shift, I am in a mad rush to get anything together to entertain me and you for a moment. So here’s what I have. I stole a poem – and a poorly punctuated one at that.

Last week while housekeeping at my folks’ place (it’s my moonlighting gig) I was searching for a dustpan for the kitchen floor sweepings. I opened the obvious cupboards and in one stumbled upon this awesome bit of vacation kitsch. I have no idea where it came from because my folks have never been to Florida. The bottom of the flask is marked St. Petersburg, Fla. Not the most practical of flasks, being made of glass and thus susceptible to the dangers of drunkenness, it is still pretty cool.

The cap is black plastic like you’d find on an old medicine bottle – appropriate – and the bottle is cased in leather. The front has portholes at quarters to see the level of the contents. The portholes are marked, top to bottom: “One drink,” “two drinks,” “half full,” “damn fool.” I love the play on words with full and fool.

On the back is an image of a stumble-bum under a gaslight and a clever little ditty. I even love the misused “your” followed by the correct but unpunctuated “youre.” Fun stuff.

When your heels hit hard

And your head feels queer

And your thoughts foam up

Like the froth on beer

When your legs are weak

And your voice is strong

And you laugh like hell

At some damn fool song

Your drunk

By gosh

Youre drunk!

Today's Stats (Monday, Jan. 16)

Temp: 34 degrees F

Distance: 3 miles

Treasure: Nil.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Lady - Styx (Here's an odd alternate video)

Sleepwalking - Lyle Lovett

California (live) - James Taylor and Joni Mitchell

The Grey Havens - Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings Soundtrack)

Bicycle Song - Kevin Browne

Hold On - Yes (Alan White kicks a**)

Turn That Heartbeat Over Again - Steely Dan

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

I decided Friday morning to find out just how cold it was outside by running a block in my shorts and sleeveless shirt (indoor/summer apparel). Here’s a video of that experiment.

 

The guy I met coming off the elevator as I was going back inside to do my actual run must have thought I was nuts, as, no doubt, did the folks sitting in the coffee shop across the street when I stepped out the front door. They wouldn’t be far off.

As I’ve noted previously, the trouble with running indoors is there isn’t much to find. That leaves me little to write about. Well, I did find a microwaveable hand warmer in the parking lot at Family Video on Thursday. That was cool. I saw the box lying in the snow when I arrived and made note to check it out when I left. The pink plastic packet that you nuke caught my attention as I was leaving (hadn’t noticed it when I first got there. I stopped and picked it up, unsure at first just what it was. Then I nabbed the box and realized they were together. The padded cloth case for the gel pack was still in the box. There was a Bergner’s sticker on the box with the $10 price marked out in black. It’s a Dearfoams product.

Well, it seems I’m still running behind schedule (worked late, partied later – oops.) Time to get about my day. I’ll save one other tidbit for later.

Today's Stats

Temp: 15 degrees F

Distance: 3 miles

Weekly Total: 6.5 miles

Treasure: 1 microwaveable hand warmer.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

One Lonely Night – REO Speedwagon (Great video - I had forgotten)

Stay the Night – Chicago

Summertime – New Kids on the Block

Splendid Isolation (cover) – Pete Yorn

Turpentine – JJ Grey & Mofro

Elected – Alice Cooper (featuring Rob Zombie and Slash)

Easy Lover – Phil Collins

What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) – Information Society