New and improved “Hand in Hand”.
So, in celebration of the end of the world, I have procured a bass guitar and some newfangled electronic drums and I spent the day re-recording my favorite song about the world breaking down.
Please enjoy. I did, it was literally a (minor) dream come true for me.
I mostly have work to blame for my 10 month absence. I’ve been working a lot. To the point where I’m so out of shape that running two miles is a Herculean task. But it’s like Thom Yorke says :”you do it to yourself”. So now I begin the task of undoing it to myself… and that’s what really hurts.
The above pic is one on my home studio. I took most of yesterday to acquaint myself with the wonders of GarageBand…wow, great stuff. The fruit of my first attempt:
Not a finished product, not fantastic, but kinda cool for a couple of hours of messing around.
I’ve been busy, but I’ve not stopped running. Technically, I start a new job today – but I’ll mostly just be flying and landing through various parts of Texas and Mississippi. The hotel that I’m staying off for the next two weeks has a treadmill, so I’ll have little excuse for not running. There’s also a beach (a possibly oil-covered beach) and many roads that my nikes and I can get acquainted with.
I’m in San Antonio right now, at the airport, and I’m waiting for my flight to board. I’m enjoying the free wifi, but my audiobook will likely not download before 8:45 (darn).
Back to the running though – the runs have been good lately. I think that I’m pretty much acclimated to the summer. I’ve had a couple of 6 and 5 mile runs in sunny 90 degree (and higher) weather. Gulfport probably isn’t going to be much cooler than south Texas has been.
More later, about to board.
Musical Highlight of latest run:
“Pain is weakness leaving the body”, said a very fit 18 year old’s t-shirt as it flew by me. The Marines know this. Nike, Gatorade, the Phoenix (as in the fire bird not the city) and even Wilco (You have to learn how to die if you want to be alive) will tell you variations of the same. I’ve come to accept this warrior wisdom because every time that I run it hurts, but it mostly only hurts in the beginning. (yes, this is an elaborate set up for all the “that’s what she said” enthusiasts)
After you get past two miles, there are really only two limits to how far you can run:
I don’t know that I have a point in discussing any of this – in fact, I’d bet that I don’t. It’s just something that I’ve been fixating on lately during my runs.
So, not to completely change the subject and transition awkwardly, but I ran five miles today and it felt pretty great. I’m still a little tipsy on endorphins. Feeling pretty good indeed.
Musical highlight of the run:
Every time I hear them play this song live I go, “Oh, well…why would you play that???” – and then a minute and thirty seven seconds in I’m like, “What an awesome song! I’m glad they played it!!!”
And not in the five or six good ways that one might interpret that. I want to literally release the sum energy of all my atoms on the immediate vicinity. I forget the number, but A Short History of Nearly Everything told me that it would be quite a lot of energy. I read it long enough ago to where I don’t remember the figures, but I remember the facts. Either way, that’s the way it is – I’m very frustrated.
The run wasn’t so great but mostly that’s due to the fact that I’m stressed like a Mug. The musical highlight of the run:
I ran 3 miles again and it went well. It’s been raining quite a lot. Today was the first day in almost a week where I didn’t have to deal with drizzle, mist or actual rain during my run. Lots of mud, puddles and humidity though.
The groin was tight all day, but it didn’t feel so bad when I was stretching and it actually felt pain-free during the run and after. It doesn’t hurt or feel tight now. Aching knees are almost a welcomed feeling – a return to normalcy.
Mentally , the run was focused. I had a lot on my mind: work, my recent surrender to social networking (I fought a good 2 years), the book on Che that I’m reading and two separate conversations that I’d had today with two different people who are easily in the “top five best friends I’ve ever had” list (if there were such a thing, there isn’t – these are two people that “would help me bury the bodies” so to speak even though our alleged or hypothetical crimes,misdemeanors, felonies never got to that level. I’ll not beat the dead horse further, but these are more brothers than friends). All of that and four lads from Liverpool literally blew my mind during mile three into an introspective trance that I wouldn’t have thought possible without the aid of some chemical (honestly, not that I would know so much about that). It was almost uncomfortably intense. I feel as though I’ve some new perspective into my psyche and it’s kind of simultaneously freaking me out and inspiring a sense of peace. I’m going to stop talking about it now, because I can’t do it justice.
It had happened before (see: 03/03/2010), but it had never been useful to me before. It had been pleasant, exciting and strange, but never insightful.
Endorphins, son.
Endorphins.
Musical highlight of the run (possibly the musical highlight of my life now):
I watched fear and loathing in Las Vegas again this weekend and that was my favorite quote this time around (it changes every time).
I went for my second 3 mile run today and it started pouring buckets of rain as soon as I started running. I kept running. The temperature was in the upper 70s, so it actually felt pretty good. I was thoroughly soaked, but by the time I was done the sun was shining/setting and I felt sort of like I would if I’d spent about an hour in a swimming pool. Not entirely unpleasant even though my left earbud took on too much water and died… nothing that a trip to my imperial corporate overlord (Wal-Mart) and twenty bucks won’t fix. (Where did that come from you say?)
The groin is responding well, I’ll probably rest tomorrow. Musical Highlight:
I had a very painful but enjoyable run. My calves were a sea of lactic acid and they hurt from half a mile in until the end. They alternately felt: four times wider than they really are, and like they were coming apart – as if the muscles were unraveling. That said, I felt strong and in good shape (cardio). I ran about 20 seconds faster per mile than I have been lately.
The ipod was on his game too – cranking out a high energy mix of spoon, jay-z, arcade fire and the musical highlight of the run:
And then there’s this, a goal:
the humbling math goes like this:
13.1 > 2
and
2 = (kicking my ass + on a regular basis)
Lots of work to do.
In general, time flies. Specifically, time files when you’re having fun or running hard. Or whatever.
Time is relative and so is pain and right now I have much too much of the latter and not enough of the former.
I’ve stuck to my plan: tomorrow it’ll be 16 runs in four weeks. By the end of the week, I will have completed my goal of running 2 miles, five times per week for a whole month. My legs are tired, my right hamstring (I think it’s my hamstring), my knees, my feet, the soles of my feet, my heels, my calves, my groin muscles, my toes and just about everything south of my belly button hurts or is sore or raw or chafing.
Advil only does so much and Advil’s best is not much when compared to the pressure of many pounds on cartilage, bones, tendons, flesh, and muscle. So why complain? Well, why the hell not? What’s the alternative? Quitting?
Failure is an option, quitting is not.
Musical highlight of the run:
Also: just read the book Jaws. Jaws is a great movie, but it’s a much better book (surprise, surprise). There’s a whole lot more sex in the book, but that alone doesn’t make it better than Jaws the movie… it’s just better, take my word for it.
