Easter Greetings

Easter's here which means a few things to my running. 1. Lent is over, so I've chosen to return to those things which I've given up for 40 days, namely coffee, beer, and sugar. This last one has had several of my scientist colleagues challenging me on what I define as sugar. For the purposes of the my fast, I defined sugar as any of several listed ingredients including: sugar, dextrose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup. I did eat honey and maple syrup, which are course full of 'sugar', at least in terms of simple carbohydrates. Anyway, the purpose of the fast (besides the spiritual challenge) was not attained. I did not lose any weight. I haven't been running as much as I'd wanted due to illness, so that didn't help. Also, I did not abstain from other sources of caffeine (tea, diet soda) or alcohol (wine, liquor), so that couldn't have helped either.
2. Today was a feast, including doughnuts (of the Krispy Kreme fundraiser variety, not my favorite but there they were), cheesy grits, chocolate, but a modest dinner after all that.
3. We went to an Easter egg hunt at a friend's house on bicycles, with me lugging the Burley trailer. Our friends do not live far away, maybe a mile and a half, but I felt shamefully winded by the experience. I haven't ridden my bike at all for a while, and clearly I should.
4. The Easter Bunny brought a new yoga ball into our lives, along with an exercise DVD, so perhaps I'll be doing some stretching, cardio toning kinds of things to help with the whole fitness adventure.

And finally, after all that, I did get out on a jog. I went faster than normal, maybe due to the lighter dinner. I jogged up to the Museum and back, with an extra quarter mile or so around Town Creek Park, and still made it back in under 40 minutes.

The Playlist.
Turn It On -The Flaming Lips
Oh, Me -Meat Puppets
Pork Roll Egg and Cheese -Ween
Tried and True -Ween
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
I'm Gonna Put Some Hurt On You -The Meters
Cold Blood -Peter Tosh
Mother Popcorn -James Brown
Get Off My Cloud -The Rolling Stones
Get On Down -Meat Puppets.

Time 39:56 Considering this is the same route as last Sunday, and a bit longer, I'm happy with the time.

Inspired and all over the place

I decided to do something I haven't really done since I was in South Africa; run in broad daylight. It's been unseasonably cold the last couple of days, but today it warmed back up. I was working from home, and I just felt the need to get out. I wasn't exactly planning on going so far, but then I did. I headed out towards the State Park, then down the bike path. I think it was a new long, at least since South Africa. The musical theme was inspirational and springy, from all over the place.

Playlist
Dirty Water -The Standells. Baseball season again! Woot! Beckett pitched a gem last night!
Sexx Laws -Beck
Magic Toy Missing -Meat Puppets
Maiden's Milk -Meat Puppets
Buddy Holly -Weezer
Nite Klub -The Specials
Nitemare Hippy Girl -Beck
Moonage Daydream -David Bowie
Nappy Dugout -Funkadelic
Tougher Than It Is -Cake
Zombie -Fela. I love Fela, but I rarely listen to him while running because it can be uninspiring to be listening to the same song for 15:00, and realize that I have to keep running that whole time. But today, I knew I'd be at gone for at least another Fela song.
Marie Jose -Ryco Jazz
The W.A.N.D. -The Flaming Lips
Hey Ya! -Outkast
A Little Better -Gnarls Barkley
Novacane -Beck

Time 1:07:06. Yup, that's a new long

Irie Jog

Another long one, first in a long while. Up to the Art Museum and back. For no apparent reason, I decided to go with an all-reggae playlist. Uplifting, soulful, spiritual reggae. It's been so rainy here this spring, which tonight made the jog smell very nice; Wisteria, cedar chips, Sunday night laundry. Somehow I think that inspired me to go long.

The Playlist
Feast of the Passover -The Congos (Passover is coming right up, friends)
Birds in the Treetops -Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus
Much Smarter -The Meditations
Roast Fish and Cornbread -Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Chinee Man -Culture
Tradition -Burning Spear
Never Get Weary -Toots and the Maytals
Equal Rights -Peter Tosh
New Name -Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus
Time 40:39

Back on track?

I got out again tonight. Another fairly short one. It was drizzly, so I didn't bring the tunes. Just around the block.

Time out-19:58

Songs in the Key of W

Good gravy, I've been slacking again. My excuse this time? I've been working on my dissertation. I'm almost done with that. Anyway. I did manage to get out again. Tonight, all W artists.

Playlist
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
Death Letter -White Stripes
Roses are Free -Ween
The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You) -Waylon Jennings

Time -17:48

Finally out again

So I've just been lazy. I'll admit it. Lazy and busy. Mostly lazy. But tonight I felt the urge, and I managed to get out. My wife came along, so no music. We did get out for a good while, 31:40 or so.

Another setback, but back out again

So it's been almost 2 weeks since the oral surgery. After I went off the steroids I started feeling worse again, the cough returned, but still not as bad as at the nadir of the respiratory plague. I hadn't really felt like running, but I knew I had to get back out there sooner or later. So tonight I finally laced up and managed to go on a short run. Yes, there's been a bit of SLOTH on the table as well. Hopefully I can get back out there soon enough to keep it going.

Playlist
Wow and Flutter -Stereolab
Transona Five -Stereolab
Gamma Ray -Beck
Sini Lindile -Nganeziyamfisa No Khambalomvaleliso
Total time=16:58