Michael starts pining for North Texas.

December 17, 2010

I got them North Texas blues/ but you know I paid my dues…” Delbert McClinton said that. Dreaming this morning about North Texas, all heat and distance, dirt and rain. L.M. Kit Carson said that one. It ain’t nothin’ but true.

Roll ’em Ryan Raiders, time to go STATE… all down, one to go. The oldest son of a friend of mine is going to STATE. That doesn’t come around very often, maybe but once in a life. I wish him well, whatever the outcome. I remember him when he was 11, and he was equally proud then of his ability to play center as he was to play Mozart on the cello. Less Mozart these days, more O line. Maybe Mozart is waiting in the wings.

No matter. He was a sweet kid then and he is a lovely young man now; you might say he is a daily growing. Roll ‘em Raiders, ain’t nothing to lose and everything to gain. You are already winners in the hearts and minds of the people who love you.

Photo Credit

Kathy Weiser-Alexander photos. Public Domain.

Early morning workouts are tough enough, but when it’s cold, it’s a greater exercise in will power.

December 15, 2010
Cold today. For Eugene, Oregon. Going out running/walking. Gonna use a ski mask. Not stopping at no 7-11. No man, not me. Them days are gone. Solid gone. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Been listening to the Butterfield band…got my blues on. Apparently it effect my spellin’ and grammars. On the other hand, it be my native language, other than Yiddish and New York.

December 16, 2010

Icy on the high-school track. Walked/ran the bike path instead for 40 minutes. Damned cold. Not a workout with purpose, more like a mileage deposit in the fitness bank with the accrued interest of bright-night stars, clear cold air, good friends, and a moment or two to be aware of the holy inhale/exhale of being alive.

Photo Credit

“frosty morning” Rivard @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

Michael Lebowitz shares his thoughts about running, endurance and life.

December 13, 2010
Ran today. Slow track work-out. Thought about endurance as a quality: hard work, ongoing effort, success in the face of failure. The fact of it is that endurance is both a lesson and an imperative. It teaches a person to overcome obstacles, physical tiredness, mental exhaustion, the foolishness of the impulse to participate, the repetition of pain. It’s imperative because the only failure (if it’s failure at all) is quitting before the tank is empty.

December 13, 2010 (Later)
Field of dreams in winter implies the boys of summer…book titles and movie titles as sentences. Post-modern? Lazy? Or what? Get to work, Writer Boy. These musings are, well, “useless and pointless knowledge” as Bob Dylan would say. Hell, he did say it.

December 14, 2010
Me? Got my own section Tarmac Meditations section here on Life As A Human. Go figure. Pretty neat and totally unexpected. If the snow is deep and there is no reason to do anything else, waste some time and check this out. Or not. 🙂

December 14, 2010 (Later)
Walked up the 19th Street hill, which is part of the marathon course. In the not so distant past, I used to flatten this sucker. Ahhh. Young is good. Age is not for the humorless. Circled the south border of the University. Had coffee and conversation. Some days it’s just like that. And that is okay with this old wayfaring stranger on the road 2 ruin.

Photo Credit

“Trees in Fog” andyconniecox @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

When the world is rainy and dark, a runner still needs to run. And he does.

December 9, 2010
Ran. 4×400. Cool Down. Coffee. Meeting. Doc. Writing. Facebook is my to-do list and summary. Techno poetry of a kind? Or perhaps the modern Tower of Babel. Babble is where you find it, I suppose.

John Lennon died 30 years ago yesterday.

There’s fog in the valley.

December 12, 2010
Ran Saturday in the dark and rain. Go figure. Ran Sunday in the dark. No rain. Rain. No rain. Oregon in December. Running slowly is good preparation for running faster when other things line up, like weight loss, increased fitness, reversal of the aging process. You know, like that.

Photo Credit

“Fog in the Valley” ©Michael Lebowit. All Rights Reserved.

A runner’s journal details the daily ups and downs of keeping the faith with your feet.

December 7, 2010.
Ran.

December 8, 2010.

Ran the track yesterday. Will run something else today. Perhaps I have become a running fool. Maybe just a fool for running and other stuff. Maybe I am just fooling myself. Maybe fools rush in, and maybe a fool and his money are soon parted…that is certainly true. Enough already. Lace ’em up, mofo, and git after it. No fool like an old fool is what I say.

December 8, 2010 (Later)
I ran something else today. A little further (over the little Amazon Bridge footbridge) followed by lamp post/telephone pole intervals, cool down and a cuppajoe. Got some work done. Had a good meeting. Took a nap. Gonna give diet soda pop a good leaving-alone. Water, do your thing.

December 9, 2010
Michael is running again today. Now. Run Michael, run. Slowly. Daily. Do. Not. Eat. Like. A. Pig. Ernst van Aaken, a German sports doctor and athletic trainer, said that. He knew something about running and eating and the passage of time. If he had known about diet soda pop, he would have added an additional prohibitive clause. He did not, however, often speak in the third person when speaking of himself.

Photo Credit

“Eugene, Oregon track” Photographer Unknown