Christine Shaw Roome

Tarmac Meditations #76: Big Steel Rails

May 21, 2012 By Michael Lebowitz Leave a Comment

2/12
Gonna walk to my meeting. Gonna listen to Gordon Lightfoot. Early morning rain, big steel rails, Canada when I was young and so was love…gonna walk slow and steady, gonna drift along the floodin’ river, gonna let the rain wash my hair and the music carry the memories. Gonna get a workout, and maybe some writing time all in one…gonna come home, have a little somethin’ somethin’ and do the work of the day. Saturday, you’re ok with me.

Tarmac Meditations #78: Longest, Furthest Yet.

May 20, 2012 By Michael Lebowitz Leave a Comment

2/13
Up Martin-made the turn at the “Saddle”…the meadow where all roads cross on the way to Spencer Butte summit…took me an hour…took the Bigfoot, Merlin and Flash 40 minutes. My longest, furthest yet. Easy to hate young legs at my age. Took 50 min. going down. Fog heavy in the lichen, valley sky lit with purple sunrise. Home roasted coffee leaning against the pick up. The day unrolls to a steady runners’ beat.

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©Michael Lebowitz

Tarmac Meditations #77: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

May 19, 2012 By Michael Lebowitz Leave a Comment

Went for coffee after a long run. I had my camera in the car. A friend was sitting lost in thought, as the saying goes. I thought to see if the camera might record lost. Grey light and drifting rain, exhaustion of the long hills and the metaphors of relationship and parenthood. A man sits alone at a table thinking on things, a cup across from him. Is he waiting and for whom? In truth he was waiting for the photographer to leave him alone and sit back down but for a moment a glimpse of all of us left alone with our thoughts on a rainy Sunday morning, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Photo Credit

©Michael Lebowitz

Tarmac Meditations #75: Interval Training

March 18, 2012 By Michael Lebowitz 1 Comment

Went out earlier today. I walked 30 minutes on account of coach said so. Afterwards Merlin and I did a minute run, a minute walk, on the track, and finished by walking the quarter mile. Then we did it again. A kind of interval work out except not really since intervals generally include running faster and recovering in sets of four or five repeats. In this case we ran very slowly, my doing, walked even more slowly, complained a little, clearly my doing. Then did it again.

Two repeats do not an interval session make. Maybe two repeats imply intervals but interval training it ain’t. To call it intervals is possibly correct in “Lit” class but pure heresy in the shadow of Hayward Field – not seen in this photo – home to more legends in track and field than any place in these good ol’ United States. But it sure felt like running when the running was happening. Then, later, when I locked my keys in the car I blamed it on oxygen debt, not advancing age. Clever that…

Tarmac Meditations #74: Nickname

March 11, 2012 By Michael Lebowitz Leave a Comment

Met the usual suspects, Flash, Merlin and Bigfoot (don’t ask) We call me F-Stop, OldNSlow, OldDude, Shooter. I figure there is so much of me these days that I can use a few names. In fact it seems that there is no consensus on MY nickname. It is a local rule, is it not, that a guy just can’t go around nicknaming himself, can he now?

They ran I walked up 24th towards Agate. They disappear in the fog. I’m giving away 40-60 pounds and 20+ years. It gave me a chance to warm up and then RUN a minute, walk three minutes, then repeat and repeat.-for the first time in a long while there was running on a run for me. 65 miles is a long way away but closer now, way closer.

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