Tarmac Meditations # 43: Run Another Day

Michael debates the meaning of status updates and the many reasons for not going for a run.

October 16, 2010

A guy once told me that all the guys he ever ran with (including the Road2Ruin Runners Club) ever talk about is money and women (he used another word). I said sometimes we talk about politics. He said, “See what I mean.” I said, “I’ve got nothing to say.” He said, “That’s okay.” And now we have Facebook. See what I mean. And so it goes…

October 17, 2010

I’ve been trying to figure out how to post status updates on Facebook without posting status updates on Facebook directly. Twitter is not my way. This whole thing is becoming existential. I saw the name Shlomo Avineri today in an article in the New York Times; he’s an Israeli political scientist. Read him 40 years ago in Poli Sci, when that stuff mattered to me (read: when I thought it would help me get girls). He said the revolution would happen when everybody was middle class. See what I mean…status updates, middle class revolution, the whole thing is confusing the hell out out of me. It must be time for me to run. That or close the computer, lie on the couch and make like a writer.

It is time to put away Facebook things. I’m editing the pictures from yesterday’s wonderful photo experience at Bridgeway House in Eugene, Oregon, a place that specializes in programs for children diagnosed with autism in its many forms. Thank you to the staff; to Patricia Wigney, the founder and director; and to the students who made it possible in every way.

October 18, 2010

Made the decision not to run today. Made the same one yesterday. It’s the same decision as deciding to run because a runner decides whether or not to run everyday. Same decision process. Different results. If you are confused here, I can’t help you. You go through the same check list and come to a different answer. A skater or a bike rider would have a different check list, if you see what I mean.

Today? My reason is a migraine and grumpiness. Not really a good enough reason, but reason enough. I need to change the context, I think. What about this: run everyday, except some days when you don’t. Is this a change? The whole thing is tiring me out.

October 20, 2010

Ran on the track behind South Eugene High this morning at 5:30am. My “guys”, the running buddies, a later edition of the Road2Ruin Runners Club, wanted to go steady state for a mile or more — injuries and fitness are determining a slow, slow build-up in volume of mileage and tempo (that is, my injuries/fitness and old age). Whining and a bad attitude are making for a decision for me to go slow, take it easy, not get hurt, and live to run another day.

Photo Credit

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