Week ending 25APR2021

Monday - long day.  Up and at it for work at 4, pushed through with it all day and into the evening with a Singapore wrap up.  Was snowing by the time I got out.  A tired 5.1 miles on the Ditch Ridgeview loop.  

Tuesday - another full day.  Ugh.  Brain was mush by 3 in the afternoon. 6.6 miles, starting at the house, juggling calls and then navigating over to Scouts.  Tired.  Probably a bit dehydrated too.  No time for music the last couple of days.  

Wednesday - snowing again.  Got out mid day for a 7.1 slog.  Definitely do a bit better when it is about 15 degrees warmer.   

Met up with the band in the evening,  I won't make the show in May due to some other obligations.  Bummer as it is the first "come back" one for the group.  

Thursday - just a dumb workday.  Unnecessarily long but that die was set some time ago.  Fried at the end and so nada.

Friday - broke back to practice for the first time in two weeks.  Man that felt so good.  9.2 miles.  Kids rollin' some great stuff on the track.

Open mic came back to Rails so I did that.  I ended up doing five tunes.  First I did "Starting Over" but I called Aaron C up to sing it with me.  Then I did "Denton" (but my Broomfield version), then my "Baba O'Stairway" mashup.  Followed it with "Squeezebox."  Finished with "Mr. Wrong."  Open mic at Rails is always a ride.

Saturday - AM, got out for seven first thing in the morning.  Full day with Scout stuff, track stuff, band stuff.  It was a nut ball day just going from great fun to great fun.  

Sunday - 10.1 miles.  Hot.  Well not really but it felt like it with it being 75 and it was snowing at the front end of the week.  Achilles super pissed at the end but I really didn't care.  

Not the greatest week of jogging as work took a big front seat this week.  Have to ask myself why that bugs me when I am not really training for anything and I am comfortable with that.  45 miles ish on the week.  I guess that ain't bad when I consider there was a day off in there.  

Track officially starts this week.  Pretty stoked about that.  

Oh yeah, late to the party again ... Gretta Van Fleet has been buzzin' in the ears this weekend.  

Week ending 18APR2021

 On the road.  

Monday - Waukegan.  O dark something or other and a slight rain to start that built over a slow jog. 5.2 miles.  

Evening - 5 miles while managing work calls.

Trying to get back on the "in the hotel" musical horse.  Camera turned away because I figured the suit I was wearing didn't really suit the tune.  

Tuesday - lacking discipline to overcome the gravitational pull of the bed.  Slept a bit more and did not get out in the AM.  

But I drove over to the park nearby (15 minutes) and banged out seven before sunset.  The park said "CLOSED AT SUNSET" so I was a little wigged that the gates would get locked at that point and I'd be stuck in the park.  When I got back I sort of determined that was a bit softer than some other places I've been. 

Pretty run. Legs felt like garbage from travel (haven't felt that in a long time) but managed through. 

Wednesday - still a POS in the AM but got in 7.3 in the evening.  

Thursday - wondering why we make things hard on ourselves.  I do it a lot to myself.  But I see a lot of us do it a lot.  So there is that.  Again, sputtered around in the morning making excuses but managed to get out and explore some new stuff in the evening for 7.2.

Friday AM - Had to talk myself up to get out and get in a few.  3 miles.  I figured I had to do it because I was not sure if I'd get up on it later in the day.  

And yeah.  Landed in east Nebraska at 8 in the rain Friday night so wasn't gonna run.

Saturday - hit the road early and got back to CO mid day.  Total road trip was 2200 miles, with 1010 in the last two days.  Got out for 8 shortly after I got home and felt the typical post roadie blahs (stiff, dehydrated) but managed okay as it was cooler.  I ended up moving well for me given it all (8 flat average, with last few under 8).  

I thought I'd have long stretches on this road trip to zone out, listen to some music, think about music I want to write, listen to some podcasts, etc.  I did have some of that, but not nearly as much as I thought I would.  The advantage of having a device like a phone on a trip like this is I was connected to whoever for calls, or I could listen to whatever music I wanted when I wanted.  In fact on the Friday drive leg, about 5 of the 7.5 hours were on work calls.  In some ways that is good.  In some ways, not so much.  

I did listen to some stuff though.  I got through the Obama Springsteen podcasts on Spotify.  They are simply excellent.  I imagine some will refuse to listen to them on the principle that they don't like one or both of the participants.  That is too bad because I think they are just beautifully insightful on music, America, the road, growing up, being a father, a husband.  

I dug into some Hidden Brain too.  I found this podcast interesting, and thought about how music provides a parallel ... the stories we tell in song provide a therapy, or well, have the potential too.  I like that.  

Headed up to the Scout campsite for the evening and got in a tent night.

Sunday - back from the tent out, and got out in the AM.  Headed over the the track and met up with GW and did a bit of help for EC on her workout.  Handful of different length reps NLT 400 for me faster than 6 pace, and even a quarter at 76.  If I can keep these rubber bands together I might even be able to get back under 20 for 5k.

Ended up with just over 50 on the week, which with the travel is a bit better than I expected.  

A few pics from the week.

Week ending 11APR2021

Monday afternoon - practice has moved to the afternoon.  It was officially a spring day with green to be seen in all sorts of new places and temps in the 70s.  8.1 miles.  Even averaged below 8.  It was one of those great days to be out and moving, enjoying some light conversation with the team, a few laughs and thinking it is hot (when it is really not yet).  

Tuesday AM - an easy five with GW on the ditch from Kings.  

Tuesday afternoon - went to run practice and the very moment I sent the kids out for their warm up, it started to rain.  By the time the warm up was done, it was sleeting.  The temp had dropped 30 degrees over a two hour period.  It was ridiculous.  Bagged the plans and sent the kids home.  4.4 miles.

Wednesday afternoon - reboot on the practice from yesterday.  I got in 7.7 miles when I finished.  Oh yeah.  60 and change today.  

Thursday afternoon - just a beaut of a day.  8 miles, with the miles coming nicely.  Some even under 7:30.  Let the hair ride free.  

Friday-  drove to Ames.  Fun ride.  Well, sorta.  Wind was bucking me as soon as I got out of the Denver area.  Tire pressure alarm lit up just around Wiggins.  Found a pump and got it back up but it was losing pressure, so found a tire shop in Brush.  Nice way to get started.  710 miles on the day.  Zero running.  Nice dinner with KZ in the evening.  

Saturday AM - hit the ISU XC course.  It is ridiculously awesome for a XC course.  10.6 miles.   I imagine racing this thing is a killer.  

Spent the day hanging out with KZ and JG at ISU.  Climbed a bit at the gym she works at (she works the wall and the ORP group).  I am not in good climbing shape.  The kid is.

Sunday afternoon.  Another 365 miles to Waukegan.  Found a sweet nearby park with a great river trail system and got in 10.  I was moving pretty good despite my aches, pains, and bad looks.  

Thought I'd have long stretches on this trip to listen to a lot of music and podcasts that I have been queing up, but I didn't do that as much as I forecasted.  Ended up juggling various phone calls, etc.  I did make it a point of listening to Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen while driving across that state tho.  

Just under 54 on the week on 6 days.  20 on the weekend helped I guess.  Will be interesting this week to see if I have the fortitude to get up and get some when there is nothing planned for the getting. 

Week ending 04APR2021

Monday AM - back at it with the Eagles for morning jogging.  8.5 miles.  Heavy legged but still moving better than six weeks ago.  

Tuesday AM - snow is back.  I felt pretty cruddy, but got in 5 miles.  

Wednesday AM - 6.6 miles while the kiddos did a workout.  

Thursday AM - 6.1 miles while the kids did a workout

Friday AM - tired post gig.  7.5 miles.  Ticked over 600 miles on the year with this run.

Oh yeah, did a three hour show at Rails last night.

Sort of a big deal for me in that it was my first solo show like this ... not just a three or four song open mic.  I feel good about it but I had plenty of errors.  Not bad but a some rough stuff in there.  I was nervous as all hell.  The second set was a bit of a train wreck for me in the middle as I just got ... I don't know, overwrought.  I rebooted a bit though into the end of it and then into the third set.  A lot to work on though I guess.  My voice seemed to come in a bit trashed ... probably yellin' at kids for track yesterday.  

It was fun, particularly seeing all the people who came out and supported it.  And it was really awesome to see them out and connecting with each other while I played.  I mean, I can't really overstate that - it was really the best part.  

Sort of like a race, I recognize that folks don't really want to hear "well I botched that song" or "jeezus I screwed the pooch on that."  They feel good about me feeling about my performance in a race or in a performance with a musical instrument.  I get that, and I get that folks think I come across as overly self deprecating but I can do it, enjoy it, and at the same time see all the places where I want to improve.  

Set 1

Missed the first two tunes (Wanted, Maybe It's Time)

0:00 Wino and I Know

4:00 Devil's Right Hand

8:30 Clay Pigeons

13:30 Fightin' For

16:30 Denton

19:40 Jack v. Jose

25:10 Feathered Indians

30:00 Plenty

35:15 Nada

41:00 Poor Life Choices

Break - 44:45 -59:00

Set 2 

60:00 Friends

63:45 I'm On Fire / Easy

68:45 Margaritaville

73:00 Maggie's Song

77:45 Banditos

83:00 Lady May

87:00 Teenage Anarchist

89:45 Feels Like Home (this was not pretty)

94:00 The Great Decline

97:45 Mr Wrong

1:43:20 Better Now

1:46:30 Green and Dumb

1:52:00 Blister in the Sun

Break 1:54

Set 3

2:13:50 Whitehouse Road

2:19:00 Copperhead Road

2:24:00 Starting Over w/ Becky G

2:28:20 Overkill w/ Becky G

2:33:00 Turpentine w/ Becky G

2:36:30 The Joke w/ Becky G

2:41:30 Dreamin' w/ Becky

2:44:50 Hard Rain w/ Becky G

2:50:00 Wild Horses w/ Becky G

2:56:30 Squeezebox

oh yeah apparently the video above is blocked in some countries where I have a lot of fans.  I am pretty upset.  

Saturday AM - 10 miles, most of it in the midst of practice at the MS track while the kids crushed some serious shit.  

Sunday AM - 11.4 miles, most with GW, some with TZ.  Slow and easy.  Achilles has been pretty peeved as of late but I am not discussing those concerns with it.

55 something on the week but laid off any attempts at quality given the gimp firing up.  Most of the miles came in two runs over the weekend with the better weather.  Probably 230 something  miles on the month for March.