Rzeznik Run; or First Run in May

Holy weirdness, Batman. Weird mood that is. TGIF, eh? Saturday now for most of the world. But here it's Friday night as I type this. How many people this afternoon were just LOVING that they could go home from work and/or the weekend was just hours away? Not me... I still had a whole bunch of hours to work... until 9 p.m. and then I was going to go for a run before anything else. And next Friday at this time -- I'll just be starting a 12-hour shift at this time, working all Friday night into Saturday morning. Such is the life of the EMT who simply does not work Monday-Friday from 9 to 5. Yup.

Well, we may have had that wicked snowstorm blow in on the last day of April but all that snow -- gone as fast as it came, it seems. Driving around town, there are so few patches of white to be seen... all melting away... finally. Fairbanks is drying out for awhile. The trail at the end of my road, the one I hike and run on, is still way too mushy for running but I'm thinking of taking a short hike as soon as I'm done typing this... maybe. It's been mostly overcast all day long with only a hint of sun here, a hint there... but in this far northern latitude, the edge of nighttime darkness is pushing further and further towards midnight every day. It's just 10 o'clock p.m. now -- I got off work at 9, went to the University for a run, came back to my house, showered, here I am typing and it's still light out. As someone who's not from here, and even though this will be my fourth summer here, this incredibly late sunset is something I just haven't completely gotten used to yet. I mean, if I wrap this up now and drive into town for some beers with friends, I won't need my headlights on. Nope. Cool, huh?

Anyway, speaking of beers with friends, I think I wanna wrap this up so I can make a decision to either go for a hike or head into town because I think pitchers and pool are calling my name. "Chris.... come, indulge, enjoy.... you know you want to. If you drive here, the bartender will pour."

Damn voices!

my trail's impossibly muddy for running... so still indoors.

Friday Nite After Work Run: 19 minutes 52 sec

+7 sec

XXXXXXXX++++++· 19:52 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time April: 3 hours 51 minutes <-failed to pass March March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

First run in May. Twas quite easy but I'm absolutely not gonna be happy with running this month until the hours begin stacking up and I eclipse my March Run Time and get to at least 5 hours.

Man, that's pathetic, isn't it? A measly five hours in an entire month?! If I keep this up, I'll be able to run a marathon in maybe 20 or 30 years. Well, then again, running a marathon isn't my ultimate goal here. Nope, my ultimate goal is just to run like I am, at least a few times a week, for my health. I'm not content with sitting around mostly lazy, getting fat and getting diabetes... or worse. No. Just -- no.

So I run and I should be happy with what I have achieved and I should be happy with small increases because even small increases means I'm getting some exercise in... and this amount of strenuous activity, it's better for a person than nothing!

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	The Goo Goo Dolls Gutterflower 2002
Big Machine Think About Me Here Is Gone You Never Know What A Scene Up, Up, Up It's Over Sympathy What Do You Need? Smashed Tucked Away Truth Is A Whisper

I've never heard The Goo Goo Dolls until this album, well I've never heard an album of theirs, that is. My grand total exposure to them has been quite limited -- less than a dozen songs over the years, I'm sure. Reading a bit about their history has made me go -- Wow, the first album they released was in 1986/87?! Seriously? Hmmm. Man, they've lasted quite awhile.

Anyway... it's fascinating, at least to me, that the best song here, in my opinion, is the main single from the album -- Here Is Gone. I wonder if I've actually heard it on the radio a time or three when flipping through stations. It's not familiar but maybe my subconscious knows it a little... I don't freakin' know. In any case, that single, which reached #3 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, is my favorite song here. Is that coincidence or what? Do I have some sort of Superman-ish ability to distinguish what the single is/was without ever knowing it for certain? Again -- I don't freakin' know.

What I do know is I'd probably dig their older stuff more (just a guess) but Gutterflower from 2002 is a decent album all the way through. This made for some good running music and listening again right now, while there are some tunes that don't do much for me, there are a bunch of others -- including Big Machine, Think About Me, It's Over, Tucked Away, Truth Is A Whisper -- that make me want the volume LOUDER. Good stuff. Lookin' forward to giving them more listens in the future.

find a dload @ Walldill

from Buffalo, New York...
The Goo Goo Dolls with "Here Is Gone"
which, according to lead singer Johnny Rzeznik,
cost more to make than the recording of the entire album.