Thursday, August 21, 2008

Running with Fay

Coffee sucks. When a 20 ounce mug is the minimum intake each and every day -- and 40 ounces is often the norm -- skipping out on coffee means HEADACHE And that's how coffee sucks.

I don't know how it happened today, I just didn't make any. As the hours went on, a headache came on. Oh joy. I felt it in the bridge of my nose and the back of my head. The pain wasn't terrible but quite annoying. Ibuprofen didn't help. Finally around 3 o'clock I made coffee. Way too late in a hot day for coffee but the caffeine, or absence of, was what caused the headache in the first place... so it would make sense that caffeine intake would help wipe out the headache? Eh. It kind of worked but not really. What didn't help was driving back and forth to the hospital three times to check on my dad who was admitted yesterday for a kidney infection.

He finally got discharged late this afternoon, I finally had my coffee, and after 3 days I finally got a run in.

The headache remains. If I had it my way... I'd probably just cut my head off and be done with it... best way to get rid of a headache, I'm tellin' ya.

tie dye separator bar dealie representing the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, Ron Pigpen McKernan, Bruce Hornsby, Donna and Keith Godchaux, Tom Constanten, Vince Welnick, Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow.  Bob Dylan, too.  Many soundboard recordings to still post up here one o' these days!  Many, many so stay tuned!

The North Face trail running shoe -- good for use in the Appalachian Mountains ... but seriously, they are rather small compared to the Rocky Mountains ... Sierra Nevada are sweet, too.  Would definitely use 'em in the Alps, that's for sure.  One thing's for sure -- Jerry Garcia or Bob Weir or Phil Lesh or Blaise Compaoré probably never went running in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Pyongyang, 평양 직할시 조선민주주의인민공화국 平壤直轄市 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國, Türkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Кыргызстан, Киргизия, Uzbekistan, O'zbekiston, Ўзбекистон Республикаси, Tajikistan, Тоҷикистон.  Probably the same with Brent Mydland.  At least that's my gut feeling.  I could be wrong.  I mean, there were a lot of drugs at Grateful Dead shows and the good Lord above, He knows I did my share!4:35 p.m. -- 80° F, overcast & windy (bits of Tropical Storm Fay)
... raining upon return
Thursday Afternoon Run: 19 minutes 49 seconds
+ 52 sec
XXXXXXXXXXXX ·Aug? :: -2 sec· XXXXXXXXXX
7 runs in July:approx: 2 hrs 11 min
June:1 hour 47 min
May:4 hours 46 min

Having a headache almost prevented me from running... but, unless there truly are circumstances to keep me from running,
going 3 days without a run is UNacceptable.

My headache had seemed to subside enough to allow me to run and there being wind but no rain from the tropical storm, that helped, as well.

I'm not sure what I was thinking in thinking I could run 19 minutes straight through with my head feeling like it was. My Running Time was pre-planned for not-so-hot weather but also for not having a headache.

After two songs I quit and walked back to my Gatorade. A short rest later and I was hiking down the trail for awhile. I rolled back the Playlist so I could run for the two more songs that I had planned. Done deal.

Once my running was accomplished, the hike home had quite a bit of rain. A rain band from Tropical Storm Fay moved in and I just got soaked. Thankfully I had the foresight to put my mp3 player in a small zip-lock bag to make sure it wouldn't get waterlogged (in case it started raining) otherwise right now I'd quite possibly not have a working mp3 player.

Overall, I'm doin' pretty good with running and could (and should) soon be up and over 20 minutes again. For really hot and sunny weather my running times would be different (shorter and that's okay) but I'm doin' pretty good for temps in the low 80's.

PHONOGRAPH

Running tunes...
Casting Crowns - Lifesong (2005)
Lifesong
Praise You In This Storm
Does Anybody Hear Her?
Stained Glass Masquerade
Love Them Like Jesus
Set Me Free
While You Were Sleeping
Father, Spirit, Jesus
In Me
Prodigal
And Now My Lifesong Sings
A few years ago I was spending a lot of time listening to some Christian radio and Casting Crowns was just emerging on the national scene at the time with this album.

From McDonough, Georgia (outside of Atlanta) by way of Daytona Beach, Florida, Casting Crowns offer up a great collection of praise and worship that is just screaming to played at high volumes ONLY. Anything less seems like it would be an insult to the loudness contained within these tunes. Plenty of guitar and loud singing drives these tunes and that need to be played loud, plain and simple.

Before the first two tracks (which are both just freakin' incredible!) each spent numerous weeks on top of the Christian music chart, a couple of mildly unflattering reviews were written for Lifesong on Christianmusictoday.com and Jesus freak Hideout. For shame. For shaaaaame. Well, hey, those are just two writers and their opinions (and they just happen to be missing the greatness in this album. Too bad.) While sometimes not so deep, the writing's often great and the music is just excellent. Formulaic? Dime-a-dozen? In the same mold of others before them? Yeah -- may be. But when it comes to Christian music, even if they're similar to others: the more bands the better. The lack of tremendous variety needs to made up for and bands like Casting Crowns help fill that void.

320 kbps mp3 download

"Praise You In This Storm" (live)

1 comment:

GUYK said...

Yeah, I have a caffiene addiction..but I don't get headaches when I don't get my jumpstart in the mornings..I just don't get started..

Some years ago my wife had a serious addiction to Pepsi Cola..to the point that she drank as many as 12 a day..tore her stomach up bad and finally she realized that she had to stop and went cold turkey..sicker than a pup for a week and hard to get along with for two..now she has one cup of java in the mornings and a diet Pepsi later in the afternoon..her stomach can tolerate just so much now.

But me? Hell, she makes a seperate pot of coffee for me..so strong that most people think it is bitter..but just the way I like it..if it will not float a spoon it ain't jumpstart!

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated