Sun, Feb 16-Sat, Feb 22 - Oh Poop. Another setback.

Sun Feb 16: AM. A 60 min run on the Capital City Trail and Southwest Path. It was 20° and snowing.

Mon Feb 17-Sat Feb 22 - DNR - Sick (PNA, RSV, and Strep)

I woke up Monday morning with a sore throat and a headache. My symptoms progressively got worse throughout the day and by the evening I was a complete mess- shivering, sweating, chills, fever, malaise, fatigue, lethargy, painful coughing, nasal secretions, difficulty breathing, tachycardia, no appetite… These symptoms persisted throughout the rest of the week. It turns out I have pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus and strep throat. Pretty sure one of my patient’s from work gave this to me. Thanks a lot!

Hopefully your running is off to a better start than mine is this year. But if not, well- misery loves company, so they say.

Snow is falling I am hauling

I am running, really hauling

All around me snow is falling

An old grey pickup truck is stalling

The kids in the park are all snowballing

South bound geese in the sky are winging

Cling Clang the church bells are ringing

Way up high, the angels are singing

Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

I keep hauling

Snow keeps falling

Sun, Feb 9-Sat, Feb 15

Sun Feb 9: AM. A 45 min run in the Donnelly Business Park. It was sunny and 2°.

Mon Feb 10: AM. A 60 min run on the Veterans PKWY Trail and over residential streets. It was sunny and 10°.

Tues Feb 11: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was dark and 12°.

Wed Feb 12: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was dark and 10°.

Thurs Feb 13: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and over residential streets. It was sunny and 8°.

Fri Feb 14: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. Skies were partly clear, temp around 0°.

Sat Feb 15: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was lightly snowing and in the low 20s. PM. Ran the Subzero Mile in 5:34 (Submaximal effort). It was cloudy and in the upper 20s.

I like making patterns in my training (45, 60, 45, 60…) This also helps to prevent me from doing too much too soon. The mile on Saturday was the first time doing anything fast since before the injury. I decided to use it as more of a tempo run. Didn’t have any problems with the knee, but I’m definitely out of shape. I’m not too worried tho— if I can stay healthy and injury-free, I know I’ll get it back.

Night Thoughts

Don’t you worry I’m all right jack I’m as alive as a bullfrog in a pond of shell oil I’m all right jack.

It is Tuesday night. 8:45 p.m. to be precise. I am walking along King Street, heading west towards the Capitol. And the town is just starting to buzz. Like a colony of bumble bees outside a hive. Yes, It’s that time again. Night time, night time, city light time. Day left an hour ago. The night is young and so am I. You too jack, my boy.

I look up at the sky, half hoping to see a UFO, or maybe even that monster from outer space who’s always attacking me in my nightmares. But all I see is a sky full of stars. Those stars are millions of miles away, yet they still sparkle. Even despite all the light pollution in this dirty city, they still sparkle. The eyes in my head are sparkling too. It is a beautiful night and I am feeling quite all right.

Mr. Moon is big and full and seems to be smiling a wide toothy grin at me. I flash one of my million dollar smiles back his way. “How do you do?” I ask him. Old Man Moon nods in my direction, gives me a wink and goes right on grinning. I keep walking. Straight on down the road.

On the corner of Main and Pinckney, a homeless guy wearing an old ragged suit coat is begging for pennies. “Good evening,” I say to him with real conviction. I stick my hand into the back pocket of my jeans, pull out a fiver and a milky way candy bar, and press it into the beggar’s hand. The guy’s eyes light up and his cheeks flush. “Tanks mista! Milky way’s ma favorite.” “Don’t mention it” I tell him coolly. “I have more dough than I know what to do with. And besides, you look like you could use it more than me.” 

Over by Madison’s, some joker is bragging about how damn good he is to some simple-minded chick who is just hanging on his every word. Eating up his lies like apple pies. And he doesn’t even have to try. What a guy.

Outside the Queen B, old Spadely is getting pounded by Clubber Lang. Just because Spades handed it to him in some crummy game of rummy. “Lay off Langly,” I call out, “Have a heart”. Langly shoots a glance in my direction, spits, grunts something obscene, then goes back to pounding poor old Spades.

Meanwhile the diamond dogs are howling at the man in the moon. Mr. Moon scoffs back at them. “What do you think I am, made of green cheese?” he sneers.

All of a sudden a sad feeling has come over me. Just a few minutes ago I was feeling so good. Then pow! I think Clubber Lang punched me in the gut. The lights don’t seem as bright anymore. The stars have lost their luster. Mr. Moon’s big cheesy grin has turned into a dark sinister sneer. It is scary out here and I am cold. The world we live in is a cruel one. Full of lies and deception and evil people. Like me. Yes, I’m no different than the rest of them jacky-boy. My no-good rotten mind hurts and judges and cheats and lies. I make mistakes. I don’t have everything figured out. I’m just another human being huffing and puffing along, trying to get ahead in this gigantic footrace of life. Always moving, but never seeming to be making any progress. That’s the sad truth of it all.

I often escape into a make-belief world of poems or books or music. Because sometimes these places are easier than real life. Maybe this is how it is for everyone. Maybe not. But for now I’m going to stay on these fictional escapades a little longer. I need to get out of the rat race. Speaking of which, have you ever seen rats racing? We eternally call it the “rat race”. Actually, what we’re talking about is the people race. I’ve never once seen a rat race another rat. In all the time I’ve been around. And I’ve been around jack.

Why can’t everybody just be happy and get along with each other? Shake hands, make up, and forget about it. I don’t know. Sometimes I just don’t know. It is cold out here and I am scared. Where should I go? You tell me jack. How ‘bout the Aces. I’ll buy you a drink. Shit man, you look like you could use one.

I know it’s only make-believe, pretend

I think the moonlight is my friend

But sometimes I’m not sure

                                    Moonlight:

Sun, Feb 2-Sat, Feb 8

Sun Feb 2: AM. A 10 min run on the Capital City Trail. Right knee was a little sore.

Mon Feb 3: AM. A 20 min run on the Capital City Trail. The knee was sore initially, but got better after a few minutes.

Tues Feb 4: AM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. Knee was good. The sun was rising over mostly clear skies, temp of 18°.

Wed Feb 5: AM. A 40 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was dark and 13°.

Thurs Feb 6: AM. A 50 min run on the Capital City Trail. Quite slippery in spots. Temp of 28°.

Fri Feb 7: AM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was dark and 13°. PM. In Deerfield, A 30 min on-shift run doing loops around the station.

Sat Feb 8: AM. In Marshfield, A 60 min run thru snowy streets, on the bike path, and over trails in the arboretum. It was 20° and snowing.

Sun, Jan 25-Sat, Feb 1

Sun Jan 26 - DNR - Injured

Mon Jan 27 - DNR - Injured

Tues Jan 28: PM. In Deerfield, Ran—what’s that?—5 minutes on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Knee was okay.

Wed Jan 29: AM. Ran 1 min, walked 1 min x 10. The knee was a little achy initially, but got better.

Thurs Jan 30: AM. Ran 10 mins on the Capital City Trail. PM. In Deerfield, ran 10 mins on the Glacial Drumlin Trail.

Fri Jan 31: AM. Ran 20 mins on the Capital City Trail.

Sat Feb 1: PM. Ran the Subzero 5 mile in a comfortable 37+ minutes. It was cloudy and around 30°. No problems with the knee.

I think my knee is finally coming around. Now if I can just keep cautious and not do too much too soon...

Sun Dec 22, 2024-Sat Jan 25, 2025 - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Sun, Dec 22-Sat, Dec 28

Sun Dec 22 - DNR - Injured

Mon Dec 23 - DNR - Injured

Tues Dec 24: AM. Walked 1 min, ran 1 min x 5 or 6. Right knee was acting up a bit. I think it would’ve gotten worse if I’d gone further.

Wed Dec 25 - DNR - Injured. Merry Christmas!

Thurs Dec 26: PM. Ran for a few minutes, but had to stop because knee was bothering me again.

Fri Dec 27 - DNR - Injured

Sat Dec 28 - DNR - Injured

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Sun, Dec 29-Sat, Jan 4

Sun Dec 29 - DNR - Injured

Mon Dec 30: AM. Ran for a couple minutes. Knee is still a mess. I’m pretty sure I have a fracture.

Tues Dec 31 - DNR - Injured

Wed Jan 1, 2025 - DNR - Injured. Happy New Year!

Thurs Jan 2 - DNR - Injured

Fri Jan 3 - DNR - Injured

Sat Jan 4 - DNR - Injured

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Sun, Jan 5-Sat, Jan 11

Sun Jan 5 - DNR - Injured

Mon Jan 6 - DNR - Injured

Tues Jan 7 - DNR - Injured

Wed Jan 8 - DNR - Injured

Thurs Jan 9 - DNR - Injured

Fri Jan 10 - DNR - Injured

Sat Jan 11 - DNR - Injured

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Sun, Jan 12-Sat, Jan 18

Sun Jan 12 - DNR - Injured

Mon Jan 13 - DNR - Injured

Tues Jan 14 - DNR - Injured

Wed Jan 15 - DNR - Injured

Thurs Jan 16 - DNR - Injured

Fri Jan 17 - DNR - Injured

Sat Jan 18 - DNR - Injured

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Sun, Jan 19-Sat, Jan 25

Sun Jan 19 - DNR - Injured

Mon Jan 20 - DNR - Injured

Tues Jan 21 - DNR - Injured

Wed Jan 22 - DNR - Injured

Thurs Jan 23 - DNR - Injured

Fri Jan 24 - DNR - Injured

Sat Jan 25 - DNR - Injured

In case you’re wondering, “DNR” stands for Did Not Run. Not “Do Not Resuscitate”. If I kick the bucket, you may attempt to resuscitate me.