Did you see Franz Ferdinand is supporting Green Day on their new tour? I am pretty excited for it. I tried to get tickets for the “secret” Green Day show at Webster Hall in NYC, but didn’t. That is going to be awesome.
Mark after surgery, about a year ago, not sure why I am sharing this - I had a broken arm and postponed this surgery for a work function in Philadelphia - Surgery was on a Saturday, went off the pain meds on Sunday - Didn't miss a day of work
Franz Ferdinand Badge for Aftershow access
Franz Show - Lead guitarist pointing at us (with broken foot), good view of photographers lane
More on the East Coast soon, but a note about running as I am about 2 weeks from my marathon.
I ran 24 miles today, and it felt great. I ran strong, finished strong, felt good after, and in pretty decent heat.
The cool thing about running is that you can have a goal that seems out of reach, and then reach it. Despite my success today, I had a recent failure. I was supposed to do 24 miles Friday, but ended up doing 20 and walking half the way, basically I failed. There were some heat issues, but in the end I didn’t have the mental toughness that day to power through. Today, with a better breakfast, and comparable heat (hotter?), I got the mindset right and didn’t just survive the 24 miles, I destroyed them. Gobbled them up.
All forms of exercise release endorphins and give a natural high, perhaps more interestingly running gives me a psychological sense of control, and I doubt I am the only one.
I did see The Wrestler last night, and perhaps that motivated me on today’s run? Perhaps I got a better nights sleep. I don’t know why it went so well, but it did.
Regardless, there is an important connection between running, and having your sh*t together. Follow me into the lyrical genius of Fountains of Wayne (they did “Stacy’s Mom” from the iconic Dr. Pepper commercial).
They sing “And if I make it home alive … I’m gonna get my sh*t together” in one of my favorite songs. Champions of Office Space like characters, they tongue in cheek riff about ordinary struggles of ordinary people. One of my favorite lyrics is “It all looks the same when you stump for the man”. But that is a topic for another post.
There is a movie on HBO right now called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This is a fantastic movie. I saw its premiere at the Vail Film Festival in spring 2008. The whole concept about being spurned and rising above is saccharine sweet and obvious, yet so enjoyable!
Frank Black of the Pixies last year in Aspen, he has a song in FSM
I re-watched it and noticed something interesting. Towards the end of the movie the protagonist makes a big mistake that sends him to reevaluate his life, a montage of shots show him figuratively getting his shit together, and in one 2 second clip you see him jogging on a treadmill in his distinctive apartment.
The message … runners have their sh*t together, or at least don’t and are trying.
I met Fountains of Wayne and talked to them about that lyric, the lead singer would only insist that HE had his sh*t together.
In this lifetime, the world is not Pleasantville and not everyone is a Mickey Rourke sized trainwreck. Most days I am in the middle, like the man in the mirror, and I bet you are too.
But I’ll tell you what, after destroying today’s run, I felt like I had my stuff together, good and stink-free.
My goal is a 3:40 for the full 26.2, a lot will depend on the course and luck, but I think I have a shot. Stay tuned.
Post-Script:
If you do any kind of endurance training you know that there is an interesting mental degradation associated with strenuous exercise. While reading through this I noticed I typed department instead of apartment, and two instead of too. I feel normal, but my typing and experience tells me I shouldn’t do any puzzles right now.
Posted by abstemi0us 
