Tracy Chapman - Behind the Wall

Look who I ran into at the end of my run?

4-7-12 Today was supposed to be a 16 mile run for me.  I didn't make it.  Bob is golfing and I hired a sitter so that I could run.  With tomorrow being Easter, I really couldn't change my schedule.  I hired a sitter for 4 hours.  I figured that it would take me 20 minutes to get to the trail, 3 hours to run, 20 minutes to get back home, no problem.  Well I just cut it too close.  First, I wasn't very organized and didn't leave the house right when the sitter got here.  There was some music that I had planned to download and listen to today, Tracy Chapman.  I have the CD and needed to copy it to my iTunes library and then sync with my phone.  It was almost 9:30 when I left the house.  then I got to the trail head and my Garmin wasn't picking up the satellites so I screwed around with that for 15 minutes.  It was almost 10:00 before I got started.  As I started running, I was doing the math and realized there was no way I could run 16 miles and get home by 1:00 pm and I knew that the sitter had another commitment so I really needed to be prompt.  Now, here is where the mental games start.......I had to give myself permission to miss my goal for today without beating myself up.  Fine, I can do that.  However, once you give yourself permission to miss the goal, it gets really hard to be firm on how far to go.  I was tired and my lower back was hurting.  My foot still hurts from the trash can incident last week.  Two miles in to my run I thought, well maybe I'll just turn around at the lake.  Well that would only be about 6 or 7 miles in total.  I answered myself very quickly with a resounding no way!  I have to maximize the time I have available and get as much distance as I can today.  I ended up running 13 miles.  When I finished I still had enough time to get a quick coffee.  I moved my car across the parking lot to the Hills Market.  that is when I realized that I had forgotten my purse at home.  Crap!  If I had my own car, not a rental, I am sure I could have scrounged up a dollar for coffee, you know, coins on the floor or in the console.  But I still have the rental car and have not actually "moved in" so the Pam aura has not taken over and there was no money to be found.  But it was in fact my lucky day!  The Hills Market was having their annual Easter Egg hunt and they had free samples of coffee and food.  They also had an outdoor pancake breakfast, but that was not free.  So I drank free coffee and had samples of hummus and chips.   I guess beggars can't be choosers!

I love the contrast of these white trees
 against this intensely blue sky!

It was 30 degrees when I was getting dressed this morning.  I wore long pants and long sleeved shirt with a pretty warm jacket and gloves.  By the time I got to the trail it was 39 degrees.  By the time I finished it was almost 60 degrees.  I wish I had dressed differently.  This is a tough time of year.  when you run for 30 minutes (like I used to)the weather doesn't fluctuate that much.  When you run for 3 hours, thats a very different story.  Layers, all about layers!

I bought a hydration belt a couple of weekends ago.  I bought one that look sort if minimalist, not a bit honking bulky thing.  Well guess what, you can't fit any snacks in the minimalist belt that I selected.  I wish I had talked to Kai or even researched belts a bit.  The company that makes the belts, Nathan Labs, also sells add on accessories, so you can purchase a pouch that you can add to the belt. Unfortunately the company only sells to retailers so you can't order from them.  Their website said that Dicks and Sports Authority both carry their products.  Yesterday, Matthew, Carson and I went to both stores.    They do sell the belts, but not the accessories.  Amazon sells the accessories so I may have to order from them, but that didn't help me for today.  I had to have something to carry snacks in.  I started looking around the house and didn't really find anything.  then it hit me!  My old camera case.  It is a soft sided camera case and it has loops on the back to feed a belt through.  It worked perfectly.  Looks a bit goofy, like I'm some sort of bird watcher with my camera pack on my belt!  Geeky. 

I bought some new snacks for today, they are called "Stingers" Kai had some last week, but we never ate them.  I picked some up at Kroger.
They are endorsed by Lance Armstrong and meant to replicate the "stroopwafel" that he likes to eat in Europe while riding.    This was really good!  The real stroopwafels originated from the Netherlands and are two crisp waffles with a caramel like syrup in the middle, once made by bakers just to use up leftover ingredients, now a popular street food.

Carson has decided that he wants to be a runner.  On Tuesday, he ran to the stop sign and back twice.  It is probably close to a 1/4 mile to the stop sign, so he may have run  a mile in total.  Thursday he said, wow I am really sore, now I know how Aunt Kai feels!  Ha-ha.  When Kai was here, Carson asked me why she walks so slow, I said it is because she is sore.  Kai heard this and said what?  I said, he asked why you walk so slow, she said cause I am sore.  Well there you have it!

                                                        .

While I was running today, the boy's decided to spiff up their clubhouse a bit. Signs, a draped ceiling and pee bottles. That's right, pee bottles. They took empty bottles up there in case they need to pee, I told them NO! We have a bathroom.

Behind the Wall is a very sad song about domestic violence and the fact that people don't want to interfere and then someone ends up dead.  

The weather was beautiful today. 

Here is where I sat to write my blog today.  I love spring and summer.  Can't wait to get out of the house more often.

Actually this whole album is about depressing topics, but I like her voice and I like the songs. Behind the wall is only vocals, no instruments at all.  Most of the songs are about poverty, racism. lives always wanted and never had, etc.  Her mother bought her a ukulele when she was three and although they lived in poverty, she was accepted into a program in Cleveland called "A Better chance" which helps poor families send their children to private schools.

Last night I heard the screaming

Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me
It won't do no good to call
The police always come late
If they come at all

And when they arrive
They say they can't interfere
With domestic affairs
Between a man and his wife
And as they walk out the door
The tears well up in her eyes

Last night I heard the screaming
Then a silence that chilled my soul
I prayed that I was dreaming
When I saw the ambulance in the road
And the policeman said
"I'm here to keep the peace
Will the crowd disperse
I think we all could use some sleep"

The Beatles - Mr. Moonlight

4-5-12  I start vacation tomorrow, yeah!!!  Matthew and Carson's spring break started Wednesday at 1:00 pm (why can't they just keep them the whole day?)  I had to work so Matthew and Carson had to entertain themselves yesterday afternoon and all of today.  They actually did quite well, gave me the time I needed to get through my work.  But today, by evening, they were throwing daggers at each other, figuratively and literally!!!  OMG, I did in fact find them throwing pieces of a metal rake that was broken (no idea where it came from, not ours) at each other!  Straight to their rooms, last straw, etc.  The rest of the vacation will be better.  It is hard for them to have no structure all day.  When I work all day and pretty much ignore them, they are spent by evening.

I ran 5.25 miles tonight.  I was supposed to run further, but it was windy.  Wind is not my friend.  You know how it is when you have a bad experience with something, and then you just can't tolerate it any more, even in low doses?  That is how I feel about wind.  And watermelon.  When I was much younger, living on Darcy Drive, I ate too much watermelon one day.  To this day... cannot eat a piece, not even a bite, of watermelon.  I can't drink a watermelon flavored drink, can't eat a watermelon flavored jelly belly, nothing.  ( Well....I can eat a jolly rancher that is watermelon flavored but that is because it tastes nothing like watermelon).  My point is that after last week with the 35 mph wind, I don't even want to run in the wind.  Today, I was getting ready to run.  Bob had come home early and was outside.  I asked him, is it windy?  He said no.  I looked out the window and could see trees swaying in the wind.  I could hear my windchimes singing a tune.  I said again, are you sure because I think it looks windy.  He said, no, it is very nice out, no wind.  Hmmmm. 

I got ready and left for my run.  No pain anywhere, feeling a bit sluggish because I ate all the Chinese leftovers for lunch, a late lunch too.  Not more than 4 minutes from my house and the wind gusts hit me.  I seriously wanted to turn around and go home, but of course I knew that would be wimpy and knew that would be counterproductive to what I am trying to accomplish.  It was an otherwise beautiful afternoon.  Sunny and 50 degrees or thereabouts.  I think the temp dropped 10 degrees during my one hour run.  The wind gusts lessened as I got out of my neighborhood and away from the golf course.  here is so much open space around the golf course that it tends to be much more windy if I just do the 3 mile loop around the course.  I did end up getting my 5 miles in, yeah.  Now I get one day off and then Saturday I will run 16 miles.  I am now getting close to where I get to the max of my distance before the marathon.  I run 16 on Saturday, then I run 12 the next weekend, then 18, then 14 then 20.  After that, I have two weeks of taper and it is Marathon!!! OMG  I really never thought I'd get this far!  Woo hoo!!!!

Mr. Moonlight
Mister Moonlight
You came to me one summer night
And from your beam you made my dream
And from the world you sent my girl
And from above you sent us love
And now she is mine, I think you're fine
'Cause we love you Mister Moonlight

Mister Moonlight come again please
Here I am on my knees begging if you please
And the night you don't come my way
I pray and pray more each day
'Cause we love you Mister Moonlight

And the night you don't come my way
I pray and pray more each day
'Cause we love you Mister Moonlight

Mister Moonlight come again please
Here I am on my knees begging if you please
And the night you don't come my way
I pray and pray more each day
'Cause we love you Mister Moonlight
Mister Moonlight...

I love the harmonizing in this song.  When it started, while I was running, it just made me perk up and get a bounce in my step, seriously.  Don't laugh.  A lot of the early Beatles songs have such great melodies and you can sing and bounce and just be happy with them. 

The other song from the Beatles For Sale album that I absolutely love is.......

Just let me hear some of that
rock and roll music,
Any old way you choose it
Gotta be rock 'n' roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Cream - White Room

Not sure where I ever got this t-shirt,
 but it is the right shirt for today

4-3-12  Progress!  Today was the first time that my run following the long run felt GOOD!  I have documented a bit of a pattern before now where the short run on Tuesday was pretty hard, at least for the first mile or so.  Today felt great.  I don't know what contributed tot hat.  Was it the fact that I did my long run on Saturday instead of Sunday (like I have the last few weeks), giving me an extra day of recovery?  Was it because I cross trained on Sunday with the bike ride, does that help the muscles with recovery?  Or is it just that I am getting stronger, building more muscle?  Maybe it is all of the above.

Hyderabad, India

Tuesday is my turn for soccer in the evening so I had to run early.  The weather was great, but I really don't enjoy my morning runs all that much when I know that I have a limited time to get home, shower and get to the office.  today I ran about 10:00, waiting for it to warm up a bit.  I had a few conference calls early, which I did from home.  After my run, I was rushed to get ready and get to the office.  I had lunch plans with a friend of mine from India, Vamsi.  I met Vamsi during my year in Global Finance.  Now Vamsi works in the Retail Bank and is somewhat connected to the same initiative that I am.  The lunch was partly social because I haven't seen him in the year since he moved back to India and partly business so that we could catch up on the project work underway.  Data and Information Management, which is a huge subject. Retail owns the data warehouse, Mortgage is the largest user of the data.  It's a mess and we are involved in the efforts to remediate all the problems and establish the governance and controls to manage going forward so we don't get where we are again.

Whenever I hear Cream, I think of the Kettlewells, Alan and Becky.  I am pretty sure we played this music in their basement and burned incense at the same time.  Cream and also Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, always remind me of the Kettlewells.  funny that I don't have any memories of playing music at out Vanderbilt cabin, just at the Kettlewells house.  maybe because it was their "home" year round they had a record player and not sure what we had at the cottage in Vanderbilt.  Although, now that I think about it, I know we had some form of a record player because Mom and Aunt Fran used to play Barbra Streisand, Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad, Wolf!  Oh such fun times and great memories.

In the white room with black curtains near the station.
Blackroof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings.
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes.
Dawnlight smiles on you leaving, my contentment.

I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines;
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves.

You said no strings could secure you at the station.
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows.
I walked into such a sad time at the station.
As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning.

Dismembered Super heroes that
I found near the driveway when
I got back from my run

I'll wait in the queue when the trains come back;
Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves.

At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd.
Consolation for the old wound now forgotten.
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.

I'll sleep in this place with the lonely crowd;
Lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves.

I don't know what this is about.  Some say it is about Viet Nam and being at the station, getting ready to leave for Nam.  Others say is it is about cocaine.  For me it is about being with Jeff, Mike, Kai, Alan and Becky, burning incense, no drugs, no war.  They might remember it differently, but this is my blog!

Graeters - Butter Pecan on a Pretzel Cone

 4-1-12  Cross training is not something that I have been very diligent about and I need to start doing that.  Use my muscles in different ways.  There must be a reason that the experts build that in to the training plan.  It ended up being in the upper 70's so I suggested that we all go on a bike ride to the ice cream shop.  Great idea!

We have lots of new bike paths in this area and we can get all the way to Graeters without riding on any streets, except our own neighborhood.   Matthew and Carson got scared though when we crossed Sawmill Road.  maybe I have instilled too much fear of traffic in them over the years.  At some point I have to let go a bit, but not yet.  Graters came out with a new flavor last week, Cake Batter Brownie.  The ice cream tastes like yellow cake batter and then there are chunks of brownie in it.  Matthew and Carson both got the new flavor.  I had Butter Pecan and bob had Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip.  After ice cream we rode up Sawmill road to Golf Village.  I wanted to stop and see if Mary and Pauline (Buzz's Mom and Aunt) were home but I wasn't 100% sure which home was theirs.  as it turns out, the one I thought was theirs was right.  Oh well, maybe next time!

We rode about 6-7 miles total.  As we got close to home, the boys all left me in the dust with their mad dash to get home.  But I had the garage door opener....  Guess I got the last laugh on April Fool's Day!

Sisters

3-31-12  My sister and best friend, Kai, came down from Michigan to run my 15 miler with me.  She got here last night, just in time for the tornado warning!  I sent everyone to the basement and then continued to fix dinner.  Poor Carson was so scared.  He always gets scared during storms.

We had a great time.  It was so much different having a friend to run with.  It was faster and easier.  I had such an easy time running the whole way.  I did get tired as we reached 10-11-12 miles, but not so much that I needed to stop or walk more or anything.  In fact Kai said I kept a pretty constant pace the whole run.  WooHoo.

We left about 8:15 this morning.  About 3 miles in to our run we reached the Antrim Lake area and they had it set up like race day.  Music blaring, Gu, Gatorade and water.  Probably sooner than we needed any of that, but why pass it by?  We had so much fun, just kept running and before you knew it, the whole thing was over!!

Well, what do you know!!??  It is lunch time.  We went to the Rusty Bucket , both of us in search of a great burger, after all we have earned them.  Kai got the Patty Melt and I went all out and got the "Elvis Velveeta Burger".  I have never been so hungry.  I needed the food fast.  I wanted to change out of my wet sweaty clothes, but told Kai, i needed to order first.  I didn't want anything to slow down my process towards getting food!!!

I didn't listen to any music today because I was with my sister.  I told Kai tonight that I didn't know how I would name my "post" for today.  Then it came to me and I said "Sisters"!  That was a no brainer!

Sisters:

Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, No sir,
I'm there to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain or sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who've seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man
Sister and me and John
I know deep inside your heart that you will feel the best intention
Sister you will know
You understand that in the far I'll always be you, the men will come and go
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain or sun
Three different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who've seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man

So, all of this is pretty goofy.  I don't think Kai and I ever had to fight over a man, ha-ha.  But I can say that nothing has ever come between us.  I have so many friends that have sibling issues, and that is so sad, but we don't.  Not between Kai and me, nor between any of my siblings.  We have the best family ever!  Thank you Mom and Dad, you must have had something to do with that!!!

Santana - Smooth

3-28-12  I made all kinds of bad choices today!  First, when I got home from work, rushing to go out for a run, I saw that my neighbors trashcans were in the middle of the street.  Their dog was outside, but maybe they were not hone.  I parked my car in the drive way and ran across the street and grabbed their trash cans.  As I went across the street, I stepped on the edge of the brick drive and turned my ankle.  Crap!  So much for being the nice guy!  Maybe they need to secure their trash cans.
Then I was trying to decide where to run.  It was very windy.  First, I shouldn't have gone outside at all.  But then if I was going to go out, I shouldn't have picked a route where I went East, running with the wind so that I had to run straight in to the wind coming home.  I even thought about that on my drive home, but sure enough, I picked a route that took me 2 miles away from home running with the wind.  I thought I was going to die coming home.  I swear I wanted to just sit down in the middle of the road.  When I got home finally and turned on the news, they said we had 35 mph winds.  Think about that.  Think about being in a convertible, driving 35 mph.  Its pretty windy.  Now think about trying to propel yourself forward with out the help of the car engine straight in to the 35 mph wind.  Not a good choice Pam!

I ran through the Lakes of Powell to Murphy Parkway.  When I moved to Ohio, the area in which I live now, was considered a drive out in the country.  There was a place called Murphy's Party Barn.  You could rent the party barn and haev parties.  It was popular in the fall and winter where you could also have hay rides and bonfires.  It is now a housing development and that is where I was running today.
I was suppose to run 7 miles today, according to my plan.  As you increase your long runs on the weekend, your total mileage during the week is suppose to increaase so that it is close to being equivalent to what you will run on the weekend.  My run this weekend is 15 miles so I am supposed to run 15 miles between Tuesday, Wednesday and Thrusday runs.  Not sure if I will make it because I haev a busy day on thursday.
My run was not smooth at all, but I do love Santana's song "Smooth".

Man it's a hot one
Like seven inches from the midday sun
Well I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone
But you stay so cool
My mu equita my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa
You're my reason for reason
The step in my groove
Yea

And if you say, "This life ain't good enough"

I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
'Cause you're so smooth

And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Well it's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah
Gimme your heart, make it real
Or else forget about it

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want

3-27-12 It was very cold this morning.  We had a frost overnight and it was 30 degrees when I ran.  We should have covered plants.  Our hydrangea had a lot of foliage and it is frozen now.  I hope that it just grows new leaves. I had to run early because Carson has soccer practice after school so I cannot run tonight.  Bob and I are splitting the practices so I take Carson on Tuesday and Bob takes him on Thursday.  Matthew goes along and plays at the park.  Running was a bit hard today, just stiff from the long run on Sunday.  Just the usual, nothing new.  I took a picture of myself, pretty bad, but it is what it is.  Me.

Lots of beautiful trees along the way.  I love this time of year.  It leaves us so quickly though.  Strong wind and a good rain and the blooms are all on the ground.








 I have moved to a new office at Easton.  I inquired about having the movers pack my stuff and transport it to my new office, about 6 miles further away from home.  I found out that I'd have to schedule it and it would be about 3-4 weeks before they would come to move me.  I didn't want to wait so I packed everything today in shopping bags, loaded it on a cart and wheeled it out to the car.  Moving Beverly Hillbillies style!

I love the Rolling Stones.  I have several favorite songs of theirs but this one, You Can't always Get What You Want, certainly is a classic and all time favorite.  The song features the London Bach Choir at the beginning and at points through the song.  It is said that the song is about a chance encounter that Mick had while standing in line at the pharmacy waiting to fill a prescription, when a chap named Jimmy complained that he couldn't get his favorite soda that day, favorite flavour, cherry red.  Thus the lyric, you can't always get what you want.  True or urban legend, no one knows.

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need