Good Run This Morning

Our morning (6 a.m.) temperatures have remained in the 70s the past few weeks. High humidity results in my runs taking on the feeling of a shower.

This morning the temperature was 73 when I went outside, but the humidity seemed a bit lower. It was a beautiful cloudless sky, with a nearly full moon and plenty of stars. The magic hour between the dark and the dawn*. The moments between the silence and the song*. *Not original words here.

My plan was for a 4 mile tempo run with a 1 mile warm-up followed by 2 miles at a good pace, and finally another mile at a slower pace. I didn't start off feeling especially strong, but by the time I got to the 2nd mile I had kicked into a (for me) pretty high gear and was able to maintain a fast pace for two miles. Although I had no way of knowing my exact speed, it felt like my typical pace from 15 years ago. Of course, that was a pace I could maintain for many miles, and this was only for 2, but it was a start.

Could this be a sign of the mojo coming back? Stay tuned.

Macca and Mojo

OK, this post has nothing to do with running. But it has a bit to do with mojo. Or lack of mojo. And a plan to get some mojo back through Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney was in concert in Charlotte this evening. I did not go. I should have gone.

Paul McCartney is simply the most talented popular musician to ever grace planet Earth. This actually is an understatement. It's not just that he's written dozens of songs that are considered classics. It's not just that he was in the greatest band of all time, or that his bass playing is sick, or that he is a tremendously talented vocalist, pianist, and guitarist. It's more than that, but I don't have the ability to put it into words.

I've seen him three times in concert: 1989, 1993 and 2005. All were great shows.

When it was announced that he was playing Charlotte, I was thrilled to possibly get the chance to see him one more time. Then, a couple of things happened that took some of the desire away. First was the ill-conceived and quite unfunny dig that he took at President Bush after receiving the Gershwin Prize at the White House. Trust me, I'm no fan of W., but I thought the remark was in poor taste, and I found myself sticking up for one of our worst presidents instead of my idol. Second, the homebuilding economy has continued to suck, and I felt that breaking into the piggy bank for a 4th McCartney show might not be warranted.

This evening I waffled as to whether to drive down to the arena and pay a scalper for a ticket. Finally, around 7:15 I knew that I would not be going, and I felt the mojo start to leave my body. Coincidentally, PBS aired the concert of the Gershwin Prize ceremony this evening, and I watched it with friends.

The PBS show really deflated the mojo. What a concert! The various artists who covered Paul's songs were excellent, especially Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters who played 'Band on the Run.' Then Paul delivered an exceptionally strong set of 'Michelle, Eleanor Rigby, Let it Be, and Hey Jude.' The end of the broadcast showed a performance of 'Yesterday' from the day before. I'm not going to say that at 68 the voice was as good as it was at 28, but it was still pretty good, and the musicianship was superb.

Later in the evening I checked facebook and a friend had posted a photo from the beginning of the concert, presumably when Paul took the stage for the opening number 'Venus and Mars.' I was really bummed to see that The Legend was in my midst, but I was at home.

I felt I had taken the easy way out (and no, I did not have a good reason for doing so). Seeing Paul on PBS made me forget about the W dig (hey, we all say stupid things once in a while), and the money seemed to be of less importance. This is called low mojo: not taking risks, playing it safe, etc. etc.

I knew that my decision to skip the concert would ultimately prove to be costly, because I know that I need to see him play one more time, and now I'll have to travel to do it. I need to feel that mojoic feeling you get when the greatest musician of all time steps out onto the stage and the crowd goes crazy. I'm also pretty positive that my wife has never seen him in concert, and although she is not a huge music fan (and at her much younger age she doesn't have the history I do), I think she needs to see him.

I may be returning to Pittsburgh. Or Philadelphia.

Is That Auspicious or Inauspicious?

I can never quite recall that if you start off poorly, is it an auspicious or inauspicious start. So, I pretty much avoid that word. Too much risk of inadvertently making up a whole new word.

My first marathon...sucked. Maybe it was because I ran it in Pittsburgh. Bad karma. Should have known better.

Having been born in West Virginia, and being a graduate of WVU, Pittsburgh was enemy territory. Loved the Cincinnati Reds; hated the Pittsburgh Pirates. "We Are Family." Ugh, vomit.

The Pitt Panthers...also hated them. I remember one football game where WVU was up 28-0, and then Pitt came back to win it. Definitely not nice.

I was in Pittsburgh on September 11, 2001. That's not a strike against Pittsburgh. I just happened to be on a consulting assignment for the Heinz company at the time. I'd actually come to like Pittsburgh quite a bit by then. I have many memories of 9/11: the confusion, calling my sister in Arizona and waking her with the news, going to give blood, being told to evacuate the city by a security guard straight out of Reno 911, but having no idea how to evacuate. I was still in Pittsburgh when Alan Jackson first played his eloquent 9/11 tribute on TV, and I remember bawling when I heard it. It was all very sad.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have always been an exception to my bias against Pittsburgh. Together with the Green Bay Packers, the Steelers have always been my football team.

Anyway, I ran my first ever marathon in Pittsburgh in 1990. It really wasn't that bad. I'm sure I finished in the top half. I recall that the first part of the race was uphill, then it leveled out and gradually went downhill, both literally and figuratively for me. There were a number of bands along the route.

I hadn't trained adequately. I think my longest training run was 18 miles. Not coincidentally, I ran the first 18 or so miles of the marathon in a decent time, then faded fast. My calves cramped up, and I limped to the finish in something like 4 hours and 17 minutes.

It's not so much the time that was disappointing. I recognize that at 4:17 I'm doing something that 95% of Americans (and 2% of Kenyans) can't do. What was disappointing was the lack of preparation, and the poor finish.

It would get better after this first one. Then worse. Then better.

Who The &$*#^@&# is Rocko?

I wanted the URL for this blog to be onemoremarathon, but it was already taken. Apparently I'm not alone in wanting to blog about my attempt to run one more marathon (well, actually 2, but more on that later). There's some guy in Denver, CO who goes by 'Rocko' who also wants to run another marathon, and decided to blog about it. The header of his blog sums it up nicely: "I'd like to run marathons the rest of my life. My knees would prefer otherwise. We'll see if we can compromise with one more race."

Right now, I'm ahead of Rocko. Other than creating a blog (in 2007, no less), he's done nothing (other than take my desired URL). No posts, no followers, no nothing. I've at least done something with this blog.

Well, maybe the reason Rocko (I'm assuming Rocko is a man; otherwise the name would be Rocka) hasn't blogged is because he's been too busy training for that final marathon. Maybe Rocko is running that marathon in the sky right now. Who knows?

I googled 'rocko denver race results' and didn't come up with much. I did see something about a Rocko Buswell in Denver, CO, but he's only 27. Usually the knees are good for at least 30 years. I saw another Rocko listed as finishing a 5K in Denver at a bit over an hour. I'm sorry, but if you're running 20 minute miles for 3.1 miles, you have no business even thinking about a marathon.

So, bottom line is that I don't know much about Rocko. But, this blog isn't about Rocko. Rocko has his own blog, even though he's done nothing with it.

This blog is about me, a middle-aged man seeking to get his mojo back by running one more marathon (well, actually 2, but more on that later).