10 Miles on the D&L Trail

Been telling my pal to document more of her journey, and never really taking my own advice. This is from today’s 10 mile journey on the D&L Trail near Palmerton, PA. Sort of uneventful, it’s rails-to-trails after all, but it was a joyous run. Running next to the big hills and the river make running a bit easier.

Meant for this to be an eight mile run, four out, four back, but I looked at my watch and it said 4.25, so I figured what the hell? Let’s go for five out, five back.

I think what made this easier was fueling the night before with three tacos – eggs, fake meat, beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa, corn tortillas. Maybe a few Doritos, too, for good measure. Then a full English-muffin to get the guts rolling in the early morning.

Also about 40 minutes into the run I started eating a KOFFEE – Energy Gel with Coffee Kick from Spring Energy. It’s 210 calories, and COFFEE, so not only does it provide the kick of calories and caffeine, but it tastes so fucking good, which is important in the middle of a longer run.

I’ve been doing eight mile runs lately, as my long runs, and this is the first ten I’ve done in a while. The combination of those tacos, the cooler weather and shade, and these energy gels really worked in my favor.

Video-wise, yeah, need some more b-roll footage. There were some little water falls on the side of the trail that I could have captured, and maybe I could have captured some shots of me running (I guess), but this was still fun to make.

P.S. Thanks Dino for the awesome Nike Trail Running top!

Streaming Dinner

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/709518310

Tonight I watched Meg Lewis eat take-out from the Olive Garden on Twitch, which is really a sentence I never thought I’d type, but hey, it’s 2020, right?

It’s all fun and games, of course, but she also mentioned World Central Kitchen, which is doing some pretty great work, and could always use more donations. If you’re feeling bummed, watch Meg Lewis (she’s fantastic), and give some money if you can (I swear, donating money when you’re down is a great pick me up).

Trust as an Asset

I love this, from Cindy Gallop, via James Clear:

You set out to find the very best talent in the marketplace, and then give them a compelling and inspirational vision of what you want them to achieve for you and the company. Then you empower them to achieve those goals using their own skills and talents in any way they choose. If, at the same time, you demonstrate how enormously you value them, not just through compensation, but also verbally, every single day, and if you enable that talent to share in the profit that they help create for you, you’ll be successful. 

My best work was when I was left alone to do my thing. Trusted to do the work I was hired to do. It’s fun being on the other side now, as I’m starting to slowly build a team at Close Mondays, but altogether trust is an amazing asset.

100 Miles in a Week

I follow a handful of adventurous runners on Instagram, and I sometimes get stuck in the comparison game. When will I ever be able to run 10 miles every single day? When can I run 65+ miles in a 12 hour endurance race.

Actually, though, that pity party last about 2.4 seconds before I throw my phone down, lace up my shoes, and head out the door. I’m not going to be able to run 30 miles a week until I can run 25 with consistency. I won’t be able to run 10 miles on back to back days if I can’t even run an 8 miler every Sunday.

At the start of August I had a nice kick in the pants, from the horrible situation involving Tommy Rivers Puzey.

Rivers Puzey first started to feel sick earlier in the summer. Thinking it could have been COVID-19, he self-isolated at home, but as the weeks passed and his situation failed to improve, he went to the hospital. He stayed there for several weeks, although doctors didn’t give him a diagnosis for some time. On July 24, his brother posted on Instagram to announce that Rivers Puzey had finally been diagnosed, and it was cancer.

From ‘Support Tommy Rivers Puzey in the Run with Rivs virtual challenge‘

So I joined the virtual event and set a goal of 100 miles, from August 1st to the 9th. I knew I couldn’t run that distance, but I have a bike now, and whatever, I wanted to see if my heart and lungs and body could withstand a 100 mile week.

Sunday to Sunday I ran 34 miles, and biked 67. I ate smart, tried to get to bed early, and made sure to stretch and do some mobility work throughout the week, and wow, it worked.

Taking Monday off was great, and now today, I was up and out the door by 7am for a five mile run.

Running is my “hell yes,” and sets the tone for how I manage my day. Challenges with work, finances, a pandemic… it’s all pretty daunting, but if I can get out for a run or a bike ride, some form of movement where I get my heart rate up and break a sweat, then I’m a happy dude.

Sure, in 2010 or so I was “The Bike Nerd,” and loved biking 25 miles a day, but heck, I didn’t track any of that mileage. I was just riding from bus station to bus station, to a friends house, on some back roads. That was all well and good, but now, a decade later, these adventures feel even more purposeful. For both myself, and for those that running can help in the process.

Turns out a bunch of people did the Run With Rivs challenge, and all told it raised over $180,000.

BANDCAMP FINDS: Amby Downs, Red Fang, BLAKMOTH

Nearly halfway through August already. Unreal how somehow this year is flying. Got some noisy, dark electronic stuff here this week, with of course some up-beat metal going on with Red Fang.

BANDCAMP FIND: Phoxjaw, fernab comp

Busy week, so didn’t get to spend much time on Bandcamp this week as I liked. A colleague turned me onto Phoxjaw, though. A bit of swanky rock, dripping with sass from the UK. Sign me up.

For those times you need some music running in the background while slamming through some work that you’d rather not have on your plate, but it’s gotta get done? Yeah, this is a nice compilation in any capacity.

Bandcamp Finds: Maggot Heart, Wilma Laverne Miner, Ropes of Night

Another week, another few albums of note, starting with Maggot Heart.

I’ve come back to ‘Used To’ from Wilma Laverne Miner, which came out earlier this year. Without road trips and new experiences because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been pretty much the last album that’s become an “album in time” for me.

The album art work grabbed me, and then I clicked play. Not usually into this darker, moody stuff, but I like this from Ropes of Night, which came out a few months ago.

Bandcamp Finds: An Albatross, Noveller

A slow week of Bandcamp digging. The weather has been brutal, so I’ve been doing my work first thing in the AM and doing my best to get outside.

I’ve known Ed Guida since the 90s, when he used to play in Bedford, and I played in a ska band called the Unmarked Cars. Oh, what a wild time that is. Now, 20 years later, we reconnected via Instagram (of course) and our love of running (he’s a big inspiration for me). So now that An Albatross has a new album out, holy shit, I had to devour it in a heart beat.

Noveller is Sarah Lipstate, creating some great cinematic sonic landscapes.