Warmth

There are times when I run - alone or in groups - where I say in my head, "no one is making you do this....". 

710 says otherwise. 

He says the voices in my head tell me to keep going. He means more the C part of my OCD than actual voices. My shrink says I don't have schizophrenia*. 

This last Sunday I was painfully reminded why two years ago I said I'd never run another Spring marathon. Mind you, I didn't, but I did run the Cleveland Half Marathon for the third time.

At one point in time in my running, I said I'd never run outside where people could see me; and I wouldn't run without a shirt. Both of these last "rules" have been broken. This year, I broke it big time.  

While I did a half two weeks prior and I did "well",  that days started off 30°F cooler than this last Sunday - or what I'd call, optimal racing weather.  This last Sunday started at 63°F and shot up as the sun came over the horizon. 

Don't get me wrong. For a day other than running it was beauteous. For running, it was brutal. 

I knew by mile 2 it was going to be too hot to meet my goal time. I knew by mile 5.5 I wasn't getting a PR. 

When I started running a few years back and people would axe me my goal, I'd say "I just want to finish" - and that was true. While I calculated times in my head, the reality of the sitch was just to make it through my first 5K, Half and Full. Vertical. 

By mile 8 two days ago, that was my goal again: to finish.

I mean, I knew I would finish, but I knew it would be ugly. And it kind of was. 

Certainly this was not in the bottom half of my other half marathon times, but nothing about which to gloat. 

At mile 10.5 I did the unthinkable:  I took off my shirt. In public. In a race. Where there were cameras. And spectators. 

No one wanted to see that, least of all me. But at that point it was a survival technique. Had it not been a great shirt, I would have just tossed it, but I held onto it for the rest of the race, pouring as much water over my head as I took in my mouth - if not more.

I pseudo raw dogged it the entire race. While I had my phone and headphones, I never turned on my music - at all. As for my watch, I never looked at it to see my pace. It would either bum me out of psych me out - so I just let it calculate its shit on its own. 

There is something freeing about it all. You are way more aware of your surroundings - and there were tons os capable people out there of all ages, shapes sizes and ability. All getting it done. 

As with every after run "party", I pretty much got my water, chocolate milk and banana. I had no real desire to carry around their giveaways of protein bars and chips......though salt afterwards is highly recommended. I went for the potassium more than the sodium. 

They were passing out bags of ice, which I took and promptly put directly on my head. It was heaven. 

Then I ambled to my car, drove home and took a long cold shower. Even more heaven. 

....now I just have to worry about a full marathon in the fall, which I don't feel equipped for in the slightest. And because it's an earlier fall race, I get to start training in two weeks instead of six. Good news is, I'll get to the 20 mile mark a lot sooner than my training group. 

Look at me with a silver lining. Those antidepressants are doing their job. 

Still - a great reminder to never do a Spring time full marathon. 

*Do not call people "Schizophreniacs". They have schizophrenia. You don't call stroke survivors or cancer patients by their disease. 

Song by: Bastille

My Music Monday

For the life of me, I cannot remember who sent this my way. I want to say it was Dith, but I've looked back and have no evidence to support such a statement. 

For honestly sake, this is not about the "song", which deep down I know is what My Music Monday is all about. But this is about the video. Or videos. 

"Storm" by GENER8ION featuring.a Swedish rapper, Yung Lean, is about the visual. There's a song there, but you won't really hear the vocals. Or, I didn't. I believe your mind can only take in so much stimulus at one point and time - and with this, it's all about movement. 

Filmography, choreography, costume design all play into this - as well as the music. 

It is a video like this that gives me hope that AI could never truly replicate such a feat. The human aspect of art, hopefully, will prevail. 

The song video (the second one) is about 3:17 long. 

There is a long version too - I'm embedding both, so you don't have to go look - is over 7:30. The first 4:00 is more of a non-dialogue story leading up to the music video piece. You don't need the story to enjoy the video.  ....though it explains the blood on the shirt of Lean....for whatever that is worth. 

When I drafted this, the long video was nine days old and had 8.6 million views. A week later it is up to 11 views. The shortened video is not an official release from the artists, so those numbers are much lower. 

Still, this makes me the believe in the power of art. And it's done in 3+ minutes. Or 7, depending on which version you'd like. 

Long Version

Short Version

Doctor

Ugh - Tuesday is physical day. 

I mean, all things considered, I'm fairly healthy. Physically. Mentally is another issue, but one problem at a time. 

And 'fairly' is all relative. 

But like the trooper I am - and I am - I got my lab work done on Friday (after having to pester the doc to put in the orders) and then went about my business. 

Normally I somewhat chomp at the bit to see the results. They come back somewhat quickly and are uploaded to MyChart - then I get a text and / or email stating they are ready to view. 

This time - I got the email (no text) - I didn't look for over a full day. It was only when I was looking for something about which to write that I thought I'd gander at them. 

There are about 3 or 4 'abnormal' results, out of 71 tests run (yes, I counted)  Two of them were / are expected. No matter how much I workout my "good" cholesterol is never going to be good enough. I'm fine that my over all is fine, my bad cholesterol is better and my triglycerides are normal. 

Yeah, I have trace amounts of blood in my pee, but what are you gonna do. The doc will tell me it is normal for a runner to have that show up. He's a runner - and a doctor! - so I am sure he knows what he's talking about. 

I'm due for no shots. I won't dread getting on the scale. There might be the prostate exam, (no dinner; no movie) but other than that, I don't expect a whole lot from this visit. Though I have questions. 

You gotta believe docs abhor well informed patients. 

So, by the transitive property........................

Song by: INXS

In the Valley

Shep is better - thanks all for asking. 

But do to being homebound most of the week (him and one of us) there weren't a ton of fun pic opportunities. Each of send shots of a sleep / recuperating dog.

Yesterday was the most active day. I picked him up somewhat early and ran some errands with him, then took him to the canal for a short walk and we sat and rested in a grassy knoll. No one shot a president - unfortunately. 

He was only at daycare yesterday - so, he and I didn't have many interactions with other pooches either. 

Shame. 

Still..........Shep Shep Shep................mostly. 

Cuddling on the sofa. Those horizontal stripes aren't doing anything for me, nor is the angle. 

Pick-up. Happy Dude. Happy Dad. 

LUCY. 

A-dorable. They let me hold her, the big wigglebutt. She's a puppy and it was her first week in daycare. 

The man is just a spectacle. Others waiting for their dog marvels and his jumps. 

Don't have a name, but he / she got pets. 

After daycare pick-up we headed to the a park to sit and enjoy the day. 

I was trying to conserve his energy. 

Song by: Midnight Oil

Dancing in Limbo

Well, it actually has been a bit with a no post post. 

.....the times I forgot to write or hit publish notwithstanding. 

The Muses, or someone like them, have yet to be seen today. Or yesterday, I suppose. 

We all get the day off. 

...as for the title image: I just typed 'nothing going on' into Gooooogle and looked under 'images'. I had to scroll to find one, but this caught my eye. 

Actually, I'd have that hanging in the house if I had a version of the painting. 

Song by: Kirsty MacColl

I Fucking Hate You

Can I restate how much I hate this country?

I'm not sure there is a depth of low or hate to which these people won't descend. 

FFS, just show up to chambers clad with white hoods already. It's the only thing missing at this point. 

HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE 

This doesn't even scrapes the surface of my distain. 

There won't be a time in my life where ANY of this damage is repaired. 

Song by: G-dsmack

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 193rd 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore.

04:47. Gym time. 

I almost skipped, as Shep has been under the weather and I've been sleeping with him on the sofa - in case he needs to go out immediately. I am operating on very little sleep here. 

05:41. My seat for the next 30 minutes.

Did my strength training. Now for some biking. 

06:22. Shadow of a man.

Me, about to do some stretches along the wall. 

06:34. Shower time!

06:53. Caffeine. 

I like tea, but I don't NEED tea. Today I needed the caffeine. 

09:09. Stay at home dad. 

He couldn't go to daycare, so someone had to mind the man. That was me. 

His energy levels are good. But he isn't really eating and yet he's still expelling. 

12:34.  I'm a simple man. 

13:37. Prizes!!!

Not really - just a pharma delivery. 

18:03. Dynamic warm-up. 

Last training group run of this season. 

18:49.  Fish Monger. 

Needed salmon for dinner. 

19:30. Shower #2

20:07.  I've had some movement for 21 hours in a row!

I need to go to bed. Soon. 

Shopping with Blobby

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!  

Normally my Shopping posts are things I've seen or happened upon. Rarely - very rarely - do I actually purchase the item. 

This is one of those rare occasions. 

710's birthday was last month and we are well beyond the point of really getting / giving gifts for things. There is too much clutter already. But for a fun gift, that we'd probably actually use, why not get him these.

Yes - Shit Bags. 

Listen, they don't say WHO is on the bag. I mean, that could be anybody! Anyone who is orange and has "blonde" "hair". Yes, those needed separate quotes.  

And while the above photo looks like they'd be a leaf bag, make no mistake, it's for your dog's pooh. 

They were conceived by some guy in Berkley, but are sold a number of places including amazon, which has this description:

Generic Dumps for Trump and World Leaders, 150 Dog Waste Bags (Donlad D), Orange 

I need to make it clear - I scrolled and scrolled but BLOTUS-like products are the only "leader" there. Well......there is a runner-up:

I'd be - well anyone would be - hard-pressed to called JD a "leader". Ditto for BLOTUS, actually. 

There is no Putin. No Kim Jung-Il. No Xi Jinping. 

I just need to load Shep up with food, have him take a big steaming dump, so I can carry it around the rest of our walk as we pass neighbors. 

We will be treated like kings!

My Music Monday

I see no shortage in new music. In a way I'd like a theme month, but not sure when / if that is ever happening anytime soon. 

The Editors have a new song out. I don't think I've featured them in years. I had to look. 2012. I still adore "Papillon" but I play it sparingly - as the record version is 2+ minutes longer than the hyperlinked video. Though with all the running in the video it seems to suit me more now in a different aspect. 

Still - 14 years later, here I am, talking about the band. 

"Call it In" is the new tune. 

It's a fairly straight forward male rock song. It's a driving beat and has nothing new or special about it, but I like it a lot. Granted, I do listen to songs differently should I be able to run to them - and with this, I can. 

The drum beat, the guitars and keyboards really don't change much over the song. Repeating music themes more than repeating lyrical ones. Still, it works. 

Shore

I don't have a lot of anything today......of note, anyways. So, I'll talk TV. Kind of. 

If you haven't seen Shoresy you're missing out. 

Jared Kesso plays the title character, but you might know him better had you seen Letterkenny. He also created both shows. To make it slightly confusing, Kesso played "Shoresy" on Letterkenny, though he mostly portrayed "Wayne" .

I'm just going on record, for the most part, Canadians make better television shows than the US. 

Though I'm not saying Heated Rivalry is riding on Shoresy's coattails, they are both about hockey (well....kind of) and love. Though Shoresy is more heteronormative. And Shoresy came first (that's what Ilya said!)

Kesso plays Shoresy perfectly. A former hockey player who takes over a loser team - which brings somewhat of a Ted Lasso approach. 

While the banter with his players is hilarious, it's his would-be woo'ing of Laura Mohr that is just great. He moons over her while she's is somewhat passively resistant. But it's great banter and you feel the humour and chemistry. 

I wanted to leave you with one clip, but I couldn't decide. It was almost three, but I settled on two. Shoresy is just so adorable. 

Both clips briefly reference "Big Sexy".  That is Shoresy's dog. 

Song by: Fleet Foxes

In Hiding

A smattering from here and there this week. 

I guess, like all weeks. 

Field Trip with Dad #2. 

A pretty, but chilly walk along Lake Erie

My nephew is out of town and he had a friend to come check on the cats. No idea where Henry is, but Virginia doesn't seem thrilled with the viist(or). 

I had to zoom in on the swastika. I texted him that it was a bit disconcerting, but it is the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Let's hope he's focusing on the fall part. 

Greeter Jackson, with Sydney close behind. 

....and then there's Shep. What a mug. 

Song by: Pearl Jam

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!    

My patience with Arcade Fire has worn thin. Three of their last four albums (including today's selection) have just been bad. 

Sorry, there is no other way to say it. Granted, 'bad' is one man's opinion, but that man is me. I hold some weight around here. 

Pink Elephant came out a year ago. It seems a lot more recent than that, but in fairness, I played it once and could never go back to it - it was that bad. 

Open Your Heart of Die Trying - Pink Elephant's "companion" piece - was released almost one year to the day of the latter. 

I don't really follow Arcade Fire news, so if this album was widely publicized release, I didn't know about it until about two weeks before the release date. Silly me got my hopes up that, phew, maybe they've corrected their ways. 

They have not. 

Well........let me rephrase. This disk is not for me. And I'm not sure who it is for. And yes, I ended that in a preposition. Sue me. 

On Pink Elephant, I wrote about the droning and ambient music on some of the tunes. Well, Open Your Heart, it's on all of the tunes. Is IS all of the tunes. 

Open Your Heart of Die Trying is instrumental. Not a vocal to be had. But it's music that would be in a trying to be hip spa, while you got a massage or your anal bleaching done. It's both relaxing and not at the same time. 

exclaim!*'# website voted Open Your Heart the 'worst release for Record Store Day 2026.  Ouch. But they hit the nail on the head with this portion of their review: 

This kind of project would normally be cool, since an ambient reimagining of a recent album is exactly the kind of quirky release Record Store Day is made for. The snag, however, is that the album in question is Arcade Fire's Pink Elephant — an album nobody likes, and I'm fairly sure barely anyone has even listened to.

They end some of their sentences in prepositions as well. 

Pitchfork's review is even harsher. 

For full disclosure, I did not purchase this disk, though I did listen to the entire thing online. Once. It was all that was needed. 

I'm not sure where this leaves the band. The core - Win Butler and Régine Chassagne - are dissolving their 20+ year marriage after Butler's #metoo bullshit. While they say they vow to keep on with the band, multiple affairs and two shitty albums might be the death of them. 

Uranus

Whilst on our Indy Adventure, we made an unplanned stop. 

Many of you may have heard of the Uranus Fudge Factory. Yes, their slogan is: "The Best Fudge Comes From Uranus". 

There is like an entire town in Missouri somewhere, which is the real draw (?).  But it turns out they have an outpost right inside the Indiana border - should you be coming via Ohio. And yes, I made 710 stop. 

I was underwhelmed. 

For starters, I don't like fudge. Neither of us do. Make all the jokes you'd like. 

But the Indiana one seems a little underwhelming when compared to the pictures I've seen of the main location. It's basically a glorified shack at the top of a hill next to a church. With some animatronic dinosaurs. 

Yes. You read that correctly. 

Now, the 62 12 year old in me, kind of laughs at all their 'uranus' puns. 

Laughs. Does not buy. 

There was the dog park. 

Then there was the signage in the shop. 

Then there was the merch. 

The 12 62 year old in me was over it within a few minutes. 

We purchased nothing - which I'm assuming 8 out 10 people who enter the store do the same thing. 

Oh, they had just about every crap item you'd never need (or want) with a 'uranus' phrase attached. I never looked at a price because well...........I just didn't care and I was never prying my wallet Apple Pay open for anything in the store. 

The twenty minutes I was there the way I see it, I got a post out of it. I didn't even use the bathroom, which I'm sure had more phrases inside. 

Live and learn. 

Song by:Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and James McAllister  

Baking with Blobby

Here and there you've seen - probably on my 12 of 12 - a certain chocolate cherry muffin I get on Saturdays after my run. 

The Old Man's Running Group goes to a bakery after, well, all of their runs, and on Saturday this particular bakery has these muffins. They rotate the muffin flavour each day, so Saturday is the only day I can get these. 

But with being out of town this last weekend, I wasn't at the run or the bakery. What's a Blobby to do???

In theory, I should have tried baking these long ago and save me all kinds of money. Probably for the price of one muffin, I could put the same amount of money into ingredients and make 12 times the amount of muffins. 

So......that's what I did. Or tried. As you can see, it's a little ingredient-heavy, but probably on par with a lot of baking things. It goes quickly and clean up is done well before the timer goes off. 

Let's go on a baking adventure. 

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup canola oil 

1/2 cup buttermilk 

2 large eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed 

1 cup (heaping) sour cherries, halved 

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Instructions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Line a muffin tin with paper liners or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. 

In another bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and well combined. 

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Fold in the cherries and chocolate chips. 

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. 

Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

It will come as no shock to you that the bakery muffins are superior to Blobby's. 

These look ok. Smell great. But honestly, it comes down to taste - and these are passable, but they're not like what I get on Saturdays. 

There are no sour cherries yet available here, so I used frozen sweet cherries. It makes a difference fos sure. And even in a 350 degree oven the chocolate chips didn't entirely melt. I don't mind the textrure, I just wasn't really expecting it. 

And they were not moist. To get the toothpick to come out clean, I had to bake for an additional five minutes. I'm sure that didn't help with the dry factor, but I'm guessing it's something else too - but I don't know what.  More oil? Add butter? More buttermilk? 

I mean, there are a lot of recipes out there for these, I just picked the one that looked closest to what I buy. It doesn't mean it is the correct recipe. 

But at least I'll have muffins for a while. Half are in the freezer. 

Speedway

Friday, 710 and I headed out to Indianapolis for a short trip. 

g-d love him, I sign up for races and he shows up for them. Well.........some of them. I don't expect him to make these treks to stand around while I run around. 

Since it was May 1st, and he had not taken a single day off of work in 2026, he was happy to tag along with me to the Indy Mini Marathon. 

To be clear: the 'mini' part is a half marathon. 

Don't get me wrong - 13.1 miles is still a feat, especially at my advanced age. 

The idea was to take Shep. I scouted many dog-friendly hotels, but 710 was right that it would be limiting what we could do, and where we could stay. No guarantee of a lower floor and packed elevator rides were a recipe for disaster. 

And they were packed. 

We boarded Shep for a total of 36 hours, though he yelped upon our return like it was 36 days. 

Anyways, the hotel I did select was purposeful -- it was about 100 yards from the start line. And about three blocks from the finish. It was extremely nice to just take the elevator down 20 minutes before the start and walk right up to my corral. Pressure, off. 

What I failed to realize was how big this event was. Six continents represented and participants from all 50 states.

I should have guessed the size when I found out two weeks in advance that my bib number was in the 23000 range. Media said there were 30,000 participants. But that had to have included the 5k, as there were only about 22,000 who finished the half.  

Only. <eye roll emoji>

This was the second biggest race in which I've participated. 

The rationale for selecting this race was the flatness of it - which meant for a potentially speedy time, and that for 2.5 miles of the course was on the Indy 500 Speedway. 

Yes, you got to run a full lap on the track. 

I'm not a car racing kind of guy, but this was kind of fun and impressive. The size alone is kind of amazing. With cars going ~220 mph, you have to have a big track, right? But there are parts of it that are so far out, you don't  / can't even see the where the grandstands should be. 

There is the outer track, which is banked, and the inner track, which is not. We had the inner one. While I had my camera, I was one of few who didn't take it out, stop and pose. At the heart of it all, I still had a goal. I also didn't drop to my knees and kiss the 'brickyard'.  That's not even a euphemism. 

It was after that portion of the run I was a little nauseated after ingesting an energy gel. That lasted for about 1.5 miles, which didn't help my run. 

All said, it was a good run. I shaved almost 5 minutes off my time to get my fastest half-marathon time. And yes, I should be happy / proud. I was immediately disappointed to not make the time I wanted, which would have been 3+ minutes faster. 

This is a constant discussion with my therapist, and it will be later today as well. I just can't appreciate the wins. 

But being close to the hotel meant I got to take a nice shower and change my clothes before we headed back home. 

BTW - I do not recommend running a half-marathon and almost immediately getting into a car for a six hour ride home. I was not comfortable - though truth be told, on my best day can only stand about two hours in the car before I need to get out and move. 

Shep was thrilled to see us. We hung out with him all night, and then I got up first thing Sunday morning to run another 5.22 miles. I swore to myself - and told the group - I was taking it slow. And I did. For the first half mile and then ended up at a decent pace, ending up back before any other runner or walker. 

I'm sure there are lessons to be learned with all of this - though I'm not exactly sure what they are or how to achieve them..... but whatta gonna do? 

Song by: Morrissey