Highway to Hell...Sort of

Not sure that I have to much to say other than the running has been way down given the back injury and the turn to cold weather which just makes it more difficult to get motivated to get off my ass and get to the gym or outside for a sprint or two. I think I am down to less than 20 miles this month vs. the almost 90 that I did last month. There was a nice development in the world of music last week as AC/DC finally published thier catalog on iTunes after being one of the last holdouts. I instantly downloaded about 12 songs that are must haves. I have never been a huge fan other than their classics. I am currently contemplating how to complete my Neil Young/Crazy Horse collection. That will most likely push aside any other major purchase for a while. I have about 10-12 albums now but there are many more I need to purchase. I did download Stars and Bars the other day just to get Hurricane and it was worth it. I saw Neil Young in 2009 I think on the Rust Never Sleeps tour at the old Boston Garden and from what I remember it was quite a show. From what I remember.

Perhaps the Greatest Album Of All Time!

Ok so I downloaded Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Psychedelic Pill last weekend and forgot about it and then remembered a few days later. After listening to this piece of art for about the 4th time in as many days, I can say without hesitation that this might be one of my all time favorite albums. It is full of fuzz and feedback and hard ass rock and roll that you would expect from the band but the tone and lyrics will just set you on your ass and make you think a bit. It's full of melancholy and plenty of retrospect I think and it's just an absolute thing to behold. I can't stop listening to it. It made me go back and listen to Cowgirl, Down by the River, Powderfinder and a few other favorites that he really rocks on but this is clearly his BEST WORK EVER!

Anyway, I had to take a week and a half off from running as I managed to tweak my back really bad playing golf two weekends ago. I just got back to the gym this week and I have managed to put in 2 5ks and a 5 miler. I have been trying to alter my running style and get off my heels which hopefully will stop the pain in my heels and achilles. I stumbled across a book that I think most real runners have already read, Born to Run. I won't go into detail now but it was an eye opener on many fronts and I would highly recommend you read this book, even if your not a runner. It is quite the story and quite inspirational. Oh, and Psychedelic Pill is even more amazing in that the beat to most of the music is very metronome like and easy to adapt to a long or short run. I even found on my 2 short runs this week that the music made me want to keep going.

A great album and the iTunes download comes with video versions of the music as well which I have yet to view but can't wait.

Last golf of the year. I think...

Played 18 holes this morning with my youngest son at the Lynch Municipal course in Brookline, which is right next door to THE COUNTRY CLUB in Brookline but a wee bit cheaper in price and a bit further down in the bogs. It's a very pleasant local muni that can score easily which is kind of nice given the time of the year and it was most likely the last round of the year as the weather peoples are forecasting snow at the end of next week. As usual I found a way to shoot my usual game of bogey golf which all in all isn't that bad given that I don't play regularly and only get out about 8-10 times a year if I am lucky. Made some great shots and made some bad ones but it was a nice day out and great to spend some time with one of my sons.

Do Do Do

Banged out another 6.5 miles tonight on the treadmill listening to the Stones Brussels Affair or at least part of it. This is a nice compilation from the tour supporting the new Goats Head Soup album in 1973. Goats Head Soup is one of my favorite Stones albums and what is kind of odd about this recording is that Mick Taylors playing does not stand out like it does in Get Your Ya Ya's Out or the Classic Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones from the 1972 tour which is an outstanding video in which Mick T's guitar work is front and center. Anyway, if I remember correctly, this was the tour with a lot of very creepy inflatable penises and such with Billy Preston on keyboards. Not sure I get all that but I was only 14 at the time so maybe the 70's were that fucked up.

Hurricane Sandy Douchebags, Chia Seeds and Stop the Madness!!!!

The running has been excellent over the past few weeks. I am almost at 90 miles over the past 30 days so I am very pleased with that but my right ankle is a bit squirrely so that hasn't changed. I am in the middle of reading 'Born to Run' and I would highly recommend this book to anyone, not just runners. It  is a great story so far about long distance running, hidden Mexican tribes out in the middle of drug country. I had no idea that there was this tribe of ultra long distance runners. It's a very interesting story. and I will be buying some Chia Seeds to see if these are truly magic beans.
Anyway, the only thing worse then the political adds on TV right now is the local news coverage of this storm. I realize they have to fill air time but jesus christ, stop acting and talking like we have never seen water, waves and flooding. Fucktards. Given the inclement weather, I will be on the treadmill this afternoon. Oh, and if you didn't know already, a vote for Mitt Romney or Scott Brown will send the U.S. into an apocolyptic hell with tax breaks for millionaires and baby eating indentured servitude for the rest of us. STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Only Rock and Roll But I Like it...

So the Stones have announced 2 live shows in London and 2 in Newark NJ. Not sure I get the Newark angle but whatever. I checked the premium ticket prices as I would only go if I could sit up front and center and the tickets for London in rows 6-12 are about a 1,000 Sterling so that is around 1,600 USD if my memory serves me right. Put on top of that the 1,000 USD to fly over and whatever you would get raped for a hotel in London those nights and it is clearly not in the budget. Would have been nice to see them over there but hopefully they will tour the states and another opportunity will come up again. I had the good fortune of sitting in the front row when they played Gillette Stadium here just south of Boston in 2004 and I would do almost anything to get that kind of an experience again. I was amazing but as I just came back from London 4 weeks ago, not dropping that kind of coin any time soon. Too bad.

Anyway, the running is going ok, post marathon. My right ankle is a bit swollen and tweaking after I run now. I did a 5k 2 days after the 1/2 and then banged out 6.5 miles last night. I should back off a bit so I don't injure myself but it is so hard not to run. The wife and I biked about 30 miles on Saturday. The weather was fantastic, cool but not cold, around 55 degrees but bright sunshine. Biked the length of the Minuteman trail starting in Cambridge all the way up to Bedford and then jumped on the Bedford/Billerica spur. The Minuteman is all pavement and can be crowded in places as it runs through Arlington center and then Lexington as well. The second half is nice as it is mostly dirt but in great shape with virtually no one on it. Especially those douches racing at breakneck speed pretending to be Lance Armstrong amongst the walkers, skateboarders and kids. Some of them are real assholes.

BAA Half Marathon

So I finished my half marathon last Sunday without sustaining any major injuries. Some soreness in my right ankle but other than that unscathed. I was hoping to come in under 2 hours but I clocked in at 2:03 so all in all it wasn't to bad as my time was 12 minutes faster than last year. The weather was fantastic as it was in the 60's the entire race and cool overall. Much better than the 80+ degrees from last year. Now the quandry is whether or not I sign up for the Boston Marathon with one of the charity groups. I would have to raise almost $5K to join so I am thinking that I need to pick another race to enter and hopefully qualify at some point. Not sure I want to be on the hook for $5K if I can't fundraise it or get injured in training and don't even compete. Anyway, the pictures are from the start of the race, unfortunately I was running alone this year so no after race pictures.