So, I started this blog and then a week later I lost my job due to a reduction in staff. For the past several weeks, I haven’t posted anything, as I’ve spend every waking hour working toward securing new employment. But I’m now back. Substantial posts will follow, but for now, I give you music from the best show I’ve seen all week, King Khan and the Shrines:
Have a cuppa tea…
Sometimes you just gotta have a tea party!
Run on, for a long time…
If you know, me, you know that over the last four years I’ve gotten into running. Now, I’m no speed demon, and I’m not going to be winning any races in the near future. I’m what the running community refers to as a “penguin.” I haven’t looked into the etymology of the term, but I would assume that the nickname stems from the fact that penguins travel great distances all while waddling slowly from side to side. Or maybe it’s because I run in a tuxedo, but this seems unlikely.
Photo of the author as a young child
My mileage has really ramped up in the last two weeks. At the beginning of February, the greatest distance I’d ever run in a clip was a half-marathon (13.1 miles). Each time I’ve completed that distance, I’ve felt like I’d left everything out there, that there is no way I could push myself any further.
But you can always push yourself further.
In the past two Saturdays, I’ve run a 15-miler and a 16 miler. My next few weekends just get crazier…13 miles, 18 miles, 14 miles, 20 miles — you get the picture. The endurance is building. 15 miles was excruciating; a week later, 16 miles didn’t seem that tough. I’m actually excited to hit my peak before the big 26.2 miler in early April.
Which is all to say, I think I’ve gone crazy. I set a rather lofty goal of running three marathons in 2010. What do I do after that? Increase the speed or increase the distance?
When I first started running, a 5K (3.1 miles) was the goal. I thought, “maybe, if I work really hard, I’ll be able to run a 10K, but only once. Six miles is so far!” And then I ran 6 miles. And then it got easy. Well, not easy exactly (no running is truly easy), but it got manageable, almost comfortable. So I trained for the half marathon. And now, that distance isn’t as tough anymore either.
The logical progression would be to increase speed and become faster at the 5K, the 10K, the half-marathon, and the marathon. But I’m really not sure I’m interested in that. I think what really gets me going is being out on the road or a trail for an extended period of time. It doesn’t matter if I’m having a conversation with a running partner or I’m by myself blasting some tunes. The time in my own head, unencumbered by the pressures of everyday life or bombarded with an endless array of new media, is vital. The longer the run, the longer I can extend that pensive bliss. Even when running hurts, it feels so good.
So, who knows. Maybe I’m destined for longer feats of endurance. Ultra marathons seem crazy, but they’re not completely out of the realm of possibility. Really, if you can run 25 miles, why can’t you run 50?
All it takes is a little bit of time, a little bit of fuel and a desire to get to know yourself better.
Please allow me to introduce myself…
This, my friends, family, and other visitors, is my one millionth attempt at a blog. I have lost focus many times before, and I can’t promise that it won’t happen again, but for that matter, I can’t really promise anything.
As with any personal blog, I will post about things in my life that matter to me. These topics include the following:
- Music, the thing that I love most
- Memphis, the city in which I live, and its cultural/political happenings
- Life, in particular, mine
- Running, something I do on a regular basis
- Drinking and eating, two other things I do quite often
- Anything else that I find interesting
And now, a little bit about myself. My name is Kirk. I look like this:
I am married to an awesome woman named MarLa. She looks like this:
We have a Skye Terrier named Sara who looks a lot of different ways and one of them is this:
Like The Tonight Show used to say, before everything got screwy:
More to come.