Last Night’s Midnight Run Playlist.
I started off with Kanye and Jay tonight because I was genuinely inspired by Kanye’s passionate story and “dissertation” last night on Twitter. It was from the heart and I respected his honesty as a creative person. Plus, it has a great tempo and is a good kickoff.
I’m going to tell you a secret: Early Bob Dylan is amazing running music. There is just something perfect about the simple beauty of his stories, the gentle guitars, the trusty-old-dirt-road-feeling tempos, the whole vibe. Especially in the early years. Boots of Spanish Leather can break your heart if you let it, and you should. It’s a love story that only Dylan could pull off so perfectly.
For the second and third acts we turn to Bobby McFerrin. If you mention Don’t Worry, Be Happy I will punch you. You have no right to make any comment on Bobby McFerrin until you’ve heard his masterpiece album,Vocabularies (and CircleSongs, an early experiment that ultimately foreshadowed it). The whole album is perfection and McFerrin is one of the most under-appreciated geniuses of our time. I’ve listened to this album countless times. Give it a whole listen. You ain’t gonna hear it on pop radio! But this is real music that deserves to be loved because it is brilliant. As for the running value, the tempos, timings and changes are perfect; and the lulls and crescendos make for magical running moments. Test and see whether this music will not make you want to do more than just plunk your legs down the road like some monotonous running robot. This stuff will down-right compel you to move better, to be more graceful more powerful and smoooother.
The last song, Wailers, is important to end on. It is ten and a half minutes, so plan for it. Here’s how I work it (results may vary): I slow down to walk and breath deeply during the beautiful intermezzo/false-ending section that starts around 7:10. I consider this the end of the run. Then comes what I call the epilogue… When the vibe starts to pick up steam again at about 8:10, I start trotting, doing chop-steps, hopping, lunging, stretching arms and legs. By the time the drums come back in at 8:43, I’m running again. About when the choir comes back in at 9:10, I morph into what I call loping—until I learn whether there is an actual running term for it—sort of a longer but still fluid bouncing gait that probably looks a bit like a more rhythmic, athletic “ballet run.” Yes, very macho. It feels amazing though. Somehow the total change in gait actuates slightly different muscle groups and the effect is like a sudden boost of energy, like shifting into a different gear—not faster, just easier. I don’t go for too long there though, yet. It’s taxing on the achilles so I’m working up more strength so I can do it for longer periods. I’m loving it though. Anyway, by about 9:50 I’ve morphed again into a full steam sprint—flat-out, like a quarter horse in a hot tail-wind. I won’t lie or water it down: it’s amazingly awesome to run at your absolute maximum controllable speed and just push. When the song ends, and I know I’ve almost spent it all, I slow down carefully, slowing steadily with each progressively shorter step. Then I walk. Not fast, not slow. Head high with big hard controlled breaths which slow down by the time I reach my car. I drink what’s left of my tea, get in my car, and go home.
There you have it. My midnight run playlist from last night, and why.
Margaret & MaryAnn.
Hey friends. Just wanted to say thanks for being a part of my life this year. It’s so fucking weird to have friends that aren’t “real” friends but actually in some way sort of are. It’s new! As in in the history of the world new. Think about it: It hasn’t been all that long that we as a species have been able to do this — to see into so many other lives at once and seek to understand them on some level, or just to watch as a spectator as they barely notice. In the big picture, this is all new territory. It is strange and beautiful and scary, but it is nothing if not new. And as much as I grate against the virtual world so often, constantly struggling to find the balance between real and virtual that works for me, I do feel a sense of gratitude for the connections. I want to not take those for granted. I’m truly attempting to understand this new thing in a way that perhaps I haven’t before. So anyway, thanks for hanging out this year. Looking forward to next.
—Ben
“For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. ‘Blessed are the merciful’ in a courtroom? ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in the Pentagon? Give me a break!” —
Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country (via danikamcclure)
So true.
(via latikaaaa-deactivated20111231)
There’s a staggering amount of information available on or from this page. Go read it. So-called “Vitamin D” is fascinating and important. I’m taking my supplements regularly now and am noticing an amazing difference in mood. If you live anywhere above about 40º North, you really should consider taking a Vitamin D supplement in the Winter at least. And try to get outside whenever the sun is out!
Hrafntinnusker, Iceland. by Jenny Harmsen
found via butdoesitfloat
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I really recommend following my friend Jonathan Hillhouse on Flickr & Tumblr.
He is living in Japan (Oita prefecture) and shoots a 4x5 Graflex Speed Graphic exceedingly well.
Ditto. Wonderful photographs.
True Running Is.
muse and music,
drug and dealer,
life and liver,
ocean, river.
wound and healer,
peace and keeper,
joy and rage,
shaman, sage.
The internet… real life… reality… friendship… relationships… modern society… solitude… happiness… peace…
These are the things that occupy my thoughts often. And they are, in one way or another, the reasons I took some time off from the Internet again this Fall. Why do I do it? Why do I turn my back on all the amazing people and sights and sounds and the never-ending buzz of this great hive we call the internet? Because it is the single most effectual action I know of for adjusting my perspective on my life and the world around me. I don’t know if there is some sort of psychological scale for measuring cognition and focus and a sense of being present in one’s own life, but if there is I am positive that whenever I step away from the buzz my score goes off the charts. I can’t quite figure out an easy clever way of describing the phenomenon, but it is absolutely real.
What I’m finding is that, as a 33 year old man, I’m still not sure how I feel about this brave new world of technology. The irony being that I make my entire living designing and building web applications! I literally help MAKE the internet! Ha! This thing I love, and am pretty damn good at, is the thing my subconscious mind (and my conscious one) is somehow trying to get away from.
So you see my dilemma. I love the internet! I think you all are spectacularly fascinating people! I honestly do. However, when I ignore your collective cacophony and retreat into the quiet solitude of a more analog existence, my mind literally changes. (And I use the word literally with total understanding of what it means. I do believe that it literally changes. Any cheap brain scanners on eBay?) The rhythm and meter of life begin to change. The change is quick and dramatic, and as the new groove overtakes the old one, the living of it starts to sound like a whole new song. The syncopated staccato crash-pattern of the digital morphs itself into the long and lyrical aria of the analog. The change always surprises me. It feels foreign at first, and then quickly feels like home. And when it comes, the craving for an unbroken real life state of mind becomes, at times, overwhelming. Part of me sincerely hopes I am not fading off into the Grey Havens of the internet, but I cannot deny that another part of me wants nothing more.
I may write more on this, as it is on my mind often these days (though I often wonder if I’m getting more eye-rolls than amens when I talk about it). For now just know that it’s not you — it’s me.
I’m logging out for a little while. Always good to get some time away from the screens. I did this last year and it was fantastic. This year will have slightly different parameters, but will be mostly the same. No recreational Internet. No movies. No TV. No Twitter. Basically, no turning my brain off in front of a screen. At all.
It’s harder than you think. BUT SERIOUSLY, DO IT.
This year promises to be way more fun for me than last year though, for two reasons. First, I am way more active in the outdoors than I was last year. Last year I was hoping to get some good “walking” in. This year, I’m rock-climbing, scrambling, and trail-running basically barefoot through the woods at least twice a week. Second, we are buying a new (quite old, but new to us) house. It is an amazing hundred-year-old “Stickley Craftsman” (read that article if you don’t know what that means—I didn’t either), designed by Stickley himself, built from one of the original Craftsman Magazine plans (#57 to be exact) in 1910, and oozing with character. It is even in a coffee table book! It looks different—much better—now, but check it out here on Google Books.
We are, as folks who have experienced some very difficult failures and restarts so far in life, absolutely ecstatic. Can’t wait to share pictures. This house will fit us (not just in size, but in spirit) more than any place we’ve ever lived. It really is rather amazing and we feel sincerely lucky to get to live there. That reminds me!—MaryAnn and I are also celebrating our 10 year anniversary next week. Wow. Time flies when you’re hanging out with the coolest chick you’ve ever known.
So I won’t be bored.
Enjoy the season! Get outside! Love your people! Enjoy your time! See you in a month or two. I’m sure that when I return, the Internet will be bustling with news and photos and songs and ideas and “likes” and “follows” and will be humming with all the spectacular complexity that it currently is. For now, I’m going to take more time in the woods, more time with some books, more time tinkering around the new house. I’ll see if I can’t come back with something worth stopping by for …if not… don’t worry, you really won’t miss me. Much. ;)
Happy Autumn!
Quick Tip For Outdoorsy Folks: Yerba Mate Bottle
(side note: I really think we need to bring back the term “naturalist” - it really is the best word for people who love being in nature. anyway…)
Make your whole quart bottle into hot Yerba Mate in the morning when it’s cold! I highly recommend adding sugar, honey, or agave nectar to taste. Yerba is a little harsh if not sweetened, especially if you’re not used to it. On hot days, do the same but just brew the Mate cold. It’s an amazingly effective energy booster and an incredibly healthy and delicious alternative to plain old water or fancy modern energy drinks/powders. And since tea is, of course, about 99.5% water, you’re still getting hydrated, just with the nectar of the gods.
Me and the chipmunk (see him there?) on top of Eagle Cap. That long beautiful valley in the background is where we hiked in from. And this photo was taken from near the lake that is down there in the far lower right.