Giving Pieds a Chance

Well, it's Sunday and I'm not running, which means that common sense has (temporarily, at least) trumped the irrational but very real compulsion to keep running regardless of how worn out my body's been the last week or two. But I'm not going to belabor the issue -- I've written enough about these things recently, and I don't want to bore people with yet another day of "well, I'd really like to run but everything hurts so maybe I won't blah, blah, blah." And you know what? I might even take tomorrow off, too. So there.

Anyway, I thought I'd use the space I save by not fretting about the relative merits of trying to maintain my body's physical integrity by writing instead about other things going on that make me quite happy. After all, there's more to me than merely sitting around having increasingly bizarre internal monologues about my ankles. So here's a quick rundown (uh, no pun intended) of what's bringing me joy this week:

1) Summer's almost over. It's true, I really hate hot weather. And I hate humid weather even more. To me hell isn't some abstract netherworld, it's Houston. But fall's right around the corner, which means cooler, drier air, and whole weeks on end of bare trees silhouetted against leaden skies with temperatures never rising above the 40s. Perfect.

2) I got my tickets for the Met this week (thus the pic of the opera house up top). I sprung for ten operas this year (OK, the tickets are the $26 ones in the family circle section, which means that I'll be closer to New Jersey than the stage, but still). Among other favorites I'll be seeing Idomeneo, Jenufa, Meistersinger, Eugene Onegin, and Tan Dun's new First Emperor, too.

3) Speaking of music, Ted Leo/Pharmacists are playing free at South Street Seaport this Friday. I don't love Ted because he's literate (only songwriter I know to rhyme "apostasy" with "historicity"), or that he's from New Jersey (which doesn't hurt), or even because he's vegan (he is), but because he rocks live and I've never seen him do a bad show. And it's free. Free!

4) Kate and I and her friend Paul and my friend Mike and his friend Mike met up in Staten Island for a SI Yanks ballgame this past Friday. It was a beautiful night, the ferry ride was great fun, and the score was 0-0 until the Yanks won in the bottom of the 10th. A very exciting game, indeed -- so much so that I overlooked the fact that I found myself cheering for the Yankees' victory. Of course, this was a short-season single-A minor league game, and something like 90% of the kids playing won't make the big leagues anyway (and the Yankees will trade away the other 10% while they're still in double-A, most likely for an overweight 42-year-old pitcher or something), so I didn't feel too guilty.

5) After the moving and settling and all that, I revisited my dissertation research after a month or two of not looking at it, and... it didn't completely bore me! This is great news, indeed. Yes, I thought I might have burned out on the history of dietary reform in Great Britain and the US between 1883 and 1919, but it looks like the time off may have rekindled my interest in such things. Now, if I could just stop fussing about my achilles tendons and start writing...

So there it is, actual proof that I don't spend 100% of my time worrying about whether I should run or not. But now that I think about it, I will probably have to have to run soon -- I'm quickly depleting my supply of old photos to post here on my off days. Here are a couple, rescued from the bottom of the barrel:


Yeah, you never know when you're going to want a little rusty iron with your diet Coke (Bed-Stuy)


Bensonhurst