JJSB Rundate 15210: Assholes on Wheels and The Killers

Hello fellow runners!

Recently when I was out running, I ran by a highway exit ramp and there was a car which had just exited and stopped at the stop sign there.  As usual in these situations, I attempted to make eye contact with the driver to ensure that he was aware of my presence.  In this case I was successful and he nodded.  I continued on in front of him and gave a little thank you waive as I passed him.  A few steps later, I realized that I was thanking him for doing what he is supposed to do.  That is, stopping at the actual stop sign (instead of rolling past it), being aware of what (or who) is in the road in front of him and allowing a pedestrian to cross safely.  In short, I had thanked this guy for not being an asshole.  During my runs over the years, there have been a surprising number of drivers who have seen me, made eye contact with me, and continued to drive towards me and it never ceases to piss me off.
Now, I can understand the failure to yield if they don't make eye contact with me.  I mean, let's face it, there are a lot of people who are just not great drivers.  They aren't paying close attention to the roads, it doesn't even occur to them that they should yield at crosswalks and they have this embedded belief that being in a vehicle always trumps being on foot when it comes to the street hierarchy.  For this reason, if I don't make eye contact, I assume that the driver doesn't see me and I either slow way down or stop so that I don't end up getting run down by someone who isn't even aware of my presence.  And in these cases, I don't even hold it against the driver.
However, when someone obviously is aware of my presence and still keeps coming, either because they feel like they shouldn't have to wait on a pedestrian or because they want to try to scare me by coming as close to me as possible without hitting me, it really gets my blood boiling.  In these cases, I feel that it's more than appropriate to designate the person as an asshole.  And if you are ever in a situation where you are nearly run over by a driver in a pickup truck who is supposed to yield but instead drives on ahead and blares the horn when he (let's face it, it's usually a he) is right up on you then you would likely designate that person as an asshole as well.  At any rate, it struck me interesting that I actually thank people for not being assholes but I'll keep on doing it because, hey, it's nice to be reminded that the non-assholes outnumber the assholes.  (At least for now).

Moving on to the "Song of the Run".
On Monday of this week, I ran with The Killers.  This is one of those bands that took me a little while to begin listening to because there were a few songs on their debut release that got a lot of airplay and that's typically a turnoff for me.  I admit it.  I'm one of those guys that likes to discover new bands that no one else is listening to.  So, I was reluctant to investigate the bad that sang, "Mr. Brightside", "Smile Like You Mean It", and "Somebody Told Me".
However, when I signed up for emusic in 2005 and a short while later The Killers Second release was available for download, I decided that it was time to check them out.  And, wow, am I glad I did!  The second release, Sam's Town remains one of my favorites nearly a decade later.
So, it's no wonder that my Killers "Song of the Run" is the title track from that album, "Sam's Town"

"So why do you waste my time?
Is the answer to the question on your mind
And I'm sick of all my judges
They're so scared of letting me shine
But I know that I can make it
As long as somebody takes me home
Every now and then...

Well, have you ever seen the lights?"

Until next time, PEACE!

JJSB Rundate 15202: Happy Birthday JJSB RunDate & Cursing The Sun

Okay, first things first.  JJSB's RunDate turned 1 year old on Friday, 7/12!
Go Ahead.  Wish the blog happy birthday.  Well, I'm waiting...

Finally!

Thank you!

It's hard to believe I started this blog an entire year ago.  I thank those of you who have read and/or commented.  This blog has been a valuable part of inspiring me over the past 12 months.  Especially when so many other events in my life were working to steal that inspiration.

Now, enough of that.  Onward.

Anyone who runs in Kansas City, knows that running here during the summer months involves heat and humidity and a lot of it.  The best way to deal with these less than ideal running conditions is to run early in the morning (best choice) or run late in the evening (second best choice).  Also, as I've said before, hydration and slowing your pace are key to preventing your run from being relative torture or  possibly even leading to heat exhaustion.  For myself, I find it best to prehydrate, slow the pace way down, keep the run to 60 minutes or less and contemplate how much faster I  will be when fall arrives and the temps drop down into the 50's.  Since I hate getting up early to run, I choose to run in the evening, preferably after the sun has descended below the horizon.  I forget about my pace, start off very slowly and insert strategic walk breaks throughout the run.  Since we have had a lot (and I mean A LOT) of rain this year, there have been several days during which I head out to run when it is cloudy, only to get a mile or two into the run and have the clouds dissipate and the sun blast down mercilessly upon me.  And, as we all know, when the summer sun comes out after a rain, everything is going to be exponentially more hot and sticky. 

So, I was out on one of these "rainy turned to hot and sticky" runs a few weeks ago and I found myself, once again, doing something I do when I've reached a heightened point of fatigue but must continue.  I begin to curse the sun in all of its heinous radiance.  And when I say cursing, I mean, literally cursing the sun.  I won't tell you the exact words I direct at that inanimate, fiery sphere of gas, but suffice to say, I clearly communicate my distaste using quite "colorful" language.  Only, on this particular run, I started to question myself.  Why am I so mad at the sun?  (Besides me being crazy). Should I be mad at the sun?  After all, the sun is the sun.  It does what it does.  And it doesn't care who it does it to.  Furthermore, was the sun really doing something to me?  Or was the sun actually doing something for me?  (Yeah, I know.  I get into some pretty odd train of thoughts, especially when I'm running).  It occurred to me that, rather than cursing the sun, I should be praising it.  The sun was making me stronger.  The sun was conditioning me to have more endurance.  The sun was reminding me of that old Nietzscheism, "what does not kill me, makes me stronger."

Once again, as with many things in life, perspective is everything.  When we are confronted with circumstances that are less (sometimes FAR less) than ideal, it's important to be able to slow down our racing minds and reflect on the situation.  Sometimes, it's hard to see the potential positives that can come from pain, discomfort, sadness or loss.  I'm definitely not going to sit here and say that it's as simple as processing things mentally and everything will become clear in every situation.  But I do think that we often react quite reflexively to things we don't like without even considering what we might be gaining.  So, the next time that you find yourself facing difficult circumstances, try to stop and spend some time reflecting.  Maybe there are some positives.

As I mentioned  in my previous post, for the next 20 posts, I'll be listing a "Song of the Run" for my current 20 favorite bands.  And I'm not just grabbing songs out of the air for this, lest anyone think I'm "cheating".  When I head out to a run, I pick one of my favorites, put their entire library on shuffle and pick the "Song of the Run" from what I hear.  The bands are in no particular order of likedom.  Just what I am in the mood for when I step out the door.

So, on my most recent run, I chose a band that I discovered a decade ago when I signed up for "emusic" which is an online music subscription store.  Although I only kept the subscription for a few months, I discovered, and caught up on, a lot of bands I still love today.
One of the first albums that I downloaded was Silent Alarm by Bloc Party and I was blown away.  Do you have those bands you listen to and you love every song?  Well, Bloc Party is one of those for me.

So, here is the most recent "Song of the Run," from Bloc Party's most latest release Four:

"It was the truth
That fell from these lips
It blinded us
And then the darkness left"

JJSB Rundate 15187: Compelling Myself Back to Blogdom

Wow!  It's been over a month since I last posted on this blog.  I'm a little disappointed in myself as one of the private resolutions I made for myself this year was to post at least once a week on one of my blogs.  I was doing a reasonably good job until this past month, and this blog is one of the reasons.  It is by far the most comfortable of my blogs for me to post on at this time in my life.  Still, I feel like I need a fresh incentive to keep me regularly posting.  You know, a reason to kick my son off of my laptop, plop down and embark on a solo finger pecking mission.




With that in mind, I plan to start a new series of dual posts in which I will be making some observations on running that illustrate and/or commentate on life and also listing my "Song of the Run" for each of the top 20 bands I'm currently listening to.  That's right, this series will carry on for 20 blog posts!  That could be 20 weeks but I'm kind of starting to feel "it" so I will likely end up posting twice a week.  Just imagine!  10 - 20 weeks of insightful running blog posts from JJSB!  Is your mouth watering yet?  Yes?  Well, If so, I think that you may need help.


At any rate, hopefully this will give me the impetus I need to carry all of the thoughts and insights from my brain to the page.  And hey, after you are released from the inpatient psychiatric care that you so desperately need for being so mouth watering excited about my upcoming blog posts, check back in and see what's going on.  Just keep your salivary glands in check and we should all be Okay.




Once again, thanks to all of you who follow this.  It means a lot to me just to be heard (read).