brainsplotch

The last episode of Breaking Bad was tonight, and it was a thoroughly satisfying end to a great television show. That's all I will say, because I don't want to give away any spoilers, though I'm sure my blog is the last place anyone would go to for Breaking Bad information. Now I'm watching the post-show wrap-up, Talking Bad, and it's touching to hear Jonathan Banks saying that in his 46 years of acting, this is the best experience he's ever had, or "as good as it gets" in his words. Gearing up for my second 5K next Sunday (October 6) on the Michigan State campus. I'm happy to say that the shin splints are a thing of the past and I'm feeling pretty good, or as well as my 45 year-old body ever feels when running. My goal for this 5K (the Dino Dash) is to at the very least best my time from Ele's Race. More than that, though, I really want to crack the 30 minute mark. For an experienced or good runner, that wouldn't be a problem. I...

Brief snippets of my life recently, in lieu of an actual detailed, long post. (Ed: This post actually ended up considerably longer than I expected). Finished reading, and thoroughly enjoyed,  Detroit Rock City . I've been working on a blog post about it, but obviously it hasn't yet seen the light of day. *** I'm still running, and am happy to report that I'm slowly but steadily recovering from my nagging shin splints in my left leg. Sunday morning, I ran 32 minutes (with no walking breaks), which I hadn't done since the Ele's Race 5K. That's a step in the right direction. *** College football starts in less than a week! And that means my favorite season (Fall) will also soon be here. Leaves turning color, cooler weather, Halloween. It just doesn't get much better than that. The only aspect of Fall that I dislike is raking leaves. We have several large trees in and around our yard, so leaf raking tends to be an ongoing battle from early October ...

"Goodfellas" is one of my all-time favorite movies. Heck, it may be my number one favorite movie. Last night, it made an appearance in its uncut glory on the cable station, Encore. I caught about the last 2/3 of it, and I have to say it's a movie I never tire of seeing. I suppose part, if not most, of its appeal is that the gangster life is a side of life I will NEVER see and, quite frankly, hope to never see. Still, it's extremely fun to live vicariously through a gangster, and imagine what that existence might be like. Mainly, though, "Goodfellas" is just a hell of a great movie with brilliant acting, glorious direction from Martin Scorsese, and some of the best dialogue ever written for film. Just for kicks, I compiled a few lessons learned from my 30th (give or take) viewing of “Goodfellas”: 1.        Don’t “bust a guy’s balls” asking for money you think is owed you. You will probably end up dead. ...

I know all two or three of my readers are dying to hear the news. I DID successfully run Ele's Race on Sunday--my first ever organized "competitive" race ever. (The only one I was competing with was myself, of course). Despite my shin situation (shin splints? Stress fracture? I'm not sure what's going on down there, but it's been annoying), I soldiered through the race and actually managed a personal best with a (not very) blazing time of 31:19. I can't help but wonder if my time would have been better if I wasn't running on one good leg, but it's not worth fretting about. I completed the race and I'm very happy about that.

Yet another boring running update: Still nursing the shin splints, or whatever it is, in my left shin. It seems better than it was last week, but still annoying. I'm gonna gut it out and run on it Sunday in Ele's Race. As it is, I haven't run since Sunday the 21st, and am in withdrawal.  I just don't want to risk aggravating the injury before Ele's Race. Anyway, not running this week has left me feeling a general sense of malaise. ******************************************************************************** I'm also finally about to finish Detroit Rock City . I'll try and give an update on that soon.

I'm still running, and have successfully completed the Couch to 5K program. I've run about a half-dozen (give or take) 5 kilometer distances in my weekly workouts. I've also take the first big plunge: I signed up for my first official 5K. It's Ele's Race (which benefits Ele's Place) and takes place on July 28. For more information about Ele's Place and they great work they do, click here: Ele's Place Right now, I'm nursing some nagging pain in my left shin/calf, so I think I better take it easy until the 28th. Today, I put in a 3.17 mile run, and the calf is bugging me and I find myself hobbling around this afternoon. If I chill for the next week, maybe making one short little run in the middle of the week, I hope to be fine for this 5k. It does seem that taking up running at age 45, I seem to be constantly nursing one little ache and pain or other. (I don't want to discourage anyone from taking up running, though. It is a wonderful act...

I'm currently reading this great oral history of rock music in Detroit from the mid-'60s until the first decade of the aughts. If you're at all interested in the MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, Alice Cooper, Ted [renowned asshole] Nugent (et al.), then definitely do yourself a favor and check out this fine book. The full title is Detroit Rock City: the Uncensored History of Five Decades of Rock 'n' Roll in America's Loudest City , by Steve Miller. (No, not the "Take the money and run" Steve Miller. This is Michigan journalist Steve Miller who was also in the Lansing punk band The Fix). Right now, I'm a little beyond the early seventies and the flame out of the MC5 and The Stooges, and am reading about lesser-known bands such as Destroy All Monsters (Ron Asheton played with them) and Fred "Sonic" Smith's post-MC5 band, Sonic's Rendezvous Band. Reading about these groups has inspired me to check out some clips on You...