Thursday Thoughts: The Squeaky Knee Gets The Grease

• I work on the lower level (aka "terrace," "basement," or, as I like to call it, "dungeon") of my office building. Our floor contains the mail room. The shipping and receiving folks wheel carts down a long linoleum-covered aisle near my cubicle to the elevators in order to deliver things throughout the building. One cart in particular sounds exactly like the Trojan Rabbit. Exactly. So every time I hear that thing rumbling toward me that's what I think of. "Launcelot, Galahad, and I wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French by surprise!" "Look, if we built this giant wooden badger..."
  

• Speaking of things that are squeaky, now I seem to have come down with a raging case of good old runner's knee. At least that's my Official Unofficial Amateur Diagnosis. Because frankly, that sounds better than "I'm so fucked."
  

• I did some rearranging of my running clothes and they now take up all four drawers of the built-in bureau in the walk-in closet. I no longer have to lean my full body weight against the one drawer to force it closed, nor are my jackets creating an impenetrable forest hanging from the wire racks, nor are my pants and tights in a disordered jumble on top of a shelf. Everything is neatly arranged in each drawer by clothing type: pants, tights, and shorts; jackets; long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirts; socks, sports bras, and tank tops. Now that the drawers are no longer bursting at the seams, you know what that means, right? TIME TO BUY MORE STUFF TO FILL THE EMPTY SPACE!

• Wednesday morning I had some business to attend to before work, so I was afforded the rare opportunity of running in the morning without it being completely dark. I woke up at 7:30, and, upon peeking out the front window, observed a typical Michigan March day: gray, dreary beyond belief, and raining. My first thought was, "oh, GREAT." I briefly considered performing some creative schedule-shifting but concluded I was better off doing my 10 miles as planned. I donned my most weather-resistant gear (Asics Storm Shelter pants and jacket) and headed out at 8:00. It drizzled in my face the entire time, plus there was a steady headwind from the southeast which annoyed the heck out of me. I did two loops of my five-miles-in-town route, and it was around mile 6 that my left knee really started acting up. By mile 8 I was hanging on like grim death, but, ever stubborn (stupid?), I refused to cut the run short. I finished my fucking 10 miles, goddammit. Hell yes I did. Wet, tired, and limping badly. I have decided that in order to make it through my weekend of heavy-duty running (10 miles on Saturday, 20 on Sunday) I am not going to run tomorrow at all. As Friday is my normal weekly rest day, I hope that two days of no running will patch me up enough to put in the miles this weekend.

• Songs I currently have on heavy rotation: School of Seven Bells, "Connjur"; Jessica Lea Mayfield, "Kiss Me Again"; Barzin, "Stayed Too Long In This Place"; Viva Voce, "Drown Them Out," and Camera Obscura, "My Maudlin Career." Of course, my flavor of the week playlist wouldn't be complete without some weird electronic gurgling to run to; in this case it's Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead."

• I also found a couple of pictures from Climb Detroit that I really like:
  

Up, up, up, and more up.


iPhone (My Precious) at the ready.

Well, folks, have a great weekend, wherever you are and whatever you may do. I will report on my first 20-mile run once it's over and I have roused myself from my torpor.

"Run away! Run away! Run away!"