He Truly Was Risen

Yesterday I set out to run 9 miles.  I was only scheduled to run 8, but after talking to this girl at the gym who is also training for the half marathon, I decided I needed to run at least 9.  She had already run 10 miles, and was talking about how easy it was for her.  So in order to save face around the gym, and in order to prove to myself that I could actaully run the half marathon, I decided to kick it up to 9 miles on Easter Day.  Because, you know, I love Jesus. 

So I get out there at about 8:30am, and I am really impressed at how well it's going.  The run is borken up in my mind between the major streets that trend in a shouthernly direction on the Keystone Trail.  They go like this:  Center, Grover, L, Q, and Harrison.  I zip by Center like it's nothing at all.  There is almost no wind, and hardly anyone on the trail.  It takes longer than I thought to get to Grover, but I am still feeling very good, despite a cat that was glaring at me from the woods to my right. 

Soon after Grover, I see these three men dressed in black coming in my direction but still quite a ways off.  I don't have my glasses on as I am running, so they start out looking like goth kids, but soon focus into policemen.  There are three of them, and the one in front is running now.  I see that they are running up to something on the ground, and my first thought is "why are they running up to that sign that's been knocked over. 

Well it turns out that was no sign.  That is a body on the side of the trail.  A big old unresponsive body.  With a bog fat beard, and blood all over its chest.  Apparently dead.  Defintiely unresponsive.  The cops try and shield me from it as I walk by, which I am grateful for, as the idea of running by a dead man makes me a little sick to my stomach (turns out I'm human after all - sometimes I wonder).

I keep running, and I make it past L, and then Q, and I turn around just short of Harrison.  I figure it's Easter, I'm getting tired, and I think I feel good about my ability to turn around, and from where I am turning around, I'm in the neighborhood of nine miles.

So I start heading back, and as I suspected, I had been running with a breeze at my back the whole time.  So I am now running into a headwind.  But it is the nicest headwind I can ever rememeber.  All it's doing is cooling me off.  I can't believe how lucky I am, with the exception of the dead body.

But as I pass Q and then L, my luck runs out.  I still feel good, but the police have now roped off the trail where they found the body, and they aren't letting anyon by anymore.  And since the trail is on a ravine, I have no other options of getting around.  So I turn off and head into the neighborhoods.

I have no idead how to get around in the neighborhoods.  I know the trail is right next to 60th Street, and I know I need to find 60th Street to get around the taped off stuff, but like most residential areas, this one is all jacked up.  The roads twist and turn, and to my great delight, head uphill.  Now the charm of the trail is the absence of hills, and this all goes out the window as I am trying to find 60th.  I finally run up this gigantic hill and find access to 60th, but as I look down the road in the direction I need to go, I notice two things.  1) No sidewalk.  2) More hills.

So I start trudging up the hill and quickly discover that the non sidewalked roadside is all spongy from moles.  This makes running even harder.  Then I see a dead bird (that's one dead man and one dead bird).  Then I finally get to Grover so I can hook back up with with trail.

The rest of the run goes pretty well.  I hop on the trail right in front some guy, and by the grace of god I am able to stay in front of him the rest of the way.  This is the first time I have ever not been passed since I started running when I was about 15.  This guy looked like each step could have been his last.

I got off the trail and ran the rest of the way back to to my Grandma's house.  Finally reached my stopping point and nearly collapsed.  But I couldn't collapse all the way because a car pulled up and the driver asked me if I lived in the apartments I was nearly collpasing in front of.  I told him I didn't.  Why it seemed like a good idea to approach someone who is so he exhasted he can't stand is still not clear to me.

The rest of the day consisted of me talking about how tired I was from my 10 mile run (yes, with the deadman detour it turned into a 10 mile run), and showing off my homemade Lombardi Tropy to my family at our easter dinners.  Oh - and telling everyone about the dead guy.

After a while everyone got sick of hearing about the running, my grandma noted that I mispelled the word "trophy" on the trophy ( I spelled it "tropy"), and my dad started doubting my dead man story because there was nothing about it on the news.

Then right before I went to bed I found the story on my ipod.  Here's what it said.

A jogger on the Keystone Trail called Omaha police about 9 a.m. Sunday to report an injured man near the trail at 65th and L Streets.
Police were investigating to determine how the victim, 51, was assaulted, said Officer Jacob Bettin, a police spokesman.
He was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with an injury not believed to be life-threatening.
Police had no further information.

HE TRULY WAS RISEN!

  

This is so handy.

All the new releases for the foreseeable future. 

Brent's List of Albums from 2010/2009 that he is trying to digest.

1) Charlotte Gainsberg - Every so often I hear one of her songs and they stop me dead in my tracks.  But when I listen to the whole album, not only do I get bored, but I am also unable to identify the songs that stop me dead in my tracks.  Frustrating

2) Cymbals Eat Guitars - Sounds like Broken Social Scene.  I like Broken Social Scene, but it takes a long time to identify with music like that. 

3) Dan Deacon - The only thing I need to share about it is that I am constantly calling it Deacon Dan.  Then Chelsey laughs as me.  Then I get mad.

4) Local Natives - This sounds exactly like Fleet Foxes to me.  I never liked Fleet Foxes, yet I somehow like Local Natives.  I really like "Airplanes", but my guess is that everyone who listens to their album does too.

5) Los Campesinos - No idea.  My ipod never plays them on random.  And I keep forgetting to listen tot he album.  Maybe when I start mowing the lawn.

6) She and Him - I love it.  This should come as no surprise to anyone.  I love them.  Their music is a perfect.

7) Florence and the Machine - Nice refrains.  So so songs.

8) Frightened Rabbit - I think I will grow to like this like I liked their last one, but it hasn't grabbed me by the head yet.

9) Fanfarlo - Kent keeps raving about this band.  They sound like a cross between Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, except not as good as either.

10) Surfer Blood - I like this album!  It makes me feel good.  Yay.

New Years Resolutions Revisited

So it's about the end of March, and high time for me to look at my new years resolutions. I also recently found my 2008 resolutions, so I can share those results as well.

1) I'm going to start running again. And run further than the 2 miles I was logging at the end of 2010. - I am hitting this one out of the park. I ran like 14 miles last week, I'm running 16 this week. Goal one, I have kicked you ass. Grade: A+

2) I'm going to keep up with this motherfucking blog. - I think I am doing okay at this. I have pretty low expectations for quality, so just doing it somewhat regularly is good enough for me. Grade: B

3) I'm going on a roadtrip - either South or West. - This doesn't look all that hot. If I had to guess, the only roadtrip I might take would be around the Pacific Northwest, if Chelsey and I vacation up there. Not as good. Grade: C-

4) I'm going to join one of the following a) a class b) a society c) a club d) an organization. I guess technically I joined the Goodwill Running Club this year, but if I could, I would accompany this fact with that air jack off move that people use when they aren't impressed by something. Still lots of work to do to improve mt status as a joiner. Grade: D

5) I'm going to leave the house more. Not only am I not leaving the house more, I have no desire to leave the house more. All I want to do is lay around and watch HBO On-demand. Grade: F.

6) I'm not going to buy anything major unless something breaks. I think I am going to give myself a decent grade here, because last weekend I let Chelsey talk me out of buying a new blanket for our couch downstairs. But not a great grade, because I bought a bed frame. Grade: B-

7) I'm going to eat more pancakes and chicken fried steak.8) I'm going to try to not be so stupid when I get frazzled. A++++. I'm eating so much fucking chicken fried steak, it's incredible. And I'm catching up in the pancake department. I still haven't found a go-to place for both items yet, but surprisingly Garden Cafe may be the spot. If I can get over the lamo clientele. Grade: A++++

All in all, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. My hope is that warmer weather will lead to me wanting to leave the house more. And as a died-in-the-wool non-joiner, I'm not sure if that resolution is ever going to happen. But Chelsey did send me some info on a beginners Yoga class. And I have been doing Yoga on-demand. . .

I was looking for a piece of paper to spit my gum into yesterday and I found 2008 New Years resolutions for Me, Chelsey, Chuck, Hayden, and Beth. Mine were almost all creative in nature. Write a short story a month, that sort of thing. I Believe I failed them all. Yes. I just looked again. I did fail them all. It looks like the only one who actaully came through on one was Chelsey, who listed "start school" as a goal. So I guess what I'm saying is that we have some real groundbreaking stuff, if I am able to come through on any of these things by the end of the year.

St. Patricks Day

I dont' care about St. Patricks day. It's just a day where jerks dress up in green and act like jerks while drinking in overcrowded bars. That said, my friend Carly spends her day with her husband and friends in some ratty bar in South O. That sounds okay. I am going to attempt to do the same by going down to O'leavers, which sounds like it would be busy for an Irish holiday, but most likely won't be. Because it is also very ratty. It is also within walking distance from our house, so that will be nice.

Otherwise, I will spend the day trying to get people to sign up for my basketball pool, and running.

Chuck Wrote a Story for His Job!

It's Awesome! (You have to click "It's awesome!")

Laundy Room

I am so sick of looking at my laundry room. I have spent the last 4 months in my basement. It's all tv's and laundry rooms and dogs barking at everything. I cannot wait to go outside. And it's finally warming up. So once the 2 feet of snow melts, and once the ground becomes reasonably dry, I will finally be able to move upstairs. Here is a list of things I cannot wait to do:

1) Grill out
2) Sit outside the chimnea with friends
3) Walk the dog
4) Play catch
5) Bike
6) Watch Chelsey on her scooter
7) Fix shit
8) Sit outside and smoke cigarettes and drink beers.
9) Plant things
10) Not put in a swimming pool.