Running for Your Life: Don’t Smoke Your Joints

I’ve become a believer in joint respect. When it comes to running, that means knees, hips and ankles.

So what to do? Well in two words: stretch and strengthen.

To his end, I have to thank my friends at One on One Physical Therapy on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. They turned me on to the most simple but effective exercises that I’ve been doing every other day without fail since late last fall.

That amounts to lunges (watch that the bent knee does NOT go beyond your outstretched foot) and squats (similarly, work to thrust the butt back in such a way that the bent knees do NOT go beyond your outstretched feet), and leg raises that focus on both quad and buttock muscle strengthening in order to take even more pressure off the knees (and consequently your ankles, which will benefit from a softer foot strike on run). Other exercises too, but this is the core of my treatment method.

As to hips, I always end my exercise workout with a series of hip stretches to keep them limber. Hamstrings too, which need special care as we age.

So, do yourself a favor. Don’t smoke your joints. The benefits will be amazing. When you’re deep into a pain-free five-mile run, you’ll thank me !

Next: Running for Your Life: Live Tree or Die

Running for Your Life: Yes, 21 Days !

Last Friday (April 22) a revelation occurred in a nondescript Gowanus gallery hideaway named “Nihil,” or Latin for nothing.

On that Nothing night “21 Days Under the Sky” was screened for a small group of family, friends and biker insiders, that showcased the coming out of writer-bard-badass Kate O’Connor Morris. Yes, my beloved daughter, and although I consider myself a lifelong writer and editor, such power, confidence and pitch-perfect tone and timing, was not learned at my feet. The Kate you hear in the 3D narration of this documentary about chopper culture is a true original. And, yes, I am in awe of that talent.

But don’t take my word for it. Download this amazing Fox Digital studio movie from iTunes or Netflix. Judge for yourself. Oh, and do yourself a favor and save the first viewing on a wide high-def screen with the highest quality sound. You won’t want to miss a word of Kate’s narration – or a tune in its one-of-a-kind soundtrack.

Next: Running for Your Life: Don’t Smoke Your Joints

Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday

I had the most pleasant surprise the other day, when I picked up a slender galley copy of a memoir called “Letter From a Young Poet” by Hyam Plutzik (1911-1962), from the review table at my place of work, the New York Post.

What a read! A perfect anecdote to the loud, self-serving blather of this endless political season. The letter was written by Plutzik in the waning months of his twenties, looking back on what he had done since leaving Trinity College (Connecticut) and his mentor, Odell Shepard.   

Here is a sampling of the foreward by poet Dan Halpern:

The highlight of Shepard’s letter [in reply to Plutzik; it was never posted] is the following passage regarding the nature of writing, of the writer/artist:  “... and hence comes that feeling of being ‘superfluous’... and a sense of utter solitude as a mask of his genius, and soon after, despairing of communication, he comes to write...  For himself alone, in a prolonged soliloquy.” Was Shepard invoking what Rilke wrote forty years earlier in his letter to another young poet, “Nobody can advise you and help you, nobody. There is only one way. Go into yourself.”?

This slim volume has treasures galore. This great is certainly deserving of renewed attention.

Next: Running for Your Life: Yes, 21 Days !

Running for Your Life: Primary School

King Don! the New York Post blares (April 20).

Hill Cruises Against Bernie.

After This, It Sure Looks All DonHill From Here

So it’s Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump in the general election. Or that’s what the betting money is telling you.

Cable news is awash with NOTHING but this story. (Except that the image of Harriet Tubman has been chosen to replace former president Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, the most common note in middle-class circulation. Huzzah!)

As to Primary School (don’t even start with how the Caucus works). In New York (these are state rights, not to be assumed for the 49 other jurisdictions), a closed primary system, only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic Primary. As to Republicans, that’s governed by their own state rules, and yes, for Republicans, you also have to be a registered Republican to vote in the Republican Primary.

Then delegates get selected … Here’s a look-see on the GOP New York process from a website that is actually as cogent as possible given the depth of convolution (from Bustle.com):

“The Republican Party does things differently in New York, as it does in many other states. It's not a strict winner-take-all state, because the candidate who gets the most, or even a majority, of votes in the state doesn't get all its 95 Republican delegates. In certain circumstances, though, a candidate may win all of a certain type of delegate in New York.

Read more »

Running for Your Life: Outside or Inside?

When it comes to making the most out of a run when weather is not a factor – but time is, Ask yourself the question: Outside or inside?

In the winter my default choice for a run is the gym treadmill. This can be a good and a bad thing. A good thing in that you keep your pact with yourself (for me that’s running every other day, which I’ve done, absent injury, since the late 1970s). A bad thing? I don’t advise as a routine (nor do some personal trainers I know) running long distances on the treadmill. The reason being that your foot strikes do not vary, so that the body-pounding is uniform and repetitive. Combine repetition and long distance and you run (pardon the expression) a greater risk of injury than the alternative.

The alternative? Running outside. Which I’m doing (and you should too!) in the current fine weather we are enjoying. Running on asphalt, park trails, sidewalks, up and down curbs, etc., and you’ll vary your foot strikes. More of the body gets engaged. Keep a steady pace and it’ll pose less of a threat of strain on your joints, hamstrings, and be less of an injury risk than long distance treadmill running.

So, in fine weather, I use the treadmill to pace-run. If I have only, say, 30-35 minutes, max, I’ll hop on board and run uptempo (for me these days, that’s at best a 8:30-minute mile) in order to get a sweat up.

Inside definitely has its place in a Running for Your Life regimen. In New York City where I call home, too often time is short, and if I’m going to keep my promise to myself and run every other day, I need to run inside. The beauty of the park trail can wait when time is on my side!

Next: Running for Your Life: Primary School

Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday

As part of a piece of fiction that I’ve been working on, I’ve been drawn to the phrase: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”

How true. And how far so many of us have gone from trying to own up to the truth of that saying.

Which is why I’ve chosen to honor the writer who is credited with making this essential observation. Thomas Reid, in “Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man” (1786):

“In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest.”

If only the wisdom of philosopher Thomas Reid were within us – not just on Thursdays. But on every day.

Next: Running for Your Life: Outside or Inside?

Running for Your Life: Up “Hill” Battle

Bernie Sanders just won’t go away.

And that, is a VERY good thing.

Back in the distant times (as measured in political news cycles) of last summer, pundits reduced the months ahead to the Democratic National Convention into a single phrase when it came to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Right out of “Game of Thrones” … Her route to the Democratic presidential nomination was described as a non-story, an “anointment.” Nothing to see here, just move along.

Thankfully, along came veteran Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Months later, Hillary has been pushed off her throne and into the muck of defining policies, from drone executions to public university spending, in the form of lively televised debates. Next one from Brooklyn: 9 p.m.-11 p.m. Thursday (April 14) on CNN and the NY1 local TV station.  

It is, by any measure, still an up “Hill” battle for the Vermont senator, who has been a surprisingly tough opponent on the one-time runaway front-runner.

As to my vote, am I for Hill or Bern …? That’s not coming in this space. Suffice to say it has been an exciting time for political junkies like myself. Let’s just say that Hillary has definitely “Felt the Bern.” And for party politics in America, that has meant for a VERY good thing.

Next: Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday

Running for Your Life: It’s Time for Stanley

Bring it on, Jeff Zatkoff! If not you, let it be Tristan Jarry!

Tomorrow (April 13) marks the beginning of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. One of my favorite times of the year.

And, yes, my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins are back in it. (And, gulp, not a single Canadian team made the grade – the first time in 46 years. And, yeah, I remember that previous season of 1969-70 VERY well. With Les Canadiens out, the Bruins skated their way to the finals and Bobby Orr, a fellow Georgian Bay native, scored The Goal after being tripped by St. Louis Blue Noel Picard: one of the most memorable moments in modern pro hockey history.)

Could Jeff Zatkoff be the next Bobby Orr, and lead my Penguins to victory?

Well, it looks like the 27-year-old journeyman from Detroit, Michigan, will get the start for the Pens against the Rangers tomorrow. With No. 1 puckstopper Marc Andre Fleury and No. 2 Matt Murray out with head injuries, it’s up to Zatkoff and his backup, 20-year-old Tristan Jarry from Surrey, BC, who has never faced a single shot in an NHL regular season game – much less a high-stakes playoff game.

The time is right for Stanley. Just lovin’ Jeff and Jarry, and the prospect of these little-known heroes making their mark in the spotlight on the Can-Am sports stage!

Next: Running for Your Life: Up “Hill” Battle

Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday

Here’s a little something from Ray Bradbury (1920-2012): “The Emissary,” which you’ll find in the delightful Everyman’s Pocket Classics, “Dog Stories.”

http://bit.ly/1UZUDiT   

Awwww, a story that does not unduly draw attention to the author (I’m looking at you, “City of Fire” author Garth Risk Hallberg) but rather the first principle of the story well told. (Yes, humble dogs and the power of those driven to please!)

Next: Running for Your Life: It’s Time for Stanley

Running for Your Life: VERY Cool Literary News

The Jazz Palace – that amazing novel by my wife Mary Morris – is in the news again. This time for winning the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in fiction, the unanimous choice of these five distinguished jurors: Henry Louis Gates Jr., Rita Dove, Joyce Carol Oates, Simon Schama and Stephen Pinker.

Here is what the poet Rita Dove had to say about The Jazz Palace: “Here I was, drenched in the soot and stink and noise of early 20^th-century Chicago, walking along the docks, threading through the alleys, listening to a trumpet wail from a corner saloon.”

What a joy for readers like these illustrious five to have felt what I felt in reading this glorious novel. The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award may not have the name recognition of the National Book Award or the Pulitzer. But what’s in a name? The Cleveland Foundation honors work that best confronts racism and most profoundly examines diversity. In the turbulent times we live in now, no prize resonates with greater importance than the Anisfield-Wolf.

Congratulations, again, to Mary. I couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishment!

Next: Running for Your Life: If the Greats Were With Us Thursday

Running for Your Life: Spring Training

This just in: I can train again!

I don’t know what I will be training for: 10K, or half-marathon (definitely not the main event, the marathon, just yet).

But I’m back. Easy does it. Still, I ran thirty-six minutes today (April 5) on the treadmill at slightly slower than a pre-injury pace. (Nine-minute mile, four miles to the dot) And felt zero ill-effects.

When one of the things that you count on goes south, it’s a reasonable response to say, OK, that’s it. No more of that. At your age, you can run but you can’t train. Don’t even think about entering a race.

I am so psyched to say that that kind of thinking is history. Perhaps rightfully, I should follow my smarter-half instinct and abandon the idea that I will enter to run in my ninth marathon.

Abandonment, though, has never been my thing. Suffice to say that, with plenty of days left in this current season, that I am spring training again. A state I can hardly believe I’m crossed into !

If I can do it, after the injuries I sustained last summer, fall and winter, then you can too. Hope to see you out there!

Next: Running for Your Life: VERY Cool Literary News