Mark Matthews's Blog, page 16

RUNNING IN THE FALL: BUT WHEN IS AUTUMN UPON US?

(A post regurgitated from October, 2012)


Part of the magic of running is the chance to experience the changes in the seasons.  The running motion remains the same, but the scenery, the air you breathe, and all the wonderful things you soak into your body cycle. The cold air of winter makes your cheeks red and icicles form on your eyebrows. Then the warmth of spring sucks the tulips from the ground and thaws out your muscles. Soon enough, the scorching heat of a mid-day summer run makes the grey matter in your brain boil with joy. And now, perhaps the best running season of all, Autumn, where the air is brisk, and the earth is metamorphosing all around us.

Autumn running is perhaps the best, but are we there yet? Sure, the calender says it starts on September 22nd or something, but....
When does fall officially begin?
The first day you put on a long sleeve shirt to run in?
When the first brown leaf falls from its branch, and zig-zags down to the grass?
When you wave to the bus full of kids, two of them being your own, and they're off for their first day of school?

When the brisk air of a Saturday makes you hear college football fight songs in the air?
The first snap of a NFL game and the hills are alive with the sound of fantasy football geeks everywhere?
When you start marking your calendar trying to hit all those 20 mile marathon-training runs sponsored by local shoe stores?
When Target clears out a special row for Halloween costumes?  When you buy a bag of Halloween candy from Target, but then open it up and eat it a month early?
When the grass finally stops growing and the mower hibernates?
When you finally wear those running tights or put on those dollar store pair of running gloves?
When you don’t have to worry about the humidity and heat of running at one o'clock on Saturday?
When the first episode of Modern Family, or American Horror Story, or The Walking Dead finally air? (shows I"m looking forward to)
When your lungs breath in air cold enough to make them burn, and  can see your breath in the morning, and you remember how, as a child, you'd pretend you were blowing out smoke?
When the apples become more delicious, and the apple orchards become fantastic sugarlands of doughnuts and cider?
When all around you, the green leaves explode to a brilliant color burst before slowly dying and descending to earth. There they lay, readying themselves for an even deader winter, frozen in cryogenics, waiting for a warm spring to bring them back to life? 
Okay, that last one was waxing poetic and waxing pretty bad. Here are what minds much greater and poetic than mine have said about this glorious season: 
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. 
George Eliot

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower. 
Albert Camus
I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. 
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.  
Robert Frost

Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees.  
David Letterman

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.  
Stanley Horowitz

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.  
William Cullen Bryant

BROOKSIE WAY HALF MARATHON, RUNWELL, AND FREE BEER COUPONS

I ran the Brooksie Way Half Marathon yesterday, and I am so glad I did. I have heard this is a 'must run' race, and finally see why. Many half-marathons try to dress themselves up with the grandeur of a marathon, but simply can't match the spectacle.   This one is different. From the staging area to the course to the crowd support to just the general positive vibes of the event, this may now be my favorite half-marathon.

Certainly helped that it was a perfectly sunny day, no wind, probably 60 degrees the whole time. The course is partly on a wide, dirt trail, which was easier on the feet and felt like a trail run in the middle of a wonderful suburbia landscape. There was enough crowd support to feed off of, way more aid stations than was really needed, (even for a hotter than normal day) and the course was challenging enough to eat you up if you did not pace right. In fact, on one hill, 90% of the runners busted into a walk. You had to hunch over to make it and run nearly on all fours. Steepest hill I've ever ran in an event.

Most unusual sign I saw on the course: " Imagine A World Without Malaria ."  I am all for that, don't get me wrong, but, was this a call to action? hmmmm. A much more understandable sign read " Run Fast, I Just Farted " which I understood completely. A ten year old boy smirked behind the sign, and I saw some Baked Bean stains on his shirt from last night's meal.

The half-marathon was my first event as an advocate for Runwell, and I got the chance to talk to a few folks about what they do. It is nice to be able to not only explain the cause, but how it is also personal to me as someone who is in recovery from addiction, and how running plays an essential role in keeping me sober and loving life.

Want to become an advocate? Ask me how, and I shall tell you.
  Pre-Race with Bib
The shirts are pretty flashy, have a bit of a European Biker team flair, and I felt cool wearing it (which is what counts) and cooler yet running for the cause. Being wrapped up in the Runwell flag reminded me that I am running for the high of it, for the joy it brings to my life and I felt great to be alive for one hour and fifty-seven minutes of the race. The runners high came to me like an old familiar friend, letting my spirit transcend my body for a bit, and then returning to its rightful place shortly after the finish.  

Once in a while, like every good buzz, I do get a flashback.

Attached to my bib while I ran the race was a FREE BEER coupon. Yep. Every runner got them, and got to exchange them for a free beer at the beer tent. The irony dripped like sweat from my brow. I do not begrudge anyone who enjoys a beer at the end. It makes perfect sense. The addiction in me can still taste how a beer would hit some sweet spots. Of course, if I were to join you, I would take the whole beer tent hostage. This is not the first event where relapse waited at the finish, but fortunately, I do not partake, and am there for only one kind of buzz. Bottoms up.

My time was a personal worst, but, really a personal triumph. I am in a new age of running, and not just being an older fart, but a wounded one. I have run just two times in the last 18 days, have more work to do to in order to deal with the evil doings in my legs, so paced this wonderfully and kicked it out at the end. Last 3 miles were my fastest, including an Eminem inspired 7:40 mile.

Without a real time goal, I did plan to photobomb the finishing photo of Detroit Runner, that famous blogger dude who runs every race in Michigan and has clones in order to do so. He slipped in front of me somewhere, I think during my port-a-potty stop, and I failed by 165 seconds. My next chance would be to somehow bandit his 50k race coming up in two weeks. Stay tuned.

Like any splendid event, I know that the time I spent running it is the best I will feel all week. I do it all again in the Detroit Free Press US only half in 20 days. 

(If you want to drop a five spot or more into the RUNWELL cause. Check out my donor page here. )

WEEKENDS ARE WHAT HAPPEN TO YOU WHILE YOU'RE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS

Ah, it's the weekend. Of course, life (and weekends) are what happen to you while you are busy making other plans. Here's what I might do with my time:


1. BROOKSIE WAY HALF MARATHON
It is one of the premier half marathons in the state of Michigan. Scenic. Hilly. Huge numbers. Plus, I have recently had to defer January's Disney Marathon due to a variety of reasons: medical advice, family complications, logistical nightmares: all of it collided on me. I added the Detroit Free Press Marathon, US only, but want to also run through the hills of Rochester, Michigan, in the Brooksie way as a walking billboard for a wonderful cause: RUNWELL. Runwell is an organization who supports recovery from addiction through the power of running. I've got a cool t-shirt and hat to wear for the event, and I'm gladly accepting donations for the cause here.

Why 'might'
NIFR (not even fuckin registered) I was waiting until the last second to do so online. The way chaos blows me (or perhaps it is I who causes the chaos) who knows what might happen. The website said 9/26 was the last day to register online, far as I could read. Now it says online registration is closed. I have to get to the expo to register. That ain't so easy.
Hey!! Don't start without me!

2. RUNNING AWAY, by Julie Hutchings
Julie is a writer friend from Books of the Dead Press and is simply cool as hell. Running Away is the sequel to Running Home, a vampire trilogy that reshapes the vampire myth in a unique and intriguing way. I loved the first book, and Running Away's release date is today.  I'm eager to jump all over it, and I hope you check it out too.

Why 'might'
With her fan base, following, and street team, the book is surely to be sold out on day one. It's already after 9 am, and readers have been waiting outside in line like it's the iphone 6, trying to get their beady little eyeballs onto the pages.  Wait, digital copies! An endless supply! No waiting! No need to go to the Expo! One click and BAMN. What a world this is.
RUNNING AWAY on AMAZON

3. WATCH GOTHAM
How perfect. Back stories on all the Gotham characters. How cool is that. Everyone is the hero of their own story, everyone has an origin, all our issues and evil traits and special powers and obsessions for justice in life come from something, and Gotham is about to tell that story and add to the Batman mythos.

-Why  'might'
After missing the premier on Monday, I watched the first half 'on-demand' last night. The cinematography was amazing, but the story did little for me. I turned it off way too easy. I may finish, and the second half may hook me yet, but as of now the urge is low.
 As far as I'm concerned, THIS is the Batman origin story

4. FINISH MY HAUNTED HOUSE STORY FOR PEN AND MUSE
Pen and Muse is a website and meeting place for writers, and they are having a month of October haunted house themed collection of stories. I eagerly signed up to contribute a story. I wrote a story, but it ended up being for Grey Matter Press. I wrote another story, and it ended up being just as deliciously twisted. The works is done, but the sentences are scattered about like pieces of grass on the sidewalk after you mow the lawn. In other words, I need to sweep away the leftovers and give it an edit.

Why 'might'
Because I am a procrastinating moron (see number 1 above), because I often have this thing inside me that needs to 'click' in order to write (and edit), and I don't always feel like I have power over it. Because Pen and Muse may have put me on ignore for being so god-damn late. Because I may get called a psycho-path for the strange things inside the story and it should perhaps remain safely on my hard-drive.

There you have it, four things for the weekend.




 

"STRAY WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVORITE"

Whenever the subject of  my books comes up in family conversation, I usually hear some pretty darn kind words, but sooner or later they say:

"Well, STRAY will always be my favorite"

Others will warmly nod their heads, I am filled with a bit of pride, then we'll move on to talking about skin cancer or the Detroit Tigers or something more pleasant.

Here's your chance to be part of my family and join the conversation. Pick up STRAY for just .99 Cents. 

THE END IN ALL BEGINNINGS

One of the greatest things that came out of being published through Books of the Dead Press is the people I have met. I had no idea how much just messaging back and forth to other writers makes an impact.

John F.D. Taff is one such writer who has been so helpful. Taff has many top selling pieces of work, rubs elbows with folks I fanboy over, yet always has the time with a kind or funny word.Today, Grey Matter Press has released a collection of his five Novellas called, THE END IN ALL BEGINNINGS. They explore the painful and emotional horrors of life, love and loss throughout the ages, and contain themes that run the gamut from loss of childhood innocence to the most profound aspects of human tragedy.  Its received praise and  front cover blurbs from legends Jack Ketchum and New York Times Best selling author Jonathan Maberry.
Check it out here THE END IN ALL BEGINNINGS

SHOULD I RUN WHEN I AM SICK?

One of the ways I try to fit in longer training runs and binges at the keyboard writing novels is to schedule days off from work and focus on these passions. This means that my obsessions cause less interruptions to the family, and it lets me pursue these things guilt and interruption free.

I had one of those days this week. With a half marathon coming soon, I had a 12 mile run planned. My longest run of late is at 11 miles, and this was 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, my throat was sore as if it had been scraped at with an exacto knife. It hurt to swallow, and mucus was gathering in my nose ready to explode like green fireworks across the sky.

Should I run?

If you google "Should I run sick?" you'll often hear the concept that “above the neck it’s okay to run, below the neck, or with a fever, do not run.”  Well,  I think that’s a bit of crap. For one, is a sore throat above or below the neck? It is the damn neck. You see why nobody can be trusted. This is a conspiracy to drive me crazy. I have ran with such symptoms before and caused some serious problems, and I've run with some symptoms all over my body, and felt better for it. It seems to me severity of illness, not location on the body, is more pertinent. My symptoms this week were pretty darn acute, and sure to get uglier if I pushed it.

But dammit, if I don’t get this run in, after running a pathetic number of miles a week, this half-marathon is in jeopardy. 
 
It's not that I am worried that I won't feel good on the run. It seems no matter how sick I am, I know that after 2 or 3 miles I will feel great. My breathing will clear out my nasal passages, I will resort to periodic snot rockets and pepper the sidewalk with phlegm bombs, but during the run will be the greatest I feel all day.

 Ah, but afterwords the sickness will return with a vengeance. Bronchitis awaits. More sick days await. Regrets, I’ve had a few, and running in a sinus infection is one of them.

 But dammit, I wanted to run. Get my 12 miles in, and recover later.  As with any big decision, I relied on some googling, and if you google enough things, you can always find the answer worded in the way that fits your needs.

So I did, and there is something especially karmic or cosmic about coming across your own blog article when you google something, which happened to me (about 3 pages in). I came across my own blog post, where I discussed how running 6 miles while being sick triggered the apocalypse. Check it out

 I have come to believe that, if I have to even ask the question, "should I run sick?" I probably shouldn't run. If I don't think twice about it, but go out the door and think, 'my throat is a little sore and I'm stuffy' then it's probably not a sickness that can't be run through. This idea of waiting until you are 85-90% well is mentioned here.

 So, I hereby am debunking the 'above the neck' theory and using the 'if you have to ask' theory, and since I did, I stayed home. Today, I am a touch better, so hopefully by Sunday I can get in a 12 miler and apologize to the family for being away for a couple hours. With my extra time, I was able to finish a kick-ass story that I hope Grey Matter Press will accept. (pssst,,, I turned it in 2 weeks past the deadline. One should not run sick nor miss deadlines)

Know your own bodies, we are all an experiment of one. A good virus does not kill its host, it goes along for the run, and comes back a bit more stronger to kill you in your sleep.

WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE WEIGHT ROOM

Weird things happen in the weight room. Here's a true story of such weird things.


Yesterday, a muscle-dude was staring at me through beady eyeballs as I did lat pull downs. I could feel the testosterone shoot from his eyes. This was going somewhere. He had something on his mind and would not forget it. He was full-tilt muscle-dude, not the kind of dude who abides, but the kind who use their muscle boobs for attention and carry around a plastic milk-jug full of water.

I counted in my head with each pull down while he snuck up behind me. Next thing I know his hands were all over my back, feeling my muscles, then pinpointing a spot, and his fingers dug in. "Work these," he said. "Work from here. Keep the bend in your elbow constant and (while rubbing my back muscles) work from here"

"Take your stinkin paws off of me you damn dirty ape!" I wanted to say, but instead took the weight room groping, finished my set, shook my head with a half affirmation and walked away.



Then, I'm off to the treadmill, and next to me is a kind, Danny Devito looking fellow, ("Cuckoos' Nest" era) with the same charming smile. He glanced at me more than once. My presence was noted. Words hung on his lips. He was not going to let my time go unabated.
I bet a nickel
"Where is radio shack?" he turned to ask me.

In the 80s, I thought of saying, but instead gave him general directions, that it was not far from Burger King, and that it was a fine, fine store. But he wasn't finished.

"Do you eat the ends of bread. you know, The ends of them, do you eat them?" This was his real question. He didn't care about Radio Shack. It was the ends of bread that bothered him.

"No, I said, I never eat them. I just pass them by, grab the next piece, and then throw the bag out with two ends inside."

"I don't eat them either," Danny Devito said, clearly excited to find a brethren. "But, do you think its a sin not to eat them? he asked.

"No, I think you are okay. It's their fault for even putting them in there." 


I had absolved him of his sins, time to move on, but first I needed to disinfect the treadmill. I grabbed one of the bottles of disinfectant that were conveniently placed all over the carpet so we could disinfect each machine. Problem was, the rags on the bottles were oil-shop black, and everytime we touched them to clean a machine, we were adding to new super virus. Soon, it would mutate into a new-age black plaque, and patient zero will either be a muscle-dude who gropes your back, a Danny Devito dude who does not eat the ends of the bread, or the fellow who has been sitting on the chest press machine for 25 minutes while he stares at his cell phone. 

FREE AUDIOBOOKS AND THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX

The audiobook of Chasing the Dragon: Running to Get High is here.  If you are into audiobooks and the natural highs of running, then I've got you covered.

I am giving away coupon codes for free downloads. First come, first serve, just copy and paste the codes below. All I ask is that you message me here to let me know you've grabbed one. (Hopefully, I can then remove the ones that have been used). If they are all gone, message me anyways, and if you can answer the riddle of the sphinx, you'll still get one. If you answer wrong, however, the sphinx will eat you.

Here are the codes
EAW7KKGX3PYWT3TG3XHGS2XGSC3QUR3EP4KEKSDJW4BRG7UZ6XQBCFR46SNK5KMDGTo Redeem, just follow the instructions below: 
Go to my book's page on Audible.com: Chasing the Dragon, the Audiobook Add the audiobook to your cart.Create a new Audible.com account or log in. (I think you can use your amazon log in)Enter the promo code and click "Redeem" on the cart page.To change the price from full price to $0.00, click the box next to "1 Credit" and click the "update" button to apply the credit to your purchase.Complete checkout, and start listening to the free copy of the book.

BOOKBUB, MBA's, AND A WARNING

Yesterday was a wild ride. MILK-BLOOD was a featured freebie promo on Bookbub. For those who don't know, Bookbub is the king of subscriber services, where readers sign up to be notified about discount books. For those who do know, Bookbub is, in some ways, the new gatekeeper, deciding which books get promoted with a semi-mysterious, complicated selection process.

Why the hell would I spend thousands of hours writing a book and then give it away? Especially when it was selling pretty damn good already. Well, because I am a moron is probably the top answer. 

But there are other reasons.

For one, I write to be read. While I do my best to be professional, I embrace the term Hobbyist. It takes the pressure off, lets me do what I want. I certainly do need to make enough money to have this pay for itself to justify my obsession. If I could do it full time, it would certainly be kick-ass, but then the pressure would be on.

But, yesterday, little money was made, but my ego was fed (it's a hungry, hungry ego) and attention was gained.

The book was number 1 in its two genres for freebies, and as high as number 6 overall in the known kindle universe. This is in a pool of many thousands of freebies for kindle on amazon at any one day. It also propped up my other horror novel, On the Lips of Children , into the top 100 horror novels and stuck me into the top 100 most popular Horror Authors on Amazon. (This will not last. I'm like the dude sprinting the first mile of a marathon, saying, "Hey, look at me, look at me!" but then fades away as the Mebs and Kara Gouchers and Stephen Kings take over.)

Much of this thanks goes to Kealan Patrick Burke for the fabulous cover. The book is worth a click just for that, but it also represents the current power of Bookbub.

In some ways, services like Bookbub are the new gatekeeper. Just to be accepted by them is difficult. They deny 80% of books that request to be featured, and often deny books that they once accepted. Part of this is their scheduling. Much of it is because even the biggest of publishing houses are using their services.

Buy stock in them if you can. I was thrilled when I was accepted. I paid them $90 to give away my book, and happy with the results. The only type of MBA I can declare to have is Most Bonefaced Author.

Yet, the way amazon algorithms work, the book will now keep popping up on peoples' doorsteps. Its like I have my own door to door Mormon on a mission, saying, "Hello, my name is Elder Mark, and I would like to share with you this most amazing book."

Of course, of the 16,087 who downloaded MILK-BLOOD, there are problems. I certainly lost sales, since some would have bought the book eventually, yet now they will not need to. Some didn't even know what they were clicking, and once they do read the first page, will write a one star review saying how much it sucked. 

The majority will not read it, and for them I have this message:

I have infected the pages of the book with a sort of super virus. If the book is not read in its entirety within 6 months, then a mentally ill, heroin addicted, homeless squatter will spring himself from the pages. He will take root in their garage. He will haunt their dreams, hear voices from the ghosts in their house and living inside their own soul. Soon he will want to quiet the voices. The itch will come. He will need some Milk-Blood in his veins.  All of this happens without warning. Except this warning. Right here, right now. Time is ticking... tick... tick... tick...


MILK-BLOOD ON AMAZON

NATURAL HIGH 5k RUN IN FLORIDA

If you are into the natural highs of running, and I know you are, and you are anywhere near Callahan, Florida, on October 4th, and I know you will be, and you want to support a great cause, then take part in the  “Natural High”  5K Run hosted by Nassau Alcohol Crime Drug Abatement Coalition an awareness run to raise funding for  Student Programs/Events and Outside Activities at Westside middle and high schools:  For more information, see below or  contact Jason Lynch at: jlynch8@windstream.net