Monday, June 25, 2007

A Benign But Imposing Figure

I came across the phrase in a current article in the New Yorker, describing the father of an engineer: 'His father, a benign but imposing figure, was the first member of the family to earn a college degree.' I couldn't help but flash forward to a description of me as the father of MAXWELL DODGE (as toastgirl always writes), where I'm all summed up and brought down to life in a sentence.

His father, an impotent but daring soul, was the eighth Duke of Earl. His father, a harmless but rapacious lawyer, was a connoisseur of peaches. His father, a kindly but marauding runner, was the first in his family to eat squid.

This has nothing to do with running, and I've had little to do with running myself. I pulled the plug on the iPod yesterday, and I ran much better. It turns out, in my world, I'm ahead of where I thought I would be at this time. When I pull the plug on music, it means my running is getting a bit more serious, maybe benign and imposing, or at least in my head. I ran three miles in the heat , after a day in the sun at the pool and ten or so miles biking. At the end of this month, in about five days, I'll have whatever running base I've managed to eke out. Which isn't so bad, I'll just keep chugging along, benign figure and all.

3 comments:

IHateToast said...

i'm saving for your grave marker. you're getting all of those engraved. hm. engraving the grave marker is not the same thing as entombing the tombstone.

i turn the music or pod casts on or off dep... podcasts on or off depending on where i am in the run. if i need to forget pain, on they go. wait wait don't tell me is a good one to jog lively to.

IHateToast said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Toasty said...

oh,oh, oh, ... pick me ... what about "he was the son, of a distant mother whose gaze would often be mistaken for an invitation to pudding" ..... "Aunt Nancy was the one who is credited with giving the family it's unquenchable thirst for turnips"