My Badgers are going to play Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl on ESPN. And I'll be able to watch since I'll be in Ventura, California for the holidays!!!

Back in 1985, when I was selecting graduate schools for music, I chose to apply only to universities rather than conservatories. I wanted a larger school with full PhD programs, and applied to Texas, Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan and Wisconsin. My field was Theory and Composition. All of these schools had solid reputations and were generous about grants and assistanceships to their grad students.


I chose Wisconsin, in large part, because of the large class they wanted me to teach from day one. They offered the best money as well. I never cared much for their music faculty and the program was lacking in organization. But the university itself was all I could have hoped for. Had my grades been a little stronger I would have gone to Yale or Harvard, but I was not really emotionally prepared to crack only the books at 17 years of age. After a 4 year hiatus I returned and smoked the academic from then on.

But the University of Wisconsin was a great place to study. Also, the sports and campus life were just what I'd dreamed of as an undergrad. I had several star football players in my class and for 8 years had season tickets. They were pathetic the first three years, averaging 2-4 wins per season.

But Chancellor Shalala turned the football and basketball programs around and soon I was watching my boring but reliable Badgers playing in bowl games EVERY year. We had multiple Rose Bowls, Heisman winners and at least 8 1000-yard rushers. In hoops the success was similar.

So I still wear my Badger red with pride. As a HS teacher in Minnesota, I always advised my Ivy league aspirants to save 60 grand and go to UW. They could always step up for grad or professional school. The job market has always been so competitive, the brand name on the label is important but secondary to the contents; the portfolio, recommendations, the experience. I was an unsuccessful job seeker, but I blame myself more than the school, which produced some big successes.

Plus, I got to run into Ron Dayne, Michael Finley and Suzy Favor, among others. The Badgers are great to follow and the students are smart, unpretentious and part of a great underground tradition.

GO BUCKY!

I hate this weather!!!

Everyone knows that Canada's cold. Today, in Ottawa it's 22f, in Toronto it's 21, in most of the other provinces, it's between 5-35f if they're near sea level.

But here...it's -9f at noon!. With new snow. I didn't even think it COULD snow much when temps are near 0F. But I've been proven wrong. I went to get a haircut this morning in prep for my California Xmas. Just driving to the mall was brutal. I forgot to warm the car up for 10 minutes before getting in. My hands are falling off and I almost wet myself.

WHY DON'T CANADIANS HAVE GARAGES???? It's not new technology. They have them in the US all over, even in those dumpy fixer uppers. Here, only the elite owners of new homes have them. There absence makes for dangerous visibility due to excessive ice that is all but unscapable in the 0 to -40 range.

To make matters worse, I forgot to unplug my block warmer (if you have to ask, you're very, very lucky) and drove off with an extent ion chord flailing from my hood. When I got home I couldn't plug the heater in because my hands were too cold.

So help me, on my non-teaching days, I'm going to wrap myself in an electric blanket, unplug the phone and hibernate. Here, it's not being a couch potato, it's survival.

The appointment today has lead to the recommendation that I see a neurologist and have an EMT exam. This will take a couple of months up here, of course.

It appears the muscle disparity in my two runner's legs might be a strong symptom of several neurological disorders, some simple (pinched nerve) some more ominous. This might well have precipitated the back trouble. It certainly is a problem for a runner. I call it "arm wrestler's legs". No good if you don't run in sharp circles.

Of course I'm not too sure what to do with my running in the meantime. While in California in mid-December, I'll just do some easy 4-8 mile runs and see if my back, knee or thigh explodes. I'll bike as much as possible. But if I could run 60 mpw with this, I can certainly go 30-40 mpw if the weather's good.

Again, I take this to be a good sign. It might very well be treatable. It's hard to know. Doctors have this way of keeping information to themselves; as if they are teachers and your questions are prying into trade secrets. They're not crazy about even letting you read your own lab results, though I insist upon it.

So again, (not to make excuses) my 2007 and 2008 seasons were compromised. The more training I did, the worse the muscle condition became. I'll be hearing soon from the doctor as to when my tests are to be conducted, and whether or not the neurologist here in Timmins will see me(he's retiring).

Treadmill guy is supposed to pop on over this afternoon. I'm ready to do some easy running, and the treadmill is easy on the back, legs and anything else that breaks down.

Running injuries: the cause is usually undetectable. So one can't help but shotgun the treatment and hope something works.

WED....BEFORE



In an hour, I'll be at my doctor's office. It's -4 out at 3pm; not the kind of weather I like doing much of anything in.

I've been MRId, X rayed and put on PT and several meds since the severe pain kicked-in the second week of September. Yet, only one MD had looked at me for a few minutes. The remainder or the time has been at a nurse-practicianers looking at X-rays, MRIs, etc. All indicate minor degeneration, but that's it.

Since the pain and symptoms are not minor, I want my day in court. I have not been able to point out the locus of the pain, the other symptoms nor answer any of the typical questions regarding back pain. I'm afraid I won't be able to resume an athlete's level of activity without injuring myself more seriously.

I have a photo of my back on a typical morning and two legs with uneven musclulature to be looked at. I need strong pain relief and want to feel I need it in the doctor's opinion (even though mine should matter most). My hunch is that I'll be in and out before I have a chance to do much of anything. Here goes....

The Rudolph Hex

Tonight, as we were watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the treadmill was playing Poltergeist.

On "Rudolph," Santa was in a jam at the North Pole(not far from here, BTW) I was munching pretzals, then the heater kicked on. When that happened, the treadmill started up on high speed by itself. It was turned off and the safety magnet was pulled out. There should be no way the belt could move; yet there it turned, humming a high pitch. It was plugged-in, and the surge of the heater must have worked like the paddles on ER.

Repair guy, when he last visited, advised we get a junction box in case of lightning or fallen trees surging up the line. It was on my "C' list of things to do, like replacing the ceiling light that's too high to reach; we don't have a ladder ("C" list also). Moving from apartments to houses in strange towns means a big "A" list, since you get no freebies from the family.

Among other things we don't have yet...

2nd computer for work. B list
flat screen. B list
microwave....A list
snowshoes....A list (it just was bumped up)
a BROOM!.....A list
(we do have have a vacuum and swifters)
an electric guitar for me..A list
Bicycles.....C list (bumped down due to weather)

You get the idea...

We can afford these things, but we're "reluctant" shoppers.

Anyway, the treadmill motor isn't working. I can hear repair guy scolding me already.

In the meantime, there is this "too much snow" problem. I, of bad back, will not run on snow or ice.
Our streets are snow-covered. In Timmins,they do not plow minor streets until the missing children tally reaches double figures.

So I never had the chance to see how Santa made the rounds that foggy Christmas night. Don't tell me, but I'm banking on the red nose coming into play. I'll get the DVD to find out(C list).

As runners, we become very familiar with the look of our legs. Mine have changed over the years. As a teen, I had a sprinter's legs: big quads, well-defined calves and thin ankles.
In my non-running 20s they retained the shape, in spite of running an average of 3 times a week at 2-3 miles per run.
Fast forward to my 40s and I start marathon training. The legs become muscled--very much so--but the contour changes and they are thinner. Nonetheless, I'm familiar with the shape.

This season, I notices a sense of weakness and numbness in the left leg. It seemingly preceeded the back troubles. All spring and summer, I commented on how "tight" and strange my left knee and thigh felt. Then the back troubles started.

Now, I'm running most days on the treadmill, and going 4-7 miles each run. The legs feel OK, though the left leg is still faulty in some sense. I looked in the mirror and asked Heather to look at my thighs. It's become obvious that the left thigh lacks the muscle the right one has. It's probably been this way all year. Never before did I have trouble balancing myself on downhills and turns.

I'm trying to stay positive on this; it's a new symptom that is, almost certainly, connected to the back troubles. The cause-effect chain's unclear to me at this point. Where did the trouble start? It's hard to determine medically. But there is a definate cause for the weak leg--smaller muscles. So, there's something I can do to fix that: orthotic, chiro, more back treatments. Who knows?

So I can show this to the doc as well. It's good to know that it might be something specific rather than being worn-out by age. In the meantime, I'll go easy on the treadmill, do my exercises, and wait.

In time, I'll have a better plan.

This week, we're getting loads of snow. So getting snowshoes is next up.

RIP: Composers of "Batman" and "The Andy Griffith Show"

Who are Earl Hagen and Neal Hefti? I'm certain many of you don't really know. Earl Hagen was a close friend of my father's. He helped dad get into the TV music business. Neal Hefti was also a friend of the family. Each man passed away this year.

They were both famous composers who wrote music for the big bands, radio and movies. But TV is the claim to fame they share. Between 1960 and 1980, Earl Hagen composed a countless number of TV themes and the background music as well. Much of his music is known by anyone over 40. For example, he wrote the theme to the Andy Griffith show. That's got to be in the top 100 recognizable tune book. Google him and you'll see how pervasive his music is.

But what I remember most is his bare pate, the Tam-O-Shanter he always wore, and the monumental ears. He looked like a character actor form the 40s. You just don't see folks with his features these days. Why? I don't really know.

When I was 9 years old, my father was recording a show at MGM and Earl offered to drive me home. We lived in the same development. It was my first ride in a Farrari. He even let me take the wheel in deserted areas. For someone so successful and talented, he was very unassuming; no ripping off heads in the studio for Mr. Hagen. Golf was his passion, and an unending source of rattlesnake stories, as the Calabasas course had its share. His son Dean was 8 years older than I, but had lots of colorful stories to share with me. You see, Dean was a talented drummer who played with the Spencer Davis band and Traffic; he also did session work for my father.

Neal Hefti wrote the theme for the "Batman" series. He also wrote a number of great shoe-tunes: Barefoot in the Park, Girl Talk, Cute, etc. Like my father, his was a generation of self-taught musicians. At dinner, we always heard the names pop up. Not because they were so successful. Rather, they were a part of my dad's generation of composers. Much of the music of their generation was brightly colored by Hagen and Hefti. They could do it all: arrange the band's parts, write the simple jingles and the complex backgrounds. These days, it's not so common. But what is it I remember? .....The Fararri. And I'm a musician!

So the old guard is falling away. Rest in peace, gentlemen.

My much-awaited MRI results were something of a dissapointment. There's nothing terribly wrong, nothing that's defying age. In short, my lumbar vertebrae are all bulging mildly, but the bulging is considered "unremarkable." Typical for late 40s. So it would appear that treatment is up to me.

The problem is that the pain is sometimes very "remarkable" to me. I know what it's like to have a pain-free back, and I know what it's like to have chronic pain.

As for running, no one's saying to stop. It doesn't hurt when I run, so I'll run. But my experience over the last two years suggests that running much volume at one time (long runs) seems to be closly related to the pain, spasms, assemetry and all else that's been sidelining me lately. Then again, so does taking out the trash...

I'm bothered because it feels nice to have a treatment plan for an injury. "Do this, then that, take these and you'll be better by this date..." That's what I like to hear. But no. I'm in trial and error mode. I could stop running, that might help but I'd go crazy without my daily exercise. I will, of course, do some winter sports this year. But nothing an replace running.

For now, its hit the treadmill. It's softer that frozen 12 degree-F pavement. So away I go.

I'll say it flat-out: I hate those word-verification tests you need pass to post.

Cursive "m"s that looks like "n" or "r" with no additional n,m or r for comparisons sake. Or the g and q that are identical except for a swirl. I've lost a few posts due to cursive complications. After I see tiny words like gyrqgjlnr I start to get dizzy and log off.
Then other times it's so easy...go figure.

If you are posting with me and that happens, feel free to send an email to me, and we can curse the cursive together.

I Survived my Second MRI

I've now had two MRIs. My first one was way back in 1990. That horrific experience taught me a few things. The first thing I learned was that, yes, I can be VERY claustrophobic. The second lesson I learned is to come in fully prepped.

What do I mean, fully prepped? Simple, anti-anxiety meds. From yesterday: "yes, I want the atavan...may I have another please...no? I don't WEIGH enough? THAT'S my reward for all of the training? To have an anxiety attack after waiting two months for this stupid test? I guess it's a good thing I brought my own.. After feeling nearly psychotic during the 1990 MRI (though I made it through the hour-long test)...I was taking NO chances.

I have to admit, it was smart of me. I don't know how I would have done otherwise. There were times my head started to swirl in anxiety yesterday, but I was able to remain calm, knowing I had medicine on my side,

Another trick I learned is to count songs and commercials on the radio...though the magnets were so loud, the only song I really heard was "Evil Ways" ..."lord knows you've got to change...blah, blah." I played this around 500 times in several bands and will fail to notice if I never hear it again.

But my best new MRI trick is to open my eyes one at a time: Things appear farther away with just one eye. Things like walls 8 inches from your head. Also, a "mono" view eliminates the sense of near-total enclosure one might get when one is..well..nearly totally enclosed.

The warmth of the pulsing magnet on my back in concert with the drug cocktail in my system gave me a nice embryonic warmth as the final tap of the MRI passed. Later I took a two-hour nap. So yes I learned. Now if only my back felt better things would be fab-ulous.

So, for the MRI-shy folks out there: one-eye at a time, say yes to drugs(and bring a back-up....but only if you really need them:)), and above all, change your evil ways. Jean and Joe are counting on you.