The Lonely Desk

At the far end of the subway platform at High Street sits what is perhaps the saddest desk in the world. It's inclosed in its own plexiglass case, with only room for a single chair and the desk itself, and it sits unadorned except for a monitor showing camera views of the subway platform, and an honest-to-goodness large paper log book in which the activity monitored is written down, with the handwriting changing occasionally (presumably as different shifts spend their time in this curious purgatory). about seven feet off the ground, the imprints of three bullets dent the plexiglass. One time I saw a 20-ounce bottle of Wild Cherry Pepsi on the desk, as if that beverage by its very essence could add color to the drab world into which it was thrust. The A and C trains scream by both sides of the little desk, each in their turn, and I can only hope that whoever is condemned to keep their watch in that place is at least adequately compensated for their sacrifice. I haven't seen anyone in there, mind you---or at least I haven't seen anyone recently. I imagine that it's the off hours when that cubicle serves its true function, monitoring a place that could potentially become quite dangerous in its desolation once the intimidating forces of crowds no longer stay the hand of whatever lowlifes attempt to engage in the dishonorable practice of subway crime. Are there heroes who inhabit that small space? Will history remember any of their names? I can't imagine anyone would take that position seeking glory, but then again many of the greatest heroes are the ones who don't see themselves as heroes, and are constantly seeking ways to do what they do better. I'm not even sure who runs that place---whether it falls under the jurisdiction of the police department or the MTA. Do they ever get visits from people who dwell in the tunnels beneath this vast city? I wonder if there are any books about such people... I've certainly spent a fair amount of time imagining what their existence may be like, and at this point I'm not sure whether the truth would help or hurt my creative vision.

Marathon Training: Week 9 (And the Writing it Eclipses)

Last night I started on Week 9 of my marathon training.  I've now run 300 miles over the course of 47 hours in the last two months.  It gives me pause to contemplate that.  Two whole days out of that time were spent running.  That's five percent of my waking life.  It's definitely shown results.  Last night I ran over six 8:20 miles and felt great; my miles were about a minute longer than that back when I started.  There was also the half marathon the other weekend, where I kept running faster and faster as it went along until I began to wonder whether I'd been holding back too much, and yet it was still the fastest pace I've officially run anything more than 5 miles at.

On the other hand I haven't been writing very much.  (Or at least I haven't been writing very much fiction---my daily writing has kept up fairly well, but it's been mostly journal stuff)  My piano and guitar playing has been pretty sparse too.  If I had those two days back, would I have devoted them to creative pursuits?  There's no guarantee of that, so I need to tell myself that the important thing is I used them for something productive.  No sense beating myself up when I've actually been accomplishing some of my goals.  The creative ones are always the hardest to satisfy, too, since I can't just hunker down and be creative whenever I feel like it.  If I made writing my job of course I'd devote more time to it, but I find that I need a large chunk of time to ease into a good rhythm.  With running I can accomplish a good day's progress in half an hour anywhere there's a road, but when I write I need at least a full hour, devoid of distractions.  Hopefully I'll get some good work done at the write-in this Thursday, but last time I found myself drawn into conversations too much.  Maybe I should go find a place off by myself if that happens again; it's nice to meet with friends, but if they're not being productive around me it's hard to do it myself.

One of the biggest boons to my running lately has been my discovery of the marvelous effects that wearing a compression shirt can have on cooling me down.  Sweating waterfalls in high humidity has always been a problem for me, and the new compression shirts I got just suck all that sweat right through them, where it runs right off their slick surfaces.  On top of that they also help me better feel the cool breeze that my running creates.  I almost never feel a long and/or hard run in my legs; it's always been the heat in my face and chest that's hit me first.  With that problem gone I think I've been able to shave at least good thirty seconds off my pace.

I wish that there were some similar tool that would help me crank out a couple more hundred words per hour.  Writing every day certainly helps, but there's nothing in the way of purchases that really has an effect on the level of the compression shirts.  NaNoWriMo is coming up again soon, and I don't think I'll have my novel revised before it starts.  I'll have to make my peace with that.  I just wish there was a realistic schedule I could get into and stick with; something similar to my marathon training program, except with words.  I guess I could always devise a schedule of my own, but I don't know what goals would be realistic.  I suppose it's hard to devise a universal system for this sort of process---writers are very different from each other in terms of how much they can produce and how consistently they can produce it.  Plus, I don't know how realistic it would be to lay two rigorous schedules on top of each other and stick to both of them.  I already spend little enough time with my wife between my running and her long hours at work, and I'd feel terrible about cutting into that time any more.  As it is the night seems to fly by once the cooking, cleaning, and eating of dinner starts.  Things should cool down once the marathon and NaNoWriMo are over, but should I really put it off for that long?  Won't other appointments and obligations start to creep in then and fill up my calendar?  I need to devise a more systematic approach, but for the time being it continues to elude me...