Endurance Training Stoner Moment

Here's a fairly well known stoner factoid: When you start playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" just as the MGM Lion roars at the beginning of Wizard Of Oz, there is a remarkable sync between the music and the film.

It's actually true for the most part. Here is a video of the first 3 songs. And I'm sure if you are completely stoned out of your gourd, it makes even most sense. Most things do make sense when you are stoned out of your gourd, after all. Especially if you have a jumbo bag of Doritos to eat.

I also found a YouTube video of the band's drummer Nick Mason saying that he too found the coincidence pretty amazing, but what he found more amazing that someone actually spent the time figuring it out. A fair point, really.

The entire album is just under 43 minutes long. And I just happened to have a 5 mile run on the docket for today. So I ripped the CD onto my Ipod and set out to see what sort of sync I could come up with while running through the neighborhood. Here's what I ended up with -

1 . Speak To Me / Breathe In The Air

As I run out of my neighborhood and on to the main street, I am committed to really listening and catching everything I can. After a minute or so, there is a bit of spoken word over an instrumental track:

"I've been mad for f***ing years, absolutely years, been over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands..."

Well, that's an interesting start. I work with bands too. And they have driven me "mad" for sure. One of the reasons I am running along the street right now is to balance out the madness.

"Breathe, breathe in the air."

Roger Water's first lyric. This hits fairly close to when I get my breathing into a nice rhythm.

"Run, rabbit run."

The start of the 3rd verse. I am in fact running. But I am not a rabbit. Maybe it's a metaphor that will reveal itself later? Or am I confusing Wizard Of Oz with Alice and Wonderland?

2. On the Run

I've owned this album since 1984 and until today I had no idea there was a song called "On The Run" on here. Honest. The truth is my favorite Pink Floyd album is "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". It's their first album. Syd Barrett was in the band. In fact, "Dark Side" was pretty much written about how crazy he was. But I digress.

3. Time

"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."

Further references to running as metaphor. And I'm still running. I also wonder what Dorothy is doing about now in her version. Maybe she is chasing Toto after the dog peed on Auntie Em's laundry? Never mind, I digress (again).

4. The Great Gig in the Sky

Not much here, it's mostly an instrumental song anyway. So I entertain myself by grooving along in my runner's high.

5. Money

I must admit, I kind of figured that this would happen. When "Money" was playing I was running between an oil field to the left and a subdivision of multi-million homes that aren't selling too well on the right. That said, the timing was perfect - as the guitar solo started and the song picked up in pace and urgency, I took the left turn that takes me away from this area. An "escape" if you will.

6. Us and Them

Other than that this song has a pretty good groove to run to, there wasn't too much of a connection to my run, unless you can use the song title as a metaphor for having to watch your ass when it comes to cars and other potential hazards. And this was the busiest section of my run, traffic wise. Plus it was a little windier than usual on this stretch of the road. You may recall there is a tornado in Wizard Of Oz...

7. Any Colour You Like

I've definitely got nothing for here. And as I run I realize I've yet to see the Tin Man. Nor the Scarecrow. Or that guy behind the curtain (my favorite, by the way).

8. Brain Damage

"The lunatic is on the grass."

Enough Said. Actually he's on the sidewalk right now.

9. Eclipse

This song has a desperate urgency to it. And in the last few minutes of the run, I found myself urgently desperate. I was way more bonked out than I should have been. I was sucking wind, and I had no idea why. 5 miles? This is usually routine, and I was struggling.

Then I figured out why. I refilled a prescription last night for a beta blocker I am currently taking (something I hopefully will soon be off). I normally take a 25 mg dose. On this refill, some moron at the pharmacy gave me the same medication but at double the dose. So this morning I had 50 mg of beta blocker in my system. No wonder I was gassed, I couldn't get my heart rate up. Major suckage. But I suppose I could argue I did this run on drugs, if just 25 an extra milligrams. That's something, isn't it?

"All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel."

Thanks for bearing with me on this one.