Longest Run Since the Marathon

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How Long Exactly?

Seven miles, to be precise. I employed a 4x1 run/walk ratio and finished the last mile in 10:38. I passed a runner more elderly than I as we both enjoyed good running weather—around 70 degrees with a light breeze. 

My book is parked between drafts two and three. Many tasks require my attention including setting up a new email site, redesigning my author website, and creating a lead magnet for people signing up for said website.

There's also lining up editorial reviewers, regular reader reviewers, a proof reader and copy editor, designing a back cover for the softcover version and researching audio books. 

Everything takes longer than you think and costs a bit more than your budget. But that's the yoke of self-publishing. 

According to research, non-fiction books don't sell as well in summertime. Since I won't be ready by June, I'm aiming for a Labor Day release. Friday, September 2 is the tenative release date. 

I love the cover design and am excited about putting out the book. More soon.

Criminal Flees the Big Apple

 New York City crime is way out of control. Listen to a bad guy tell it.

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Prostate Cancer: Real Talk Ep. 11

 "Doctor, Doctor give me the news." So said the lyrics of a long-ago song. But the words still ring true today for men. Find out what the Doctor says on the latest episode of the go-to prostate cancer podcast.

Prostate Cancer: Real Talk

Ryan Long on Adhesive Girlfriends

 Some times are simply meant to be guy times.

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Meeting Someone after Fifty Years

They don't teach you how to do this in school. 

My friend Gary and I attended grammar school together in Skokie, Illinois, a northern Chicago suburb. We attended two years of high school at Notre Dame High School in Niles, played football together, then enlisted in the Marines and completed boot camp together.

Then fell out of touch.

A few days ago we met for the first time in 48 years. (Fifty sounds better for a title.)

Body builder and super athlete, Gary had taken a health beating the last ten years. This included a brain embolism with subsequent induced coma and, a few years later, a massive stroke and heart attack. The general outline of Gary remained the same, but his once muscular frame had shrunk.

(Not that I'm any beauty. )

I stayed at his place in Phoenix. We watched the Masters and traded gruesome health tales, talked of our families, and our plans, and, of course, the past. But the key element was that the old days were not the focal point. In other words, our friendship had survived the decades. We were comfortable discussing the present and future. It doesn't always go like that. 

We'd been roughed up by the decades. But, in some ways, we'd never ceased being who we'd been.  

And it's hot in Phoenix. But I already knew that.

From left to right: Gary, myself and two other guys at Camp Pendleton.