HEAD(hed), (n.) 1. the top part of the human body or the front part of an animal where the eyes, nose, east and mouth are. "Your brain is in your head." DIBS(dibz), (n.) 2. a thick, sweet syrup made in countries of the East, especially the Middle East, from grape juice or dates. [Arabic "debs"]--World Book Dictionary, 1976.
... it's easy to tune out the noise." (Annie Mist Thorisdottir)
When Thor's daughter speaks, one should listen!
This is one of my CrossFit heroes. Sure she warms up with my max loads, but that's not what inspires me. That terrifies me, actually.
What inspires me is that smile at the end of a WOD. An elite athlete who performs with a disarming ferocity, she's a beast--but what makes her smile is that she gets what she wants. She finishes.
There's a laser-beam focus to finish well as she moves through the paces and it's in that focus that she's tuned out the noise. The beat of her own drum drowns out everything else. Keeping her "eye on the prize" as it were. Makes all the difference in the world in anything you do--shutting out the noise. Noise can be deafening, so know what you want and get louder than the noise!
Enjoyed a nice WOD today and had reason to smile myself. Started with 4x5 of Back Squats (95#, ending with 150#) then went into this wonderful little dance:
4 minutes as many rounds possible (AMRAP) of:
7 Clean and Jerk (95#)
70 Single Jump rope
2 minutes rest
4 minutes AMRAP of:
7 Power Clean (115#)
70 Singles
2 min. rest
4 Min AMRAP of:
7 Deadlift (205#--was supposed to be 185, but I can't count)
70 singles
Finished two full rounds of the first set, nearly finished two rounds of Power Cleans plus 40 Singles of the second and finished out 1 solid round plus 5 DL of the last.
And I was still standing at the end.
Tune out the noise and go for it--even if you have to call in a teammate to root you on--but finish! Sometimes we need a drill sergeant.
One probably wonders what I’m working on. As an Independent Scholar, as I am not attached to a University, I am writing a commentary on the first book of a personal journal written by a 2nd Century Roman Emperor. In that book he lists 16 names and describes what each person contributed to his life. That’s the short version. I’ve covered the first 8 so far and hit a wall. Now I’ve gone back and am editing Chapters 1-3 to keep my mojo going. Not sure when I’ll be done but hopefully by years’ end. I already have another project lined up.
I'm nearly finished reading Joan Didion's collection of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem. The book was discovered through another book I was reading, Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams . If Jon felt this book was good enough to pack along on a mountain climbing expedition, then I'm interested. Took me three tries, but I finally found my copy on Amazon. One of the best book buys I've made. Joan selected the title of this book from William Butler Yeats' classic poem, Second Coming . The book title is shared with one of her larger essays, a record of encounters with people in the 1960's drug culture. Didion's book is divided into three distinct parts: "Life Styles In The Golden Land," a collection of articles capturing the California experience of the 1960's; "Personals," a few of essays of the first-hand nature; and "Seven Places Of The Mind", some thoughts about those parts of California that are now long gone. One essay...