Head-dibs

“We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.” —Theodore Roosevelt This last weekend was perhaps one of the most restful weekends had in a very long time. Saturday began slowly and progressed at the speed of two very long naps and culminated in a 3 mile run just as the sun was setting. At first I felt guilty for not being up and doing, but then that’s all I seem to do. It was a day of rest. The next day was not much different. Nothing was pressing, nothing urgent--so why not rest, recharge? But one cannot stay in “recharge” mode. Theodore Roosevelt did not have a promising beginning. He was a weak, sick, asthmatic until he made a decision to do something different, be someone different. His father installed a home gym where he built up his body strength. Not long after he took to a variety of outdoor sports and excursions, even creating a museum of natural history in his own home. He grew to be a soldier, a fighter, a hunter, an explorer and...

No matter where you go on this trail, there is always an uphill. Of course, this view (below) is looking downhill but you see where it leads, down through the tunnel of trees? That's the trail rising up another hill. The easy part is always be behind. The trail-head is on top of the hill and there's always the joyful run down, but down is hard on the body. It pounds the nerves, the joints, the sockets. Downhill is not easy but it is faster. So you wind your way down only to face a rise. Getting to the top is slow, hard work. It takes effort. The hills are at such a pitch that both going down and up are a chore. Even if one gave up and turned to go back, guess what? It's uphill again. Might as well go forward to get back to where you started, back on top of the hill. Sometimes you get lucky--the ground is dry. Sometimes you get mucky. But you keep moving forward to the end. On top of the hill. My map tracker shows where I've been but it doesn't show the ...

“If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.” (Seneca) Most people walk or hike the 2,000 + mile long Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in about 4 to 6 months, and every person does it for reasons all their own. It takes a different kind of person to run it in record time.  "Ultrarunner Karl Meltzer has long dreamed of setting the speed record for crossing America's Appalachian Trail. Now he sets out for his third and final attempt to run the 3,523km (2,188 miles) in less than 46 days, 8 hours, 6 min." What a person finds during a challenge of any size is that one can be his or her own worse enemy. Not nature. Not the problem. Not the obstacle. Those things are neutral, "good", even beautiful. Those very same things could care less who we are, what we think or how strong we are. We are the problem. We are the challenge.  Be inspired to be a dif...

Happy First Day of Summer!

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth . . ." (Frost)

Found at the end of a road I frequently run along.

One 19 year-old + all the instruments + Pink Floyd + video wizardry = better be sitting down If you've got an additional 20 minutes, here's the same kid covering Pink Floyd's "Echoes". Note for note. (ht: Open Culture)

There are a couple of cheesy patties under all those fries and green chili and lettuce and tomatoes and I think I just drooled a little . . .