Good Day Today, With Moderate Physical Training

 Well, I'm midway through today's evening, having passed up on early rising.  I was a bit restrained with my running/walking training but managed some Martinus Evans-level "slow AF" brief runs back and forth across my backyard, along with a few minutes of running-in-place.  I'm brewing a pot of flavored decaf coffee, and then I'd like to get through a few minutes more of ipf and/or rock-running.  I still feel like I'm encountering an undue amount of resistance to my workouts, bu I'm sticking to the late Jesse Jackson's immortal quote: "Keep hope alive!" Earlier during the afternoon while Melissa was having her teeth cleaned, I lied down in the back and listened to the entire Sufjan Stevens album (from 2006) titled The Avalanche..my favorite tracks from it are The Henney Buggy Band and Pittsfield and the title song.After 9:30, I'm shutting things down in the front of the house and watching baseball with the sound lowered...and the air conditioning on while I bundle up and hide under a blanket. Getting up early tomorrow morning may well be a "hit" for me, for I could well do some more exercising and writing. Hope you all had a wonderful day as it is now winding down, and that tomorrow carries with it many blessings and things to be grateful for...Sweet dreams!...

Today's Parkrun Effort Promises Compounded Fitness for Endurance Running and Walking

 Melissa and I went down to Gainesville's Depot Park this morning for their Parkrun...or at least my attempt to substantially lengthen my training session walk there.  Today I doubled my distance walked, from a .7-mile lap to two laps totaling 1.55 miles.  It took me 34 minutes in all, and that's all right since I am in no way concerned about how fast I go.  You see, during this half of a Parkrun I listened to my Alachua Public Library Libby audiobook app containing the book I just checked out: Slow AF Run Club by Martinus Evans. His message is informative, humorous and inspirational...in other words, very useful!  Next week I'll try to 'up' it to three laps, and there you have it: a definite feeling of progress doing this resistance walk and letting my daily, consistent training efforts compound in their positive effects on my fitness.  Back in 2007 I could barely run around my home block, the road surface feeling way too rough for my feet.  But in '08 I managed a solid eight-mile neighborhood training run that I have yet to duplicate (or want to).  My effort today wasn't scanned or posted, and I'm not doing any of this for any reason beyond personal betterment. I do want to get to Martinus's level of running softly and slowly...all I care about is covering the distance.  Now we're left with the rest of Saturday, along with any more walk/run training i might see fit to do.  So after this encouraging effort, I intend to continue keeping up with the consistency, resistance and discomfort (and rest & recovery) and let the fitness compound...

Squeezed in Article Late Today

 It looks like my right small toenail cannot currently withstand tight-fitting, floor-hugging socks.  The nails are too long and get caught up and bent painfully backward by snug socks...this morning I'm going barefoot in the heat. I need to charge up the computer, too. Also,there's this headache that bothered me for most of today.I never did find my Joshua Khan Shadow Magic book. Melissa happily was able to get me watching live major league baseball, the Yankees versus the Giants in San Francisco. Tomorrow morning is yet another Depot Parkrun 5K.  My plan is to go down there and attempt to walk 5 full laps...Melissa told me she would drive us there and back.  Later tomorrow morning they've planned yet another anti-Trump protest rally, which I intend to avoid.  While I continue to receive oral evening chemotherapy treatment, I'll be grateful to find that book and make inroads on it.  It's still just barely Friday March 27, with Saturday the 28th just around the corner.  Late this morning a friend came over to do some lawn service...later Kim, our friend, p aid us a nice visit.More exercise, reading, writing, rest, recovery...and baseball...would mark tomorrow as a successful day.  I'm glad to have been able to squeeze in this little blog at the close of today, looking forward to the weekend...

Sleepy, but Got Up and About Early Anyway

 This morning I was only partially sleeping, hoping that when I finally awoke it would be later...a little past three.  Still, I felt in little shape to get up, although I did and promptly brewed some coffee.  I ran in place for ten minutes, dutifully writing the time down in my spiral notebook.  The temperature in the house is leaning to the cold side, and before long my plan is to reset it for 'cool' and return to bed and my barking, excited Daisy. It now being Tuesday morning the 10th of March, I foresee no new Rob Dial podcast for today...maybe Huberman or Rohn will produce another episode.  My hope with fitness is to cover the backyard with walking more efficiently.  I'd like to be able to write that I read more pages in the vicious, frustrating Khan fantasy book...not looking forward to enjoying it, though, with the anger of its main characters resembling that of the TV series Grey's Anatomy.  Just thank you for this day you provided me, Lord, and may I live it out more responsibly and graciously.  Let's celebrate a small victory...I got up and stayed up! Maybe later on I'll get Melissa to help me start up (and move) the white Camry.  May I avoid getting myself caught up in digging for dopamine, and allow boredom to grow my good habits and character.  It's not quite four yet, and I still remember the times 55 years ago when I had decided to arise before dawn in order to begin my school day in a wise, positive manner.  In a way, this is one of those kinds of days...

Just Finished Reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson has written a number of books...A Walk in the Woods, from 1998 and describing his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail...is my first of his but most probably not my last.  His humorous style, mixed in with a copious presentation of facts about this great American walkway that stretches all the way from northern Georgia through Maine, is something I'd like to see more of in my books.  After beginning reading...my wonderful sister had given it to me as a present...it soon occurred to me that in some ways it resembled a 2015 movie I had recently seen starring Robert Redford.  Sure enough, it was the cinematic adaptation of this very book, with the same title...apparently Redford had read it and was determined to make a movie based on it.  I didn't care too much for the movie, which to me leaned to the maudlin side of things a bit too much, but the book was sharp and funny.  Bryson wants to walk the Appalachian Trail but is concerned that maybe having a partner on the trek would make it safer and more endurable, so he recruits his friend "Stephen Katz" (a pseudonym for the book) to accompany him.  He probably should have picked somebody a little more prepared than Katz, although their stumbling adventures, interactions and conversations would fill many of the book's pages.  Long story short, the two don't even come close to covering the whole trail, although after a break Bryson returns to hike sections and Katz even rejoins him at the end.  If you want to read a humorous account of hiking while learning some real facts about the Appalachian Trail and this part of America, this is a good starting point...

Quote of the Week...from a Fortune Cookie

Many a false step was made by standing still.      ---Fortune Cookie

I lifted the above "fortune cookie" quote straight out of the book I'm currently reading, The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.  It's full of some pretty interesting quotes, and I find just about all of them profound, yet riddled with caveats...including this one. I think that you need some discerning wisdom to determine when, in the midst of a situation, to act and when to lay back...especially when it comes to speaking truth to people.  Since the book I'm reading is a pretty serious call to action, though, the author's intent is to get people to be bolder in taking initiatives in their lives...and doing the many little things that can bring about the fruition of their dreams. There's another quote in this book that says to do at least one thing each day that scares you.  Well, both fear and hesitation can be good or bad things, depending on your circumstances and what you're trying to accomplish.  I think first you need to figure out what you want and come up with a rough plan in which to direct yourself to it.  Then, action...as well as facing obstructive fears...is definitely in order.  But I also think it's important to wisely choose your battles in life and to develop a sense of contentment and gratitude as well, an appreciation of this present moment.  It's all a matter of balance...    

Quote of the Week...from Groucho Marx

I find television very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.   

     ---Groucho Marx

Facebook is a peculiar social media website, but like others it employs AI algorithms to guess and then present unsolicited material that supposedly resonates with my interests. One result is that I'm getting a lot of stuff about the Beatles...no problem with that.  I also like another site, called Goodwill Librarian, that promotes books and reading and has all sorts of funny and pithy posts.  The other day they showed the above quote by comedy legend Groucho Marx, who also said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member" and "Why, a four-year child could understand this report.  Run out and find me a four-year-old child.  I can't make head nor tail of it." In his day, though, television gave its viewers few options beyond the three major networks, public television and an occasional independent channel.  Now, though, although you can still get brain-wasted sitting in a stupor watching inane programming, television offers a variety of opportunities for educational experiences...especially if you use Roku or something similar to access YouTube.  That channel can teach you just about anything on Earth...just do a search on your topic and see what happens.  Earlier this year...although I've gotten away from it more recently...I was learning college mathematics in different on-line lectures on YouTube.  Nowadays I've been stuck on the Kendra listening practice in the five languages I'm studying...it's a great way to both get used to the spoken language and fill in my vocabulary with new words.  There's also a lot of "how-to" maintenance and repair stuff there...go ahead, give it a try.  You can even run a virtual marathon if you like...or follow a number of great classical music pieces with the written music on screen tracing the audio.  And on and on...yep, I wonder what kind of savvy, hilarious quip my old friend Groucho would have to say about all that... 

Working on Reorganizing Personal Information System

This book I just read (and wrote about), Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte, has made a big impact on my thinking, and it's occupying a good deal of my "free" time right now as I construct a personal data and retrieval system that complements what I already have "in my head".  It's fun and at the same time a bit tedious...but once I have everything in place this all should make my life flow a lot more smoothly.  But it does take time and I may have to scrap whole ways of doing things in order to make it work better for me.  I recommend the book, and who knows: you might just pick up better on Forte's often arcane language than I did.  But I did clearly get his core message, having lived through a muddle of excessively tangled, disorganized information for years...

Quote of the Week...from Dean Karnazes

Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living.  If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself...expanding and learning as you go...you're choosing a numb existence.  You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip.           ---Dean Karnazes

I've read criticisms about ultra-distance runner Dean Karnazes such as he's not even one of the Top Ten ultramarathon racers and he's just good at marketing himself.  To me that's like saying that the Beatles, none of whom had formal musical training or could read music, were "just good at marketing".  While I always defer to the elite in any sport, including distance running, it was Dean Karnazes with his book Ultramarathon Man who renewed my interest in this activity, not the fast finishers...and Karnazes has repeatedly emphasized that he's not among those elite.  But he is an elite at popularizing the sport and encouraging others, although I have to admit that I don't exactly appreciate someone standing there on the sidelines near the finish of a long race yelling at me to "Push it!"...there's such a thing as too much encouragement, too!  Regarding the above quote, which I believe is an excerpt from that first book of his, I wholeheartedly agree with it...although I don't think it necessarily means that all of us are suited for ultra-distance running...or running at all for that matter.  I knew a kid in high school who was like Karnazes in that he was always taking the "extreme effort" and "no gain without pain" position about running, often yelling at others to try harder...I liked his enthusiasm, but I think he crossed the line at the same time with his sometimes-unsolicited exhortations.  It's also possible to take one single endeavor and make it into a kind of idol while neglecting other important areas of one's life...Dean's quote has its greatest use when applied across the board to all areas of our lives, not just one.  And one other thing: I don't think it's profitable to seek out struggling and suffering for their own sake...but if you're engaged in something worthwhile and those feelings arise, then the above quote makes a lot of sense...

Just Finished Reading Isaac Newton by James Gleick

Isaac Newton, more than any other individual, ushered in the revolution in science and technology that we so often take for granted today.  James Gleick, a noted science historian and author, decided to write a biography of Sir Isaac, who lived in England from 1642 to 1727, a prodigious life span for someone in his day.  Gleick traces elements of Newton's childhood including his family and their "in-between" social class status as modest landowners, going through his academic years and settling on the Great Plague of 1665-66, when his Cambridge classes were cancelled, and he studied in reclusion at his family's countryside home.  It was then that Newton developed many of his ideas that would later bring him fame and reward, such as classical mechanics, the nature of gravity as a universal principal both on Earth and with celestial bodies, and the invention of calculus...he tended to avoid publishing his results, however, which would later lead him into conflict with others claiming that they were the discoverers.  Gleick's biography is balanced between discussing Isaac Newton the person and the subject matter he tackled...you don't need to be a scientist or mathematician to appreciate this well-thought-out book.  I happened to check it out from my library using the Libby app...so can you if you're registered with a participating public library.  I haven't read too many biographies of late, although when I was a kid in elementary school, I must have read every single book in the children's biography series my school's library carried...and that was a lot!  I think that may have been one of the main catalysts in my lifelong interest in history.  One thing I appreciate about Isaac Newton is that he, like myself, tended to do better in seclusion than when stuck surrounded by a lot of people with their agendas, egos and tribalism.  Newton was an individualist who wasn't averse to arguing vehemently over his beliefs, and could be pretty hard on others, as when after assuming the role of standardizing Britain's currency he supported capital punishment for convicted counterfeiters.  Gleick also examined Newton's religious beliefs, including his privately held rejection of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  You can't read this book without coming away with a greater appreciate of this giant of science as well as learning a few things about that science...and the different schools of thought about it in Newton's era...