Marathons and the Love of ** Running (insert your loved thing here)

Here we go again.

In a few days, I'll attempt my second marathon.  Arguably that effort started in June this year when the training began, and this weekend will be the 'last 42 kms' of that long hot summer of running.  To date, I've logged 523kms / 313 miles in this program, so the last bit should be easy.

Well that's the plan at least.

In truth no marathon is ever easy, and in the last two months, I've been fighting an injury (healing would imply it's getting better), so the training has been less enjoyable than normal.  This is the heart of what I wanted to say today - the enjoyment aspect.  I was asked a few weeks back why I run.  In fact I think I asked it of someone else, having not given it much thought myself.  But it did cause me to reflect a little.  The answer wasn't forthcoming which was interesting (intellectually anyways) to me.  Why would I put myself through something as time consuming, painful, strenuous and stressful as this if I wasn't sure why I was doing it?  And - how had it gotten this far, without understanding that most basic aspect.

After a month or so of thinking casually on the subject, I arrived at the idea that I do it to see if I could do it. That most circular logic which would cause an Excel error in other circumstances, is really about testing myself, pushing myself.  It wouldn't be much of a test if I found it easy, now would it ?   Doing something because it represents a challenge is something I've seen in myself numerous times before.  It's good to push the limits of what you can do - at least that's something I believe in for myself.  Do you do that ?  The first time is always the magic on that litmus test of will-power by the way. After that, it does get harder as in a sense, you already proved to yourself you could do it.

So how will this weekend go ?  I'm unsure as I write this. Every marker will be one closer to the line, and every step will one I don't have to run again.  I think in a sense, it'll be a little sad that it's come to an end.

Is this Why Trump is Succeeding ?

I've been racking my brain lately to try and understand the reasons that Donal Trump is succeeding in the polls.  He's a racist, bigoted liar and seems able to transcend every standard in politics.  The American public is either incredibly stupid (which they aren't), or he's been able to single handedly evolve what's acceptable in an election, which is perhaps possibly likely but still unrealistic, or perhaps there's a huge backlash against Clinton - and that's also possible.

In thinking about this, and scratching my own head to try to figure out the guy's secret sauce, it struck me that there's a small but importantly nuanced difference in the two campaigns.  I went to both websites which to me act as reflection of their public positioning quite well.

Hillary talks about the issues, and how she'll tackle them. It's pragmatic, and seems thorough and is perhaps a little un-exciting.  She's drawing a picture of America's issues and what she will do about them.  If the question in the voter's mind  - their mindset - is show me your plan..then she has it nailed.

Compare that to the Donald's website.
Here's we see that he'll make America great again.  He paints a picture of a positive outcome that is admittedly very very light on details.  So - if the voter's mindset is 'Show me your plan', his position overall is weak.  I think that's been a commonly concluded fact that most of the media is well aware of about his campaign.

But the small and fundamental difference here is applicable to those who DO NOT have 'the show me your plan' mindset.  Now, we see Hillary talking about problems, and Donald talking about positive end-states.  Hillary doesn't think America is great today, and by electing her, it may never be if all her detailed plans don't work out. Donald is aiming to have the country great...and regardless of the bits between today and getting there - that's not a bad place to aim.  Arguably, it's an enviable place to move towards. Boil it down further.....Hillary = Problems and Donald = Great

Of course the devil is in the details, and without a realistic plan nothing will happen.  But in this one subtle area, Trump has Clinton seriously out politicked, and I suspect its a key piece of the positive perception he's benefitting from these days.