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.

There's a Small Possibility, I may Not be Indestructible

I'm a very fortunate person, insofar as having very few alignments or injuries.  I push myself to do challenging things and seem to be able to succeed at them.  I've come to joke (wth increasingly less tongue-in-cheek) that I'm indestructible with my loved ones that often are keen to see me eat better, be smarter regarding my general health and so on.  Don't read this wrong - I'm not certainly not excellent at everything I do, nor able to do incredible stuff - I'm just able to continue to succeed at those things I put my mind to physically.  

I'll admit this has certain downsides - I have little passing awareness of most things medical, as I've never really had cause to pay attention to that stuff.  I also have low levels of drug knowledge, as I don't really partake in any. But the upside has been great.

Stretch a little before-hand, and be cognizant of what's reasonably taxing, and it'll be fine.

Lately however, I experienced a small nagging injury.  It hasn't stopped me from doing what I need to do - but it has created a sense of empathy for anyone who is active, and does so while in pain. It's also brought to light that I ought to be more careful and considered when talking on challenges.  I'm going to let common sense prevail and do what feels ok.  But I fear what's really irreparably damaged is that small belief that I could do anything.  Try and find a physiotherapist for that!

In Praise of Fourth

With the completion of the summer Olympic Games, I can't help but think of how bad the athletes that came in 4th in their respective competitions must feel.  There's an arbitrariness to the gold, silver and bronze awards  - why not add copper and tungsten and give medals to the top five finishers ?

If you or I were were the 4th best person in the world at something, we would be champions or experts in our right. That's pretty special.   It should still be celebrated, and admired.  Sadly, the media machine that surrounds the games only counts those areas where we 'score' in the top three, where we walk away with these medals.  I guarantee that the effort required to come in 2nd, 3rd or 4th or 5th is the same.   These young people are within thousands of a second of one another, so the differences and end results are more often than not down to happenings on the day.  That's not to take way from the Michael Phelp's or Usain Bolt's of the world -they are indeed special. But for every phenom like them, there are people who names we don't know - and we should.

I think I have a solution though.  In addition to the medal awards, there ought to be an automatic Olympic qualification for the next games given to the top 5 or 6 finishers.  They'll still have to go through their heats, or qualifying rounds as with anyone else, but by virtue of doing so well, by virtue of helping make the games exciting and captivating - they are automatically invited back.  This approach is used in some sports already and isn't radical.  Ultimately it is up to the individual to participate again (not the country).

Fourth is pretty darn good - and they deserve to be acknowledged.

Silence

What impressed the most was the silence. It wasn't unusually quiet, it was just lacking in all the noise in our lives.  I'd not noticed it before - the profoundness of the absolute silence.

But then we live in loud times, figuratively and literally.  It was worth the tremendous amount of effort spent to get there - the northern part of Canada where the lake is shared with a family of nesting loons and little else.

The forest wasn't alive with animal life either, it was vast, primitive and rich in pure air, insect life and the weather of the seasons.  It was no more concerned with our trivial events, that we are with what goes on there.

Disconnecting from our world is highly recommended as a means to gain perspective.

Chaos

Ever have a feeling you're in a bad dream, and need to wake up ?

Nice attacks, Kabul attacks, Munich attacks, a coup in Turkey, UK Brexit turmoil, shooting young black men and then cops in multiple places in the US and the coronation of the Donald all make this seem like a month worth forgetting.

I'm sad to say I don't really know what to make of it all.  We seem to be embracing our 'crazy' a little too wholeheartedly lately.

Where is the voice of calm reason, of measured thought and reasonableness?  Where are our leaders? Are we that distracted with finding Pokemon to care?  Perhaps it's a 'simple' reaction to all the things going on around us, a way to make sense of the world, or perhaps we've lost a little of our humanity of late.

Either way, I'm not very fond of the state of the world right now.

Orlando

Another horror story.  Another fast and loose use of the words terror and terrorist.  Another knee jerk set of reactions around gun control from the politicos running for offices.  I think we saw the 'x-teenth' time the President offered his hopes and prayers for the victims and pledged that together we will persevere.

Law Enforcement struggles to explain how an individual on their watch list was able to legally acquire handguns and automatic weapons.  The LGBT community grieves for their brothers and wonders what this means to their greater cause of acceptance and equality.

The general public tweeted sympathy and changed their Facebook profile pictures to some rainbow variation as if that has any impact other than to satisfy their own sense of latent guilt.  The guilt that they didn't do anything tangible after Columbine, or Newton or Virginia Tech, and won't now either.

Harsh ?  Yes.  Heartless ? No.  It's heartless to react with feigned sadness about tragedy - repeated, horror-filled tragedies - and not do anything about it.  Without any foreknowledge, or crystal ball, this will happen again as all the pieces remain in place for it to happen again.  Lock your doors.

But what can we do here ?  How could we really create change  - how to move the US from the #1 position in the world as those most likely to die from gun violence.  How do we control gun distribution, and address the underlying mental health issues that cause individuals to go off of the deep end..?

We do it by electing those that pledge and commit to solve the problem. In your town, state or county. We do it by walking away from the NRA - it's a membership based organization for gods sake.  Gun sales have gone through the roof in the US in recent years.   While any of these horrific, terror-inspiring actions undoubtedly have multiple causes - there's isn't a magic pill to solve this - the common theme here is availability and ease of access to weaponary that belongs in the Marines, not in your house.

So do something about it - or look in the mirror and admit to yourself that you are part of the problem.