Running the good race

Today was a first for me. I never before ran in an official race. I have always enjoyed running, but I never actually ran in an official race. Today I changed that forever.

I even crossed the finish line alone. Keep in mind there were many people ahead of me as well as many people behind me. With my asthmatic tendencies, I think I did pretty good.

Yes, I have asthmatic tendencies. I think they are related to some allergy that I must have. My respiratory passages fill up with mucous membranes, the natural reaction of the body to capture and expel foreign particles. But for me it means that the effective area of respiratory passages for air to enter my lungs is significantly reduced, and that means when I undergo activities which require extra oxygen – like running – I tire sooner than the average person. So my finish with an average time is really extraordinary.

I had set the goal to run the entire race. If I could just go the distance, that would be enough for me.

As much as I wanted that, I wanted my own safety more. So I wore a heart rate monitor. The instant I found my heart rate too high, I could slow down.

That turned out to be a life saver – probably literally. Part way through the race, I found my heart rate higher than I have ever seen it. I can recall over the years some workouts that were really working me out, but I have never seen my heart rate as high as 162. I had to slow down. Without that heart rate monitor, I would have pushed myself even farther and probably would have suffered for it. I may not have been in the best physical shape for that race, but my mind was sharp and determined. I truly intended to finish well.

What surprised me is that my first race experience was about more than the race.

I was in line to use the restroom just before the gathering at the start line. The line for the men’s room was much longer than that for the women’s room. Not surprising, since there were lots more of us men at the race. But the line for the men’s room was incredibly slow.

As surprising as that was, that was not what really surprised me. I was almost to the door to the men’s room, when out comes this old guy with a cane. I thought, Hey, dude, if you need a CANE to help you WALK, what the freak are you doing at a RACE? I just had to smile.

But that was not my last view of Cane Man. I saw him shortly after the race had started. I was purposefully in the back of the pack; I wasn’t there to compete, so I determined to stay out of the way of those who were competing. In addition, I understood that soon after the race begins a natural filtering process would unfold. Those who sprinted off like madmen would soon lose steam and start walking. I passed many such characters early on. That felt good. But I also passed Cane Man.

For some reason, I have to put him in a different category. Here is this man who needed a cane to walk, and he was RUNNING. Granted he was anything but fast — his gate resembled more some ancient native dance technique than modern athletic precision — but he was running all the same. I thought about that old fable about the tortoise and the hare. That made an impression on me.

And I’m glad that it did. When it became clear that I would have to choose between chasing after my goal or my own health and safety, I slowed down and thought about what I had witnessed. I felt discomfitted; here was the moment that I had looked forward to now for at least two months, and I found that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go the distance. But Cane Man taught me that it didn’t matter, not fundamentally. He soldiered on despite his obvious impediments. I could do the same despite mine.

I may have stopped running on occasion, but I never stopped moving. And I crossed that finish line running — alone, but running. There were some greeters there to congratulate those who finished. They were probably part of the organizing crew. They were welcome, for they already knew what I had learned along the way. Everyone who finishes the race is a winner. And I actually did go the distance, just not in the way I had envisioned.

That is what it means to run the good race. We keep doing what lies within our power, keep reaching for that mojo, keep acting on the belief that eventually we will cross that finish line and enter into our rest. That’s what I did today.

And next time I’ll do better than I did today.

Smile, it's bacon!

You have no idea (or maybe you do) how happy I am now that my home Internet connection is working again. It's amazing how dependent we can become on some of these things that were not even in the public mind 20 years ago.

I found this pic while purging old files on my computer, and it made me laugh just like it did when I first saw it. Then I thought that I shouldn't be selfish; I should share it with everyone else! My apologies to Stacy May -- I know you abhor bacon. But for those who are not among a defiant minority in a bacon-loving world, this pic is just priceless.

Hmmm . . . it makes me hungry just thinking about it. I think I'll have some bacon. Actually, I did have some bacon for breakfast the other day, along with eggs and an English muffin. I've started to enjoy life more by enjoying food more, and that morning provides an excellent example. I don't just scramble eggs; I toss in some black pepper, dill weed, and extra sharp cheddar cheese. If am making filling for a breakfast burrito, I'll also throw in some marjoram. And the English muffin I topped with butter (not the real thing -- I actually like the Smart Balance Light brand which is somewhat spreadable and supposedly "healthier" for you) along with cherry preserves. Mmm mmm good!

The other night I had another good example -- pizza with pepperoni and peaches! I know it sounds weird, but it was really good. For some time now I have known about pepperoni and pineapple on pizza. The sweet of the pineapple tames the spice of the pepperoni so that the flavors of the pizza come out together more instead of being overwhelmed by the pepperoni, which in reality has served to mask the shortcomings of many pizzas. The peaches did the same thing as the pineapple only not as much; the end result was a taming that left just a little kick in the pepperoni. It was really good.

I tried this on a frozen pizza. I usually take whatever I bake out halfway through the baking cycle so that I can turn it around. In my experience the back of the oven is usually a little hotter than the front, so I turn my item around halfway through for more even cooking. But this time I took the pie out of the oven so that I could add the diced peaches (which I took from a can of lite fruit cocktail). Then I stuck the pie back in the oven and let it finish its normal baking cycle, and voila! I know it sounds weird, but just like those roasted chicken flavored potato chips from my college days, this was actually really good!

As part of my continued effort to live more fully, I'll have to include more spotlights on good food and recipes in future posts. And lest anyone think that good taste means an increased waistline, I lost a total of 41 pounds last year on the Dr. Curtis Plan. I love eating what I want and still losing weight! Maybe I can go into more detail about this as well in a future post. For now, Tashi wants to play, and as every man knows, when the female says jump, the man just jumps. Plus she was upset with me the other night, but who can blame her? I left at 7 AM, got back at 9 PM, and didn't even call to let her know where I was or when I would be coming back. I didn't call of course because I didn't think that she would pick up, but that is obviously no excuse! I tried to make it up to her by buying her some new toys, and now part of my penance is to spend more quality time with her. So here I go. Woohoo!

You figure out what the title should be

So I had it all figured out. There was just one problem. How do you put something online if you can't get online?

My home connection experienced some major problems. Apparently there was a glitch somewhere, and my account was discontinued. Getting it back up and working again has been a pain in my you-know-where. It's still not up. I am at this moment sitting in the public library using their connection. So the post that I intended to do last Saturday didn't get up, because apparently when I called beforehand to ask what was going down, the answer I got was that someone at their computer had not done something correct. So the extra week that I was made to wait while the service got reinstalled was spent with nothing on both ends, mine and theirs. I was told that tomorrow my service should be back in operation, but I didn't want to wait that long to post again.

In my desires therefore to be proactive with the situation, I typed out my post in a simple text file, put it on my flash drive, and decided to visit my public library with the idea of doing a simple copy and paste. I usually do visit the library anyway, but I usually also go to the downtown branch because it is bigger and nicer. Seeing as how that branch is out of my way coming between work and a church meeting, I am here in the suburbs (well, not exactly, but same same). I was also going to update my goodreads.com bookshelf (an excellent site for those who like to read and share their love of reading with a wider community). Lo and behold, what do I find? The library network has been set up so that people can see what files are on their flash drives, but they can't open them.

What was the old saying about how some people can't win for losing? Whatever it was, I'm sure they were talking about me.

I obviously have access to post, else you wouldn't be reading this right now. So I decided to post about my inability to post. Not very creative? Well, at the end of my workday throughout which I was forced to use my brain almost exclusively, this is all I got left. Sad, I know, but true nonetheless. My employer is #9 on Fortune's most admired companies list for a reason; we perform exceedingly well, and part of the reason for that is a culture that pushes the people who work there farther and farther. I'm one of those people.

I was told that my home connection should be working tomorrow. We will see. I'm certainly not going to withhold my thoughts if it turns out that a certain red light on my modem hasn't changed to green. And those of you who know me well know what limits my mouth has when I release any sense of scrupples. In a word, none.

OK, I'll be nice. I know I should be. And I (usually) am. I'm just a bit frustrated.

The hardest part of not having my home connection is NOT not having access to email (I know I'm an English degree holder who just used a double negative; sue me). I always considered email as little more than a tool; I get in, use it, and then get out. But with the upgrade in my Internet connection to a higher speed, I have begun to discover something called Internet TV. Since I haven't had a TV in my place for almost four years now, I had escaped the black hole of vegetation that seems to be a mainstay of modern American culture. And I haven't missed it at all. But now that I have some access again, I have become re-integrated with a show that I was starting to get into before I foreswore my TV altogether --- 24. They only have the last three episodes online, so if my connection is not up and running tomorrow as promised, then I stand on the precipice of risking ignorance. A gap will exist in my understanding of events. Well, OK, not a total gap since they replay enough of the main digs to patch it together. But then why watch the show at all? Details, man, the real story is in the details, buried right in there with the devil. I'm afraid I might miss a little of the excitement. And yes, watching Jack Bauer be Jack Bauer is way more exciting than hearing about it. I loved how they started the season with him telling off that smug senator. Plus the long anticipated battle between Chloe and that IT chick at the FBI (sorry, too tired to remember names right now) was just starting to ignite during the last episode that I was able to see. I've been looking forward to that one all season long.

Guess you don't know how dependent you are on stuff until it's gone.