Passion, Purpose, Pasta

 Here's a few more Disney photos, including some of the marathon pics. I look pretty dead in those race photos, but then, I felt dead.

We may actually be done with the deck project this weekend. Kind of glad and ready for it to be out of the way. I don't really like having things hanging over my head, it makes it difficult to do anything else without thinking, "I should be doing Thing A instead of this." Tomorrow I may go for a short run - maybe 2 miles or so, just to see how I feel. I'll spend a couple of weeks doing short, easy runs and then go to a sort of winter training/maintain fitness sort of running. I don't really have a race to train for until October, but I'm looking at some ultra plans online. The answer to my "do you feel like running another marathon" question was ... kinda, yeah, I do. If I'd trained for more mileage I could have because I certainly wasn't balking at the idea of running again. It was not a "hell yeah," but it also wasn't a "hell no." I do think I could handle more long races in a short span of time if I train like I'm going for a single ultra distance though.

Of course this also could be an excuse to keep carb loading. 

Weekend Long Reads

 Seeking the Lost Art of Growing Old With Intention - This is an older piece from Outside Magazine on Bernd Heinrich, who is not only a record-holding ultra-runner but a naturalist who has published some fascinating and highly readable pieces on Raven behavior. Obviously I am not in any way biased about this, wink wink. And obviously, he lives the dream in his rural cabin, surrounded by the natural world. I always aspired to a Thoreau-like existence as well. I mean, not camping out in Emerson's backyard, but settling into a quiet, routine observation of nature, season to season, until I'm able to read clearly the story being told in every ditch, thicket, and field. I feel like I'm beginning to develop that kind of observational ability, too. I know which trees change when fall approaches, even if in Florida we have precious little between "roasting" and "freezing." Which birds will migrate, which will stay year-round, which flowers will begin blooming first when spring approaches, and which bear is going to shit in my driveway.

To Feel the Awe of Living, Learn to Live With Terror and Wonder - This may be a bit of an over-simplification of this essay's point, but it brings to mind something I was reading a couple of years ago that's become basically a guideline for life for me. "Be willing to do what other people won't, and you'll be able to live how other people can't." In other words, do hard stuff, be willing to put in the work, show up every day, and you'll do epic shit. And there's going to be incredibly difficult things that happen, whatever it is you're pursuing. You'll be scared, you'll feel deeply alone, even depressed, angry, and like none of it's worth it. And I think, in the "transformation stories" we see so often now, those realities get glossed over in favor of The Change itself, cue the lights and music. So it's easy to believe that someone became the person they are without the blood, sweat, and tears. But that does a huge disservice to how life really goes. Shit hurts, but it's necessary. Ever met someone who never really had any hard or scary times in their lives? Didn't you want to just punch them in the face? Yeah.

How Energy Bars Became America's Favorite Snack Food - I'm certainly not above eating an energy bar as a meal replacement. Typically I make my own at home, mainly because I can, and also because I can control the amount of sugar, and because it's sometimes not easy to find good vegan ones. That's becoming less of a problem, though, as I start seeing more openly vegan (as opposed to accidentally vegan) snacks in grocery stores and such. My only problem with my homemade bars is that I can't take them out on a run. I haven't figured out how to pack them, and I assume if I'm going to take a stab at ultrarunning I'm going to have to figure this out. I guess I could buy something, but I like my little recipe - it tastes pretty good, and depending on whether I use vanilla extract or almond, it can be "just chocolatey" or have a more sophisticated, amaretto like flavor. But I've got the nutrition dialed in - fats, complex carbs, simple sugars, etc. Fiber, but not too much. Even for me - someone who routinely eats a very high-fiber diet - too much fiber on race day can lead to ... predicaments. But then, towards the end of long races I'm shoveling stuff in my mouth without being too critical of what it is. Which is how I've ended up chugging beer and shooting vodka, LOL.