Fat Cells Crying

Have you ever been on a run and let the music be your guide?  I was running on a treadmill at work - not because I can't run outside - but I did not have the time to today.  SO I got onto the treadmill and popped in my ipod and ran like a rat on a string for 4.5 miles.  Not too bad of a run - I was averaging 09:30 miles and kept up a good pace with a rest in the middle to question my sanity.  But at the 3.2 mile mark a song came on that I could not just do a cool down for five minutes - and I tried.
The song?  I would do anything for love.  By Meat Loaf So I hit that song - and I knew that my version for some reason went for 11 minutes.  So what do you do?  You punch it.  You keep going and you make the most of your next 11 minutes.  Your brain is going "dude - that is Meatloaf - you gotta keep going."  Your heart is going at 172 beats per minutes - and is liking this a lot.  The rest of the body is going "Dude you will regret this later.  When you are in your cube and try to get up and your hip seizes up on you - Meat Loaf won't be there to help you."

The one part of the body that you don't need to listen to is the fat cells.  Yeah they are comfortable.  They are parts of the bacon wrapped scallops that you had for dinner last night.  They are the Lorna Doone cookies that you had a while ago.  Did I mention the cobbler from last night?  Three servings...

But you know what?  At mile three the fat started to suffer.  The cells started to die off.  Miserable little butter cells that have holed up for several years.  I think that they suffer.  Then spontaneously explode - and it is always easier to gain the weight through the mouth - but harder to destroy it and shove it out through the pores.

Sometimes you have do dig deep.  Find that pop tart you had and sacrifice it to the furnace of desire and throw out the detritus that shackles you.  Be free.  Run Hard.  Make the fat suffer.
FMR

Gibbs Rule #39

Gibbs Rule #39

There is no such thing as a coincidence.  Everything happens for a reason.  Leroy Jethro Gibbs says so.  So it is gospel.  So why do I say this?  Because in the last two weeks I have found that nothing ever happens without a reason or without result.
So when I go out for a run - I run with the purpose of solving my problems in my head.  Sometimes it is a spreadsheet and a problem with reporting.  Sometimes it is an issue at work.  Sometimes it is to run the anger out of my system.  Sometimes it is to give my soul absolution for tough decisions.  Running for me is a vehicle that when treated the right way is therapy for the soul.  So let me run you through my coincidences.
1.  I lose my job at UHC.
2.  I get my PMP.
3.  I get another job.
4.  I don't fit with that job.
5.  Another job that I had applied to earlier calls me.  Reopens the position that was closed so I can apply.
6.  Job I don't fit in - tells me so.
7.  Other job offers me a job - and better environment and longer term opportunity.

Coincidence?  I don't operate that way.  Things happen for a reason.  Activities happen for a reason.  Issues arise so you can learn.  All things mount and build.

On my run today - I thought on what I have learned where I am - but I need to know more - and I need to grow into what I need to be.  Work it out.  Learn it out.  Run it out.
FMR.

Give Me This Mountain

Link to my run

I have taken to running at lunch.  It is better than a nap.  Food is something that, unless with friends, takes me about ten minutes tops to ingest and move on.  

So let me describe my run.  Well let me begin with the map.  I started a map at www.mapmyrun.com and planned out a run that would go up and around and back to work.  The problem with a plan, and as Jack Reacher would say:  

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."  

Now I did not get punched in the mouth - but as I was out running I changed course.  I was running in the direction of the Avenues - but then changed course to run down South Temple.  Then I was near Memory Grove - but I did not go up the slight incline in Memory Grove - I changed course - and went straight up State Street and looped around the State Capitol and then I went into the City Creek Canyon - ending up going up into City Creek Canyon for 3/4 of a mile and then ended going back down through Memory Grove and then back to work along South Temple.  I was looking for five miles and got handed 5.6.  

So here is how this worked.  I began my run - and calculated in my head that I was going to be able to do whatever I thought I could do.  And I did just that.  I thought I would take the easier way into Memory Grove - but I did not.  I took the high road.  Literally.  I took the road that went straight up the hill and climbed the fault line.  Why?  Because I knew I could do it.  Now you must know that I am not a speedy runner by any sort.  I just keep going.  I figure that distance cannot kill you - just take it at your own pace.  You can do anything that you want to do.  Just do it reasonably.  I have a guy at work that says "You did not go out and run (fill in the blank) distance."  I hate to rain on that parade but I did do it.  I did do that.  I will probably do it again.  Again.  And Again.  

Why do I do it?  Why do you run during a time you could be sitting on your computer and fretting about Climate Change?  Simple. Sphere of what you can control - influence - and concern:

1. I can't control Climate Change
2. I can't influence Climate Change
3. But I can be concerned about it. 

On the other side of the spectrum - I can:

1. Choose how to use my time
2. Choose to go exercise and get my heart rate up
3. Take out the "trash" from work and sort through things
4. Make myself a little bit better

Running is something that I can control.  I can do it because I want to do it.  I can do it because I like to.  I can control when I do it and how I do it and how fast I go.  I can make the effort to push myself a little bit harder and go a little bit farther.  I can control it.  Which makes me more powerful because I choose to do it.

So I choose to run up the mountain.  Why do I run up the mountain?  Because I know I need it.  I know that I need to get up that mountain and I need to know that I can do it still.  In the Good Book - the "thick" Good Book - it talks of Caleb in Joshua (listen to Spencer Kimball).  Go to minute 6.

To quote Caleb.  "Give Me This Mountain."  

I look at what I do in this life - I don't want to remember my "Egyptian Slavery" or my "fill-in-the-blank" because I am afraid.  Afraid of something tough.  Take the low road because it is easier.  Go Slower because I don't want to do it.  The mountain will always be there.  Wander for 40 years in the wilderness of affliction - hoping that the giants leave and they leave the gates open.  Not happening.

So Caleb was 85 years old.  The giants were still in the land.  The topography was still the same.  But Caleb did not care who was in the land.  He did not care what was there.  He knew he could, with The Lord, with Faith in the God of Israel.  The selfsame God of Elijah - who (link) brings down the fire from heaven and mocks those who worship the dumb idol.  Caleb believes the promises of God.

So that is how I run.  I don't believe that the course I plot will kill me.  I don't believe that I will be the fastest man out there.  But, I do believe, that I will go out, and I will come back.  I will use my body as I need to and I will do what I need to do.  I will try myself, and I will test myself.  Give me the run. Give me the mountain.

FMR

Math and Life

I have been thinking.  Which for some people is a trial - but for some a journey.  Life is a journey.  So I had better be thinking about it as I go along.

I was out on a run last week.  My primary thought was - everything is about math.  The equation of life is difficult, complex, rife with variables, and in the end it all equals what we put into it.

I am a firm believer that you have control over your life.  You can do what you want.  You can be a dreamer, atheist, or a believer.  You can make your bed every day - go to work every day.  You can choose your profession and you can choose your mate.  You can choose to have children, and you can choose to love.  All of these things I have mentioned are just variables in the equation.

If you want to adjust the equation - you can do that.  You can take things out and you can put things in.  Do you want to be out of debt?  Then quit spending your money on things that don't matter.  You want to be skinny?  Then quit using the butter, flour, and sugar as your main food groups.  You want to be smarter?  Go and learn something.  You want to be a rock star?  Learn to sing and dance.  Or at least learn how to dance.  Singing and dancing sometimes don't work well together.

It is all about math and how you work the equation.  If you want something different then you need to adjust what you are putting into the equation.  You want to run faster.  Get skinnier.  You want to be a guitarist?  Do that.  Go get the guitar and you practice till your finger bleed and you can play well.  Do you want to limit yourself by what you have been given?  Sure that is is the easy path.  That is the path of the victim.  Someone who blames others because of something they don't have or something they were not ready to make the sacrifice to get.  Life all boils down to math.

I was thinking about this on my run.  I was thinking about my own personal math equation.  What balances my life and gives it meaning?  I don't think I can answer that without revealing my own personal equation.  But I can tell you some of the elements of the equation.  Mine begins with my family, branches out into others, and resonates with a belief in Higher Powers beyond me.  

My actions and my goals feed my equation.  If I want to run faster - I need to quit eating fruit snacks and Dr. Pepper.  If I want to get a better job then I need to make myself attractive enough that someone else wants what I am selling.  Me.  If I want a better marriage I need to focus more on my wife and less on me and more on my son.  If I want to be a better neighbor I need to help those that I am around and become a better neighbor.  

Can you see how the equation gets more complicated the more you drill into it?  Can you see the intricate numerals and wild card integers that float and move each day?  That is the math of life.  If you want something different add or subtract what you want.  I have found that the way one lives is in direct correlation to how they formulate their equation.  If you want to have all the money in the world - then start collecting what The Almighty uses as pavement.  Make your equation matter.  Make it something that others want to take parts of your equation and mirror it in theirs.  

Happiness is a math equation that gives your life purpose.  Make the math count.  Make your life count.  Run your race as fast as you can - or as consistently as you plan.  I want to make mine count.  I want the product of my life to be what I have put into it.  The product of my product.

FMR