One Thousand Miles

I ran one thousand miles. That's 5,280,000 Feet. Or 1,609 Kilometers for you metric people (you know who you are). I really did it; 1,000 miles. I have a record of it and everything. Pretty good, huh? Are you impressed? Good.

I didn't do it all at once though. No. That would be too far. It took 13 months. So really it's only around 18 miles a week. But when you take away weeks where an injury or the weather made it difficult to run, times when I was sick, and times when watching the kids and being on vacation got in the way, it's pretty good. Maybe I can do my next 1000 faster; we'll see.

I've been an on and off runner for a long time. I can remember running the Scituate (MA) beaches to stay in shape for basketball way back in high school. And I ran a lot right after college when I was in a new place (Middletown, CT) with lots of time on my hands. I remember running in Malawi; a tall, skinny, white guy running through an African village. And then along the banks of Charles when I lived in Boston. For a couple of years I ran early mornings to beat the heat along dirt roads in the tropics (Dominican Republic). And I can remember running lots of miles with my dog Dexter, the yellow husky.

About five years ago I fell in love with trail running. I think that's what really got me back into it. My job moved from downtown Boston to rural New Hampshire and the new work site had a large campus with trails through the woods. I liked running the trails immediately and made it part of my routine. I've changed jobs since then, and my current job affords me access to the Merrimack River Trail - lucky for me.
   

I started logging my runs on DailyMile.com in September of last year. The site describes itself as a "social training log for runners, triathletes, and cyclists. Dailymile is the easiest way to share your training with friends and stay motivated". I've found it helpful. There have been times when making a new entry has encouraged me to make my run to meet a mileage goal. Also the forums and networking with other runners is helpful. Best of all though, is the way it allows you to keep track of your runs and mileage.


The One Thousand Miles is an artificial milestone. But that's ok. It's an excuse to celebrate something I enjoy. What's wrong with that? 

Christopher Colombus was a Boob

Today we celebrate Columbus Day. Cristobol Colon is taking some heat lately for having 'found' someplace where people already lived and for being mean to those people. Also, he's getting less credit for believing the earth was round; 'cuz most educated people of his time knew that. Fair enough. But he still deserves some credit. He was a risk taker. He was daring. While he wasn't the first European to 'discover' the America's (think Vikings), he was the first to stay.


What's being overlooked is Colon's creativity and persistence. Just to get funding for the first voyage, Colon creatively used estimations of distances to make his 'new route' to Asia seem feasible. He took the low estimate for the westward route and the high estimate for the eastward route to make the new trade route appear desirable. Then, because he needed to leave some crew on the island before he sailed back, he befrieded some Taino chiefs. Meanwhile, he was capturing other Tainos to sell into slavery. And later, when it was realized that he hadn't landed anywhere near Asia, and that his estimate of the size of the earth must be way low, Colon came up with a gem. He responded that the earth must be shaped like a pear.


We should not give Colon too much credit for 'discovering' the Americas or for 'proving' that the earth was round. But we should give him credit for risking his neck and for being a creative in gaining support for what benefitted him.

Cool Quotes I

‘With great power comes great responsibility’. – Spiderman

‘It's really very simple. In this world, there is right and there is wrong ... and that distinction is not difficult to make’. – Superman

‘It is not sufficient that I succeed - all others must fail’. – Genghis Khan

‘With Heaven's aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you’. – Genghis Khan

‘I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you’. – Genghis Khan

‘The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies’. – Genghis Khan

‘The scarcity of years does not necessitate lack of wisdom’. - James Clavell (King Rat)

‘Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life’. - James Clavell (Shogun)

‘Of what real value is a title? The power is the only important thing’.- James Clavell (Shogun)

‘Travel is glamorous only in retrospect’. - Paul Theroux

‘Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going’. - Paul Theroux

‘It is usually expensive and lonely to be principled’. - Paul Theroux

‘I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better’. - Paul Theroux

‘Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do a thing’. - Paul Theroux

‘Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us’. - Paul Theroux

‘There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will’. - Epictetus

‘A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control’. - Proverbs 29:11

‘People do not lack strength, they lack will’. - Victor Hugo

‘My mother's menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it’. - Buddy Hackett

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe’. - Jimmy Durante

‘An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest’. - Benjamin Franklin

‘Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none’. - Benjamin Franklin

‘Genius without education is like silver in the mine’. - Benjamin Franklin

‘He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals’. - Benjamin Franklin

‘He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else’. - Benjamin Franklin

‘Deadline' is usually a misnomer. - me

‘Take your time. Few things are worth rushing for’. – me

“Life's full of surprises. Too bad so many of them suck” - me

‘I do not stop when I am tired. I only stop when I am done." – Unknown

‘Knowing you is a humbling experience’.- me

‘The same old thing—even if it's champagne—is still the same old thing’. – Mason Cooley

‘As for me, all I know is that I know nothing’. - Socrates

‘I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance’. - Socrates

‘I am the wisest man alive for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing’. - Socrates

‘Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever’. - Napoleon Bonaparte

‘Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.’ - Napoleon Bonaparte

‘If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars’. - J. Paul Getty

‘I'll sleep when I'm dead.’ - Warren Zevon

‘The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them’. - Mark Twain

‘Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler’. - Albert Einstein

‘We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time’. - Vince Lombardi

‘The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good’. - Samuel Johnson

‘The most dangerous road of all is the one called revenge’.–Kwai Chang Caine

‘When a man has nothing, it is then he is most able to raise himself up’.–Kwai Chang Caine

‘I seek not to know the answers, but to understand the questions’.–Kwai Chang Caine

‘I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize’ – Steven Wright

‘There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot’. – Steven Wright

‘Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn’t happen’. – Steven Wright