Tuesday Mash-up

USATF - New Plan to Reward Athletes

The USATF came out with a plan to share with athletes. Color me unimpressed. U.S. track and field: a ‘monumental’ step forward Based on the numbers, the USAFT is sharing ten percent of the revenue it gets annually with the athletes. Compare that to basketball, where the split is 49 percent for the owners, 51 percent for the athletes.

The second issue is that the program is explicitly designed to reward the upper tier of athletes, plus offers bonuses for medals. You're an up-and-coming sprinter? Too bad, no money for you, but Justin Gatlin, sprinter, drug cheat, gets endorsements and USATF loot.

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Why Do Schools Abuse a Third of Their Students?

As an introvert myself, and with kids and grandkids that are introverts, this article read like a horror story. For all the talk in the education system of teaching to the child, the truth is that education is dogma-driven. The current dogma insists on open classrooms, group projects, and collaborative learning.

Shoot me now.

I like working by myself. For the ninnies who say the real world doesn't work like that, too bad. My world does, because that's the way I designed it.

The Dartmouth Institute for Writing and Rhetoric states students must “forego passivity in favor of contribution and participation...students must overcome isolation in order to learn to write.” Want to see me forgo passivity? Interrupt me while I'm writing. Better, ask my girls what the reaction is.

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Adventure Deficit Disorder?

I like the term. I don't live it, but I can understand it. Stephanie Cohen asks whether the modern lifestyle has robbed people of their sense of adventure. Do We Suffer From Adventure Deficit Disorder?  A good and quick read on an interesting subject.

Personally, I think most people don't seek adventure. Adventures have a tendency to introduce risk into life and most people are hard-wired to avoid risk.

Some of us, though . . .

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I've moved my two novels over to Kindle Unlimited. If you have a membership, you can read them for free. It's a weird (but pleasant) experience to watch the page counts as people read the books.

Book Reading

If you're free on Friday evening, October 9th, I'd be delighted to host you (well, technically Auntie's Bookstore would be hosting) for a book reading. The shindig starts at 7pm.

Or, if you're in marathoning shape, I'll be at the Spokane Marathon packet pickup on Saturday, October 10th to sign books. That runs (a pun? Me?) from 11am to 5pm. I plan on hanging out for the whole thing.

Hanging out at the Inland Empire Classic XC Meet

WIAA - Bless Their Little Hearts

The WIAA has seen fit to break apart middle school cross country squads, because their rules were built around the junior high concept. As a practical matter, that meant that we ended up with 7th-8th-grade runners, all young men, at the meet yesterday while the other nineteen runners took the day off.

Picture courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey.

As to why we had no girls, we ran into (again) the small school problem of facilities. Because we don't have adequate gym space for six basketball squads in the winter, the middle school plays b-ball in the fall. We see a goodly number migrate back once they reach high school and the schedule normalizes.

For those not familiar with the changes in the organizing structure of most schools, the old junior high system of 7th- through 9th-grade with single subject instruction (similar to high school) has been supplanted by the middle school system which incorporates 6th-through 8th-grades that focuses on team teaching. The WIAA, rather than revise the scope of activities they oversee to reflect the very real changes in school organization, created clunky rules that sometimes allow younger students to participate with their friends a year older. Mostly, though, the rules exclude student participation and split a third of a middle school team from the rest of the program. Foolish.

Inland Empire Classic Meet

LCSC Coach Mike Collins and all of his athletes that volunteer to work the event again put on a terrific meet. My four, all young men, ran a 3,000 meter course - the longest they'll face this year. All of them did well, with three of them PR'ing. More importantly, I loved the effort I saw from all of them.

I'm beginning to think that Mike Collins is an organizational genius. All the races started right on time and a total of 566 athletes raced the Lewis-Clark home course. The biggest race was the junior varsity men with 170 participants. Eleven middle school teams ran, from Waitsburg-Prescott from Washington to Timberline from Weippe. Twenty-eight high school teams made the trek, coming down from Spokane and Sandpoint, up from Grangeville, and over from Kennewick. The event continues to grow.

Koby Harris was the solitary runner for W-P and he joined our kids for the start, even doing a little final bit of warming up with them. He ended up right in the thick of things, a little ahead of one Asotin runner, a little behind another.

One point that I emphasized with the youngsters yesterday was the final kick. I made them two promises about that kick. First, it would hurt. Second, it wouldn't kill them. As they mature, I'm watching them accept that they can do more than they expected. Saw a lot of nice efforts at the end of the race. None of them died, so I didn't have to worry about having lied to them.

My coaching day finished at eleven, but I stuck around to play cheerleader. It's been a while since I yelled myself hoarse. Managed it while logging a pretty good fartlek workout, trying to get to the various points on the course. The way that Coach Collins laid it out makes the xc course very spectator-friendly.

During the women's varsity race, I got to encourage two freshman that I had last year. Carmen Eggleston and Maia Dykstra are off to nice starts for the their high school careers. The best race of the day for the Asotin women got turned in by Maria Eggleston, the only Eggleston girl that I didn't have the privilege of coaching. Maria just kept moving steadily through the pack to eventually finish with another PR. I'm not sure she realizes it, but she's run three different distances so far this year and PR'd at each one.

Kat Stephenson is another lady PR-ing every race right now and took third. Christina Vantrease scored in the fifth spot.

The best moment of the meet, from a coach and dad's perspective, was watching Adrienne Washington of Asotin fighting her way to the finish line and getting a huge hug from Maria. The young lady is running with a tweaked ankle from last week's meet and a broken wrist that she's dealt with all season. She's a gutsy kid, but she's digging deep into her reserves. Maria saw it, I think intuitively, and reacted. The folks of both have reason to be proud.

The men's race watched locals grab the top four spots, with Lewiston's Austin Byrer and Joey Perez taking first and fourth, Thomas Weakland of Asotin taking second, and Logo's Josiah Anderson snagging third with a nice tactical run. Eli Engledow and Thomas Martin, both freshman, seem to be getting the hang of the running thing. Nate Prior and Zack Sokoloski continue to improve.

I think the chip timing got a mite goofy as it has Samantha Nicholas running in the men's race - pretty sure I saw her in the women's race. When the final results go out, Asotin will drop one place as the inadvertent chip-reading gets removed.

The inland Pacific Northwest has some excellent high school running right now, men and women, much of it on display yesterday. Now, on to Tuesday when the sixth-graders get to show their chops.

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Adding to my schedule - I'm doing a book reading in Spokane at Auntie's Bookstore for those that can make it. That's Friday, October 9th at 7:00PM. The next day, I'm going to be selling and signing books at the Spokane Marathon packet pickup.

Rhythms

A missed Skype session turned out to be exactly what I needed this week to improve my running consistency.

To beat the heat of summer, I had also shifted most of my runs to early morning hours - an experiment that worked better than expected. Lately, though, I started finding excuses to not go out the door.

Also, since cross country started, my schedule went a little out-of-kilter. Pretty normal as I adjust to the different time for the runs and the odd nature of running with youngsters, some of whom can kick my butt in a mile, who can't hang for three. I do believe I've mentioned previously I'm slow. I end up running shorter but faster than normal with them. Laughing a lot, too - yesterday we did a hill grinding session, wore them out. Until we told them they could, as a one-time-offer-good-for-today-only,  run up the thirty-foot high dirt mounds. Amazing how fast junior high kids recover as they laughed and shouted and climbed the loose rock and sand.

Anyhow, I was supposed to Skype on Monday with Jack Welch. Not the GE CEO guy. Jackdog. Awesome dude who's become a friend over the last couple of years. (Has a great book, too!) Got up a couple minutes before the main alarm - we use three alarms in the house. The first is the snuggle alarm, plays positive music. The second is the main alarm a raucous get-your-buns-out-of-bed alarm. That's the one my sweetie gets up to. The last is my alarm and the voice of Enya tries to coax me into the day.

Rose on the first alarm, set up the computer in the near-dark because the season is shifting and what was bright sunlight a month ago is pre-dawn now. Made coffee. Logged into Skype - and discovered their network was down. No chat that day for Paul and Jackdog. Sadness.

Standing there as the edge of the sky brightened, the change of season finally struck. Motivation for the morning run was getting hard, not because I was getting lazier, though that's a frequent possibility.

Nope, I was out of rhythm.

My best (and most creative) sleep comes in the hour before dawn. When I used to drive truck for a living, I'd have to pull over to nap or risk putting the trailer in a ditch. As soon as the sun was fully up, I'd shift gears and get back on the road.

I spent about an hour yesterday rearranging my schedule, tweaking the writing time, the work time, and deciding where running would find its place. Turns out, back in the evening after work. A consistent time every day and the variability of my courses will improve because I don't have to worry about getting back to the house on time for work.

I woke up today, and lollygagged. Made the coffee, and started writing. Right in rhythm.

Tonight, I have a six-miler planned and, instead of a gotta-run attitude, I'm looking forward to it with a get-to-run smile.

Now I just need to reschedule with the Jackdog.

Run gently, friends. Find your rhythm and go.

Fitness Advice from the 1 Percent

Occasionally I find myself annoyed by people who decide that they need to proselytize to the rest of us. In this case, it's an article that someone recently tweeted about from Time magazine. Before that, it showed up in Entrepreneur magazine. Here's the article: Why Exercising Is a Higher Priority Than My Business. Go read it, or just move onto my cantankerous take.

As with most reformed individuals, Josh Steimle starts with a "once I was fallen" paragraph, talking about the early days of building his business and how he fell into the trap of valuing it above other things, including his health. He then moves on to talk about how the changes he made, how much more effective he is now that he is exercising ten hours a week, and finishes about watching his employees fall into the same trap that he did.

What he leaves out of his narrative are two critical features. First, when you are building a business, it's an all-or-nothing proposition. If the business doesn't succeed, you don't eat. Your family doesn't eat. You end up sleeping in a Hugo in the warehouse district and listening to hobos singing around a fire in a barrel. Of course he worked like mad and ignored things not directly related to building his business.

No sensible person goes into business with an intention to fail. The ones that make it are single-mindedly focused on whatever legally, morally, and ethically it takes to reach their definition of success. (I separate out those that don't operate legally, morally, and ethically as they aren't businesspeople - they're crooks.)

The second point where Steimle takes a disingenuous tack occurs when he talks about setting up incentive programs for his employees. While he freely states that he'll put off a meeting with a major client to get a run in, he doesn't go so far to say that he'd permit his employees to do the same. Instead, they get an incentive program - which the cynical among us might suggest also lowers the insurance rates for his company.

The difference in the way he treats himself and the way that I suspect he treats his employees mirrors the difference in their relationship to work. He has full control of his schedule. Most people do not. If you are working at Arby's and tell the shift manager that you have to check out for an hour for your noon run, he or she will escort you to the time clock to bid you a firm and final adieu.

I'm not picking on Arby's. Teachers can't just bomb off the job for a trail run unless it lands on their lunch hour - assuming that they're not busy then, too. Factory work? The same. Construction? The same. The hospital? The same. Patients don't care for themselves.

Josh Steimle recognizes the value of exercise, so much so that he pays his employees to cover his absences. His advice, to place exercise above work, sounds great - if you are part of the five percent of the population that works for themselves or has reached the upper reaches of a company that allows you to dictate and delegate down to free your time. I'm fortunate enough to be in that category (working for myself) with Steimle. I schedule my runs and yes, they make me more productive and happier. I also recognize that I'm an outlier.

I'll agree with the mantra that all people control how they use their time, but offer these amendments. If you need to put food on the table, you acquiesce to the boss and work the hours demanded. A stay-at-home mom has a choice, and the control, between running and consoling a crying infant. Which is the higher calling, exercise or your responsibilities to others?

There are many events that justifiably move exercise down the priority ladder. It shouldn't be that hard to acknowledge them and, instead preaching down, find a way to lift up.

Run gently, friends.

If you're in Spokane at 7pm on October 9th, I'm doing a book reading at Auntie's Bookstore. It would be great to meet some of you in person. 

Vaccinating for Kenya

My grandkids and I share a similarity of late: we’ve all been getting shots. In their case, the vaccinations are the usual battery of childhood immunizations while I get to play with the more exotic ones as a reward to traveling to Kenya.

I need HOW many shots!?

Photo Courtesy of George Hodan

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations form an impressively long list of diseases to guard against in Kenya. None are strictly mandatory for travel to the nation (the exception is yellow fever if you are coming from an area where it is prevalent, which the United States is not), but most are recommended.

The CDC presumes that you’ve had all the normal childhood immunizations. If you haven’t, add them to the list. I’m not going to take time to go over them except for the ones that I needed boosters for.

The List:

Yellow Fever – a viral disease, yellow fever kills about 30,000 people per year, mostly in Africa. It’s spread by mosquitos, and once the disease starts, there are no effective treatment options except to let it run its course. The disease runs through a primary course of symptoms that read like flu: headaches, fever, chill, muscle weakness, nausea, and vomiting. The second phase, affecting about 15 percent of cases involves liver damage, bleeding from the eyes and mouth, as well as vomiting blood. Some 20 percent of these cases result in death. I opted to get the vaccine. Not required, but it seems prudent.

Hepatitis A  – Hep A and B are strongly recommended. I love the comment I came across on one site – “If you are an adventurous eater . . . “ Seriously, I am not traveling all the way to Eldoret to eat at McDonald’s. Most of the time, I will be eating locally. Hep A covers the food and water issues. I’ll take my chances with the food. Andrea Kaitany with Simbolei Academy has already sent information on where to get drinking water along with a ton of other great advice and Justin Lagat will be helping to keep me out of trouble, too.

Hepatitis B - The CDC recommends Hep B if you might have sex with a new partner, get a tattoo or piercing, or have any medical procedures. Nope on the new partner (still in love with the one I got), and I don’t believe in self-mutilation, so that covers the first two. The third one, medical procedures, isn’t planned, nor is any activity that involves contact with someone else’s blood. OF course, getting mauled by a lion isn’t on the agenda, either. I got the Hep B as insurance, just in case things go bad.

Typhoid – Another viral disease, typhoid kills about 160,000 people per year worldwide. For folks in the United States, don’t get too complacent. Four hundred cases per year are reported here, with the CDC estimating that there are about 6,000 cases annually. With proper treatment, the survival rates are very high. I would rather not test the proposition, so I followed the recommendations.

Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis – I flung these together because the same TDAP vaccine covers them all. For adults who travel to Kenya, the CDC recommends getting this if you haven’t had a booster since childhood. Count me in that group.

Polio – Thanks to Jonas Salk, the idea of an outbreak of polio in the United States seems farfetched. Still, such an outbreak did occur in Kenya in 2013, likely a result of a fatwa in Nigeria which declared the polio vaccine an evil American plot to sterilize the true believers of Allah. If weren’t for the negative impact on herd immunity, I’d let the chuckleheads live (or not) with their decision. I got the booster.

Meningitis – The Kenyans in the North live smack-dab in the middle of the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. The CDC recommends getting this if you’re planning on being in the country during the dry season, December to June. Better safe than sorry.

Rabies – One of the few vaccines that opted out on, rabies is prevalent in most undeveloped countries. I’m figuring that if I get bit by a rabid rhino, I’m going to need other attention and will get the post-exposure vaccine. Interestingly enough, if you have the pre-exposure vaccine, you still need the post-exposure shots if infected.

Malaria – If, as Ben Franklin famously didn’t say, beer is proof that God loves us, I want to know what’s up with mosquitos. It’s not just malaria. They also carry yellow fever, encephalitis, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever. Probably more, but that’s a goodly list to worry about. There are several medications available to guard against malaria, taken orally. Because it is located above 2500 meters, Nairobi isn’t considered a risk area. At 2400m, Iten is. I’ll be taking the meds because I don’t know all the places that I’ll be going. It is quite possible that I will be in malaria-prone zones.  Two options exist (different areas need different medications), Malarone and Doxycycline. I’m opting for the Malarone. Doxycycline can lead to increased sensitivity to sunlight and sunburns.

Optional Medications

Much of Kenya and the Great Rift Valley is above 7,000 feet. Iten is at 7,900’ (2400m as previously mentioned.) If you are prone to altitude sickness, consider getting a prescription for it. Fortunately for me, I’ve camped, run, and stayed with friends above that altitude without issues (except I run even slower.)

One of the items that the doctor recommended for me was medicine for traveler’s diarrhea. I declined these. If it becomes a problem, I’ll take care of it there. Your comfort level might be different and it’s something to consider, especially if you only have a short visit planned.

The Cost of Travel Vaccines

The good news is that the shots, for the most part, don’t hurt. Not so the cost of getting the shots.

Most healthcare plans in the United States do not cover the cost of travel vaccines, considering them to be an elective process. The best review of costs that I found was here. Remember that the figures for malaria meds need to be adjusted for your actual time in-country. In my case, they’re going to run to about $350. This is one that I want to see if the in-country costs might be lower.

I strongly advise shopping around for your providers. I ended up getting my yellow fever vaccine at the local health district while getting the rest at the Safeway Travel Pharmacy in Pullman.

If you’re budgeting for the trip, plan on $1,000 for the base course of vaccinations and another $200 per month of travel for the malaria medications. It sounds expensive, and to a degree is, but if you’re planning a trip you’ll remember forever, the shots are worth it. Let’s remember the trip for all the right reasons.

I have a long memory

What Running, Burning Man, and WorldCon Have in Common

I read an article last week that the Burning Man event in Nevada now has a 50K race attached to it. A couple of synapses closed and an epiphany resulted.

I’m going to pick on a couple of different things, running among them. Running seems pretty self-evident, but let's focus on organized races. Specifically, I'm going to pick on the Boston Marathon, the once-meritorious race that had qualifying times.

Burning Man is an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert. It didn't start there, but in San Francisco in 1986 on a beach during the summer solstice. That was where the burning of a wooden man (and a dog) first occurred. Later, after a run-in with the park police who forbade the torching of the Man, the event shifted out to the Nevada desert, to join the Cacophony Society. It was pretty much a free-for-all until, according to rumor, Dr. Dre talked the organizers into charging an entry fee. Until 1996, it was a private event.

More later. Now it's time to trek over to WorldCon, home of the Hugo Awards. The location of the event moves around and is voted on by the various attendees to the Con. This year it plopped down in Spokane. The Hugo Awards are the most prestigious in the Science Fiction & Fantasy genre. The Campbell Award (won by Wes Chu this year) goes to the author with the best first novel for the year. The first WorldCon, depending on who you talk to, was either in the United States when Frederick Pohl traveled from New York to Philadelphia to meet with some other writers, or a year later (1937) when Arthur C. Clarke organized a more formal meeting that drew twenty people. The Hugos are supposed to be the ‘people’s choice’ awards for science fiction and fantasy.

So, now everybody should be on the same page, even if you're confused as to how these three events could possibly share anything.

As I said, the 50K at Burning Man was the key for me. Burning Man got its start as an artist's retreat, with a strong leave no trace behind element. It's grown from a small group of friends on a Bay area beach to 70,000 people in the middle of the Nevada desert. The Dadaists didn't strike me as the ultrarunning type. They didn't charge entry fees either (to be fair, the ultra doesn't either, but you have to purchase a ticket to Burning Man.)

That changed about the same time that attendance at Burning Man underwent a stunning growth curve, going from a private party of a few thousand die-hard artists to the 70,000 hangers-on who show up for random debauchery and drugs. The tickets for this year’s event was $390 per person, plus a fee for a vehicle. Officially sanctioned Burning Man events have showed up elsewhere as the concept franchises itself.

Boston used to be the race that proved you were good enough to rank among the best, at least by community standards. There's always been disagreement over the qualifying standards, but the acrimony really ratcheted up when you could fundraise to get an entry. When the 2010 marathon sold out in eight hours, the BAA adjusted the qualifying standards. They also granted preferences to faster runners. At the same time, they continued to admit 20 percent of the field that fundraised like champs but couldn't come close to a qualifying standard. Of course, it wasn't just any fundraisers, but sponsors of the marathon. Runners who qualified are no longer guaranteed an entry. Fees for Boston are approaching $200.

WorldCon managed to commit the double offense of disrespecting its fans and engaging in fratricidal behavior. Unlike the two examples above, the science fiction establishment eschewed money in favor of ideology. When one group organized to point out that many a fine story was left off the ballots, the blowback was ferocious, complete with charges of racism, sexism, and homophobia. In the end, the Hugos had a record five “No Awards” (matching the total for the preceding 70+ years) and a nearly white-bread slate of winners. So much for diversity.

In an effort to limit the hoi-polloi from getting notions of nominating verboten stories and authors, the fees for next year were raised 25 percent. I don’t anticipate a whole lot more diversity next year.

In the meantime, the fans just wanted a readable story. Based on the statistics, they haven’t been getting them, as the sci-fi and fantasy genres have taken a huge hit in sales over the last decade. Something is clearly out-of-kilter.

Each case above shares one similarity. They are sellouts.

Burning Man was about art and freedom and experience, not voyeurism at $390 a ticket.

Boston was striving to perform to a high level and seeing a reward for it. Now a shlub that isn’t within hailing distance of a qualifying standard gets in for raising money for the right charity. Boston can no longer lay claim to being a meritorious event. They’ve bollixed the entry system. The running companies in general and the directors of the major races seem to treat the runner as a sheep fit for shearing. Nike explores $200 shoes, races jack the entry fees, and races hand out medals to folks out for a saunter.

WorldCon can’t claim to represent the fans or the writers. The insurgents who advocated that story trumps politics were ostracized. The fans, per the major publisher, should pony up the dollars to buy stories that their betters have decided should be published for diversity or viewpoint. In the meantime, they raise the price of an ebook to stupid levels that hurt their own authors. The fans are deciding with their feet and leaving in droves.

It would be easy to say that these are outliers, cherry-picked for effect. They aren’t. The same thing is happening with almost every facet of society. Universities sell out their students, taking enormous sums of student loans knowing full well that the students will be indebted for most of their lives. Adding insult to injury, they allow far more students to matriculate into degrees than there is demand for in the real world.

American business is no better. I can’t do any better than this article by Clark Whelton – Lost in Krappetown.

At some point, people are going to start feeling like they’ve been taken for suckers. When that happens, the existing structures might well implode.

It’s happening in the publishing industry already.

Ominously for running, last year showed the first decline in decades in race participation, despite more races than ever.

It’s not too late to go back to first principles.

Chief Timothy State Park with the XC Kids

A great day for our first training run away from the school campus. The kids were awesome and we had a lot of smiles over the course of the run. Plus playing in the water and tossing footballs waiting for the high school team to finish up.

The Asotin Junior High squad at the top of the hill at Chief Timothy State Park. Getting a feel for the course. Island run is in nine days.

Figuring out the start line - most of them have never run a race.

Ten Tips for Recharging Your Batteries

As you might gather from the title of the post, this was a hellacious week. Beset by smoke from the fires, I've barely run in two weeks. The junior high cross country team had to run indoors. A client made a mistake regarding scheduling, led to an anxiety attack Friday and a fourteen hour day yesterday. I worked more than I should, play less than I needed, and I'm tottering around out of balance because of it.

So today, I'm being lazy. I need a chance to bleed off the stress and recharge. Here's my top ten ways of doing so.

1. Go for a run. You knew this would be at the top of the list. If there is a single human activity that can match a leisurely jaunt to help me relax, I haven't found it. John Ratey, in his book Spark, described how the effect of running is as effective as medications for depressed people.  If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. I liked it enough to buy five copies - and gave them to district superintendent, the principals, and the put one in the library. They like me anyhow, but it cemented my reputation for being a touch odd.

2. Read a book. Not a surprise, either. Depending on the type of recharging I need, I might invest some time in reading a four or five novels of the mindless entertainment variety, or perhaps a deeper classic. The classics get broken out when I need to challenge the brain but the body is weary. The thrillers and sci-fi come out when I need mental vacations. If I'm recharging, I generally avoid non-fiction.

3. Food and a glass of wine. Not recommended for the under-21 crowd, at least the wine part, but comfort food helps by being a touchstone to times that had a little less going on. The wine I enjoy and it's relatively safe from a gout perspective, provided I don't over-indulge.

4. A long drive with the right soundtrack. I love to drive, have ever since I had a moped when I was young and in college. I outgrew the moped pretty quickly, but I put 10,000 miles on it first and explored all sorts of alleys in San Diego. I usually relax/drive at night and let the mind wander while keeping an eye out for the deer.

5. Garden. Not yardwork, mowing or weeding. I like to plant things and watch them grow. Working with the soil grounds me (sorry, couldn't help myself) and I find I slow down and absorb more through my senses. I grow vegetables and have some fruit trees that I pick based on how well they respond to benign neglect. This year, the garden has not produced much for us but kept the deer well nourished.

6. Long, slow walks. Best done with company, in nature. Meander, stop to watch a bird or the flow of a river. Breathe.

7. Volunteer. Cross country season is back and I get to hang out with a great bunch of junior high runners. They're at that fun age where they've temporarily lost their brains but the enthusiasm levels are through the roof. I volunteer with them because I'm selfish and it makes me feel great. Another awesome group to hang out with are seniors as they value every single second. Find someone to help, share some love.

8. A good movie or show. Sometimes, life as a couch potato is exactly what the mental health doctor recommends. You get to define what's good, by the way. If you're in the mood for explosions and outer space, fire up the Star Wars franchise. Need to cry (ahem, just saying, not that I, manly as I am, would resort to a tear-jerker movie), put in Terms of Endearment.

9. Do a favorite activity. I don't write this blog for pay (I would, but nobody has offered.) I write for pleasure. The novels, once written, are widgets that I sell, but in the act of creation, the writing is a source of joy. You might find that doing jigsaw puzzles or pulling weeds (love it when my Mom visits!) or cleaning. Recharging doesn't necessarily mean flopping over and doing nothing. It's includes activity that refreshes. So today's post isn't work, it's play.

10. Solitude. For an introvert, which I definitely am, a solid week of helping people exhausts the emotional energy stores. Selecting "None of the above" and just enjoying some alone time can make all the difference. Yoga, mediation, prayer all play into this.

So, Anybody Ever Wanted to Run Across Ohio?

K.P. Kelly is running across the state of Ohio next week. While Ohio is one of the Mid-Western States, and a little on the smallish side compared to say, Montana, it’s still an impressive feat. A fast disclaimer – my longest ever run is 101.43 miles. K.P. is doing about 2.5 times that much.

Boggles your mind? Read on. He’s doing it for a pretty cool cause. (Interview was done electronically and I’m hoping that K.P. has time to add some new comments. Mine will get interjected in between.)

 1.     Let’s start with the big question – you’re about to run a ridiculous distance. How far and why? I will be running 250 miles, from the Ohio River in Cincinnati, OH to Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio.  Last year, I ran this same course, and did it over six days, stopping each night to sleep.  I ran last year to raise support for terminally ill children.  This year, I am running for Get Fit Ohio, a new organization I co-founded. Unlike last year, I am not stopping over-night.  I will run (and walk a bit) for 72 straight hours, without sleep, and with carrying all of my gear on my back.

(Yikes. I now officially feel like a slacker.)

2. What got you started on your non-profit journey?  My first nonprofit was Share 4 Kids. We grant and share wishes of terminally ill children. I’ve also served on the Board of Directors of several non-profits, and help to brand and market other non-profits.  I find my life has more meaning when the work I do and the way in which I spend my time has more meaning. Spending time working with non-profits is a way to utilize my skills, ability, and my passion, for a greater good.

(Married to someone working in the non-profit sector, I understand the motivations of the folks that work so hard for very few dollars – though great satisfaction.)

3. You’re also an entrepreneur. How do you balance your time? After all, none of these are easy tasks. That is always a challenge. People never believe this about me, but the truth is that I am not naturally an organized person nor someone that time management comes easily to.  I have had to work at it.  I experiment with different ways to be more efficient, find systems that work for me, then do the best I can to stick to them,  I am not sure if balance is ever achieved, and perhaps it is not meant to be achieved. We are always leaning one way or the other. I make sure to always put people first, and go from there. At the end of the day, if I just keep pushing forward, every task gets done.

(Oh good. I thought I might be the only one with time management issues and balance problems. Looks like we have the same first instinct—take care of people first.)

4. So how did you plan your training for your run? Honestly, I piece together my training here and there.  I am not a natural runner. I don’t have a strict plan.  There really is not a way to adequately train for something like this.  I could have trained a bit better. I could be in better shape. I wish I was a bit healthier. But in the end, nothing prepares for this.  I’ve done a lot of 30 mile runs. I’ve averaged over 100 miles per week the past 2 months.  My focus has been on training to do the first 100 miles as strong as I can, and then just hold on and survive after that.

 5. What kind of plans do you have for fueling, shoe changes, etc? Do you have a crew?  I don’t have a crew. I intended to have a crew following in an RV so that I had all my supplies, did not have to carry anything, and I could shower quickly and change frequently.  Plans for that fell through.

 What I will be doing is carrying about 20lbs with me. I will have a change of shoes, several pairs of socks, clothes, first aid, my food, and all the water I can carry. I will refuel anytime I come across a gas station or store and buy Gatorade. 

 I do have people coming out a few times on the run to change out my supplies.  Our Get Fit Ohio Nutritional Director, Mary, will be with me for a portion of the run, at night, driving alongside to allow me some time to run without carrying all the gear. That will be helpful. 

 I will change my socks every few hours, and rotate my shoes every 2-3 hours.  My food/fuel is being supplied by Great Race Nutrition. Most of my diet will be gels, but I will stop along my run to purchase some food.  It is a challenge to get in all of the calories. I need to be eating around 7,000 calories per day on the run.  It will be more of a challenge being alone for most of it and carrying my own gear, but I am actually looking forward to that; being self-dependent, just me and the road.

6. Last question. How do people go about supporting you? We will have our website up Monday, which will show the live updates along my run.  The best thing to do for now is to connect with our Facebook Page, http://www.facebook.com/GetFitOH We will be posting updates there and ways to support. Our GoFundMe is http://www.GoFundMe.com/FitCleRun   The donations have been much lower than anticipated so far, but the cause has been received tremendous attention and is being shared and talked about all over social media, which will ultimately help us in helping families in need.

Runners Aren't Solitary

The idea of the solitary runner, devoted to the sport like a monk to his order or committed to it like a convict, depending on whether you favor Once a Runner or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, runs counter to the actual evidence.

Both stories, one American, one British, involve the isolation of the individual and the starkness of the decisions that they make as runners. That makes for compelling fiction but falls short in expressing the runners as actually exist. Mind you, this is not a complaint against either—fiction writing, by its nature, dramatizes and expands the human experience. These books did both outstandingly well by focusing on a single aspect, the solitariness of their paths and the determination to trod it in their own fashion.

That doesn’t describe the majority of us. For evidence, I point to the large number of running groups that gather weekly to run together, train together, and race together. The truth is that running is a communal activity, one that probably is hard-wired into our genes. In Born to Run, Chris McDougall recounts the stories of the African Bushmen on the hunt, the Tarahumara playing their running games, and the incredible sight of one of the best ultrarunners in the world, Scott Jurek, standing wrapped in a blanket to cheer on the last finisher.

Even Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco, the ultimate loner, jumped in to pace the Tarahumara at Leadville and later organized the races that would become famous in the book, not for himself, but for the villages in the Copper Canyons.

Less extreme examples make an appearance every weekend in a town close to you. If the local running group isn’t out for a training run, they’re out racing or helping organize a fundraiser of a race. After that comes the gathering for coffee, if not a full breakfast.

We don’t always run in packs, the way cyclists do, but we give each other encouragement on the trails, quick smiles or an honest “Great job!” on passing. We wave, and yes, we try to figure out who’s faster. It’s human nature.

This comes to mind because cross country practice has begun, and I have a new generation of kids that I’m coaching. Already I can see them starting to bond. For the returnees, the first day of practice is like stretching a muscle memory, remembering how this team, this community, practices and plays together.

Kids that I’ve heard slam each other with insults in the hallways unabashedly cheer on their teammates during the practices. Soon, they will do the same at the races. They also cheer on the other team, which I think is a unique feature of running. When Duke played Wisconsin for the NCAA Championship, I don’t think anyone cheered for both at the same time, yet I see people and runners do it all the time at local cross country races.

Someone once said, and I have unfortunately forgotten who, that English is a wonderful language because it has words for both alone and solitude. Running, cross country racing, is similar.

It’s a solitary activity that most people do with a group, a race that we want to win and want the other bloke to do well.

Run gently, friends. Give a shout out to the next runner you meet – he or she is part of your tribe, after all.

'Like the Wind' Readers

Thank you very much for taking the time to visit my website. Feel free to look around and to comment. Please note I'm a family-friendly blog, so no scaring the children with bad language, okay?

As a Thank You! I've put my two novels, both ebook and paper, on sale until the end of September (a bit long on the timeframe as I know my copy of the magazine takes a bit of time to arrive.)

The second kindest thing you can do for an author is to leave a review at the location you purchased the book and to tell others about the story.

The kindest is, obviously, to purchase the book in the first place. My great thanks to all of you that do. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Run gently, friends.

Paul Duffau

I'll Figure It Out on the Way Down

Putting a gun to your head is the most stark example of a decision with either/or consequences I can think of. No, I'm not suicidal, just exercising the authorial right to hyperbole to frame a discussion. Ready?

Everyone reaches a point, or points, in their lives where stark decisions mean turning everything upside down. Not the where-shall-go-to-college-type of decisions or what's-for-dinner. Those come with built-in recoveries, easily implemented. Sad you didn't get into Yale, but there's a plethora of choices that exist below that. It's not potentially irrecoverable. Also, it wasn't your decision to make; that call goes to Yale after you apply.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that I am worried about taking two months off from my business and disappearing into the Great Rift Valley. For background, I run a one-person business, doing inspections for homebuyers and sellers. My income, while I'm in Kenya, is going to drop to zero. That doesn't worry me; savings accounts exist for a reason.

What does worry me is the thought that the people that I serve will evaporate while I'm gone. Certainly, they will need to find other providers during that period. I expect that, and I deliberately structured the trip to take place during the slowest part of the season, both to minimize the income destruction, as well as to limit the inconvenience to my friends that I work with.

Having my income drop to zero, period, forever, would be a mite troubling, and the possibility, though slight (in my not so humble opinion), exists. I could get another job, or create one, but the truth is that I genuinely enjoy helping people in the homebuying process. It also provides me with a reasonable income, flexibility to write and run, and intellectual stimulation.

I should also mention that I dislike uncertainty. Not the kind that comes with a small business on a ten-day cycle because I know that if I show up every day, do a good job, protect my clients, and treat everybody fairly and with respect, I will have new work as I need it.

What happens, then, when I don't show up?

The standard I set above was recoverable. Is this a decision, if made incorrectly, I can recover from? When you reframe the question from "Will bad things happen?" to a different proposition, can I adapt if it goes wrong, it changes the complexion of the problem. In my experience, the most resilient individuals are those that have the knack of redefining an issue to make it more manageable, rather than bemoaning the issue/disaster/end-of-the-world and freezing in place.

The other skill that resilient people bring is an acceptance of both the risk and the work necessary to achieve recovery. Nobody likes change. In fact, our brains are hard-wired against it. We are genetically pre-programmed with a default position for survival which is why so many people put up with abusive spouses, or horrid employment conditions, or ill-health (of the non-disease/genetic variety.) While not pleasant, in the context of survival, the conditions are tolerable.

Image courtesy of Public Domain Pictures.net.

So, I don't have an answer for what will happen when I return from Kenya. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and launch. I did it when, at 17, I asked my wife to marry me. (She did when she said yes.) I did it again when I started my business, again when I wrote the first book and let someone else read it.

A trip to Kenya isn't a case of someone putting a gun to my head. It's recoverable. Like the first guy to test a parachute, I plan on everything working like a dream. Having a backup plan helps and I've already plotted a couple of those. In the event things head south, I have some confidence that I can figure something out on the way down.

Or not. Or I might get eaten by lions. That's a possibility, too. I'll find out in February.