10 things no-one tells you about running

Ten things you only find out by actually running – Welcome to the wonderfully glamorous world of long distance running

Running in Canberra isn’t so bad after-all

1. You will eat bugs
   – Sure enough on that peaceful sunset run next to a nice lake/river you will encounter a hoard of bugs that seem intent on kamikaze flight paths into your mouth/up your nose. Breathing being an essential part of running will aid their plight and you will spend the next thirty seconds snorting, coughing and trying to eject the little bastard from your nasal cavity. Embrace it as a source of protein.
2. Your feet will lose all feeling
   – Blisters than don’t heal for months, losing toenails and finding out several days later that the little rock that went into your shoe apparently worked a hole in your heel and now has a healthy fresh layer of skin covering it. It will be gross, but your feet will become an asset defined by their utility. They get me from A to B. Their maintenance is important to keep them working, but not their looks or feelings.
3. There will be gas
   – both ends. If you’re lucky it will just be gas… The most inspirational athlete I’ve seen speak is Kurt Fearnley. My favourite anecdote was from when he was defending his title at the New York marathon and shat himself at the 32km mark. With over ten km to go, he went on to win gold.
4. Ice baths/cold showers will become your friend and compression socks work
   – I don’t know how, but wear then if you want to walk normally tomorrow. Ditto the ice bath.
5. Chafing is an issue
   – prepare yourself for weeping sores that don’t seem to heal, created from next to nothing. You will gain a whole new appreciation for seam free everything and bepanthen.
6. It will increase your flexibility
   – OK so the next day after a long run you won’t feel flexible, you will wake up feeling like an 80 year old who has spent the last 60 years living a box – but after a few weeks of training you will realise that somehow touching your toes is much easier that it ever was. Take the jagged yoga pill after your run and you will get serious rewards.
7. It will increase your creative thoughts/philosophical ponderings
   – many great writers/comics/philosophers credit long distance running to developing and fostering new ideas. Maybe its the increased blood flow that opens your mind?
8. You will be starving
   – all the time. Thoughts of food will consume your day and when you do eat, you will be insatiable. But that’s ok cause you just ran 20km, dig in! Enjoy those carbs, you’ve earnt it!
9. It is really time consuming
   – “back in a tic, just gotta do this 20km easy-slow” said no one ever.
10. It will teach you more about self-control, who you are, and what you are capable of than any self-help book ever will.
    –  You’ve heard the adage “your body is capable of doing anything your mind tells it to” well actually it’s capable of much more. During standard strength tests in the 60’s scientists found that when subjected to loud sudden noises people could express much more force than by sheer will-power alone. (http://jap.physiology.org/content/16/1/157) This has been shown time and time again through studies and anecdotal evidence (‘Mum lifts car off her toddler’ etc. etc.).
    As for running long distances, train the mind first, everything else is details; or as Kurt Fearnley puts it: “Your body is an idiot. It will listen I anything you tell it.” So why not tell it to run a marathon?

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It takes a strong man…

I am incredibly grateful to be in a loving relationship with a strong man. Not a beefed up narcissist, but a guy who supports and encourages me to live my own life and follow my own dreams.

It is incredibly easy for a partner to dissuade you from doing anything, from eating that second helping to buying a motorbike. You respect and value their opinion. Conversely it is often hard to bite your tongue or consider your partners thoughts/feelings/best interests before giving your own opinion. This is especially true when their aspirations may change your life; be it your location, combined income, social standing, or time together, it can be scary. Often our first reaction to change is ‘no, it can’t be done,’ which is why when you have two strong minded, independent people in a relationship it can be volatile.

My partner respect me, values my opinion and encourages me to follow my dreams and aspirations. I’m sure it isn’t easy for him to do this, but he has done so consistently. When I asked if he thought I should go to Timor he said “Is it what you want to do? Does it feel right?” When I replied it was and it did, “then do it.” When I asked if I was being stupid for continuing to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with altitude sickness he replied “you’ll regret it if you give up now.” He encourages me to follow my dreams, believe in myself and always supports me to do so. That is what makes him a strong man and it makes me lucky to be in his life.

14/02/15

The dangers of multitasking

Do you multi-task?
I’m not talking about productive activity at work, I’m talking about the incessant need to do everything now. Do you text and drive? Do you check Facebook on the toilet? When was the last time you had a meal and just sat there pondering?
There is a phenomena called type A personality. This is easily identified as someone who never sits still and try’s to concentrate on multiple things at once, all the time. As soon as something is accomplished the next thing is desired and time out is seen as a waste. They are the ultimate efficiency expert multi-tasker.

However there are dangers to multitasking and especially type A personality disorder. I’m not talking about running a cyclist over while trying to text and drive, I mean psychological.

This is Eleanor Abernathy aged 24.
She has a medical degree from Harvard and a Law degree from Yale. She wanted to do it all.
And this is Eleanor today.

As I write this I am sitting in a uni lecture with an assignment open in the background and work emails open on my phone. I have issues with multitasking. Thinking about Eleanor’s fall from grace reminds me of a comment my supervisor once said to me. He found me in the gym cycling while reading a book on radical change management techniques and listening to MOS. I argued I was exercising, learning and relaxing at the same time. He argued that in ten years I would have a mental breakdown.

Fair call, only problem is I don’t like cats.

The Blue Hole

In the Caribbean off the coast of Belize is what was, in prehistoric times, a gigantic cave. It now is a 300m deep perfectly round hole that is submerged, surrounded by magnificent coral reefs and one of the best dive sites in the world. The water around the blue hole is the most amazingly clear, iridescent blue, filled with fish, dolphins and all sorts of incredible sea creatures. The sky competes against the sea with its own brilliant blue and the stunning sunlight saturates everything. It is an amazing part of this world.

But the experience of the blue hole itself is different. In it lies something we all have within us, something that some may be more familiar with than others, a deep dark black nothingness hole.

As soon as I swim over the abyss the water gets colder, the visibility diminishes and the sea life disappears. My breathing rate increases and I stop to let my eyes adjust. Beneath the top ring the steep walls fall back into a cavern, blocking the brilliant sunlight. I sink down and under the lip of the cave I find Stalactites. I swim between them, some as big as telegraph poles. They seem to reach, achingly down into the darkness. I look down into the dark space below, there is nothing to gauge if I’m moving, just all encompassing darkness. the feeling of being lost in a dark void encroaches. A dark void with no light, no life, no hope. A void that seems to be bottomless. The dark space beneath seems to beckon me. It seems so familiar in my mind yet absolutely terrifying. Terrifying because I don’t know how deep it goes, how dark and convoluted my thoughts can get, how dark the deep hole within my mind is. Is it bottomless? Will I get lost in the darkness forever?

I swam into the black hole and made it out. I have done so theoretically several times in my life. I don’t know how deep it goes but I know it is there tempting me with its familiar all consuming darkness. Which every so often, seems better than the harsh blinding sunlight.

Internal Robot Thoughts

I love second hand books. The more random the place I buy them from and the cheaper they are, the better they are. A bought a book in Yamba (a surf bum town on the NSW north coast) for 50cents. It was written by a American business/self help guru over 25 years ago (Dr Denis Waitley) and I carried it with me throughout North, South and Central America.

Why? Because it has a concept in it that I love.

Most self help gurus believe that self image is made up of two parts, the conscious level of thinking and the subconscious. The conscious level collects information, makes decisions and moves this information to the subconscious. The subconscious controls body functions, stores memories and controls goal seeking. Denis named the subconscious his “Robot” and even wrote a little poem about him. 

The problem comes when the conscious level of thinking tries to make a decision that doesn’t correspond to the robots programming, (the robots memory bank.) The robot will then override the conscious mind’s decision. Effectively our subconscious is in control. Our robot is in control of our thoughts and actions. 

Biologically it makes sense. I imagine this was developed from cave man days when some beefy, testosterone fuelled Neanderthal was trying to convince himself he could take on a sabre-toothed tiger single handedly to impress some cave chick. The robot subconscious would take control of the situation and the beefcake lived to see another day. Darwin took care of those without the overriding robot.

Bungee jumping is a good example of how this can be used to our advantage. Our conscious mind knows that the rope will catch our fall, however the subconscious knows that heights are dangerous (information gathered from past experience and learnings), that ropes fail (information gathered from news articles) and surmises that generally this isn’t a good idea. However, the subconscious only knows what it’s fed from the conscious mind, past and present. If your conscious thoughts are strong enough to convince your robot that bungee jumping is fun (you may need evidence to convince him, such as watching other people bungy and live to tell the tale,) you may be able to jump. If your conscious mind cannot convince your subconscious mind then the robot is in control. Your past will dictate your future. 

My stubbornness kicks in here and I say: “No, no one tells me what I can and can’t do, take this robot!” And I jump off the cliff. My subconscious is always kicking and screaming, sometimes it even has a slight breakdown, but I tend to beat it into submission, or try to. Honestly it is a constant struggle to be able to live your life how you want to, not dependant on past experiences and how people from your past have influenced your thinking. E.g. If you’ve never had anyone in your life that you can trust, how does your robot trust the next person? If you don’t think you deserve happiness, how does your robot embrace happiness? 

So who’s in control of your mind, your current thoughts or your Robot? 

I’ll leave you with Denis’ Robot poem that he wrote the year I was born. “I have a little robot,That goes around with me.I tell him what I’m thinking,I tell him what I see,I tell my little robot,All my hopes and fears.He listens and remembers,All my joys and tears.At first my little robot,Followed my command,But after years of training,He’s gotten out of hand.He doesn’t care what’s right or wrong,Or what is false or true.No matter what I try now,He tells me what to do!”

I want to not want more

Competitive manufacturing teaches us that there is no such thing as perfection. If you achieve perfection then you stop striving for more and will subsequently be overtaken and become out dated. You must instead strive for excellence, Kaisen, continuous improvement. You must always ask yourself, “how can we improve? How can this be better?”

As a business philosophy this is fantastic. But how many of us take this opinion into our personal lives?

If you have the iPhone 4 do you feel the need to upgrade to the 4S? If you lose 5 kilos do you feel the compulsion to lose 5 more? Do you want the latest, greatest car/house/job/education/social life/fitness level? Where are the boundaries? If your partner is an 8/10 do you hold out for something better? Where does desire and determination turn to pure narcissism?

I used to have a life philosophy that encompassed goal excellence. I worked two jobs, was studying two courses and in my spare time I would network, exercise and try to learn new skills. But for me it wasn’t about having the latest gadgets or being the greatest, it was fighting the stagnant nature of a daily routine. Inside I would be screaming “What’s next?” and planning my next degree before I’d finalised enrolment. Sadly this crossed over into my personal life and I would always be planning the next moment without ever really experiencing the current one.
This accumulated until my drive and determination was almost completely extinguished and I abandoned my job, career, education, possessions and relationship to wander aimlessly around the world.

Today I haven’t quenched my inner drive, but I have quelled it slightly. I have found some inner peace. I’m not sure how I got here; perhaps a month in the Himalayas was all I needed. Perhaps completely letting go of the reins, selling almost all my possessions and experiencing life with people who had less than me but wanted for nothing was enough to alter my perspective. I am relatively content with how things are, even when I have no idea where I’ll be in a year.

That being said as I settle back into daily life I cannot help but want. But what do I want? I often ask myself this to find direction but am only left with one answer.. More. I want more in every aspect of my life. Will more make my life better or easier? No. But I still want it. I want more time, happiness, friends, education, fitness, relationships, food, clothes, money, bacon, more everything please. And when I get more, I will then want more again. Greed cannot be sated.
More is the curse of the western world. It is at the core of first world problems.
It is why the third world is happier than the first. It is why I want to run away and live in the himalayas.

The solution? I’m still working on it (open to suggestions) but being aware that having more, doing more will not solve anything is a good first step. Practicing the ability to find hapiness in life’s simple joys and to stop and smell the flowers whenever you can. Literally.

Kony

Tonight is “cover the night” the global phenomenon to find and capture Joseph Kony marketed by the NGO invisible children. If you haven’t heard about it, get out from under our rock and google it.
A few weeks ago the founder of invisible children had a mental breakdown in the midst of the publicity storm. The media was on him like rabid dogs and people were quick to dismiss the whole thing. “How can someone with those problems run this campaign?” The media quickly asked and the world turned their backs.

I strongly disagree

People are just people. No one is perfect.
We need to remember the core message of the campaign, which is about protecting children from becoming child soldiers. That is what this is about, not the founder, not the thousands around the world who have given time and money to this worthy cause, just the children in Africa.

But conversely, if Jason Russell can organise a global campaign with severe mental issues then what the hell is our excuse for not organising one? Arse farming? The least we can do is support this campaign.

At work there are no perfect employees or perfect managers. No one has work as their core purpose in life 100% of the time. Hence no one will be focused on work for the entire working week. I know the people i work with will have outside work issues in their minds that will impact on their productivity, But that is what is important to them. So long as they’re trying at work, that’s what counts. I’m more than happy to be lenient.
So stop looking at the flaws and start looking at the capabilities. You won’t have a manager who knows everything just as you won’t have a skilled worker who can manage everything strategically. Sometimes out of work issues impact massively at work but any manager worth their salt will understand that and support you.

 

30th April 2012

Jaded

Apparently I’m jaded. I was told this recently and it didn’t bode well. After much analysis I understood why people might think this. I tend to give my all in relationships and I’m often the one left with nothing in return and hurting. Which doesn’t strike me as fair or just. I have often given the opinion “such is life” or “ke garne” because life isnt fair, it just is. I often tell my friends, Don’t worry, it will probably happen again, soon enough, so don’t be too concerned. Easy to see why some may think I’m jaded. 

Buddhism teaches the 4 noble truths, which states that suffering is an unavoidable fact of life and realising that, freeing yourself from wanting and accepting this truth is the only way to happiness. 

I’m not sure that I’ve freed myself from wanting but I have realised and accepted that I will be hurt again and again and again. All relationships must come to an end one way or another, whether by blood splattered walls, mutual decisions or simply by death. And there is every possibility that a wonderful relationship will prelude the demise. I prefer to see this as being a realist than being jaded. 

So what to do? Opt out all together or dive in head first and hope for the best. To quote a cliche, Id rather have loved and lost than never loved at all. So chances are I’m going to keep diving head first into shallow pools… but this time round I might stop and look first, or even put a helmet on. 

As for me being jaded, surely if you break a heart often enough it will still have some sharp edges when you tape it back together. 🙂