Putting in Work Tulsa Style

 

Jogging Through Tulsa and Acclimating to the Heat

I ran through town yesterday, the same as I have on countless Saturdays before. The stifling July heat broke me on a few occasions. I planned to do 10 miles. That’s a full day in the summer. I wasn’t worried that stopping and resting would equate to poor fitness levels. In the past, not being able to handle the heat would have made me think I hadn't run enough to cope. Nutrition is a tricky thing to get right anyway. Today I’m more focused on enjoying the run and taking my wins where I can. I started off feeling great. Ate a piece of toast and a handful of trail mix. Took a GU gel about 3 miles in. I knew the heat would eventually get me. I’m learning that hitting the wall and stopping for a few minutes doesn’t have to mean the day is over. You might have to muscle through a few more miles with sheer grit, but you've got more in the tank. Keep pushing.

The summer training is extremely valuable for those long distances that come later. Hills and heat make tough runners.

My knees were quite sore though. The physical therapist I’ve been visiting once per month said tendinitis is just frustrating to get over. It hangs around like an unwanted relative with nowhere else to stay. Thankfully it doesn’t keep me from jogging. The pain has made me a little surly though. My patience for most things has become very thin. From getting out of bed to answering calls from the general public at work, I’ve had to stop and think instead of reacting with a rude comment. I’ll have to work on that. Besides the irritation of it, I do feel myself getting stronger. Sunday’s, I do leg work at the gym and I can feel the knees getting stronger, if only a little. Squats and lunges are still not a possibility. Maybe in future I can bring back some of the lifts I used to do. For now, it’s too much pressure on sensitive knees.

Another difference between this year and last, is the reduced running schedule I’m currently on. A normal week for me is 20 miles spread across 4 days, Saturday being the longest day. During the end of my training cycle with Runner’s World, it’s more like 30 miles per week. This summer I’ve done roughly 15 miles per week with Saturday being the longest day. Those are rough weekly estimates, but I’m sure I haven’t jogged past 15 miles. The thinking is that if I give myself one extra day to rest the knees, I’ll be that much stronger. 

But there is always the chance that I’m getting softer because of the extra rest. I walked gingerly up the steps to my front door yesterday after my run and laid down on a towel for 10 minutes or so. Then I took a shower, ate some fruit and fell into a hard sleep for an hour. Maybe I need to log a few more hours in the sun.

On Friday I attended the monthly men’s breakfast through my church. I talked to Brett Wilson, a guy that used to bring his kids into my store for their football helmets and pads. He’s a triathlete. We talked nutrition and hydration. I imagine he must be around my age but I didn’t ask. He runs faster than me I’m sure. I saw him at a half marathon on Saint Patrick’s Day a few years ago. Not sure what time he ended up with, but he was moving quick. I’d say around 8:45 per mile. He explained to me that he loved to push himself, endurance sports are the perfect fit. I understood his passion and even agreed with it to some extent. I told him about my energy issues on marathons. He said he’d send me some info that helped him. I think my problem is food and he agreed. The lack of energy is probably a lack of food. Or at least, a lack of the right food. I’ll try to eat more before a morning run this time.

A new jogging cycle starts on Saturday and I’m leading the 10-11 minute pace group and I’m interested in new trends. Maybe this year, the new me is someone who eats more before the run and even during it. For people who don’t usually eat breakfast (me) this is a lot to ask. It means choking down meals when your body doesn’t want it. I started this to some degree last year but didn’t notice any improvement in energy. Like everything with jogging though, you have to try a new routine multiple times and measure the results. That might be my next post. 

 

Crime 101: A Review

 

Crime 101 Is a Character Study on Choices and Balance

Crime 101 is a classic heist movie with jewel theft, double crossing, high speed car chases and an exciting finish. It’s a solid film that doesn’t waste time and doesn’t leave loose ends. It’s focused on making the viewer understand that life is full of choices and when we look for money, we lose. Also, life is about balance, and a chaotic, selfish existence will lead to emptiness. Director Barry Layton did a character study, set in Los Angeles and made it a crime movie.

The basic framework goes like this.

Breakdown

A thief named Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) gets his jobs through a fence named “Money” (Nike Nolte) The movie opens with Mike following a crew of high end jewelers on their way to a sale. He robs them in a parking lot but is shot by one of the sellers with a hidden gun. The bullet leaves a trace of blood in the car, an important detail that will help detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) track him down.

After the initial heist, Mike gives the diamonds to his boss Money. The close call forces Mike to question the next job in Santa Barbara. He tells Money he has a bad feeling about it. Money just tells him to take some time off and instead, recruits a conscientious young motocross punk named Ormon to do the Santa Barbara job. Mike finds out and dumps Money. Then, Money has Ormon follow Mike to get information about Mike’s next job.

Halle Berry is an insurance agent (Sharon Colvin) who prospects high end, risky, clients and sells them insurance on their jewels and weddings. Despite promises from the upper management, they keep using her to close deals and dangle the promise of becoming a partner in the firm. One of her clients is the jewel seller that Mike robbed. Because of her lucrative contacts, Mike tries to recruit her for a new job where they can split the money. She gets offended. He tells her to leave a picture of a beach on her Instagram page if she changes her mind.

Meanwhile, Ormon tries to intercept Sharon after getting a tip from Mike’s tech contact about their relationship. In a thrilling chase scene through the dark streets of Los Angeles, Ormon dodges traffic on his motorcycle while being hounded by Mike. Mike eventually scares Ormon away, for a while. Sharon is denied another promotion at work, it’s clear by now she won’t get it at all. She takes her beach picture for Instagram and Mike shows up. They work out the details on the heist and agree to a split.

Mark Ruffalo’s character, Lou, has developed a theory about the jewel theft along the 101. When the blood sample in the car pings a match to Mike, Lou finds Mike’s foster mother and is able to match a face to a name. From here he develops a plan to ensnare Mike in a bait and switch robbery, with the help of Sharon.

Themes

There are a few consistent themes that run though this movie. All the main characters answer to someone who doesn’t have their best interest in mind, and in some cases are specifically taking from them. Money uses Mike for his talents and then sends an underling after him. Sharon’s boss at the insurance company strings her along so she’ll keep signing wealthy clients. He has no intention of making her a partner. Detective Lou Lubesnick’s is told to look the other way by his superior at the LAPD on multiple occasions. His principles prevent him from lying to help the police department. His wife has been cheating on him for a while and when he asks her how long it’s been going on, all she can say is “Do you really want to know?”

Even Ormon, the young thief with impulse control problems, is following in the footsteps of Mike by stealing for Money the old gangster.

Another theme is the idea of the beach as an escape, to offer balance to an unbalanced mind. This seems like a Buddhist interpretation of life. Even the way the director shows the 101 freeway from above at night. We see the 2 opposite directions of the road, reinforcing the idea of opposite choices. Chaos and order move in different directions. The soft new age voice on Sharon’s sleep app serves a counter to the stress we see in the rest of the film. She seeks peace, and sleep, but it’s not working.

Mike is an empty vessel. We see his struggle to have a relationship with a woman he met when she bumped into him on the freeway. His version of peace is the beach condo he escapes to, the lapping waves serving as a substitute for inner calm. Sharon tells Mike over cocktails that those who lived in chaos seek calm. But in doing so, she exposes her own search for it as well.

Lou joins a group yoga class, where he meets Sharon. He also gets an apartment on the beach when his wife kicks him out. His dress has even changes the last time he meets Sharon. He wears a loose unzipped hoodie while standing in the yoga classroom. All 3 of the characters are caught up in a competitive game of life and they’re looking to get out.

Conclusion

As for the acting, the performances were fantastic. Nick Nolte was underused as the abusive gangster, and substitute father, to young men hoping to make him proud. Chris Hemsworth is more versatile than I imagined. He does vulnerability well, it’s all in the face. I kept thinking of how much this reminded me of Michael Mann’s Heat, especially in the thief/detective relationship between Mike and Lou. In Crime 101 though, we get a fuller picture of the criminal and what makes him tick. Mark Ruffalo plays Lou gentle and frumpy, Popeye Doyle he is not. But his harmless nature fits perfectly with the situational ethics that unfold in the final scene.

I thoroughly enjoyed Crime 101.

 

Nightshade: A Review

Michael Connelly's New Edition: An Island Murder In LA County 

The king of crime fiction, Michael Connelly, has a new character to add to his growing network of cops and lawyers. Most readers know about Detective Harry Bosch and even Mickey Haller (Lincoln Lawyer). Fewer recognize the name Renee Ballard, Connelly's newest detective who always enlists the help of the experienced Detective Bosch. This time Connelly set his visual, story telling powers on Catalina Island a short boat ride off the coast of Southern California. 

Embarrassingly I’d never heard of it before. I had to fire up the google machine. The scenery is breathtaking--beachy, sunny, warm. It’s basically a Conde Nast poster you would’ve seen at local shopping mall travel agency. There is a local native population and a wealthy cohort of mainlanders that pay exorbitant fees to join yacht clubs.  

Story

The novel centers on the Black Marlin Club and the Los Angeles County detective is named Stillwell. Here’s the background: a woman is found dead in the harbor, stuffed in a sail bag and wrapped up in an anchor. Stillwell (Stil) investigates the club (Black Marlin) where the woman worked as bartender and waitress. Because it’s a murder, the detectives in LA have jurisdiction of the case and are forced by their boss to work with Stil since he’s the local guy. We find out a little about his background and why he was banished to Catalina Island after an altercation with another detective, Ahearn. Both are forced to team up to solve the case which causes understandable friction.

The other case focuses on mutilated buffalo. Buffalo are protected on the island. That’s another thing I had to look up. I guess there are roughly 100 buffalo that roam freely on the island. Brought in for a movie shoot in the 1920s. They were just left behind once the movie wrapped. There is some disagreement on which movie the animals were brought in for. It was either “The Vanishing American” or “The Thundering Herd”. Now they’re part of the ecosystem, as well as a tourism draw for visitors every year.

The author gives us drips and drabs of how and why this eager detective ended up in a lovely, but dead end, corner of LA county. He is also dating the harbormaster, Tasha “Tash” Dano. Both were trying to keep it secret but gave up after realizing the lax nature of the law enforcement politics on the island. Deputies help with a lot of the daily work, but Stil is mostly a one man show. He’s the only law enforcement official within miles that is competent.

Television

I started this book thinking that he wouldn’t get enough content by writing stories about what happens on the island. Remember too, this is a new character and a new series that exists in the same space and time as Connelly’s other characters. I read somewhere that HBO is doing a series based on this crew at Catalina Island even though there are only two books so far. People tell me Bosch on Prime was good. I tried to watch it but couldn’t get over the clean looks of its lead character. Maybe I need to try again. The Lincoln Lawyer series on Netflix featured a Hispanic lawyer who dipped in and out of his accent while speaking English. The “Cisco” character landed flat as well. He looks like a B movie actor in a Harley Davidson leather jacket, someone you might see doing cos play at a comic con.

The most promising so far has been the Renee Ballard series on Prime. I love her. She’s gorgeous and talented but too old to be playing this role. The rest is a mix of sensitive male characters (eww) and “hero” gay couples that make the Cleavers look selfish. That and ‘boss bitches’ make it unlikely that I’ll watch again. It’s a little soapy and soft for my taste. It’s not quite the character from the pages, rough and unsophisticated.  Although to be fair, the newer Ballard books focus on cold cases. I think I’ll stick to the books for now. This is always the problem you run into when a favorite character is reimagined by a daytime TV writer. They shave off the edges and brighten everything up. If there is a silver lining, it’s that more people might pick up the novels and dive into the seedy LA crime universe the Connelly examines so well.

The Catalina Island series doesn't have a fan base yet, it seems too early for a TV show. But there are enough similarities between Stilwell and Bosch to make it work. Stilwell is aggressive like Bosch and skates the line between legal and illegal when he’s on a case. There isn’t much depth yet to his girlfriend Tash. I expect this romance to have problems along the way. She was born on the island and hates the city. He’s a LA cop who takes the ferry back constantly to work on cases and argue with his superiors. He still has one foot in Los Angeles. Along with Tash, readers were introduced a few dodgy locals (Baby Head and Mayor Doug Allen) as well, but we didn’t hear the end of their stories. Clearly these guys are going to be regulars going forward.

Conclusion

There is a scene near the beginning when the mayor corners Detective Stilwell about the body the police found in the water. He doesn’t want the news of the dead girl in the paper. Memorial Day weekend is a big event for the island and an ugly investigation would keep vacationers away. It reminds me of that classic scene from Jaws. Chief Brody gets talked into hiding information about the shark attack, after the mayor insists on keeping it quiet with a tourist holiday upon them. The small town politics of Amity Island from Jaws feels a little like Catalina Island in this series. Can’t wait for more.

 

Running in Faith or Faithfully Running?

 

Jogging and Knee Pain: Trusting in the Great Healer

I’m not running as much as I used to. It’s summer, so breathing in the heat feels like trying to inhale air through a wool sock. Do that for a few miles and you’ll want to switch to walking instead. Or when the bottle is empty and you're nowhere near a drinking fountain, a shade tree and a cool breeze sounds perfect. The heat comes into play every year though and I’m as used to it as anyone can be. Some athletes really come alive in the heat. Their performance ticks up and they set new records. That seems strange to me, but I’m cold weather oriented and it’s hard to imagine. I don’t so much enjoy the weather in January and February as have more success. Success is defined as putting more miles under my feet while not collapsing.  

Soreness and Strain

A second reason for jogging fewer miles is my health, knees to be specific. Not sure if I can talk about sore knees as a “health” issue. Soreness isn’t sickness but it keeps me from the goal just the same. The problem started a few months ago. Probably around 4 months ago, I noticed a nagging strain in both knees. These words “strain” and “soreness” aren’t helpful but it’s all I’ve got. My eyes glaze over when anyone starts naming specific medical conditions.  Better to just plug my ears, close my eyes and “La, la, la” away the negativity as loudly as possible. I don't want to think too deeply about what knee pain could portent for my future as a jogger. This might be a superstitious, latent, feeling that naming an illness, is akin to accepting the symptoms that come with it.

Healing and Truth

 I’ll blame my charismatic upbringing for that one. But there is a lot of practicality in refusing to accept fear and pain and disease. It’s how I overcame the plantar fasciitis that sidelined me for a few months in the summer of 2020. Speaking truth over your situation is saying what God says. Christians too often take what’s handed to them and find the best way to cope, instead of claiming the victory that was secured at Calvary long ago. Healing was promised. It’s my job to say it and believe it. That means getting the self-talk right before doing anything else. My mind wants to imagine all the worst scenarios related to my knees. When I start to follow the logic and dangers inherent in jogging, it leads to dark places. 

Faith and Remembrance

It gets difficult to continue in positive, biblical truth when the pain gets worse. But it also helps to remember all the times that other running injuries have crept up and disappeared after a few weeks. Remembrance of a time when God came through in my life is a powerful tactic builds faith within. I didn’t keep a journal as a kid, my writing started in college and I’ve recorded events more often over the years. But I have a strong memory of God’s goodness in my life. I have a lot to be thankful for where health and healing are concerned. 

Physical Therapy 

Dealing with injury is rough for everyone. With running at least, I’m in good company. Most runners deal with injury at some point. After the knee pain became unbearable, I contacted a Physical Therapist who offered a first time discount. She evaluated my run from watching me on a treadmill. Her notes were precise. My form is off in some critical ways. That poor form is causing the strain. I’ll just mention one part. My ankles are stiff. This means I’m landing on my feet with all my weight and not absorbing a lot of the stress with a natural, flexible stride. Do this for long enough and you’ll start to feel it in the knees. I’m grateful for the evaluation, but how practical is it to change running form when I’ve been doing it like this for a decade?

Correct Form

I asked this question in some form while wiping off sweat from my forehead. By doing it “A little at a time” is the response I got. It starts with strengthening muscles and making the ankles more flexible. Not to mention, making a mental note of the correct form during the run. Poor form is hard to fix when you’re trying to remember all 12 ways to a better stride. On a long run, especially, the last thing you want to do is go over a check list in your mind. No one would ever run again. Homework and a grueling run at the same time? Thanks I’ll pass. The gradual approach is more effective. I start with a short list of exercises to do every day. I’ll figure out the distances later. 

Conclusion

The next few months will test my faith. But I’ve been here before. A lot of people probably think it’s silly to talk like this, faith and healing and scripture. But if you can get over the criticism, and eye rolling from dissenters, it doesn’t matter. God is faithful to His Word and He proves it every day. 

“And my god shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Humans and Artificial Intelligence: Transforming the Relationship

 

Artificial Intelligence Is Unlike Other Innovation Because It Tries To Replace Our Humanity 

                                                  Joanna Maciejewska @AuthorJMac

I saw this meme posted at the top of a blog headline on Ace of spades. It's a succinct criticism of Artificial Intelligence that captures the current mood of a lot of Americans. We've never been a nation that's afraid of the future, technology or innovation. AI is different because instead of being a helper it's become a boss.

 Cartoons like the Jetsons and even TV shows like Star Trek, sold us on the idea that future tech would make the labor intensive aspect of life easier. This has mostly been the direction of innovation. Robots that did housework and computers that turned machines on an off with voice command, proved practical just decades later. Innovation keeps moving inexorably forward.  How many people ride a stagecoach across the country today? Railroads and planes made horses archaic for travel. No one reads by candlelight anymore. The electrification of cities and homes made it possible to work and entertain well after sundown. Not to mention the impact on factories. Innovation makes life easier by making productivity increase. It’s true for both labor intensive work and creative work.

Old Model New Model

In this old model innovation serves people, in the new AI driven model, people serve innovation. Everything about the human race is unique relative to the rest of Creation. We’re made in God’s image and we reflect our Creator in a myriad of ways. Not all of us can write a song or pitch a perfect game, but we carry the imprint of our Maker. That looks different for all us. I’ve worked with people who have a gift for comfort. They volunteer at hospitals, hospices and care centers. I use the word “gift” because it’s a gift to the ones who are helped by it, a reflection of God's mercy. But compassion and empathy are human qualities built into us. They aren't code. They grow and develop to varying degrees in individuals.

Artificial Intelligence works through a learning/predicting formula.  People are only formulaic on the surface. You can copy much of it, but you can’t replace the essential make up of God’s design. The apostle Paul describes it like this “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Romans 1:20

 It’s hard to define because no one can create life outside of nature. The best we can say about AI, is that it does an amazing job replicating. It’s an artificial product that functions much like the real thing. But it flattens out human irregularity and makes efficient what was never meant to be. We’re attracted to the efficiency of AI. But efficiency is a human invention. It’s a way of ordering our thinking to find the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to accomplish a task.

Efficiency and Flatness

Because of efficiency we get better (smarter) at doing the same task. Nothing is wrong with looking for easier solutions, but efficiency is not a high moral good. It’s just the way we approach life. Modern thinking elevates it to a kind of heroic endeavor, like finding the holy grail. We never get there but we’re moving closer every decade. In the corporate world it looks like replacing old intranet servers with cloud based ones. Then it looks like eliminating your IT staff, the fewer employees you have the less insurance and payroll you’ll need to shell out. Soon you’ll need only a handful of remote workers and eventually, none. AI will fill in the missing bits as the accounting, marketing, IT, human resources and sales departments have been replaced by a learning/predicting formula.

It’s the flattening of everything. Efficiency is flat. Humans are messy and colorful and different and weird. That’s the opposite of efficiency. None of this is to blame the companies for getting lean and trying to compete with others. Directionally it’s wrong though and I don’t pretend to know what to do about it. We might not need giant corporations anymore that hire thousands of employees. But might we also have more freedom to pursue multiple streams of income and have more agency?

Change is Inevitable

I think the AI revolution is two things; it’s one part technology and one part money grab. Tech companies need data centers and new laws that allow their investment to be part of the infrastructure of the future. I won’t call it a racket (not yet at least) but I do think a lot of the doomsday talk about 90% of jobs disappearing is designed seed the idea that AI is going to take over. By getting us used to the notion of this technology that decides nearly everything, we don’t protest so much. It’s “progress” after all. Who are we to complain?

Would God allow His people to live a life as a slave to an artificial form of intelligence like Skynet? No, but nor can I offer an optimistic solution where technology gets back to being a helper instead of a boss. But maybe it's doesn't have to replace creativity. Maybe it can add to instead of subtract from. A lot of people need a roadmap of the future or at least some sense of what to put their focus on. But we’ve never had this. Go back 25 years and try to remember what you thought your future would be. Are you working in the same field, married to the same spouse, living in the same city? For those that are younger, do the same thing with 10 years. How much has changed in any part of your life or the economy around you that you didn’t see coming?

Conclusion

The point isn’t to show you how wrong you are. It’s to recognize that change is inevitable and we can’t plan for much of it. Maybe I’m being too optimistic and yes, ignorance is bliss to quote an unfortunate truth. But the plan for humanity is ultimately up to God. Life gets easier when you let Him direct your steps. It’s a scary time for those who want control, much easier for those who trust in Jesus.  

“Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6

 

Abraham, Sarah and God's Promise In Our Poor Choices

 

A Path of our Own Making: God's Promise to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar

I heard a great sermon last night. Saturday is my usual night for church. I always thought I’d go back to the Sunday morning, traditional, service favored by most people. But I’m as comfortable with the evening option as I was when made the change over 15 years ago. And now I volunteer, a new wrinkle that will made it tougher to go back to Sunday. 

The pastor laid out the connection between Adam and Eve and Abram and Sarah. Both women pursued their own paths by following personal choices and causing additional chaos. Their husbands followed the advice without a lot of thought or argument. Adam with the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and Abraham by sleeping with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar.

The Altered Path

Chaos happens when we don’t consult God first. Or, when the serpent tricks us through cunning and sends us down a path that’s contrary to God’s plan. We make a mess when we come up with another option that doesn’t have God’s blessing. Frustration builds from waiting for the promise. We can glimpse a future that lines up with our interests, goals and skills, but getting there takes too long.

Most us can identify our skills. Either in relationships or practical smarts, we’ve learned through trial and error how to make a living. Interest is also easy to identify. No one who hates math will study accounting. Theater kids will avoid engineering and hard sciences. Sometimes it’s better to start with the unacceptable options and move toward acceptable ones. But these are basic life skills and interests that we take with us. They aren’t critical to the character we need to walk the long path of faith.  

Anyone following the Lord, will come to place of surrender. Abram had to leave his family into the unknown and trust that God had a better option, an offspring and a legacy beyond his wildest dreams. It didn’t happen right away. Sarah needed to be beyond her natural childbearing years. Only then could the miracle that God promised come about. But doubt creeps in when a promise is delayed, or taking longer than we think is reasonable. Sarah’s idea to let Abram sleep with her servant reflects a typical human way to “help” the divine plan along. “It’s not working like it should after all” goes the thinking. God promised Abram his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). How then can that be if not through Sarah? She was too old right?

The Messy Path

Abram and Sarah took matters into their own hands and proposed an alternate solution to the offspring issue. It’s easy to look back on this avoidable mistake and think, “How could they misunderstand so completely?” But most of us have taken a path of our own choosing and had to correct the mistake. It could be a relationship that you knew wasn’t right or a risky job that seemed like good money and quickly fell apart. I’ve made both of those mistakes. Even in my error and selfishness, God’s grace brought me back to the true path. The fix for going astray can be painful. Depending on how far you wandered and how long you refused to surrender, getting back is uncomfortable. But God found Hagar in the middle of the desert and gently brought her back to her mistress Sarah, by reminding her of her place.

A lot of us need to know our place. That might be as an employee for a boss that doesn’t value you. For some of us it’s working 2 jobs until a better option opens up. Abram and Sarah’s early years in the desert is indicative of a Christian’s early years with the Heavenly Father. Mostly life moves slow and we wonder if we made a mistake. Was our previous vision of God’s blessing a mirage? Did we misunderstand our own abilities, interests and desires? Did we miss a checkpoint somewhere along the way divert into some unknown territory?

The True Path

 I’m sure Abram and Sarah had doubts over the years that we will never hear about. Their life is a model for the Christian walk. We must surrender our skills and interests and passions to God. Only then can he use our sacrifice and hand it back to us, cleaned up and useful for His kingdom.

How is it cleaned up? Because the interests, passions and skills we gave to God, have been washed of any selfishness ambition. We are becoming complete, as Paul would say, and lacking nothing. The long road of faith is what’s difficult to endure. We get anxious and doubtful and forget our place. How refreshing to know that we aren’t alone. How encouraging to know that others have walked the same path. Psalm 37:3-4 says “Trust in the Lord and do good: dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” By itself it’s a powerful verse of God’s goodness and overwhelming blessing.

Conclusion

But the next verse completes the promise more fully. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” (verse 5) It depends on our obedience to His plan. It’s the proverbial “catch” in the language requiring us to do our part. Abraham’s legacy speaks to just how amazing life can be, when we surrender our way to the Lord.

Maintenance for the Good Life

 

Runners Need to Lift Weights for Long Term Consistency

There are no races on my horizon, even though the Oklahoma City Memorial is only a month away. I’m not going to sign up this year. Maybe it’s lazy of me, but I’m looking forward to dropping back to shorter Saturday runs with the weather starting to heat up. Last Saturday morning, the temperature climbed into the 70’s before I finished my 17 miles. Needless to say, I fell apart at around 14 miles and managed to jog lightly to about 15. The last 2 miles were spent walking slowly and stopping to let my heart rate come down.

As embarrassing as it was to flame out like that, it was unseasonably warm and I didn’t have enough salt in my body. Next time I won’t make that mistake.

The good news is that I’m content to make jogging a regular part of my life instead of just going hard for a month. That’s the equivalent of cramming for a midterm literature test by staying up all night. You might have a great race, but you won’t realize long term gains. The consistency of weekly jogging is what I’ve always been after. I’d like to do a marathon again at some point. For now, the idea of a big race sounds like more effort than I’m ready to give. As far as regular jogging goes it’s been quite consistent. I looked at my Garmin records from last year to get a yearly average. Last year I did roughly 50 miles more than this year. That works out to an extra 2 weeks, but it’s very close. I think the culprit, this year, was my long vacation and Christmas and subsequent illness afterward.

The year to year consistency is what I’m going for. I want to be fit more than I want to crush a time standard and set personal records. That’s the legacy I’ve started at least. Even if it’s frustrating to fall short of my marathon goals, they’re less important. This season I’m learning how to deal with nagging injuries and still be a productive runner. My knees give me trouble on occasion, so I’m spending more time warming up and stretching. A lot of this is what everyone does when they get older. We start paying attention to the little things, isometric work, foam rolling and even weights.  

Till recently, that’s meant doing some version of squats and lunges or quad raises. Mostly I just put a program together on the fly and spend about 45 minutes at the gym. Last Sunday I actually did a little research and found a plan to implement. I’ll try this for a month and see if any of my nagging injuries go away. It’s difficult to know what’s best for strength training. There are as many trainers and philosophies on lifting weights as there are gyms in the US. But you have to start somewhere. Any training is better than no training. I’ve spent enough time lifting to have a good foundation. Because I’ve had trouble with my knees I’m careful with certain movements that require a lot of extension.

The program I found on Youtube requires a lot of single leg movements. That’s something I haven’t done much of. The logic makes sense, running demands power from each leg separately and not together. I just never thought to do each movement separately. This program also demands 2 heavy lifts. I guess it surprised me a little. I think of heavy weights as something for football players and gym rats looking to max once a week. But in small doses it’s ideal for running. Who knew? I’ll have to go easy on the squats though. They’re very hard on knees if your form is even a little off.  

There are other ways to get in shape, but none are quite as simple and enjoyable as jogging. It requires you to adjust to the weather and buy a pair of shoes. The maintenance is up to you.