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.

The Volunteer Military and a Lack of Accountability

 

Compulsory Service and a 'United' Country

I’ve had Iran on my mind for the last few weeks. I didn’t think Operation Epic Fury was a good idea, but naturally I want the best outcome for the country. When it comes to war, the best way to ensure our leaders make wise decisions is to raise the stakes. We’ve had a volunteer force for too long. Too few people are connected, through a son or daughter, with loss. The conflict is far away, it affects others. Gasoline has ticked up because of the lack of shipping through the straits of Hormuz. That’s as much as we’ve felt here at home. There needs to be some skin in the game where wars are concerned, or we’ll surely have more of them. The less connection there is between the servicemen and women and the people who live here, the less it feels like a real thing. The US needs to institute compulsory service for every citizen and get back control over the military.

Efficiency and Access

Problems should be fixed in the quickest way possible. Layers add difficulty. In the federal government we call these layers red tape or bureaucracy. In the private sector it’s conglomerates. I’m not talking about efficiency only, but accessibility as well. If you need to update a driver’s license in a state you’ve recently moved, you’ll have to fill out a handful of forms. Make sure you’ve got 3 forms of ID and a recent water bill. God help you if you miss anything.

In the private sector the problems look a little different. If you rent an apartment in the city and need to complain about the air conditioner that doesn’t get cold, who do you complain to? If the property is owned on site, it’s easy. March up to the office, with a disgusted look on your face, and demand to speak to the manager.

 But what if it’s an out of state company? You can send an email and hope for the best. But even then, they’ll likely reply to your complaint with something dismissive like “We own, but don’t manage Crappy Living Inc”. You’ll have to find out who manages the company and send them an email. They’ll likely reply with “We sold off management of Crappy Living Inc to another management company out of New York called Crappier Living Inc. No email is available either. You do a little searching and find a phone number for Crappier Living Inc and decide to call. It’s an automated answering service and doesn’t have an option for complaints.

At what point do you finally give up and buy a box fan?

The lack of connection from owner to renter is a feature and not a bug. The accountability is to the shareholders of these conglomerates, and not the lowly renter. The more you scale up the worse it gets for you. It’s why the service industry is mostly terrible nowadays. Local businesses can be terrible too, but the impact of a bad review is felt immediately on their bottom line. They can’t afford to alienate their people who live in the same community they serve. The line between customer and owner is direct.

America’s Military

How does this relate to the military? America is a big country with a lot of interests and cultures doing their best to find commonality. Taxes and weather can’t be the only points of commonality. Military service should be compulsory for at least 2 years for everyone coming out of high school. When we object to foreign conflicts, we’re basically sending off a worthless email to be ignored. We have no real objection because we have a volunteer army. Technically we have a Selective Service that works like a backstop. That last time we used it was in 1972 for the Vietnam War. But a draft is a last resort. A better option is to have regular training for 2 years and avoid having to use a draft.

There is this idea on the Right that having a volunteer army means having a professional army. Because they want to be there, the thinking goes, their performance is high level. This is just ridiculous. We didn’t have much of an Army to speak of before World War II and still raised an amazing, highly proficient force. It’s called training. You can train most kids for combat. Some jobs are technical and some are physical, but everyone should have a place. It’s the connection that unites us together. The more the citizens of a country hold in common the easier it is to hold off threats to the homeland. Without that sense of duty to a place and a people, the further apart we grow in interests and philosophies.

As a side benefit, we’d have fewer wars. Americans would demand a serious rationale from their government before sending their kids off to a foreign country, the equivalent of stomping off to see the manager with a disgusted look on your face. A military that’s 4 times larger would guarantee a closer link between citizens and their government. Greater involvement means greater control.

Conclusion

 We use our military now like a mercenary force. They’re sent to countless Mid East countries, like Syria, that we aren’t even at war with. Parents with kids in the military today share too much of the burden of the loss. But the fix isn’t to just have a draft and bring in more kids. It’s to have a Pentagon (and leadership) that’s accountable to the citizens of the country for the well-being of the next generation. Having a volunteer force means the Pentagon can continue to send troops across the globe without a lot of objections from families. Their kids volunteered after all. Compulsory service encourages shared sacrifice across the country and is an effective brake on endless conflicts. You want fewer wars, demand compulsory service.

 

The Iran War is a Mistake

 

Get Out of Iran As Quickly As Possible

Despite the many good reasons for war with Iran, the wiser path is to squeeze them financially and let the Iranian people decide to overthrow the clerics. If the people of Iran won't overthrow their own cruel leaders then neither should we.  

Being against a war your country is engaged in requires a thorough explanation. Although the burden of proof should be on the ones prosecuting the war, it’s usually on the one’s opposing it. The Trump administration hasn’t considered the numerous chances for disaster if the Mullahs dig in. China could get involved and make this a very big war, Iranian leaders might hunker down and refuse a deal. Ground troops will be necessary if the US wants any influence over the new government. The US might not have enough munitions to go the full 4-6 week timeline that Karolin Leavitt (White House spokesman) mentioned.  

Why are we embroiled in another Mid East war?

 Last summer it was all about Iran’s nuclear ambition. What is it this time? I’m not one for beating up on team Trump for optics, but this is war. The one thing the American people deserve is a consistent answer on another Middle East war. Don’t tell us that’s Iran is close to getting another bomb either. Last summer we “Totally obliterated” the nuclear facility at Fordow. Those were the President’s words as he assured us it would be a while before Tehran could even think about rebuilding.

And now we have to go back, 9 months later, because they’re still a threat? I don’t think so.

Iran is the enemy of our allies in the Mid East, of whom there are quite a few now. Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq: some of them are allies because they’re aligned with Saudi Arabia or because they signed the Abraham Accords.

Why now and not last summer?

The most recent protests in Iran by the people began in the Bazaar with the merchants. Money was stretched thin and prices went up, making life difficult. Those strikes led to larger protests. The Islamic government cracked down hard. It’s difficult to know exactly how many were killed, but it’s in the thousands. Many more were beaten and jailed. The situation on the ground looked desperate for the regime. Their nuclear ambitions were set way back. Their desperate people were fighting back and trying to take over. The US government led by the War Department, thought this was the best time to make a move and topple the Jenga tower that is the Iranian regime.

That’s the real reason. Opportunity in the form of protests, knocked.

But Iran only looks one way from the outside. This is an existential fight for them and they’re in a corner. They took a serious beating last year from Israel in the 12 Day War. Not to mention all of their proxies were decimated, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. But it’s still not likely they just raise their hands and surrender to the Great Satan. After the first wave of ballistic missile strikes from American and Israeli jets, they’ve hunkered down. The Islamic Republic is ready to defend their turf from a ground invasion, said their Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. This might be tough talk and chest thumping. I think it’s more in keeping with their obstinate behavior.  

Does this have anything to do with China?

Yes I think it does. If you know anything about Trump, it’s that he understands the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to be the biggest threat to the US. One way to take out your enemy is to hit their resources. China relies on oil from both Iran and Venezuela, both by evading US sanctions. We know what happened to Venezuela. They lost their president and their source of income in a matter of days. Trump wants to treat Iran the same way and cut China off from whatever resources Iran can sell them. This isolates China just enough and forces economic tightening in the country. Ironically, this is also the thing that potentially brings the CCP into the conflict. Once you start cutting off opportunities for growth and survival the only thing left is war.

None of this is to excuse China’s behavior in the South China Sea, or their economic warfare against American industries and their spying on American businesses. In the first few months of Trump’s second term, he forced Panama to make a deal with the US for use of the canal. And by extension, Panama kicked China out. Most of Trump’s big moves are designed to roll back the influence of Beijing.

Aren’t there good reasons for this War?

Yes, especially if settling old scores matters. Iran has been a Hydra for terrorism around the world since the revolution of 1979. Victor Davis Hanson said on his Signal YouTube channel that they’ve killed more Americans than any other country, since before the Iran/Iraq war. We lost 241 marines in Lebanon to a truck bomb outside their barracks. After we ousted Saddam from Iraq, Iran helped supply the Shia militias with weapons, IEDs and training. They stormed the embassy in Tehran, during the revolution, and held American hostages for over a year. Yes, we owe them.

Not to mention, the reasons I mentioned regarding China and their belligerence toward American hegemony. But in this case the risks outweigh the rewards. If we wanted revenge on Iran for the marines, we should’ve taken it years ago. This is going back 40 plus years. So that’s not a legitimate reason for a full scale war.

Why I’m against this war 

Our missile supplies are low. The US military is low on munitions thanks to our support of Ukraine to fight Russia. We’ve sent a lot of our ballistic weapons to keep a war going that no one seems to care about. But even if we had an inexhaustible pile to light up sky with, you can’t know what’s happening on the ground. You’ll need to send in ground troops at some point.

For all the talk about not using ground troops, I don’t believe we’ll get out of there without committing troops. Part of the goal is to get a leader that can make a deal with Israel and the US, not to use terrorism against them. This is where it gets messy, changing regimes and sliding in someone you prefer rarely works out. I don’t trust that these protesters in Iran are actually on our side. I bought this nonsense about peoples yearning-to-be-free during the Iraq war. I’m not falling for the everyone deserves democracy anymore. No should be a slave in their own country and it’s tragic how they’ve been treated by the theocracy.

But at some point, peoples have to cast off their oppressors. If they constantly need help from outside armies, I’d say they aren’t ready yet. This current crop of Iranian people are the children of the ones who chose an Islamic Republic over a secular one. If they want to go back to a secular republic, let them. Just don’t help them.   

Conclusion

I think we can still make this a quick war by declaring victory soon. Trump wants unconditional surrender and defines it as, the regime not having enough military capability to threaten their people or neighbors. That’s not really surrender in the classic sense but it’s close enough. But the issue with these open-ended wars is the increasing responsibilities that get pulled in. The mission grows and metastasizes into a tumor that makes us all sick. Then it’s a muddle for years because no one knows how to do the surgery.

Trump famously likes to “Win”. That can be a good thing here if he’s ready to call anything Iran gives him a win. It might not be enough for the Department of War, or the CIA or the ‘conflict bros’ (Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton). But it’s a lot better than another 20 year war where we sacrifice American lives and get nothing in return.

Let’s not do that here.

I hope I’m wrong on this war and the benefits win out. But the last 2 decades do not give me hope.  

 

 

 

 

Fasting and Prayer

 

Fasting is Connected to Belief in the Greater Works of Gods

I started doing a fast every Monday just recently. Fasting is a Christian discipline connected to prayer and hearing from God. Going without food for a day makes you reorder your priorities. It’s a reminder to my flesh that God is in control of my life and He takes first place. I’m not sure what the ideal amount of time is for a fast. The early churches don’t have a specific recommendation either, but it’s a practice they’re well familiar with. I heard a Youtuber say that “fasting is being empty so God can fill us.”

Instructions

I’m reluctant to even write this. Fasting isn’t something you go around and brag about, as if you’re doing something noble. We should do it in secret and our “Father in heaven will reward…” us. This was Jesus’ admonition to his disciples. Mostly I can get away with fasting in secret. I’ve had a few occasions where I couldn’t keep it quiet. Last year I had a lunch meeting with a few coaches from a local youth football group. This was holy week. I’d decided to fast lunch for 6 days.

We met at Clark’s Crew BBQ for a spread. I tried to get out of the lunch altogether with “Are you sure I need to be there?” questions. My boss had set up the meeting because he knew the coaches and they wanted to do business with us. I had to tread lightly here. This was going to be my account. I made a nice chunk of money off this group. Sitting there and pretending to be full while everyone else stuffed pulled pork into their mouth was going to be difficult. I finally just leveled with my boss and told him about Easter and how I’d made a decision to fast lunch for the week. He told me to order the lunch food to go and have it for dinner later. That was a great idea I hadn’t considered. But I still had to tell the guys at the table I wasn’t eating because of Easter. I had their sympathy.

Costs

The year before, a similar situation occurred. This time my employer catered a full spread for everyone at work. I can’t remember the occasion for the spread, but I had to tell one guy I wasn’t eating lunch for holy week. I have a reputation for eating a lot. It’s been a running joke around the office whenever anyone brings cake or donuts to share. “Make sure you count how many Adam takes” are how the comments typically go. I can’t blame anyone but myself of course. I keep in shape so it’s not a big deal. If I was overweight it would bother me. Needless to say when I don’t eat, people notice. Getting used to having free food offered to me during Easter week, or on my Monday fast day is becoming the new normal.

But I’m learning to press through in prayer when the hunger becomes intense.

In Matthew 17:20-21 the disciples try to cast out a demon from a young boy. They’re unable to do it. Jesus steps in and frees the boy. The disciples ask Jesus why they couldn’t cast it out. He tells them because of their unbelief. “For assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

Scales

Some of the commentary I’ve heard on this passage says that Jesus was talking about “unbelief” as the kind that doesn’t come out except by prayer and fasting. But I’ve always read that as, the demon is the kind that doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting. As in, this is a high-level super demon and takes a truly devout person to stand up to it. This is probably wrong.

 I tend to think that unbelief is the theme. Faith is the opposite of unbelief. You can’t trust in a God that you only consult once in a while. There are levels to petition prayers. “Lord give me favor with my boss” is a prayer, but so is “Demon be gone”.

The way we’re wired to think about faith is through scales, as in 1 through 10. Low level faith would be believing for favor with the boss. High level faith would be casting out demons, certainly a 10. Maybe because the stakes are lower at work it rates low in our head. What does favor with the boss look like exactly? How is it different from regular treatment? It’s not always clear. Casting out a demon is definitive and the stakes are very high. No one doubts when it happens. But just because our minds work that way doesn’t mean the kingdom of God operates on a 1 through 10 scale.

Conclusion

Jesus is saying, prayer and fasting are the key to getting rid of unbelief for every kind of situation. When faith is like a mustard seed, its roots go deep and it pushes out unbelief. When faith is strong it doesn’t ask about scale or stakes. It doesn’t frame needs that way. It recognizes Jesus as the source of truth. It finds victory in the One who was victorious. You might say that prayer and fasting reorder our focus back to Christ. From that reordering we’re able to find faith when we need it, no matter the situation. The more we fast, the stronger our belief becomes.  

 

 

The Olympic Games and the Super Bowl: The Occult Reigns

Alternatives Like TPUSA's Halftime Show Are the Way Forward

I’ve been watching the Olympics for the last few weeks. It’s in Italy this year, Milan and Cortina. Not only at home but also at work, I’ll find the Peacock channel and let it play. I don’t watch every event, but I catch enough of it to say I’ve seen a lot this year. Not everyone gets to watch TV. Lucky me I guess.

During the opening ceremony the athletes lit a pentagram while fireworks that resembled flames illuminated the background. Flames and torches and ceremonies are part of the Olympics, why did this one feel occultic? Probably because everything in the public eye is anti Christian, overtly so. I can’t tell you where the particular ceremony originates (historically) or what deities they glorify. But nearly all of these world or international events display some form of paganism.

These ‘artistic’ displays are either pagan or just outright satanic. The Super Bowl halftime shows are all slutty performance theater and ominous ritual. They’ve all taken on a darker quality than I can remember. Not that rock and roll from the 80s and 90s was moral, but the veil that used to hide that sinful nature is gone. Even Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance from a few years ago was all red and black. A lot of this imagery feels uncomfortable to me. I can’t always pinpoint why.

For years I brushed off suggestions that these public venues were loaded with satanic imagery. But it’s getting harder to ignore. I can’t tell you what every symbol or dance number means in an artistic sense, but I know a pentagram when I see one. Last year’s summer games in Paris showed a mock version of the Last Supper with drag queens. The excuses always ring hollow. They always follow the same trajectory “You rubes don’t understand the blend of the ancient and the modern, or the sacred and the profane”. It’s art you see? But it’s always Jesus and Christianity that’s mocked. Or in the case of the NFL, traditional values.

This year I had a choice to watch a different halftime show for the Super Bowl. Thanks to Turning Point USA, millions of fans tuned into Kid Rock and handful of country artists for a free show. Like a lot of Americans during the Super Bowl, I was at a party with friends. We shut off the game at the halfway point and put YouTube on. None of us were huge Kid Rock fans, but having an alternative that wasn’t divisive was a breath of fresh air. Kid Rock, for his part, has been talking about Jesus to anyone who will listen the last few years. I assume he’s genuine. I can’t say whether or not his opinions and beliefs are orthodox. But he is shining a light where others are shrouded in darkness. Hopefully Turning Point does this every year. I imagine a lot of artists who don’t get to play the Super Bowl would sign up to play even one song.

Who doesn’t want millions of people to hear their music? I’m sure there is a stigma associated with playing exclusively to a patriotic audience. But those numbers don’t lie. As an up and coming artist, how many fans could potentially buy your music after a 5-minute performance? Besides, if this becomes a regular feature of Super Bowls going forward it will garner bigger names every year. The most important thing is that Christians, and citizens who are just bothered by the anti-American shade of the NFL, have another option. This is the way forward in a lot of national and international events.

 Turning off the TV is always an option too. I did this for a while with baseball and football. Their support of Black Lives Matter and the chaos in Minneapolis during Covid really got to me. But I love sports. Americans would like to have sports and entertainment without all the Satan worship. That probably sounds like hyperbole, but it’s becoming more overt international programing. Sam Smith performed a very evil concert at the Grammys in 2023. How can anyone honestly say that it wasn’t a demonic display? I’m not even going to link to it. Google it if you want to see it.

As for the Olympics, it’s best to just avoid the opening ceremony right now. It’s a shame too because I love seeing all the athletes walk together under their country’s flag. Christians have a reputation as being prudish about immorality and offense content. Every time some raunchy live event happens we get trampled with articles about “satanic panic”. Fact checkers get going, correcting ‘false’ posts about artists. One fact check in particular caught my attention. The Weeknd apparently flashed the word “Satan” on screen at a concert in Denmark. The fact checker was frustrated that online users got the venue wrong. Got that? It wasn’t that artist The Weeknd didn’t flash the word “Satan” at a recent concert, but the time and place were not correct. Unbelievable.

Alternatives are the way forward. Don’t like the artist at halftime, how about another option? The further these sports get from their mission of putting watchable games on TV the worse everyone is. Stay away from preachy messaging and occult laden shows. This isn’t just a grumpy NFL fan talking either. That Kid Rock show pulled in over 6 million views just on YouTube. If nothing else it proves that others would like an alternative. Keep them coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity and Critical Thinking: Read and Write

 

Turn off the TV and Read a Book, Or Write an Essay

I unplugged my Roku device the other day and took it to work. Not so that I could plug it in at work, but so that I couldn’t watch it at home for a while. Work is just a holding spot. I’ll get it back when I think I’ve earned it. I needed to cut out distractions and streaming shows have made me a bit lazy. I’m writing less. I’m reading less. I’m studying for this new work assignment less. Time is slipping through my fingers and despite my awareness of it, laziness can still get the best of me. Not that I sit and stare at the screen while episode after episode loads automatically. But my laziness has been enough to force a change. Even if just on the margins, I can increase my creativity just a bit.

Fortunately I’ve started reading and writing more, both are precursors to higher level thinking. This is a new year after all. I need to get back to reading traditional books again. News websites form the bulk of my reading for most of the week. But books aren’t quite as depressing as the daily news, which is often designed to give you the most horrific stories. Elon Musk said that the news tries to answer the question, “What’s the worst thing that happened in the world today?” So less is more where that’s concerned. This is often tougher than it sounds if you’re like me and suffer from a kind of current events FOMO.

An honest question to ask, why should reading some mindless book count for more than watching TV? How can one consider hours of true crime novels to be of higher worth than hours of Court TV? Instinctively I’d say it comes from a more creative part of your brain. Reading forces you to create mental pictures and your comprehension and focus lock in. This is more or less the view of social media. I did some quick, unscientific, research from Quora and Reddit. Both are good for getting a sense of what people think, the equivalent of polling the audience from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? TV is passive while reading is active. That’s not to say you can’t learn anything watching a show, but you can also zone out and refuse to connect dots.

Reading forces you to pay attention and create your own world. The author will describe much of it, but your mind will fill in the details. Writing takes reading and supercharges it. The world creation that your mind does automatically when absorbing words is only the first step. World creation doesn’t just mean fantasy kingdoms like ‘middle earth’ either. It means the world you present to the reader. If you write fiction you have to write a character that makes sense. I just finished reading John Grisham’s “The Widow”. His description of the title character is needy, forgetful and desperate to be seen as wealthy by those around her. It’s the world according to Grisham in this small Virginia town. He’s really good at bringing the reading into the legal world by explaining terms through characters.  

The world can also be your version of how things should be, or how you understand them. I wrote an article years ago, trying to convince Oklahomans to reject medical marijuana. Signature seekers were everywhere at the time. I couldn’t go into a Reasor’s (grocery) without someone asking me to sign this or that petition to legalize it. Promoters leaned into the “medicine” angle, which was always bullshit. I did a little research on California and Colorado. At the time they were the only states with an extensive record to draw from. Typically, it was a disaster for a lot of reasons.

The world I tried to present was one of carnage and decay if legalization went forward. The trick is to be convincing. You have to know a few things about Oklahoma law for starters, or the world falls apart. For instance, we have a provision that allows a question to go on the ballot with only a handful of signatures. This low threshold allowed the group Oklahomans for Health to put it on the primary ballot and get it passed. It’s not enough to say what you’re for or what you’re against, opinions must come with concrete examples. I think my article holds up today as an editorial against a notoriously bad idea. But I had to first write out some thought problems in my world and knock down what didn’t make sense.

It’s not the textbook definition of world building, but it presents the same challenges of consistency in logic and timelines. Because writing can feel like work I’ll often avoid it. Writing is concerned with critical thinking and reading with creative thinking. TV or streaming shows are neither. Going forward I’ll have to be more disciplined. I can reward myself with a book.

Born to Run: A Review

 

'Born to Run' is an Engaging Story on Endurance Running, Written with Passion

I finished reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Written over 15 years ago, it’s an examination of endurance running, the Tarahumara Indian tribe and what it means about the science of running. McDougall begins by following a mythical runner in Mexico who jogs across the country, hermit like, for the sheer joy of it. This extreme athlete is named Caballo Blanco (White Horse) and tells McDougall about his idea to bring the best ultramarathon runners to the dangerous Copper Mountains for an exclusive race. It’s an unofficial race in the some of the driest, rockiest terrain on earth. What seems like a crazy idea, turns out to have momentum. Caballo convinced a few of the top ultra marathon runners in the US (Scott Jurek, Ted McDonald, Billy Bonehead and Jenn Shelton) to try his makeshift course.

Race in Mexico

Through a series of connections, they all agree to meet in Mexico and run with Caballo and a handful of bashful Tarahumara. This 50 mile race through the Cooper Mountains is the backdrop for a short history of the Tarahumara indians and their inclusion in a notorious ultramarathon known as Leadville in 1993. From that race, the author traces the seeds of barefoot running and the science of how humans do it. Humans are the only mammals that can run and breathe at the same time. Which in theory, means they can outrun prey over a long distance. At least that’s where some of this research takes the reader.

Caballo is the central character whose mysterious life isn’t revealed until the end. We only get drips and drabs of his past. Jenn and Billy are hard partying surf bums, cocky and reckless, that discovered distance running just a few years before. They’ve both stacked up a handful of wins in a short time. Scott Jurek is a legend in ultra marathon running by this point, by far the most recognizable name in the group. Ted McDonald, barefoot Ted, is an eccentric who’s discovered the benefits of running with either flat shoes or no shoes.

the author is himself a runner and joins the group for the race in Mexico while recounting the once in a lifetime experience. The subtext of the book is, are humans meant to run such long distances or is it damaging to the body? The answer is yes, and no. Humans are meant to run if they do it correctly. The damage is minimal when the technique is right.

In the spirit of proper form, Christopher McDougall begins working with a trainer. Most of what he learned remains a fixture in long distance running today. Take quick steps and shorten your stride, keep your heart rate low and burn fat instead of sugar. The point of teaching your body to burn fat instead is that it’s a more consistent source of energy. To get there, you need to stay below your aerobic threshold or heavy breathing. As most runners can attest though, running with a low heart rate is difficult.

Barefoot Trends

Another aspect of author Christopher McDougall’s training is strengthening his feet. Flatter shoes, or huarache sandals like the Tarahumara use, allow your feet to adapt to surfaces better than cushioned Nikes do. Between the tribes and barefoot Ted, the book spends a good deal of time on the benefits of running in sandals or shoeless. I remember there being a barefoot jogging trend around the time this book came out. McDougall makes a solid case for it. But shoe companies still put out ever more cushioning in their latest models. I suspect it’s because most non-runners buy the majority of the shoes anyway. How many ultra marathon runners do you know? It’s still a very niche sport even among fitness enthusiasts. That doesn't translate to big sales.

McDougall also changed his diet and started eating more like a Tarahumara indian. That meant a lot of “fruit, beans, yams, whole grains and vegetables.” He started eating salads at breakfast and became a convert, partly because you can stuff yourself and still have energy for a workout. He started doing pushups and lunges instead of stretching. The increased strength worked to sharpen his balance, and he began to become a better athlete and not just a better runner.

 I like his description from page 212 and 213 on the improvement. “Because I was eating lighter and hadn’t been laid up once by injury, I was able to run more; because I was running more, I was sleeping great, feeling relaxed, and watching my resting heart rate drop. My personality had even changed: The grouchiness and temper I’d considered part of my Irish-Italian DNA had ebbed so much that my wife remarked ‘Hey, if this comes from ultrarunning I’ll tie your shoes for you.’ I knew aerobic exercise was a powerful antidepressant, but I hadn’t realized it could be so profoundly mood stabilizing and–I hate to use the word—meditative. If you don’t have answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you ain’t getting them.”

Conclusion

For all the foot racing history and anthropology this book covers, its best feature is the enthusiasm of the author. Nothing gets people interested in a hobby or lifestyle change the way an honest promoter can. I wasn’t sold on the idea that our early ancestors used to run down prey until it dropped from exhaustion. But Christopher McDougall, the journalist who found a story in the heart of the Sierra Madres and improved his own fitness as a result? That’s the best story of all. It inspires me.