2/28/13

Run with us in Boston on May 5th


I’m heading back to New York City for a weekend of layer 3 Flatiron fun. Today I want to INVITE you to BOSTON to run with us and share a fine hoppy beverage or two for el Cinco Loco.  Go to http://cincoloco.steverunner.com for more information.

2/25/13

Three Hundred and One Locked and Loaded.


Fdip301: Unwrinkling the Runners Soul is due out on the Inter-Tubes this Thursday, and it’s a show for all beginners.


2/22/13

My Evil Puppy Lair

 
 I love my dogs, Indy and Eva...I love them so much that they sleep with me, and push me out of the bed quite often. Still, they are more than just "pets" to me, they are family; and I love them "tree-si-so" with all my heart.


2/17/13

One Point Four Degrees



My friend Eric and I are at a Cigar Bar in Worcester, Massachusetts talking about the SCIENCE behind Global Warming.

2/16/13

Because it's Fun



Because it’s Fun

I know, I understand, I hear you”, he said “but what I want to know is WHY do you love to run?

This past Thursday, I met my wife at our local Health Club to watch my son, John Michael, pass his “level five” swimming test.  Here’s this kid, seven years old, in the pool with 10 and 12 year so called “older kids” swimming more than half the length of the Olympic sized pool ahead of the fastest of them.

John Michael doesn’t have the greatest form.  His legs tend to thrash independently of each other rather than in a graceful synchronous flutter kick. His arms flail indiscriminately about, clutching at the water in large clumsy grasps.  But he does know his strokes: crawl, breast and back, and he certainly has a lot of energy.  What John Michael lacks in style and coordination he more than makes up for in effort and the sheer joy he has for the sport.

While the other, older kids struggle with exasperated looks of dire concentration, John happily slices through the water in generally the right direction, and always finishes far ahead of the pack.  The older, bigger kids work hard at their swimming with slow but steadily measurable improvement.  John on the other hand doesn’t really care.  He’s just having fun, and in having fun he is the best swimmer.  One of the primary reasons why John Michael looks forward to attending his swimming class is because, to him, it doesn’t seem like a class.

Another earned achievement of John’s this week was his graduation to “8 gup Blue” in his Tang-Soo-Do Karate class on Friday night.  John’s skill as a martial artist is impressive.  He shows an intensity and dedication to his Karate, deserving of his “blue belt”.  At least twice a week John “bows in” to his “Do-Jang” to learn routines, drills, and simple life philosophies (such as “winners never quit, quitters never win, I choose to be a winner!”).  But if you ask this kid what he likes best about Karate, he won’t have a specific answer for you. “It’s fun!” he’ll answer.  His high motivation in Karate, just as in swimming, comes from his understanding that these activities are nothing more than play.

Running is my own play.  I’ve trained myself to run along at an 8:30 pace for 12 miles or more because I’ve thought of each days run as simple “play”.  It may be that in contrast to our daily responsibilities (my network analysis research and John Michael’s second grade school lessons) our daily one-hour physical exercise, heavily disguised, as “play time” is a welcome and sought after escape.
If you want to excel at something, you have to like what you’re doing.  If, in pursuit of that excellence, you achieve weight loss and health as a “side effect”, then you win big!  The universal secret to pursuing excellence begins with having fun.

Dr. George Sheehan understood this.  He wrote:

“Play is where life lives.  Where the game is the game.  At its borders, we slip into heresy.  Become serious.  Lose our sense of humor.  Fail to see the incongruities of everything we hold to be important.  Right and wrong become problematic.  Money, power, position become ends.  The game becomes winning.  And we lose the good life and the good things that play provides.”

I’ve a major announcement to make here.  I’ve performed some complicated calculations taking into account my age, height, wind speed, air resistance, body weight and shape, biomechanical capacity of my legs, foot and torso, and of the race course itself and have come to a startling conclusion: I will never win the Boston Marathon.

Actually, in one of my “computer models” I did find a way to finish in first place, but that was highly dependent on my being the only one to actually enter the race and the statistical probability of that happening was rather low.

I don’t run to win.  I do my best in each race, and I push myself hard to shave a few seconds off my finishing time, but I’m never so disappointed with my performance that I’d ever quit.

Okay, alright, fine…but why do you love to run so much?” he asked again.

Because”, I answered “It’s fun.


Steve Walker
"Having more fun than people should be allowed to have"
October 29th, 2000
Oxford, MA. 

2/11/13

We Are All Rock Stars


I got a message on the Tubes of the Interwebs tonight that really got me excited about using "podcasting" (or whatever you want to call this) to make the world a better place.



2/9/13

Snowmageddon - Quitting New England


I've had quite enough of this place.  For 51 years I've put up with the cold, the snow, the dark, and a professional baseball team that breaks my heart over and over again.  I'm done.  I'm finished with New England!

2/7/13

MY VERY LAST PODCAST


The end is near, or so the local weather-folks would like you to believe.  But this time the prediction for 40 inches (that’s 101.6 cm for those who use a more proper measuring system) is likely going to come true.  Worse than that, the snow drifts caused by the Blizzard winds is going to make life here in New England most unpleasant.  So, today I’m podcasting from New York City for a very quick visit to my client before my great ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.  Stay warm everyone!

2/3/13

A new Fdip and two new Wine Chats: It’s Podcast-palooza!


I’m talking about the episode production behind episode 300 of Phedippidations (now available on iTunes) and two (count ‘em) TWO episode of the Wine Chat Podcast that came out this weekend.  Check ‘em out: