This is mostly a message to myself, but if you can take some sort of inspiration or consolation from it, that would be just fine with me. I\u2019m not trying to be a living example, or anything, however. I\u2019m sure some people would read this and think \u201cyeah, rationalize it, ya fat lazy baby.\u201d That\u2019s fine too. I mean, inspiration can come from bums in gutters as much from heroes on plinths. So if you\u2019re running too fast and need to walk, or if you\u2019re walking too much and need to run, you can go ahead and eavesdrop on this conversation with myself. And if you\u2019re just fine the way you are and can accept that about yourself, if you don\u2019t need to be listening-in on the self-indulgent ramblings of a tired old man, fine, I\u2019ll talk to you later.<\/p>\n
Oh, and this is about running, but it can be a metaphor for life, if you want. I think someone said that 40 is the new 30, which would be nice except I think they only said that because someone else said 30 is the new 20. And I think they only said that<\/em> because all of the 20-somethings are having trouble finding jobs since the 60 somethings won\u2019t retire and let the 50 somethings have their senior-management positions. It trickles down, and so the 30 year olds are still writing all the copy. They still want to be lauded and revered, so they\u2019ve designated themselves the new youth. That means what 20 years old used to call \u201ctoo old\u201d (30) is not now 40. That\u2019s me.<\/p>\n And just to be clear, this is not the same kind of message as when I said that you have to learn to run slowly. That was about not pushing myself too hard, even though I was capable. I didn\u2019t mean it as a metaphor for anything, but if I did, I guess it would have to do with banking your energy and holding back just a bit, learn how to contextualize your performance, so that you shine when you shine. Tree in a forest kind of thing maybe.<\/p>\n (Or not, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve been drinking beer all day so I can be too drunk to drive so I can\u2019t go to Burger King and get some onion rings because they\u2019re bad for me. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the best solution to my problem, but that doesn\u2019t matter\u2014I\u2019m just trying to tell you why I may not be very clear in what I am saying. And that totally isn\u2019t a metaphor for anything at all.)<\/p>\n Running slow instead of fast all of the time is so when you do run fast it\u2019s awesome. You know what they say: if you do it too much, it\u2019s stop being special. Not very Zen, but then that\u2019s where this idea of it being okay to walk now and again comes in. You run and run and something starts to hurt or the hill looms too large or you\u2019re so thirsty you can\u2019t spit. And then you think \u201cAh, what the hell\u2019s the point of any of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, there is no point, and if there was, maybe you wouldn\u2019t bother anyway. Admitting you don\u2019t want to, even if you think you have to, gives the power to choose to do so back to you, so you can run again later. Half a mile later, or tomorrow, or next week. There\u2019s some things you have to do whether you like it or not, and you can try to enjoy turning 40 and 50, but sometimes you\u2019re not going to.<\/p>\n And while you may be willing to hate a few miles now so you can love a few dozen later, when you\u2019re well trained and ready and able, the truth is you\u2019re no star athlete, so you\u2019re not going to lose much walking now and again. So go ahead and walk, and learn to enjoy that too, and if nothing else, let it inspire you to write yet another goofy blog post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is mostly a message to myself, but if you can take some sort of inspiration or consolation from it, that would be just fine with me. I\u2019m not trying to be a living example, or anything, however. I\u2019m sure some people would read this and think \u201cyeah, rationalize it, ya fat lazy baby.\u201d That\u2019s … <\/p>\n