Baseboards – specifically the
cleaning of baseboards; that is my motivation.
I keep lists of things to do so I don’t find myself looking for
something to do and staring at the molding and thinking “I could clean the
baseboards.” My Puritan ethic compels me
to be ever active. It is ingrained in
me. The trouble is that when I see what other things I could be doing with my time, and I do a value comparison, I start to wonder if my efforts would be better used elsewhere.
Even rest has to have a purpose. Since the beginning of this year I have rested 10 days. I know this because Tyler knows this and also because these are the kinds of statistics I track. Yesterday I found myself staring at those baseboards. Then I remembered there were some 1 x 4s and other scrap wood in the garage and I’ve been meaning to play with that new pocket jointer I got for my birthday. So, I built myself an end table.
Even rest has to have a purpose. Since the beginning of this year I have rested 10 days. I know this because Tyler knows this and also because these are the kinds of statistics I track. Yesterday I found myself staring at those baseboards. Then I remembered there were some 1 x 4s and other scrap wood in the garage and I’ve been meaning to play with that new pocket jointer I got for my birthday. So, I built myself an end table.
The reason I chose to rest was
because today I ran the Highlands Ranch Half Marathon. The race started in Daniels Park and ended at
the Highlands Ranch Town Center. The
course followed a route along which I imagined cows were herded when the town
was first settled about 140 years ago. It
was a fine late summer morning; a scattering of clouds puffed along by a soft,
five mph breeze out of the east. The
temperature was about 55 degrees a gun time.
There were a few familiar faces
in the race. Fellow Runners Roost
teammate Matt Peharda was the overall winner.
Deb Cunningham won the female 50 – 59 age group. Dave Pierce finished second in the male 50 –
59 age group. It was a 1 – 2 finish for Phidippides Track Club as I was
fortunate to finish first in the 50 – 59 age group (4th overall).
As I waited for the start,
noticing many runners with compression socks and Garmins, I overheard two
runners discussing a training method one of them had read about. My mind drifted through their conversation,
but I heard the words research, university, data and results. I thought about what they were saying, not
about the new training method, but about the professors who spent the time studying
it.
We live in an era of great
discoveries in athletic performance.
Through scientific research and actual competition, we’ve seen
improvements in speed, endurance and stamina.
Our ignorance shrinks by fractions.
What we know is dwarfed by what we don’t know about our bodies’
capabilities. Are these results asymptotic
or limitless?
