Phedippidations

Today I present the second in a series of episodes that I’m calling “Running Blogcasts” featuring the writing of fellow runners in our community who have a talent for the written word. The author of today’s episode is Kim Cowart. (Kow-ahrt). Kim is one of the writers for the “Reasons to Run” blog over at Deseretnews.com. She’s a 35 year old mother of two from West Jordan, Utah. Kim spent much of her childhood living in Eugene, Oregon where running is as common as breathing. In her teens, she moved to Utah, where there is a large and very strong running community. Kim has always run off and on, but it was after she had her second daughter that her love of running became more serious. It started with a 20 minute run, and before she knew it, she found herself registering for her first marathon. She had never run a race before, ever. Her husband says she’s an all-or-nothing kind of girl, and this just proved him right. Kim finished her first marathon alive and well and even qualified for Boston. Since that day she has run nine marathons including Boston. She plans to run Boston again this April as well as the New York Marathon and the Utah Grand Slam which is a series that requires runners to complete four major Utah marathons over the course of six months. It’s that all-or-nothing part of her personality again. While Kim loves to call herself a runner, she is many other things. She is a mother of two beautiful little girls, the wife of a curly, red-haired bowling math whiz, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. Kim is a fitness instructor at a local gym where the members inspire her and bring her joy on a daily basis. She is a jig-saw puzzle addict. She was a high school English teacher in a former life. Her astrological sign is Cancer, although she has no earthly idea what that means, but apparently is it important to some. She is a cyclist and spends as much time as she can in the beautiful Wasatch Mountain range riding with her friends in the summer. She is a voracious reader of historical fiction. She is an organizer and master list-maker. She is a dancer, but only when she’s playing Dance Dance Revolution with her girls, so that probably doesn’t count. It was a gym member who attends Kim’s spin classes who asked her to contribute to the “Reasons to Run” blog and it’s been a joy for Kim to be able to combine the two joys of her life: running and writing. Her blog isn’t necessarily always about running, specifically, but it’s always the inspiration. She hopes her honest thoughts about running, exercise, balance and finding joy in the simplicity of life will inspire others to get up and move and realize that it’s never too late to change for the better. It’s her mission to tell people that life is good and it’s worth living well. Running makes it all the sweeter. I am honored that Kim would agree not only to let me re-publish her article from the Reasons to Run Blog, but that she took the time to read it for us herself….and did so on very short notice. I present for you an amazing fellow runner, Kim Kowart, with her essay on a topic we can all relate to: Pre-Race Jitters. LINKS: http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/68/Reasons-to-run.html http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/68/10011257/Reasons-to-run-Pre-race-jitters.html Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com The song “Bound” was by Black Lab off their new album: Two Strangers. http://blacklabworld.com

Celebrities are people too. They wake up in the morning, just as we do, they brush their teeth, they log onto their computers, they lace their own shoes, and they have to put in the same amount of effort as the rest of us in training for their marathons. You could outrun Will Ferrell, Kim Alexis and President Bush if you dedicated yourself to the task. There’s nothing special about someone who is famous. Their bodies undergo the same physics and chemistry that we are prone to experience…and while they may have financial advantages which give them access to experts and training tools that can help them run faster and further; in the end: they still have to get in their miles to achieve their goals…and if it helps to motivate you, their goals can be your goals…because you are just as good an athlete as they’ve ever been or will be. LINKS: http://www.ncm.ca Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com http://www.sportrelief.com The song “Ya Famous?” was by George Hrab: http://www.geologicrecords.net

IF YOU COULD, SOMEHOW, SEND A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE WHO WILL BE ALIVE ONE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM? The universe has come together to create the unique and special life form that you are, with your hopes and fears, dreams and concerns. The thoughts you form and the words you write and say constitute information, never to be duplicated information born of your mind that goes out into the world and has the potential, however remote the possibility, to outlive you and be shared with far future generations of people. If you had the opportunity to send a message to someone in the year 3011, what would you say? Would you tell them about yourself and your life? Would you warn them about the dangers of hurting the environment or plead with them not to go to war? Would you talk about love and joy, sadness and pain, life and death? And if somehow you were granted this chance to speak to someone in the future, how would you get your point across? I think the answer is obvious: poetry. Poetry is a universal means of communication. “Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted”, wrote the English Romantic Poet Percy Bysshe (Bish) Shelley. “Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” Wrote the American poet Carl Sandburg. And Plato wrote that “Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history”. It’s poetry, I tell you, that would get your message across the expanse of time. It’s poetry that would most effectively allow you to speak from your heart and mind to a person who lived in a time where everything we know has changed. You really need to consider what you’re going to say to future fellow runners…because this dawn of New Media and Social Networking is making these opportunities possible. Although currently in it’s infancy, the infrastructure that is being assembled today will allow you to speak to your great, great, great, great grandchildren and to those of ages to come: and with that opportunity comes a responsibility to speak the truth and pass your information along…because there will never be another living creature like you in this universe again: and now is the time for your poetry. Poetry is all about emotion and passion. It’s this quality of the message that gets passed on through the ages and gives us that opportunity not only to speak to future generations: but to do so in a voice they’ll understand; for as long as there are human beings to read and understand the words of others, there will be poetry to pass along to common sentiment. Life and death, joy and sadness, passion and ennui. These are the same feelings and emotions that human beings have shared since our species first began to walk the planet, and until the great technological singularity to come changes the way we might associate the human condition with past and future generations of beings: we’ll have poetry as a way of reaching each other through time and space. Special thanks to my friends who took the time to read some great poems: Toni Harvey - http://www.drusy.blogspot.com Kevin Gwin - http://theextramilepodcast..com Maddy Hubbard: http://www.maddyruns.com Adam Tinkoff: http://slowrunclub.blogspot.com Gordon Scott: http://tiree.blogspot.com LINKS: http://www.online-literature.com/homer/iliad/ Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com The song “Pretty Colored Lights” written, produced and performed by an amazing musical artist and poet: Warren Lain, from San Francisco, off his new CD: Phonofield. Check out this amazing artist and teacher at http://warrenlain.com

As a runner, you have to discover and understand your own running Terroir. You need to know how your environment, personality, geography and local climate influences your ability to perform. In this sport, we are taught to listen to our bodies and the symptoms of over-use injuries: but before we can hear and feel these signals from our bodies: we have to know who we are as runners….not in relation to others of similar age, weight, sex and shape…but relative to where and how we train. Dr. George Sheehan has said repeatedly that we are each an experiment of one; “Life is the great experiment” he said “Each of us is an experiment of one-observer and subject-making choices, living with them, recording the effects.” Learn how your Terrior manifests itself in your body to make you the runner you have become, and you’ll better understand the range of your limits; which are far above and beyond what you might expect. You are an expression of the place where you become the runner you have always wanted to be. With wine as with runners the stress brought on by the place where they develop has a direct effect on the type and quality of the end product. Step back and consider deeply your own running Terroir, use the knowledge of your place and the special stresses it challenges you with and you will come to train better and become the quality runner that your place in this world can make you. LINKS: The song “This Place” was by Derek Clegg from Chicago. http://www.derekclegg.com Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com Join the Runners Round Table: http://runnersroundtable.com

I’m starting off the new year right by answering all of my email (or at least trying to). In this episode of a goofy little podcast I respond to some of the messages I was unable to get to last year with hopes that I’ll be able to answer ALL of my email in the year of our Lord 2011. Also, join me for a swim in the FROZEN Atlantic with friends on New Years Day, and I get to chat with friend and Mojo Loco Founder Adam Tinkoff as we discuss his vision for el Mojo Loco! LINKS: “Whiskey in the Jar” was by the Blaggards http://blaggards.com Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com

This is our time. With the changing of the calendar year it’s common for us to take the time to look back on the previous solar orbit, or look forward to our future. This is a great exercise, to look forward without dwelling on the past: as we make our way through this adventure called life. But, it think it’s even more important to consider our present….the now that we are existing in…today, right now. This is our time. The who, that we are has grown and become in such a way that we can experience the Universe around us….we are, in effect: a way for the Universe to know itself; and I know that sounds deep…but it isn’t. Consider that we, as human beings, are made of flesh and blood whose elemental construction has it’s origins in an enormous universal expansion that began 13.7 billion years ago…we are made of star dust…ever replenishing cells made of carbon atoms, hydrogen and oxygen that have through biology formed into the creatures we are today. Trillions upon Trillions of inanimate objects and animate lifeforms have existed before us, and ga-zillions of intelligently aware creatures will exists when we are gone; and time will move onward towards an inevitable state of inaction where the universe and all the matter that it ever created will come to a stop: and space will enlarge to a point where time has no meaning, and there will be no way for the universe to experience anything: it’s a depressing thought, this asymptotic heat death of everything that has ever been: when the universe reaches a temperature of absolute zero. So, this is our time: it’s a reason to celebrate. We are here, today: with a purpose to make the world just a little bit better than it was before we got here. It’s a pretty good purpose, and yes: while the far imagined future may lay waste to all we’ve done and accomplished physically: there is more to life and purpose than that we can touch and see, feel taste and smell. I’m not here to provide spoilers for the significance and importance of the purpose that even the eventual heat death of the universe can’t destroy: but I’ll ask you to think about that…think about your now, and how in 20 years, 30 years, 50 years from right now you might look back and wax nostalgically about the things you’ll do today. This is our time to live, to experience and to perform random acts of kindness as a way to make the world just a little…teenie…tiny bit better than it was before we got here. There’s an old Irish blessing and toast that I’ll leave you with, with sincere hope that we’ve left 2010 behind us, that we’ll have a wonderful 2011 and that we can all appreciate the gift of the present. “May your troubles be less, And your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your door. “ LINKS: Alde Land Syne by J.E.L.L.i at http://www.jellimusic.com and by Mario Ajero at http://marioajero.blogspot.com

Today I’m going to read for you the final chapter of Dr. George Sheehans book “Running and Being – The Total Experience”. I’m doing this in hopes that you might buy and read his book, and as a way of presenting you with an alternate special holiday episode of Phedippidations…a gift you don’t have to unwrap. This chapter is very special to me, as I hope it will be for you. It was the conclusion to a book that so inspired me, so enthralled me when I first picked it up, that I literally could not put it down until I finished it well into the early hours of the next morning. I’ve read Dr. Sheehans book, “Running and Being” at least a dozens times since I first read the book; and this final chapter titled “Seeing” really sums up most of the major points made in the previous 17 chapters. You can purchase the book “Running and Being – The Total Experience” by Dr. George Sheehan, at http://www.georgesheehan.com/books LINKS: http://www.georgesheehan.com http://twitter.com/steverunner/teammojoloco http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com/ The Linus and Lucy theme was by the band J.E.L.L.i http://www.jellimusic.com The background music “I Saw Three Ships with Good King Wenceslas” was composed by Doug Boldt.

The friends who I ran the Mojo Loco with are listening to this right now, Chris and Chris, Eddie, Nik, Dan, Mat, Susan, Steve, Samantha, Norm, Adam and Maddy. They’re wondering to themselves: “How is Steve going to tell this story? How will be express the narrative? What imagery will he call upon? What great message will he send forth throughout the tubes of the Interwebs to tell the world about this Mojo Loco? So this is for my fellow teams mates; dedicated runners all; who accepted the challenge and call of the Mojo Loco and contributed by their presence to a happening: Guys, I thought about it…I really did. In the days following the Mojo Loco I had a lot to digest, thoughts and ideas, feelings and revelations. I know you did as well. I could have told the story of how we met at the Starbucks in Daytona Beach and drove North to St. Augustine. I could have told the story about the many stops we made along the way and the twelve legs of a run we accomplished together. It would have been a good story: interesting, entertaining and fun to hear; but it wouldn’t have been a GREAT story. The GREAT story that I wanted to tell was all about YOU. Each of you brought something of yourselves to this event, where the whole of our group was far greater than the sum of its parts. YOU are the story that needed to be told here, and if you want to call that wishy-washy mumbo-jumbo gobbily goop: go for it, but you know I speak the truth. What we did, together, as a Team, is something so important…something that everyone who’s listening to the sound of my voice right now, can and must become a part of. If indeed, we are indomitable as a team of thirteen runners from around the world, then other Mojo Loco events must be organized, and other teams assembled: because think about the good we can do in this world. Think about how we can motivate and inspire others to lace up their shoes and use their athletic potential for creative and social good! The Mojo Loco wasn’t about bib numbers and racing forms, entry fees and complementary tee-shirts. It was about US, It was about Chris Russells good humor, and Eddie Marathons sincere kindness, Nik’s artistic talent and Dan’s great ability for prose. The Mojo Loco was about Susan’s perseverance, Marathon Chris’s dedication, Samantha’s joy of running and Matt’s exuberance for sport. It was about Adams creativity, and Norms determination, Steve Choppers generosity of friendship, and Maddy’s inspirational passion. This was an event, never to be duplicated yet oft to be repeated. The story to be told here was all about the Team: the runners who came together to share the road and our time. Of this you can be certain: there will be other Mojo Loco’s, and other opportunities for this team and others to meet, run, talk and savor the luxury of each others companionship. Something magical happened on December 11th, between the cities of Saint Augustine and Daytona Beach Florida: something that developed in ten hours the way a fine wine might improve over ten years. Thirteen acquaintances: like minded souls brought together through social networking and new media met for coffee and became good friends. That’s the promise of el Mojo Loco…it sounds crazy, it sounds ridiculous: but you who experienced know better: and through each of us, so will our community. It was, without a doubt, an incredible honor to meet and run with you; but it was a special precious privilege to become your friend. Viva el Mojo Loco LINKS: http://twitter.com/steverunner/teammojoloco http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com/

The history of wine is the history of civilization. It’s a story that dates back to the earliest days of agriculture and encompasses the life and times of our ancestors who consumed wine for both pleasure and ceremony. When we raise a glass today, we are tasting more than just a fermented grape juice which technology has perfected into a form of liquid art; we are tasting the product of history; an ancient beverage that friends have shared over the millennium at the end of their long and arduous days shaping the world into a better place for themselves and us, their descendants. Links: http://twitter.com/steverunner http://www.ustream.tv/channel/phedippidations http://steverunnerblog.com/ http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com/ Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture by Patrick E. McGovern and Robert G. Mondavi (Jan 2, 2007) And the second is titled A Short History of Wine by Roderick Phillips (Nov 12, 2002) America's a Nice Italian Name by Allan Sherman “Wine Woman and Song” by Johnny Ferreira http://www.johnnyferreira.com

Get to know the parts and materials that make up your running shoes, and you’ll be a better consumer of the one critical tool needed to reach your goals as a runner. Whether you’re looking to run your first marathon, set a PR or BQ or just want to run at your own pace for the joy of it…wearing the right running shoes will make the difference between surviving through the miles, or savoring every moment you’ll have, on the road. Links: http://twitter.com/steverunner http://www.ustream.tv/channel/phedippidations http://steverunnerblog.com/ http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com/ The song Skullcrusher Mountain was by Jonathan Coulton at http://www.jonathancoulton.com