Serenity Through Sweat

Dependance

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about an interesting theory on exercise I came across in my reading, and why fitness becomes habit forming and can become

We talked a few weeks back about Breath, the book covering the science behind the lost art if breathing by James Nestor. After finishing his work, I followed the path to that of his research partner, Anderson Olsson and his book Conscious Breathing, and continued my own journey towards breathing better.

There is a lot of overlap in their respective work, and there is only so much innovation to be had in a bodily function that literally everyone does unconsciously. Olsson, differentiates himself in his obsession with CO², carbon dioxide.

heavy bag hangar and pull-up bar with my helper Bob the builder

Carbon dioxide is a simple gas that is the waste product of aerobic respiration. Olsson’s work is filled with all sorts of fun facts about the gas, that are interesting, enlightening, and perception altering.

For example, for those of you who haven’t abandoned your new year’s resolutions yet, weight loss is mostly in the form of CO². As your cells burn fat and carbohydrates for energy, you might lose some water weight in sweat, but the primary waste is your breath. (If you really want to nerd out, CO² is heavier than H²O).

Now try holding your breath. That hunger for air, those alarm bells blaring in your mind urging you to breathe, are controlled not by a lack of oxygen, but rather by an excess of CO². As CO² builds up in the bloodstream it alters the pH of the blood. Chemoreceptors in the brain measure these changes and regulate your breath to maintain appropriate levels of both gases.

First time on the heavy bag in over a year, felt good after seven 3 min rounds

The chemoreceptors, sensing an increased level of CO², will dilate blood vessels, and increase oxygen absorption, in order to regain balance. Exposure to higher levels of CO², will result in higher levels of oxygenation. Higher levels of oxygenation result in feelings of calm, content, and euphoria. This has been commonly referred to as a runners high, or in the case of this blog, SerenityThroughSweat

This is where Olsson’s theories become interesting. Exercise increases our metabolic rate, increasing the relative amount of CO². Olsson theorizes that many athletes have subpar breathing habits both during workouts, and in their everyday life. This leads to a condition where the athlete becomes dependent on the workout, as a means to increase CO², thereby increasing oxygenation potential afterwards, and the beneficial feelings that come with it.

Athletes become addicted to working out because it makes them feel better in a way that is possible by just breathing better. We become dependant, on our own waste byproduct.

All nasal breathing, and trying to consciously lengthen my exhale

This blog has been a forum for me to explore the many ways in which routinely increasing my own metabolic processes brings about a certain level headedness that then permeates to all the other facets of my life. The idea that this makes me an addict, chasing my next fix of CO², is a bit simplistic for my taste, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.

It also means, that there are other ways to achieve that same sense of serenity, if Olsson is to be believed. Breath work, if done properly, can produce the same CO² imbalance, without all that pesky running and lifting heavy things getting in the way.

The lungs, intercostal muscles, and the diaphragm, can all be trained just like anything else. Just like you wouldn’t train your chest muscles while running in order to improve your bench press, you should train your breathing independent from your cardio. Breath work done on it’s own is important, and can help fill that gnawing ever present dependence we feel as athletes for a good CO² imbalance.

Breath work has provided me with a welcome new challenge, and an extra dose of CO² especially on those days when I can’t fit training in or I need some recovery. We all have our dependence on something, here’s to finding constructive ways to satiate the habit.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

I’ve been doing this with the boys in the stroller and it is a doozy

Awakening

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Last week, I talked about appreciating the metaphorical mountains of fatherhood based on a Frank Herbert quote from his magnum opus DUNE. This week I want to talk about another fatherhood theme of the book.

The book contains many layers each of which can be dissected individually and discussed at length in their own merit. The central storyline though follows Paul Atreides and his awakening from adolescence into the role of prophet and leader.

Early on in the book, before his own sci-fi training and psychedelic fueled prescient awakening, Paul has an awakening of a different sort, watching his father command and battle plan.

“There is probably no more terrible instant if enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man-with human flesh.” This quote is attributed to Paul, though much later on in his story and after years of reflection.

As is often the case word choice and perspective are critical for the message sent as well as the message received. “Terrible instant of enlightenment”, conjures up a scene in the life of a young man that is as powerful as it is pivotal. The word terrible commands the readers attention, and dictates the connotation of the scene imagined by the reader.

Rather than imagining a tragic scene of innocence lost, I prefer to think of this instant of enlightenment like a door that has never before been opened. You don’t know what is on the other side, and you can continue on in that blissful ignorance for as long as you like. But once the door is opened, you can never revert to your state of unawareness.

I remember my own awakening and the realization that my father was just another good man trying to do the best he could with the hand he was dealt. That is a story for another time, but it makes me think about what I can do to shape and guide the journey my own sons will have to that day of their own awakening.

I say shape and guide the journey because I don’t think there is anything that can be done to control or schedule it. A young man’s awakening might be delayed, preserving boyish innocence, but like an infant who hasn’t yet mastered the concept of object permanence, they will eventually see the door and become curious. My sons will go on until that fateful day under the same magical trance that engulfs all children.

They will face their own terrible instant of enlightenment, transitioning into manhood upon this realization, walking through their own door that will close forever behind them. I can prepare myself, that I may be the best version I am capable of being. And, I can guide them, that they are prepared for the world waiting beyond that closed door.

Some windy runs, especially the 5k with a jogging stroller wind anchor/running buddy

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Mountains

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I have spent a lot of the last week (and the last nine months) snuggling a sleeping Speedy. I’ve tried to be productive with that time while also enjoying and appreciating the one on one time in his first year.

Productivity, with a sleeping infant strapped to your chest, and a rambunctious toddler in the other room who has a new found habit of screeching like an underfed seagull, is a relative term.

It mostly involves trying to stay away from social media or news feeds, and reading books, blogs, or otherwise useful forms of information. My most recent literary journey is Frank Herbert’s Sci-fi classic DUNE.

Published in 1965 Herbert transports you to a political and economic struggle between great houses on a desert planet called Arrakis. As the major players in the realm jockey for power, Herbert weaves in some unconventional wisdom that retains relevance decades past publishing.

“Any road followed precisely to it’s end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it’s a mountain. From the top of the mountain you cannot see the mountain”

This cold open quote at the beginning of a chapter brought to mind so much of what the last nine months has been like. A road to nowhere, inability to see the mountain we’ve been climbing, and it made me think about being a father in the time of a pandemic.

The runs this week all nasal breathing. It’s not natural yet, but it is starting to get easier.

I have been very blessed to be able to spend much of this time with my family. Watching my boys grow and learn, day in and day out is a privilege that many fathers forfeit in the name of financial responsibilities. Day in and day out growth and change is a bit like the mountain, you can appreciate other peaks and valleys from the top but not really the mountain itself. It is only from the starting point and during the ascent that you can really see the mountain.

Speedy was born at home at the beginning of all of the Covid craziness. Now, nine months later, he is crawling across the house and starting to pull himself up on low surfaces, despite his precarious lack of balance. He babbles loudly and often enough to make himself heard in an already loud family, and much to his mother’s chagrin, has become quite adept at using the few teeth he has cut.

I’ve watched El Duderino grow into his role as a big brother in a way that is as tragically humorous as it is inevitable, mimicking the relationship I had with my younger brother at that age. I’m sure my mother warned me about this, something or other about karma, I was too busy practicing wrestling moves on my brother to pay close attention.

El Duderino flips effortlessly between roles as his brother’s keeper and a toddler adjusting to sharing. He can be heard screaming “no he’ll choke on that”, snatching up small toys out of his brothers grasp, and also “stop that man!” As Speedy crawls towards him, eyes filled with a curiosity and wonder only seen in a newly mobile child.

Looking back across nine months, the mountain is tall, and the climb has been as exhilerating as it has been arduous. That perspective only applies when thinking back to the beginning. Each day examined on its own, seems more like a comedic rerun of the last, rather than an integral part of the mountain trail.

I hope I can maintain mindfulness and appreciation for the many mountains I will climb alongside my family. I hope that I can instill the importance of that perspective into my sons’ young minds. I hope that we all acknowledge the view from the top without forgetting to recognize the trials and triumphs of the climb.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Trust

Happy new year! Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As we leave 2020 behind us and move together into 2021, I want to offer the advice of a sage Russian proverb, Doveryai, no proveryai.

I recognized this quote from the Reagan administration, without realizing is origin as a Russian proverb. Suzanne Massey introduced the phrase to Reagan as saying that the Russian’s liked talking in proverbs and he should know some. It has been used in political context several more prominent times since Reagan.

When your toddler is in his room “putting concrete on the road” trust but verify he isn’t spreading lotion all over the floor

Trust, but Verify, is a critical concept and part of the daily routine for both aviators and parents. All the checklist discipline and training in the world is still no substitute for verifying switch positions and systems functionality prior to a critical phase of flight.

Despite how charming El Duderino’s smile is, and how nice he interacts with Speedy, I still need to make sure he isn’t taking up the familial grappling mantle using his 9 month old brother as a drill partner every time I walk out of the room. (Training starts promptly on Speedy’s 4th birthday matching family singlets mandatory)

Despite the prevalence of Trust, but Verify, in so much of what I do day to day, what brought it to mind for me today was science, and more specifically scientists.

I’m working my way through Breath by James Nestor. A little more than half way through, I’m captivated by Nestor’s ability to weave complex scientific research and sometimes ancient beliefs and practices into his own narrative of breathing better.

Last run of 2020 working on buteyko breathing

Throughout the book (thus far) there are a myriad of examples of scientists, doctors, instructors, or other uncertified but results verified “pulmonauts”, whose work has been derided, ridiculed, banned, or otherwise lost to history.

These men and women used various methods to improve breathing in their patients and have both legitimate scientific, as well as anecdotal results to back up their methodologies. Every chapter seems to feature a new brave soul who discovered either the cause, or the cure, to a breathing ailment only to be chased out by scientific peers and forgotten.

Slogging through the wind and the nasal breathing for the first run of the new year with my favorite running buddy napping.

In a very complicated and somewhat oxymoronic twist of fate, good science requires both trust and doubt simultaneously. We as the public must trust scientists to follow the strict procedures and processes that are demanded of true experimentation. Scientists are taught to doubt their own preconceived notions and trust the data. Scientists are also taught to doubt the data and trends that may emerge unless they are repeatable.

Trust and doubt can together be a uniting or a dividing force. They can be used to create the robust science we need for modern problems or they can be weaponized to divide what is already a polarized nation.

Trying to find a rhythm breathing easier through the nose on runs, still a lot of work to do

As we move into a new year there will be plenty of opportunities to be divded by doubt. I think we can all find a little serenity, if we trust, but verify.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Tradition

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With Christmas behind us, I was thinking about all of the things I did growing up with my family, and the things I want to do with my family now. I started to wonder, what makes a tradition?

By definition, a tradition is “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior”. Basically anything we pass on to the next generation is a tradition.

Upper thigh parade in the new shorts for the 2020 Christmas Half Marathon

The creation of, and passing on of tradition is a powerful responsibility. I think it is important to not only explore the actions and behaviors that we are passing down themselves, but also the why behind them.

This year marked the ninth annual Christmas half marathon. What started out as an excursion in masochism and mindfulness to combat being alone on Christmas, has turned into something more.

Speedy and El Duderino ready to get the festivities started.

In 2012, after signing up for Ironman Florida to take place the following November, I ran 14.5 miles on Christmas day. While keeping my training volume up after a recent half iron triathlon and a century ride, the run was really about being on call over Christmas and not being able to see family.

As a charter pilot and particularly one junior at the company, I spent the next several years running half marathons on or around Christmas, either in different cities or on hotel treadmills. Finding solace in street, and comfort on the concrete, I pounded the pavement to combat the rising tide of frustration, emotion, and solitude that went hand in hand with professions that work through holidays, especially away from home.

Milk, cookies, carrots, and our letter to Santa

This pattern continued from 2012-2016. Five years, five half marathons, mostly a steam pipe venting pent up holiday emotions while working away from home. Then in 2017, El Duderino was born at the beginning of December. In addition, my grandmother passed right around Christmas in 2017.

I was planning on being home for Christmas 2017 one way or the other. But that year I was home with my wife and newborn son. I was in-between jobs on a sick time paid paternity leave from my prior charter job, and getting ready to start at a new airline that would be my career dream job. With a three week old baby, a well accumulated sleep debt, and the emotional toll of a lost family member very fresh, the pavement was calling for a whole host of new reasons.

2 is 1, and 1 is none, has never been truer than when your toddler takes your roller after you’re done running 13 miles. Thank God for backups

What started as an escape from solitude and an outlet for frustration, had changed with my growing family. There is a clarity that endurance challenges offer in a way nothing else can quite match. Whatever stresses or anxieties you lay on the alter of repetitive cardiovascular motion can be alleviated with the proper offering.

Over the past few years, managing my holiday schedule has become as much about being home with my growing family, as it is about making time to log those miles. My physical, mental, and emotional state has been different each year, and what I needed to get out of the run has been a little different as well.

A bold strategy for the days preceding the half marathon.

One aspect of SerenityThroughSweat is the process of working through those demons out on the pavement, in search of being a better person. The tradition of a Christmas half marathon, has helped me in what can be, despite it’s many joys, a stressful season.

Long distance running during the holidays has become an established pattern of behavior for me. While I would love to see my boys pick up and ultimately pass on that tradition, the run is just the mechanism and the reasons behind it, serenity, clarity, solace, relief, are what is truly important. I hope that those are the thoughts, behaviors, and actions, that are passed down through generations. In the end, I hope that I can raise young men who are capable of finding their own path to serenity, and making their own traditions

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Interconnected

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I’m wrapping up the last day of the 14 day mobility challenge from The Ready State working on the splits.

This is the fourth 14 day mobility challenge I have completed since last march. Each two week challenge focused on mobilizing the body into a specific archetypal position or working on an individual system. Prior challenges included squatting, arms overhead, feet and ankles, and the latest one, the splits.

Brute force 12 days off Christmas sandbag workout

I’m grateful for the well of knowledge that is available at the ready state and it seems like each position I try to mobilize, I find an interconnectedness that I didn’t know existed.

Having trouble getting in to a deep squat, it could be your ankles, or your low calf, or your hip capsule. Can’t get your arm overhead, check your lats, or your shoulder, or your oblique. Multiple muscle groups work together in complex movements, which means any of the several groups (or all of them) could be limiting factors.

The point is all of these body systems are interconnected and designed to work together. Dr. Kelly Starrett often says something to the effect of “let’s appreciate how these systems all work together for human function”

As someone who is constantly trying to improve my overall health and well-being, I’m always impressed when I find an interconnectedness I didn’t know about, and I can continue to make progress. It got me thinking about interconnectedness in other areas of my life.

The past year has brought on its own unique challenges and stressors. I know I am, and I would venture most of you are, quick to pick out the challenge or stressor that once removed would greatly improve life. Once the kids are in school, once I get that promotion, once I’m earning more money, once I have more free time. These are pretty common stressors and challenges that could be considered limiting factors to our mood.

Speedy helping out with my hamstring lockouts

More than anything the past year has taught me about the interconnectedness of my stress and emotions. The kids being at home, uncertainty on the job front, social isolation, these are all interconnected in affecting mental and emotional state of being.

Just like ankle dorsiflexion or impaired hip capsules, the stresses we encounter in everyday life are interconnected and limit our ability to get into healthy mental and emotional positions.

I try to spend a few minutes each morning and evening working on these limiting positions and systems, so that I can continue to move with a normal range of motion. As we move into a new year, I’m going to try to spend more time working on the mental and emotional limiting factors that are inhibitors to happiness.

El Duderino feeding his favorite animal at the zoo

Dr. Starrett is also fond of saying, “no one ever wins fitness”, it is a constant journey forward. I think our mental well-being and happiness are very similar. It isn’t a destination so much as a journey, and one that requires constant maintenance and attention. Just like those natural human movements, happiness is ours to regain and maintain if we are will to put in the work.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Expression

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With the Christmas season upon us I want to talk about one of my favorite holiday traditions. The advent beer calendar.

Now you might be asking yourself, where does an advent beer calendar fit in to a fitness and fatherhood blog? And that is a very good question and the answer is in composition and expression.

Transferred from the brewers box to put homemade beer calendar

For the last few years my wife and I have enjoyed an advent beer calendar featuring imported german beers. Almost all of the beers in the calendar adhere to the 1516 Bavarian reinheitsgebot or “purity order”

The order set forth regulations on beer sales including prices, profits that could be made by innkeepers, the confiscation of impure beer, and the approved ingredients for making beer. The only things allowed under the order are water, barley, and hops.

My feelings on government regulations and the stifling of market innovation aside, I am always impressed by the variety of beer we are able to enjoy in these calendars.

Most come from small breweries that have been following the same recipe for centuries. Yet every beer has its own unique flavor, and distinct personality. A different expression with the same composition.

Maybe it is because I have been fortunate enough to have more time home with my family than usual, but this made me think about my boys. Almost identical compositions with a different expression.

The days are long and the weeks tend to blur together, but when I try to reflect on El Duderino at eight months old, the two boys are very much distinct individuals.

Speedy is smart and sneaky. Knowing what he wants but playing it cool until it is within his range and then pouncing like a tiger. When El Duderino was the same age he was determined and focused, diving head first toward what he wanted without regard to where that might land him.

El Duderino was also a bit more independent wanting to be put down and move on his own, where Speedy enjoys the comfort of being held, especially to fall asleep.

Cheers and Merry Christmas from my family to yours

Both boys, like a good German beer, are unique in their expressions of my wife and my genetic codes. I am grateful for all the time I have gotten to spend watching them continue to express themselves this year, even if I need a few of the aforementioned beers to help get me through. Na Zdrowie! Próst! And Cheers! To a happy and healthy holiday season.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Some running and mobility work as part of the 14 day splits mobility challenge

Mayday

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week we celebrate El Duderino’s birthday. As I reflect on the past year of his life and all the growth I’ve seen, what sticks out the most is his behaviors surrounding help.

Mayday is a word most aviators hope never to have to use. It is the international radiotelephone distress signal, and when repeated three times it indicates imminent and grave danger, and that immediate assistance is requested.

The origin of the word mayday comes from the French, M’aidez, which is help me. Obviously there is a change in tone, connotation, and level of urgency when alternating between the two, but that is kind of the point. The difficulty as aviators, as parents, and as humans, is knowing when to ask for help and knowing when to say mayday.

This is a hard enough distinction for somewhat self reflective psuedo adults (yours truly), much less toddlers. When should I ask for help, who should I ask for help, and especially how should I ask for help, are all critical communication skills we could all improve upon.

El Duderino is at a stage where he wants to do things himself, but also needs a significant amount of help. He isn’t shy about asking for help, but it often comes in the form of a mayday like call from across the house. The desperation fills the room regardless of whether or not the situation demands it.

I’m left trying to parent the situation determining what the issue is, what type of help he needs, and if he needs to adjust his communication method before I provide such help. It is a lot to evaluate and even more to try to pass on to a toddler. Add on to that the fact that I’m still a little confused on what is the best way to approach the topic of “help”

In the bewildering and convoluted web that is modern masculinity, we end up with lots of different positions on help. Providing help to others, super manly. Needing help yourself, not so manly. Yet somehow admitting you need the help and actually asking for it, is somehow manly.

Picanaha, bacon wrapped scallops, and pork belly burnt ends birthday dinner

What is it about needing help, asking for help, accepting help, and providing help, that drives men of all ages to such silly mental gymnastics.

I won’t try to speak for all men, but I think for me it has a lot to do with conflict, like we talked about last week. There is value and growth to be found in conflict and struggle, and bypassing or shortening the conflict with help, could otherwise bypass or shorten the growth.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that tiny driving force called ego that gets in the way. Mine has certainly gotten me into a fair share of trouble often times because I was too proud to ask for help.

Speedy making friends at El Duderino’s birthday

When I do dig myself into enough of a hole that even my ego needs bailing out, I still struggle to ask for help. The request tends to mimic an old Dave Mathews song and my “grace is gone”. (Not that I have ever been accused of an abundance of grace to begin with)

Asking for help is an essential human behavior, and like most behaviors, it can be taught, learned, mimicked, and improved. Parents of toddlers know all too well how behaviors good and bad can be mimicked.

As El Duderino reaches his third birthday this is a skill I’m trying to improve in myself, so that I may provide a better example to teach him.

So the next time El Duderino starts screaming for help like he is going down over the atlantic, and the reason is that he can’t cram anymore play-doh into the cab of his matchbox dump truck, I have to remind myself that this is a teaching moment, and we could all use a little help.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

A long run, a quick run, and a warm up before an EMOM kettlebell sandbag blowout

Conflict

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As my wife and I were settling in to bed last night she asked me if I thought people were capable of peace.

That’s a pretty heavy question right before it’s time to shut down for the day, but fortunately it is something I think about often.

My answer was no. Humans are not designed for peace, but that isn’t inherently a bad thing. At the very essence of our being, we are animals designed to pass on our genetic code. This necessitates behavior patterns which make conflict inevitable.

I think humans in general are fueled by conflict. Most of that conflict is peaceful and beneficial. Conflict between nature or the environment, between oneself, or between a respectful competitor often lead to innovation and progress. In most cases of human conflict the result is growth.

El Duderino with his post Thanksgiving crown

When the net results of human conflict are no longer beneficial, everyone suffers, and this is generally the lack of peace I think we refer to when asking if humans are capable of peace. But the distinction between the two is important.

As is often the case, the devil is in the details. It is up to us to determine when a conflict will result in growth and is worth pursuing, and when it will result in suffering and is worth pacifying.

These are some of the hardest decisions I struggle with as a husband and a father. Am I being obstinate, or jealous, or vengeful in my assessment of this conflict? Is the potential for growth based on my knowledge gained from the situation or from a necessary change in my own behavior?

El Duderino and daddy back in the saddle

Often the conflict itself requires so much of our attention and energy, that it is hard to form those questions in the moment, let alone answer them.

As the Thanksgiving holiday comes to a close, I’m thankful for all of my conflicts. Those I wage against my self and my own shortcomings, those against environmental circumstances, and even those against other “competitors”

This blog has been in large part a place to reflect on my conflict, and to assess and grow from it. I am thankful that I can share it with you, and I hope that you gain as much from reading as I do from analyzing and sharing.

Thanks for joining me, happy Thanksgiving, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Alternative Facts

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. We have officially crossed the one year mark, and I’m grateful for all of you who have followed along. I especially appreciate your readership because I know sometimes I can get lost in the woods or have a wonky perspective. With that in mind I want to talk about alternative facts.

The phrase coined in 2017 during Trump administration, alternative facts, are a fancy way of rebranding a falsehood. But I will use the phrase in a different and I think more appropriate way.

I have been searching through running world archives for one of my favorite running stories, and have been unable to find the article so forgive me for paraphrasing and not citing. The story goes something like this:

A husband and wife are competing in the same ultra distance trail running event. At the end of the event each of them is interviewed. In the husband’s interview he recalls memories from his time on the trail, winning the race, helping his wife cross a creek that was too deep for her, and his wife eventually coming in dead last. In the wife’s interview she recalls memories from her time on the trail, being the first female finisher, and her husband finishing next to last.

The husband and wife were the only two people racing. So while both interviews were factual, the tell two very different stories. Now this could be called perception, or connotation, but I think alternative facts is actually a great descriptor.

The husband won the race, that is a fact. He also finished next to last, that is an alternative fact. They are both real and true and describe the same event. The order of which is the “fact” and which is the “alternative fact”, is interchangeable depending on the message you are trying to communicate.

I read this story a few years back and it stuck with me. It stuck with me because of: how zany ultra runners, especially when married to each other are, the fun and interesting ways we can present the same information, and how we choose to present the same facts, especially when we are motivated by competition.

Switching gears to my work peers, (feel free to skip ahead three paragraphs if this doesn’t apply to you) I think we find ourselves in a similar situation looking at the current LOA vote. I am not nearly smart enough to find all the easter eggs and “what if’s” in this deal, but the main issue seams to be the TLV reduction.

The TLV reduction, just like the ultra runners, is either a quality of life win, or a concession to the company, depending on where you sit and what your message is. They are both true concurrently, and our individual competitive need to be right, further fueled by being “fact” (or alternative fact) based, is why we are seeing the high level of division within our ranks.

El Duderino digging in to some Deer Poop (chocolate covered raisins)

It is important to remember that like the runners, we are married to each other and running the race together. We each have a vote, and it is not in the scope of this publication nor is it my personal desire to sway you one way or the other. I would seek only to remind us all that we are on the same team, and the “alternative facts” of the LOA based on your perception, should not diminish our enjoyment for this race we embark upon together.

When forming an argument, the facts are obviously important and essential, but the message, intent and tone, take a close second. In cases where “alternative facts” are present those secondary factors are further amplified.

A couple good runs since the arrival of friendlier Florida temps

Being a zany endurance althete, and a competitor by nature, I often find myself alternating between “fact” and “alternative fact” as it suits my message and desire to win an argument. It is a bad habit that results in compromised communication and added angst in my relationships.

As we move through a contentious election season, a potentially dividing LOA, and a tumultuous 2020, I ask that we all consider the facts, and the alternative facts, and then engage each other as colleagues, peers, and friends.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.