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By TJ, July 29, 2009 2:29 pm

I’m often asked how I’m able to train for my running as hard as I do.  And I always answer the same way, “Man, I haven’t trained in years!”  But how can that be true for someone that goes out and runs 30-40 mile “training” runs?

It’s simple, I just go out and play.  It’s how I get my exercise, how I relax, how I escape, how I go deep into thought.  It’s whatever I need it to be.  For other’s it’s yoga, and other’s it golf or pick-up basketball.  The idea of running longer is simple for me,  it’s fun so why wouldn’t I want to do it all day?  Heck, the only reason I don’t do it more is because I have to go to work, and I want to spend time with my family.

This weekend I took my son to a sprinkler park.  For those that aren’t aware of sprinkler parks, the concept is that there are spinklers and fountains all over a concrete covered area, and you just run through the sprinklers and get soaking wet.   My son is 18 months old, and he’s a happy kid.  But I’ve never seen him running around with such a smile on his face as I did that day.  For 30 straight minutes he ran non-stop, smiling from ear to ear, completely unaware that I was still around.  By the end he was completely exhausted.  That is what we all should strive for.  Finding an activity that is not exercise or working out, rather it’s playing.  When was the last time you played like this?

I firmly believe that exercise lost it’s charm when it was bolted to the floor in a gym.  TV’s were put in front of you, padded mats were placed on the floor, and Britney Spears was blasted through the loud speakers.  It turned from play to work when all the laughing  and playing stopped, and the “workouts” began.

For those that go to a gym regularly, and actually enjoy it, that’s great.  But I think the “gym” concept has absolutely hurt our culture’s physical fitness on average.  The reason: It puts a preconcieved notion in people’s minds that they should belong to a gym, go to it regulalry even if they don’t enjoy it, and just suck it up.  Those people then join for a year, go for a month, and feel guilty for the remainder.

So my challenge to you is to figure out what physical activity you love to do, and do more of it.  Sure, you can supplement the sport (or activity) with gym workouts or other more restrictive programs, but focus on what you love.  For me it’s running.  What is it for you?

If you want to read more on this topic by someone far more eloquent than me, check out the late George Sheehan’s book Running & Being: The Total Experience.  It’s a life altering book.  It’s not just about running, it’s about making exercise fun again, playing like a kid.

photo by mikebaird

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By TJ, July 27, 2009 12:05 pm

In my post from this morning, I decided to try an experiment.  My goal coming into the day was to be the ideal person that I want to be so that at the end of the day I could analyze it.  Making no compromises, I stepped into the day knowing that it was just a single day.  Every decision I made, every action I took, I asked myself “Does this action represent the person you desire to be?”

I learned 2 things:

1. It aint easy. This wasn’t an exercise to be the perfect person, or to be like someone else that I admire, both of those would be feeble attempts at something unmanagable in the long run.  No, this was an attempt to be a better version of myself.  The person I should be if I don’t let negative influences and weak will-power take me down.

The day started off simple enough, I woke up at 6am like usual. After writing this post, I went outside for a workout in the back yard.  I took in some fresh air and got my blood pumping.  Soon my son woke up, and I made him some breakfast, we sang songs and we danced in the living room.  Exactly the dad I want to be (at least while he’s an innocent 18-month old).  I cleaned and did laundry so that when my wife comes home from her out-0f-town trip to Vegas, she doesn’t have to worry about cleaning.  Exactly the kind of husband I want to be.  By noon I had eaten well, exercised, taken good care of my kid, and did chores to help out my wife.  All was good.

When I put MJ down for a nap, I logged on and did some work for my family business.  By 3 o’clock when my son woke up, I was worn down but had accomplished a lot.  The rest of the day I kelpt at my goal, but it got tougher.  I lost some of my will and made some mistakes.  As a long distance runner, I would compare this journey to running 100 miles.  You don’t just go run it, you train and build up.  You finish your first marathon and think that’s the longest distance you can ever do.  Yesterday was that marathon, and I limped to the finish line.  Now I start my training for longer distances.

2. It’s totally worth it. I love my family and myself, and I want the best for us.  I want to make their lives better, I want to be a role model to my son and dependaable to my wife.  Too many of us live in a selfish world.  And we think that when we do something for someone it’s a big deal, and we deserve a reward.  My grand experiment showed me that (cliche alert!) the journey is the reward.

Spend the next few minutes thinking about the person that you want to be.  Then go out and be it.  Every opportunity, go out and ask yourself what the ideal you would do, then do it.  Try it out for 24 hours and let me know what you find!

Related Articles:

If You Want To Be A Better Person, You Have To Be A Better Person

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By TJ, July 26, 2009 11:37 am

Three frogs sit on a log.  One of them makes a decision to jump into the lake.  How many frogs are now sitting on the log?

The answer is three.  Making a decision to jump into the lake is not the same as jumping.  If that frog is one of us, he’s probably preparing for the jump now.  He’s dipping his toes in to check the temperature.  He’s checking the depth, worrying about how long he’ll be in there, how he might get out, what kind of fly he had for dinner last night. And soon the opportunity will pass, it will get dark and he will decide that it’s best to go for a swim tomorrow when he’s not so tired.

The thing is, if you want to do something you have to just do it.  Preparation is great, but not everything needs preparation.  We’re not talking about climbing Everest or swimming across the English Channel, we’re talking about making steps towards being a better person.   And there’s no better time than now.

Today I will being doing a little social experiment.  I’m going to make the entire day about being who I want to be.  This means I will focus on being a better husband and dad, being more healthy, and being more engaging.  All day I will ask myself what I should be doing to be a better person, then I will just do it.   It’s 6:30 AM, I’m going to start by drinking some more water and getting in my workout before my kid wakes up.

I’ll be checking back in periodically today to document my findings.  You can check back here or follow me on Twitter.

Update: Here’s the follow-up article

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