Friday Fun
I thought I’d lighten things up after Wednesday’s weighty topic. Get it- WEIGHT-y topic? Ha ha! See, I’m already lightening things up. Here are some fun and interesting things I’ve found this week: Cari informed me that Dr. Jill Biden is a runner! In this article she’s described as a “passionate runner” who has completed a marathon in 4:30. Nowadays she runs with the U.S. Secret Service- one guy runs in front of her and another behind. I’m not sure if I’d like that! I mean what if she wants to do a fartlek? After a brief hiatus (George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all runners) it’s nice to see the tradition continue. This podcast talks about the culture of running in Ethiopia. Interesting insights include the fact that Ethiopians consider running a group activity- running alone would be seen as weird and deeply anti-social. Also of interest was that running slowly is a skill to be valued- they take their “easy” runs very seriously. My favorite fact from this episode was that they don’t place much importance on the idea of “talent’ as a predictor of great running. Instead, they believe that anyone can be fast if they work hard enough and have the right training. Lot’s of great takeaways here. This might not be so. The absolute best article on cultivating gratitude by David Cain. Rather than just thinking “I’m grateful for my house,” (or whatever) David suggests that you vividly imagine how it would be if that thing weren’t there. While you’re sitting on your comfortable couch in your living room, imagine how cold and miserable you’d be sitting outside… then bring yourself back to the present moment and truly experience what it means to be in a nice warm house. The part where he describes doing this exercise with your loved ones will make you cry. TGIF! I hope everyone’s weekend is filled with long runs, waffles… and gratitude. See you Monday!