"And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been."--Rainer Maria Rilke

 

Repeat after me: I am about to walk into the greatest year of my life.

Louisa May Alcott

“I make so many beginnings there never will be an end.”

Robert Burns, “Auld Lang Syne”

“We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne [for old time's sake].”

Dr. Seuss

"You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do."

Anne Frank

“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't even happened yet.”

William E. Vaughn

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."

The ground is hard,
As hard as stone.
The year is old,
The birds are flown.

And yet the world,
In its distress,
Displays a certain
Loveliness–

John Updike

Happy 2024!

(daily ex. 2 walks=4.7 miles, slow pm jog 4.3 miles, total miles run/walked this year 2009.6 miles, 13.4 short of my goal of 2023 miles.  I'll do better next year)

 

“Note to self: All you have to do is show up. Be late. Be scared. Be a mess. Be weird. Be confused. Just BE there. You'll figure out the rest as you go.” ― Nanea Hoffman

 (daily ex., morning walks 4 miles, pm slow jog/walk 2.5 miles.  I just reached 2000 yearly miles, will not reach 2023 this year but will be close. I'll have to make it up next year.)

“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.” - Tom Smothers

 RIP Tom Smothers

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.6 miles, pm slow jog 3.7 miles. 1994 miles run/walked this year, I won't quite be making 2023 but will be close)

“To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists

 I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! Mine was great. Now to get back to everyday routines and prepare for the new year.

(daily ex. update, 2 walks=2.6 miles, pm jog 4.1 mi., getting back into a routine.) 

“And don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.” — Rumi

 

• "Winter is a season of recovery and preparation." - Paul Theroux
• "In the depth of winter, I find within me an invincible summer." - Albert Camus
• "One kind word can warm three winter months." Japanese Proverb
• “To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” - Aristotle
• "The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear." - Rumi

• The Winter Solstice is the time of ending and beginning, a powerful time -- a time to contemplate your immortality. A time to forgive, to be forgiven, and to make a fresh start. A time to awaken.

  Frederick Lenz

The days will lengthen starting tomorrow.  I always love that. Happy Winter Solstice.

(daily ex. update, 2 dog walks = 1.8 miles, streak saver pm jog 1.2 miles)

My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.

 “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” ~Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though: He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.

“I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.” ― E.B. White, The Points of My Compass

 (daily ex., 2 dog walks=2.2 miles, pm slow jog 4.3 miles)

“‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” ― Voltaire

Didn't Molly Brown do that after the Titanic went down?

(daily ex., 2 dog walks=3.9 miles. pm slow jog 5.2 miles)

 This is the last poem shared by Alareer.

If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/refaat-alareer-poet-gaza#:~:text=As%20if%20aware%20of%20the,Israeli%20airstrike%20in%20northern%20Gaza.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.4 miles, pm jog/walk 5.7 miles)

"What does it feel like to be alive? Living, you stand under a waterfall. You leave the sleeping shore deliberately; you shed your dusty clothes, pick your barefoot way over the high, slippery rocks, hold your breath, choose your footing, and step into the waterfall. The hard water pelts your skull, bangs in bits on your shoulders and arms. The strong water dashes down beside you and you feel it along your calves and thighs rising roughly backup, up to the roiling surface, full of bubbles that slide up your skin or break on you at full speed. Can you breathe here? Here where the force is the greatest and only the strength of your neck holds the river out of your face. Yes, you can breathe even here. You could learn to live like this. And you can, if you concentrate, even look out at the peaceful far bank where you try to raise your arms. What a racket in your ears, what a scattershot pummeling! It is time pounding at you, time. Knowing you are alive is watching on every side your generation's short time falling away as fast as rivers drop through air, and feeling it hit." — Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.8 mi, pm jog/walk 6.2 miles.  78 miles remaining to run/walk by year end.  Not sure I will make it with the holidays coming)

/ Terence McKenna / . "We are told No, you're unimportant, you're peripheral - get a degree, get a job, get a this, get that, and then you're a player. You don't even want to play that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world."

 (daily ex., morning walk with dog and walk group 3.5 miles, pm jog 4.5 miles, total run/walk miles 1937.1,  I've got 85.9 miles to go this year)

When you can't look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark .. ~ Lewis Caroll ~

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.9 miles, pm slow jog/walk 4.6 miles)

“Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes.” — E.F. Schumacher

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm very slow walk/jog 5.2 miles)

Friedrich Nietzsche / . "Do you want to have an easy life? Then always stay with the herd and lose yourself in the herd."

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.3 miles, pm very slow jog walk while watching awful Hallmark Christmas movies)

What a foggy foggy day.

 Fog

BY CARL SANDBURG

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

(daily ex. , morning dog walk 0.6 miles,  pm jog 3.5 miles)

Exercising for just 10 minutes a day raises your risk of posting inspirational quotes by 70 percent.

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm very slow jog 4.5 miles)

“If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 0.8 icy miles, pm very slow jog 3.5 miles)

Muhammad Ali said, “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

(daily ex. update, 35 min of shoveling snow, morning walk 1.5 icy miles Santa Shuffle, pm slow jog 4.7 miles)

Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.” ― George Orwell, 1984

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 2 mi.,  pm slow jog/walk 4.5 miles, still pushing to reach 2023 miles by the end of the year)

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.” ― Karl Kraus

(daily ex. 2 dog walks = 2.2 miles, 1 slow jog 1.2 miles, walk 3.2 miles)

"I'm only one person, I can't make a difference" said eight billion people.

 (daily ex.,2 dog walks=3.1 miles, pm slow jog 4 miles, I'm at 1875 mi run/walked so far, with 148 to go in only 25 days)

Kurt Vonnegut / . "You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society."

In my heart I believe that the majority of people are good, but holy shit the bad ones are very loud and very annoying.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm very slow jog 5 miles)

We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children.---Jimmy Carter

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 4.5 mi)

"I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time." — Charlie Munger

 "Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Systematically you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. Nevertheless, you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day – if you live long enough – most people get what they deserve."

— Charlie Munger

"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent."

— Charlie Munger

"Take a simple idea, and take it seriously."

— Charlie Munger

My new goal----to be consistently not stupid.  

(daily ex., morning dog walk 1.3 miles, chilly day, pm slow jog 3.7 miles)

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.....Wayne Dyer

 (daily ex. update, 3 walks=4.3 miles, pm slow jog 2.7 miles.  Year to date 1850.9 mi run and walked.  I will have trouble reaching 2023 miles this year.  I am cutting it close.)

“People are talking about immigration, emigration and the rest of the fucking thing. It's all fucking crap. We're all human beings, we're all mammals, we're all rocks, plants, rivers. Fucking borders are just such a pain in the fucking arse.” ― Shane MacGowan

 Fairytale of New York has been playing in my mind for a couple of days now. It is haunting and unforgettable.  I can understand why it is the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century.   

Farewell Shane MacGowan.  

" I could have been someone

well so can everyone

you took my dreams from me

when I first found you

I took them with me babe

I put them with my own

can´t make it all alone

I´ve built my dreams around you"

Fairytale of New York

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.7 miles, pm slow jog 4.5 miles)

At some point in your life you and your friends went outside to play for the last time, but none of you knew it.

Sadly it doesn't end there.  Life repeats itself. 

(daily ex., morning slow dog walk 1.2 miles, eve streaksaver 1.1 mi)

When you are a kid, you don't realize you are watching your mom and dad grow up.

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 1 mile, pm slow jog 3.1 mi)

“I need solitude. I need space. I need air. I need the empty fields round me; and my legs pounding along roads; and sleep; and animal existence.” —Virginia Woolf in a diary entry dated October 15, 1930

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.5 miles slow and forced.  pm jog 3 miles)

“The portrait of my parents is a complicated one, but lovingly drawn.” — Joyce Maynard

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.7 mi, pm jog 1.3 mi)

It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.

(morning dog walk 0.5 miles, shovel snow 20 min., pm streak saver jog 1 mile) 

You don't always have to tell your side of the story. Time will.

 Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

(Morning dog walk 0.8 miles, pm streaksaver 1 mile)

There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.--Sylvia Plath

 Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

(morning dog walk 0.7 miles, pm streaksaver mile)

Maya Angelou / . "Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between."

 (morning dog walk, 0,7 miles, pm streak saver jog 1 mi)

Creative people don't have a mess, they have ideas lying around everywhere.

 That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(daily ex., pm slow jog 3.1 miles)

“What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 1.5 miles, pm slow jog 5.7 miles)

“Guns are the crutches of the impotent.” — Arthur C. Clarke

 

“If we don't end war, war will end us.”

― H.G. Wells

(daily ex. update, 3 walks = 5.3 miles, pm streaksaver slow jog 1.5 miles, Goodnight all)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,

and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,

and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice,

except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero

and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own

and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money

and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode

and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty. ~Lawrence Ferlinghetti

(daily ex., morning very slow dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 5.5 mi)

/ Alan Watts / . "The future is a concept, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now."

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.3 mi, pm slow  streaksaver jog 1.1 mi)

“We need to spend some time in the weeds to appreciate the flowers.” — Ed Yong, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.3 miles, pm slow jog 3.2 miles)

Arabic proverb: "They asked the Pharoah, what made you a tyrant? He said: No one stopped me."

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 3.6 miles)

 "When I was 19 years old I couldn't go to college because I came from a poor family. We had no money, so I went to the library at least. Three days a week I read every possible book. At the age of 27 I have actually completed almost the entire library instead of university. So I got my education in the library and for free. When a person wants something, they will find a way to achieve it.

I would like to remind you one thing:

Humans should never forget that we have been assigned only a very small place on earth, that we live surrounded by nature that can easily take back everything that has ever given to man.

It costs absolutely nothing in her way to one day blow us all off the face of the earth or flood the waters of the ocean with her single breath, just to remind man once again that he is not as all-powerful as he still foolishly thinks. "

Ray Bradbury

American writer

(daily ex., 2 slow dog walks = 3.3 miles, pm slow jog 4 miles)

There is nothing more pathetic than caution when headlong might save a life, even, possibly, your own. - Mary Oliver

 (daily ex. update, morning very slow dog walk 3 miles, pm slow jog 3.5 miles)

Happy Diwali

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights with its variations also celebrated in other Indian religions. It symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance". Wikipedia 

I love this!

“The road and the tale have both been long, would you not say so? The trip has been long and the cost has been high... but no great thing was ever attained easily. A long tale, like a tall Tower, must be built a stone at a time.” ― Stephen King, The Dark Tower

(daily ex. 3 walks = 4 miles, pm slow jog 2.5 miles)

“I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be... This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages... Far too many people misunderstand what 'putting away childish things' means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup. When I'm with these people I, like the kids, feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don't ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, and 'be' fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup.” Madeleine L'Engle

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.7 miles, pm slow jog 3.3 miles)

"And I'll keep this world from dragging me down. Gonna stand my ground."

 (daily ex. update, slow morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm slow jog 3 miles)

From Nayyirah Waheed's book, Salt

you broke the ocean in 

half to be here.

only to meet nothing that wants you.

             immigrant

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.3 miles, beat the snow/rain home.  pm jog 4.4 miles)

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm streaksaver jog 1.1 mi)

Always good to re-read

 Listen to the mustn’ts, child.

Listen to the don’ts.

Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts.

Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...

Anything can happen, child.

Anything can be.

-Shel Silverstein

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” ― Walter Bagehot

(daily ex.,slow morning dog walk 2.7 miles, 2 pm slow jogs = 4.3 miles, must start increasing my walks and runs or I won't reach 2023 miles this year)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / . "We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe."

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 2.5 miles, mostly talking to a neighbor, pm slow jog 4 miles)

“Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.--Joseph Heller, Catch 22

 (daily ex., morning dog walk plus fleet feet group walk 3.6 miles, pm slow jog 3.6 miles)

An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress,

 W.B.Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar quoted this poem in his newsletter today but he stressed the "unless." He feels that:

Those “tatters” aren’t our weakness, they’re our strength. They challenge us, sure, but they also force us to place our lives in clear perspective. We are sledding down a hillside that we will never climb up again. So, we must learn to love the sliding, the view, the crisp air, and those cheering us on.

We must learn to love the sliding.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 4.5 miles)

Can MIT students become certified pirates? All MIT undergraduates must complete eight points of physical education classes to graduate—but students that complete courses in archery, pistol shooting, sailing, and fencing are granted pirate status with a tangible certificate.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk slow 1.7 miles, pm slow jog 3.3 miles) 

“The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth.” – Chief Seattle

 Happy World Vegan Day.

(daily ex., morning dog walk 1 mile, pm slow jog 4.5 miles)

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley : It's a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.

Happy Halloween

Samhain Blessing:

The Wheel of the Year prepares to turn once more.

Now is the celebration of Samhain, the Final Harvest.

A time to do final preparations for winter,

Remember loved ones who have passed,

And celebrate the Witches' New Year.

All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

                     Haunted Houses, H,W. Longfellow

(daily ex., morning dog walk only 0.3 miles, pm jog 4.8 miles)

Remember folks, Christians didn't burn WITCHES at the stake, they lit women they couldn't control on fire. -unknown

 (daily ex.,morning slow dog walk 1.5 miles, pm slow jog 2.5 miles)

"Life is not just about peaks and valleys, about wins and losses. Life is about the journey. You hear that all the time. You’ve got to absorb that. You’ve got to know that. The journey has to become the destination because there is no true destination. There is no endpoint. There is no goal. All rivers run to the sea and yet the sea is not full. Life goes on; accept what life gives you. The sun rises the morning after you win the championship or lose in the first round." — Paul Assaiante, Run to the Roar

 (10+ inches of snow, morning dog walk 1.1 mi, pm slow jog 1.4 miles, 15 min shoveling heavy wet snow)

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

 Good Night! Tomorrow is a new day.

(Cold and snowy today, walked dog 1 mile over 2 walks, pm slow jog 2.2 miles)

Oscar Wilde / . "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 1.5 miles, pm slow jog 3.5 miles, winter cold and snow arrive tomorrow)

It's good to do uncomfortable things. It's weight training for life. ~Anne Lamott

And perhaps the most beautiful paradox of all is how a human soul is heartbreakingly fragile and unbreakably strong at the same time ~

 (daily ex. update, morning very slow walk with dog 1.7 miles, pm slow jog 2.3 miles)

“When a Clown moves into a Palace, he doesn't become a King. The Palace instead becomes a Circus.” A Turkish proverb.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 very slow miles, my dog did better today; pm slow jog 4.5 miles,  autumn has arrived, it seemed the beautifully colored trees decided to drop their leaves overnight)

If animals spoke, humanity would cry.

 (morning dog walk 0.8 miles, my dog was just not able to walk far today, later I walked 2.2 miles, pm slow jog 2 miles)

“Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.” —Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather

 (daily ex., morning very slow dog walk 1.7 miles, pm slow jog 3.3 miles)

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” ― Plato

 Another beautiful autumn day.  Morning walk 4 miles including dog walk, and fleet feet group walk.  Also a small walk at a fall festival where I scored a free pumpkin.

Always lead with love. But still master the throat punch. - Golden Hawk.

 (daily ex., morning dog walk very slow 1.2 miles, pm slow jog 2.8 miles)

At 70 years old if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words 'fuck off' much more frequently. — Helen Mirren.

 (daily ex., 2 walks with dog = 1.7 miles,  2 slow jogs = 4.3 miles,  trying to get back to exercise after a week off)

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

"Build a man a fire 🔥, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett

 This always makes me smile.

Rena Priest--I have seen a tree split in two from the weight of its opposing branches. It can survive, though its heart is exposed. I have seen a country do this too.

 (daily ex, morning dog walk 1 mi., pm slow jog 1 mi)

Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.--C.G. Jung

 (daily ex., walks = 3 very slow miles, pm slow jog 3.1 mi)

But the thing is, even if I could go back, I wouldn't belong there anymore.

 (daily ex., 2 very slow dog walks = 2.1 miles, slow pm jog 2.1 miles)

“Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.” ― Christopher Columbus

 A really nice quote from a really bad man. 

(daily ex., morning really slow dog walk 1.3 miles, pm slow jog 4.3 miles)

 

“Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman. Successful women? Yes. Productive women? Plenty. Anxious and afraid and apologetic women? Heaps of them. But relaxed women? At-ease women? Women who don't dissect their days into half hour slots of productivity? Women who prioritize rest and pleasure and play? Women who aren't afraid to take up space in the world? Women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax? Without guilt? Without apology? Without feeling like they need to earn it? I'm not sure I've ever met a woman like that. But I would like to become one.”

― Nicola Jane Hobbs

(dailyex. several short dog walks = 2 miles, 2 slow jogs = 6 miles)

Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends. ~Joseph Campbell

 (daily ex. update, walk 4.2 miles over 3 walks, pm jog 2.1 miles)

“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.” ― Emily Dickinson

 (daily ex., morning slow dog walk 1.2 miles, pm slow jog 4.3 miles)

 

Luke and the Frog: An American Fairytale OR What It Feels Like to Be a Parent in America

Jasminne Mendez

On the Monday after Mother’s Day,  after another mass shooting,  I pick up my daughter from school  and on the ride home while she munches  on veggie chips and looks out the window,  she tells me a modern day fairytale: “Luke killed a frog today  at the playground during recess the frog was small not a baby frog a teenage frog because he had a medium-sized body  not a small body a green & blue medium-sized spotted body  Luke stepped on it & stepped on it until there was blood & the teacher had to call the frog ambulance & Luke was put on the naughty list & I was the only one who yelled stop!  Stop! Don’t kill it!  but Luke wouldn’t listen & the others joined in on the stomping & I yelled stop!  but no one would listen & they stomped & stomped & killed the frog  & and it bled red out of its eyes out of its head & it made me sad & can we buy the frog flowers because when someone dies they should get flowers & Mami, what if that frog was supposed to be a prince  but now he’s dead & now we’ll never know” (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 3.5 miles)

Despite the high cost of living, it remains popular.

 (daily ex., walk 3.2 miles over 3 walks, pm jog 3 miles)

I've been thinking with my guts since I was fourteen years old, and frankly speaking, between you and me, I have come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains. ―Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

 (daily ex update, 2 dog walks = 1.5 miles, pm jog 4 miles)

“How inappropriate to call this planet "Earth," when it is clearly "Ocean.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

 (daily ex., morning walk 1.6 miles, only partially with my dog, pm jog 2.7 miles)

Beware. I walk my talk.

 (ex. update, walk 2 miles, run/jog 3.2 miles)

“Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog”. – Sidney Jeanne Seward

 (daily ex. update, 2 short dog walks today, plus 4.5 mi morning walk. pm jog 1.1 mi)

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck “Up ahead they's a thousan' lives we might live, but when it comes it'll on'y be one.”

 (ex. update, morning dog walk very slow 1.4 miles, pm dog walk very slow 0.6 miles, pm slow jog 3.1 miles)

“The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one’s own.” ― Willa Cather

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 1.2 miles, pm dog walk .2 miles, my dog is still limping and sore, trying Joint Chews.  pm jog 3.2 miles)

“A person's a person, no matter how small.” ― Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.2 miles, pm jog 3.1 miles. My dog is having serious joint issues, she cannot walk far and has difficulty with stairs.  Will be trying joint supplements.)

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

 C.S. Lewis

Be the things you loved most about the people who are gone.

Earth has no sorrow that earth cannot heal.----John Muir

 Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood.

                         (Lyric from No One is Alone, Into the Woods)

It is solved by walking.---attributed to St. Augustine

We ourselves must walk the path.---Buddha

(daily ex.,morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm slow jog 2 miles)

Happiness is when you know your children have grown up to be good people.

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.5 miles,pm slow jog 2 miles)

„If the skies fall, one may hope to catch larks.“ — Francois Rabelais

 (daily ex. morning dog walk in the rain 1.6 miles, pm jog 5 miles)

“Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.” —Frida Kahlo, renowned Mexican artist.

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.3 miles, pm slow jog 4.2 miles)

I don't want to look "young". I want to look powerful, and vaguely threatening.---Old Lady Gains

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, pm dog walk 0.5 miles, pm jog 3.5 slow miles, my dog is really stiff tonight.  The CBD I ordered for her won't arrive until Monday.)

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

                 Tolkien

“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” – B.F. Skinner

This is pertinent with the new threats AI brings.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, pm dog walk 0.7 miles, pm jog 2.5 miles.  My dog is getting slower by the day so will try splitting her walk into two, will also order some cbd oil drops for her and upgrade her food, she may be getting old but I don't want her to feel old)

Aldous Huxley / . "Experience teaches only the teachable."

 (daily ex. update,morning dog walk 2.5 slow miles, pm slow jog 4.1 miles)

Arthur Schopenhauer / . "After your death you will be what you were before your birth."

 (daily ex., slow morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm slow jog 3.5 miles)

“It isn't the rebels who cause the troubles of the world, it's the troubles that cause the rebels.” ― Carl Oglesby

 (daily walk, 3.5 miles, pm jog 1.1 miles)

Today's yoga pose is Downward Spiral!.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.5 miles. pm jog 3 miles.  My treadmill has stopped working, my dog doesn't want to walk any more.  I do do yoga every morning though)

"The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour )lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” Arnold Bennett

 (daily ex., morning very slow dog walk 3 miles, my dog just didn't want to move today.  pm jog 2.2 miles. The crab apples have turned red....soon the deer will be congregating to feast.)

Still brilliant motivation

 “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes

(daily ex., morning dog walk 3.5 mi, pm tm 2 mi, pm dog walk 1 mile)

The seasons are changing.  It is the time of grasshoppers, biting deer flies, acorns, blooming goldenrod and rabbitbrush, and early darkness.

“The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” ― E.L. Doctorow

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 3.2 miles, pm jog 3.3 miles)

“People think that I must be a very strange person. This is not correct. I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk” ― Stephen King

 (daily ex, morning dog walk 3.5 miles, pm jog 1.2 streak saver miles ending 9 full years of streak running)

“I am convinced that most people do not grow up… We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.” Maya Angelou - Letter to My Daughter, 2009.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.4 miles, pm tm jog 3.1 miles, I think my treadmill is breaking down)

“You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” —Bonnie Prudden, rock climber, mountaineer, and pioneer in the physical fitness space

 (daily ex. update, morning walk 4 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook. Oliver Goldsmith

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.2 miles, Hot!  pm tm jog 5 miles)

“Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease” ― Naguib Mahfouz

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” —Kurt Vonnegut in Hocus Pocus

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm tm jog 3.5 miles)

You cannot save anyone. You can be present with them, offer your groundedness, your sanity, your peace. You can even share your path with them, offer your perspective. But you cannot take away their pain. You cannot walk their path for them. You cannot give answers that are right for them, or even answers they can digest right now. They will have to find their own answers. ~Jeff Foster

 (daily ex, morning dog walk 3 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 mile)

HG Wells / . "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."

 (daily ex., )rning dog walk 2.1 mi, pm tm 4.5 miles jogged

“Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” Sarah Dessen

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.5 slow miles, pm tm 2.5 mi jog)

A song I haven't heard in a long time.

 

                                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lkx4hpDcKI

(daily ex., morning walk 4 miles, pm tm jog 2.5 miles)

“Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet.” ― Alain de Botton

 (daily ex, morning dog walk 1 mi., pm tm jog 2 miles, having trouble getting back into the routine)

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.2 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 mile)

“I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget.” ― William Lyon Phelps

 (daily ex., getting back into it, dog walk 1.6 miles, pm tm 2 miles)

No whining on the yacht.

A great mantra for first world problems.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles.  pm tm jog 3.6 miles)

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” – Albert Einstein

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 0.5 miles, pm jog tm 4.5 miles with 1 mile cooldown walk)

“We have to learn how to live with frailties. The best people I know are inadequate and unashamed.” —Stanley Kunitz

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2 miles, pm jog 3 miles)

Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species, including Americans. Adlai E. Stevenson

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles)

“Write the story that you were always afraid to tell. I swear to you that there is magic in it, and if you show yourself naked for me, I'll be naked for you. It will be our covenant." — Dorthy Allison

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1 slow mile, pm tm 4.5 mi jog)

“Butterflies are like women— we may look pretty and delicate, but baby, we can fly through a hurricane.” ― Betty White

 (daily ex.,morning walk with brc group and with dog 3.7 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 mi)

Plato / . "Don’t force your children into your ways, for they were created for a time different from your own."

 (daily ex. morning slow dog walk 1.1 miles, she is still limping.  pm tm jog 3.5 miles)

“I move, therefore I am.” ― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

 (daily ex., morning slow dog stroll, my dog is limping today.  pm slow jog 3.1 miles)

“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” ― Michael J. Fox

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.4 miles, pm tm jog 5 miles)

If your Personal Beliefs deny what’s objectively true about the world, then they're more accurately called Personal Delusions. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3 miles, pm tm jog 5 miles)

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” ― Chinua Achebe (Author)

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles) 

“If my critics saw me walking over the Thames, they would say it was because I couldn't swim." — Margaret Thatcher

Haters gonna hate.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.2 miles, pm jog 1.1 miles)

/ Robert Heinlein / . "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh."

 (daily ex., morning walk 4 miles, pm slow jog 3.5 miles)

"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." Pema Chödrön

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm tm jog 6.5 miles with 1 mi cool down walk)

A rising tide should lift all boats. Not just the yachts.

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm streaksaver slow jog 1.1 mile, tired)

“It takes a long time to become young.” -Pablo Picasso

 “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.”

-William Shakespeare

“We turn not older with years, but newer every day.”
-Emily Dickinson

 “The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.”
-English Proverb

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

(daily ex.update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles, playing catch up. Trying to become a work of art, version 7.2)

“One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.” – Edward Abbey

 (daily ex. update, trying to get back to a routine, morning dog walk 2 slow miles, pm tm jog 4.3 miles)

Alis Volat Propriis----She flies with her own wings.

 What a great phrase.

(incidentally this is the Oregon State motto as well)

(I was away for the weekend. I'm trying to get back into a routine and catch up on sleep. Daily ex. update pm tm run 3.2 miles.  Over the weekend I did minimal streak saver runs on hotel tm) 

Teaching children about ideas you may not agree with isn't indoctrination. Teaching children only about ideas you agree with, that's the very definition of indoctrination.

(daily ex. update, getting ex. out of the way early, treadmill run 1.2 miles, dog walk 1 mile)

“The important thing about “brave” is, it doesn’t mean you’re not terrified.” — Sinead O'Connor

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, pm tm 4.5 miles)

You don't become cooler with age, but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way of being cool. This is called the Geezer's Paradox.

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 3.8 miles, pm tm jog 3.5 miles)

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” ― Victor Borge

 (daily ex., hot morning dog walk 1 mi., pm tm jog 3 miles)

“Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther.” – J.P. Morgan

 (daily ex. update, early morning dog walk 2.2 miles while it was still cool, pm streaksaver jog 1.1 mile)

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it." -Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk in the heat 2 miles, pm tm jog 5 miles)

 The little girl just could not sleep because her thoughts were way too deep, her mind had gone out for a stroll and fallen down the rabbit hole – Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland

(daily ex. update,morning walks 4 miles, pm tm 2.6 miles)

 

“Motto"

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.”

― Bertolt Brecht

and more:

“First of all, they came to take the gypsies
and I was happy because they pilfered.
Then they came to take the Jews and I said nothing,
because they were unpleasant to me.
Then they came to take homosexuals,
and I was relieved, because they were annoying me.
Then they came to take the Communists,
and I said nothing because I was not a Communist.
One day they came to take me,
and there was nobody left to protest.

Bertold Brecht, inspired by Emil Gustav Friedrich Martin Niemöller”
― Bertold Brecht

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 3.1 miles)

I am not strong on perfection.----Jasper Johns

 (daily ex., not much, morning dog walk only 0.3 miles plus 20 min of pulling weeds before thunderstorm rolled in, pm slow streaksaver jog 1.1 mile)

“Good morning. Eyes up. Hearts up. Minds sharp. Compassion on full blast. Okay, let's go.” ― Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.1 miles, pm jog 2.1 miles)

“Fear is forward. No one is afraid of yesterday.” —Renata Adler, author, journalist, and film critic.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk in the heat 1.6 miles, pm tm jog 5 miles)

“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” Frida Kahlo

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2 hot miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 miles)

Best things I read today......

 The cost of inaction is the status quo.

Action is expensive, but inaction costs a fortune.

The difference between failure and success is often just staying with a problem a little longer.

One more rep.

One more step.

One more minute.

One more revision.

One more attempt.

The difference between average and outstanding is often just one more.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1 mile, pm tm jog 6 miles)

Haba haba, Hujaza Kibaba

 Swahili for "little by little fills the measure"

(daily ex. update, morning walk 3.7 miles, pm tm jog 3 miles)

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm tm slow jog 5 miles)

“Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection.” ― Rabindranath Tagore

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.2 miles, slow, my dog is still limping, we kept to the shade;  pm tm jog 2.3 miles)

 Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is the way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself. ~William Martin

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.2 miles, very slow, my dog is suddenly limping today, and it is very hot. pm tm jog 5.6 miles)

“Fear is the little dark room where negatives are developed.” ― Michael Pritchard

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm tm jog 3 miles)

“For most of history, anonymous was a woman.” ― Virginia Woolf

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.1 miles, pm tm jog 5.1 miles with cooldown walk 1.5 miles)

Kurt Vonnegut / . "If your brains were dynamite there wouldn't be enough to blow your hat off."

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2. miles, pm tm jog 4.7 miles with 2.2 miles cooldown walk)

Nothing can be done except little by little. Charles Baudelaire

 (daily ex. update, morning walk 3.7 miles, pm slow jog 3.1 miles)

My ducks are absolutely not in a row. I don't even know where some of them are. And I'm pretty sure one is a pigeon.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm slow jog 4.1 miles.  ytd total run walk 1129,8 toward 2023 mile goal) 

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” ― Terry Pratchett

 and other animals as things, as well.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.5 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

It's probably my age that tricks people into thinking I'm an adult.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1 mile, pm jog 4 miles, drizzly day)

“To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.” ― Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 miles)

Rudyard Kipling / . "Beware of overconcern for money, or position, or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for non of these things. Then you will know how poor you are."

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 4.2 miles to wear out my dog,  pm tm 6.5 miles watching loud movie to keep my dog from being frightened by nearby fireworks, one more day of this and she'll be safe)

“We have not journeyed all this way because we are made of sugar candy.” ― Winston S. Churchill

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.7 miles, pm tm jog 5.1 miles)

Ayn Rand / . "Do not keep silent when your own ideas and values are being attacked. If a dictatorship ever comes to this country, it will be by the fault of those who keep silent. We are still free enough to speak. Do we have time? No one can tell."

 (daily ex. update, morning walk 3.7 miles, pm tm 3.5 miles)

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when they have lost their way.” ― Rollo May

 (daily ex. morning dog walk 0.5 miles, thundering and my dog was scared.   pm tm 5.5miles)

Luigi Pirandello Quotes. I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you.

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.6 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 miles)

The old that is strong does not wither

 

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

                J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.6 miles, pm tm jog 5.4 miles)

"If someone can convince you to believe in absurdities, they can convince you to commit atrocities." -- Professor Scott Galloway

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.7 miles on a hot day, pm tm jog 5 miles)

“And the memories of all we have loved stay and come back to us in the evening of our life. They are not dead but sleep, and it is well to gather a treasure of them.” Vincent van Gogh - The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles)

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” - Jimmy Buffett

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2.5 miles, pm slow jog 3.2 miles)

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” – Aesop

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm tm 4.7 miles)

Confucius / . "Great man is hard on himself; Small man is hard on others."

 Last night was stormy, my dog has become fearful of thunder, lightening, and fireworks, so we got very little sleep.  Daily ex, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm streak saver jog 1.1 miles)

 He saw a rock by the lake.

"A perfect rock!" he said. "Nice," she said. He threw it. Eons later, that was still the rock's favorite day.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.2 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles)

/ Marcus Aurelius / . "It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet."

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm tm jog 4.7 miles)

But the thing is, even if I could go back, I wouldn't belong there anymore.----Unknown

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.2 miles.....I let my dog wade in a creek but she opted to roll in the mud, so that meant I had to give her a bath, more exercise.  pm tm jog 5 miles. It was a hot day, the house is hot, the basement where my treadmill lives is cool)

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” — Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

 Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles.  My dog is getting older, she can't walk too far or too fast anymore)

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

 (daily ex. update, morning Fleet Feet group walk plus dog walk 3.8 miles, pm tm jog 4.2 miles)

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.” ― Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.6 miles, pm tm jog 3.7 miles)

Childhood is a short season.---Helen Hayes

 (daily ex. update, 2 dog walks = 4.5 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles)

Nicolaus Copernicus / . "To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge."

 (daily ex., 2 dog walks= 3.8 miles, pm tm jog 4.6 miles. my dog is getting older so we need to take shorter, slow, more frequent walks now)

“Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.” — Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature

 (daily ex. yesterday, morning walk 2.2 miles, pm jog 1 mile.    today morning walk 1.5 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 1.5 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

Heraclitus of Ephesus / . "If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives."

 (daily ex., morning walk with walk group plus dog walk 4 miles, pm tm jog 3.3 miles)

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” ― Albert Einstein

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.1 very slow miles, pm tm jog 4.1 miles)

“We are like books. Most people only see our cover, the minority read only the introduction, many people believe the critics. Few will know our content.” ― Émile Zola

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2.5 miles, afternoon jog 1.5 miles)

“The illusion is that the finish line is the destination. That act itself is the destination.”

 Happy Global Running Day!

(daily ex. morning dog walk only 2 miles, my old pup just didn't want to walk today.  pm tm jog 5.1 miles)

“If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule: Never lie to yourself!” ― Paulo Coelho

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 4 miles)

/ Mark Twain / . "The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog."

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

Lord of the Rings

 Frodo: "I can't do this, Sam."

Sam: "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mister Frodo. The ones that really mattered.

Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.

Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mister Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something."

Frodo: "What are we holding on to, Sam?"

Sam: "That there's some good in this world, Mister Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

(daily ex., pm jog tm 3.5 miles, 2 mi. cool down walk tm)

 Kurt Vonnegut:

"Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.”

(daily ex. update,morning Fleet Feet walk and dog walk 4 miles,  pm tm jog 3.5 miles)

“Being against evil doesn’t make you good.” — Ernest Hemingway

 (daily ex., morning dog walk 2 miles, afternoon tm jog 5.5 miles)

“Education isn't something you can finish.” ― Isaac Asimov

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1.1 mi, afternoon tm run 4.6 mi followed by 1 mi treadmill cooldown walk)