Phedippidations

We celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States this time each year, so this episode is dedicated to the concept of being thankful.

And now it’s October: we’re more than 80% through the end of the year "getting back to where we once belonged”, and for me...I’ve come upon a bit of a road block. To best understand this road block, we have to talk about the philosophy of Nietzsche...and I know, I know...I said I wasn’t going to talk about philosophy on Phedippidations...but there’s just no other way, and I promise you that this is related to running. In order to understand the nature of this “road block”, we have to spend some time talking about Friedrich, since to a great extent it’s because of him that I’ve come to this. I told you at the start that this year’s journey might not end so well...and there’s still plenty of time to finish strong, but getting past this point is proving to be...well, difficult at best, impossible at worst. I’ve reached The Wall. Links: Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of listeners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts. Thank you: Deborah, Michael, David, Mary, Cheryl, Vance, Gordon, Scott, Roberto, Mark, Terence, Evelyn, Al, Brad, Joerg, Martha, Jill, Rob, Jim, Wendee, Tom, Katie, Joseph, Tony, Richard, Vera, Robert, Dino, Louis, William, Christiane, Erik, Trey, Margaret, Martin, James, Doug and Russ {}

This is part one of a two part episode. I’ll publish the second part at the end of the year. In the last episode of Phedippidations I talked about getting back to a metaphysical place where I once belonged: a "home" where I was once happy and healthy. For lack of a better term I called this a “transformative journey” and said that I wasn’t doing this to specifically lose weight or get healthier, but to regain that passion I once had for this sport and to feel like a member of the running community again. In returning to the road, health and happiness will be a welcome side effect. Today I'd like to talk a little bit about those side effects. When you head out on a geographical journey, you can usually tell when you’ve arrived at your destination. En route to Key West, I knew that I had arrived when Route 1A ended and the bartender at The Green Parrot handed me a cold margarita. What does it mean to be happy and healthy? What is the measure of such happiness and health? If this is a journey, I should know where I’m starting out so that when I get to the place where I once belonged, I’ll know that I’ve arrived. A true measure of health has to involve more than just vital clinical statistics. It’s got to be a measure of internal and external physical conditions including: how active we are, how well we sleep, how well our mood is, how much energy we have, and probably most importantly: “the overall quality of our current life experience”. In the Fall, we’ll look back on these measurements to see if I’ve improved in any areas of my health and happiness. That's kind of a big IF by the way. I’m going to be reminding you, as we go along, that life is not predictable. I can wish, pray, burn incense, make offerings to my favorite magical beast or intergalactic ruler...but none of those things are going to ensure a beautiful future. Hope is good, I hope that in a year from now I'm running with you at road races somewhere the world...but “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride” and if I want to be Steve Runner again, I'm going to have to make it happen myself. No meaningless incantation or holistic paranormal make believe supernatural overlord is going to intercede in reality and grant me health and happiness. Here I am, all 222 unhealthy pounds of me, ready to take the first step of many to return to the road, and it all starts with a measure of health. Links: Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at The song “Ready” was by Kodaline off their new album “Coming Up For Air”, learn more over at http://www.kodaline.com Intervals between episodes can be found at In Vino Veritas with at Track my return to the road at ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts. Thank you: Vera, Katie, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, James, Norm, Simon, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Trey, Steve, Angie, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Jim, Joe, Martin, Rich, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Hisham, Andrea, Brad, Dave, Desiree, Jens, Claudia, Jill, Elizabeth, Pat, Marc, Evelyn, Chris, Dino, Michael, Clay, George, Matthew, Pedro, Terence, Tom, Louis, Toni, Margaret, Janina, Joe and Fred. {} Follow me on: Blog: Stream: Apple App: Android App: Support:

On the Fox News website a few weeks ago, Dr. Jennifer Landa, wrote an article “How Endurance Running Can Damage Your Health”. Dr. Landa is an excellent physician. She’s the Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD, a franchise of doctors specializing in bioidentical hormone therapy. In this episode of Phedippidations, I’m going to refute Dr. Landa’s arguments by applying a healthy dose of skepticism to her craftily...and well worded arguments. But unlike my usual vitriolic attacks pointing out the blatant logical fallacies presented an article...and I must tell you, Dr. Landa has made many weak transgressions here...I’m going to try and be “fair and balanced”. I say try...I’m not on par with Dr. Landa’s intelligence: but I think I’m pretty good at refutations...so, I’ll give it a shot. It’s good to warn readers about the dangers of any activity...but you absolutely MUST comment on the validity of the proof. That wasn’t done here, and that’s both egregious and misleading. It’s important, to me at least, that I make the declaration that “I don’t know everything”. I’ll defer to Dr. Landa on all of the subjects of which she is an expert...but if you’re making an argument with poor reasoning, then the burden of proof is with you....and that’s the truth no matter what FOX says. Links: Direct link to old episodes of Intervals: Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at . The song - “Skeptic” was by the musician and fellow podcaster George Hrab, off the album “Vitriol”. You can hear more from George over at FitBit at . Intervals between episodes can be found at In Vino Veritas with at ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 68 friends and fellow runners: William, Vera, Katie, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, Margaret, James, Norm, Simon, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Glenn, Trey, Steve, Angie, Al, Toni, Martin, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Jim, Joe, Martin, Rich, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Hisham, Andrea, Brad, Dave, Desiree, Jens (@ScenicRunner), Claudia, John, Jill, Elizabeth, Pat, Marc, Evelyn, Chris, Dino and Michael. THANK YOU! {} Follow me on: Blog: Stream: Apple App: Android App: Support:

Translation: my ·update. Just checking in to wish you happiness and let you know I'm doing wicked good.