...and new growth.

Here's a gem from living out the turning of the new leaf. What do you lose sleep over? Not what do you worry about, but what are you willing to lose sleep over? A good TV show? If you are a runner, I know a good early morning run will get you up and out of bed, though not always with a bound and enthusiasm. That's because the joy comes after. Good grades? Work? In short, what you are willing to lose sleep over displays what you love, what you treasure, because sleep is pleasurable, and a pleasure some of us are willing to forgo in the hopes of aquiring some other thing we value as important. Being a father of 4 (possibly 5 kids now) I have to structure my time well. Of course, I structure it based on what I value. I usually have to do all my running before anyone is awake so as not to take time away from my family duties. Even that shows some of my commitments. Today however, as I act on my rearranged priorities, I got up and spent an hour in the Word and an hour in reading counseling material, theological material, and prayer. Why? Because the Word alone and time spent with it's Author alone can make me wise, and, believing what it says, I am placing myself in the path of it's influence, or under the means of grace, that I may grow wise, that I may be prepared for the life that I live within, that I may have wisdom to share with those God places in my path, whether formally as a counselor or informally as a fellow human. I want to be wise. The Word and time under it's counsel is the means. Running has crowded that out of my life, as has sleeping. I've been willing to carve out sleep time to run, but it has then pushed out study time. Today? Today I got up and under the Word, and I am blessed for it. It and my readings have oriented me properly to the world I live in, to myself, others, and the world. Running will have to wait, or exercise really as I ran last night and today am to do some calisthenics. A godly man once told me to be godly, I would have to lose some sleep. Well, here we go. The return on this side of the obedience is worth it, just like the run when you're in bed and tempted to forgo it for the comfort of the sheets and blanket. Obedience brings joy afterward. And blessing.

New Leaf

So, this is my so called new leaf era. No more overindulgence of tobacco, alcohol, running, traditional archery, low carb eating, or whatever else is the lust of the particular moment. I will keep first things first: worship daily in the Word to orient me to reality, service to my family, running behind that as it brings me alive to be in the woods for long periods of time, hopefully ing that order. I would put service to my home group and church family ahead of running if I wanted to be correct, but I'm trying to be honest first. We'll see how things pan out. I want to run the Highlands Sky 40 miler, the VT 50 with Samual Miller, and the Pinhoti 100. In fact, after the Highlands Sky, I want to run a 50 or 50K monthly till Pinhoti. That will help me keep the drinking and the tobacco in check. I need the help. Otherwise, I lose focus and overindulge. Anybody out there can help me be accountable.

Daily run: Three runs a week right now to get into it. 3.45 miles, 35:32 minutes. Average hr:142, Max 154. Tried to keep it under 150 for the run. Right ankle hurting throughout and tweaked inside of right knee, slowed on last .5 to ease it.

So, got another example of how second things become first things and destroy both the first thing AND the second thing. I started smoking a pipe. Nothing morally wrong with that I don't think. However, I can't just enjoy the occasional pipe now and again, no, I have to stay up late at night for at least a week reading all about pipes and pipe smoking. I have to think and breathe all things pipe for a few weeks till something else dispels it's place in my heart. I'm not sure where this one came from. I think part of it is good. Without realizing it, I think I have had some fear of dying lying dormant in my heart. Some of my obsessions with nutrition and exercise have been fueled by this. As a hospice social worker, I am surrounded by brokenness every day; not just death, but death working itself out in humans, people decaying, losing their dignity, urinating and defecating on themselves, losing their rationality, their mobility, their self. I started to rest more in God's love and look forward to the renewal of all things that will come when the kingdom is fully consumated. I also realized I didn't want to end up like the people I was seeing and that Psalm 90:10 is true: "The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; Fo it is soon cut off, and we fly away". I was hoping for longevity, now I'm not so sure. Anyway, all that led me to pick up the pipe and hang up the shoes. Then, I got bit by the Traditional Bowhunting bug. Something about the natural wood, the simplicity of the art, the ancientness of the practice, the communion with the outdoors all appeal to me. However, I go to church this Sunday, and it all is put in perspective again by the Lord through his word and people. What matters? What lasts? What will never disappoint or fail? Only God and his eternal kingdom. all that matters is loving God and skillfully loving my neighbor as God's representative. My foremost time and identity is to be invested and grounded there. All else is to come second. Only when I am gripped by that first passion may I keep all the other interests and passions or desires of mine in place. This is the struggle I have with all I find pleasure in. There is glory in all things, yet they are only glories with a small g and are meant to point me to the Glory of God, to sing his praises as I enjoy his creation. So I will smoke my pipe, and run in the woods, and shoot my bow and arrows, and love my wife and play with my kids and eat my delicious food and praise my God by his grace. Lord help me to keep first things first, and all else second and to never define myself by secondary things, and to never be controlled by them, but by your spirit and agenda. Amen. Bach said it well," At sea, on land, at home, or abroad, I will smoke my pipe, and worship God." Amen brother.

SO ( bet ya thought I was gonna say well, didn't ya?)

Ran the "Ghouls and Fools" 7 mile night time trail race in Reading PA. I LOVED IT. I ran hard most of the way. I tried to pace it till half way through out of fear I'd blow up, but half way through got a strong second wind (looking at the elevation profile I see why; most of the second half is relatively down hill). Man, loads of fun. A good, hard effort, yet I didn't feel redlined really, only on some of the hills. I could have run it much harder I think, shaved some time off. I'm real pleased though, 90 out of 305 runners. 1:10:10. Racing is a lot of fun. I want MORE! Yo.

Well...

..I always seem to start my posts with Well. Oh well.

Took yesterday off. Felt 100% today when I got out of bed, for the first time! Fantastic. Ran till hr hit 160, not till somewhere in mile 3, good news. Felt easy till then too. Hips started hurting at that point, running got harder, more uncoordinated, right achilles started hurting. I feel fine now. This is all data for the machine. I'm probably conditioned to run about 3 miles at that effort. Tomorrow, long run, then recuperate. My sweet spot seems to be 145-154. After that, things get harder. It's probably good to run up to 160 as it pushes the adaptive envelope. Who knows. Just keep running, thank you Lord I can without too much pain. I'm not breaking down. Motivation is still high, I'm still excited to run in the woods. Keep up the shorter intense runs till they get easy then pump up the volume.

Well, interesting experiment this weekend. I somehow figured out that my anaerobic threshold is 160 (85% of 190). So, I figured I'd be running "aerobically" if I just stayed beneath that number. Well, I hit it too hard in the first hour, jogging some of the smaller ups. My heart was thumping. I walked all the ups for the rest of the run. Hit a groove in the last half hour, just cruising, running till hr hit 160, then walking. Felt good, though tired. Felt good to run, especially after I walked. Clipped along at 8:30-9/mile. Overall, I felt tired, but I feel fine today the day after. NB 809's are finished. Hurt feet too bad.

Barefoot: ran .35 barefoot at end of run. Fine, no sprains, strains, or pains. Today, ankle feels stiff and a bit sore but overall good. Will run tomorrow with same strategy, or maybe do low hr. Not sure, still playing around with the ideas. May do low hr most of the time then hit a couple of more intense runs, doing my longer runs at a faster pace, a mid week and a weekend long run at faster paces as I want to race long distances faster. Sounds good, we'll see if it's too intense.

Well, I'm trying to update my blog so I can put my training log right on the page with a link to the log so I don't have to duplicate my workouts in three different places. Anyway, I am beginning to build my mileage and time training bit by bit consistently with no negative feedback from the ankle so far, so I may be good to go to ramp it up more. Crosstraining with different things-rower, stationary bike, climber, calisthenics. Just building volume. 

   Met Joe Kulak last weekend when out in the woods with the kids. He got second at Umstead this year and may be a good person to learn from. Later. 

Well, it looks like I may have finally gotten my ankle issues under control. Back in February (that's the weirdest spelled vs. pronounced word out there, except for maybe Wednesday (Wed-nes-day)) I tore up my achilles and some other supportive tissues in my left ankle from barefoot running. I tried to run through it to no avail. I had to finally start taking some time off from running. I would rest for 2-3 weeks before trying again, only to be sidelined by pain. Mostly I used how I felt when I got out of bed in the morning as a gauge for how it was feeling. When it hurt, I could feel it when I was barefoot in the mornings getting out of bed, a painful stretch upon rising. When it didn't hurt, I would start running again, usually overkill as per normal for me ( all or nothing, no moderation). After several bouts of running for 2 weeks, resting for 2, I may have finally healed up. I'm only running 3 days per week, :30 on T and Th and 1:00 on Saturday, but there is no residual pain the next day. It rarely hurt when I was running but would hurt for a few days after I finished my runs normally. So, in addition to the rest, I also started wearing the high heel running shoes I so disdain to reduce the stretch on my achilles. Seems to have worked, though the anterior muscles of my shin and ankle have been hurting due to some extra strain from the shoes. Tonight I bought some $15 "Starters" from Wally world that are old school, just foam for cushioning. They're to be a transition shoe for the next few weeks to months till I stretch out and strengthen everything again. I'm currently trying to add 15% to my weekly mileage or time to begin to build back the aerobic system. I'm still loyal to Van Aaken and Maffetone, for now. I'm trying to keep hr low, below 140. I'll try and keep my focus and stay with this through the winter and see where I am then. Oh, I'm stoked, I think I found a trail on the east side of Lincoln that I didn't know about before. AND, I found some of the fabled Lower Gwyned trails in the neighborhoods next to the Y that I read about and may allow for some fresh, long routes. We'll see. 

   Theology: I was into guitar for a few weeks, and Eugene Peterson real good. That man's a real good biblical theologian. He has a nice grasp of the redemptive story of history and reads his bible and exegetes it accordingly. Very exciting reading. I bought a version of the Message with notations inserted into it from various writings of his. I may choose him as my theologian to digest and chew on, as Piper did Edwards and Keller did with C.S. Lewis. 

   My enthusiasm for running is filling my imagination with visions of long runs through the woods with late afternoon light slanting through the trees. The funny thing is that running draws me closer to God as I see him in the creation and it warms my heart. Yet, it can pull me away from him as well. He is primary, exercise, diet, and how I look and feel are secondary. I can be gripped and filled by the wrong agenda. Help me father to love and worship you alone. One way the struggle manifests is with how I will use my limited time. I want to get up and run. I NEED to spend time in the word to get my head on right and to see Jesus that I might have my heart gripped by his glory and live accordingly. The two are in competition with one another. We'll see who wins and how the battle goes. 

God bless everybody..... ANYbody. (HELLO...HEllo...hello.....(echoing off into silence)). 

So, I'm stoked. I ran twice this week, pretty hard both times, though only for a half hour each session. Tomorrow I am going for my first "long run" in quite a while. I ran a week of three runs  two weeks ago which served as rehab, that included a "long run" of 7 miles I think. However, pain made me stop running. I think I've healed up since then. My last run two days ago was barefoot for .75 miles then completed in my Puma H-streets after that which are extremely low profile. Yet, none to very little pain in achilles and ankle of left foot. Excellent. So, I look forward to a 2 hour easy long run tomorrow early in the am. Gonna be early, my favorite time to run. Can't wait. The best part is I'm virtually pain free. Stoked!

Been quite a while. The reasons are two: 1) The usual. I got bit by a different passion and dove in-guns. Bought quite a few. I am well stocked now, thank you. 2) I've been injured. My inner right groin muscle has been injured since the 50K last November, and my left achilles as well since I hurt it barefoot running early in the spring. I still believe in barefoot running and minimal footwear. I just jumped in too much too soon on top of tendonitis. So, I haven't been running. I occasionally would try one when I felt better but invariably it would hurt. I quite completely for a few weeks and tried again. Four runs so far over last week, and my ankle hurts again slightly. It's below my ankle bone protrusion on my left outer ankle, so I don't think it's my achilles, though that hurts too when I flex my foot downward, pointing the toes, or pull on the toes. I may have to go to a doctor, though I think I'm going to try and rehab it myself. Either way, I'm out of commission for running long distances till next year probably. We'll see. I miss the woods. I had a delightful surprise run at Lake Nocamihxon state park few days ago. I was driving by, pulled in, pulled my shorts on, and went for a 2.5 mile jaunt on new trails. Refreshing, as I was down and out in my moods. The Lord gave me a gift, what I needed at that moment, to help me lift my spirits. Thank you Lord. Extra oxygen while reveling in God's creation is a good thing. So, I'll keep "y'all" (if there's anybody out there) posted. I will also review a new book I read Born To Run about the Mas Loco Race down in Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico with the Tarahumara, or Rarumari- The Running People. Mas Excellente.  

Hey...

...how ya doin? I'm good. Quick update as my stoke is back on. I went running in the Wiss. at 5:30 am Sunday morning. The ambient light from the city was so strong from the low cloud cover that I was able to run without my lights. I ran in the dark for 2 hours, 10 miles! First 5 miles were pure trailrunning, easy fun. 7.5 -10 were harder and pushing it. After I recover, I should be good for the same next weekend, MAYBE an extra mile or two. My left achilles and back of left knee were hurting by the end of the run and killed me today a day later. I ran 2.75 miles barefoot today with 1 mile barefoot on the trails, my first barefoot trail run. Fun!
Two fun days of instinctive running. I'm going to stick with the easy running and let my body adapt to the increase demand for oxygen, again, letting the distance and the incline govern my pace, walking when necessary. Having fun, kicking ass. Gotta get this tendonitis under control however.

Once again....

I lost my focus and it played out in my running. I keep going on the Mark's Daily Apple sight and getting convinced that aerobic exercise and carbs are bad. I then go into a paleo eating stlye combined with some strenght activity. I truly love the weights and always look and feel better from lifting. I probably need to combine the two, but that contradicts the low hr training advocated by Van Aaken and Maffetone and Mittleman. After poking around on some trail race websites, I got my stoke back and went for a run. No hr monitor, no ipod, just a stopwatch and my body. I ran 9:30/mile for 5 miles. Better than my 10:00/mile run two days ago though. Felt better. I need to remember why I run-to simplify and not obsess about exercise, to be equipped to do the fun races I want to do, to commune with God through the creation, to catch relfections of his glory there, to stay fit, to have fun. My hobbies continue to occupy more of my interests and time as a primary passion instead of as a hobby. Lord, help me to love and serve you and not things, whehter they be activities or experiences, or identities.
I'm going to start ramping up my long runs so I can do the races I am wanting to do this year. The tendonitis I acquired is still there in my left foot but less so after a week off from longer running. I will have to up mileage slowly. I think I will stick with the slower running too, trying to keep a consistently slow pace. Drop the flab too due to the evening drinking. Drop the drinking for overall health and fast to drop the weight. Do the calisthenics and the guru's be damned.

EDIT: Today is the next day, I think. I don't remeber if I did this post yesterday or the day before. Anyway, yesterday I meant to go for an easy run and ended up hammering it on the hills in the Wissahickon. Ended up doing 4 miles in 45:00. Real nice. Felt high driving to CCEF following my run. I figure I'll just run, like the old runners used to do before hr training and such. I'll run easy, but I'm not going to walk anymore, just slow down when I have to. I'll listen to my body. Today, my right calf is tweaked/tight so I'm going to do my long run tomorrow morning or tonight, probably tomorrow as I'm supposed to go out tonight and see Andy and his friends with Julie. 

I thought I'd make a follow up note to the barefoot running post. My feet are a little tender on the soles due to some blood blisters. It will probably be another day or two before I go barefoot running again. I continue to go barefoot as much as possible though in order to strengthen everything. I just love it. The real thing though that led me to want to post a follow up comment is this: I have NO HIP PAIN, BACK PAIN, KNEE PAIN, OR ACHILLES TENDONITIS! The last one is momentous as I have been plagued by achilles tendonitis badly for the last month or so at least. I switched over to my clunkers (normal trail shoes, NB 809's) in order to give my achilles some support by alleviating the stretch from the heel drop in my minimal shoes (NB 790's). The barefoot running just made it simply go away. I felt a little twinge last night when I jumped for the chinup bar at the Y. Other than that, nothing. Normally when I get up in the morning I hobble and limp like an old man. Not this morning. Also, I've had this wierd hip pain right above my hip bone on my side that was very tender to the touch and when I walked. Gone. Just simply gone. I think this is a back issue that radiates pain into my hip, or it could be a leg thing that sends the pain there. Either way, it was fixed from the barefoot running.
I slept GREAT with that stretched out, tired muscle, post weight session feeling. Everything felt worked, but supple and healthy. I FEEL GREAT. I can't believe it. I thought I'd be lame from soreness. Not so. I'm convinced. Today I will run in minimal sandals to protect the feet, then back to barefoot tomorrow or the day after. Thank you Father. Really.

I got bit by the barefoot running bug again. No, not literally, duh. Once again, proving the power of our hearts getting captured by some glory or attraction that then plays itself out in our behavior, I ran 4.25 miles barefoot today. It was glorious, until I got some blood blisters from going downhill too aggressively. Put shoes on and ran in to 5.3. I will continue this when my feet are recuperated. They're a little tender now; not the soles really, but the muscles of the feet. My achilles and calves are tight, but feel way better than they normally due from running in shoes. Tomorrow will be sandals, maybe a shorter run to ease the healing. We'll see how I feel.
The weather was cold today, 32 degrees. My feet were fine after about 10 minutes. The black asphalt was warm in the direct sunlight. It was quite fun till the blisters started in. I love running barefoot and plan on transitioning all my road miles to barefoot for the upcoming year. Later.

Update

Well, I thought I needed to post something as I haven't posted anything in quite some time. My running has been going well. Two weeks ago I spoke at a men's retreat for a local church from New Jersey on how to live in relationship effectively with one another. I didn't get a long run in that weekend and ended up having a 4 day lay off. That's a direct result of having my passions running more towards loving and serving other people and wanting to use my time more effectively than running around in the woods. So, that only lasted 4 days, till my next run. I have been running consistently, though getting in my long runs has been hard since missing that one. I have some wicked tendinitis in my left achilles that has been bothering me. I am wearing my old shoes starting today to aid it. Still keeping after the Van Aaken Method. I almost ditched the llow hr training however after it went up to 70 degrees and my pace dropped by a minute. I was back on track however after it got cooler again. Pace is currently around 10:45/mile average hr of 133. 

   My goal has changed from running a 100 miler to being able to be fit enough to run in the woods at an easy pace with a low hr in order to do the fun events. I'll post later as I have to go put my hour run in. I missed yesterday. I will plan on doing a long run tomorrow as I have the day off. 

Well, I figure I need to post something as I am keeping a blog here.
Here is another piece of evidence that we are moved to do what we do by virtue of being worshipers and that we are all in pursuit of some glory. What we do is an expression of what we want and what we want is a product of what captures our hearts affections.
I was reading on Geoff Roes blog recently, Fumbling Towards Endurance at akrunner.blogspot.com/. The guy kicks ass. He just won H.U.R.T 100 in Hawaii, widely considered in ultrarunning circles to be one of the toughest ultras out there. He set a new course record. He hadn't even focused on this race as a goal. It was a tune-up race for the upcoming season. What I'm trying to say is the guy is freaking hardcore and talented and fit.
When you read his blog, he runs by PRE, perceived rate of exertion, not hr. Several top runners do this such as Dean K., David Goggins, Karl Meltzer, and others. Well, I read his blog and said, I want to do that too. Just run. Forget all this hr monitor crap. I went over to Runningahead.com to the Swamp, a group of experienced runners to talk about it. Result? I went out yesterday and ran without my hr monitor alarms on that would normally signal me to slow down and keep my hr down. I did this for three miles, before I was tired. I then turned em back on and ran the last 2.5 slowly again. The point: I was captured by this guys training style and success and wanted to be like him. Couple that with frustration over the slow pace of low hr training and bammo, I ditch my normal approach and do something different. I became convinced however that if I want to keep running, I have to do most things slowly, and my hr monitor helps me run slow for now, so I'll keep it up.
Now, another thing to note. Those 3 miles of tempo running made my pace faster today. I've noticed this before when I did this. I will run slowly all weeek and throw another 1.5 miler in there next week as a tempo run to see what happens. I felt bouncy and light today, legs felt strong. 20:1 is the ratio of easy mile to tempo from Van Aaken but he doesn't advocate tempo runs till 2 years after base building. I will do it again next week and see what happens. Later everyone, or anyone that is an nobody has left any comments on the blog.
So, I've noticed a trend in my running lately.

Want to lose weight? Eat less.

A little bit on diet. I have been obsessed with diet and nutrition for a couple of decades now. My interest began in bodybuilding, to achieve a certain look. Occassionally I'll find a bit of paper with calculation on it for macronutrient ratios or for the correct number of grams or servings of carbs or protein. This was quite an obsession with me, though I didn't recognize it. I would eat every 2.5 hours to ensure I wouldn't canabalize muscle. This routine became quite binding. I would bring my food with me in a cooler to ensure I had enough when I needed it. My wife and brother in law still joke about how on a trip from Philadelphia down to South Carolina how at 4:00 am I pulled out a small tupperware container of lima beans and tuna to eat.
I read Gwen Schamblin's The Weigh Down Diet at some point. I had realized I was in a bondage to food prior to this. It used to concern me that I would not consider doing a fast for religious reasons out of fear of shrinking or losing muscle mass due to lack of food intake. After reading Gwen's book, I realized I was making an idol out of appearance. I was not serving the Lord, I was serving myself and bowing down to an image in hopes of what it could give me. In short, men would fear me and women would want me. The eating plan was just a means to an end, or the fruit of my desire to look a certain way. It was caring more about what kind of person I was and wanting to be devoted to the Lord that began to break the obsession. I wanted my heart to be committed to God and not to any thing. I wanted to serve Him, not me. I was equally enslaved to food as the most obese person; we just approached it differently for different reasons but both the obese' obsession with food and mine are equally self focused and equally binding.
1 Corinthians 10: 31 says, "Therefore, whether you eat r drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I began to contemplate what it means to eat unto the glory of God. I believe, obviously, that we are created and that God gives us food to sustain us, to give us pleasure, and to celebrate with. It's not for nothin' that when God and man are reunited for eternity that God throws a party and a feast. Yet, this is not how I was approaching food. After reflecting, I figured that God put signals within our bodies to clue us in to when to eat, and when to stop. I began eating only when hungry, feeding my body when it was asking for food. I would trust that God would give me what I needed. I also stopped fearing all processed foods. I went on a burger binge it seemed like. Every time I went out to eat and was really hungry, a burger and fries just sounded RIGHT, and they tasted oh so good. Eating began to become an art. It's fairly easy to wait till you're hungry to eat. It's harder to know when you are full, or, rather, to STOP when your belly begins to tell you you have had enough instead of ignoring it and eating more because it tastes good. I have realized that I tend to overeat because I enjoy the taste of the food. In that, I am no differnt than the children of Israel in the desert when they were craving the garlic and leeks of Egypt. Their desire was enough to distort their perception of reality, to forget God, and to long to return to Egypt. Think about that. They were SLAVES, mistreated slaves at that. Their desire for tasty food warped their perception, literally turning them into fools, leading them to forget the redemption they had experienced and the God who had saved them and to long to return to circumstances that were oppressive and life stultifying. I am the same. Just one more bite, it won't hurt me. Yet, that bite is in service of me and my appetites, and definitely not to God's glory.
What about that phrase, to God's glory? I think it means when we live unto God, for his pleasure, follwing His will and not our own, we look different, attractive (not just physically but primarily in our character) and people notice, and they are drawn to God. We can then point to HIm as the source. We are to make Him look good in how we live. Following our hunger and satiety does that. It balances our weight and leads us away from the dangers of obesity and overindulgence. Exercise shoud be added to the equation as well as we were created in the garden to DO something, to move about. When we follow our hunger and satiety and exercise, our bodies will look good, we will be healthy, and God will look good through us for His wisdom in how we were created.
Weight loss can be accelerated as well with intermittent fasting. Our bodies are meant to store excess energy in times of abundance, or overindulgence, and to access that energy and burn it for energy when none is taken in in the form of food (God's wisdom on display once more). Through brief (24 hours) intermittent (1-2 times per week) fasting, our bodies are given the opportunity to access the excess and use some (burn off body fat) If we are doing resistance training a few times per week our muscle mass will be retained. In addition, research is showing that calorie restriction and fasting in particular offers many health benefits. Of course it does, it brings glory to God pointing out his wisdom in how we are made.
So, I have found some serious freedom in regards to food. The change began in my heart with wanting something else more than to look good, but instead to honor and serve God. It then worked it's way out into my behaviors and emotions. Of course, as we are all like trees according to Jesus ( Mt 7:15-21). What begins on the inside is inevitably displayed on the outside. Praise be to God for his Wisdom and for sharing it with us. I love to get very hungry, then try to find the best possible food to eat, indulging my tastebuds and praising God for his goodness. I hate feeling overfull, semi-stuffed. Eat relatively whole foods as this is what God made, and enjoy your food, but serve the Lord first in your heart and you can regain a healthy relationship with food.

Biblical vs. Systemtic Theology

At the end of this month I will be speaking at a men's retreat for a church from New Jersey. Both pastors attended Westminster Seminary as did I and really like the counseling approach they learned there and that is conducted at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. I counsel there part time and my wife works there full time. They contacted the agency last year for a speaker and ended up with me. They wanted Ed Welch but he is too big now, and busy, for a small retreat for a local church. The retreat went well last year, both for me and the men who attended. This year they would like to get a little more specific on how they can live in relationship better with one another. Last year I just gave them too much information. This year they would like me to get more specific on how to love each other better. 

   I met with the pastors for lunch this week to discuss what to present at the church. They are both great guys. They are thoroughly Calvanistic and I am a committed Arminian. To their credit, they found this out last year after the seminar and still invited me back this year. I told them I was pleasantly surprised and pleased. They stated they discussed it but don't have any concerns as I didn't say anything heretical last year ( in their estimation). The associate pastor and I got into this lengthy discussion about the relevance and importance of systematic theology. I didn't agree, though as he talked, I could see some of the merits, in defending orthodoxy from heresy for example. However, for application to living, I just don't see that much applicability. Biblical theology yields much greater self understanding and knowledge in living. It is dealing with scriptures more accurately I believe as well as the Bible is not a systmeatic theological textbook. It is a story. God chose to communicate to us in this fashion for a reason. We should read it as a story and find our lives interpreted by that story as they are imbedded in that story. I found the whole discussion rather anxiety provoking as I felt like my friend and I were talking past one another. I just think systematic theology doesn't meet people where they live whereas biblical theology does. They identify with subjects in the story more and parables and story's just communicate more than doctrine does. I think biblical theology is more relevant as it is the form the scriptures take and in which God chose to reveal himself to us. 

Exercise is not just exercise. Nothing is just anything.

The last week evidences what I was talking about before when I mentioned motivation, passion, and worship. I had been reading on Mark's Daily Apple blog about nutrition and exercise. He follows an evolutionary paradigm that informs his anthropology. He believes man is genetically the same as a man from the paleolithic era ,roughly 20,000 years ago (I think). That informs his ideas about exercise and nutrition. Anything requiring processing, such as grains and tubers for example, are not suitable for food. Instead, men are hunter gatherers, eating only what they can kill, pick, and gather. That doesn't leave a lot of room for starches, and can cut into an endurance athletes performance. He's fine with that as he believes that endurance exercise is inherently unhealthy anyway and unsuitable for humans. He is a former elite marathon runner as well. Anyway, I was enamored with his ripped physique and I do love to lift weights. The more I read, the more I wanted to follow his exercise regime. I don't buy his paradigm, but there is a lot of research that shows fruits, veggies, meats, nuts and eggs with little to no starch in the diet is good for one's health, as well as high intensity, brief exercise such as weight lifting and sprinting.  So, this played out in how I ate and exercised over the last week. I missed a couple of days of running and hit the gym for a couple of days. Yesterday I ran sprints on the trails, which was new and fun (and tough). Tonight I hit the weights again and ran a mile on the treadmill. 

   This approach is less time intensive than ultrarunning. The ultrarunning takes 10 hours a week of training. The weightlifting takes much less, maybe 5-6. This is appealing too as I've been trying to cut back time on my hobbies to devote more time to worship, study, and writing. That coupled with the above led me to throw off the ultrarunning and pursue maintenance fitness. It is very hard though to give up the running. I don't like running on the roads, but running in the woods is just plain wonderful. I almost always love it. It combines so much of what I love. It instills a sense of awe, worship and wonder in me. It keeps me healthy, and allows me to engage in mini adventures. The training keeps me fit to do the adventure races. To think of giving it up is like a death and really is hard. It actually hurts, like saying goodbye to someone you love. Yet, I want to serve the Lord and prepare my self in my free time to be ready to offer people truth and love when the moments arrive. I have a half dozen articles to write that have been born out of my counseling that I need to get written so others may benefit. 

   So, the battle continues to know how to best use my time. What makes this more complicated is that these are just hobbies, my exercise habits that is. Yet, because of my flesh, or the "flesh operating system" as Tim Keller names it, these threaten to become my identity, the focus of who I am and what would define me as opposed to my worship of and service to God, or loving God and loving neighbor, or being rightly alligned in the universe....I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. I am dependent, needing life and identity from outside of myself in relationship to God and neighbor. My flesh, the world, and the devil however all conspire to undermine that reality. 

    Exercise is not just exercise. Everything is an expression of your heart, of what you want or desire. Everything you do you do towards some end. We are teleological beings. As a member of God's already/not yet kingdom, my life must be about his kingdom. In losing myself in subservience to Him and his kingdom, I find life.  I find this true in conversations (seeking to love, know the person, listen, understand, then offer truth instead of voicing my own opinion) and in my work ( working, not goofing off) as well as in my hobbies (unto the Lord, not for an alternative identity).

    So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do still. I will wake up and do the important rather than the urgent, according to my priorities. I will wake up and worship and commune with the Lord, then write, then exercise on my lunch break. That way, I'm doing the most important things first. I've always said that exercise should be second, as it allows for the pursuit of all else, but I'm not sure. Still working on that one. I'll keep posting, if anybody is reading. I might have to change the name of the blog :0

New Year

So, here is the first post of the new year. Thought I might post some goals for the year.

As I stated previously, I'm following the Van Aaken method. In line with this, I plan on running every day of the year. A run must be 1 mile long to count for the streak, though the daily mileage will almost always be longer. This will allow me to obtain my main goal for the year-consistency of training. I tend to lose my focus on running when I lose my passion. This is true of course because we are all worshippers, and what we do is an expression of what we love and serve. I am passionate about running when I am gripped by something exciting about running. For example, reading a good race report or a good book. So, to maintain consistency, I need to maintain my passion. This can be difficult because running is a secondary activity, not my identity. My identity is as an ambassador and servant for the King. My running is just a hobby. In line with my identity are important things I have to do that can cut into my training, such as sleeping and writing. The trick is to stay motivated in my hobby while keeping it relegated to a hobby. It's easy to be passionate about it when I let it become too important. It then cuts into my work time and family time as I spend too much time reading and studying about running. 

   So, consistency is my primary goal. Race wise, I would like to complete at least one 50K or one 50 miler per month. After doing this for a year, then I will tackle a 100 next year. I may possibly do the Pinhoti 100 this year as my inaugural 100. I wanted to do it in '08, but wasn't consistent enough in my training. 

  There it is. Oh, and this is a picture of Yvetta, my dog. She's an Entulbucher, or Swiss Cattle Dog. Tough girl. 

New Year