diddlee

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. Shakyamuni Siddhārtha Gautama Health has been something taken for granted for me. As a younger man, it seemed that health was a given. It has been obvious the past few years that it isn't. After my recent fall, things have come a little harder. With all the running, morning started a little stiffer and sorer. I've had times lately when rather than ramp up my training, I've had to give in to wear and tear, fatigue, colds, stomach problems and the like. So if one thinks of health is a gift, it can only be given to one's self by a rational lifestyle and chance. I would agree that contentment is like wealth. But discontent comes so easily. Fault finding is a human habit. I've gone back to places where I found contentment in the past, looking to find it again and again. This has worked to a degree. But sometimes getting to that places requires quite an expenditure of work...

Today we sold the C class camper. I was a little surprised how quickly it went. Perhaps we could have held out for more money but in the end, it is good to no longer have that responsibility. Still have some paperwork to deliver to the camper store. Now we have a camping trailer with 3 fold out beds. This is kind of like a pop-up. But it offers the maximum sleeping space without having another engine to maintain. No more often than we were camping, it was a lot to take care of. My plan for this camper includes changing all the inside lights for led's. Maybe having a charging panel installed on top. I've already got the 4" receiver adapter to install the bike rack on back. That will leave room for things inside the truck or to put a tray back there. Or maybe allow for taking friends along.

Robert Frost wrote about having miles to go before he slept. In 3 weeks I'll be at the New River Marathon running another 13.1 miler. I've been having stomach problems for 3 days and unable to keep up my running schedule. I got to thinking this morning how many miles go into the preparation for a marathon run. I guestimate I've run over 350 miles this year in training. Add to that a lot of cycling miles. Probably triple that. Then consider my weight loss regimen that has been a restriction of around 1000 calories per day. So I'm pretty tired now. And I have a lot more training miles to go. After this half marathon, I have a full marathon to train for. Then the last training stretch finishes with a Grand Full Marathon where I'll do my best to finish with a good time. So those weeks of training will be the hardest yet. And once I've done all that? I think I might be finished with Marathon running.