Continuing on the theme of mental control, I try to invent some way to help myself get through the run. Some strategy of thought and concentration to distract me, to fight off negative thoughts, what I call the Demons of Doubt. I call them demons because they seem to act on their own. I don’t have to come up with doubts and negative thoughts. They exist in the absence of positive thoughts. They are not just proactive, they are evil, because they want to interfere with something I want to do that is good. While in the real world good and evil are never so simple, in the metaphorical and motivational sense, this concept works. Everything I do is good, at least in my own opinion, even when I am doing something that is objectively bad. I am either trying to do good and I fail, as all humans do, or I am mistaken in my determination that the act is good. And there you have it – an ultra-simplified version of the Thomistic philosophy of good and evil.

Pain report: Today I am dealing with a knee twinge and the back pain continues. I believe the back pain has something to do with the changes in elevation. Though they are small, they encourage me to bend over more as I exert myself in the “climb”. There’s my old arch-nemesis Gravity. Not exactly an evil force, but an opponent nonetheless. And let me tell you this: Gravity always wins . . . always.

The run goes well. I knew what I had to do mentally going into it. My strategy is to remember that I had done this successfully in the past, so there is no reason I can’t do it today. During the run, I switch gears from strategy and motivation to distraction, thinking about what I am going to say at the end of the run. And even though I am thinking about talking about what’s going on with my body, it still seems to distract me from what’s going on with my body. Which is interesting. Perhaps it explains a lot of things, good and bad. How we can abstract our thinking from our actions.

Though the concept might have offended a younger version of me, I believe that experience, as in anything else, improves my ability to think. It is this fact that allows us to function as well or better in society as we get older, than younger, stronger, more energetic people. I am reminded of a scene I witness in my college squash court, of a junior varsity coach, possibly sixty years old (at the time I was in my early twenties, so keep that in mind), playing one of this athletes in a practice game. The young player was running all over the court doing a respectable job of returning the ball. The coach just controlled the center of the court, barely moving from one spot, easily firing the tiny squash ball into the almost unreachable corners of the court. That is an example of what I mean, of the experience of age trumping, or at least matching, the physical strength, energy, and finer reflexes of youth.

Weight: 266
Workout time: 51Minutes
Distance (total): 2.52Miles
Run Portion: Miles
Heart Rate (min/max all day): 63/86
Steps: 9948
Goal: To run 10.5 miles in one day by 11/18/18