I explain the absence of trail audio from yesterday, it was an audio problem. This time of year, trying to get out and exercise is a race against the sun because the days are so short. Today it is darker and colder, and there are not many people on the trail. Today is also one of those difficult days. The cold makes it harder to breathe once I start my run. I’ve been asked how cold it will have to be for me to not come out. I plan to run in any temperature as long as it isn’t icy or otherwise unsafe. I break up my run because I don’t make the half mile on the first try. It’s important to visualize the goal, the mile marker I am trying to reach. But just visualizing it and focusing on it is not always enough. Today it was not.

I continue to think about why I run. Another benefit of exercise is the mental effects. I’ve had a stressful day and one good way to lower that stress level is exercise. Since I am talking and I know someone might listen to this someday, I am not going to say a lot of the things I would otherwise say to myself in my head. The concept is one reason why it is important to have people in my life that I can talk to. Exercise also works against depression. I think there is a price to pay for intelligence, or perhaps a balance. Geniuses may have defects in mental health. In popular culture, we have the socially-awkward smart kid, the absent-minded professor, the mad scientist. So it is important to pay as much attention to mental health as to mental capacity.

Every day I come out an exercise, even if I don’t go longer or faster, is progress. I’m not sitting at home doing nothing, or doing something non-physical. I am not neglecting this important part of my life. I still get all of the benefits, mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional, from running.

Weight: 265
Workout time: 49 Minutes
Distance (total): 2.38 Miles
Run Portion: .5 Miles
Heart Rate (min/max all day): 59/89
Steps: 11,555
Goal: To run 10.5 miles in one day by 11/18/18