How do you handle adversity? Do you have people you talk to? Things that you do? I have attitude problems but I keep on going, trying to maintain. It’s in the hard times that we really find out who we are. Sports are a metaphor for life. There is always some difficulty, some challenge to overcome. In a game, it is the opponent. In running there is no opponent except gravity. There is a big mental part of this, how I approach the things that make me want to stop.

There is an individual philosophy of life that each person must find for himself. When I have adversity, and I have to work through it and push through it, I think about that meaning. There is a goal, and there is a positive effort that is required to reach it. One difference between running outside and running on a treadmill is that inside, you only see a number, not really a visual goal on the landscape.

I am still getting used to my head lamp and use it on the way back, actually starting with the run. I am able to do the half-mile run all at one time. Differences in perspective and a visual goal affect my mental attitude while I’m on the run. I run so slowly that I’m not sure I should try to pass groups that are walking. Afterwards I have some muscular back pain that seems to get worse in the last quarter-mile of the workout, but no nerve pain. Any day without that is a good day, because it makes the walk back a long one. I reluctantly admit that taking some days off might be the good idea that my father said it was (Episode 6). It would have the added benefit of reducing any cumulative buildup of nerve pain.

To beat adversity when it hits, we need to work through it. As a listener, you help me get through the tough times because it’s an end goal to reach someone, anyone who is listening.

Weight: 265
Workout time: 50 Minutes
Distance (total): 2.51 Miles
Run Portion: .5 Miles
Heart Rate (min/max all day): 72/86
Steps: 9193
Goal: To run 10.5 miles in one day by 11/18/18