May 8, 2009
Next Time I'll Be Faster!
Wow - I just finished running in my very first 5K ... threw uptown Charlotte. I ran it in about 40 – 42 minutes, I think. I wasn't even looking at the clock when I passed threw the finish line. I was just so happy to be finishing!I was very nervous going into the race. It was not something I've ever really imagined myself doing. And there were so many people there, I think at least a thousand or two (or more), a lot of whom looked like serious runners. But I soon realized there were people there of all different athletic abilities, ages, etc. So after a while I stopped feeling quite so nervous. And once the race began all I could think about was focusing on running.
I have Allison to thank totally for inspiring me to even think of trying to run in a 5K. She was keeping track of my periodic running to become more healthy and she suggested that I enter the race. I was really surprised when she suggested it, but I felt really encouraged so I went ahead and registered. But as the date approached I started to feel a lot more apprehensive. However, now that I'm done, I'm really glad I did. I'm glad my friends Mike and Carrie went with me, it definitely helped doing something like this for the first time with someone I knew.
One aspect of the race that I really liked was the communal feel of the whole thing. There were so many different types of people, and it felt very positive to be part of that crowd, to be sharing that experience. The police officers and attendants along the road were very friendly and encouraging. An older man told me I was doing a great job, so I told him the same. I heard a police officer say that he wanted to be like him someday. There were lots of parents running with their children. I remember hearing one mother saying to her son “when we finish this, you can have whatever you want for dinner”, which I thought was really funny, and pretty sweet. And there was a father pushing a stroller and the mother was running with their daughter who was definitely tired because I heard the mother continue to reassure her that there were very close to the end, which I also found very reassuring to hear.
Crossing the finish line felt amazing! What a feeling of relief and pride. Close to the end was I found a second wind and somehow kept running when my legs and my lungs were completely out of energy.
Allison, who blew threw the race in just twenty-couple minutes, was there at the end waiting to take a picture of me. So maybe I'll have that to add to this blog later :-)
And now that I'm done, I'm going to finish enjoying my celebratory class of delicious chocolate milk, and then probably fall asleep very early compared to my usual bedtime!
January 18, 2009
No more an omnivore
I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I'm strongly considering giving up something that I really love, eating meat. This is not a result of my vegetarian cooking with Allison although she has shown me that cooking without meat can still somehow be quite tasty, as surprising as that might seem.When you think about it, eating is one of my biggest accomplishments on earth. When I think about all the food I've had to eat in my life, I wonder how many thousands of cows have lost their lives for my dining pleasure, or how many thousands of chickens, how many hundreds of turkeys. The list goes on, its a long list. I have eaten a lot of meat.
The real reason I've come to this decision is for a long time I've been considering many eastern philosophies especially from Buddhism, many of which seem like very good principles to live by. One of the most important ideas is to do no harm to any living creatures. However there is also the idea of the middle way, which basically is to not adhere to an idea to the point of being extreme.
Much of my enjoyment in dining has come from eating animals. And yet quite possibly I'm saying goodbye to cheese burgers even though though they are sublimely delicious, and on the dollar menu, not to mention buffalo wings, steak, and almost everything good about breakfast.
Well, I'm still thinking it over. It is a lot to ask of myself. Maybe I could just cut back a lot on my animal intake.
Labels: Allison, Vegetarian