Days 3 & 4 + Commentary

Day 3
Weather: Inside
Distance: 3 miles
Week Total: 15 miles
Type: Treadmill
Pace: 8:00 per mile


Cross training. 3 miles on tread mill then strength training with weights in Gym.

Day 4
Weather: 75 Humid
Distance: 5 miles
Week Total: 20 miles
Type: Slow Easy
Pace: 10:00 per mile

This morning was not fun. The groin pull was painful this morning. I don't think playing softball last night helped it much. Starting out it hurt just to walk, but after the first mile it became bearable. Well I have my excuse if I don't do well at the Charlestown Founder's Day 5K on Saturday. Travel will necessitate me taking off on Friday, which I had planned to do anyway, and hopefully I'll heal up.

As I mentioned before, slow runs = time to think. This morning I found myself thinking about something I heard on the radio last night.

The topic was Fitness and Health. They were discussing the fact that Fitness and Exercise are not the same thing. You can become Fit through exercise, but Fitness incorporates much more. They made the point that there are Fit people, who live healthy lives, and their only exercise is their daily activities and work.

The discussion revolved around the fact that Fitness has more to do with what we put into our systems and the choices we make, not just how hard we work out.

During this morning's run I started applying this to other areas, and in particular Christian life and life in general. Why do we find ourselves in the predicaments we are in? Is it because of our own choices? Are our relationships healthy, or crumbling? Do we feed our mind healthy information or trash?

As I pondered the question I seemed to recall scripture in which Paul makes reference, in one of his letters, that we should guard our minds and not let it be corrupted with worldly thoughts, but that we should turn every thought to God. I couldn't find the exact passage, so if my recollection is correct, and you know the passage, let us know.

My point is this, like our physiques, once our minds are polluted, or our relationships are allowed to weaken, or any aspect of our life is allowed to "get out of shape", it is much harder to get it back into shape than it is simply start with and maintain a healthy (fill in the blank).

Our dietitian is God. Look to him for your "food for thought guidelines".

It's not easy. Our human nature leads us to try to rationalize our decisions. "It's only one Whopper with Cheese, I'll cut back tomorrow." "It's OK to watch this program, I know I shouldn't really act that way." "I'm just looking, that never hurt anyone."

"What's fueling your body, your mind, your relationships?" That was the question I was asking myself in between grimaces this morning. I came to the realization that I need a little more exercise and more frequent appointments with the Dietitian.

See some of you on Saturday!