Sitting Myself to Death

Last Sunday I ran 10 miles and was proud of getting there again. But during the run my right calf started feeling really tight, even somewhat pulled or torn. Ish. I think it's residue from that soccer injury my last year at Southern, but I can't even remember for sure which leg that was. 


I finally ran again on Wednesday and both calves got really tight, but didn't feel torn anymore. Today I decided to look up, and I quote, "how to loosen tight calves." A livestrong link was the second one and since I want to win like Lance, I clicked. Three sentences in:

"Tight calf muscles are a common complaint. They occur as a result of living a sedentary lifestyle or because of strenuous exercise."

That hurt.

And I need it to be a wake up call. I'm either sitting at my desk or at the kitchen table: sedentary lifestyle. Or I'm running ten miles on Sunday: strenuous exercise. But definitely it's the first one that is more true and that pains me. Sedentary is constricting me.

I want, no need, to be moving. Moving!

Samuel

Today marked essentially my first foray into the outside world since... oh, I guess getting my teeth cleaned (but that doesn't count). And it wasn't very far. But a couple weeks ago Davide invited me to play soccer with the doctoral students and Andrews faculty on Sunday mornings (apparently I qualify because I'm a relative of faculty), and that sounded like pretty good fun to me, so today I went. And it was a lot of fun, albeit extremely exhausting. I overestimated my fitness and endurance by a long shot.

There was one guy, Samuel, who just impressed me. He looked on the younger side of middle aged, and this guy was a trooper. He's quite short and fit, so I think he has that going for him, but the dude did not stop running. And he would sprint back and forth when needed, the entire time he was there. And I mean sprint. When I've played with people older than me before, I'm usually one of the ones who has legs the longest, but Samuel was putting me, and everyone else, to shame. Like I said, I was impressed.

I want to have legs like that in life, too. Be able to sprint forward with the ball to attack life head on, but then pivot and race back to defend my own base when I've made a mistake or lose momentum. I think that idea is one of the keys to a fulfilling and successful life. I'm trying to work on it a little bit.

The other day while doing my little workout in the basement, I was listening to the Psalms—and almost getting a little emotional, to be honest. The ups and downs expressed there are so human. David is sometimes sprinting forward in high praise to Almighty God, then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and having to race back to defend—whether it's because he sinned, or because his enemies have him surrounded, or whatever. But he seems to always end with forward motion, a kind of But you are still Almighty God, and I will put my trust in You deal. Hearing his psalms provokes the desire for a dogged persistence in life and in pursuit of God. David must've learned from the best.

Maybe we both learned something from Samuel.

One Paragraph

I'm 25 now. It snowed this past weekend and it felt like it was going to be the last snow of the season. Today it hit 60s, and when I went outside I was overcome with the feeling that cycling must ensue. And quick. The biathlon season seems to be coming to a close, with fantastic races happening right now in Ruhpolding, Germany. Fortunately, the cycling season has already begun, and there are some exciting stages of Paris-Nice happening right now as well. I've been hearing for a while now that one space after the period is the thing to do, but Emily's post pushed me over the line, so I'm trying. I also learned the difference, I think, between "a while" and "awhile." It seems a good rule of thumb so far is that if it comes with "for" before it, then it's with a space (really, because it's a noun). I got my teeth cleaned this morning for the first time in probably about two years. Gross, you say? I agree. But no cavities and they said they could even make me a bottom retainer if I decided for it. I just might do that. I've spent hours over the past few days organizing pictures on my computer and trying to decide how to archive them. I burned a few gigs onto a DVD today. Likely the first of many. I don't know why I'm so concerned about losing them. Actually, I know one reason. I'm secretly (well not anymore) trying to prepare things for my biographer. I've been running pretty regularly for several weeks now. I need to start looking up races. My fifth mile today was about a 6:52. Much too fast, but I'm bragging about it, so obviously I'm not too concerned. I loved, loved, running in the cold weather up here. Especially when it's windy and snowing. I got over-the-ear headphones from Skullcandy (Amazon gift card and sale, just for the record). I haven't written the review yet, but I want to because I feel like it's my duty to warn everyone they're not as great as all the teens say they are. I'm wearing them right now though. But they hurt my head and don't even sound that great. I rearranged my room. The cat sometimes sleeps at the foot of the bed. Don't tell Mom. I realized I'm really behind on my Apple operating system, so I ordered Snow Leopard and will hopefully get around to installing it tomorrow. Hence the frantic photo reorganizing and archiving. Once done, that should put me only a couple OS versions behind, right? And I suppose there are other little things that are happening or that I've done. Maybe some sort-of big ones (but probably not). No job yet. Or knowing what I want to do. If I stay busy enough at home, maybe someone will notice.

The Ideal Life