"Running Commentary"
Bites, Bits And Tidbits
Tonight, three stories I hope you’ll enjoy. Hope you are surviving these trying times. I’ll see you on the street – look for the skinny guy wearing Nikes!
INTELLIGENCE AND WISDOM … Can we agree there is a big difference between intelligence and wisdom? Many are smart; few are wise.
I’d like think I have a little of both – intelligence and wisdom – however, recent events suggest I have neither.
Rummaging through a closet, I discovered an old pair of jeans that were practically new. And because I’ve lost a lot of weight, I’ll never wear those jeans again – I’ve lost several inches off my waistline. Today, I could do the backstroke inside those jeans.
I decided to post the jeans on eBay. If nobody bought them, I could always give the jeans to charity. Without thinking, I set the price at $11.00. To encourage a quick sale, I even offered free shipping.
Within minutes after those jeans were posted on eBay, someone snatched them up as if the jeans had been sewn with golden threads. Fastest $11.00 I’ve ever made.
Here’s what’s funny. Postage came to $10.90.
That’s right. Mr. Brilliant Salesman made a grand profit of 10 cents on those almost new jeans. How the heck I passed the Pennsylvania bar exam 47 years ago remains a mystery. You would think that people gain wisdom with their years. I seem to be going backwards.
Good thing I didn’t seek a career in sales and marketing.
HINTS FROM HELOUISE? … How about a HINT FROM A RASCAL? I have a suggestion that will make any difficult task you want to accomplish much easier. Something I’ve been doing for years and years. All you need is a baseball cap.
When it comes to running, I’m something of a fashionista. To me, looks matter out there – whether I’m running on the street or doing laps on the track. I wear the latest in high-tech running gear, and I’m always equipped with a baseball hat and a cool pair of expen$ive Oakley shades.
The other day, I ran out 11th St. in Concordia – out past the Methodist Church, Cloud County Health Center, past radio station KNCK, all the way to where Rock Rd. connects with Route 9 – almost 2.5 miles from where my mother lives. Out and back is basically a five mile run.
When you’re driving out Rock Rd. in a car, there’s something you don’t notice. Care to guess? HILLS! Loooong, sloping hills that look quite menacing and difficult from afar.
Here’s a little trick I learned years ago – don’t look!
Don’t look up, trying to figure out how far it is to reach the top. What I do when I have a long foreboding hill to climb is to tuck my baseball hat down almost over my sunglasses. I allow myself to look straight ahead for five or six yards – just far enough that I don’t trip over fresh roadkill.
From the short perspective of five yards – I can’t tell I’m climbing up. Seriously, the road looks flat. It’s a little mental game I play, but it’s very effective – I keep my head down with that short perspective until I reach the top of the hill.
Application? When it comes to any overwhelming task you want to accomplish, don’t think about the enormity of what you have to do. Break the whole into small pieces, just like that five yard stretch I see ahead when I’m running. Go buy a baseball hat and tuck it down almost over your eyes.
Break any big job into smaller, doable pieces. When you reach one small plateau, it will encourage you to keep going, on to the next plateau and the next.
Same thing with my losing weight. To get back to being Roy Michael, I needed to lose about 60 pounds – seemingly an impossible task. One word: overwhelming!
Soooo, what I did was to have an immediate goal of losing five pounds at a time. THAT much was doable. And when I lost five, I refocused on the next five. And so on. At each new lower plateau, I was encouraged to keep going. It’s a system that works.
No charge for this hint; however, donations to my retirement fund are always appreciated.
HOUSE HAUNTING … I came close to making an offer on a house in Concordia this past week. Yes, I already have a house in Colorado; however, with my family ties here in town, it would be nice to have a place of my own locally. A small house in which to spread out and crash.
I soon found a house that seemed perfect. It had been renovated recently, and the main floor and upstairs were beautiful. Hardwood floors; two bathrooms; lovely kitchen. Perfect!
I fell in love with that house faster than a lovestruck, geeky nerd who sat next to a pretty cheerleader in 3rd period Algebra. However, puppy love doesn’t apply when making a firm commitment to buy a piece of Real Estate in God’s green garden.
Being brighter and smarter than a ripe tomato, I asked a family friend to check the house over for any potential problems before I made an offer. The advice came quickly.
Don’t buy it. It was like lipstick had been applied to a rotten apple. The foundation of the house was deemed unstable. Thank God for house inspectors.
Bottom line? Don’t fall in love with the lipstick. Check out the core of the apple before taking your first, big bite.
Godspeed, my friends. See you next week!