Sounds like Kari’s wedding was really amazing! You must be so happy for her.

Loved the adorable FB pictures of your new puppy. So cute!

Sorry to hear you’re facing knee problems. Please be careful! Hope your 20-mile training run goes well & that you feel OK after it. Fingers crossed for you.

I find it strange how the “hard work” ethic is ingrained & promoted tirelessly in American culture when it comes to one’s career, & yet is strangely not advocated as unilaterally when it comes to one’s approach to one’s health.

In addition to “green technology” being the next big thing to take international markets by storm, I’d like to see “preventative health care” on that list as well!

To quote a Chinese proverb, “The best doctor doesn’t need to treat his patients at all.”

New year’s resolutions are ultimately a bunch of BS.

Been saying that for years, but now that we have the larger scope of the blogging medium to rattle on about it, maybe someone will actually “get” it soon, or atleast one of these days, & stop with all of this resolution-making nonsense. Hope springs eternal.

You are so right about the way so many people have trained their minds to work. It’s quite obvious that they haven’t carefully thought through all of those resolutions, because if they did, they might change their minds when considering all the work those resolutions are going to require!

They concoct these elaborate schemes so grand that they can’t possibly succeed. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, subconsciously rigged as a set-up for failure so that, in reality, they don’t really have to change at all. They can just claim a token gesture for having tried (maybe once or twice, & then quitting after the first sign of “failure” — a missed workout or an unwise decision — i.e., overexertion leading to injury, etc.), since there’s a rather small & unrealistic window on the time & effort dedicated to achieving those goals. People often forget that goals take time & effort to achieve!

In the end, it’s usually a lot of “sound & fury signifying nothing.” These people can talk a good game, but when it comes down to the execution part, they casually “forget” about all those lofty plans.

The attempts are often short-lived because they got easily overwhelmed by the grand schemes, instead of thinking on a smaller scale, starting slowly, & making gradual changes, in a step-by-step fashion. The second path, which unfortunately has been the one less taken in Western/American culture, is a more surefire route to success. When will people learn? Steady effort, moderation, balance, and persistence are the wiser pathways.

Deep, lasting change isn’t some superficial construction, or done for the purposes of “looking good” for others. People have to start small in order to start somewhere!

The grass isn’t greener on the other side. You plant those grass seeds right here in your own backyard.

I’m more naturally a middle-distance runner too. My plan for this year is to stick to races of half marathon distance or less this year, although I’m not ready to completely give up on the marathon yet.

Jason - not to mention the 3 pounds of pasta we had the night before