j . a . m . k . m . b: Thursday and still rolling

Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Oct 2008

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.

... Professor Harold Hill, one of the principal characters in [The Music Man], voices a caution that I share with you. Says he, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”

f you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.”³ We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.

Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of “what if” and “if only.” Said author Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”

In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, Church member Jay Hess, an airman, was shot down over North Vietnam. For two years his family had no idea whether he was dead or alive. His captors in Hanoi eventually allowed him to write home but limited his message to less than 25 words. What would you and I say to our families if we were in the same situation—not having seen them for over two years and not knowing if we would ever see them again? Wanting to provide something his family could recognize as having come from him and also wanting to give them valuable counsel, Brother Hess wrote—and I quote: “These things are important: temple marriage, mission, college. Press on, set goals, write history, take pictures twice a year.”

Said one well-known author: “Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend . . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

Said the Lord in a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things.”¹⁰ May we be found among those who give our thanks to our Heavenly Father. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.

Brothers and sisters, my sincere prayer is that we may adapt to the changes in our lives, that we may realize what is most important, that we may express our gratitude always and thus find joy in the journey."

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday and still rolling

For Dan's benefit, I'm going to post what I ate for lunch today. It's going to sound like a lot, but I was careful with portion control, so I was able to savor just the right amount of each item. Here it is: Memphis style ribs, southern BBQ brisket sandwich, grilled red snapper, BBQ flavored french fries (oops), fried rice, and fresh fruit. Funnily they were all out of vegetables...

Had an awesome experience yesterday. Dean Karnazes, ultra-marathoner and psycho runner came and spoke to Google as part of the Authors @ Google series (search for authors @ google on YouTube for past speakers). This guy is incredible! Some of his most amazing accomplishments are:

He ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days (one of which was St. George, where he ran by me towards the end of the race. I remember seeing him because I knew who he was and that he was going to be there)

He has run 350 miles - without stopping - in 81 hours and 44 minutes

He has run the Badlands Ultramarathon, 130 miles in Death Valley in the middle of the summer, 7 or 8 times (can't remember which) - he says to run on the white lines so your shoes don't melt ... good to know.

He routinely runs regular marathons, but with a twist - he'll run 20 miles through the night to the start of the race, run a fast race, and then run home afterwards. Clearly something wrong with this guy

He was very funny and engaging, and I really like how humble and unassuming he was. He readily admits that he's a little crazy ... a "little"? Some interesting facts:

He starts to sweat and gets his first hint of being tired right around the 26-30 mile mark of his runs, so basically he can run a marathon without getting tired or sweating (he told a story about showing up for a 60 Minutes interview having run 30 miles to get there and they couldn't believe he'd run that far and didn't even look tired or sweaty).

He takes a cell phone and credit card on his "long" training runs, and he'll call up pizza places to deliver along the route somewhere. He says he orders Hawaiian style, unsliced, thin crust; and then when he gets it he just takes it out of the box, rolls it up, and eats it like a pizza burrito - very messy but delicious.

He worked with The North Face to create his own running shoes that don't have laces so he can adjust the tightness of his shoes while his feet expand and contract as he runs.

His favorite family outing is to put his wife and kids to bed, and then head out on a 75 mile run to a destination where they will meet him for breakfast after they sleep.

He has trained his body to rely on only four hours of very deep sleep a night. He said it was pure torture for the first month as he set his alarm to wake up after four hours and forced himself to get up, but after a while his body adapted.

During some of his longest runs (262 miles, 350 miles, etc.) he has actually fallen asleep and awakened out in the middle of the road, realizing he's been sleep running. Not surprising given that he runs straight through three consecutive nights.

I think I'm going to buy his book (pictured above).

3 comments:

Dan and Hailey said...: Wow, that's nuts. I'm jealous on both counts - the lunch and @Google talk. Good to hear things are still operating without me there. :); August 21, 2008 at 9:53 PM
samandbrodi said...: His first book, UltraMarathon Man, is fabulous. Extreme runners are crazy, but reading what his caloric intake is during an actual run is mind boggling.

I like how he also will run 4-5 miles to the start of a marathon and then he runs the marathon. Yeah, you have to be pretty screwed up to be able to pull that off like he does.; August 22, 2008 at 9:48 AM
jamkmb said...: Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. He said he had his crew write down everything he ate on one of his ridiculously long runs, and then he calculated that he consumed 28,000 calories over the course of the run - that's about two weeks of food for a normal person. Fortunately for him, he also burned about 34,000 calories on the run, so he was good to go.
-JR; August 22, 2008 at 9:59 AM

j . a . m . k . m . b

Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Oct 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday and still rolling

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