Glory

I think the jury is still out on a lot of things (for example, is this guy dead or sleeping?) and one thing that is still vexing me is whether or not we are really rational creatures.

I'll get personal here. I've been training since December for a half marathon that is happening this coming Sunday. Last Sunday, a mere week before the race I was on my last long training run, going about 10.5 miles. Through the sheer force of Mandel-ian bad luck I hurt my foot on that run and have since been hobbling around but did not break my foot. Therefore I am hoping to still complete the half marathon on Sunday.

I have been getting an unbelievable amount of shit from my largely over-protective, unadventurous, motherly co-workers (not to stereotype or judge) about how dumb it is to run, how I'll hurt myself worse, blah blah blah.

While I admit they might have some points and being totally reckless is not cool, I think there is something to be said for pushing through adversity to achieve something that doesn't necessarily seem possible. This is no doubt not totally rational, if my foot is sprained, strained, whatever then it is probably best to rest it, but rational wouldn't get us anywhere. Maybe I shouldn't breathe because it could strain my lungs, maybe I shouldn't pick up any objects because of the negative effect it will have on my back. Maybe I shouldn't eat because pretty all food makes you fat and causes cancer these days, (except food from here, amazing place), point is, the default towards caution pisses me off. I've been growing my hair and beard for months, running occasionally, I'm going to do this and if I'm sore and limp around for a few weeks afterward then so what, I'm (sadly) not a hunter-gatherer needing to use my body everyday for survival.