Methodology

When you run 26.2 miles, expect to be sore the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. It takes everything out of you. Mentally, physically, emotionally–you are drained.  Photo Provided by jard_jard: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jard_jard But it’s all worth it. The feeling of a crash after you achieve what you set out to do makes the finish line that much sweeter. Any time you push yourself beyond your limits, stretch passed what people say you can do, dig down so deep and spend every ounce of energy you have, you’re gonna be sore. It wouldn’t be right if you felt like it never happened the next day. ...

I made a huge mistake when I ran my marathon. Experienced marathoners warned me about it. They said I would have problems. I didn’t listen, I figured they didn’t know me well enough to give me their two cents. Spoiler Alert: I was wrong. The mistake I made? I didn’t train hard enough.  I didn’t put in enough miles. I didn’t run at a fast enough pace. I slacked in the last month between the holidays because I couldn’t step away from the turkey and ham long enough to put in some real mileage. ...

Seventeen months after a shredded ACL. Thirteen months after reconstructive surgery. One and a half days away from a marathon. I’m anxious. I’m nervous. I’m worried (against my own sound advice). I’m afraid I won’t finish. I’m scared my legs will give out, I’ll fall on my face, someone will roll me out of the running lane, and I’ll crawl home. And yet, at the same time, I'm confident that I've prepared mentally and physically. I know it will be the most challenging bodily endeavor I've ever attempted. I know that I've got the support of friends and family and thousands of unknown onlookers rooting for me. And most importantly, I know I've prayed about a million times that I cross the finish line alive–I'm not doing this alone. ...

Taboo: the game of unspeakable fun. Teams compete and individuals take turns describing a word on a card. On that card, along with the word you’re trying to get your teammates to guess, there are five words that are deemed taboo—you’re not allowed to use them. For example, say you have to get your teammates to guess baseball, but can’t say sport, game, pastime, hitter, pitcher or any part of the word baseball itself. ...

You can either finish reading this blog post and go on with your day or you can stop reading now. (I knew you’d stick around.) I appreciate your readership, but don’t let me tell you what you can or can’t do. Don’t let anyone give you only two options. There are always alternatives. You could read this halfway through, reread it, pass it on to friends, or leave a comment. You can write your own post telling me why I’m wrong, or you could refuse to ever return to this site. But you have more than “this or that.” ...

After two and a half years of some heavy use and abuse, the battery on my Macbook is slowly but surely dying. I called Apple to see if they could send me a replacement battery, as my computer is still under warranty, but the man on the other end of the line assured me my battery was no longer covered. He said I could order a replacement from their website online or I could look online somewhere else because he knew that Apple.com would be the most expensive. ...

Today, you have a boatload of things to accomplish. Projects to finish, errands to run, resolutions you (already) have to get back on track. You have two options. First, you can worry.  You can stress out about not getting them done. You can think about all of the consequences of failing to finish what you have to complete today. You can theorize about all of the terrible things that will happen if you don’t pick up a gallon of milk before the day is over. Tomorrow morning you won’t be able to eat your Coco Puffs effectively crashing your schedule into a brick wall and wasting another day this week. ...

When you wake up each morning, why do you do what you do? From the coffee you drink to the friends you talk to. Decisions you stir over to the books you read. Why? Will you get more energy? More satisfaction? More money? More friends? More knowledge? Every single act you perform has some motive behind it. You eat because you’re hungry (or bored or depressed). You go to work to fulfill your purpose (or pay the bills or get out of the house). You go on vacation to spend time with family or friends (or relax or try to escape reality). ...

Saturday, November 20th, 2009, 11:05 pm This is a surreal moment. As I sit in my apartment in my third year at Ohio University, soaking in the last hour of my second decade on this planet, it’s hard to believe how fast time passes by. Everyone anxiously awaits their 21st birthday. A day of freedom and celebration. Freedom to do just about anything outside renting a car at a premium and celebration for the years passed and those still to come. I rejoice over each year I’ve had the pleasure of spending on this earth—overlooking the handful of bad days in the last 76-hundred or so and counting my blessings that I’m totally undeserving of. I wouldn’t trade the memories and friendships I have for anything, but the time on this planet is merely a millisecond in light of eternity, so living it with purpose and joy is the only option for me. I’m at a college that feels like home. I have a wonderful family I love, friends that I’d do anything for, and a future ahead of me that only the Lord knows what’s in store, but one that I’m excited to see. I am blessed beyond all belief. If we’ve ever met, I’m confident you’ve had some impact on my life. In honor of this birthday, I wanted to commemorate some of the most important lessons I’ve learned on this earth by chiseling them into stone. I don’t have a chisel or a stone slab, so I’ll settle for cementing them into the new history book—the blogosphere. I’m certain I’ve learned more than this (at least I hope), and I’m confident I’ll leave out some important lessons, but I know the following have shaped who I am. ...

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”—Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, 1899 We all know the Mr. Duell was slightly off in his assumption about the future. It seems more difficult than ever to come up with great new ideas because we think everything has been invented, but that is by no means the case**. There are millions of problems in the world that still need to be solved, and we aren’t even close to the end of innovation until all of life’s little nuances are taking care of.** Too many people today don’t share their ideas with others because of fear—fear they’ll be stolen, put into action, and end up embarrassed like Seth Green in The Italian Job after his roommate stole the idea for Napster when he was napping in his dorm room. ...