Thought of the Day 05/28/2012: The Bolder Boulder

I did it; 10 kilometers, 6.2 miles, in the times listed below. The last half mile was a steady climb up to Folsom Field at CU Boulder and there were so many banners I thought I had finished the race multiple times, only to be confused by the continual running of others.  On a sheer adrenaline high, I basically sprinted that last 0.2 tenths of a mile.

Mile 1: 10:24
Mile 2: 10:10
Mile 3: 11:22 [Stopped to take a piss]
Mile 4: 10:06
Mile 5: 10:04
Mile 6: 10:11
Total Time: 1:04:18

Running this event, I felt a bit like Alice traversing Wonderland.  Along the way there was ample stimulation and amusement, including but not limited to: bands and music every half-mile, people throwing food like marshmallows, cotton candy and bacon, slip-n-slides, sprinklers and water guns, pole and belly dancers and, my personal favorite, a keg stand.  I'm seriously considering running the race twice next year; an early qualified wave to achieve a better time than this year, and a later walk/jog wave to participate in all the fun curbside activities.

Admittedly, I was a bit taken aback when I saw my times. True, many people older and less fit than myself finished faster than I did; but in considering where I have been and came from, I  simply couldn't be more proud of myself. It would have been easy to compare my time against that of others and choose to be disappointed in myself.  Specifically, a friend of mine got pretty well lit at a lake party yesterday, didn't train so much as one day, and ran the entire race in 47 minutes.  Notice the selection of word 'choose.'  Today's race was for me and about me, and I will not apologize for the selfish tone of that statement.  I set out to run this race and I did it.  I trained hard, preparing both a Body that has undergone a monumental transformation and a Mind that continually struggles to find the balance between caloric in-take and expenditure due to an intense fear of gaining weight.  In short, I chose to be proud because I refuse to allow the accomplishments of others to negate my own, thus casting a shadow over my self-esteem . Today was for me, and I won.

Thought of the Day 05/26/2012: Unreasonable Happiness

How many times have you felt like shit and not understood why?  Guess what, though much more difficult because it goes against our personal habits, we can do the same thing with happiness.  Be unreasonably happy.  It's a decision you make, to put a smile on your face without any provocation.

Feelings are a choice.  Subconsciously, we choose to feel happy or some degree of shitty.  We then find things in our environment, or use thoughts and memories, to feed those emotions which makes them stronger.

Once you've practiced this and are fairly adept, you can be like me.  I know there's people out there who are convinced I'm touched in the head; yet this new approach to life inspires me to care about others perception of me less than my past contempt for the general populous. That is to say, I used to not care because it pissed people off and that made me happy.  Now I don't care because I focus on staying positive and releasing from that which I cannot control, mainly what other people think and feel in regard to me.

Thought of the Day 05/23/2012: Getting Back into 'Blog' Mode

After a lengthy break to pursue a concentrated focus on new social adventures, I'm ready to bring balance back into my life by committing time to both social functions and literary pursuits.  Have no fears 'Kickballers,' should you be reading this, as I never write about specific people on my blog without prior approval and added anonymity.  What happens in Boulder, stays in Boulder.

That being said, I'm currently working on several articles, including those regrading my jaded perspective on the infamous 'divide of the sexes' as well as struggles with my own sexuality, a detox diet to get interested readers 'swimsuit ready,' and finally finishing the third and final article in my Logical Spirituality Series [In chronological order, therein].

Lastly, while looking for old articles to re-release due to my laziness, I realized that it's ridiculously difficult to find specific articles on my blog.  Everything is archived by date, and I certainly can't remember when I published particular works.  Therefore, I've added a Search function and 'Most Popular Article' display at the left of the main page. Another great way to find things that may interest you is to click the 'Label' that most intrigues you, also to the left on the main page.  Current 'Labels' include:

• Anxiety
• Definitions
• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Poetry (Yes, stuff I've written, and it's not very good)
• Random
• Reviews
• Scientific
• Sociology
• Spirituality 
• Thought of the Day

I don't anticipate adding more; that basically covers my areas of experiential expertise.

In conclusion, there's more to come soon. And I'll also add that comments let me know people are actually reading my blog, and my otherwise self-serving literary adventures are in fact helping others, which of course is my ultimate goal. So please comment!