An incredibly well educated person this past week asked me if I still ate potatoes and drank beer now that I'm a vegan.

I'm not making this up.  I swear to you.

Said Person went to a Big Ten for undergrad, and holds a masters degree.

A potato?  Natures perfect food?  For someone working on increasing her endurance sport activity?  Is there a problem?  Yes . . . I still eat potatoes.

Well what about beer?

What's wrong with beer?

It contains wheat and barley.

Well considering the fact that my diet comes from fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds . . . yes, I still ingest wheat and barley.  I avoid alcohol since it is pretty much all empty calories.  Plus I was widowed by an addict so drinking has lost it's charm to me.  Said Person actually knew that fact about my life.

Sometimes the best journeys aren't necessarily from east to west, or from ground to summit, but from heart to head.  Between them we find our voice.

--Jeremy Collins

I don't know what I can do for the vast majority of people out there, the two thirds of nameless faceless Americans, who are overweight or obese.  But it makes me tremendously sad when people I love just don't get it, and for right now, I need to focus on my own health.

Training today went incredibly well.  It's amazing how absolutely incredible power walking along the Shore in 27 degrees makes you feel.  It took me four blocks to warm up and I sweated the rest of the way.  I was wearing a bunch of thin layers and I was fine, totally able to move fast.

It was that time when everything seems hopeless, when to go on seems futile, and when a small act of kindness, another step, a sip of water, can make you realize that nothing is futile, that going on--especially when going on seems so foolish--is the most meaningful thing in the world.  Many runners have encountered that type of crystalline vision at the end of a race, or training run, that brings with it utter fatigue and blessed exhaustion.

-- Scott Jurek