Why do I run?

I am training for a triathlon...
sort of...

I was training for most of the spring to do a triathlon this summer. School got in the way. It was the final three weeks of the semester, really. It collided with the uptick in the training schedule that I was following and I had to make a choice-pass my classes or continue training. I chose to pass my classes and my training got pretty derailed. I think that this was for the best, and I have sort of a vague notion of doing a triathlon in the fall...God willing. I havent restarted my training schedule yet, and in the interim I'm just kind of catch as catch canning the four disciplines (yes four disciplines-running, biking, swimming, and strength training). Last night I decided to go for a post-work run, though I was lacking any semblance of motivation. As I hit a wall at a mile and a half, I started asking myself questions: Why do I run? What does this contibute to the glory of God? Isn't this just a vain attempt to fulfill some ideal?

Short answer: because I want to, it just does, well of course it is.

Longer more thoughtful answer that actually sustained me through my run (although at a bit slower pace): I run for a complex variety of reasons. I run to challenge my self - I've never been very good at it. I run while I can-before my hip decides to go all lego pieces again. I run becuase it makes me a better person, not just physically, but menatlly, emotionaly and even spiritually. On a good day, running becomes one long prayer set to the rhythem of my feet, singing the joy that I feel in the sinews of my body-the joy of my createdness. I run also for darker reasons. I run to match pain to pain, physical to emotional or mental or spiritual. I run to feel something. Is part of me chasing some ideal body image? yep. I've always wrestled with that (though not as much as some people think!) but it is much less my motavating factor now. I run because I want to for all of the above reasons. The same goes for bicycling. Swimming- well swimming is a different story. I, great oak boned lump that I am, havent reached this point in swimming yet. I take some enjoyment in swimming, but I cant let my mind wander because my form, the important part of swimming, isn't fully formed yet. I like my rotator cuffs and I want them to be around for a while, so i have to pay attention to my form.
Its funny. I tell people that Im training for a triathlon and I can see the Wide world of Sports clips running through their heads. The people staggering, crawling across the finish line in the Hawaiian heat. Yeah, thats not me, at least not yet. Maybe someday, by the grace of God. But first lets see how God feels about a nice short sprint.

MOOooo...

So I was coming out of the 7 train this morning and I headed for the nearest exit, along with a few hundred close friends. As I wasslowly shuffling toward the staircase, I started dispationately observing the system the the MTA has put in place. The only thing that I could think of was a cattle chute. The railing on ether sid of the crowd started wide, then narrowed, funneling the hapless, mid-town livestock onto the stairs in such a way that there wouldnt be a fuss when we got to the escalator. Ahh, a well run escalator, where people make room for there fellow person. Anyway, the more that I thought about the similarities of the subway ramp to a cattle chute and the fact that it didnt really surprise me I was taken with a strong urge to Moo very loudly. Its not the first time this has happened, but it was the first time that I have been by myself. Usually I will lean over to my wife at this point and moo or bleat softly. But today I was feeling a full throated Moo, just because. So I did. I gave my best Moo at the top of my lungs. Every one stopped, all several hundred and they all looked at me and... no not really. I didnt make a sound, I just kept shuffling like a good little beastie, but I did wonder whether people would have even blinked if I had.

rain...great

Usually I don't mind rain. As a kid, I was fascinated by rain, and it took lightning under 2 seconds away to make me stay inside. Here in Newyork, I've gotten to watch some specatular storms. Usually I dont mind rain, but I have a feeling that in a few moments when I go outside to walk to the subway station, I am going to mind very much. Its been raining for hours, but it was nice this morning and I didnt think to grab a jacket or an umbrella. Oh well, maybe the wife will like the wet look. Guess there isnt going to be a TNB tonight...but you never know.
I'm doing some light summer reading tas well as everything else this summer. I just started Liturgical Theology by Aidan Kavanaugh. I'm only 26 pages into the book, but Kavanaugh has some very insightful thoughts about the divorce of the theological work of the academe and the thought and practice of the pastors of the church, and this is just the introduction. I think that this is going to be a good choice.

yes, I am a risen senior

So I'm creating a blog. Lets just hope this one works out better. I have no intention saying anything profound. I'm mostly doing this to help friends and family get a glimpse of what is going on in my life. . . and anyone else who really wants to know I suppose. So obviously I am very aware of a small clock that is ticking in my head. 366 days from today, on the 20th of May, 2009 I graduate from seminary. There, I said it. It has been spoken, put into the ether of cyberland. The thought of being done with a process that I've been aiming at since 2002 is more than a little terrifying. I've set up this demarcation in my head about graduating from seminary. Its the big (time-wise) hurrdle in my process to the priesthood (The Episcopal Church- hence being married). So I try not to think about it. But I invariably do.
On a less distressing note, I talked to someone at Seamans Institute today. I'm hoping to do a diaconal project there. Diaconal project? Well its something that you do when your a deacon, that teaches you what it means to be a deacon. After all once a deacon always a deacon ( once a king or queen in Narnia...). Lately though I have been thinking that even if my ordination plans don't work out I might work a bit at the Institute anyway. It sounds pretty awesome, and I will have time.