what i blog about when i blog about running – 1:ears, knee, and ankles

although i love running, there are certain inconveniences that get in the way.  sometimes they’re small, sometimes they’re significant, but mostly, they’re just annoying.  here are just a few: ears, knees, and ankles.

i like to run while listening to music.  i bought an ipod which is great but i can’t seem to find a pair of earphones that keep steady on my left ear as i run.  i don’t know if the problem is just with my left ear or everyone’s, but earphones in general have never fit comfortably on my left ear.  my right ear is made for earphones.  they fit like a fat boy on a comfy couch.  but my left ears kill me.  i went from using the standard ipod earphones that are provided with the ipod purchase to a more sophisticated but structurally-similar-to-ipod-earphones sony piece to so-called “product design award”ed sony earphones that wrap around your whole ear (these didn’t last more than a couple lunges) to finally a pair of nikes that wrap half way around your ears and seem to so far get the job done.

but even aside from finding the right earphones, then there is the problem of sweat getting inside of your years and thus into the earphones and thus causing possible electronic issues.  plus its just uncomfortable when the area from which music is coming from feels wet.  anyone else have similar problems?

there are also all kinds of leg problems.  for me, they’re mainly in my ankles and knees.  this probably has to do with the fact that i don’t stretch and i never really run consistently enough for my legs to adapt to long distance running.  in any case, these three are all still bothersome and are the source of what would otherwise be a flawlessly pleasing activity.

generally, i feel like these small inconveniences exist in all areas of our lives: careers, relationships, food, transportation, etc…  i mean how many of us would love to eat a certain kind of food but can’t because of some allergic reaction or have jobs which for the most part are suitable but are also tied with annoying inconveniences?

the point here is not about the big, significant problems that deeply challenge us and sometimes cripple us only to make us stronger and more triumphant in the long run; its the little silly annoying things.  the itch, the stain, the fly, the sigh, the misstep, the goddamnit wtf?!

but what can we do, right?  my suspicion is that no matter how much we try to remedy these inconveniences, create better technology, go through endless experiments of trial and error, we will never escape.  we are doomed to be with them.  this being the case, i suppose the best we can do is, to the greatest of our abilities, befriend the little bastards.  with a little change of perspective, maybe we can learn to laugh, shake our heads, and continue on.

what i blog about when i blog about running – preface

so i am starting a blog series called, “what i blog about when i blog about running,” inspired by haruki murakami’s great read, “what i talk about when i talk about running.”  i thought this was a good idea because i’m always trying to blog or write more but its difficult being consistent.  i am pretty consistent with running and if not running, being active in some way.  so although this series has the key word “running” in it, the general term should be  “physical activity”.  but using this term doesn’t sound as good in the series’ title.  what i blog about when i blog about being physically active.  see?

in his book, murakami uses the topic of running as the running theme of his memoir.  he doesn’t just talk about running.  he uses it as a vehicle throughout to talk about other things like life.  i plan on doing the same.  truthfully, i haven’t even ran a marathon before.  the longest i’ve ever ran, i think, was 10 miles.

but i like the metaphor of running: of doing something that you can feel, that’s challenging, that has a goal, and that is more or less solitary.  to me, this sounds a lot like life.  and hopefully, i will talk about the many ways it sounds like life.  my life.  it has to be mine, personal, and subjective.  because otherwise, why am i doing this?  here is a way to concretize my average existence through the written word.  i don’t want to just pass into the night.

so why not journal?  because no one reads journals unless you become famous and die.  why not publish a book, a memoir?  maybe one day but im neither important nor good enough to publish.  in a way, blogging is a wonderful tool, especially when strangers read your blog.  when you know someone, there’s too much of a bias in how you read their writing.  strangers often read not because they’ve been asked to or feel obligated to but because they’re bored and want to be entertained.  this can either be both good or bad.  good when their boredom is of a kind of deep nature, wanting to be interested, fulfilled, or touched in some way.   bad when they could easily be watching porn instead.

well, im at work just about to close up.  i should go.  this was my preface.  i didn’t talk at all about my running.  i ran today, about 3 miles.  the fall weather in socal is beautiful.  i run on a path in the foothills of the san bernadino mountains.  the air was crisp and cool.  i listened to my ipod, “shuffle” option.  and when i finished, i was actually interested in what people had to say because i was in a happy mood.

“I don’t believe at all that it’s an immortal principle.  I believe it can perfectly be destroyed.  That’s what has happened to mine, which was a very good one to start with; and it’s you I have to thank for it.  You are very bad,” Madame Merle added, gravely. – The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James.

A Quote about Reading

“The printed, bound and paid-for book was–still is, for the moment–more exacting, more demanding, of its producer and consumer both. It is the site of an encounter, in silence, of two minds, one following in the other’s steps but invited to imagine, to argue, to concur on a level of reflection beyond that of personal encounter, with all its merely social conventions, its merciful padding of blather and mutual forgiveness. Book readers and writers are approaching the condition of holdouts, surly hermits who refuse to come out and play in the electronic sunshine of the post-Gutenberg village.”

-John Updike

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