Running - for people who hate to run

If you'd asked me a year ago to ride a horse or take a martial arts class, I would have been jumping up and down in excitement. If you'd asked me to go on a bike ride with you, I would have been on my bike in a heartbeat.

But if you'd asked me to go for a run, I would have looked at you like you were speaking Gaelic. "Run? Me? No thanks."

And while running still isn't my favorite thing ever, I do go out 3 times a week an run, and I can honestly say that I enjoy it. I love pushing myself just a little bit harder each time, and I love being outside in general. So today I'm going to give you a list of things that helped me start running:

Bluetooth Headphones - I can't say how valuable these are. You can find a decent pair for $10-$20 online, and it takes away a lot of hassle - no more tangled headphones in your bag or pocket, and you won't get the chord caught on everything you walk past (unless that's just me that happens to).

Arm band - For holding my phone/key/money if I'm running to a store, since most workout clothes don't have pockets, and I wouldn't trust these things not to fall out of a pocket while I was running.

Geeky shirts - For Christmas my best friend got me a shirt that says "if I'm running zombies are chasing me", and I bought myself a tank with a Charizard that says "installing muscles, please wait." It sounds silly, but I love putting these on for my workouts. And if I'm going to wear the workout clothes, I might as well do the workout too, right?

Zombies, run! - What can I say, I'm a gamer, and I love stories. This definitely covers those bases, I'm currently using the couch to 5k version since I can't run very far yet. Since each week changes and I get an item after each "quest" (run) it feels like leveling up. Once I finish the last week I'll switch to the original app and run 2-3 times a week with that.

Great music or a podcast - something that you will enjoy listening to while you're out running. 

Good shoes - whether you run barefoot or in shoes is a personal choice, but if you do wear shoes make sure the ones you have are good - you won't want to run ever again if your feet or shins hurt when you get going.

Other ideas - 

Audiobooks - I haven't used them running (the Zombies, Run! apps don't work with Audible or Overdrive), but I know other people who use them for runs and I use them during times when my hands are busy, but my ears are open. The two apps I use for audiobooks are Audible (obviously) and Overdrive, which is less well known but free. Overdrive is an online library access site for eBooks and audiobooks, but because it is tied to your library available material does vary quite a bit. 

(WheezyWaiter talks about using audiobooks in his runs, and recently read/suggested Ready Player One. I highly recommend it as well - great book, and Wil Wheaton's voice is perfect)

Get a dog - Rescue a shelter dog. Just make sure your furry friend can keep up before taking him for a long run! As always make sure you have the time and money to care for the dog you get, but if you can you can improve your own health while rescuing your new best friend from a life behind the bars of your local Humane society, like this gentleman did - saving both his life and the dog's. (Fair warning - you may want some tissues for the video.)

Love thy (white/Christian/American) neighbor

Toward the end of his masterful book World War Z, Max Brooks "interviews" a Cuban who describes a flood of refugees running to Cuba during the crisis, fleeing to an island refuge away from a mainland overrun with the undead. We hear a lot about refugees these days, but we never think that the refugees might be "like us." In the case of World War Z, they are us.

In the nightmare going on in the real Middle East currently, there is a massive flood of refugees, running to anywhere that might take them - Greece, Germany, Jordan, anywhere they can go to escape the hoard that has taken over their homeland. They are fleeing for their lives, most have left nearly everything they own, and many have lost loved ones along the way, as the video below by John Green describes at one point (video credit to the Vlogbrothers)

These are people like us, often with cell phones. Some have claimed that these phones proove that things aren't that horrible for the refugees, but most these phones are no longer on a network, since these refugees have had to spend whatever they had to try to get to safety (which often isn't so safe, as the iconic image of a drowned 3 year old child that brought the bulk of western attention to this crisis in the first place shows). They keep these phones charged, not for making calls, but to see the pictures they have of the loved ones they've either left behind or lost along the way. To them, these phones and photos are items from a previous life - one of comparative prosperity and peace, rather than chaos.

Once these people get smuggled out of their home country, they have a long, dangerous journey ahead of them, boarding rafts that are not seaworthy to reach lands that may or may not accept them. After all, they're not "like us"

Running the race - finish line

This is where I usually take my runs for a couch to 5k program I'm using right now (Zombies, Run! 5k). 

The training is there to help me get to the point that I can run for more than a few paces without keeling over and huffing and puffing, which I couldn't do before I started this. I'm on week 5 now. But running here (which happens to be right next to my house, and the safest place I could wish for) definitely reminds me of something every time I visit:

Eventually we all reach the end of our race. Whether we do a good job or not, whether we try hard or not, all of us reach the end of our race. But like in any race, just because you finish, doesn't mean you do it well. And "well" for one person may be ENTIRELY different from "well" for another.

I could try to run a 5k right now, or could have tried several weeks ago before I started running 3 times a week. If I'd tried then, I would have been walking nearly all of the race, and my time would have been horrible. (Hence the training) Even now, if I tried I'd only be able to run about half of the race with frequent walking breaks.

And when I finish the last week of the program, even though I'll be able to run the entire race, I'll never be as fast as a lot of other people who run because it's their favorite activity in the world. But for me, someone who has never been a runner and is currently trying to get in shape to take care of my body and to have a basic level of fitness for other activities, running a 5k will be phenomenal. But more importantly, running that 5k will mean I have enough stamina to go back to other things I love, like climbing and martial arts, though I'll still have to run regularly if I want to keep the endurance.

Paul told us that in a race, everyone runs, but only 1 person comes away with the prize. Run in such a way as to be the winner in your race. For different people that race, and the prize, look very different. (1 Cor 9:24)

For me, running the fastest 5k isn't my goal, nor is it the end of my race, and in truth I don't know what the end of my race even looks like. The true end of each of our "races" looks very much like the picture above - but let's run in such a way that at the end we can say "I ran my best race, and now I go to claim my prize." After all, what's left here on earth doesn't matter much anyways when your body's permanent residence is 6 feet under, so make your race a good one.

Aaaaargg, anxiety dreams!!!!

**sorry for lack of postings - as mentioned in the last post, I have a lot of growing to do on my blogging schedule, there's a reason I don't do this professionally**

**this post is mostly my random thoughts, please take it at face value 

Late last year I signed up for a whole semester of classes. I was excited, the classes were fascinating, and then I realized that it was almost finals, and I hadn't been to a single class and didn't know what was going to be on any of the tests. Then I woke up.

I graduated in 2012.

So why did I still have a dream about something that hadn't applied to me for over 2 years? And why did I have a nightmare about something as unlikely as signing up for a full semester, attending no classes, and not being dropped from any of those classes before finals? I'm not a psychologist, I don't know the answer (I don't know that a psychologist would know the answer either mind), but I thought these were fascinating questions nonetheless. 

I know I can get anxious about grades, and that certainly wasn't the first time I've had a similar dream (I had it at least once a semester in college), so my first thought is that I was stressed at the time, and school was something my mind already knew how to stress about very, very well. I was going through a few stressful things at the time (my then roommate and semi-adopted aunt was moving across the country, I was looking for a new roommate, and my schedule had been switched again from 1st shift to 2nd, nothing too dramatic) but it wasn't the same stress as finding out my dad had cancer, or getting kicked out of the place I'd lived, so maybe it was enough stress that my mind wanted something to freak out about, but didn't have any one thing big enough to do so over out of the current events? No idea

About R3forged

Photo credit - The-5 on DeviantArt

R3forged is a project that's been on my mind for some time, as someone who was a wanderer and found a lot of lessons out the hard way. I've been struggling to find a name for the project and start it, I knew I wanted to share my personal struggles in a place where they might help other people either figure out what's happening to them, or even understand a struggle they've never personally had to deal with. I'll also probably give opinions on other things on here and do more random, fun items that have been on my mind for a long time.

I picked the name from 2 things - one is the Biblical concept of God purifying us through trials, like steel being heated in a fire, folded and pounded over and over again to be turned into a strong blade. The other place is Lord of the Rings, when the elves finally reforge and rename the sword that cut the ring from Sauron's hand - the blade that the dark side thought they would never have to worry about because it was broken made whole, and ready for battle once more.

Things to know here -

1 ) I am NOT even close to perfect. There will be a lot of things I say here that a lot of people will disagree with, and guess what - they might be right and I might be wrong!

2) A lot of the content on here will be dealing with very adult problems, such as addiction to pornography and struggling with witchcraft. If anything I write is something that is a trigger for you, or you're another Christian who's afraid it may cause you to stumble in your walk, please feel free to close the tab and skip the blog. I promise not to be offended. I'll try to make sure all of my blogs have descriptive titles and labels to help there.

3) I have a horrible track record with keeping up with blog posts... We'll see how well I keep up with this one. Please have some grace with me for at least the first few posts as I'll probably be a bit behind until I get into the swing of things. I am going to be starting this blog before going back and restarting Crafty Ninja Studio (which is crazy behind) because of the subjects that have been on my mind to write about, which don't fit a more laid back crafting and reading blog.

I'll try to start with about 1 blog a week, and go from there.