Dan Plummer’s Blog

Not the mileage I was hoping for, but improvement over January:

“Dan’s February Mileage Results”

My quote in this post comes from a book I recently read as part of a motivational series, but I was not impressed by the work as a whole; if you’ve read the Bible book of Proverbs, from which the title of this book comes (Pro. 23:7), you can skip James Allen’s book. It repeats the same mantra until it becomes meaningless.

However, I did enjoy this idea from its pages:

Quote of the Day:

“To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.”—James Allen, As a Man Thinketh.

My running patterns over the last year are most telling:

“Dan’s 2012 monthly running mileage”

My mileage increases, and then I experience a setback: illness, injury, or some other issue that pops up (even my last blog post is about how I’ve been well for 100 days - make that 104 days!)

But there could be an overall pattern of increase, and that is my motivation for this month and for today.

I can’t wait to see how February stacks up.

It’s been a while since I marked how long I stayed well. After staying well for about a year as I wrote in that referenced post, I realize that my healthy streak could possibly be attributed to a vitamin supplement “juice” (for lack of a better term) that my grandmother had gifted to me before I moved to Memphis.

I tried tracking down more of the supplement, but I couldn’t find any.

Recently, my wife discovered this supplement, which I started taking about 100 days ago.

Those Greens, produced by It Works! Global, and their other products work so well, she and I both use them, and she’s started distributing them as well!

Quote of the Day:

“We have frankly suffered under the AT&T deal.”—T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm.

We ALL suffer with AT&T, Philipp! That’s why we are an AT&T-free family.

I’m so happy to be finally running again! I thought my knees would prevent me from ever enjoying that exercise again.

When I last wrote about it, I thought I’d need more cushion to run again.

In fact, I needed less cushion, but more knowledge. I needed to learn to run correctly, and I can thank NPR (and other news outlets) and a coworker who recently passed the 4,000-mile mark for bringing this to my attention.

Ultimately, though, it’s all thanks to how the human body was designed to run.

We’re not designed to land on our heels when we run. The heel-toe running stride damages our joints.

We’re designed to land on our forefoot while running: this webpage seems to give a comprehensive overview of the subject and the four videos are revealing, though I recommend minimal footwear instead of none: Running Barefoot: Training Tips.

Enough about that; here’s a great photo of me and “Diva” from our Indiana Central Canal visit last year:

“Indianapolis’ Beautiful Canal”
by Stranger | 2 October 2011

I wasn’t the only one to pose with the reproductions in the Brooks Museum’s Armed + Dangerous: Art of the Arsenal exhibit. Diva posed, too.

“Helmeted Greek Diva”
by Dan | 11 November 2011

Yes, yes, technically this was the kids’ section of the exhibit, but since this was the members-only reception on opening night, we had unrestricted access (read: “no kids in the way”) to the hands-on portion of the displays.

Diva and I always enjoy the kids’ area of museum exhibits. While the rest of the museum might have camera restrictions, the kids’ area is an exception, and even if you don’t snap any memorable photos, you can usually create some work of art based on the current exhibit to take home.

That reminds me, somewhere around here I have one or two postcards I created while we were at the Dixon Gallery and Garden’s Jean-Louis Forain exhibit this summer. That collection is amazing and deserves an entire blog entry or two of its own.

Current mood: Full. But I might run out to grab some of those new, free-today-only French fries from Burger King and develop some photos of our summer grill-out party.