(Untitled)

[spyder13]

I am a fan of long runs and long rides because it is where I tend to do my best thinking and reflecting. During the Ironman’s marathon and the blasted four and a half hours it took me, I thought a lot about endurance.  A training program that I'm interested in (and is horribly brutal, which probably accounts for my budding love of it), claims that

Comments

[dicedork]

I suspect, like Vietnam, it will be a bipartisan issue for decades, and blame will get thrown around in a typically predicable pattern of "I'm not saying we were right, but 'THEY' sure were wrong..." tactics. And like Vietnam, we may be the only thing holding together the democratic forces against their enemies

[spyder13]

Interesting point - perhaps that is a question worth pursuing: "a war we are behind." Had this war been started and led with different talking points, or maybe even more honesty once things began to unravel, would we support it differently? Or, if the politicians approached the war in a completely different manner at the beginning, what effects would we then see? Who is leading who in this polarized bi-partisanship - the elected or the electors

[dicedork]

Well, I don't think "the American public" is quite so sheepishly dumb or gullible as some people would claim they are (when not, of course, invoking authority of majority fallacy--true or not). The flip-flopped support for Afghanistan likely has a lot to do with who we never managed to find, and what we did with the country afterward. A question so oblique as "do you support the war in Afghanistan" may require a complicated range of response, that are denied on a "Yes/No" questionnaire.

As for your first paragraph, I agree with you almost completely--or at least that those are many of the most important questions.

[spyder13]

I forgot to add that this part...

"I can't say I know where our responsiblity ends as a nation. Democracy? Stability? (We could probably install a new dictator and at least have the region stable.) Do we stay there forever, bleeding lives and debt into a cause that is all but lost? When do we pull the plug? When do we announce victory? They're not easy questions, and it's the problem with moral absolutes in a situation like this."

...of your reply was well said. I suppose I'm just optimistic and believe that the cause isn't lost, that things can be done and fixed, but with the number of ropes we've tied ourselves down with, it won't be. Of course, if you believe that all hope really is lost and that we've straight-up lost with no chance of recovery, then yeah, come on home. The logic at that point is quite clear.

[valkyrjan]

Um.... Who says endurance has been "given the crown in terms of fitness"? And who are those people you named--what are they "famous" for? Other than Lance Armstrong, I suspect most people wouldn't even have a clue who they are. And that's largely because in America, what's valued in sports is skill, daring, excitement, winning, beating the "other guy"--not endurance. If the media reported/showed exciting battles, with our people killing terrorists and claiming territory, raising their fists in elated victory, getting patted on the back by their commanders and high fived by their peers--you'd have lots more people gung ho about the war effort.

I don't think you're "one of the few people who started with a strong belief that we shouldn't go and am now of the opinion that we can't leave." I think that particular mix of positions is held by the vast majority of Americans--at least those who are even slightly interested in what's going on and/or informed about foreign affairs. Everyone I know (other than the lefty wack jobs who either

[spyder13]

Fine, maybe I'm living in my own little fantasy world for endurance athletes (though when the majority of your common day athletes want to train for a marathon or triathlon as compared to a sub 12 second 100m, and the races available show this, so I would still say this claim has some validity

[ratontheroad]

Reading back through your journal...

Two things: this training program you mentioned - would I be able to comfortably go from 12 miles on a mediocre knee to the full 26 on it? I'm dissatisfied with running all the time, but I don't want to give up the marathon goal (and my other goal is to do an ironman sometime before I turn 31, in May of 2010).

Second: Did you know Mark or Meagan Pasierb at Columbus?

[spyder13]

Answers

[ratontheroad]

Thanks for the advice. In the short term, it means I'm going to run 15 miles next week, not pushing it any further. They have an excellent running store in the Springs (they'll give you a bit of free coaching because they know you'll then buy your shoes from them) and I'm going to talk to them if I have more problems.

I haven't had knee problems in almost ten years, but when almost the entirety of the pain is confined to the six inches above and below my knee, and it doesn't feel like the "good" kind of soreness... I need to start figuring things out.

As for U-28s... have you talked to a lot of people about them? I was very close to taking the assignment, and depending on whether or not I get on the schools list in two years, they might be my number two choice. But it depends on how much you like working with the army, and can tolerate being away from home.