Prologue

Over the years, I’ve worked harder and harder to find meaning in life. But the more I've looked, the more I’ve wondered if I was going about my search the wrong way.

I've been looking for meaning through experience, but I think now that I've always had it backwards. Life will never be defined by extravagant experience, but about finding extravagance in common experience. So for 2009, I'm going to focus less on living large, and focus more on living well. Each month I'll start a new month-long project (like trying to run 3 miles faster than George Bush), to find uncommon results from common experience. Each project will involve daily activity, so every day of 2009 you can check my progress on the monthly projects and see what I discover.

None of these projects will cost much—in fact, I think most will be free. So if you're looking for a year uncommonly rich, you can join me. There's no membership required, just participate and comment if you want. Either way, get ready for a year I hope is unlike any other.

 
 

It's March, and March is a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

p.1

About a Month of Resolve

Written by Nathan on December 29, 2008 at 10:20 am from Prologue.

With New Year’s Day around the corner, I know lots of people gearing up to make their annual resolutions. I’ve never been a particular fan of New Year’s resolutions. There are a number of reasons I don’t generally like them:

  1. If I have vice I want to correct, I’ll start as soon as I notice and not when I change calendars.
  2. If there’s something I want to pick up, I’ll start it right away too. I’m not much for delay, generally.
  3. It seems weird to make a resolution that has this annual weight when in all likelihood I’ll drop it after a few weeks. 

There’s also a fourth reason, but it’s bigger than any list.

In 2000, among the many things I read about then-president-elect George W Bush was the tidbit that he was fast. Not just fast for a president, or fast for an old guy, but three-miles-in-eighteen minutes fast. As a (former, part-time, short distance) runner, I felt obliged to recklessly proclaim a resolution to run three miles faster than Bush could before he left office.

Well, here we are, 8 years later. My progress? Well, I haven’t run three miles at one time in years, and with 30 extra pounds on my body, I can hardly imagine running any distance particularly quickly. But I made that resolution and I think it’s time to make it happen.

Bush leaves office in a matter of weeks, and with it my chance to redeem myself. So I’m going to run three miles a day, every day for the month of January and see what I can do. A smarter man would have started training in advance, but it would appear I’m not the smarter man since I haven’t run any timed mile in ages. So this month will represent not just my attempt to beat Bush’s time, but also my window of training. It may be a bad plan, but it’s the only plan I have.

(And yes, Obama takes office on the 20th, but since Bush’s legacy will linger for quite some time I feel safe giving myself the extra few days.)

Worse case, I’ll fail at something I actually tried. Best case… well, I’m not sure what “best case” would be. But there are plenty of good cases floating around and I’ll try to end up in that territory.

If you want to run with me, get some good shoes and find some good 3-mile courses. I’ll post my running plans on New Year’s Eve (tips are welcome!).

7 Responses to “About a Month of Resolve”

  1. Bob says:
    December 30, 2008 at 11:46 am

    Nathan… this is awesome. I love it. I’ve been engaging in month-long fasts (TV, BBQ, etc.) for some time and this provides a nice segue to another effort I’ll consider…

    Thanks for the great idea.

    Bob

  2. Rob says:
    December 30, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    This is hysterical. Both because it is ridiculous, and I think you are 100% serious.

  3. Big Guns says:
    December 30, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    This is pretty ridiculous. And totally awesome!

  4. Preston says:
    December 30, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    Good Luck Nathan, having run a 5k earlier this year, I can say 3 miles in 18 minutes is freakin fast. I knew George was good at pulling a fast one, but I didn’t think he could do it that quickly. Anyways, please post your progress, this will be exciting to watch.

  5. Meghan says:
    December 31, 2008 at 10:10 am

    My goal is to run one mile faster than George Bush (or Nathan) can run three.

  6. Year of Months - Coming up… January! » 3 miles down says:
    January 1, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    [...] included 734 miles of driving, 3 miles of running, and a whole lot of tired. I haven’t beat Bush yet, but I’m still cautiously optimistic this could mark the start of a successful [...]

  7. Year of Months // January: A Month of Resolve -or- 3 Miles a Day » The pain of getting lost says:
    January 10, 2009 at 12:08 am

    [...] in or out of pain, I enjoy these runs. I have a sense of purpose (beating Bush!) and like the scenery (my hometown!). But without my bearings, feeling lost, the miles crept by [...]

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