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.

Epilogue

I stumbled across the finish line, but I manage to complete 8 of the month-long projects successfully. Blogging is now over at Wonderfam!

 
 

It's February, and February was a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

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Final preparations for a month of resolve

Written by Nathan on January 29, 2009 at 8:53 pm from A Month of Resolve.

For the past months we’ve had very little rain in Central Florida. As my lawn had graduated from green to yellow I’ve cast my eyes skywards increasingly often, hoping for a glimmer of grey and the rains that would hopefully follow. Today we finally enjoyed a healthy rain for most of the day and I tried to make the most of it. During lunch my kids and I ran around in the rain as my family had a picnic lunch under an outdoor covering. The weather was perfect for playing in the rain and my lawn’s probably thankful. But with the rain still falling, my plans at an outdoor run were thwarted.

So instead I executed my workout intended for tomorrow: I went to the YMCA, biked hard for half an hour (12.5 miles with high resistance), then moved straight to the treadmill. I wanted to get a feel for how far I could run fast when I get near the end of the 5k on Saturday. Having seen videos like this, of triatheletes running out of energy mere feet from the finish line, I thought a little internal test was in order. 

The biking was good, though still not as physically demanding as I’d like. But I had two problems when I ran. The first treadmill had a loose track, so within 20 strides the whole tread slipped. If this has ever happened to you, you probably know it’s a terrible experience. It’s like stepping on the proverbial banana. So I jumped on another treadmill and starting off. My body felt great at the 6-minute-mile pace, but no more than 30 seconds in and my calves started burning and cramping. The pain was bearable, but with two more runs in the next two days, I decided to stop two minutes and 1/3 mile in.

Even so, it’s good to know that when I get near the finish line I should have some kick in me. It may not be 1/3′s worth after running so far, but if I can wrap up my first two miles in 15 minutes I should be able to post a respectable time.

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