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 September, and September was a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

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Resolution

Written by Nathan on January 31, 2009 at 10:57 am from A Month of Resolve.

After 3.1 miles in 30° weather, my first month project is over. There are a lot of things that surprised me about both this month and my culminating effort. I ran under the timer at 28:20 today, which is frankly a terrible time in light of how fast I’ve run the rest of the month. But according to my timer, there’s another story which is sadly only slightly less depressing.

This being my first 5k, I didn’t fully grasp how the race worked. I was in the middle of the pack waiting to start running with my friend, John-Erik whose run most of the month with me. The announcer said “ready, set, go!” And I stood there. For many second. The I ambled forward in a slow walk towards the start line which took even more time. I finally got 100 meters into the first mile after more than a minute, compared to my usual first 100 meters of 20 seconds.

Throughout this month I’ve tried to start fast so I tried to compensate for that lost time and still end my first mile in the 7-minute territory. Sure enough, I ran past the “one mile” sign around 7:20 but that meant that I ran most of the mile in 6:30. I couldn’t keep up my pace and never managed to get a good rhythm. On my timer I finished the last three miles (ignoring the first tenth) in about 27 minutes give or take 5 seconds.

I would’ve liked to have run faster, harder or better. But 31 days after I’ve started, my month of resolve is completed. I don’t think I beat Bush (despite my efforts I can’t find any recorded times from his tenure as president) but despite the steep goal, I stayed at it throughout the month. I plan to continue running – I don’t want to waste this $100 pair of shoes. Besides, in August I’m heading to Brazil to play soccer with kids for a week or two and if I’m not consistent in training there’s no way I’ll survive.

Here’s to a good January, and hopefully an even better February.

(4) Comments

4 Responses to “Resolution”

  1. Leland says:
    January 31, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Way to go Nathan! Thanks for setting such a good example for us.

  2. John-Erik says:
    January 31, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Nathan,
    Just wanted to say thanks again for starting this project.

    I myself have had a great month of resolve. I started the month with a time of 46 minutes and ended today at 34 minutes. Not only did I loose 12 minutes from my time, I also lost 12 pounds in the process.

    More importantly was the community that gathered around the final run today. We had 36 people join you, many of which who have never tried something like this or their passion for running was rekindled. They all finished today more resolved.

    So while you may not have beaten W’s time, you inspired many today and therein lies the true win.

    I leave in the morning for Nicaragua but hope to return to find you deep into your February listening project.

    Thanks again,
    John-Erik

  3. annette says:
    February 1, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    I’m glad to see you and some friends ran the race! I can’t believe it was THIRTY DEGREES though… crazy.

  4. Sophia says:
    February 8, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Awesome work Nathan! The benefits of running are much more than the end time on your stopwatch. I think you will enjoy the Raff-to-Newcomer 5K race in Charlotte next month!

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