I Made A Deal With The Devil

I made a deal with the Devil

The Devil made a deal with me

I shall race him to the end of time

With the wings of Mercury at my feet

This race, no cheers no prize

My knowledge of Beelzebub

Undoubtedly the bane of my demise

I shall bate him with a hook

To wit he will not know

There is no need for throwing the book

My ego shall grow and grow

The moving finger writes

and having writ moves on

And the flag that once flew is dropped

The morning once here has gone

The moon has beckoned our souls

The Lord of Goats has sound the horn

There shall be this race alone

To wit a child shall be born

A Demon he shall be

A child more vicious than I

Consuming the livelihood of man

They shall die

They shall die

They shall die

I made a deal with the Devil

The Devil made a deal with me

I shall race him to the end of time

With the wings of Mercury at my feet

This Is My Monday

I was stopped behind a vehicle on Burleigh Lane across the street from my office, the water lifted my truck and put me in the nearest ditch. I joined 2 other people in the joy of flooded vehicles. 

Conversation

So I joined Crossfit Lafayette and quite frankly I am not sure how long this relationship will last. I have been a runner for some time now and I am enamored with my running family. We feed off of each others positivity and encourage each other despite our current state. This morning was my first official crossfit class and my before my first workout even started this exchange took place: (Note, Girl #1 is mid 30's and ends all of her sentences with upward inflections)

Girl #1: Hey (speaking to Girl #2), the other day I went to the store and the woman behind the counter was all like, you must be a runner. I was like, um, do I look flabby and out of shape to you? Ugh!

Girl#2: I think she was trying to compliment you.

Girl #1: No, people who run are flabby, it's like, oh my god I work hard at this crossfit to be fit so I don't look like a runner.

Girl #2: Well that guys a runner and he's toned, look at his legs! (pointing to me)

Girl #1: You're a runner?

Me: (nodding yes)

Girl #1: Well I just can't believe he's not flabby!

Now I am fully aware of her ignorance and her implications at runners, but that doesn't mean I can't take offense to her comments. I credit my running ability to years on a soccer field, and I would take the same offense to someone who was ignorant enough to say soccer players are out of shape! I am not in crossfit to make friends, and although I will get along with most people I meet I will not get along with everyone. This woman probably has never run more than 3 miles in her life. So she doesn't understand that to run 3 miles or 31 miles it all starts with the same first step. We runners are a proud bunch. I ran my first 50k (31.1) miles in the Talladega National Forest a few weeks ago. I ran for 8:50:34 and covered over 8,000 ft. of elevation gains. I was proud of myself, and proud of every single person that finished. The only things I heard in that time of the trail were encouraging words. No negativity. Negative people don't make it in the Ultra Marathon World. I respect the weekend warrior who can only make it out for 1-2 miles at a time, and I respect the 100 milers like Edie Riedel, Brad Delcambre and Donald Cleveland for their resolve as well. My mom is 48 and ran her first Half Marathon in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, she started running 5k's the same way every other ultra runner did.

The world of working out, this doesn't include athletics like soccer, basketball or even running. But the world of working out is a world of gateway drugs. Stepping stones if you will to the next big thing. The egotist wants more of what he is looking for, so that gym membership leads to boot camp leads to crossfit leads to crossfit game competition and whatever is next.

This post wasn't suppose to be this long. My apologies. Please file all requests for refunds of your time with Benjamin Franklin.

Attitude Toward Death, The Teaching of Tecumseh

Live your life that the fear of death
can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views
and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long
and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day
when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting
or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks,
the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again
in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

The Teaching of Tecumseh

It's In the Socks

There is much to be said about wearing dress socks everyday. I get text messages quite frequently about why peoples feet smell after a long days work? Most peoples initial diagnosis is because their feet sweat, nervous foot syndrome we shall call it! Well that is true, but your arm pits and thigh perspire throughout the day, with that reasoning we should all stink by lunch time, at least in the summer months. The key element of course is hygiene, bathing properly and washing efficiently. But that is not the only thing. Most people use the wrong soap for their skin type or perspiration needs, not going to get in to that now, but suffice it to say the soap you use does make a difference. I don't use the same soap for my feet as I do for the rest of my body all the time but I take precautions for my feet perspiration.

I wear dress socks everyday, and not once has my wife complained about my feet smelling. The secret, I wear white cotton socks underneath all of my dress socks. It is for the same reason we wear cotton shirts under our daily wear habiliments, so the skin can breathe. Cotton has the best breathing availability of all the fabrics on the market, second only to linen, but linen is too abrasive although wool is another winner, if you can get it in an undye'd white. But yeah, white cotton socks. In addition to the breath-ability, it also adds comfort to my daily commute. When your sweaty foot merges with the dyes and materials of a sock, well it's like adding one more hydrogen atom to a Methyl!

Note, wearing a beautiful suit is one thing, but the superfluous additions make it everything. Don't be scared of a dress sock that is "out of the norm". Just be cognizant about when you wear them.