Running Form: The Dasher

Many of you remember me telling you about my running form, The Dancer, and I mentioned there were two forms I use to run. Perhaps you were wondering about the other form.

The other form, called The Dasher (likely ‘The Sprinter’ would be more appropriate, but c’mon, it sounded like a cool team).

This one is very much like sprinting.
You would run on your toes the whole time, which like an Olympian sprinter. This form is harder to pace yourself. It’s super good for building your calf muscles.

Mich like the Dancer, I think it is low impact on your knees. In this case, though, it’s a very high impact run. While the Dancer tries to make less of an up and down motion, this one does not.

However, all of the force from hitting the pavement is absorbed by your calves, and they just think you’re hopping up and down. It’s the kind of impact they’re made to do.

A little later, I may talk about the two forms and talk about neat concepts I’ve developed. Until then, run safely!
Running Dasher

Going with it

Life being as crazy as it is, I’m glad I’ve developed an awesome skill at just going with it.

This is slightly different than going with the flow, which is very not type-Justin. I can do that when being social, and I’m great at doing it when someone takes the lead, and I actually like to do it.

People just don’t take the lead, and when people are being lame, they just need someone to show them otherwise.

I’m not here to talk about how I’m good at not being boring and having boundless energy.

No, I mean “going with it”. It’s different than “going with the flow”. Going with it is a skill for someone who wants to get things done. For my own business, I have everything exactly how I want it, and I like it because things work.

The biggest part of going with it is having a backup plan. And then having a backup for your backup. And making it so the biggest reason you’re experiencing down time is because you decided to write a post, not because of your IT issues.

stick man presents act now symbol

And to be able to do crazy pivots without having down time.

For instance, I was working. I just noticed that my computer wasn’t charging. It’s probably a power source issue, since both power cords didn’t work (and the charger for my phone is working and plugged into the same outlet, etc.).

So what do I do?

Naturally, I click a few times to start my local machine backup process. With two easy processes, the computer backs up all of my Outlook PSTs and the few machine-based files.

Once I do that, they’re just hanging out on my server. I then grab my other laptop, tell it which way to sync, and download everything to my other computer.

And BAM! Up and running within 30 minutes with full capabilities.

Things Checked Off the List

Sometimes I like to tinker with my side projects. Today’s side project? Sewing. My friend ripped my shirt, which kind of made me mad. He offered to buy a new one, but I just told him to save his money.

Now, most of you probably think I’m cheap, but that’s not always the case. It’s true, I don’t like wasting money. But I just don’t like wasting anything. I mean, no, I don’t wash my paper plates or anything, but I tend to avoid paper plates.

I take care of things so they last. Like my bright colored shirts? They’re bright colored because I hang dry them.

I don’t like to waste things. So even though my friend offered to buy a new shirt, I told him no. It was a casual shirt, and therefore didn’t need to be prefect. This is the tear:

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It was along a seam, so I think it’s fixable, right?

Well, I went to it. The first thing I did was clean the edges because they looked messy.

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Then I tried to use pins to hold it still. That didn’t work at all, so sewing it was a lot of hand maneuvering.

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I eventually got it decent looking. Two things were off. The main thing was the extra bits of fabric after sewing it together. I trimmed that. All the cutting I did for the entire project basically produced balls of fuzz because it was so little.

I initially started sewing a loop to mend the pieces together, but then I decided that wouldn’t allow for the angles of the fabric to line up right, so I changed to more if a weave.

Here’s the final product:

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Being In-Shape

There are many, easy to see advantages to being in-shape:

  1. You feel good
  2. You have more energy
  3. People of the other gender generally over-respond with smiles and enthusiasm when you randomly ask them how they’re doing
  4. You look good (well, relatively)
  5. You have more confidence
  6. You can eat cookies without looking like a shlub

But there are some disadvantages to being in shape that I think are often overlooked when someone decides, “Hmmm.. should I have get in-shape? I think I will.”

The Slippery Slope

Initially, when getting into shape, it’s easy! When you go for a walk, your pulse gets increases, and by walking you’re generally (in theory) increasing your lifespan. Go you!

After you get in shape, that’s no longer the case. Tonight I went for a fast walk. I usually go for runs, but I ran this morning before work, so I figured I was good, and I could just go for a walk to get some exercise.
Anyone who knows me knows that my walk is pretty quick. I mean they know that it’s quick all the freaking time. The only time it is slower is if I’m interested in talking to someone, usually one of the female-type (so ladies, if I slow down when walking with you, take it as a compliment).

Since I’m usually a fast walker, tonight I went for a walk. I was walking pretty fast (4.5 mph). After a 12 minute walk of this, my pulse was a mere 85 to 90. It also takes longer before anything.

So the disadvantage of being in shape is that it takes more time, effort, and discipline to work out. I apparently can’t go for walks and get a cardio workout. Runs only, I guess.

Essentially, being in shape makes a person have to go faster, harder, longer, and stronger. Maybe that’s the reason to number three….

"In shape cutie"
“In shape cutie”

Obviously “disadvantage” is sarcasm.

Being Cool

Cool Girl
This is a cool girl, per my search results

One thing that’s challenging is being cool, well, not for me, but for most people. You know me – I define “stellar cool”…. It is important a lot of time with the female-types. Guys should be interested in them, be a gentleman, and just make them laugh.

Quite frankly, that’s important for always, not just the beginning.

One trick from my play book is to send the lady a text message whenever you want. It’s a play that should make them like you… Guess what? It never works.  Keep those feelings bottled up until you see her…. after you’ve been dating for a while.

Be cool in the beginning. The big problem is that guys may come off as aggressive if they’re too enthusiastic. It’s important that you take time to get to know one another so the timing can happen right.  This is because guys are barbarians and have a bad rep.

Timing is so important, and it’s one of the hardest things to grasp.

Be cool, but still be nice. As most things that are good, it’s s precarious balance. Of course, there’s a song about this kind of thing:

Fixing Fitness

Believe it or not, I have a small hole gym, or at least a room in my basement that could be used as a gym….

I use it sometimes, but about a year ago, the treadmill broke. It was a pretty cool fold-up machine I had in my apartment a while ago. Okay. Then, during tax season, I must’ve set down a weight not-so-gently, because it made a hairpin fracture in one of the discs.
20150628_145016~2They are the Bowflex Select Tech Dumbells (clicky adjustable weights).

inside the handle are different discs that rotate in permutations that hold different amounts of weight – 5 to 52.5 lbs.

The fracture made it so one disc couldn’t hold the weight because it had done flex in it.

“Why don’t they make the discs out of metal?” you ask. That’s a good point.

The weight has a bunch of ball-bearings and springs. I bought the repair kit, so now I have every part….. except for the discs. I had to order one of those separately.

Taking it apart and replacing the disc wasn’t hard. Putting it back together was tedious, probably because I took a short cut taking it apart.

It works now, so I can randomly lift weights again!

Here’s the video I used:

Clubs

Most people know, I thoroughly enjoy dancing.

What I don’t enjoy all the time is dance clubs.

They’re okay, but so people go to then by themselves? I don’t think they do.

If I go to then with a bunch of friends, they all dance in a giant circle by themselves. Lame. I greatly prefer having another’s field of gravity to play with (centripetal force).

If I do go by myself, being a fan of partner dancing, I just want to find a lady with whom to dance.

While I can’t dance by myself coolly and have fun, because guys aren’t supposed to dance too much, which is lame, if I dance with the full extent of my energy like a ridiculous dancing fool, people will laugh, and I do enjoy that.

Two Stage Breathing

My surgery last year was to help me breathe better.

The idea is that I could have air when I run. But then it was winter, and while I run outside, I’m more focused on not falling on ice than I am my breathing.

This summer is the first time I could build my lungs. The problem before was not that I couldn’t inhale, but I couldn’t exhale. My obstruction was “dynamic”. If was interesting watching it on film. It would only close when I exhaled hard.

If you didn’t know, if a person doesn’t exhale all their air, they can’t inhale as much. Therein was my problem.

Anyways, no that I can do that fine, I have to train my lungs by inhaling more air faster.

The way I do this is by having two stage inhalation. It’s basically like Lamaze breathing (had to look that one up to spell it right). In. In. Out.

It seems that by not being fully utilized for 9 years, my lungs have grown weak. So now I run faster and breathe deeper and faster. I’m slowly increasing my pace and distance. It’s probably a good thing.

Having the O at Lunch

It’s healthy, it’s sweet, and it’s all natural.
I’m talking about orange carrots, of course!

One part of my health plan (“Eat decent and exercise sometimes”) is to not eat a bad lunch. That means nothing “out”, nothing from the “cafeteria”. Well, usually…. built in flexibility in any plan makes it possible for the average guy like me to follow.

Of course, I need to bring a lunch. Rather than always bring a frozen dinner like everyone else, I bring fresh vegetables or a salad. My dinner is “bigger”.
Actually, I don’t eat any crappy food, and I haven’t for quite some time.My house is always “out of food” because I eat all fresh foods. I usually buy fruit and vegetables on Sunday, and I prep containers I can bring to work or randomly eat whenever I can.

But one thing I am in the habit of doing is buying a bag of organic baby carrots.

They’re awesome!


They’re sweet, they’re really clean-tasting, and they’re semi-filling.

Moreover, when I work, I prefer to always have something nearby with flavor to constantly munch. If they’re healthy, that is a good things.

To make a little flavor variety, I bought a red pepper, so I have a lunch of baby carrots and red peppers. I also usually have fruit and a flavored sparkling water.

It’s also a great money-saver! A bag of carrots only costs about $1.50, much cheaper than lunch in the skyway! A bag also has about three servings.

Plus my power bill is cheaper because I don’t have to use lights anymore (from seeing so well in the dark from eating carrots, of course!). And yes, that was a lame joke.