Gil Can Run!A blog on Running and all the crap that runs through my head while doing it

Oct 9th Sick weekend

No, literally for me. I managed to get 5 arduous miles in today. Got most of my housework done too, have to get back to work tomorrow. But my friends this weekend all ran marathons it seems (ok some did half marathons). And they killed it. My feed is full of PR’s. It seems to be a PR weekend. Maybe that’s why I’m sick, all my friends borrowed power from me to speed them up this weekend. So proud of all of them for working hard.

Keeping it short today, being sick sucks

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Oct 6th Still feeling damned good

I really am, and I killed it again today! I’m worried though, I’m beginning to believe I can be faster, that I can produce another -30 minute PR in a marathon. If you put my pace over the last three days, over about 20 miles, into a marathon it comes to about a 3:25, which would be just shy of a -30 minute PR. I am aware it doesn’t work that way, but I’ve shown I can do low eight minute miles over significant distance, with varying degrees of fatigue. It’s a matter of putting that together. Here’s what is amazing about that, still not a Boston Qualifying time. Still have no desire to qualify for Boston, still do not care.
I see lots of people worry so much over it. We build these things up in our heads, we allow marketers to build them up for us. We’re not full, we’re not complete unless we’ve done this thing. You’re not official until you’ve done that thing. You have to prove your dedication. No, stop, you don’t, it’s all bullshit. Great, it’s the oldest marathon in the US, fabulous. Want a cookie? If you want to do it, do it. But for crying out loud, you don’t have to, you have nothing to prove. My iconoclast-ism is often at odds with society. I apologize for that. I think it’s a good idea to really examine why we “want” to do things, and make sure they’re all for the right reasons, I see so many people who just break themselves trying to reach for things. Not just about Boston, in life generally.
Take your time, relax, look at the world, and decide what you want, not what other people tell you you want, or tell you you need to be whole, to be complete. Figure out what you want, then go for it. Take it a step at a time. If you need help, ask for help. We are not islands unto ourselves, we are a collective, we area  society, we are all connected and there is no shame in leaning on someone else’s expertise or experience. There is nothing that lessens you, or what you accomplish by seeking aide and/or counsel from those who are in a position to help. Help is not a dirty word. If you’re struggling with things, I don’t care what they are, and you can’t see a way out; If you can’t see how to achieve your goal, then ask someone for help! There is always someone there willing to help. If you had a broken arm you’d go to a doctor. Why is it when anything else isn’t working right, we insist on doing it ourselves? So if you’re stuck on something, you’re stumbling in life, no matter what it is, find someone who can help. Ask around, ask friends, ask coworkers, ask family, someone can help, or they know someone who can. There is no shame in it!

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Oct 5th Leeward and windward, but got it done

There’s one thing about living and running on the shore, when the weather changes, runs can be a bit more challenging. Today was like that, but I was very happy with this run. It was tough, but I kept my pace and only broke form once to crouch a little during a particularly strong breeze coming off the cathedral.
As I was running at one point, a lady on a bike was gesturing that I should run in the other direction, leeward. For those who don’t know leeward is moving in the direction the wind is blowing, and windward is obviously going into the wind. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you think things need to get better, but you always take the path of least resistance, things will not change. If I want to be better, stronger, more durable, faster, I need to run in all conditions. You don’t know what you’ll get on race day. But if you’re ready for it, it doesn’t matter what you get. Keep in mind, I’m not stupid, I won’t run in lightning.
But just like running, in life it’s all well and good to take it easy and go with the flow. People will always encourage you to do it. But if you see something you need to improve, if you see some place where you can make a difference, make life better for yourself, for others, then do it. Sometimes that means running into the wind. Sometimes it means people will say mean things about you, call you names, try to hurt you, emotionally, physically, it doesn’t matter though. Doing what’s right is always important. Even if you fail on any given day, you’re stronger for the next time. And that’s the key.
Today, I did great, I even had negative splits every single mile (and all but one kilometer). So even running into the wind, I was getting faster as I was getting more tired. I have to be very happy about that. I feel like I’m improving every day, which was not the case earlier in the year, where I felt tired, I felt like I was falling apart physically. I still feel slow some days, even though I’m running faster, but I feel good.
So this is good, it’s coming together. Now I have to decide if I want to jump through hoops to run the marathon in Puglia in December. Because they are firm on this stupid medical certificate. There are so many things to love about Italy, but the truly stupid bureaucracy is absolutely not one of them. They damage the country so much with it, and I know it keeps foreign investment out, it makes tourists stay away from certain things. I know tons of people I’d love to suggest races to, and would love to come and run here. Rome, and a few other marathons get exceptions to the stupid medical certificate rule, but others don’t it seems. I know people who run one marathon a week, sometimes more. How many of them are asking their doctors for permission? None! They know their bodies at this point, they know what they’re capable of. They go and do it. They are responsible for themselves.
I’m sure this all came about because one time, some high-ranking politician was a doctor, or ran hospitals or something, and realized it was a good way to make a few extra lire. Seriously, this is how things happen here. Everyone has to go to driving school if you want an Italian license, when if you’ve been driving in a country, licensed, for decades. Countries with higher standards for driving exams, doesn’t matter! Because a high-ranking politician owned driving schools, so he got the law passed that way. Basically, it’s a scam. It’s annoying. Part of me says I should just save my money, focus on saving up to run Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the big one Antarctica! And just forget about running races in Italy, because they absolutely are crazy here when it comes to their bureaucracy. But part of me says I should start working to change it, because it is silly, and I want my friends to come visit and run!

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Oct 4th A feel good Tuesday run

So I have some miles to make up for my lazy Sunday performance, and I decided to take a couple of them today. I had a spectacular run! I woke up stiff and sore, and I have been for the last couple days, but once I got myself warmed up I really felt great. You can see in the times where I suddenly picked up the pace. The best part is, that’s a 7.5 mile (12.2 km) run. If I can hold that pace for a good while, I definitely can PR in my next marathon.
Speaking of which, I caught a new article from Runner’s World, yes I pay attention, about a new study and a new way to calculate your marathon time based on previous race performance, plus amount of training in a week. I’m a little leery of this method, I need to read the paper fully, because I think if you train too much, you open yourself up to injury. As I was using the calculator Runner’s World set up from this paper, as I got up over 40 miles per week training, my projected finish time dropped significantly. All well and good that they would predict I would run a 4:09 (which isn’t even a PR for me) based on my last 10k time, and 55 miles a week training for my next marathon (average). But 55 miles per week, would probably find me with a pulled muscle or worse. So, I’ll continue to do things the way I have been doing them. Keep pushing to improve my speed over distance and keep within a mileage I feel is comfortable and appropriate.
See, the thing I think gives me the advantage in giving advice on these things, of really sharing my experience is I don’t have a lifetime of coaching, I don’t have anything on the line here, and I’m not set in my ways, or going to push a method of training based on my advertisers (I have none) or anything like that. I’m never going to win a race and I’ve only been running for 5 years. You’re literally reading the words of a man who was so sick and out of shape, he should be pretty much dead. So I just get to fumble along and figure out what works best. Anyone who has been following along must admit, with the exception of a couple aches and pains that eventually healed, for 5 years I have shown myself to be pretty durable. While I have only finished one marathon under 4 hours, over the past year (it’s been a year as of this weekend) I have shown a marked improvement in finishing times in marathons. From my 30+ min PR in Hartford last October, I have managed to improve my Philadelphia time a month later, even though I developed a cold in the middle of the race, and I finished Rome in a European Personal Best of 4:12. That was even while I had a nagging injury (which is still a dull ache on some days).
So that’s where I’m at today, in a very good place as far as running goes. I can’t complain. My first day at the new job was a long day, but it was good. New students seem to be good, things seem to be moving along. Day two starts soon. Need to run and catch the train. I found where the bike racks are on the train, so if I can find a good deal, I may be making a transportation purchase soon!

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Oct 2nd Not a fun Sunday

It would have been, if the race registration process in Italy wasn’t so grab-ass-tic. Yep, making up words, well stealing them from Stanley Kubrick movies, that’s how bad it is. I’m not mentioning the race, I’m not going to link to the website. But it’s just silly they way they do things here. Libertarianism run amok! But, after the rain, and threat of lightning had mostly passed, I got a few miles in.
Literally, the course went right past my apartment! My friends ran marathons all over today, even some in Portugal, tons of people ran half-marathons from my home club, congrats to all of you. I could not signup for a half marathon, because they literally made you go all the way to Rome, to hand in papers personally, to sign up for a website, so you could register for the event online. That makes no sense!
To top it all off, there are sponges and water bottles all over the city streets. Obviously the stations were peopled, why didn’t anyone clean up? Figure the municipal workers will overnight? It’s raining, windy, and it’s right next to the damned sea you idiots! Pick up after your race! This is absolutely unacceptable. There are so may great things about living in Italy, beautiful sights, tons of history, museums, art, wonderful people (some of the best people you’ll ever meet), some of the greatest beaches in the world. But then there’s shit like this. Everyone who runs shit in this country is generally corrupt as hell. The South is treated like complete crap all the time, and there seems to be such a regard for rules and regulations to make things so nobody is liable that everything is a giant hassle. The idea is, I guess, so that everyone is insured if there’s a medical emergency or whatever, the races I suppose carry no insurance, and are not required to, if all people participating can prove coverage. This means the races are mildly cheaper, and the business, race organizers, has less overhead. Great for business, horrible for some guy from the US who just wants to run a race. Meh, I’ll write them and complain.
I just have to remember how much good is here, and everywhere, regardless of people’s general incompetence. At least right now I am sitting here, writing this post, while a lovely pasta sauce cooks on my stove, with my meatless meatballs (polpette di pane) in them. I’ll have a lovely dinner, and relax, and tomorrow work will start. And I need work to start, I need to have a little distraction, a little action in my day. I think when I get too much energy built up it just makes me lazy, believe it or not. Did not help that I didn’t get to run a half marathon today, simply due to red tape. There was probably a way to get a login without showing up in person, but I’ll be damned if I could find it.
The silver lining today, at least City lost!

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Oct 1st Off to a good start

Took it easy today, but I took it. Tomorrow I will have a nice easy run too. Since I won’t be racing, Thanks Tranincorsa people for helping me out with registration for your race, I really appreciate it, idiots. Seriously, if things are going to be a pain, I’m not going to bother. Inexcusable to not even bother to respond to my email.
Meanwhile, it looks like my friend, the bad hairpiece from Queens is not doing well. Dropped significantly this week after his disastrous debate. Good, couldn’t happen to a more deserving individual. I know there will be other debates, but I hope he can’t recover from this, I hope enough people saw how horrible he is that there isn’t even a choice.
Work starts Monday! Sweet. I kind of can’t wait to get back to it. It’s been kind of hell without much money to do things, pretty much just sitting in my apartment all day. Have to remember to ask the landlord if he’s willing to make a deal to get some real internet in here. Now mind you Italy has the WORST internet in all of Europe! I’m not joking about that. It’s rated the worst, but any ADSL will be better than what I pay for this 4g mifi device with only 20gb bandwidth a month, it’s obscene!
Italy is such a lovely place, and the people are so kind and generous, but it’s run like a libertarian paradise, which means it’s pure hell. The idiocy, the bureaucracy, the plain poor infrastructure at times is maddening. Look people, there’s a reason to pay taxes, when we want services, we need to pay for them. Just today, or yesterday, our friend Drumpf said that we would make everyone’s dreams come true. In the meantime he’s been talking about the usual republican nonsense about people not having to pay so much in taxes and stuff. Folks, this is pure bullshit. If you want things, there is a price to pay. Either hard work, or taxes, and sometimes both. In this system, it’s usually both, so anyone that tells you to trust them, they have it covered, you don’t have to pay, and all your dreams will come true, is 100% full of shit. Without anything else needing to be said.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Sep 29th End of the Quarter

Yep, 3/4ths of 2016 are done! Well tomorrow, but I’m not running tomorrow, because it’s Friday. I ran today. I seem to have rebounded nicely from earlier in the year. My conditioning is still not where I want it to be, but that may be an artifact of all the moving around and lack of routine. And, while I don’t have a scale, I’m sure I’m still carrying around some extra weight. People don’t think 5-10 lbs (2.5-5 kg) is THAT much weight, but over the course of a marathon, or even a half marathon, it really is.
So for September, 145 miles (233 km) again, over 22.39 hours, so about 9:12/mile (5:43/km) a little slower than last month, but my long run last weekend was pretty much all of that. So, even with a very anemic June where I rehabilitated and rested, I’m at 1130 miles (1820 km) for the year, over 180.53 hours! I’ll round the pace up to 9:36/mi (5:58/km).
Assuming no more injuries and an average work rate, I am projected to top 1500 miles (2414 km) again this year. Remember, at the start of this year I set no goals. Unlike last year, in which I set out to run 1 marathon (or greater) per month, and to complete at least one of those in under 4 hours, plus 1500 miles for the year. All goals I hit. At the end of the year though, I knew I was injured, and did not want to push myself until I was healed. I think stupidly took part in a challenge from my running club, which I don’t regret, but would not do again under similar circumstances. The problem with me is, when I say I’m going to do something, I do it. End of discussion.
So, as far as running goes, I’m having a great year. Even though the last couple of weeks have been a little rough on me physically and mentally. I’m doing alright.
So something happened last night that baffles me. It illustrates the problems I talk about perfectly. The Senate and House of Representatives in the United States overrode a veto by the President (in a bipartisan vote) to pass a law that said victim families from September 11, 2001 could sue the government of Saudi Arabia, since some people in the government there supported the terrorists, and ostensibly because most of the people who committed the act were Saudi?
Let’s forget about the issue of forcing a foreign government to adhere to the decisions of a court in the United States. Let’s forget about what this means for other governments opening up their laws to allow their citizens to sue the United States. I mean the millions between two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the birth defects caused by the weapons we use. The Kurds could come after us for selling Saddam Hussein the mustard gas he used on them in the 80s? We’ve been sending drones all over the world there have been innocent bystanders killed in these strikes. It’s a huge can of worms. But more than that, and exactly my point.
Let’s go back to when? The Crusades? I don’t care when, I don’t care who started it. There will always be an aggrieved party. “Well, they killed 3000+ Americans in one day.” Well, the West, including America, has been responsible for the deaths of millions over the centuries, and they have been too. So where does it end? Are we hoping we’ll stop murdering each other in the name of revenge and just keep suing each other? This is asinine. It will never end. And it’s always been about resources, and money anyway, so now it’s just court battles?
Maybe it’s time to stop being aggrieved. Look, if the United States was so inclined, we can do something they can’t. We can literally destroy the entire planet. I don’t know if everyone understands this. The United States is among a few countries in the world which could literally carry out a genocide, or even simply wipe the entire Earth clean if they wanted to, and there’d be very little the rest of the world could do about it. It’s hugely scary, and shows how much restraint and care must be taken by us when selecting leaders. Something we do a better job at than we get credit for sometimes, and something we could still be much better at. I think that has to be good enough. The knowledge that we hold this super-scary power.
It’s like the teenager that picks on the grade school kid, and when the grade school kid hits him, he laughs. Not literally of course, any loss of life is tragic. But we can be the bigger nation, we can simply just ignore it. We did our damage, we have to say, “OK, we’re done”. That doesn’t mean “they win”. We can completely destroy the Earth if we wanted, without any other nation acting at all. There is nothing they can visit upon us that we cannot return 100 fold. But what is the virtue in such an action? What is the virtue in perpetuating the cycle of aggression? How does this end, if everyone’s constantly a victim looking for their “justice”? Is it possible we’re all wrong here? I think so.
So, terrible tragedy can be met with forgiveness, with love, kindness even, and maybe that will break the cycle of terrible, endless tragedy? Instead of constantly trying to “recover” your losses in some manner, either through returned violence, or some other aggression. It just seems silly to me. I don’t see where this is going to solve or stop anything, and if anything it will most likely escalate international tensions. Good for arms manufacturers, bad for humanity.

In the underground, integrity lies within
in the underground, image doesn’t mean a thing
when the substance lacks it’s plain for all to see
if the deal is right then respect is where it should be.

For the fakes and frauds it’s a fucking fashion show
total compromise will have them sell their soul.
all the negative all the useless influence
all the emptiness all the violent detriment
makes no sense…

Please have more to give than fashion and images
please have more to give than fashion and images

Caught up in a trap of media crap that’s no way to live
Caught up in a trap of media crap so little to give
Caught up in a trap of media crap that’s no way to live
Caught up in a trap of media crap so little to give

In the underground, integrity lies within
in the underground, image doesn’t mean a thing
we can do away with this negativity
it’s a golden day we can force them to stepdown

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Sep 28th Down-side, I keep oversleeping

I can’t seem to get myself out of “vacation mode”. Thankfully, I don’t have any days next week where I have to be to work early until Saturday. So when I finally rolled out of the apartment and ran today, there wasn’t much stress. But it does bother me that I’m not waking up on time, and getting things done when I want to.
Speaking of doing things, City of Montreal, Quebec, Canada shame on you! They banned all “pit bull” type breeds of dogs. They made massive restrictions on dogs already owned by individuals, and when the law goes into effect all abandoned types of these dogs are to be euthanized immediately. OK, a few things. First, people SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR DAMNED PETS! All types of domestic animals overpopulating is bad. Second, these dogs are only “more dangerous” because they are trained to be. Breed specific legislation is ridiculous. Third, breeds are ridiculous. I want a dog, I want a cat, I don’t much care what specific traits humans have bred into or out of the particular animal to make it “different”. It’s bullshit, it’s bad for the genetic and overall health of the animals, and it’s cruel. Fourth, we have created this issue through improper breeding and care, why are the dogs being punished for it? Fuck you Montreal City Council, fuck you Mayor of Montreal. That’s all I got today, just fuck them.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Sep 27th Sometimes it’s easier than you think

Really. I thought today was going to be a total bear. But it ended up being a pretty nice run. Yesterday was stressful. big meeting at the new job, orientation sort of thing. Got an idea of the schedule and what level classes I will be teaching. Also a little bit of a disappointment on when Christmas Break starts, and realizing I’ll not get to spend as much time with my family as I’d like over the holiday.
As I have already cast my votes via absentee ballot. Yes, I vote for every office, and on every question on every ballot, every year. The debate last night was largely unimportant to me personally. But obviously, I wanted my preferred choice to do better, and the other choice to do as poorly as one could. Unfortunately, the bar for that person was set so amazingly low, that it was very difficult for him to screw up. Luckily, it seems he did! It just doesn’t get any better than that. It seems there was a problem with him sniffling, lots of interruptions, and of course “I never said that” when he totally said that. So good, hopefully people start realizing how truly horrible he is as a choice.
So chances are I won’t be running the half marathon in town this weekend. Nobody has answered my inquiry about how to register. I’m not dealing with anymore stress than I absolutely have to. I’m never going to have endorsement deals, sponsorship, or any of that mess. I move up an age group next year and this is only my 4th full year running, 5th overall. I don’t run, blog, post on social media, work a job, or anything in life to be well-liked, popular, rich, famous, attractive, all of those things are fairly meaningless to me. I do all this to try and make the world a better place. That’s it. If one person reads, or listens to one thing I ever write, and it makes a positive impact on their life. If it motivates them to be better in some way, shape, or form I have succeeded. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. To make the world a better place.
Every day, it’s all I strive for. I find emptiness working for a paycheck. I saw someone, who I consider smart, post about how we can’t force morality from corporations, and their inequity is a simple fact of life. This is someone who rails against inequity all over the place, yet complacently accepts the very system that puts that inequity in place. I was dumbfounded. They then said, “To have a bad job is better than no job.” What is the virtue of work, of having a job? If we are not making the world better than what we found it, if we are not filling our purpose as thinking, empathetic beings, if we are destroying the very things we need to survive, what good is our job doing? When the lands and waters are all poisoned, we will find we can’t eat money.
If we are to be virtuous beings, then our systems must also be virtuous. Business is not a natural state of being. We create the system, and we intentionally make it hurt people, and then we claim that’s just the way things are, and we can’t force the system we created to be fair? That makes no sense to me. I participate in the system as much as I have to, beyond that I simply use what I can to try and help and make things a bit better. I can’t repair the system. I’m one person. But I can see how it can be repaired, and try and share what I see and what I know, and maybe people listen and it catches on, or maybe I am ignored. I still did what I could to help.
That’s it though. So I’m not here for my ego, money, advertisers, even to tell people how to live and be. I’m just here sharing what I think and hoping it makes someone’s day a little better, in some way. That’s all. The good news is, even if no one listens, even if my words are useless, every day I don’t eat meat, and that makes at least one animal’s life better. So every day, I’ve done something good, regardless of all other things that happen.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

Sep 25th A long run, kind of

OK, I ended up walking much of the last 6 miles. It was very sunny, and I lost focus. Two dangerous things. I needed a long run today, and I wanted to do something not too long, plus it’s my eldest niece’s 16th birthday, so 16 miles made sense. Right around mile 10 I said, “enough” and just started walking. When I got back into town I hit the first water fountain (tons of public water fountains around here in the cities) and stood there for a couple minutes, refilling my bottle, drinking, splashing water on my head and neck.
But the nice part is, when it cools off in the late Fall and Winter, this will be a pretty nice course to run, it’s pretty flat. Tons of olive and grape farms to run past, a few nice views of the Adriatic. Also, some of the marble businesses have stones just sitting outside the gates. They look like maybe they’re not 100% proper, so I’m guessing they can’t sell them so they just leave them out for people to take if they want. I certainly could, if I were building a home, make some very nice things out of a lot of the stone that was outside the stone cutters. This may be something to keep in mind in the future!
So I saw this post about death row inmates’ last meals. That’s got me thinking, I’ve said it before, this whole thing, the problems with cops, and murder, the problems with wars and violence. We can solve this. I see too many people on all sides, talking about what people “deserve”. That’s a problem. Look, I have plenty of people I disagree with. I have plenty of people who I think are morally reprehensible, wrong, dangerous, causing pain, violence, even death. Do they “deserve to die”? No. That’s not for me to say. They need to be stopped, surely. If you can keep them from getting into a position to cause pain and violence, do so. But they do not deserve to die. Nobody deserves to die.
Even if I was 100% certain that I was right, and the other person was wrong, it’s not my decision to make, and we need everyone to understand that. Nothing in this world is black and white. Look at the Central Park 5. This is relevant because of the GOP Presidential nominee. They had signed confessions (coerced) from the defendants. That is what they were convicted on even though there was no other evidence. Years later, while they’re rotting in prison, literally for a crime they did not commit, another person, who was in trouble for something else confesses and his DNA is a match, and all the other evidence lines up with this guy being the person who committed the crime!
Now, all these people who screamed for the death penalty for the Central Park 5, because they confessed, they deserved to die. But they didn’t do anything wrong. They confessed because the police coerced them into a confession. People, including Donald Drumpf (R – Presidential Nominee) were convinced these 5 kids were guilty. They were sure they were right in demanding the deaths of these 5 people. They were all horribly wrong.
We have killed people in the name of the State, in the name of justice, when they have done nothing wrong. When it’s a war, we call it collateral damage. You’ve seen the pictures of young Syrian children bloodied, covered in dust, we may or may not be dropping those bombs, but it happens. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, everywhere we have been and gone. Wherever a military plies its trade, there are innocent civilians killed for doing nothing more than living their lives.
Nobody deserves to die. If somebody wishes to kill me, that’s their problem. I know it’s wrong to kill others regardless of what their perceived injustice is. It does not matter to me. I do not consent any government, state, organization, or individual to kill anyone in my name for any reason, at any time. Once everyone starts to recognize that there is never a reason to kill anyone, we can start to heal this miserable condition we live through here. The first part of this is to teach people to never be certain about anything. Once you are certain that you are right you can justify just about anything. There’s always a chance we are wrong, not one human being, not one living creature is perfect. We all make mistakes, we all make errors. They will always happen. That uncertainty is enough to say we should never take a life, under any conditions. There is always another way. This is where it starts, recognizing that you, your family, your community, your pastor, your church, your elected officials, your news broadcasters, every single being great and small you will ever meet is imperfect. The only one of those imperfect beings you have any hope of having any control over is yourself. That’s it, not your wife or husband, not your kids, your grandkids, just you. Humility, true humility is what is needed. Because once we are sure of ourselves, we can justify the most monstrous of things.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!