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

Apr 19th Tuesday, so far, so good

Yep, woke up on time, got out there and did an easy few miles with my friends. Had a few to talk to a friend I miss dearly who seems to be troubled, I am guilty of not checking in with people enough. Had a lovely breakfast, corrected some papers, got some sun. Just had a light lunch, and am considering going to the store to buy a few consumables, kitchen sponges and toilet paper mostly. I don’t NEED those things right now, but I like having a little stockpile, because you never know! Other than that, I need a haircut and then to go to work this afternoon.
So last night I went out with some adult students for some coffee and we talked about politics. I explained that if you can’t find any candidates who will work for the people, then you have to go to the party meetings, you have to find the right person to nominate and support them and get all your friends to support them. If you can’t find a person, then you have to be the person to run. Government and politics, it’s not just a once a year, or once every other year thing, it’s every day. You have to be involved, every day. These corrupt bastards in every corner of the world count on people not being involved. The count on people throwing their hands up and saying “there’s no one worth voting for.” Today is the New York State primary, if people don’t go and show up for the candidate who has spent his entire adult life fighting for the people, then they have no one to blame but themselves that there is no “choice” this year. Look, here’s why I don’t support Hillary: I am a socialist (note the small “s”, it is important). Would she be better than Drumpf or Rafael Cruz? Yes. Do I agree with her on things? Not most of the time. I hate “free trade” agreements, I think fossil fuels are way past their expiration date, I don’t appreciate some of her past comments on certain social issues, I’m not going to get into that, and I’m not going to attack her personally. I simply don’t agree with her on many things. Is Bernie perfect either, no? I understand his votes sometimes on gun legislation, I get some of his reasoning behind the votes, but I am vehemently anti-gun. He is, for my point of view on life, the best candidate though. So I will support him in my limited capacity, and keep pushing him to change his mind on some points in gun legislation.
But I don’t disenfranchise myself simply because I see a lack of choice. If Bernie doesn’t get the nomination I will still vote, no matter how imperfect the choice is, maybe I’ll vote for Jill Stein. If you don’t vote, you immediately hand a victory to all the politicians who have turned you off to the process. If you want more control over the process, take it. Get all your like-minded friends and go to meetings of whatever party you think will support your ideas best. Bring along enough people, or be ready to win over enough people to your ideas. Do your research, have your ideas set clearly and concisely. Go for it. We have to do it, it’s the only way we can win. The other option is to get all your friends together and completely drop out. You can either go for 100% participation, or don’t participate at all. You can’t half-ass it like most of us do. Not participating at all also has problems. People may really come after you for that. But if you’re going that route, you have to fully not participate. That means off-grid completely. Can’t use roads, electricity, any publicly funded infrastructure. Be self-sufficient, and if you’re not, you need to be willing to pay the price for it. The point is, most people are half in, and half out, and never decide, and now we all have this mess to deal with.
Democracy is a pain in the ass for sure, take a lot of work. Anything worthwhile is going to be work. Your choice, in or out, but get off the fence.
And a hearty congratulations to all my friends who did their very best up in Boston, whatever your day brought you, trials or triumph, I hope you had a great day up there!

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

Apr 18th There’s some race today I think

I did not run, as per my plan. Tomorrow I’ll get back out for a very easy few miles with the guys.

So I’m pretty sure everyone’s aware that I have no desire to run Boston. Even if I were fast enough to qualify, I don’t like the city, I’m not a fan of big races (and does it get any bigger?), and I’m certainly not a fan of doing the “it” thing and Boston is very fashionable.

That being said, I have alot of friends running it today, which I am very proud of them. More than  that, I am extremely proud of so many of my friends who went up to volunteer for the race. To help with whatever needs to get done to make the race happen.

So often people think a race us just a bunch of people in funny clothes blocking up traffic, but the fact is the organizers, volunteers, medical and public safety professionals who are out there actually making it all possible are the stars. That’s true from the biggest race to the smallest. Countless person-hours, mostly from unpaid volunteers make every race happen.

You can’t make too big a deal about how important and how appreciated race volunteers are. And most races are not big money-makers for the organizers either. Yes, they turn a profit, but unless your race is exceedingly popular, you’re not making a ton of money off them. Remember, as a race gets bigger more expenses accrue. To a point of course.

So good luck to any and all racing today, volunteering today, working today. Not just in Boston, but  everywhere, no matter what. Do your best today! Every morning you wake up is a chance to do something great!

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

Apr 17th Back on the horse

Oh it felt good, 9 miler, decent pace, still loads of pain. My foot was alright, my hamstring still needs rest and my left quad started acting up. My Garmin actually recommended 3 days of recovery, who wants to take bets on me following that advice?
So, two days after being asked to spend next school year here, the only public transportation with any sort of workable schedule has broken down twice on me; last night my water simply didn’t work, and apparently that happened to half the town! Seems people say that happens sometimes. As much as I don’t believe in “messages” I can’t help but feel I’m trying to be told something. Tragically, the other day, I was mentioning the poor infrastructure around here. It sickens me that there are places in this world even worse than this. It’s inexcusable, there’s no investment around here, and there’s very little improvement. They just redid the beautiful church in town, but for the most part, the big infrastructure, water, power, transportation, nothing happens. They have some newer trains for the Circumvesuviana, but they mostly run on the Sorrento line. There simply aren’t enough of the newer trains to meet demand. The schedules are a mess, and the fact it’s a single line going both directions can make for long delays.
Today I need to go try and vote as a “homeless” Italian, the referendum is up as to if they want to drill in the sea for oil (which all estimates say there isn’t much there) or if we want to invest in solar, and renewables. Anyone want to guess how I feel?
Which brings me to another point. One of my bookfaces friends posted a meme that one of their friends posted likening factory farming to slavery and Jim Crow lynchings, etc. OK, yes we need a “shift in consciousness” as Jeremy Rifkin says. We need to start looking at other humans as our brothers and sisters, and animals as our evolutionary cousins. We need to stop looking at everything as a resource to be used. This is true. And we do absolutely need to stop eating meat, or certainly stop eating as much meat as we do. It’s bad all around, and the treatment of the animals makes us all guilty of some terrible crimes. We’re not good people if we keep our current farming practices, this is 100% true. But it is in no way the same as what we’ve done to our brothers and sisters for hundreds of years. Factory farming isn’t even 100 years old yet, and when we’re done with it, we won’t put up barriers to animals in the workplace, or keep them from owning homes, etc. No one’s going to blame a hog for raping its sister, even though it was the guy down the street and hang the hog up after beating to to near death and let it just sit there dying while everyone sits around and watches.
Yes, intersectionality is a thing, yes, animal rights is absolutely a part of that, but each part has it’s own problems, are its own crimes, and needs attitudes changed on it. That does not mean that one part of it is like another! Don’t be so fucking insensitive and obtuse about it, because if you are then you’re being no better than the ignorance you claim you’re trying to fight. When you put up stupid fucking memes that piss people off, you don’t help either cause, all you do is alienate yourself, and give those who would uphold the status quo ammunition against the movement to shift human consciousness, into a biosphere consciousness, to a place where we start to see things as we should, as part of the whole, not as part of a world fit for consumption.
It pisses me off so much when people say stupid shit and waste everyone’s time. If you are concerned that what you may say is monumentally stupid, please shut up and carry on what you’re doing. If you need to be corrected in any way, someone will say something to you, be ready to listen. If not, you’re doing great sport, keep your mouth shut and try not to make the rest of us actually striving for togetherness and justice look like a bunch of morons. Thanks.
I think this calls for some Gorilla Biscuits:

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

Apr 16th I missed today

I wound up taking today off too. My foot is still not feeling it, neither is my hamstring. Plus I just plain overslept. I’ll make sure to get out tomorrow morning. I have no plans tonight, don’t want plans tonight, just relax, wake up tomorrow and run. I’m still bothered by the events of yesterday, I need to let that go. It was not an easy day though.
Anyway, my class for today starts in a few days. I’ll run tomorrow and get this mess out of my head and call it a day.
I’m going to leave you with some Alan Watts today:

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

Apr 15th Racism on the Circumvesuviana and more weirdness

Today is a weird day man. Tomorrow I will run a little even though my foot still hurts. But I need to clear my head, at the very least. I woke up to two emails from my roommate. One to the school in general and one to me. He packed up all his stuff and left. I thought he was going for the weekend, but he decided to take off. I’m all shocked about it. It’s been an odd feeling all day.
Then I had to go in and get paid and talk to my boss. I didn’t have any answers for him, I was just as surprised as he was.
My boss offered me a position for next year as well, and we talked a bit about that, told me to think it over and give him an answer over the next 10 days or so. I like the people, just the place is a mess. There’s nothing that can be done about it really. Most of it is attitude, and simple infrastructure issues. Until the Italian government pays to modernize the infrastructure things won’t change around here. That and the attitude of the people in the streets is a bit of an annoyance. So I will think it over and I guess in 10 days or so I’ll have a big announcement for all of you!
Speaking of attitude, I got on the Circumvesuviana (local metro around Vesuvius), and there were conductors on there checking tickets. But they were only checking some tickets. I noticed they gave the most scrutiny to the guys who were clearly not “Italian”. So the Arab and African guys, the Romani guys, they asked them for tickets. They didn’t bother me. That was kind of upsetting. It was really upsetting actually, it’s just tiring to see the same crap everywhere.
Here’s some musical goodness for your day, needless to say the hijynx on the Circumvesuviana did not help this area’s case in keeping me:

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

Apr 14th A lazy Thursday

So weird not waking up to run still. The first few months of this year, I was doing it so much it really is odd not to be, but I definitely need the rest. Every day my legs feel better, stronger, and I know they’re still not healed. Saturday and Sunday I’ll put in some miles, then maybe do the same next week, definitely working on taking it easy.
So I just finished my classes for the day, and my last class is starting to learn Future Continuous and Future Perfect. will be + verb + ing and will have + verb + ing. What a mess. But we end up talking about predictions, obviously, and I try to explain to them that on a quantum scale cause and effect breaks down and that indicates that time is a matter of perception and not a physical reality. I also explain that means time travel is not possible, and I invited time travelers to the class on 14/04/2016 at 19:45 GMT +1. Nobody showed, ergo, time travel does not exist. I explained that if time travel did exist, all one need to to solve most of the problems of today is go back and stop the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which stops WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, The Cold War, Terrorism, Iraq, Iraq 2, Afghanistan, Iran-Contra, The rise of the Ayatollah, etc. How could time travel exist. And if Nostradamus was so great at predicting the future, how come no one stopped any of the events he “foretold”? If you KNEW Hitler would kill millions, if you didn’t stop it, you’re a criminal. If you KNEW 9/11/2001 would happen and you didn’t stop it, you’re a criminal. It’s as simple as that.
It’s a difficult thing to teach, the future, and for me it’s a difficult thing to talk about. Then I tried to explain that prediction is simply a matter of picking out patterns, and I mention Fibonacci, none of them knew Fibonacci, Tool would be sorely disappointed. That’s ok, I had a younger class a couple weeks ago, didn’t know Gugliermo Marconi. How does that happen? There’s such a rich history in Italy and most of what they learn is, so much of nothing. It seems crazy to me.
All that being said, now I want to listen to this song:

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

Apr 12th What an interesting day

So no running, because I said no running (most likely) and I still hurt. My left thigh hurt so much yesterday, it actually itched. I’ve never had muscle pain so bad, it caused an itching sensation, that was new. It’s not the marathon, but I did a lot of walking through Rome after. I was on my feet for a further 6 hours right. That’s all day on your feet, with a marathon in there, that’s too much. I probably could handle one of those 12 hour races, but after 6 hours I think I’d hate myself. I know at 6:22 during the Caumsett 50k, I was miserable, of course there was also a snow storm happening that I then had to drive myself home in.
Anyway, so today I was talking about the future with one of my classes, and I tried to explain that in the future, when we have robots (or hopefully replicators like Star Trek:TNG) to do everything, that people will be able to just focus on science and discovery, like we’re supposed to. I managed to work E=mc[2] into an English lesson. Because I talked about how we will be thinking about ourselves as the Universe simply exploring itself. I don’t know if they fully understood the implications of what I was saying, I hope that they did. I believe one day in the future, because they’re all smart, they will. But I mean that equation is so important, energy is mass, mass is energy. All we are is energy, that’s it, nothing more. The rest of it is simply a matter of frequency and speed.
Which brings me to another topic, you know how they say never be the smartest person in the room? The other night, with a bunch of other English teachers, and English English teachers at that, I used the word “uncouth” and I was the only one who knew what the word was. They thought it was some American thing, and I said, verily, it is not. Nay, for it is proper British English and that is that. Normally, I love pulling out the 5 cent words, but I felt embarrassed. When I’m teaching, it’s one thing, I’m supposed to know more about the given topic than the students. When I’m sitting around at dinner, I hate when it happens. I really do. I feel like I’m talking gibberish, and I generally feel like people don’t understand me (they hear the words, but don’t comprehend the meaning) when I speak. So it makes me uncomfortable. I hope I have enough money to buy everyone a dictionary some day. By the way, are you aware the English Dictionary has way more information than just parts of speech and definitions, basically the entire language is in those books, from grammar on down, check it out. They’re actually very cool.
Anyway, I’m heading to bed, well I’m waiting for my laundry to finish, hang it up on the rack, and then go to bed. But even I need a little time to unwind. So with that I will leave it to you.

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

Apr 11th Some hazy thoughts for a hazy Monday

I promise I’ll get back to the recipes soon! And I promise big news coming up in a couple of months, no foolin’ cuz.

So, a bunch of the teachers and some friends got together for dinner tonight. We’re sitting at the table and we’re talking about stuff and one of the teachers says to me, “how are you so nice, it just doesn’t seem real, or believable…” Instead of being offended, although I did crack a joke about that, I explained how I got to this point, which I think I’ve told you all in different ways.

Basically, I follow the Catholic idea that we are all called to lead a saintly life. The problem most people make is they think to be saintly is to be perfect. The second thing they do is complete misinterpret the Bible (or whatever holy book they are following) and think the small things are what’s important. There are only two types of stories in the Bible, and that’s the thing, people quote chapter and verse and it’s not meant to be looked at that way, they’re stories.

So first type of story, “My God is better than your God.” Simple, makes sense, in a religion where you’re trying to convert the people around you, you need to prove your God is better. Genesis, Exodus, they are perfect examples and it makes sense they’re right at the start of the book.

Then there’s the stories about how to relate to God. This is where all the mistakes happen. Firstly, people get all bogged down in things people wrote with the attitudes, practices, and mores (pronounced: mor-ays) of thousands of years ago. Secondly, they miss the point that they establish that any God creates man in that God’s image, therefore we are all devine and therefore what we do to each other we do to God.

So it’s not about being pious and sitting in a church praying all the time. You are being your best, and honoring your God, when you are treating your God well. How do you treat your God well? By treating the rest of the creatures made in “God’s image”  well. It’s really very simple.

Which brings us to the point (and while phraseology may change all religions are essentially the same on these two points, origin stories and how to relate to God/gods) that how we treat God is how we treat other people, and how we treat other people is how we treat God. So if we’re a selfish dick, you’re being a selfish dick to God.

The other thing to remember is we will all falter and make mistakes. We will all mess up and hurt people sometimes. Also, other people may not have the same understanding we do and what we see as crappy behavior may truly be their best. Which means those people are in need of education, not judgement.

So lead a saintly life, just do your best with the tools and knowledge at your disposal. Be forgiving of those around you and do your best to educate when you have the chance.

That was what I said this evening at dinner, and it’s not just true for Catholics, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. This line of thinking is true for Hindus, Buddhists, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whoever! Man that’s all so heavy, so keep the PMA and help where you can, be the best you can be and you will always be a role model too, and maybe help others find the path.

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

Apr 10th Europe is under my belt

I got the official from the marathon, my watch died at mile 21.

Bib Number: 8530 – GILBERT CHRISTOPHER
Final Time: 4:12:35
Overall Position: 7384°

Here’s the weird thing, my Garmin was fully charged when I went to sleep, and was completely discharged when I woke up. As soon as it died, my times dropped off, which totally sucks. I was actually on pace to PR. But then again, this is a European PR! I’ve never run faster in a race here!
So first Euro marathon, first Euro race to be honest. There was good and bad. Let’s look a the good. You start and finish at the Flavian Amphitheater (The Colosseum). You walk through the Arch of Constantine on the way the start. You hit a few of the major attractions during the race, Vatican City, the Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo. I mean it’s Rome, it’s cool right?
So there were some issues, that make me never want to run this again. Firstly, the hoops you have to jump through just to register, run card, medical certification (or USATF membership), uploading all the information. It’s a giant pain. Now, let’s talk about the Expo, fuck. Get there and there’s a line, over an hour long to get inside. A couple days before they send you this email with a disclaimer and they say to print it out. I just figured, like many others (since I don’t own a friggin printer!) “Nobody ever collects these things”. Of course they do! So after standing outside forever, I get to stand in the expo waiting to print everything off. Now the Expo is huge, and there are no shortcuts. So you’re now walking through this enormous building with people getting in your way trying to hand you fliers for their races and shit. And that’s just the Expo.
There are 70 turns on the course, there are 7km of cobblestone streets. Cobblestone streets look all quaint and shit, they are hell to run on. The 70 turns weren’t appreciated either, I get you have to avoid the major hills in Rome, and there are some big ones, but 7o turns is excessive.
At the start the aid stations were alright, toward the middle, I lost lots of time waiting for people to pour me a cup of water. The worst part was most of them had 1/2 liter bottles of water that we could have just grabbed and taken with us, but they didn’t do that. But the aid stations did have a good selection foods. So that’s a plus, got to chow on some trail mix during the race. Always a good thing.

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

Apr 9th Pre-race jitters and a couple mistakes

Even a seasoned marathon veteran, such as myself, is prone to it. I will be nervous before every race I ever run I think. Then I went out in Rome, and I can’t be in Rome without drinking, particularly in Trastevere. I love grabbing a cheap 0.66l of Peroni and sitting at the fountain and just watch people and listen to the idiocy. Then I went to dinner, and drank more. So I went from planning on drinking nothing, to drinking a couple liters of alcohol…oops.
So far, the Rome Marathon is not impressing me. Giant line to enter, and you had to have a printed out copy of some affidavit. After the giant line to get in to the Expo, you had to sit there and navigate the ridiculous amounts of other marathon promoters handing you paper. I have a small forest in my bag now. But they give you a legit backpack for gear drop-off and the shirt is really nice.
So the course should be interesting and fun, and hopefully I have fueled properly tonight to get me through tomorrow, but now it is time I went to bed. I shall continue you on your Llamas with Hats journey, enjoy.

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