Men are from Mars Women are from Venus

I recently finished a book that received a lot of hype back in the 90’s called Men are from Mars Women are from Venus. I mostly read it to laugh at it because most marriage relationship-building books I have read have been cliché, but there were some things that caught me by surprise like: men are like rubber bands emotionally and without reason we pull away from relationships, from intimacy to autonomy and then back to intimacy. Women must understand that it’s nothing personal or nothing against them or the relationship, we just have to pull back and when we return to the relationship we are just as fresh with the intimacy and psychologically we are back where we left off. This motion can freak out any woman in a relationship. The author, John Gray, goes on to say that if women try their best keep the man from pulling away the man will become irritable, uptight and short-fused.  It was interesting to see the author defending both sides of the relationship where most books tend to blame the man for failing relationships.

Another interesting thought is to never play the martyr. If you are always giving into to your spouse, doing what they want, giving them everything, and agreeing with what they say all the time (even if they are wrong, possibly) because you are more scared of them divorcing you, you are not in a healthy relationship. Either the man or the woman in this situation will fall into a bitter resentment a decade later.

Of course, Gray also went into respecting each other by embracing the differences in gender and communication which is also healthy for any newlyweds that may not understand that.

Have you ever read this book or seen the movie? I would love to hear your take on it, or recommend reading it if you have not.

Go Martians!

Training for a Half Marathon (week 2)

The following Saturday I had to run 6 miles. The weather was excellent and so I ran up Provo canyon. It’s such a pretty run and I really missed doing that from years past. I only made it to Bridal Veil Falls because the snow was up to my ankles there. I enjoyed this run so much that I didn't even feel the strain of running 6 miles nonstop. I completed that distance in 48 minutes. This is so much better than a track or a treadmill. 

Week 3 was pretty much the same as week 2 ending with a beautiful run up the canyon. I will let you know if anything unusual happens between now and the day of the race. Stay tuned!

Provo canyon running trail

What is your favorite sport or past time for the summer?

Training for a Half Marathon (week 1)

I am a sick freak: I love to run. Back in 2006, I was training for the Salt Lake City Marathon and because of health problems I had to drop out a week before the race. The best part of that story is that on the day of the race, the physician who checked me said that he changed his mind and that I actually could run the race after all. By then it was too late and I had already talked myself out of it mentally. When you’re running a race, it is 10% physical and 90% mental.

Now here I am in 2013 and the world has changed. Marathons, which used to be labeled insanely twisted by the public, are now embraced and trendy. Do you know how I feel about trends? Ask me sometime.

 

Biggest Loser Contestants

Two Seasons ago on The Biggest Loser the season finale included all the contestants running a marathon. Some contestants ran, some walked, but sooner or later they all finished. The message I received from that episode was that any fat slob can run a marathon. Now all of my old relatives and in-laws are running marathons and encouraging me to participate. With this in mind I hope you can understand why I am reluctant to train for another marathon.

Last October I participated in 5K. Now I am currently training for the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. My wife keeps encouraging me and I figured while I was wrestling with indecision that it would be better to train and compete in a race and say it’s lame then to never do it. It makes my reviews on this blog more valid and personal. This is why I will most likely be doing a marathon after this race is completed in the near future.

Here is a copy of my training schedule for the half marathon:

 

 

Orem Rec Center Track

My equipment includes running shorts, Nike shoes, a stopwatch, and a pedometer to track my distance. I train at the Orem Rec Center; most of the time I am down on their basement track, sometimes--if I feel like it--I use their tread mills.

 

 

 Now I am into my third week of training this is how week one went:

Three Saturdays ago while running 5 miles on the track I started off at a slow pace and then thanks to some fellow patrons I sped up.

Let me categorize the patrons I run with:

The soccer mom

The soccer mom: complete with her huge number of children with bad behavior that surround her.

The burnout runner

The burnout runner: the person who sits and waits at the rest stop for a few laps and then darts out in front of you, running as fast as they can to make them feel like they are beating you.



The confused geriatric

The confused geriatric: the one that looks like they are about 90 years old and are walking in the opposite direction in the running lane and have a look on their face like this is the worst hotel they have ever stayed at.



The kumbayas

The kumbayas: the ones who travel in groups of 5-7 friends and love to mosey around the track holding hands and blocking every lane of traffic. 

       

About three miles into training I had encountered the above mentioned patrons several times. It was very crowded that Saturday morning and I had just dodged another kumbaya group. A little boy from a soccer mom thought it would be funny to block my path and keep jumping into my evasive maneuvers. This was my turning point, I got angry. I looked and waited until his mom wasn’t looking and then I plowed the little darling over. After I turned the corner I encountered another burnout runner who attempted to cut me off. Now my temper flaring and adrenaline pumping I outran her and she never caught up the rest of the morning. I finally felt the runner's eye of the tiger. Who knew the key to it would be anger?
I will tell you how week two went later

Do you think any fat slob can run a marathon? What's your opinion?

Finally Christians who get it

Last week we had the opportunity to climb the mountain in the Huntsville, Utah wilderness to visit a monastery. The monastery is called Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity. My family has had the chance to visit this place twice in the past decade and we love to go and hear the monks chant and sing praises to God. We also love to buy some of the delicious honey that the monks make to sell at their gift shop. Yes, they have beehives and they are bee-keeping monks. How interesting is that?

Recent visit to the monastery

Every time we visit this monastery the place seems to get smaller and everything produced by them seems to decrease. This last visit we noticed that their roof to the chapel now leaks. We visited their gift shop and noticed that their delicious honey was gone. We asked Fr. Pat, the monk over the gift shop, where the honey was and he said, “You are about eight months late for that. We couldn't make it any more. We have plenty of bees, but not enough monks anymore.” We bought some jam instead. As I looked around their gift shop I made some interesting observations.

Fr. Pat

1. They had merchandise pictures on sale of the late Pope John Paul II, but not of the current living Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Why do you think that is?

2. Out of all the non-LDS Christian book stores and gift shops I have visited through the world it seems like every one of them had anti-Mormon literature and media you could buy as well… Except for this place, if  anything, they welcome us and respect our differences. I even saw a pamphlet sold there entitled “Monks for Mormons: How to explain our beliefs and customs to our friends the Mormons .“ Finally I have met Christians who get it.

I have a lot of respect for these old monks who have devoted their entire lives to serving the Lord. I can see how this commitment is so great that not a lot of people can make that decision, which is why they are dying off and becoming so few. I love listening to them sing praises to God through prayers, and chants and despite what most Christian denominations may say about one another, I know that God hears their prayers.

I always feel enlightened every time I visit this place.