Thoughts on whaling

There are some news that you wish you did not hear. Reminiscence of the past, "Tradition" used as curtain over malignant business practices.

Whale season is open again.

Supposedly whale number have increased to a 'sustainable' amount, justifying a second try for extinction. Won't be the first specie, nor the last.

Good news on Christmas

Still actual, almost 10 years after, dolphin are still hunted, eaten - even toxics - and caged for entertainment.

Still worth a look

I decided to sponsor some of the most active benevolent organizations - namely Sea Shepherd ans Dolphin Project by buying cloths there as needed.

And ranting on my world wide read blog.

Not clear how to do much more at this point, but I guess that's better than nothing.

wear your opinions

In a capitalist world, there isn't much we can do as potential buyers except buying stuff with a conscience. Fair trade, organic, local, ... 

Think about the true price that comes with it. Cheap labor, Transportation, ... And I guess, buy less things - anyway, they are and should be more expensive...

Carbon tax is inevitable.

But back to whaling. 

Truth is there isn't much we can say. We daily slaughter millions of mammals. 

Pigs, Cows, ... 

A Japanese  pro-whaling lawyer said : "what is with that specific specie, anyway ?".

Truth is, "what is with our own specie ? what is that makes us better or higher or grant us the right to wipe out and exploit other species ? Blessed by gods we blindsided us with ? As a justification to be the final - the only 'one' ? 

If only it was good for you.
Please educate yourself. And live better - if not longer.

Health myths debunked

And as with any good environmentalist documentary, after 90 minutes of depressive images and stories, let's end up with a positive spin. If this is really about proteins .. or taste, let's hope for a clean meat revolution.

Rich podcast on it

Or just go plant based. Because down the line, this is the best thing you can do - at your level - that will egoistically improve your health and send a strong signal to the god-like food industry that it is time for a change. Because it is.

Aftermath: 26.2 miles around 46

Quite a lot of things happened in the last few months.

As we store the birthday candles and finish the vegan chocolate cake, few thoughts come to mind.

46 is pretty close from a half mark, if you are lucky, which actually sounds pretty good when you realize how much happened in the first half.

The tricky part would be how to deal with aging - I guess, to be healthy enough to keep all those years ahead as exciting as they can be.

As Chris Hauth like to say, in an endurance race, the one who will win is the one that slow down the least. 

I suspect you can apply that pretty directly to life and happiness.

You are there for the long run.

Not getting younger... Now Barnaby is usually behind

Talking about running, the last marathon (Maui Marathon 2018), 4:08 was not a bad one. With the heat and an unlucky 4 minutes bathroom stop, I was hoping a PR. 

Looking at the stats, I started way faster than usual, around 8:30 pacing, assuming I could sustain that. maybe not quite at that level yet, even if the training was overall consistent, dropping 15 minutes after 3 years was a bit presumptuous. The main difference was the decision or inability to go deep into the pain cave. When I hit the wall around 2:30, I did not force it, decided to walk to lower my heart rate and took a huge hit on the pace. I kept it below 170 and perceived effort in the "acceptable" range. It was pretty hard anyway, and I promised myself to not do it ever again.

Never again.

Of course, ten minutes after the race, I was already thinking about the L.A. Marathon next year.

Chilling Before (Wonder who was pregnant at the time)

There are quite other few things that are occupying my thoughts and I still need to lay down the 5+ year plan - we are on a hard highschool timeline - , but one thing is for certain, my running days are not over.
I am eluding adding to my bucket list one of the top 100 miler in the world. Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, Leadville 100, Western States ...
But to even have a chance to go on the lottery for those, you need already a 50 miler and at least 100km in the bag.
As we do not get any younger, a good target for 2019 would be to get the 50 in the bag.
And certainly the LA Marathon as a warmup in April.

Chilling 13 years After. 

Definitively will need a bit of luck to keep this annoying right knee pain out of the way, but if I was able to train for 4 months with it, why not 6 ? or 12 ?
Lot of foam roller, strechting watching TV helps for sure... It just looks like that you whole life circle around running.
You work standing up (to train).
You run the dog, not walk it (to train).
You exercice (to cross train), not really because you like it (does someone do?).
You eat healthy (to be light)(well because it is better for you too).
You don't go out (because you need sleep .. to train more. Is there anyway much to do on Maui at night?)
And to wrap that up, a bit of meditation every day (just because).

Well, at least that the program on paper, starting next week.
Still curious how far that will bring me :)

Heatlh and Purpose

Maui marathon is 2 weeks away and it is time to start the taper. Volume gonna go down, lots of swimming in perspective. 

I do have a plan - keep it easy - then it will be up to Race day to tell me if I will PR or not. Likely not, I am considering the LA marathon early next year to actually try a PR.

Hawaii is definitively too hot for this competitive spirit. 

Even if the marathon starts at 5:00 AM !

Training strong.

Another hit from Rich few weeks back, about how Irish twins are making a change and reach for happiness.

Unsurprisingly, key for happiness resolve around few core concepts, health, food, movement, community, mission...
I bring it down myself to a duality - Body and Mind, Health and Purpose.
Being healthy impose eating healthy, moving a lot and be close from nature.
Purpose give you a healthy mind. You need mindfulness to achieve this purpose, it give you focus  and the sense of belonging.

Of course, you cannot dissociate body and mind, and I believe you need both health and purpose to reach happiness. Purpose do not have to be this grandiloquent goal of saving the world. A small step in the right direction, could create momentum and the steps could be bigger and bigger.

I am glad with Imbellus I did a small step in the right direction. Some initiatives like 80000 hours give a good taste of what could happen.
Change will not come from politics - the democratic process is failing us. From Yuval or Nicolas Hulot, proof if around you, specially on Twitter.
Milleniums are the key.
Grassroots.
Bottom up.

Hopefully, this will come soon enough.

What if it were fun ?

"What would this look like if it were easy? is such a lovely and deceptively leveraged question. It’s easy to convince yourself that things need to be hard, that if you’re not redlining, you’re not trying hard enough. This leads us to look for paths of most resistance, often creating unnecessary hardship in the process." Tim Ferris

Proud owner of Hull #44

Let's challenge the "No Pain No Gain" rule.
I am the first to be guilty of believing that hard work pays, and high pain tolerance bring you want you to be.
I always thought that it was my dedication to my career that made the difference.
Truth to be told, it was always easy for me to spend long hours sitting in front a computer, programming.
I liked it, still do. I am enjoying the creative process of coding, the constant brain games and solving problems.
It is easy for me to go in flow while programming. Time flies, code lines accumulate.
Was it that hard to achieve success ? Maybe not.

Rage drill on an old aluminium traveler

Running my first marathon I had a fierce determination to never walk.
What ever it will take, never stopping. Failure was not an option, pain to be endured.
No pain, no gain.
Now, after I finally learned to stop and walk - hitting the wall on my second marathon pretty dramaticcaly made me believe that
all rules are meant to be broken - I am following the MAF method - which could be resumed by taking it easy.
You focus on running in zone 2 - Anaerobic zone - the easy zone. Believe it or not, you will improve and run faster and faster.
This is actually the golden rule of endurance.
As a side benefit this is more gentle on your joints and body and you reduce greatly the risk of injury - not a small advantage for me - still recovering from at least 4 different running injuries.
Running slow and easy.

back winded working jib.

Take it easy and bring the fun into everything you do.
Everything you do becomes a hobby.
Times flies, you are in flow, living the moment and improving.
The only way to improve is to spend the time. The body is an incredible adaption machine, and  so adapt the brain as well.
In everything you do, find the fun, and offset it to be easy.
Raging or swearing makes it worst, every obstacle is a chance to improve.

Starting on make her pretty. A paint job.

I discovered lately how to apply this to boat work.
I always assumed I did not like working on the boat. Hard, long, expensive. Not gratifying.
It was a mean to an end, travelling, cruising, and only because I did not have enough money to pay someone to do that grueling work in my place.
Now, what if boat work was easy ?
Remove the time constraint, work on one project at a time, and allocate only few hours a day to it.
Don't make it a live or die situation. Buy the right tools and do any shortcut.
What if it was fun ?
Prepare it well, make yourself comfortable. Take the time, Do it well, Appreciate the results. Appreciate the creation, the problem solving, the handcrafting.
Be patient. Do it once, twice, third time. Listen to a podcast.
It is actually quite marvelous to see your work take shape.

Reward of a job well done.

What if fixing the boat was actually half of the fun ? And the cruising only the excuse ?
By embracing it, you go with the flow, you go in the zone.
Slow and easy. And you improve.
Live your life like a hobby, live in the zone.

Half and half

This past month has been charged with emotions.
I lost a grand-ma and I lost a friend.
I hit 45, which I believe is a good crossing the middle line of a life.
Half of my life.

It all comes down which half of the bottle you are looking into.

I did long and deep thinking - and the only conclusion, really, is that I should not waste my time, because - who knows.

Call of the sea

It is time to reach for my dream.
It is time to sail south.
To cross the equator and step into the other hemisphere.

It is time to see the other half.

Greener and Smaller

Finally did it. I have been considering going electric for a while. Everytime I was filling the truck, it made me sick. 12 miles to the gallon.

Maui Electric and Nissan really help by cutting 10K$ on the price of the new Leaf.

Add the federal tax rebate of 7k$, and you get your new EV almost half price.

Hard to beat.

Green in Black, our new Leak soon to be

Obviously, on top of being economical - and a pain in the butt to plan for the range  - and the lack of truck bed to throw in all my kite or boating stuff - this is a major step in my re-alignment toward cutting our carbon footprint.

Monster Truck has to go 

And again, on Maui, the sun and wind are free, this is almost a crime to still burn fuel.

Now even getting a new car on the price of a used one is still a big leap on my always growing mantra against consumerism.

The minimalists - Deep and witty

Well, hard to reconcile buying a new car and my minimalist aspirational goals.
At the moment, we own 3 cars, one motorbike and one sailboat. Hardly minimalist.

Hence, the truck will go, obviously, pretty soon. The bike is the next one. Sure, I like to ride her time to time, but it is just impractical to put any gear on it. We cannot function on one car anymore in our family. A bike is cool, but does not carry a paddle board or a dinghy. It will go as well.
1 car in, 2 vehicles out.

What I am actually buying is free of mind. less stuff. better quality, less maintenance, less hassle.
After all, the only thing that matters is time.
Spend your time wisely on what actually really matter to you.
Spend your money on stuff that bring value to your life. Deeply.

As the minimalists say :

"Love people, use things. The opposite never works."

As for the boat ? It is not a thing. It is a Her.

The Cove

Nothing really new - the documentary dates from 8 years ago, but like every year, the killing continue.

A very good documentary, indeed. Forgotten already ?

http://www.thecovemovie.com/

I do not see myself as an activist.
I don't think you need to be an activist to condemn those practices.
Basic ecology and humanity should be enough.

This is just meat

Coral, Cetaceans, Cows, ...
Every day the list grows ...

European people do it pretty well themselves every year

Activists are humanists, really.
They believe we can change and raise.

I don't.
I think it is fair.
As we are screwing our the planet, we will get what we deserve.
Pay back time.




Edit:
To defuse the typical Japanese counter argument : "What is with that specie ? You eat cow, we eat cetaceans. Dolphins are not an endangered specie.", the documentary goes lengths on the mercury issue and how dangerous it is to eat an animal that we are poisoning in the first place.
A bit hypocritical.
And I disagree. 
The only way for us to be credible is to stop eating cows. 
That simple.

The July Project : Conclusions

We have been extremely busy polishing the Yoga and fitness studio we have built under the house.
Not that we are done, but the last "large" paint job has just been finished today.
It is time to reflect a bit on the July project.

The yoga studio - inside

Centered around 4 axis - veganism, sobriety, cold treatment, breathing exercises - the direct goal was to try to heal my Achille tendinitis and plantar fasciitis, but it was an excuse to see if it was possible to detoxicate my body a bit more deeply.

Long story short, I had mixed results.

On the bright side, the veganism experiment was a success. To be fair, we were not too far from it, but milk by-products , butter, cheese, it was not an easy win. In any case, the whole family embraced it. obviously, at this point, this is a no-brainer. Good for your health, good for the animals, good for the environment, and easy - albeit expensive - as all "healthy" major retailers on the island propose the complete organic vegan replacements for anything comes to mind.

To complete the picture, we decided (finally) to go solar. With the sun exposure we have on Maui, the taxes deductions,  it is criminal to not embrace the trend. 

Really.

Meco still use 50% of oil to generate electricity on Maui.
It was time to save a bit and contribute (a bit) to the effort for the climate. Photo voltaic is coming as well.

Easier than I thought, Sobriety did not pause me any problems. There is one half-hour before diner that felt a little awkward at the beginning without a glass of wine, but that is more psychological than anything else, and staying busy during that time made the transition a breeze.
We have a very limited social life on the island, it was not complicated to not drink at all for a month at all. Just an habit to get rid of.

Yoga studio - outside - finally painted.

On the negative, I gave up on the cold shower treatment - I did not see the benefits really - I tend to take my shower at night and not in the morning, then the vigorous shake up it gave me was not well timed.

The Hoff breathing is an interesting beast. I have to reckon this is powerful. After two weeks I was able to hold my breath easily for more than 3 minutes and able to generate this heat wave / endorphin rush  at will. But even with the obvious benefits, relaxing effects and whole body reset, I had hard time to find the 30 to 45 minutes needed to practice. I had too much things going on, between the body workouts and the studio and the real life job. A bit disappointing, but I made peace with myself and will revisit at a later time. There is definitively something.

As for the effective results of the detoxification and alkanization, well, it did not work that well. To the point that I stopped to run altogether and reorganized my workouts around those injuries. More to come on this subject. In a nutshell, from a tendonitis perspective, it was totally ineffective.

Anyway, there is no reasons at this point to change my new habits and go back to relatively unhealthy behaviors, and I can live with a few pounds less.
Vegan it is.
Sober it is.

The July Project : Veganism

Not really surprising - we were already **mostly** eating vegetarian  - it is a good time to see how hard to stick to a strict vegan diet.
Obviously, for me, the hard part will be dairy.
Cheese, Butter, .. We are french after all.

Vegan athletes praise that healthy diet and the proteins are really a non-issue - if you do not pay attention to the derives of the fitness world.
To be fair I am using a Vegan Shake supplement for snacks, to make sure to get a bot of everything that is not immediately available in a vegan diet and would force me to think and organize myself.

Happy french cow - Will end up as meat balls likely.

Of course, part of going vegan is highly symbolic.
Help the world, help the animals, help yourself.

www.whatthehealthfilm.com

Help yourself.
Easier to digest, less fat, less acidity. Better healing.

Not sure what to expect on one month time frame when we had already a pretty balanced diet.
I guess lose another pound or so... Diary is so rich...
Time will tell.

The July Project : Breathing

It is not new that expert Yogi with Pranayama are able to achieve extraordinary feats. Slowing down their heart, holding their breath for minutes, healing themselves, ... Free divers reach incredible depths with controlled breathing techniques. Remember Jacques Mayol in the Big Blue ?

Breath taking Lisbon

On top of boosting your full body ecosystem, mostly through hyperventilation and oxygen saturation, it helps your immune system and provide meditation-like benefits - Calm, relaxation, mindfulness.

The genius of Wim Hof is to have made this available to anyone, to work with science to make it believable to our western minds, delivering it in a simple and effective package.
Sure the guy is a bit weirdo and excessive, but you can still relate. Just enough craziness to make this enticing and still comprehensible.

Wim Hof's breathing technique

If you are curious, there is ton of information on the web about Wim, always oscillating between guru, prophet and your typical dude. I recommend the book of the investigation journalist Scott Carney - first, it is well written and cover more ground than just Wim Hof's technique - second, it is really critic and objective.

Debunking the Ice Man myth

 Anyway, there seems to be enough evidence that this should not be a fluke, the breathing part takes around 30 minutes a day, I decided to give it a shot. Without hoping to be able to control my animal brain in one month, I am curious if I will be able to increase my healing, recovery and overall feel better.

The July Project : Cold and Ice

Following a recurrent theme - cold is good for you - In doubt, listen to the Ice Man - I picked a couple of daily practices - explained.

The Ice man showing (Wim) Hoff

Without going as far as Wim Hoff, it is fairly known that cold - hot therapy helps for recovery,  boosting your immune system, and helps blood circulation.

As a bonus, a good cold shower in the morning wakes you up pretty good.

Ankle and Foot bath twice daily in a bucket of ice - helps with healing the tendinitis.
Cold shower once a day to shake things up inside.

Not yet ready for the ice bath challenge, but that's a first step.

Nazare, Portugal. Where THE wave breaks and records are beaten.

I started the challenge by swimming in the Portugal coastal waters in June, which were surprisingly icy. Not sure if the gulf stream does not go as South or if as a kid I was less sensitive, but I definitively remember playing in the ocean for hours on the West coast of France - which seems unbelievable now.

And you could think you get used to cold showers as well. But not really. It has been so far a daily struggle - more psychological than physical - it is true.

Cold shower is for yogi Guru Singh the one habit that can ease your way to happiness.
Seems appealing, doesn't it ?

The July Project : Sobriety

Easy one for today.
For context, my alcohol intake has been pretty low those past couple of years. One glass or two of red wine, usually at aperitif or diner time.
No big deal.

Monastic life in Portugal

We are people off habits, and a good way to change is to pick the one habit that slow you down, and eradicate it. Impossible to get rid of all your bad habits in one shot, but one, sounds reasonable. Now, you have to be honest with yourself and pick the one you know that bring you a false sense of comfort and drag you down.

Alcohol slow you down - literally and figuratively - and obviously not very good for health. If not, why should you be moderate with it. Let's try to eat and drink without moderation, even if that really limit your choice to the healthy stuff. I am not a moderate person.

On top of the wasting time and lowering energy, alcohol is free calories. no nutrients, just added sugar. Well, cutting 200 calories per day end up for a pound every month. Not that I expect to lose infinitely a pound every month from now on, but I expect my body to stabilize itself to a new low, without any effort - except cutting that habit.

Better body Ph (healing), more energy, and few pounds less, this is what I hope to get back from that cut during the July project.

The July Project : Assessment

For the experiment to be effective, I need a base line recorded, to compare with at the end of the month.

Portugal West coast. Near Nazare.
Really nice beach break with very few in the water.

Weight : 156 Lbs - 69 Kg

Energy level : 3 / 5 - vaguely positive.
( I would rate 4 my energy level during my marathon training, and 2 when I am tired and irritable.)

Apnoea : 2m15s after a 15 min breathing cycle.

Achille Tendonitis: Small bulge at the tendon. Tender at wake up and on touch. Tender after 45 min light/easy run.

Plantar Fascitiis : Pretty painful after a 45min run. tender in the morning and on finger press.

Right knee :  No pain on very easy runs

Right Hip : Pretty silent at the moment, I can feel it after a light run.

Vinged Scapula : Better than few months ago, Still pretty bad while lowering the arm.

Running : Around 60 miles /  month. Usually 4+4+8 / week. Limited by my tendinitis.
Long run of 75 min, easy peace (Zone 3), Felt my foot plantar during all the run, lightly, not forcing me to change my gait. After the run and icing it, could barely walk.

Cold : I have hard time to get rid of since the vacations.

 Alcohol intake : One medium to large red wine glass /day. My wife would say 2.


Tomorrow I will lay down my expectations, and after that, detail the plan and the rationale behind it.

The July Project

I had quite some time to think a bit about things lately.

Vacations in Portugal helped.

It was actually a nice running playground. Even if I could not run as much as wanted.

Trail running in Portugal

Still fighting my various injuries, I am not yet able to trigger another training program for a major race, marathon or other. This is really frustrating. Roughly one year and half that I am limping.

It is time to act and reclaim my body.

Here is the project:

- Be Sober

- Eat Vegan

- Breath like the Ice Man

- Shower with cold water

- Drink Apple Cider Vinegar

Lately I heard that those practices can do miracles. Well, time to check them out.

To not bend the results, I will not change my calories intake, not my work out habits or running program (or what's left of it).

There is a rationale behind them. Mostly, you control the pH of your body and boost your immune system. Ideally, that would help to recover faster. As a bonus, I might lose some weight.

In any case, those are super healthy habits and I am curious how hard I can turn those practices into habits. As we are defined by those habits, if they are sustainable, it might be a good stepping stone for change.

And change is needed.

We are what we eat

Nowadays, I totally dig Rich Roll podcast. Specially while working in the studio.
One of its best episodes:

http://www.richroll.com/podcast/overcoming-shame/

I read his first book a while ago, and certainly this was a main element of my "transformation".

Not sure why I am using quotes here.

Maybe I do not feel like "competing" with his own transformation - way more dramatic.

And yes, the studio is almost done:

Our soon to be fitness and yoga room

To the point,  I -literally- trained here today. Bring some old' good metal and let's move those glutes.

In the one with Dean Karnaze, toward the end - I think that one   - answering the question - How to change ? - Dean provide this insight :

We are people of habits. We are what we eat :P

Change your habits, slowly, one by one, at your pace, and you will change.

As easy as that.

Pick the habit you know is not helping.

Dig a bit.

You know which one.

Might not be easy, because it certainly bringing apparent comfort.

But you know it is not helping.

Could be as simple as eating too much. As drinking that last glass of wine. As not getting out of bed early enough. Whatever. Pick yours.

You know the one.

Pick that habit, and eradicate it.

Pick another one. One that bring your closer from who you want to be.
Just a bit closer.

Just one. And take it from there.

I let you think about yours.

I am almost **ALMOST** ready to give up mine.

And, of course, for me, it is a big one.

Listen to Rich. This guy is awesome. A bit crazy, of course. Extreme. Of course.

But moderation sucks. Moderation drives to the average. To fulfill your life, there must be a bit of insanity in you.

Do you think this guy is averaging his life ? think again.

This will have to wait...

It is no secret I was planning to go south next Spring, the good weather window for a sail from Hawaii To French Polynesia. It was not official - as I am starting to post about it in the blog - but kicking off the boat repairs, pouring the money into the project....

Well, this will have to wait one more year.

South Pacific

First, this happened.



We still have no real clues of what's going on, and I am not hopeful on tearing apart the injector pump. Bu I am no mechanic, and two mechanics confirmed it. Let's follow the flow. A tweaking round of that pump cannot be a bad thing anyway, since the time.... This engine is almost as old as me.
But that's a serious project to take on (next week), and who knows how long the boat will be immobilized ( I am actually moving it to another marina to start again the 120 days clock - hopefully, that will be enough).

Then, This happened.




I am not sure when I hurt myself, but I know for sure I do not have much power left in my left harm. I actually -somehow- damaged a nerve running from the next to the shoulder blade.
It is a not uncommon injury, but there is not much to do except waiting - waiting a long time - 6 months to a year ! Nerve tissue is slow to heal.

(more details for the curious : https://www.academyofclinicalmassage.com/long-thoracic-nerve-compression/)

It is more impressive than painful, but all activities implying the back muscle should be avoided, as you might compensate with (weaker) shoulder muscles. And not much physical therapy to do until the muscle activate itself (I cannot even trigger it at the moment).

Surfing, paddling, swimming and winch grinding - sailing, all unadvised.

Well, that's all for the bad news - so far.

The good news is that I found an awesome Physical Therapist on Oahu, and with me, he will have work for years :P

Michael Turner, DPT, OCS, MTC, FAAOMPT
https://www.orthosport.com/

Well, actually we will see how that turns out :)
    - Achille tendinitis
    - Hip Impingement
    - TFL Issues
    - LTN - Winged Scapula

But so far, I am back at running - not fast, not long. I am actually spending twice the amount of running in stretching, then maybe I should consider my self a 'Stretcher'.

Jeez. I just did a 26.2 in stretching.

Aloha From Portugal

As we are slowly but surely planning our trip to Portugal for this summer, and I relentlessly surfing the web of catamarans - my new hobby...cat, we found this affordable - sizeable - french cat named Aloha in Portugal.
Too many coincidences to be ignored.

Aloha From Fountaine Pajot

Living aboard has been on my dream list for quite a while now. We tried - unsuccessfully - On 'Mobylette' - A Beneteau 43- half a dozen years ago already.
It is tricky.
Very few marinas allow for official liveaboards. Most of people 'sneak-a-board'. Which is certainly a valid strategy if you are in your twenties without money and family, but less appealing as a grown-up with responsibilities.
Living on a boat is quite complicated in places where there is real seasons. Cold is really an issue as boats are usually very badly insulated. Of course, bad weather is extremely hard to cope with.
Livingaboard is living outside before all.

Now I slowly accepted that a boat is not the best adapted house for our family - with pets and kid.
Sure people are doing it. all around the world. Mostly traveling.
Well, sooner than later Kids and petz will leave home to live their own (kid and petz) life.
And (soon-tm) will be the time to revisit that statement.

Now, Catamarans have a very appealing advantage over monohulls. They are roomy and comfortable AT ANCHOR.
This simplify a lot if you can actually be on the boat at anchorage and not rolling left and right all day long. Now, you are not relying on expensive private marinas slips for docking.
Now, you are auto-sufficient.
Making your own electricity.
Your own water.
Sustainable.
Simpler, smaller, outdoor life.


And there is a cheery on the cake.

https://www.beforetheflood.com/

When the world goes deep - after the flood,
You are already floating.

"With Great Power ...

... Comes Great Responsibility."

If this is true for SpiderMan, is it for you ?

Is it true for a gymnastic owner ?

Not a surprise, on Maui, we have only one gym.

The overall quality of that gym has been proved to be very questionable over the last couple of years. Health issues, Dangerous from some regards, questionable coaching.

Litt' Mo Loves Gym. That's her life.

But because there is only one place on the island, your typical official capitalism balancing process fails greatly - "if it sucks, goes elsewhere".

Those principles do not survive local monopoly. 

Free market only survive if it is free.

Now that we have created monsters, Sir Frankenstein, what do we do ?

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Wallstreet, Monsanto, anyone I am forgetting ?

One point of the debate is that the owner of the gym itself supposedly funded the gym to be able to coach. 

It is obvious that with the liability she represent on the floor, if she was not the owner, she would have been fired of any respectable gym.

Coaching under influence should be as - if not more - penalized than driving under influence.

Gymnastic is a dangerous sport.

What could be worst to end up with your kid in a wheelchair ?

And because it is **that** dangerous, coaches need to be above (and beyond) your typical standard.

They are literally the only step between being great or being hurt - or worst.

Typical Disclaimer

Now, it is true that funding and operating a gym in a any place or town could be a challenging exercise. Expensive, complicated. I don't really know. Certainly.

But that do not give you rights to risk to screw a kid's life.

On the opposite.

Our local community granted you the power of teaching and educating its kids, our kids.

More than anyone else, you are now entitled to be and act above and beyond anyone standards.

Sunset are free on the island. And safe.

And this is not about competing in the Olympics, States or not at all.

Athleticism is a state of mind. 

This is about being role models, and raising kids with meaningful and healthy values.

Values - sadly- that are increasingly hard to find nowadays.

I should say, impossible to find.

51.14 + 225 = Fun times

The end of the tunnel ?

I have been doing strengthening exercises since at least 3 weeks, and, even if I can still feel my knee and ankle **a bit** screaming, overall it is back in the "easy pain" zone.

Pain that **might** not be a problem.

51.14, bread and butter.

Been a while I did not race Lower Kula. Actually, I did not intend to race it. and started quite slow.
A good sign that I am still in a good shape, I **almost** beat my PR on my bread and butter run.
1 minute short.
Which is quite a lot, on a 50 minute run, but still, that's my second best since 3 or 4 years.
My good old Garmin 220 eventually gave up after a long swim in the ocean.
Waterproof, they said ?

Modern life. iMac, Mio, Garmin.
Give me Wifi and a boat, and I am gone.

Anyway, got a got deal on a refurbished one year old 225. Thank you amazon (which days after days looks almost like eBay). Same but fancier, and with a heart zone sensor integrated.
Bye, Bye, the Mio. I feel already lighter. 20g off.

Un ange passe.
Or a hurricane.
Or two.

Madeline, Lester. Like an old couple.
Or two eyes. And a nose. Can you see Hawaii ?

Prey for the boat, and consider long running again.
Maybe a 1:20 Makawao Forest loop, the usual fun run, for tomorrow.
Let's give it a shot, and check those tendons.
Hopefully, won't be too wet.
That's just a hurricane passing. Or two.

How Long is too long

This trip was all about spending few hours with my Grand Ma. At nearly 95, and according to the fact I am unlikely to come back before at least few years, it is unlikely as well she will be still alive next time.
Or not.
Seeing the conditions we keep our old people in a geriatric center makes you wonder if this is worth it. Tired, in pain, losing memory, cruising endlessly the same white corridors, barely limping if not wheeling, is it really a life to be lived ?

First half of your living space

Second half

Progress of the medicine are impressive, to the point it might be unnatural. Oxygen if you can't breathe, intravenous feed if you cannot eat or drink, pain medication if you suffer, pacemaker if your heart is tired, ... Is it even possible to pass away anymore ?
But the body is giving up.
The mind is giving up.
And you end up crawling through life for years and years.
Now I am worried. How will it be in 40 years ?
At this pace, will I live forever ? Crawl forever ?
And should I ?