Synchronicity

On Monday, 2013-09-16, while engaging in small talk with James in Medical Walk-In, the topic of earwax came up.  While removing earwax is one of the few ways in which I make a concrete difference in clinic, I was not sure that it was actually the right thing to do.  After all, earwax probably is there for a reason, and removing it may do more harm than good.

I wondered if animals have earwax and if they are better off with it.  I wondered if whales have earwax.

Soon after,  James noted that the New Scientist had an article on whale earwax that very day!

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24206-whales-record-major-life-events-in-their-earwax.html#.UqQ20Y14mHk


Recently, I have had to visit North Shore and Rusk.  When I studied at NYU, I rotated through North Shore, and Rusk was attached to the main campus.

After Hurricane Sandy, Rusk moved to the Hospital of Joint Diseases at 17th Street and 2nd Avenue, just 2 streets away from the old Stuyvesant High School, giving me a chance to visit the old school for perhaps the first time in 20 years.

Before my last visit to Rusk, I thought it might be fun to meet some old friends near the old school and sent an email in the afternoon on 2013-12-03.  That night, Vanessa called me to ask for a contribution to an endowment for Stuyvesant.  The next evening, I met up with four old friends and took a picture in front of the old school.

I told my friends that my father was ill nearby, but I was not looking for sympathy.  Of the four old friends, one lost a mother and one lost a father about 20 years ago.  One's parents were divorced even longer than that.  Only one friend still had an intact family as far as I knew.

Andy informed (or reminded) me that Angela (with the same last name as Vanessa) from NYU a class after ours, was a Rehabilitation Medicine physician at Rusk.  Too bad for the sake of synchronicity and irony that she was not the attending physician taking care of my father.

Marathon, broken resolution, and fantasy football

Ironically, it was in preparing for the marathon on 10-20 that I broke my new year's resolution not to block a toilet.  Technically, the toilet was already blocked up, presumably because of low water pressure from so much use of water by the runners before the race, but I added even more toilet paper to the bowl.

After the triumph of the marathon, I lost my fantasy football match for the week by less than 2 points after a Trent Richardson fumble (-2 points) that set up a field goal for my opponents kicker (+3 points) in the fourth quarter of the Sunday night game.

In the 5 weeks since the marathon, I have not exercised and have gained 7 pounds.  My fantasy football team has straight matches to improve to 7-5.

This reminds me of what happened after I triumphantly returned from 4 days of Shotokan Karate special training.  I rear-ended a car on Massachusetts Avenue.

Moon Shadow

Running outside last night, the bright, almost full moon was directly overhead. Either I forgot or never knew that I can cast a shadow in moonlight. Seeing my distinct shadow was cool.

Running in Non-Ideal Conditions; 200-Run Goal

So far, I have run 60 minutes every other day five times, and conditions have not been ideal.

11/19/09 - night - crossed midnight during run
11/21/09 - afternoon - good weather
11/23/09 - night - crossed midnight during run
11/25/09 - slightly after dawn - light drizzle
11/27/09 (technically 11/28/09) - night - started after midnight - light rain and windy - "feels like 32"

Each time, I was not sure I would make it, and the first 10-15 minutes were always the hardest, but after that, I cruised, albeit at low speeds.

Since the comfort of my heart, lungs, legs, knees, and ankles were the rate-limiting factors, they were never too stressed. Since the third run, my muscles no longer ached after runs.

Surprisingly, the body parts that have suffered the most have been my throat (cough) and skin (chafing between legs).

My uncalibrated iPhone Nike+ app says that I have been running 5.45 to 5.74 miles and burning 860 to 906 calories per run. Oh, now I see that I set my weight to 210 pounds, and the calories burned must be based on that. I will adjust my weight down to 207 based on the last Wii Fit measurement.

If there are 9000 calories per kilogram of fat (based on 1 calorie per gram of fat, but Google returns different opinions on calories per kilogram of fat), there are 4100 calories per pound of fat. If I run 5 miles and burn 820 calories per run, 5 runs will burn 1 pound of fat.

If I want to burn 40 pounds of fat, I need to run 200 times, for 1000 miles and 164,000 calories. That seems like a nice approximation and reminds me of the saying: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Of course, as weight decreases, calories burned decreases, so a run would have to be longer to burn the same number of calories. In any case, 200 runs sounds like a good goal.

I have run 5 of 200 (2.5%).

Jenny says I look happier already!

Cough

I have a bit of a productive cough, but I wonder if it has more to do with running than with a cold, especially since I have been running surprisingly well. Maybe it is like snoring. Being too fat means too much oropharyngeal tissue and less space for air to flow. Maybe the cough is my body trying to adapt with the increased respiratory demands on my crowded airway.

Running

Weight: 211 lb.

I last ran (slash walked) on 8/21/09, and that was for about 38 minutes. I was testing out Nike+ with my iPhone and LunarGlide+ orange-soled shoes. The uncalibrated app estimated that I ran 3 miles. That was the first and only time I used the Nike+ until tonight (11/19/09-11/20/09).

Heather recommended the book "What I Think About When I Think About Running" some time ago, but I did not read it until Amazon recently made available a Kindle app. I have been reading the book on my iPhone when I take the train to work. The author reminds me of me, if only because Cambridge and the NYC Marathon play such prominent roles in the book (so far).

I was inspired and thought up elaborate plans to get back to running, such as this one:

Tonight: Walk laps around the condo complex for 30 minutes to measure a starting distance.

Tomorrow morning: Run that many laps without stopping. (The author was proud of never walking.)

Each morning after that: Run one more lap than the previous day until 30 minutes is reached.

Then whenever I improve enough to cut the time below 30 minutes, add another lap to go over 30 minutes.

Then as my weight decreases, run longer.

200+ lb => 30 minutes
190-199 lb => 40 minutes
180-189 lb => 50 minutes
170-179 lb => 60 minutes

As the night got later and later, I got more and more eager to get out there. I scrapped the plan and decided to run without stopping until I finished my running music playlist, which I thought was about 30 minutes long. The temperature was in the high 40s, so I went out in my trusty Reebok shirt and running shorts.

My hands were cold (I forgot my gloves), and I was anxious the first 15 minutes, but I settled down into a nice (slow) rhythm after that. The playlist went on and on, and by the time I was done, I had run over 60 minutes! (How perfectly typical of me to be so far off target!)

At the end, I kept going and going. I was relieved when the playlist finally ended, but I still felt okay except for slight twinges in my knees when turning (always right, since I was running clockwise when viewed from above). My hands stopped being cold about 15 minutes into the run.

The uncalibrated Nike+ estimated that I ran 5.5 miles. That sounds generous, but I am proud of running 60 minutes non-stop anyway. That is way more than double what I had hoped for!

Now it is 4:47am, and I still have not finished all the things I wanted to do tonight. Maybe my next run will be tomorrow morning.

The new plan is to just run 60 minutes non-stop each time I run, preferably at least once every 48 hours.

Anger versus Depression

I am unhappy, and I could either be angry or depressed. If I am depressed, I will not be able to do anything, so I choose to be angry.

Perhaps that is why there is so much hatred in the world. Hatred wards off depression.

I will be angry until I burn off the unhappiness.