T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 14
Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #14!
Here are some things I really like and that you might too.
Finance Articles
Here’s How I Ended Up in so much Student Loan Debt (Rose Colored Water) – “I made some poor choices and I accept them. I’ll continue working through them being proud of who I am and what I’m accomplishing.”
Plastic Free Challenge – Could You Do It? (Chris Istace) – “Everywhere we look plastic is creeping into every aspect of our lives and becoming more invasive.”
Video
This great short video from REI celebrates the need for all of us to do hard things in life, by choice. Running is a great and affordable way to accomplish that.
Who’s Inspired Me
My running, cycling, and climbing friends. Since this pandemic started we’ve all been forced to alter our routines and stay away from others. It could be very easy to slip into a funk and into poor health habits. Food is always a 10 second walk away in the kitchen. Mental anguish or anxiety can sometimes make it harder to get the motivation to exercise.
My amazing group of athlete friends have been spurring me on more than ever. We’re throwing out challenges to each other, motivating each other, and coming together more than ever even though it’s not in a physical sense. We’re still crushing it.
We know that a healthy and fit body makes a healthy mind and reduces stress, and we’re looking out for each other through inspiration and accountability. Keep moving, keep pushing.
What I’m Grateful For
My house. I bought it over 18 years ago and I picked well, it’s more than tripled in value. Most importantly it’s my adventure home-base, and I’ll never sell it.
Lyrically Speaking
He takes a step back
He’s under attack
But he knows that no one can touch him now
He seems so at ease
A strange inner peace
Is all that he’s feeling somehow
He’s got all kinds of time
He’s got all kinds of time
All kinds of time
From “All Kinds Of Time”, by Fountains Of Wayne
Adam Schlesinger, one of the founding members of Fountains Of Wayne, died of complications from COVID-19 last week. He wrote many of their best songs, and tons of award winning songs for others including in film and television. I’m a sucker for a catchy power pop song played with real instruments (not the horrible computer driven stuff), and Schlesinger was a master.
This song is one of my favorites of his, it’s not power pop but melancholic and reflective. I listened to it after hearing he died and when he sings the chorus “he’s got all kinds of time”, it made me really sad, because it turns out he didn’t.
We may think we have all kinds of time in life, but who knows. Time, not money, is the resource we should cherish.
Miscellaneous
What Your Resting Heart Rate Says About You – “It could hint at how long you’ll live”
Americans Have Always Worked Hard to Ignore Vacation – “Long before the Declaration of Independence, colonists accepted longer workweeks and fewer days off than nations across the globe.”
The Pandemic Is Turning the Natural World Upside Down
Another great T.G.I.F. Dave!
Really enjoyed the video on running. It’s also so true that physical activity promotes better mental health.
Now more than ever!
you seem to be really ramping up the running this year, dave. the sciatic must be feeling better, eh? i’m glad you put up that resting heart rate article. i recently completed a little one person study of RHR vs. consumption of the sauce. i took 3.5 weeks off the wine to give my favorite internal organs (liver and kidneys) a rest. my resting HR on the sauce is around 56-57. for 3 weeks off the sauce it was 46. that’s a big damned difference and it is immediate and obvious. i’m not particularly fit during this period so that was the only real variable. the quality of sleep/rest was much better too. some day i’ll try the difference among 1, 2, 3, 4 glasses but that’s for down the road.
Haha you noticed, it’s almost as if I keep a tracker on my site 🙂 Yes, I’ve been more disciplined about doing my stretches and PT for the hamstrings etc and it seems to be working. So I’ve upped the distances a bit on the two runs I usually do every week. Getting in some 6-8 mile length runs and man they feel great.
Wow, that seems pretty dramatic about the alcohol. That’s a huge drop. Now you have me wondering about my own situation, although my RHR is already at about 45, so I can’t imagine it dipping much lower. Also I don’t think I drink as much as you, I typically only have a glass of wine or a semi-weak cocktail every day, unless it’s a special occasion. One of these days I’m gonna to an alcohol cleanse, but not in these crazy times!
Thanks for the shout-out and link my friend, really appreciate that. Myself during all of this I have stepped back from running and really stepped up my cycling instead. Building out the bike-packing setup for it as well but that will have to wait until we can travel outside of our communities.
Oh I miss bikepacking. I have a nice Revelate seat bag and a pretty decent setup, now we just need this pandemic to end. This is a great season for it.
These guys are from my alma mater, University of Northern Iowa. They live in Denver now. A bit more extreme, but a awesome video. How to run 100 miles.
https://youtu.be/iC7Lh4opLsc
Yes I’ve seen that, Semi-rad is awesome!
Nice running video. Since the gym is closed and we cancelled our weekly outdoor Saturday pickup basketball games, I have been running more often. I have a harder time with it since it is not my favorite. I do about two 5k runs a week now. Trying to push it to three… Always looking for ways to keep my interest. Being 50 yo, nice to see the older guy in video. Ha ha.
Great job man, and 50 is not really old, I’m sure with a few more weeks of this you’ll be able to crush half of the 20-somethings around!