I’ve never been big on New Year’s resolutions. I prefer making more manageable goals more often, like after I go to confession or as I’m going to bed or when the winter gloom starts to lift and spring cleaning beckons. But this year, just for kicks, I decided to make a few, as follows: 1. Read two books a month. 2. Go camping. 3. Stop hating the gym. Yes, I hate gyms. On principle. With a passion. Always have and always…won’t. Maybe. You see, I have serious grounds for my loa

It’s absurd. Superhuman, almost. On Saturday, May 6 at 5:45 am in Monza, Italy, Eliud Kipchoge ran 26.2 miles in two hours and 25 seconds. His feat was the result of a years-long, multimillion dollar research project called Breaking2. Kipchoge joined two others in the staggering undertaking: attempting to break the two-hour marathon barrier. I discovered the documentary a few weeks ago, and it’s been fascinating me ever since. (After I got over the fact that it’s basically on

You want to hear something great? I’m invincible. I’m hardly sick, I rarely get injured, I ride my bike somewhat recklessly along city streets at rush hour with nary a scrape to show for it. Some months I travel every weekend and some weeks I have plans every night and some nights I can’t sleep for hours but still wake with the sun and face the day. See? Invincible. Or so I’ve always told myself. I’ve really been putting this invincibility to the test recently. Nothing like

I ran a marathon a couple of years ago. After my second half, I figured, might as well. It was long and painful and probably what I'm most proud of. For days in the aftermath, I hobbled up and down subway steps, pondered the steady pain in my right foot, and cried while limping along a sidewalk. (It's going to be okay! was a smiling stranger's encouragement. I love New York.) And while the absurdity of running 26.2 miles has caused me to swear off running another until my 50t

“Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) Twenty six miles is an awfully long way to run. So far the longest I’ve run is 15. 15. Though I’ve always loved running, the farthest I used to go was three miles. Just under half an hour. I’d t