Phedippidations (Sport)

Today I’m going to tell you a story about my total solar eclipse experience and it’s aftermath, and give you an update on my foot reconstruction surgery and my plans to return to the road and assume, once again, the role of “Steve Runner”. A Total Eclipse of the Sun is a spectacular convergence of Copernican alignment that demonstrates the power of science and our being present in a beautiful universe.

Dear Eva: You were my sweetie. You took after your Lemon beagle birth mother, Honey. Your father was a tri-colored beagle named Joey (also your brother Indiana Jone’s father). Born on May 28th, 2010: you were the scrawniest of the litter of seven. I first saw you in a cage where your brothers and sisters were stepping all over you: I knew you were “the one”. You, little girl, were a “scootch”: always excited to go for a walk, constantly sniffing for bunnies but never really wanting to catch one. You’re the only puppy I’ve ever known who, when a toy was thrown, would run to get the toy and then run away in another direction. You were my “little girl” Eva, Jones Walker and you were never one to “fetch”. You loved to play during treat time, where we would “dance around the treat” until you were able to grab it (and not sure if you noticed, but you always won the treat). You loved to sleep on the top of the couch and in the morning would always make the effort to “army crawl” on your belly, up from the bottom of the bed to see us. Yours was a life of a princess, and you were always the one in charge. I’ll miss you every day. You filled our lives with such incredible joy. “Hey, Sweetie? Wanna go for a WALK?”. Tree-si-so.

You cannot lose weight without dieting or exercising. 1. Why? Because we are ugly bags of mostly water and store excess calories that we eat as fat.\ 2. Why? Because our bodies resting metabolic rate is finite and our capacity to eat high caloric food is less so. 3. Why? Because regulation in the hypothalamus and internal organs of the human body maintains an internal temperature of roughly 37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit in order to sustain optimal performance and protect us from death. 4. Why? Because if our body temperature exceeds 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time, our brain, heart, kidneys, liver, and intestines will become damaged. So, you cannot lose weight without dieting or exercising. 5. Why? Because SCIENCE

In Burning 60, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how much and when I’ve been eating, consuming less than 1,500 calories per day during an 8-hour window. But I haven’t considered HOW I eat, or the benefits of doing so mindfully. It seems intuitive that if we slow down, focus, and consider everything that goes into the act of consumption, we can have a better experience with food which will, through biological mechanisms not discussed in this episode, help us to lose weight.

Our bodies have to work to eliminate alcohol from our bodies as quickly as possible, and it doesn’t help us build strong muscles or support healthy bones. One might say (and many do) that alcohol is filled with “selfish calories”…because it forces our bodies to ignore life-sustaining nutrients so that it can focus on metabolizing…or, burning, alcohol. While I admit that there is, to some, a pleasant side effect of alcohol…the fact is that this toxin is a burden on our bodies. Them’s just the facts of SCIENCE.

As a goofy little podcaster who has brought you with me through many long runs, road races and marathons, I have been less than proud to admit to you that I weigh 76 in excess of 174 pounds (the weight I should weigh for a healthy body mass index). Although sharing the truth of my progress in Burning 60 is self-deprecating, I’m willing to put myself out there, or, to paraphrase the thoughts of a well loved traveler: “I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.” - AB

Carl Sagan once said that “Extraordinary Claims require Extraordinary Evidence”. That’s probably true even for ordinary claims, such as not eating food will lead to weight loss. It may be that by tracking my food intake, keeping my daily caloric consumption down around to about 1,500 a day and limiting when I eat through intermittent fasting are contributing to my burning 60 weight loss. Or, it could be a magical tapeworm that has infested my trunk. Whatever the reason, intermittent fasting is not some spiritual malarkey that will lead to great things…although it might help you to lose a few pounds or 60. Check with your doctor before you start following such a plan. In a universe where mammals are not much more than ugly meat bags of mostly water, what we use to fuel our furnace comes not only from consumed molecules but from our own bodies through fasting. Because, when there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

We are always burning, it’s what we do…and we have to do more than just accept that, we have to embrace it, we have to lean into it hard. Because one day, all that that burning we do will come to an end and the metabolic processes we hold so dear will cease to function. When that happens, and I promise you it will: we will be transformed from being mammals living with the illusion of free will into ugly meat bags of mostly water. But not today. Not while we burn. Not while we lean into life.

Burning 60 isn’t magic…it’s science. It’s applying well-documented and understood practices to a problem and observing the results. Burning 60 isn’t difficult, it just takes a willingness to follow the rules dictated by the well-documented and understood practice of science. All I’m doing is subtracting the active and resting energy I burn each day from the 1,534 calorie budget that I’m sticking to based on my goal of losing about 2 pounds per week considering my height, weight, and age. And now, at the age of 60 years, I’ve come to understand that it’s not the magnitude of that number that is important in my life, it’s the life that’s always been most important in my years. Life is short, but it should be long enough. We put life in our years when we live our lives in the very best way we can…one might even say “to the top”.

Indiana Jones Walker was my best friend. A lemon beagle born on March 28th, 2009 in Swansea MA to Joey and Willow, Indy lived a great life and was deeply loved by his family: Lynn, Eva and Steve. Indy enjoyed meatballs, sniffing for bunnies, playing “Chase-me Chasey” and “The Grrrr Game”, going for “walks” (i.e. dragging Steve around hunting for bunnies), howling at the neighbors, sleeping on his back, ripping the squeaker out of every toy he ever owned and watching our beloved Red Sox. He was a good boy.

A Burns Supper is a remarkable event, and one that I highly recommend you attend. The poetry of the Plowmen Bard is romantic, sentimental, lustful, honest, satirical, humorous and authentic for the 1780’s in which he wrote through now and forever. On the next January 25th, if you can find a Burns Supper being hosted near you: I highly recommend that attend. It’s a beautiful way to celebrate the life of the Ploughman Bard.

To quote Judy Collins: “Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, You in mid-air, Where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns” On behalf of my Dad and the woman who gave my siblings and I life, who in turn gave life to her grandchildren…We want to thank you with all of our hearts for being here today. I’m Stephen John, Loretta’s first child and like you, I will always miss her. But then there’s this weird thing, and I know my Mom was keenly aware of this: “the phenomenon of living on in your progeny” Her influence, taste, opinion, knowledge, philosophy, story and voice…will continue to live on within us. My Mom, or “Ra Ra” as her grandchildren call her, was always good at remembering special days with a card. Every year on Ellen’s birthday (December 25th) she’d write “you’re still my best Christmas present ever!” on her birthday card…and so on Christmas Day, 2009 when Ellen broke the news that she was pregnant with the twins giving my Mom a framed print of the ultrasound: Mom squealed loudly with joy and said “Ellen, If you EVER need ANY help with the kids, I mean ANYTHING just let me know…I’ll send Dad over.” I used to joke with her that she was the curator of “Cliche Hell”…because she would always have just the right hackneyed phrase of wit to underscore the situation. If something went wrong she’d say: “When life gives you lemons make lemonade” If you were feeling pressure or tension she’d say: “Stressed spelled backwards is dessert” If you listen very carefully you can still hear her now: “Stephen”, she’ll say: SUSAN: “Those of you who think you know so much are very annoying to those of us who do”. See what I mean? She had a knack for comic delivery. My Mom, Loretta: is obviously still with us: she has influenced and metaphorically touched us in ways that we can’t understand at the momement. You may have heard some of us use the phrase “Tri-si-so”. It’s a term of endearment of which I am the author ,but there’s an element of body language associated with it you may not know about. When I was a child, before developing this amazing skill of speech, my Mom would ask: “Stephen, how much do you love me?” to which I’d respond, arms open wide “Tri-Si-So”. It means “This much: With all my heart”. You want to experience my Mom’s presence? That’s easy: just spend some time with her children. Ellen will demonstrate her strength, Susan will demonstrate her love of friends and family, Mark will demonstrate his kindness to creatures great and small. Her grandchildren will demonstrate her love of adventure, stories and giving. And I, I can tell you of her compassion, it wasn’t just “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” kind of compassion…she was more of a “be kind to others” kinda person. She always voted for the party of “do no harm”: JFK, RFK, Carter, Clinton, and Obama: you’re welcome…she even voted with compassion. Whenever we had a problem... Moms solution was always to follow the path of kindness. My Mom, Loretta, was a big beliver in authenticty: she taught her children and grandchildren to embrace the experiences of life, to cherish the arts of theatre, music, food, and the epic shouts and laughter of an Italian Family Dinner. She traveled the world and encouraged us to do the same…not just to see the world, but to taste, hear, smell and feel it. She wanted us to experience the world fully and authentically. Mom and Dad didn’t just visit Italy, They emersed themselves in it, savoring the land of her ancestors. Last Thursday I asked my Dad go to Fenway with me for game one of the ALCS. He didn’t want to leave Mom alone, of course. She died holding his hand. “Don’t leave me” she said, her last words in life. As you’d expect: He didn’t. When my siblings, neices and nephews were children, my Mom would read to us and encouraged us to do so as well. Mom is why her children and grandchildren have always loved to read…except maybe for Johnny, because: well…he’s Johnny. “The Giving Tree”, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, “Oh, the Places You'll Go!”, “Strega Nona” and of course Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” were some of her favorites. In a special scene near the end of the book, it’s been a year since The Little Prince had left his planet, and he was going home. Saint-Exupery writes: “…And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will be just one of the stars for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens…they will all be your friends. And besides I am going to make you a present… He laughed again. “Ah, little Prince, dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!”. “That is my present. Just that…It will be as it was when we drank the water…” “What are you trying to say?” “All men have the stars,” he answered, “but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others, they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessmen they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You - you alone - will have the stars as no one else has them -“ “What are you trying to say?” In one of those stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night. You - only you - will have stars that can laugh”. I think that’s what my Mom was trying to tell us all these years: Enjoy simply Feel deeply Think freely Dance as though no one is watching Love as though you’ve never been hurt before Sing as though no one can hear you Live well Laugh often Love much and be kind. I love you Mom, Tree-si-so with all my heart.

In these troublesome times for our Country and World, you should know that there is a dude. A dude who asks only for the occasional adult beverage, a dude who does mind, the Dude minds. “This will not stand”, he’ll say, “ya know, this aggression will not stand man.” Mike is the dude, so that’s what you call him. That or His Dudeness of Duder or El Duderino if your not into the whole brevity thing. Above all, the Dude Abides: and you should find comfort in that.

The Solstice is a time to be mindful. It’s about being present, but not about stopping time It’s about savoring the present without thinking or feeling about it It’s about acknowledging all the emails, text messages, tweets, updates, news flashes, alerts, alarms and distractions without engaging with them for a few minutes It’s about learning how to interact with the universe around us in a focused, meaningful, thoughtful way. We’re standing or sitting or laying down on a planet that is orbiting around it’s axis once a day, and orbits a star every year and rises and falls up and down along the plane of a universe every 125 million years that has spinning away from the galactic center

This is my father. Glenn Francis Walker, son of Pius Alexander Walker and Helena Viola MacDonald, my Grampa and Nana. Grampa was the son of Angus B. Walker and Theresa Morrison, my great grandparents, Angus was the son of Peter Walker and Mary MacDonald, my great great grandparents. Peter was the son of Angus Walker who married Sara McPhee on February 9th, 1846 at Saint Micheals Roman Catholic Church on Prince Edward Island, Canada: my great, great, great grandparents. I’m sure that my ancestors beyond Grampa were great. But my Dad? Glenn Francis Walker, whose birth certificate from Boston Lying-In Hospital in Boston Massachusetts certified that Francis Glenn Walker, weighing 8 pounds 3 ops was born at 2:19 PM on May 25th, 1937…my Dad, he’s the greatest. I love you tree-tri-so Dad. Happy Fathers Day.