OK, Yes, today is April Fools’ Day – and as such I thought I should do something different for this Blog - I wanted to see if I could connect each element of THPL (life, learning and fitness) to April Fools’ Day. Here goes…
Life – I find that you either really like April Fools’ Day or you do not. There are practical jokers and there are people who find jokes at the expense of others to be objectionable. Not sure one is better than the other but what I do know is that we need to see this as yet another example of how in life we need to respect each other, their beliefs and interests and support them, especially when their beliefs are different than our own. On a day like today the contrast in approach are more pronounced and you can practice learning to appreciate others who are different than you are.
Learning – I have always found the history of April Fools’ Day to be interesting, so for those of you who have not read about it here goes. The origins of April Fools’ Day are shrouded in mystery, experts say. The most popular theory is that France changed its calendar in the 1500s so that the New Year would begin in January to match the Roman calendar instead of beginning at the start of spring, in late March or early April. However word of the change traveled slowly, and many people in rural areas continued to celebrate the New Year in the spring. These country dwellers became known as “April fools,” the story goes. Boese, who has studied the holiday’s origin, disagrees with that interpretation. "[The French] theory is completely wrong, because the day that the French celebrated the beginning of the year legally was Easter day, so it never really was associated with April first,” he said. Boese believes instead that April Fools’ Day simply grew out of age-old European spring festivals of renewal, in which pranks and camouflaging one’s identity are common. There are many other stories like this one and the truth be told there is no conclusive history to explain the origins of April Fools’ Day. So I suggest that you enjoy the Day regardless of its origin
Fitness – so, the connection here is a bit soft. So, I make it as follows – to live THPL you have to be true to everything you do – your commitment and seriousness to your quest is of paramount importance. You cannot be a poser, or a fake or a phony. Thus you work harder and harder to achieve a maximum fitness. And so, it would seem that there is little room for “jokes and fools”. Nothing intrinsically bad – just not a key part of the program. The earnest pursuit of excellence requires a sacrifice and sometimes it comes as a compromise to fun, and sometimes it is this level that makes all the difference in the world.
OK – there you have it – a fun day – one for giggles and humor. Hope you enjoyed it.
So, now we start April – the first quarter is completed. I suggest you take an inventory of your progress against your goals for 2013. How are you doing? On track? And if not do you have a plan to get back on track? My progress against my goals is as follows:
Life – write a Blog, coach a few new budding athletes, learn how to meditate
Q1 – Blog writing continues – over 200 followers, good progress
Coaching five athletes – great progress, especially fun now that spring is here
Meditating – an abject failure – this one is going to be hard to achieve.
Learning – watch 1,000 Ted videos, learn more about the Education industry,
Q1 YTD, watched a total of 150 TED videos, behind by 100 videos, this is tough, I love the videos but it takes a lot of time
Education industry learning is on track
Fitness – Run 2,000 miles, run a 50 mile ultra-marathon, complete my fifth Ironman and do 75,000 pushups
Q1 - YTD 678 miles – ahead of annual goal by 178 miles
Pushups – YTD 21,385 – ahead of goal by a few thousand
Races are still to come – July 27 for the 50 miler and September 9thfor the ironman
Overall, I still give myself a B to B+. I have 9 months to go – that is a lot of time – so I will keep the focus and work on the execution and of course focus on having fun and living alongside others who are striving to be part of THPL lifestyle.
Sally started me off in Q2 in good form - 3:26 +20 seconds, then 233 pushups on the 4:17 song.
Loving life having survived April Fools’ Day
Ciao
Joe