Sunday, October 10, 2010

The 10th Leper and Resting HR

Today Jesus is called by 10 lepers. Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the authorities (so that they can be declared clean).  One of the lepers, not even a Jew, but a foreign Samaritan comes back to Jesus and says thank you - the other nine are not heard from.  This is a sad story for me because I identify myself with being in the group of nine.  And I associate Jesus (and the Trinity) with great love, charity, and brotherhood towards me.  But I see the lack of gratefulness in my life for this love.

I like the quote attributed to Steve Prefontaine: To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift. This idea fits well within today's readings.  You need to know you have received a gift before you can be thankful for it.  Running is my gift!  And I am very thankful now, so many years from my birth.  And I have returned to the place where the man healed me and he is not there and I cannot thank him!  ... but perhaps the way to say thank you is to give nothing less than my best.

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Today I tested my resting heart rate so that my HR zones could be setup for training.  It looks like while I was resting I started off in my tomatoes, then I walked over the fence into my neighbors wood pile, then I walked across an 8-foot high ceder hedge, then back into my bedroom, then to the garage, then the neighbors back yard, then the other neighbors back yard and bedroom!  I wonder if the Garmin can actually track the movement of my thoughts this way - I think Garmin is missing a great opportunity in not marketing to psychics, astrologers, and new-agers to track bilocation!  You can see my journey here.  (BTW, this is called drift in GPS terms, and if you use a differential base station - or another stationary receiver - you can get rid of this drift.  Cruise missiles and military planes are spot on though.)

So my resting HR is: 52.  What's yours after 15 mins of laying quietly?


I was awarded a Versatile Blogger award from Jill, plus I have both Prefontaine and Without Limits rented.  So I hope I can sneak these two movies in tomorrow and write up the award as well.

There are mighty deeds happening this weekend, triathlons, marathons, other races and I am RESTING!  I can't wait for all the great race reports!

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice post :-)

The Green Girl said...

Ah, yes, the Garmin paths.::smiles::

Anonymous said...

wonderful post.. gonna go back and read it again.
:)

Goose said...

I enjoyed this. A VERY nice reminder to show our gratitude often.

Karen R said...

That story in the Bible is one of my favorites! Thank you for reminding us to say thank you to the one who gave up His life to save ours :)

Jill said...

Do your neighbors know you stalk them??

Each day brings us knew challenges and throws us curveballs. We have good days running and bad days - sometimes there's an explanation and others not, but we always need to go back to the basics our our journey - and that's one of gratitude.

misszippy said...

My pastor spoke of that story this a.m. also. It definitely gives one pause. Sounds like you are making the most of it.

For someone so new to runnng, that's a pretty nice resting H.R.!

Anonymous said...

I often miss church on Sunday to run a race. I have been particularly aware these last few months of His support of my running. It's amazing... and I love my quiet time running to reflect on the blessings.

Christina said...

This is a very pretty post. I will reflect today on what my gifts are and be thankful for them. I think I probably need to show how thankful I am for those gifts.
Thanks for a good post.

Matthew Bradford said...

I "love" when Garmin goes berserk like that. It definitely tests my faith with the system, but does make for these awkward maps.

The best one I'd seen was when my friend was running in Singapore and it showed her skipping back and forth across a bay.

Anonymous said...

We had that lesson a couple of weeks ago in Church. Sometimes it all goes in one ear and out the other because I don't relate it to myself personally. Thanks for a new perspective.

Ewa said...

Ha! I can run over neighborhood roofs.

As for gratefulness, it is good to stop and be thankful but I also believe that truly living your life to the fullest is showing you cherish it. Sometimes nothing more needs to be said.

Q said...

LOL at your comment on my page.

A friend of mine has a co-worker who was doing the Run For the Cure (5k)last weekend, which I also planned to do. My plan was to run 22k that day, and use the Run for the Cure as part of it.

I had told a non-runner friend who already knew I was doing the Run for the Cure, that I was running 22k that day, or about a half marathon and left it at that since I doubted he cared about where and when.

Anyway, I guess I should have specified after all, because apparently he told his co-worker that was running that the Run for the Cure was going to be a half marathon.

I wonder if his co-worker ended up backing out lol.

Lucas R. Tucker said...

Great Post!

Zaneta @ Runner's Luck said...

wow! were you in church with me this morning?! haha, we talked about the exact same thing! the title of the sermon was "where were the other 9?" It made me think too... about how much praise I give God...

Neil Zee said...

I calculate my resting heart rate as an average of my just before sleep HR and my just woke up HR. I was taught that and it seems to be pretty accurate. As you start this on a regular basis, it works out to be a good health check, because you will notice sublte changes that indicate oncoming illness, etc...

Johann said...

Lovely post, thanks! My resting heart rate is about 43 currently. If I sleep for the night and take it when I wake up it is 38. Have a great week and stay out of your neighbor's bedroom!

Matty O said...

very low 40s. Never tested it when I wake up though.

AnnaMac said...

I just tested my HR, and it's 59. I haven't been resting though; I have been going to class, studying, and drinking coffee. I think I'll try it when I wake up tomorrow.

Julie said...

This was a wonderful post on gratitude. It makes me think about my running and how lucky I am to be able to get out there and run:)

Erika said...

Great post! I took my resting heart rate average over the course of three nights.

Lauren said...

beautiful post. I haven't tried my heart rate after resting 15 minutes. But when I randomly check my heart rate just doing nothin' it's usually between 60 and 70. I really love your words about wasting a gift. That very idea has been on my mind all of my life.

Patrick Mahoney said...

It's like you house has no walls. Impressive. RHR is about 54.

The Boring Runner said...

FIFTY TWO!? As in beats per minute!?? I honestly don't think mine gets much below 70. Just call me a humming bird.

Anne-Marie said...

Nice post... it's good to be reminded to be grateful and count our blessings!

52 is an awesome resting HR! I think I've seen mine go as far as 45 BPM when resting quietly. I'd always wanted to try to record it when I'm sleeping to see how low it *really* goes, but I haven't gotten around to it yet!

Gina Fit by 41 Maybe 42 said...

I used to keep up my thankful journal where I would write 3 things about each person in my household that I am thankful for. It's a habit I'd like to return to.

Andrew, you asked me about "Eating for Your Soul" program/classes I am attending. I am sorry I didn't get back to you sooner; I've been utilized heavily and time to self to think or blog much is nil. I'd like to post regularly about what I am learning to help me retain the info -- a self-imposed homework so-to-speak. I'm sorry if I came across as blowing off your question. I'm hoping to post after Sunday. Thanks.