Average Obese Woman Gets 1 Hour of Exercise a Year (Men only 3.6 hours)

Yesterday I read a new study that stated the average obese woman gets only one hour of exercise a year.  Man only do slightly better at 3.6 hours yearly. Another study stated 1 out of 3 people in the US is obese.  That means that 33% of the US population gets less than 3.6 hours of exercise year. (16% gets less than one hour a year). 

The study defined "vigorous" exercise as activities that burn fat like jogging and jumping rope, but not sexual activity.  Sexual activity?! Oh...that to easy to make a joke about.  I'm not touching that one.

Just to put this more into perspective.  Here are the average number of hours a year that people spend on other activities (per a 2012 study): (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t01.htm)

	Men	Women
Personal care activities.	3365.30	3555.10
Sleeping	3139.00	3233.90
Eating and drinking	474.50	438.00
Household activities.	470.85	792.05
Housework.	102.20	328.50
Food preparation and cleanup	102.20	273.75
Lawn and garden care	91.25	43.80
Household management	36.50	54.75
Purchasing goods and services	219.00	306.60
Consumer goods purchases	98.55	156.95
Professional and personal care services.	21.90	36.50
Caring for and helping household members.	127.75	240.90
Caring for and helping household children.	98.55	193.45
Caring for and helping nonhousehold members	58.40	73.00
Caring for and helping nonhousehold adults	21.90	18.25
Working and work-related activities	1522.05	1073.10
Working.	1365.10	974.55
Educational activities.	193.45	171.55
Attending class.	109.50	94.90
Homework and research.	65.70	58.40
Organizational, civic, and religious activities	94.90	138.70
Religious and spiritual activities	43.80	65.70
Volunteering (organizational and civic activities)	40.15	54.75
Leisure and sports.	2113.35	1814.05
Socializing and communicating.	262.80	277.40
Watching television.	1120.55	952.65
Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail	40.15	73.00

Links to the report summary.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-02-average-obese-woman-hour-year.html

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20140220/average-obese-woman-gets-just-1-hour-of-exercise-a-year-study

 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t02.htm

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

"What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and
hourly. Our question must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl

This weekend I had a long trip to/from Atlanta.  Along with way I put in one of my brainy books.  It was a book about psychological and mans search for meaning (this book was sure to put Bonnie into a deep coma sleep). 

Sometimes you need to read a "brainy book" in order to
prepare to take over the world!!

I know you are asking, "why do you put this into a athletic blog?! Has Mr Half TRIing officially lost his mind?!" Bear with me..

The book was "Man's Search For Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy" by Viktor Frankl.  Before I bore you to death, let me tell you this book has sold 10 million copies and has been translated into 24 languages.  The Library of Congress says this books belongs to a list of "the ten most influential books in the United States."

Quick summary, "Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected his longevity. (Wikipedia)"

Parts of the book are very interesting and some of it was a little dry but all of it was mind opening and I highly recommend you pick up the audio book.  It's only 4 hours and you can bear through it.

What we do as endurance athletes is unique.  People do not understand why or how we do what we do.  How do we get up every morning in freezing or blistering hot weather to swim, bike and/or run?  Why do we do races that last 16 hours?  Why and do we suffer through all the pain?

In this book Viktor Frankl describes what it took for concentration camp inmates to survive in Auschwitz.  Basically he said those who had a reason to live could bear through anything.  Those who could not find meaning slipped into death.  Each individual needed to determine their reason to live (at that moment).  Once they fould the reason they could bear the suffering.  Friedrich Nietzsche summarized this when he said, "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." 

I am not comparing athletes to the suffering of concentration camp inmates but through their suffering we can learn a lot about life.  Frankl was a psychologist (and also an inmate) who saw that prisoners who had a "why" to live could bear all the "hows."

Frankl argues that the meaning of life is an individual thing and it can change at any given time.  As long as you have a meaning to life you can suffer through anything.

When we athletes set a goal (our why) we can bear any "how."  My current "why" is my first Ironman and over the next several months I can bear almost any "how."

What you is your current "why?"  It does not need to be an athletic goal.  But everyone needs a "why."  Without a "why" it will be very hard to suffer through all the "hows."

Carry "H.O.P.E." for Child Birth Defect Awareness Campaign in US.

I had the honor of catching my my friend Mathew at Ironman FL 2013.  He carried his charity's H.O.P.E flag for the entire marathon of the Ironman.  If you don't know about the H.O.P.E Flag and Shawn's Anomaly I suggest you visit their sites and learn more.

I met Mathew at Ironman FL 70.3 about three years ago.  This was both our first 70.3 race.  We were the last wave to go off so we had plenty of time to talk away our nervous energy.  He told me about his charity. On the Monday after the race I went to his website and donated money in his child's name.  Since then we have talk through many emails and through our blogs. 

The other day (by chance) I came across Shawn's new challenge.  He wants the H.O.P.E flag carried at every full Ironman in the US.  We'll I happen to be doing Ironman FL 2014 and he needs someone to carry the flag at that race.  So I am working with him now to see if we can make that happen.

Here is the Summary

Every 4 ½ minutes a child is born with a congenital birth defect, and it is the leading cause of infant deaths worldwide. This common, costly, and critical epidemic unfortunately does not get enough public attention thus leaving new parents feeling hopeless and alone when they are given the life altering news. Matthew and his wife, Rachel, know this from personal experience. Their only child, Shawn, was born with several birth defects including a 1 in 35 million condition that doctors had never treated before.

“When the doctors told us they had never seen these birth defects before, my wife and I were shocked and heartbroken for our newborn son. I mean what would you do?” Matthew explains, “An anomaly is a deviation from the normal, so I decided to be an anomaly and DO something. I told the doctors that we were going to make a deal. They would do what they could to fix my son, and I would make sure that another doctor could never tell a family what they just told us. That was the best deal I have ever made!”

It took 3 life-threatening surgeries in Shawn’s first year of life, but he survived. Shawn now lives like a typical 4 year old, but his scars serve as a daily reminder of the miraculous medical journey. Matthew kept his end of the deal by starting the non-profit, Shawn’s Anomaly, with a mission to provide education, hope, and help to families affected by congenital anomalies. Matthew also decided to raise awareness for this mission through his own “Anything is Possible” journey transforming from and overweight smoker to Ironman Triathlete.

After he finished Ironman, Matthew had several families send him messages of appreciation for telling their story and sharing their story with him. “It did not take long for me to realize that my journey was not over, and I could do something unique and personal to inspire and encourage other families,” Matthew states. A flag was created that he carried during the 2013 Ironman Florida for the duration of the 26.2 mile run. You can watch a video and find out more about the significance of the design by going to www.hopeflagchallenge.com. Matthew continued, “I knew how hard that would be, but it is not as hard as what they go through on a daily basis. Anything is possible if I just take it one step at a time!” Matthew did just that and most recently again at the Houston Marathon with the flag.

This journey has really brought a lot of inspiration and "hope" to families affected by congenital anomalies while making the public aware of birth defects.

Matthew has decided to take the H.O.P.E. Flag Challenge to a new level in 2014 by watching the flag become a proverbial torch and carried for every marathon mile of the U.S Ironman events by several athletes. He will pass the flag to the first athlete at Ironman Texas and they will run with it like he did at Florida. After completion of the race, the successful athlete will then be flown to the next event where they will pass off the flag to the next athlete.

We are going to document the athlete's stories and training while pairing them up with a family affected by congenital anomalies that is regionally in the area of the race. We plan to tell each family's story and invite them to be there when the athletes finishes with the flag to catch their reaction. Once we collect all the athlete and family stories, we will then put them in a 10 part online documentary series called the Stories of H.O.P.E. and allowing the audience to interact with live chats and podcasts with the athletes, families, and filmmakers.

The audience will also be allowed to submit their videos talking about how it has inspired them to become more active and how they want to join the iDO! Birth Defect Awareness Movement. The final story will be the Ironman World Championship where all of the athletes that carried the flag will meet the athlete at the finish to grab the flag one more time together and raise the flag as a victorious gesture.


He is looking for athletes for the following races..
If you are interested let me know and I will put you in touch with Mathew.

Coeur d'Alene 6/29/14 Coeur d'Alene, ID
Wisconsin 9/7/14 Madison, WI
Chattanooga 9/28/14 Chattanooga, TN
Louisville 10/24/14 Louisville, KY
Arizona 11/16/14 Tempe, AZ

H.O.P.E. (Helping Others, Providing Education)
IMAGE SOURCE

2013 Year In Review

2013 Year In Review

About this time every year I like to look back on what I have accomplished athletically because it is so easy for me to forget.

At the beginning of 2009 I could not run to the car (nor would I have wanted to). I hated running. I thought a 10 mile bike ride was REALLY long. Swimming over a mile was only for escaping Alcatraz prisoners (and impossible). I have never been an athletically gifted person. 

I am amazed and proud of what I have accomplished in a few short years. 
This Year I Completed

• 3 Half Marathons
• SwampHouse Half Marathon FL
• Ocala Half Marathon
• Space Coast Half Marathon
• 1 Marathon
• Jacksonville Bank Marathon
• 4 Half-Ironmans
• Miami Main 70.3
• Ironman Miami 70.3
• RocketMan 70.3
• HITS Ocala 70.3
• 2 Century Rides
• Soles 4 Souls (Cycling) FL 100mi 
• Champions Ride (Cycling) FL 100mi
• Started swimming Masters swims three days a week for an average of 7 miles swimming a week.
• I now weigh the same as when I left high school in mid 1990's!! (sometimes less).
• Blogged a world record number of spelling errors and grammar issues!!

2013 Total Race Distance: 346.7 miles

In 4 past years I have completed:

• 21 Half marathons
• 12 Half Ironmans
• 105 Laps a Lucky's Lake Open Water Swim (105 km)
• 3 Century Cycling Race
• 2 Metric Century Cycling Races
• 1 Ultra marathon (30 miles)
• 1 Marathon
• 1 30K run (15 miles)
• 4 Olympic Triathlons
• 10 5K, 10K, 15K runs (217 miles total)
• 1 Sprint Triathlons

If my math is right, that means in 4 years of ONLY races (not including training) I have done the following:

• 82.8 Miles Swimming
• 1252.6 Miles Cycling
• 749.4 Miles Running

That is a 2079.8 mile triathlon in races in 4.5 years. That means I have raced 67% of the distance across the United States (Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD).

Past Year End Reviews

• 2012 Year End Review
• 2011 Year End Review
• 2010 Year End Review  

Epochal Change - A Great Interview

Below is a recent, great interview with Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari that I found fascinating.  I highly recommend you read the whole interview.  Regardless of your religion, there are some great gems throughout the interview.  Pope Francis has great insight into the world and how to change it.

SOURCE: Scalfari, Eugenio.  "The Pope: how the Church will change". La Repubbilca.it. October 1, 2013. http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2013/10/01/news/pope_s_conversation_with_scalfari_english-67643118/
 
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The Pope: how the Church will change

Dialogue between Francis and La Repubblica's founder, Eugenio Scalfari: "Starting from the Second Vatican Council, open to modern culture". The conversation in the Vatican after the Pope's letter to La Repubblica: "Convert you? Proselytism is solemn nonsense. You have to meet people and listen to them."

Pope Francis told me: "The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old. The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other, and the problem is they don't even look for them any more. They have been crushed by the present. You tell me: can you live crushed under the weight of the present? Without a memory of the past and without the desire to look ahead to the future by building something, a future, a family? Can you go on like this? This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing."

Your Holiness, I say, it is largely a political and economic problem for states, governments, political parties, trade unions."Yes, you are right, but it also concerns the Church, in fact, particularly the Church because this situation does not hurt only bodies but also souls. The Church must feel responsible for both souls and bodies."

Your Holiness, you say that the Church must feel responsible. Should I conclude that the Church is not aware of this problem and that you will steer it in this direction?"To a large extent that awareness is there, but not sufficiently. I want it to be more so. It is not the only problem that we face, but it is the most urgent and the most dramatic."

The meeting with Pope Francis took place last Tuesday at his home in Santa Marta, in a small bare room with a table and five or six chairs and a painting on the wall. It had been preceded by a phone call I will never forget as long as I live.
It was half past two in the afternoon. My phone rings and in a somewhat shaky voice my secretary tells me: "I have the Pope on the line. I'll put him through immediately."

I was still stunned when I heard the voice of His Holiness on the other end of a the line saying, "Hello, this is Pope Francis." "Hello Your Holiness", I say and then, "I am shocked I did not expect you to call me." "Why so surprised? You wrote me a letter asking to meet me in person. I had the same wish, so I'm calling to fix an appointment. Let me look at my diary: I can't do Wednesday, nor Monday, would Tuesday suit you?"

I answer, that's fine.

"The time is a little awkward, three in the afternoon, is that okay? Otherwise it'll have to be another day." Your Holiness, the time is fine. "So we agree: Tuesday 24 at 3 o'clock. At Santa Marta. You have to come into the door at the Sant'Uffizio."

I don't know how to end this call and let myself go, saying: "Can I embrace you by phone?" "Of course, a hug from me too. Then we will do it in person, goodbye."

And here I am. The Pope comes in and shakes my hand, and we sit down. The Pope smiles and says: "Some of my colleagues who know you told me that you will try to convert me."

It's a joke, I tell him. My friends think it is you want to convert me.He smiles again and replies: "Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good."

Your Holiness, is there is a single vision of the Good? And who decides what it is?"Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good."

Your Holiness, you wrote that in your letter to me. The conscience is autonomous, you said, and everyone must obey his conscience. I think that's one of the most courageous steps taken by a Pope."And I repeat it here. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place."

Is the Church doing that?
"Yes, that is the purpose of our mission: to identify the material and immaterial needs of the people and try to meet them as we can. Do you know what agape is?"

Yes, I know."It is love of others, as our Lord preached. It is not proselytizing, it is love. Love for one's neighbor, that leavening that serves the common good."

Love your neighbor as yourself."Exactly so."

Jesus in his preaching said that agape, love for others, is the only way to love God. Correct me if I'm wrong."You're not wrong. The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood. All are brothers and all children of God. Abba, as he called the Father. I will show you the way, he said. Follow me and you will find the Father and you will all be his children and he will take delight in you. Agape, the love of each one of us for the other, from the closest to the furthest, is in fact the only way that Jesus has given us to find the way of salvation and of the Beatitudes."

However, as we said, Jesus told us that love for one's neighbor is equal to what we have for ourselves. So what many call narcissism is recognized as valid, positive, to the same extent as the other. We've talked a lot about this aspect."I don't like the word narcissism", the Pope said, "it indicates an excessive love for oneself and this is not good, it can produce serious damage not only to the soul of those affected but also in relationship with others, with the society in which one lives. The real trouble is that those most affected by this  -  which is actually a kind of mental disorder  -  are people who have a lot of power. Often bosses are narcissists".

Many church leaders have been."You know what I think about this? Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy."

The leprosy of the papacy, those were his exact words. But what is the court? Perhaps he is alluding to the curia?"No, there are sometimes courtiers in the curia, but the curia as a whole is another thing. It is what in an army is called the quartermaster's office, it manages the services that serve the Holy See. But it has one defect: it is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests. This Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and I'll do everything I can to change it. The Church is or should go back to being a community of God's people, and priests, pastors and bishops who have the care of souls, are at the service of the people of God. The Church is this, a word not surprisingly different from the Holy See, which has its own function, important but at the service of the Church. I would not have been able to have complete faith in God and in his Son if I had not been trained in the Church, and if I had not had the good fortune of being in Argentina, in a community without which I would not have become aware myself and my faith. "

You heard your calling at a young age?"No, not very young. My family wanted me to have a different profession, to work, earn some money. I went to university. I also had a teacher for whom I had a lot of respect and developed a friendship and who was a fervent communist. She often read Communist Party texts to me and gave them to me to read. So I also got to know that very materialistic conception. I remember that she also gave me the statement from the American Communists in defense of the Rosenbergs, who had been sentenced to death. The woman I'm talking about was later arrested, tortured and killed by the dictatorship then ruling in Argentina."

Where you seduced by Communism?"Her materialism had no hold over me. But learning about it through a courageous and honest person was helpful. I realized a few things, an aspect of the social, which I then found in the social doctrine of the Church."

Liberation theology, which Pope John Paul II excommunicated, was widespread in Latin America."Yes, many of its members were Argentines."

Do you think it was right that the Pope fought against them?"It certainly gave a political aspect to their theology, but many of them were believers and with a high concept of humanity."

Your Holiness, may I tell you something about my own cultural background? I was raised by a mother who was a strict Catholic. At the age of 12 I won a catechism contest held by all the parishes in Rome and I was given a prize by the Vicariate. I took communion on the first Friday of every month, in other words, I was a practicing Catholic and a true believer. But all that changed when I entered high school. I read, among other philosophical texts that we studied, Descartes' "Discourse on Method" and I was struck by the phrase, which has now become an icon, "I think, therefore I am." The individual thus became the basis of human existence, the seat of free thought."Descartes, however, never denied faith in a transcendent God."

That is true, but he laid the foundation for a very different vision and I happened to follow that path, which later, supported by other things I read, let me to a very different place.
"You, however, from what I understand, are a non-believer but not anti-clerical. They are two very different things."

True, I am not anticlerical, but I become so when I meet a clericalist.He smiles and says, "It also happens to me that when I meet a clericalist, I suddenly become anti-clerical. Clericalism should not have anything to do with Christianity. St. Paul, who was the first to speak to the Gentiles, the pagans, to believers in other religions, was the first to teach us that."

Can I ask you, Your Holiness, which saints you feel closest to in your soul, those who have shaped your religious experience?"St. Paul is the one who laid down the cornerstones of our religion and our creed. You cannot be a conscious Christian without St. Paul. He translated the teachings of Christ into a doctrinal structure that, even with the additions of a vast number of thinkers, theologians and pastors, has resisted and still exists after two thousand years. Then there are Augustine, Benedict and Thomas and Ignatius.
Naturally Francis. Do I need to explain why?"

Francis  -  I allow myself to call him that because it is the Pope himself who suggests it by the way he speaks, the way he smiles, with his exclamations of surprise and understanding  -  looks at me as if to encourage me to ask questions that are even more scandalous and embarrassing for those who guide the Church. So I ask him: you explained the importance of Paul and the role he played, but I want to know which of those you named feels closer to your soul?

"You're asking me for a ranking, but classifications are for sports or things like that. I could tell you the name of the best footballers in Argentina. But the saints..."

They say joke with knaves, you know the proverb?"Exactly. But I'm not trying to avoid your question, because you didn't ask me for ranking of their cultural and religious importance but who is closest to my soul. So I'd say: Augustine and Francis."

Not Ignatius, from whose order you come?"Ignatius, for understandable reasons, is the saint I know better than any other. He founded our Order. I'd like to remind you that Carlo Maria Martini also came from that order, someone who is very dear to me and also to you. Jesuits were and still are the leavening  -  not the only one but perhaps the most effective  -  of Catholicism: culture, teaching, missionary work, loyalty to the Pope. But Ignatius who founded the Society, was also a reformer and a mystic. Especially a mystic."

And you think that mystics have been important for the Church?"They have been fundamental. A religion without mystics is a philosophy."

Do you have a mystical vocation?"What do you think?"

I wouldn't think so."You're probably right. I love the mystics; Francis also was in many aspects of his life, but I do not think I have the vocation and then we must understand the deep meaning of that word. The mystic manages to strip himself of action, of facts, objectives and even the pastoral mission and rises until he reaches communion with the Beatitudes. Brief moments but which fill an entire life."

Has that ever happened to you?"Rarely. For example, when the conclave elected me Pope. Before I accepted I asked if I could spend a few minutes in the room next to the one with the balcony overlooking the square. My head was completely empty and I was seized by a great anxiety. To make it go way and relax I closed my eyes and made every thought disappear, even the thought of refusing to accept the position, as the liturgical procedure allows. I closed my eyes and I no longer had any anxiety or emotion. At a certain point I was filled with a great light. It lasted a moment, but to me it seemed very long. Then the light faded, I got up suddenly and walked into the room where the cardinals were waiting and the table on which was the act of acceptance. I signed it, the Cardinal Camerlengo countersigned it and then on the balcony there was the '"Habemus Papam".

We were silent for a moment, then I said: we were talking about the saints that you feel closest to your soul and we were left with Augustine. Will you tell me why you feel very close to him?
"Even for my predecessor Augustine is a reference point. That saint went through many vicissitudes in his life and changed his doctrinal position several times. He also had harsh words for the Jews, which I never shared. He wrote many books and what I think is most revealing of his intellectual and spiritual intimacy are the "Confessions", which also contain some manifestations of mysticism, but he is not, as many would argue, a continuation of Paul. Indeed, he sees the Church and the faith in very different ways than Paul, perhaps four centuries passed between one and the other. "

What is the difference, Your Holiness?"For me it lies in two substantial aspects. Augustine feels powerless in the face of the immensity of God and the tasks that a Christian and a bishop has to fulfill. In fact he was by no means powerless, but he felt that his soul was always less than he wanted and needed it to be. And then the grace dispensed by the Lord as a basic element of faith. Of life. Of the meaning of life. Someone who is not touched by grace may be a person without blemish and without fear, as they say, but he will never be like a person who has touched grace. This is Augustine's insight."

Do you feel touched by grace?"No one can know that. Grace is not part of consciousness, it is the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason. Even you, without knowing it, could be touched by grace."

Without faith? A non-believer?"Grace regards the soul."

I do not believe in the soul."You do not believe in it but you have one."

Your Holiness, you said that you have no intention of trying to convert me and I do not think you would succeed."We cannot know that, but I don't have any such intention."

And St. Francis?"He's great because he is everything. He is a man who wants to do things, wants to build, he founded an order and its rules, he is an itinerant and a missionary, a poet and a prophet, he is mystical. He found evil in himself and rooted it out. He loved nature, animals, the blade of grass on the lawn and the birds flying in the sky. But above all he loved people, children, old people, women. He is the most shining example of that agape we talked about earlier."

Your Holiness is right, the description is perfect. But why did none of your predecessors ever choose that name? And I believe that after you no one else will choose it."We do not know that, let's not speculate about the future. True, no one chose it before me. Here we face the problem of problems. Would you like something to drink?"
Thank you, maybe a glass of water.
He gets up, opens the door and asks someone in the entrance to bring two glasses of water. He asks me if I want a coffee, I say no. The water arrives. At the end of our conversation, my glass will be empty, but his will remain full. He clears his throat and begins.
"Francis wanted a mendicant order and an itinerant one. Missionaries who wanted to meet, listen, talk, help, to spread faith and love. Especially love. And he dreamed of a poor Church that would take care of others, receive material aid and use it to support others, with no concern for itself. 800 years have passed since then and times have changed, but the ideal of a missionary, poor Church is still more than valid. This is still the Church that Jesus and his disciples preached about."

You Christians are now a minority. Even in Italy, which is known as the pope's backyard. Practicing Catholics, according to some polls, are between 8 and 15 percent. Those who say they are Catholic but in fact are not very are about 20%. In the world, there are a billion Catholics or more, and with other Christian churches there are over a billion and a half, but the population of the planet is 6 or 7 billion people. There are certainly many of you, especially in Africa and Latin America, but you are a minority."We always have been but the issue today is not that. Personally I think that being a minority is actually a strength. We have to be a leavening of life and love and the leavening is infinitely smaller than the mass of fruits, flowers and trees that are born out of it. I believe I have already said that our goal is not to proselytize but to listen to needs, desires and disappointments, despair, hope. We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace. Vatican II, inspired by Pope Paul VI and John, decided to look to the future with a modern spirit and to be open to modern culture. The Council Fathers knew that being open to modern culture meant religious ecumenism and dialogue with non-believers. But afterwards very little was done in that direction. I have the humility and ambition to want to do something."

Also because - I allow myself to add - modern society throughout the world is going through a period of deep crisis, not only economic but also social and spiritual. At the beginning of our meeting you described a generation crushed under the weight of the present. Even we non-believers feel this almost anthropological weight. That is why we want dialogue with believers and those who best represent them."I don't know if I'm the best of those who represent them, but providence has placed me at the head of the Church and the Diocese of Peter. I will do what I can to fulfill the mandate that has been entrusted to me."

Jesus, as you pointed out, said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Do you think that this has happened?"Unfortunately, no. Selfishness has increased and love towards others declined."

So this is the goal that we have in common: at least to equalize the intensity of these two kinds of love. Is your Church ready and equipped to carry out this task?"What do you think?"

I think love for temporal power is still very strong within the Vatican walls and in the institutional structure of the whole Church. I think that the institution dominates the poor, missionary Church that you would like."In fact, that is the way it is, and in this area you cannot perform miracles. Let me remind you that even Francis in his time held long negotiations with the Roman hierarchy and the Pope to have the rules of his order recognized. Eventually he got the approval but with profound changes and compromises."

Will you have to follow the same path?"I'm not Francis of Assisi and I do not have his strength and his holiness. But I am the Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic world. The first thing I decided was to appoint a group of eight cardinals to be my advisers. Not courtiers but wise people who share my own feelings. This is the beginning of a Church with an organization that is not just top-down but also horizontal. When Cardinal Martini talked about focusing on the councils and synods he knew how long and difficult it would be to go in that direction. Gently, but firmly and tenaciously."

And politics?"Why do you ask? I have already said that the Church will not deal with politics."

But just a few days ago you appealed to Catholics to engage civilly and politically."I was not addressing only Catholics but all men of good will. I say that politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion. Political institutions are secular by definition and operate in independent spheres. All my predecessors have said the same thing, for many years at least, albeit with different accents. I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I'm here."

But that has not always being the case with the Church."It has almost never been the case. Often the Church as an institution has been dominated by temporalism and many members and senior Catholic leaders still feel this way.
But now let me ask you a question: you, a secular non-believer in God, what do you believe in? You are a writer and a man of thought. You believe in something, you must have a dominant value. Don't answer me with words like honesty, seeking, the vision of the common good, all important principles and values but that is not what I am asking. I am asking what you think is the essence of the world, indeed the universe. You must ask yourself, of course, like everyone else, who we are, where we come from, where we are going. Even children ask themselves these questions. And you?"

I am grateful for this question. The answer is this: I believe in Being, that is in the tissue from which forms, bodies arise."And I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being. Do you think we are very far apart?"

We are distant in our thinking, but similar as human beings, unconsciously animated by our instincts that turn into impulses, feelings and will, thought and reason. In this we are alike."But can you define what you call Being?"

Being is a fabric of energy. Chaotic but indestructible energy and eternal chaos. Forms emerge from that energy when it reaches the point of exploding. The forms have their own laws, their magnetic fields, their chemical elements, which combine randomly, evolve, and are eventually extinguished but their energy is not destroyed. Man is probably the only animal endowed with thought, at least in our planet and solar system. I said that he is driven by instincts and desires but I would add that he also contains within himself a resonance, an echo, a vocation of chaos."All right. I did not want you to give me a summary of your philosophy and what you have told me is enough for me. From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us. In the letter I wrote to you, you will remember I said that our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone."

Yes, I remember it well. You said, "All the light will be in all souls" which - if I may say so - gives more an image of immanence than of transcendence."Transcendence remains because that light, all in everything, transcends the universe and the species it inhabits at that stage. But back to the present. We have made a step forward in our dialogue. We have observed that in society and the world in which we live selfishness has increased more than love for others, and that men of good will must work, each with his own strengths and expertise, to ensure that love for others increases until it is equal and possibly exceeds love for oneself."

Once again, politics comes into the picture."Certainly. Personally I think so-called unrestrained liberalism only makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker and excludes the most excluded. We need great freedom, no discrimination, no demagoguery and a lot of love. We need rules of conduct and also, if necessary, direct intervention from the state to correct the more intolerable inequalities."

Your Holiness, you are certainly a person of great faith, touched by grace, animated by the desire to revive a pastoral, missionary church that is renewed and not temporal. But from the way you talk and from what I understand, you are and will be a revolutionary pope. Half Jesuit, half a man of Francis, a combination that perhaps has never been seen before. And then, you like "The Betrothed" by Manzoni, Holderlin, Leopardi and especially Dostoevsky, the film "La Strada" and "Prova d'orchestra" by Fellini, "Open City" by Rossellini and also the film of Aldo Fabrizi ."I like those because I watched them with my parents when I was a child."

There you are. May I recommend two recently released films? "Viva la libertà" and the films on Fellini by Ettore Scola. I'm sure you'll like them.
Regarding power, I say, you know that when I was 20 I spent a month and a half in a spiritual retreat with the Jesuits? The Nazis were in Rome and I had deserted from military service. That was punishable by the death sentence. The Jesuits hid us on condition that we did spiritual exercises the whole time that they kept us hidden."But is it impossible to stand a month and a half of spiritual exercises?" he asks, amazed and amused. I will tell him more next time.

We embrace. We climb the short staircase to the door. I tell the Pope there is no need to accompany me but he waves that aside with a gesture. "We will also discuss the role of women in the Church. Remember that the Church (la chiesa) is feminine."

And if you like, we can also to talk about Pascal. I'd like to know what you think of that great soul.

"Give all your family my blessings and ask them to pray for me. Think of me, think of me often."
We shake hands and he stands with his two fingers raised in a blessing. I wave to him from the window.

This is Pope Francis. If the Church becomes like him and becomes what he wants it to be, it will be an epochal change.

(Translated from Italian to English by Kathryn Wallace)
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Sister Madonna Buder - The Iron Nun

Sister Madonna Buder - The Iron Nun

 

On Sunday, I competed in the RocketMan 70.3 race.  I also had the great opportunity to hear speak and cheer on an amazing women, Sister Madonna Buder. 

Sister Madonna Duder is an amazing women.  Sister Madonna is current 82 years old.   She started running at age 48 on the advise of here priest.  Since then she has completed over 325 triathlons and 45 (YES FORTY FIVE) FULL Ironman distance races. 

She completed her first Ironman Kona at 75 years old and is the oldest woman to complete an Ironman distance race in under 17 hours.  WTC had to make an age group for her.  She is working on getting yet another age group added to Kona soon if she qualifies.

Sister Madonna not only gave the opening prayer at last weekend's Rocketman, she also completed the 70.3 distance race!!  I had the joy of cheering her on at the end of the race.  Below are her results.  Darn impressive.

SISTER MADONNA BUDER
Age 83 (SPOKANE WA)
Overall: 08:35:05
Swim 1:21:13
Bike 4:01:19
Run 3:04:23

She says "Heading to the finish line of the Ironman is like me getting to the pearly gates. I think that is why I smile every time at the finish." SOURCE

If you want to learn more about her story see the links and videos below.  She also has a book you can get at fine stores everywhere or at Amazon.

Links:

Growing Bolder: Sister Madonna Buder

Florida Today: Grace keeps Iron Nun, 82, in the race

Ironman: 82-Year-Old Sister Madonna Buder Returns

2012 Year End Review

2012 Year End Review

Past Year End Reviews
2011 Year End Review
2010 Year End Review

About this time every year I like to look back on what I have accomplished athletically because it is so easy for me to forget. 

At the beginning of 2009 I could not run to the car (nor would I have wanted to).  I hated running.  I thought a 10 mile bike ride was REALLY long.  Swimming over a mile was only for escaping Alcatraz prisoners (and impossible).  I was never been an athletically gifted person.  It is amazing at what I have done in a few short years. 

In 3.5 past years I have completed:

• 18  Half marathons
• 8    Half Ironmans
• 103 Laps a Lucky's Lake Open Water Swim (103 km)
• 1    Century Cycling Race
• 2    Metric Century Cycling Races
• 1    Ultra marathon (30 miles)
• 1    30K run (15 miles)
• 4    Olympic Triathlons
• 10  5K, 10K, 15K runs (217 miles total)
• 1    Sprint Triathlons
• Lost 37 lbs - Burned 129,500 calories (647.5 Krispy Kreme Glazed Donuts)
• Blog had a world record number of spelling errors and grammar issues.

If my math is right that means in 3.5 years of ONLY races (not including training) I have done the following:

• 77.8 Miles Swimming
• 823.6 Miles Cycling
• 630.5 Miles Running

That is a 1531.85 mile triathlon in races.  That's half the distance across the United States (from Maine to California).  I now am going to call myself a Half Amerithoner. :-) 

This year I completed:

• 4 Half Ironmans
• 4 Half Marathons
• Ran an average of 20 miles every week
• Swam an average of 90 minutes a week
• Biked an average of 60 miles a week 
• I now weigh the same as when I left high school in mid 1990's!! 

Lucky's Lake 100K Club

Lucky's Lake 100K Club

Saturday I did my 100 lap to be inducted into Lucky's Lake 100K Club.  Bonnie and Triston showed up to see my 100th crossing.  My name was highlighted on the wall in yellow to indicate this achievement.  I also received my 100K club hat which features a drawing of the famous Lake Cane monster.  Lucky took my bio and will be putting up on his blog and on the 100K Club page in the next couple of weeks.



I will now live in infamy.
Bonnie's first lap name is right above mine.

There was one other person completing his 100 lap on Saturday.

Some really hot, cool, fit, etc guy sporting his 70.3 Augusta
jacket and the 100K Club hat.

The famous 100K lap.
Why does the monster look like a slug?

Amazing people with more amazing stories

For most people waiting in the registration line and sitting around for an hour to get into the water is what they hate most about triathlons.  I find this to be the best time.  You get to hear everyone stories.  Most are pretty lame (like mine), some are about losing weight, yet others are simply amazing. 



Shawn's Ironman



At the FL 70.3, while waiting the hour before my swim, I met MathewHis story is amazing.  You can read about it here. 

Mathew has a 2 year old son called Shawn who was born with “several urological conditions including a multicystic dysplastic kidney and then diagnosed with a patent urachus. He had to have surgery at 10 days old to correct the leaking out of his belly button. During that surgery they went in and determined that he also had a very rare condition that, to the doctor’s knowledge, closely relates a bilateral urethra (I have coined “Shawn’s Urethra” after my son since there has never been a case like his) where his urethra split near the prostate and exited behind his scrotum. There has been very little research or studies regarding his condition, but everything that came back said he was the youngest to undergo the surgery to reconstruct and remove his 2nd urethra at 7 months old. At that time they also removed the cysts where his kidney should have formed. At 14 months old he underwent a third surgery to repair a tethered spine."

Mathew is now doing triathlons to raise money for research into this rare medical condition.  I have talked to him several times since that race and he is a great guy.

Sharon and Scott at the Lake Norman Triathlon
The smile tell the true story.

While waiting in line at the Miami Man 70.3 I met Scott and Sharon Callahan and their story is also amazing.  I will summarize it here but the links below do a much better job.  One day Sharon started having headaches.  Those headaches grew worse.  These headaches were caused by a brain infection which eventually robbed Sharon of many of her past memories and her ability to create new memories.  She did not remember who her child and husband were but remembered her truck and how to drive it.  She did not know the name of a toaster.  It was just the toast heating up thingy.  Many memories still have not retired to her and Scott must remember them for her.  Many mornings are started out with her writing reminders on her forearm with a Sharpie marker.  Reminder labels must be placed on many items in the house.

Eventually the stress got to Scott and he started gaining weight.  At one point he was up to 377 pounds.  Sharon tricked Scott into going to see a doctor by “forgetting” where she was driving.  Scott decided to forgo the gastric bypass surgery and lose the weight through diet and exercise.  The couple then decided to do triathlons together.  Scott then lost 150 pounds. 

Each race Sharon must relearn most of that she learned.  It is like every race is her first race.  Scott and Sharon get permission to do the entire race together so Scott can remind and help Sharon throughout the entire race.  She needs to be reminded on when to turn, what to wear and when,  what she will be doing next, etc

The links below do a better job explaining this complex story.  I highly suggest you read and watch the videos.  They are simply amazing.

Scott and Sharon are great and nice people.  I was a great pleasure talking to them and hearing their story.  I hope to see and talk to them again in the near future.

http://www.myfox8.com/news/buckleyreport/wghp-story-remember-me-20111122,0,89814.story

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/16/2692807/an-unforgettable-love.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/14/2692234/an-unforgettable-love.html#storylink=misearch?img=1