The Weekend Miscellaneous #14 (17 miles, Banana bag, Ferriss & Naval, Mr. Feynman)

It is pretty cool to wake up and see that people on the other side of the world have been reading my writing in my sleep. In total, over the last several months since I started writing, the blog has been read by people in 92 different countries. Below is the map of what that looks like. If you have a friend in Greenland, send it their way. I am trying to paint the world pink.

Without any further ado or anything extemporaneous, here is the weekend review which I call The Weekend Miscellaneous.

17 miles - I ran 17 miles on Sunday. I am now well into uncharted territory. In my first 25 years, I had run one half-marathon on a morning of sheer will and determination. Besides that, I had only run further than 3 miles a handful of times. My second longest run was 5 miles, which was why the half marathon was so crazy at the time. Now, on 3 of the last 5 Sundays, I have run a half marathon, 15 miles, and 17 miles. I am probably going to run a marathon soon. I feel so fortunate not to have had any injuries throughout all of this running (knocking on wood as I write this). It is good to be 25.

Banana bag - For the long runs recently, I have brought along with me a bottle of this drink that I like called Roar. I like the Georgia Peach flavor. For the 17 mile run this weekend, I figured I should bring a snack too. I looked up what was recommended and ended up pocketing a small ziploc bag with a banana broken into quarters and a handful of raisins as well. I cracked open the bag around the 9 or 10 mile mark to have my snack on the run. The 4 pieces of banana had held their form relatively well in my pocket but had definitely changed a little bit. They looked almost caramelized as if they were ready to be served as part of a banana foster. Most of the raisins seemed to have selected one of the 4 chunks of banana to stick with. I popped the first piece. It was delicious. I had no idea this concoction had been slow-cooking in my pocket by means of consistent motion and body heat. The good news is that I discovered a surprisingly tasty snack. The bad news is that it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to prepare. The official recipe is to cut a banana into four pieces, put that in a ziploc bag with a handful of raisins, put the bag in your pocket, and run ten miles in 70 or 80 degree heat. Enjoy.

Ferriss & Naval - I listened to a podcast during my run as usual. This was a great one. It was a two-hour conversation between Tim Ferriss and Naval Ravikant, two people who have influenced me a lot through things they have written and said. They talk about everything from morning routines and identifying great founders to their favorite books and how to read them. At one point, Naval talks about how he became a healthier eater simply by getting a teppanyaki grill. He says the freshness of eating meats and vegetables just seconds removed from the grill is as enjoyable as any of the unhealthier foods he used to enjoy instead. Humans evolved eating around the fire cooking food bite by bite. It is instinctually pleasant. I had a couple great experiences eating out at places with teppanyaki grills with my buddy Eric in Japan. I am thinking about getting one now myself.

Mr. Feynman - On the podcast, Tim & Naval talked about their mutual admiration for the famed physicist, Richard Feynman. I had started his book Six Easy Pieces several weeks ago but never got past the first few chapters. I think I will revisit it at some point, but first I want to check out Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. It sounds more biographical than physics-focused. Last night, I watched this 50 minute interview with Mr. Feynman called The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. I gathered from the chapters I read of his book that he must have been an extraordinary teacher and this video goes to show that. He talks about how he picked it up from the way his father taught him when he was young. He talks about the importance of treating work like play, the concept of "active irresponsibility", and the difference between saying one knows something and legitimately knowing something. Mr. Feynman seems like an exceptionally curious character and I look forward to learning more about him and his teachings of physics and otherwise.