Thanks to Adam for submitting this story. A great one to get back to when you lack motivation.

Happy Monday.

By Cincom CEO Tom Nies on August 08th, 2010
10 Key Strategies to Get Motivated

Sometimes motivation is a problem. It’s hard to get going. To get inspired. Especially when there is an overabundance of negative news or negativity in your work environment.

What to do?

When the problem is motivation, you need some time-tested tools to help you get going. Here are 10 key strategies for motivation I have found helpful:

1. See the end in mind.

You need to know when you’re done and you need to know what good looks like. You might not have the perfect map, but at least know your destination. Be able to see it in your mind’s eye. A good test is if you can draw your vision or quickly tell others what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s easier to keep going when you can see the finish line. It’s also easier to keep going if you like where you’re going. You can correct course easier if you know you’re getting closer or further to your destination.

2. Make it meaningful.

Have a purpose. Having a compelling purpose is a key to driving results. Sometimes, it’s as simple as redefining your purpose because your original purpose isn’t working. Use the right metaphor. Frame it in a compelling way. Redefine it. Is it a mountain or a molehill? Are you on a mission? Sometimes all it takes is the right emotional picture word to give new meaning to your activity.

3. Use pain and pleasure to get leverage on yourself.

Make it painful to not do it. Make it pleasurable to do it. Find a way to enjoy it. It’s not discipline. It’s passion. It’s not about militant discipline—it’s about finding ways to enjoy the things that are good for you. Link it to pleasure. Change how you feel about the stuff you do. Don’t assume you’ll automatically like something over time. Reward yourself in the moment. Learn to like it. One of the simplest ways to enjoy it is switching your mindset. Master your craft. Make it a game. Use selective intolerance. Spend more time with your catalysts and avoid the drains. This means avoiding draining activities and spending less time with people that take your energy away. Instead, spend your time in activities that make you stronger. Spend time with people that give you energy. Play to your strengths. Follow your passions.

4. Master self-discipline.

Flex your self-discipline muscles. Some things are a trade … pay me now or pay me later. Self-discipline is often about trading pleasure now for pleasing results later. Make resistance your friend. Don’t let resistance defeat you. Make resistance your friend. It makes you stronger. It just has to be the right resistance. If you know you’re growing, it’s easier to keep going.

5. Make it a routine.

It’s not discipline. It’s routine.Don’t make yourself work too hard each time.

Use checklists to improve.

Focus on the learning.

Master your craft.

Bootstrap your routines.

6. Set boundaries.

Set a quota. You can limit the amount you do. Use timeboxing and timeboxes. You can use time boundaries to limit or compartmentalize pain. For example, let’s say you have a bunch of activities that drain you. Consolidate and batch them for an hour in the morning to get them out of the way. You can also use timeboxes to sprint for short bursts. Fix time for eating, sleeping and working out. Have a fixed time for eating, sleeping and working out. This is an extremely common success pattern. The sum of establishing these three routines is more than the parts. These three activities support each other. Having a routine for them, helps you learn your energy patterns. Your body learns what to expect. Sometimes, what you think is a motivation issue, is really a lack of sleep. Sometimes it’s simply because you don’t eat at regular intervals and you lose energy. Working out often helps people sleep better and eat better.

7. Build momentum.

Start with something simple. Do your worst things first and get them out of the way. Set incremental hurdles. Success builds momentum.Don’t create your own walls that you can’t scale.

One of the simplest ways to break the pattern is to start with something simple, and get success. Incremental success becomes a habit.

8. Take action.

Motivation often follows action.Sometimes action doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. But without action … there will be no action.

You’ll also find that if you put in your hours, you’ll have more changes for inspiration moments.

Better yet, you set yourself up for taking advantage of those inspiration moments when they occur.

9. Reward your effort over your performance.

You can control your effort.You can’t control your results. Focus on rewarding your effort versus your performance.

By focusing on what you control, you teach yourself to give your best, independent of the outcome. This sets you up for more positive outcomes.

10. Pair up.

One of the most effective ways to find your motivation is to team up with somebody. Find somebody who complements your strengths. For example, if you’re a starter, find a finisher. If you’re a maximizer, find a simplifier. It also helps to find somebody who’s been there or done that for whatever you’re trying to accomplish. Their experience can save you a lot of wasted time or energy. It’s also easier to buy into a plan if you know it’s based on what works. That in itself is motivating.

http://www.careerealism.com/5-simple-ways-organize-information/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Careerealism+%28CAREEREALISM%29

5 Simple Ways to Organize Information
August 16, 2010 by sparktalk

By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Emily Bennington

Does this sound familiar?
You read an AWESOME article online and you promised you’d save it somewhere…but you didn’t. So you go to find it…but you can’t…and eventually you just forget about it altogether.
You’re not alone.
Regardless of where you are on your career path, true success requires a systematic way to capture the best of what you’re reading so, ideally, you can incorporate it into your daily life. Below are a few ways to get started.

1. Journals
Anyone who knows me knows I love to keep (and give) Moleskine journals. In fact, whenever I read a business book, I always make it a point to have my Moleskine with me to write down key thoughts and concepts. Part of my reason for doing this is convenience since I don’t always have my laptop handy. The other part is sentimental as I plan to give the journals to my sons when they enter the workforce. Either way, the benefit is I have the best career advice I’ve ever read in one place.

2. iPhone Notes/Apps
I also keep various notes on my iPhone. I know it probably sounds like a lot of extra work to keep notes in two places, but here’s the difference: If I’m working through an idea (next book, blog content, etc.), I keep it on my phone where I can access and update anytime. If it’s perennial info from a book or article, I write it in the journal.

3. Google Reader
Just when I assume the whole world is using Google Reader, I always meet some poor soul who has never heard of it. Long story short, this service allows you to aggregate and quickly sort through hundreds of blogs each day. Think of it as a mini-newspaper where you get to pick the articles.
Enjoying this article? Here are 9 flawless reasons to subscribe to our blog.

4. Binders
Okay, I’m about to get old school on you now. I love three-ring binders. I have about five going at any given time where I keep printouts of articles, divided by subject, in plastic sheet protectors. Could I save some space by simply adding the content links to my Favorites toolbar? You bet. However, for me, the binders serve a dual purpose. Aside from once again collecting the best thinking on a topic in one place, they are a terrific conversation piece. Since I make sure the spine designs are eye-catching, usually people who visit my office will comment on them, opening the door for all sorts of yummy dialogue.

5. Twitter Lists/Favorites
Since we all probably waste more time than we care to admit sorting through the musings of everyone we follow, thank God for Twitter lists. With this feature, it’s easy to group people into buckets and pull tweets from only select users. You can also favorite great links on Twitter, just be sure to back them up using one of the methods above – lest they get buried and subsequently forgotten.

A final bit of advice: Be sure to review your notes, binders, feeds, and favorites every six months or so and weed out what’s no longer applicable or relevant to your work. If all else fails and you still find yourself drowning in content overload, simply check out for a day or so until you have time to catch up. Trust me, the info stream will keep going…and it will welcome you back when you’re ready.

Very interesting article about a father losing his life to cancer and how he planned to teach his daughters the life lessons he may not be around to teach. Looks like could be a good program to watch.

“I’m a person who has tried in my life to dream undreamable dreams. Who’s gonna teach them how to dream? Who’s the person that’s gonna tell them if they want to run a marathon, open a restaurant, write a book, cook the hardest soufflé. Who’s gonna say to them, ‘You can do it?’”

NEW YORK (CNN) — Bruce Feiler remembers how he felt in May 2008. “I was a healthy person,” and he was on the top of the world. Happily married, father to twin girls and a best-selling author. His book “Walking the Bible” was celebrated, and it gave him the nickname, “The Walking Guy.” He made a living exploring the world, literally walking in other people’s shoes.

But on that day in May, he was stopped in his tracks by a routine blood test. “My doctor says your alk phosphatase number is high,” Feiler recalls. “She explains that alk phosphatase vaguely suggesting that there is something wrong with your liver or your bones. Another test, my liver is cleared and she says almost like on a whim, why don’t you get a full-body bone scan?”

That test revealed a growth on his left femur, or thighbone. Feiler remembers his doctor was not concerned. “She says. It looks like nothing, don’t worry, it’s not like you have cancer. I repeated that a lot. ‘Don’t worry,’ I say to my parents. ‘Don’t worry,’ I say to my wife. ‘Don’t worry,’ I say to myself. I don’t have cancer.”

But Feiler’s wife, Linda, had a hunch that something was wrong: “You know as a wife, as a spouse. You know as a parent when something’s just off. And he just didn’t look himself. ”

A follow-up X-ray and MRI of his left leg revealed an 8-inch cancerous tumor. The official diagnosis was an osteosarcoma. Osteosarcomas strike just 900 Americans a year. Two-thirds of them are younger than 40. Feiler was 43.

Read more: Dads for My Daughters

“It’s uncommon to have this diagnosis,” says Dr. John Healey, vice chair of the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. “I know it’s not going to show my patient any mercy, and I’m not going to show it any mercy.”
Author’s accidental diagnosis
Feiler: Cutting out the cancer
Feiler: Is the cancer back?

His colleague, medical oncologist Robert Maki, said Feiler’s age was not in his favor. “The bulk of people who get osteogenesis sarcoma are below age 21. They seem to do less well overall. We don’t know exactly why that is the case, what is the difference. They just don’t respond as well for some reason. ”

A father’s 10 lessons for his daughters

News of the diagnosis terrified Feiler. “There’s never a moment that is not shadowed in some way by that cancer, illness, the idea of dying is never that far away,” he says.

The man who’d made a living by walking knew he might never walk again. He knew that he might not live to see his twin daughters, Eden and Tybee, grow up. “I’m a person who has tried in my life to dream undreamable dreams. Who’s gonna teach them how to dream? Who’s the person that’s gonna tell them if they want to run a marathon, open a restaurant, write a book, cook the hardest soufflé. Who’s gonna say to them, ‘You can do it?’”

What the girls’ mom learned

Feiler came up with a extraordinary answer. He would put together a group of men and call them his council of dads. Six men from different stages of Feiler’s life who could be Feiler’s voice, and could teach his girls the life lessons he might not be there to teach.

Jeff Shumlin and Feiler met traveling the world. As comfortable on a tractor in Maine as on a train platform in Europe, Shumlin would teach the girls how to really know and learn the world around them. For Shumlin, even a mud puddle can make for an adventure,

“Go out and jump in the mud puddle,” he would tell the girls. “Thrash around. Find out what it feels like and come out covered in mud. As long as you jump in, there will always be something to learn.”

For childhood friend Ben Edwards, it was not about the mud puddles, but the tadpoles. They walked into kindergarten holding hands. And spent their afternoons trying to catch tadpoles in the neighborhood drainage ditch that they could grow into frogs. For Feiler, it became a metaphor. “He is my tadpole. He is that friend who was there at the beginning, who came back at a moment of possible ending to remind me where we came from.”

Form your own council of dads

Edwards would teach Feiler’s girls about history, fun and friendship. “You just want your kids to have a base of where they’re from,” Edwards says, “And hopefully I can give them that base and they remember, you know, that this is tadpoles and frogs and just happy, happy times.”

It would take four other men to capture the other facets of Feiler’s personality, and of his voice. His college roommate. His business partner. A fellow writer. His closest confidant. These men would step in if the unthinkable happened. And, during Feiler’s battle with cancer, they would fight alongside him.

Feiler would need an army. His yearlong roller-coaster fight for life bought him to the brink of death. Would he survive? And, would the council be there for his girls?

Watch “Dads for My Daughters,” a special Dr. Sanjay Gupta documentary to air June 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

Sometimes you hear people bemoaning their current failures and using all sorts of negative descriptions. A good friend of mine always described the self fulfilling prophecy “if you think you can you will, and if you don’t you won’t.” It took me awhile to really take that to heart, and in the end I know its true.

Everyday people like you and me may all put in the same amount of “effort” but its the type of effort and direction you are heading that makes the difference. At the foundation like any sport of skill it always goes back to technique. In business and in life its questions.

When interviewed and asked how he made some many baskets, Michael Jordan said it best…”I have made that shot, 1,000 times in my mind.” Very powerful!

So a few questions that a smart friend shared with me earlier this week that I want to share with you to get you heading in the right direction. They can be used to plan your year, month, week, day, project, event, whatever.

What is my ultimate outcome today…for this project (as an example)? Really simmer on this one…its very important.
Who do I want to be today? (example – leader, teacher, coach, mentor, expert)
If I was going to be a (leader) what qualities would I need to possess today to make a real impact?
What are the experiences I want to share today with Mr or Mrs. X? How do I want to make them feel?
If I accomplish my goal this week, how I am going to feel? What will that look like?

And a few great daily questions to get you going in the right direction?

What am I committed to today?
What am I excited about today?
What could I be excited about today?
What am I grateful for today?

That should get you started…and I would love to hear any suggestions that you have. The best material I share is from the wisdom of others.

“To help the poor, don’t be one of them.”

What are your thoughts on this statement?

Munk Debates site below:

http://www.munkdebates.com/home.aspx

Happy Monday

Gustavo The Great
Bob Simon Profiles One Of The Biggest Stars In Classical Music, Gustavo Dudamel
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/17/60minutes/main3841251.shtml

(CBS) Who’s the world’s greatest conductor? You could debate that question for days. Who’s the world’s most precocious conductor? Hands down it’s Gustavo Dudamel, a shaggy haired prodigy from Venezuela, who has become classical music’s newest rock star.

Gustavo started taking music lessons when he was four. When he was 15, he was named conductor of Venezuela’s national youth orchestra. Ten months ago, at the ripe old age of 26, the Los Angeles Philharmonic hired him as its next music director.

Gustavo Dudamel is simply the hottest thing to hit classical music since Leonard Bernstein. But in the world of music, why talk? Better to look, and listen.

Aside from the hair, the first thing you might notice about Gustavo Dudamel is the joy, the exuberance, the passion, the energy, with which he conducts. The hair bounces, the arms fly. He is a man possessed, conducting Beethoven, but doing a ballet. Watching Dudamel conduct is mesmerizing, and audiences around the world can’t get enough of him. But don’t think of him as a talented newcomer. Despite his youth, Gustavo sees himself as a weathered veteran.

“I’m not too young,” he tells Simon. “I’m 26.”

“You’re an old man,” Simon remarks.

“I’m a very old man, Dudamel says, laughing. “No, you know. I feel you know, I start to conduct orchestras when I was 12 years old.”

But Dudamel says it’s not true when he sees himself described as a genius, prodigy, or wunderkind. “I think that I need to learn a lot, a lot. I think that this is my beginning,” he says.

Gustavo exploded onto the international stage in 2004, with a lot less hair but just as much energy. He was one of 16 people invited to compete for the Mahler Prize, the world’s most prestigious competition for young conductors. And he won. One of the judges was the L.A. Philharmonic conductor, who after seeing Gustavo, called Los Angeles to talk to his boss, Deborah Borda.

“And he said, ‘Well, actually, I just saw the most amazing young conductor. He’s a 24-year-old Venezuelan kid. He barely speaks English. And Deborah, he’s a real conducting animal,’” Borda recalls, laughing.

It was the beginning of a global phenomenon known as “Dudamel-mania.” Newspapers and magazines started covering his every move. A German company signed a recording contract with him. He was sought after to conduct orchestras around the world. Even the pope commanded a performance. But the music world was stunned when the Los Angeles Philharmonic hired him to be its next music director.

“I think that the atmosphere exists here for him to really change musical history,” Borda says. “Gustavo has an ability to communicate what is passionate and vital about music in a very 21st century way.”

To read the rest click the link at the top

For those Canadians who have always wondered by the Europeans tend to like us more than the Americans, are friendly to us when we visit, its not because we are “nicer” and less annoying….its because our generation who went to war to save our way of life and save millions of lives in Europe sacrificed EVERYTHING they had so that we could live the way we do today.

On my next trip through the Netherlands, I plan to take some time to visit the memorial and talk with some of the locals on the impact our grandparents had on their nation.

Have a great week.

Liberation Day (The Netherlands)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Netherlands, Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag) is celebrated each year on May 5th, to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.

The nation was liberated largely by Canadian troops, with the assistance of the British and American Armies (see Operation Market Garden) and French airborne (see Operation Amherst). On the 5th of May 1945, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz reached an agreement on the capitulation of German forces in the Netherlands in Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. One day later, the capitulation document was signed in the auditorium of Wageningen University, located next-door to the hotel.

After the liberation in 1945, Liberation Day was commemorated every 5 years. Finally, in 1990, the day was declared to be a national holiday, when the liberation would be commemorated and celebrated every year.

On May 4th, the Dutch hold the Remembrance of the Dead for the people who have fought and died during World War II, and wars in general. There is a remembrance gathering in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and at the National Monument on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. Throughout the country, two minutes of silence are observed at 8:00 p.m. On May 5th, the liberation is celebrated and festivals are held at most places in the Netherlands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Day_%28The_Netherlands%29

To see more information click the link above

Happy Tuesday

51 WAYS TO COPE WITH STRESS

1. Get up 15 minutes earlier.
2. Prepare for the morning the night before.
3. Watch a sunrise.
4. Watch a sunset.
5. Avoid tight fitting clothes.
6. Set priorities in your life.
7. Avoid negative people.
8. Tell someone to have a good day in pig latin.
9. Throw a paper airplane.
10. Clean out one closet.
11. Take a walk.
12. Try yoga.
13. Get enough sleep.
14. Freely praise others.
15. Get to work early.
16. Clean your car.
17. Strive for excellence not perfection.
18. Be cheerful and optimistic.
19. Smile-it’s contagious.
20. Look at a work of art.
21. Go watch the monkeys at the zoo.
22. Teach a child to fly a kite.
23. Look at problems as challenges.
24. Be prepared for rain.
25. Tickle a baby.
26. Pet a friendly dog/cat.
27. Look for the silver lining.
28. Always have a plan “B.”
29. Quite trying to fix other people.
30. Talk less and listen more.
31. Watch a movie and eat popcorn.
32. Plant a tree.
33. Feed the birds.
34. Don’t know all the answers.
35. Don’t rely on your memory-make a list.
36. Read a poem.
37. Stop a bad habit.
38. Buy flowers.
39. Do it today.
40. Stand up and stretch.
41. Take a different route to work.
42. Go on a picnic.
43. Be a tourist in your own town.
44. Keep a journal.
45. Believe in you.
46. Visualize yourself winning.
47. Dance a jig.
48. Watch a ballet.
49. Listen to a symphony.
50. Go to a comedy club.
51. Relax and take each day as it comes…you have the rest of your life.

Via NorthWestern University

I spent a couple days in NYC this weekend and discussed the friendliness and support of the NYC people to those who run the NYC Marathon every November. The course runs through all 5 boroughs and families from every neighborhood line the sidewalks 8 deep looking to get a glimpse of the runners and cheer people on from all countries.

Past runners have said wight your name and country on your jersey and you’ll be surprised how many people will call you out by name. And that they do. Many say its one of the main reasons they finish the race.

To that point, a friend who i didn’t know at the time, but discussing today ran in the same year both agreed, we would not have finished without their help. Lastly, to the volunteer who gave me a bottle of water and the high tech, silver, space aged blanket post race to keep me from passing out…i still remember what you look like and the feeling of friendship and comfort you provided.

To those who volunteer their time to set up these and other races, we thank you, for those who spend quality family time on street corners cheering, we remember you….Thank you!

http://www.4deserts.com/blogs/comptetior_blog_new.php?authorid=NzI4&blog=16

The Long Brutal Rewarding 73.4km Day
13-Mar-2010 08:52:20 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]

Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2010
I just finished reading some emails and looked at my cyber neighbour Erica Terreblanche, a South African second in the women’s category. We both had the experience simultaneously of getting an intravenous dose of energy, love, and support. Never dismiss giving your support to a friend; you have no idea the impact it has. Thanks for taking some of your time to write a note.

At the end of 73.4km we ran into camp after I don’t know how many hours. Attrition was taking its toll; we lost half, 4 in our tent alone; only Rod from CA stumbled in 4 hours later. Lorrie Brophy, the amazing 78 year old was pulled out by the medical team, so was Charlotte Valentine. Clancy Johanssen, another tent mate, had been waiting and she doted on us as we arrived, nursing us, helping on each of our damaged toes, like a mother with her children. Both my hands seized up. I was looking at them like they didn’t belong to me and Clancy massaged my arms to bring life back to them. All week I had been working actively to focus on others (the girls had showed me how by their actions) to cultivate a different experience here. When Charlotte arrived I didn’t have anything in me to offer her. I looked at her from my corner of the tent, my eye got watery she was in so much pain, and I turned my head away to block the image. I did nothing. We all have our limits and I had reached mine.

The day started early at 730am to allow us to put as much mileage in as possible before the high sun. The first stage was in pure white salt hard flats, we were hopping from salt island to the next in a very irregular pace. The white, the puddles made me think it might look like Antarctica in the spring. It was spectacular; never seen anything like it. Ernie Votis took on the pacing while I got distracted and taking memorable pictures with a reborn camera; soaked the day before but willing to work on the long day. Our category has turned out to that of the Invalids. We had discussed playing D and protecting our lead; that outcome felt hollow. We chose to suffer, leave it out on the course and suffer, with pride to make the whole journey memorable. It worked.

The interesting about leadership is that you need followers to lead. We intermittently changed the pacer and everyone got a chance to pull from the front. Louie Santaguida found another gear and Ernie and I were grinning flocked behind him as he ran 2 meters in front of us for 90 minutes. Deep down, all of us needed to lead and it happened seamlessly.

After 30km or so we started climbing steadily and on the horizon, a massive sand dune was coming into view. I started wondering if we were going to have to climb. Asa we got closer, ant hills were on it and I started preparing mentally for the climb, knowing I would have to pull Louie up who had spent himself. We got to the bottom. Ernie looked back and needed the reward to run it up as he has endless gas in the tank. He went up; running the whole thing and in may ways having a personally defining moment. Louie and I zigzagged up, each turn I would stop and give him the water bottle. We would then lock hands, and I would help get him to the next turn. We got to the top and realized there was another one. Ernie and I changed roles and I ran up the last mound with my own “Rocky” moment at the top hyperventilating. It’s all I needed to replenish prior to a re-focus on the team. The terrain at the top of the hill was extraordinary, hard crusts of mud and clay, dramatic rock formations; again running on another planet. a km later was the reverse of the climb a 500ft drop, with a Check Point 3 at the bottom – the 42km mark. I got selfish and asked Ernie to go down and filmed me running all out at 60 degrees. Louie was in very bad shape by then, not holding his food, in acute pain.

We carried on for another 15km and found ways to amuse ourselves to pass the time. We decided to each do a lifeline telling each other our life story. After an hour of a detailed account of my life high and low points to my mates, Ernie put his iPod on. I felt cheated; I was only in 2001 at the time. I took the cue and changed the subject. Spent hearing me; they never did their lifelines.

About two hours later, as we carried on, we came upon needing to bring share how we felt about our respective experience on the race. We had a no holds barred conversation and stuff was said that can only happen when you no longer have inhibitions. It all came out. We realized we had somehow come together, but that our emotional suffering during the race was due to the fact we had unaligned expectations; one was here to win, one to finish, one out of guilt. It took us 5 days to reconcile our differences, make true peace with it. When you invest 6 months of time preparing and realize not all team members put the same priority on the event, it makes for a messy run in the Desert. That’s why many teams here imploded as is usually the case. Kudos to guys; we kept it together while working through our issues. Cleansing done, I was able to truly enjoy the last two hours of the race like they were the most glorious. We got to the last Check Point, breeze above 50km/hour tent blown off. Louie got the right foods and meds in him and found another gear to see us home. Sun was setting, we put our lights on and we canyoned down for 6km, in a sandy bottom. Stars came out, glow sticks led us in and every turned in the endless bottom was beautiful. I wished my family was here with me to walk it down.

We were fed out on a road leading to the camp. Mehmet Danis, who won the race here last year, had mentioned he had never seen such shiny stars low on the horizon; so much so it was hard to get your balance as the sky appears to go all the way down to your feet. We ran in the balance of the never ending stage and crossed together knowing we were the better team (this week), despite being handicapped to fourth based on the experience of the others.

The race turned out to be emotionally as opposed to physically draining for Ernie and I. For Louie, he suffered immensely physically and gifted us his best. He put his mid term health at risk – he will require surgery when he returns.

I leave the cyber tent now and will go put my dusty, disgusting running clothes on. I won “the worst toe in the tent” and I am not sure how my feet will get in the shoes. The camp looks like an infirmary. People hobbling, crying hugging… We have 10km to go as a community for a ceremonial finish. Real food is waiting for us. We could crawl and still win. We worked hard to put ourselves in this position; but I get a sense Ernie will want to run hard for honor’s sake. Run, walk, crawl, it will turn out to be a life defining week where the adversity quotient grew; thanks to sun, sand, wind, and friendship.

Epilogue to follow some time in the future.

Stefan

I am raising much needed funds for Nabs, which helps individuals in distress. Consider a pledge at www.running4nabs.com