Run, Tasci, Run

Running may not be for everyone but it is for me. I like the quiet and peace of being alone in nature, just me and sky and grass. I'm not hardcore but I try to get out for a jog about 3 times a week.

A few years ago I decided that once I turned 30 I'd make an effort to run an organized race at least once a year until I hit 60. It's a good goal to keep me in permanent semi-shape for the coming years.

I did a fun run for charity 2 years ago and loved it. The atmosphere was electric. Thousands of people lined the streets of this city that I adore so much and made me feel like a champion. It was a high. And I was hooked.

Last year I was out of town during the annual Women's 5K in September but I was sure to train just the same. This year I hit the road again. All the training paid off and I had one of the best runs of this season. I felt great the whole run and the finish was strong. I had wanted to finish with a better time (I'd like to shave off about 5 minutes for the next 5K) but overall I was very satisfied.

The girls and I are already planning a half marathon relay race for next spring. I won't be hanging up my running shoes any time soon!

Bookworm: Full Circle

Back in my university days I fell in love with a book, Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. The book is a fictional telling of the months during which Albert Einstein was developing his Theory of Relativity. It is a series of dreams that show time in different dimensions, spheres and movements. In one dream time moves slower the further from the ground one is, in another dream their are infinite universes where one person lives multiple lives, still another has time travelers hiding from the present they are confined to.

I loved the concept of time not being linear. I loved the idea of infinite possibility. The idea of free will and destination colliding. The book's author is a professor of English Lit and Physics at MIT. That explains a lot. His writing is beautiful and his prose moves effortless. I loved his writing. (If you've known me any length of time, I've probably tried to loan you or have given you a copy.)

SO, today I was on the tram reading Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku. He is a theoretical physicist. I'm half way through the book and amazed. I'm amazed at how similar physics and philosophy can be, I'm amazed that there are equations that calculate what seem to be impossibilities, I'm amazed that their are people smart enough to come up with this stuff. But most amazing to me today was that while reading about the physics of time, I felt what I'll call a "full circle".

I realized that my Einstien's Dreams fasination wasn't just beautiful prose about "what ifs", these were actual theories that great minds had been debating for more than a hundred years. My heart skipped a little beat. I longed to get my hands on my copy of Einstein's Dreams. And then I nearly said out loud, "You are SUCH a nerd!"

I put this up on my travel blog as a reminder to myself that travel across time or continents or ideas is what opens the mind. I'm me because of the books I've read and the experiences I've experienced. I hope, out there in some distant parallel universe, another Tasci is reading this and smiling=)...