Leg-Tired

So, I last blogged early on Saturday morning.  Since then, I ran 6 miles on Saturday, 17 on Sunday, another 5 on Monday, a 7 mile progression on Tuesday, and an easy 4 today.  I find myself at 1195.2 miles on my question for 2000 miles and my virtual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  That puts me somewhere a bit west of Yates Center, KS, on US 54.  In Yates Center, KS, the church is St. Joseph.  Perhaps we was the first saint about whom we could say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  He accepted the plan that God had after Mary found out she was with child and he persevered.  What is most interesting about that is that on Sunday when my friend Joselyn and I were finished our run, we met up with the coach for a team we had met before but not introduced ourselves.  Several weeks back, this gentleman commented on how we had almost run from mile 2 back to the 0.5 mile mark of the Paper Mill parking lot faster than he had driven.  This time, we found out that he leads Team Persevere (http://www.teampersevere.org/Team_Persevere.html) which is a group that focuses on running and Hebrews 12:1.  And I am so glad to find others who are on a spiritual journey with running.  While I imagine that given the time at which I run, I may always be running back as members of the group are headed out, that I will see this group many times, and I have begun to engage with a couple of members.  It is, as I said, fascinating to find others who try to link running and spirituality in meaningful ways.

Speaking or spirituality, I attended my second Mission and Planning meeting at St. Pius X (where I began my virtual pilgrimage) last night.  Among other things, at each meeting, we review the Gospel reading from Sunday's mass and comment.  This Sunday was Matthew 13:24-43.  The short version was read last night.  I commented on a verse from the long version.  The verse (borrowed from usccb.org) is

He spoke to them another parable.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeastthat a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

I commented on how the yeast leavens the entire dough--even though the yeast is only a small fraction of the amount of flour in a dough. It is pretty amazing to think that it is capable of making the dough rise where it is touching and where it is not. Thus, yeast affects the flour directly and indirectly. What we do as followers of Jesus can have both direct and indirect effects.

That leads to my title for today, "leg-tired".  My works affects some areas of my life directly and some areas of my life indirectly.  Yesterday, I was talking about a small modification I wanted to make to my Philadelphia Marathon training plan.  When the person with whom I was speaking asked why I wanted to make a change, I explained it in terms of how my work was affecting other parts of my life indirectly.  My boss has me focusing on quicker decisions, quicker implementation, and getting to win this year.  All of that is well and good.  And most of that would carry over to my running as well.  However, it can be exhausting--particularly when combined with the number of other family and community responsibilities I have or have taken on.  So, I told the person with whom I was speaking that I was not "leg-tired" (in other words I think my legs could have handled it if I asked them) but just wanted one morning on which I could feel that I was not rushing.  I also said that if I got the advice to stick it out, I would.  That is the when life give you lemons make lemonade appearing for me.  But I was able to make a small modification and it worked out well.

So, it is interesting to think of perseverance, connectivity, direct and indirect consequences of actions, and how that plays out in so many things beyond my spiritual and baking life.   

All It Takes is a Little Yeast

I have loved making yeast bread for years.  I have written about making yeast bread for years.  I have thought about the symbolism of making yeast bread for years.  As I am headed from day 1 at my new job into day 2 at my new job, I think about the yeast I just put in my single-rise whole wheat bread.  It was just a little yeast.  The recipe is designed to only have to rise once rather than twice.  And yet the product that comes from it is good.  Sometimes in life all we need is a little bit of something to help an opportunity grow and it turns into something amazing.  Life is good that way.  Another aspect of this particular morning's single-rise whole wheat bread is that I put in chia seed rather than wheat germ.  I had forgotten that the last of our wheat germ was lost a while ago and I have not made a whole wheat bread in a while.  So, I quickly looked up potential substitutes for wheat germ online and found seeds to be one.  This should be an interesting bread.  It symbolizes not only the fact that a little starter can go a long way toward making opportunity grow but also the adaptability that is sometimes necessary.