A Year in Review 2013

Well, I definitely didn't keep up with my goals for 2013:

• Read through the Bible cover-to-cover and post about it on Facebook

• Read 50 books throughout the year

• Train for and complete at least a half ironman triathlon

Yeah I didn't do any of those!  I only read a few hundred pages of the Bible, I don't remember exactly where I left off, but I'll definitely be restarting that goal in 2014.  I've never really read through cover-to-cover, but I would still like to complete this goal sooner rather than later I just need to take more time to read.  Speaking of, I didn't finish fifty books throughout 2013 either.  I only got through about twelve, not too bad considering I probably read enough with my classes to amount to probably thirty small to moderate size books.  I didn't train for a tri at all!  I did some running and I would be ready for the Okinawa marathon in February, but now that I'm going to be in Korea from late January to late February, I'm not going to be able to do it.  I am trying to find a half-marathon while I'm in Korea.  If I can find one near where I'll be, I'll try to register for it.  So there you have it folks, I'm just like the vast majority of westerners in that I failed at all my resolutions.  Oh well, there's always next year right?

On that note my next year's goals are going to be a bit more realistic:

• Read through the Bible cover-to-cover

• Read at least two more books throughout the year than I did in 2013

• Train for and complete at least a half marathon

Now to a review of my year in blogging:

#1 My primary topics have been Faith and Philosophy.  Also, I completed Discovering the Philosopher in You series and I'm about halfway through The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas I've also reviewed a couple books, and I owe you all a review of The Case for a Creator.

#2 By far the most viewed post has been: Faith and Philosophy Blog Carnival, August 2013, 7th Edition the most read of my entries was: A Philosophical Approach to Abortion, by far the most commented on post was: Discovering the Philosopher in You: Part 13: God: Can the Existence of God Be Proven?

#3 I haven't had as many guest posts as I would like and my attempts to build this into a cooperative blog haven't panned out at all, perhaps someday.

#4 I've already talked about some of my upcoming events/plans so I won't repeat myself.

I have been able to complete another editing project with Steven Specht though it hasn't been published yet.  I didn't spend any time on my dad's work, but that's a much bigger project and I'm having problems digging into that work.  I have had a good year blogging and I've really enjoyed the interactions foster through blogging and Google+.  I've had seventy-eight entries this year (seventy-nine after this one), and my pageviews have steadily risen over time with an all-time high of 2,000+ in December, I'm over 22,000 for the total views since I started way back in May 2007 (though I really have only been blogging regularly since June 2012).  I am a bit proud of the work I done with this blog and I will continue to work on it for many years to come.

I'm discontinuing the Faith and Philosophy blog carnival though; there have been very few entries the last couple months and I feel like it's run its course.  There will be only one more edition though I still don't have any entries for it.  I didn't blog in Korean hardly at all, I think I only had two entries, it was just too difficult and time consuming.  I did post a digital portfolio for my work on my education degree and my future career plans, but it is far from complete.  I'm much more excited about my (planned) second career than I am about my current one.

Have a good night and a blessed new year!

I've posted pictures of the aquarium before but this is my favorite

Barefootedness

Relativity joke taken from Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar; "A man is praying to God. 'Lord,' he prays, 'I would like to ask you a question.' The Lord responds, 'No problem. Go ahead.' 'Lord, is it true that a million years to you is but a second?’ 'Yes, that is true.' 'Well, then, what is a million dollars to you?' 'A million dollars to me is but a penny.' 'Ah, then, Lord,' says the man, 'may I have a penny?' 'Sure,' says the Lord. 'Just a second.'”

What does that joke have to do with barefootedness you ask... well, nothing!  I just like that joke and wanted to use it.

First a bit of my running history: I started running because when I was on the soccer team my freshman year of high-school, the coach said I should try out for cross-country.  Well, since I went to a different campus that didn't have a soccer team the next year I "tried out" for the team, technically they didn't have tryouts, anyone who wanted could be on the team.  I did okay, I made it to the second level of state competition my senior year with a 5k time of 18:35 which, isn't exactly fast but not bad.  After graduating I didn't even try for the college team because I wasn't fast enough and I let my running go all through college and for a couple years after I dropped out, until I decided to join the Air Force.  The first couple years of being in the Air Force I was on a running team and I was getting pretty fast again, though not as fast I was in high school; got my 1.5mi time down to 8:45.  Also, I ran a marathon (first, and only so far) with a time of 3:53 which isn't bad for a first timer.  Just of note, I hadn't really even considered running barefoot up until about 3 or 4 years ago.

Now a bit of my barefooted history: if you don't know me in person you probably don't know that I'm a barefooter/barefoot runner.  I've  been wearing the Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) "shoes" for about three years, and when the weather is nice (mostly) I run completely barefoot.  Unfortunately, I have to wear socks when I'm in Air Force physical training gear so I don't wear my VFFs; I wear Merrell trail gloves.  I've done two half-marathons in the VFFs though I really do prefer completely barefoot.  I've also tried out a variety of other footwear options, including huaraches.  I started down my road towards barefoot/minimal shoes by reading the book Running Fast and Injury Free by Gordon Pirie and the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and a variety of blogs and websites.

All that to say I love running barefoot.  It kinda sucks that I won't get to run barefoot at all for the months I'm deployed.  Fortunately, I'm going to be in California (where I'm writing this) for about a month more and I'll be able to go barefoot (at least some) while I'm here.  I went for a short hike the other day barefoot and as soon as I can find more trails I'll do some more.  It kinda sucks, I can't find a place close by to go running.  I've been here a week and I've only been running once.  Hopefully this next weekend I'll get a chance to go to lake Tahoe and go for a hike/run there.

Anyways, happy trails to you all.  And, if you've never tried, go barefoot.  It's not as dangerous or painful as people think.

Edit: Since the writing of this original piece I've done a half-marathon barefooted, other than that I've been wearing my huaraches (updated link).