Janathon 2013 Day 31, the last

Walk - 3.5 miles, 1h 5m. Weather - strong gusty winds, but sky was blue

Janathon has now finished; not with a bang, a grand gesture, a monster run or a hard session, but with a tame walk. But that was OK, I used the time to work some things through, by letting thoughts bubble up (rather than trying to force them). This freeform way of thinking is one of the pleasures of walking and one of the reasons why, as an exercise, it should never be underestimated. Sometimes we place too much value on the volume of sweat shed or the hardness of the task. Slow, steady activity can have great value.

This January, though, has been about more than exercise. Trying to find a Stoic quote for each day has been as challenging as getting out of the door; but I have managed all but two days and surprised myself. When I started it seemed a slightly absurd idea and all I hoped was that I would be able write at least a couple of posts linking practical philosophy to running .In the end I have gone the distance and so will sign off with a quote about the nature of philosophy:

“Philosophy, however, takes as her aim the state of happiness.That is the direction in which she opens routes and guides us. She shows us what are real and what are only apparent evils. She strips men’s minds of empty thinking, bestows a greatness that is solid and administers a check to greatness where it is puffed up and all an empty show; she sees that we are left in no doubt about the difference between what is great and what is bloated. And she imparts a knowledge of the whole of nature, as well as herself. She explains what the gods are, and what they are like.” (Seneca, Letters, XC, 31)

I wouldn’t even attempt to say the same about running!

Janathon 2013 Day 30 - Getting near the end

I haven’t listed the day’s exercise as it’s hardly worth it. It has been a token effort: just a few stretches. That is all - but it will have to be enough. It’s getting to the end of the month and I’m running out of steam.  I am though amazed that it is the 30th already.  Time flies! We need a quote to match that idea - and I have one but it is as much about the proper role of education as it is about life disappearing behind us.

Stoicism was a school of practical philosophy whose central idea was to guide people on the path towards living of a virtuous life. It is not overly theoretical (or rather it is only as theoretical as it needs to be) and it believes that true understanding comes with practical application not just through reading (in fact Epictetus writes about the futility of just reading Chrysippus and thinking you are making progress). It is rather different to the western academic tradition as it has evolved and certainly at odds with philosophy as it is currently taught in our universities. However it is its practicality that makes the philosophy as vivid to us now as it was to the people of ancient Greece and Rome as we are basically still the same sort of people. Life is still finite and time rushes by:

“Things tend, in fact, to go wrong: part of the blame lies on the teachers of philosophy, who today teach us how to argue rather than how to live, part on their students, who come to their teachers in the first place with a view to developing not their character but their intellect. The result has been a transformation of philosophy, the study of wisdom, into philology, the study of words.

The object which we have in view, after all, makes a great deal of difference to the manner in which we approach any subject. If he intends to become a literary scholar a person examining his Virgil does not say to himself when he reads that magnificent phrase

Irrestorable, Time flies

‘We need to bestir ourselves; life will leave us behind unless we make haste; the days are fleeting by, carried away at a gallop, carrying us with them; we fail to recognise the pace at  which we are swept along; here we are making comprehensive plans for the future  and generally behaving as if we had all the leisure in the world when there are precipices all around us.’ No his purpose is to note that Virgil invariably uses the word ‘flies’ whenever he speaks of the swift passage of time.” (Seneca, Letters, CVIII, 24)

Janathon 2013 Day 29 - Working hard

Weights, 30m

I cannot call someone “hard working” knowing only that they read and write. Even if “all night long” is added, I cannot say it - not until I know the focus of all this energy. You don’t call someone hard working who stays up all night long with their girlfriend. No more do I. If the goal is glory I call them ambitious; if it is money, I call them avaricious. If, however, their efforts aim at improving the mind, then - and only then - do I call them hard working. Never praise or blame people on common grounds; look to their judgements exclusively. Because that is the determining factor, which makes everyone’s actions either good or bad. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book IV, 41)

Never mind other people, I can’t even judge myself. I don’t know whether I work hard, in the right way, exercising good judgement, or not. That applies to everything not just this fitness jag I write about here - but it certainly applies to fitness. It is not something you can do outside the normal rules of living. You have to think about it in exactly the same way.

The danger with any training regime is that it becomes just that: a routine. You develop habits and go through the motions and then the benefit diminishes. A classic example would be going for runs of about the same distance at about the same pace, all the time; or going to the gym and using the same equipment without any progression or intensity. I am as prone to that error as anybody and so have to consciously remind myself what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and what I hope to achieve. To get benefit you have to concentrate.

With my weight sessions I have an overall aim of trying to increase the strength of shoulders and arms, and increase my core stability. In other words develop the muscles that hold everything in place when you run. Today was 30 minutes, hard enough to make my T-shirt damp, and my muscles feel a bit achey. I hope that is good enough but I would still not claim to have worked hard. If truth be known I did it all more with a sense of duty than a feeling of zest so it is hard to judge whether the session was worth anything at all.

P.S. Away from the scope of this blog, the quote is useful whenever I hear someone justifying huge city salaries and bonuses on the grounds that the people deserve so much because they work hard. Normally I would just get annoyed and splutter but now I can say: “No not hard working you are avaricious. Judgement is the only thing that makes actions good or bad!”

Janathon 2013 day 28 - Good in your own terms

Gym - running (treadmill) 4km, 20m, weights - 30m

“Nature did not blend things so inextricably that you can’t draw your own boundaries: place your own well-being in your own hands. It’s quite possible to be a good man without anybody realising it. Remember that. And this too: you don’t need much to live happily. And just because you’ve abandoned hopes of becoming a great thinker or scientist, don’t give up on attaining freedom, achieving humility, serving others, obeying God.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII, 67)

Beside me on a treadmill today was a woman who looked as if she could be fit: she was probably late thirties, slim, and healthy looking; but she was obviously not running fit. She alternated walking and running in fairly short bursts but her running speed was only about 6.5 km per hour. My first reaction was “well it goes to show you never can tell!” My second reaction was the more considered one of never judging what other people do when you don’t know enough. From the outside how can you tell what is happening? Someone might be coming back from illness or injury, they might have been inactive for years and made a admirable resolution to get fit. It could be that they are actually faster but are experimenting on form. There are all sorts of reasons someone might be pursuing a particular programme.

All I know for certain is that if you see someone making an effort - no matter what it is - they should be applauded. They are drawing their own boundaries, working on their own way of attaining freedom. Good for them, good for all of us.

This is why I like the above quote from Marcus Aurelius. It also shows why the overlap in the Stoic approach to living a good, i.e. virtuous, life and running a road race where winning could never, ever be a feasible objective. In your own terms it is still possible to be a good runner without anybody else realising it!

Janathon 2013 Day 27 - Doing something else

Weights - 40m

Every habit and faculty is formed and strengthened by the corresponding act - walking makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate, read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten days, when you get up and try to walk any distance you’ll find your legs barely able to support you. So if you like doing something do it regularly; if you don’t like doing something, make a habit of doing something different. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, 18)

If you want to do something do it, and do it regularly, if you don’t, do something else. How many years have I spent not recognising this simple, basic truth. How much time have I wasted, faffing around, not acting on that simple, clear instruction. Many a time I have failed both ends. Things I have wanted to do have not been done because I thought other things ought to take precedence, whilst for things I don’t want to do, the situation has been far, far worse.  I have procrastinated, done them in little bits, agonised and delayed, and not them properly but at the same time this has blocked me from doing anything else. This is the worst of all possible worlds as the important part of Epictetus’ advice is to do something else.

Janathon should in theory give you no way out - you have to carry on and do something. Well you have to if you don’t want to backslide, which is what I did yesterday. My excuse was that we had people round for lunch and all the morning was spent preparing and cooking and in the evening, when everyone had gone, there was the sad realisation that I had drunk far too much and was in no fit state. So the day passed. Am I sad? Unfortunately, for all of you who believe we should rigorously stick to our resolutions, I would have to say no. I made a positive choice to do something else and I have to be happy with that.

Janathon 2013 day 25 - Musonius on gender equality

Gym - run (treadmill) 6km, 30m, weights - 20m

I am going to start with an observation so blindingly obvious it hardly seems worth making: in the gym today there were as many women as men, and this is usually the case. How non-shocking is that? It is something I expect and if it were otherwise I think I would be a little startled. However outside this space there are definite divisions. Most classes are dominated by women: bodypump, boxercise, power hoops, dance aerobics, etc and, of course, yoga and pilates. Circuit training, martial arts, strength, and competitive games like 5 a side and squash are much more male. Overall there seems to be some difference in the types of exercise done by men and women. But in the gym we are side by side and the fact that it is unremarkable is something of a triumph.

Think of running. It is one of the sports where there are very low barriers to participation and there is an equality of participation - just look at the field of any road race. But  this equality is comparatively recent - in other words in my life time (and that I find shocking). For example women were not allowed to enter the Boston marathon until 1972 and before the 1980s there were no women’s distance in the Olympics. Imagine only thirty years ago there were dozy old men administrators who would argue that 1500 metres was the maximum competitive distance suitable for a woman!

But the question I hear you all asking is how did the Stoics stack-up in their attitude to gender equality? And I am pleased to tell you pretty well. Remember this is more than 2,000 years ago but this is what Musonius Rufus had to say

“If then, men and women are born with the same virtues, the same type of training and education must be appropriate for both. For with every animal and plant, proper care must be given to it to produce the excellence appropriate to it. Isn’t it true that, if it were necessary for a man and woman to be able to play the flute for a living, we should give them both exactly the same thorough training in flute playing. Well then, if it is necessary for both to be proficient in human virtue, that is for both to be able to have understanding, self-control, courage, and justice, why don’t we teach them both the art by which human beings become good? Yes that is the only acceptable option... 

For all human tasks, I am inclined to believe, are a shared obligation and are the same for men and women - and none is necessarily meant for either one exclusively ”

How many centuries did it take for that to be accepted as obviously true? You know, the more Stoic writings I read the more modern they seem.

Janathon 2013 Day 24 - An unsettled mind

Walk - 3 miles, 50m, Weather - grey and gloomy

Some days that are just off, everything is slightly out of focus and nothing quite works. Things are not terrible: there are no disasters and all calamities are minor. It is mainly an accumulation of inconveniences and a feeling of not being quite right. You know that if you wanted to hammer in a nail it would not go in straight and true but would bend and crumple.

The question is what to do on days of meh? Usually my answer is to take a break and do a little exercise and hope that the internal systems right themselves. But what exercise? I know that if I go running I have about a 50% chance of it working: sometimes the cobwebs are blown away but it is just as likely my head will continue grumble along, telling my body that it is not enjoying itself. Weights or stretching is a waste of time: my mind will definitely say how  deeply it cannot be bothered. No, the most reliable remedy is a walk, which is what I did today

There is something about the rhythm and of not having to think about what you are doing that frees up your thinking and allows your mind to wander. Gently and gradually things fall back into place. I started out grumpily noticing the bad things about days like this, when the beauty of the snow covering is disappearing and what is left is mostly mush and inconvenience. In the park and the snow is going but the floods remain. After a time though I stopped noticing negatives and began to feel less irritated. It was time to get back and start again.

Such days are not the days of a Stoic but the Stoics are a place to look for advice.

“... you have inner strengths that enable you to bear up to difficulties of every kind. You have been given fortitude, courage and patience. Why should I worry what happens when I am armed with the virtue of fortitude? Nothing can trouble or upset me, or even seem annoying. Instead of meeting misfortune with groans and tears, I will call upon the faculty to deal with it. 

‘But my nose is running!’ What do you have a hand for, you idiot, if not to wipe it? ‘But how is it right that there is a running nose i the first place?’ Instead of thinking up protests, wouldn’t it be easier just to wipe your nose? ...  

But no. There you sit, worrying that certain events might happen, already upset and in a state about your present circumstances. So you reproach the gods. What else can come of such weakness except impiety?” (Epictetus, Book 1, 28-32, 38-39)

In other words the well known that well understood Stoic admonition: “Just get on with it!” Or if I were a sports good firm I would perhaps say: “Just do it!” But the Stoics go further an make an interesting offer:

“I am prepared to show you that you have resources and character naturally strong and resilient; show me in return what grounds you have for being peevish and malcontent.” (43)

Janathon 2013 Day 23 - The daily audit

Walk - 6 miles, 1hr 45m Weather - raw

All our senses should be educated into strength: they are naturally able to endure much, provided the spirit forebears to spoil them. The spirit ought to be bought up for examination daily. It was the custom of Sextius when the day was over, and he had betaken himself to rest, to inquire of is spirit: “What bad habit of yours have you cured today? What vice have you checked? In what respects are you better?” ... What can be more admirable than this fashion of of discussing the whole of the day’s events? How sweet the sleep that follows this self-examination? ... I make use of this privilege and daily plead my cause before myself ... I conceal nothing from myself and omit nothing: for why should I be afraid of any of my shortcomings, when it is in my power to say: “I pardon you this time; see that you never do that anymore.” (Seneca, On Anger, Book III, 36)

This passage comes from a book about anger - how damaging an emotion it is and how we should control it. The daily audit is included as a technique that might be useful (“anger will cease, and become more gentle, if it knows that everyday it must come before the judgement seat.” was a phrase I omitted from the above) but it obviously has a wider application. It applies to every aspects of our lives  and so obviously that would include running.

It is what every one of us does when we write down our mileage, speed, weather conditions, how we felt and where we are on our schedule. It is what many of do when we write our blogs (though I must admit to being a bit skimpy with those sort of details). It enables us to look back and see how we have improved (or not) and evaluate our regimes. Importantly it allows us to see whether we are being soft with ourselves or not. Concerning that I rather like the first sentence of the quote. It could be a motto for almost every runner

Janathon 2013 Day 22 - Within your own limits

Gym - weights, 35m

‘The life of folly is empty of gratitude and full of anxiety: it s focussed wholly on the future.’ ... What sort of life do you think is meant by a life of folly? Baba and Isio’s? No, he means our own life, precipitated by blind desire into activities that are likely to bring us harm and will certainly not bring us satisfaction - if they could satisfy us they would have done so by now - never thinking how pleasant it is to ask for nothing, how splendid it is to be complete and independent of fortune. So continually remind yourself, Lucilius, of the many things you have achieved. When you look at all the people out in front of you think of all the ones behind you. (Seneca, Letters, XV).

The last sentence reminds me of some running advice I read from Joe Hnederson, where he pointed out that when you line-up at the start of a marathon do not worry about how slow you will be compared to the others. Even if you finnish last you will still be in front of those who signed up but didn’t make it to the start and all of those who never got off the couch to even enter. Always looking ahead to those who are faster (and there will always be someone faster) will cause dissatisfaction with what you have achieved and what you can do. 

But that advice not only applies at the start of a race, it applies to everything. It was helpful to me today as when I started on the treadmill I felt a twinge behind my right knee. It was not bad and I could have continued but as after 5 minutes, as it was still there, I decided to stop and concentrate on weight training, which I could do without problem. I felt quite happy switching my attention, especially as I didn’t want a twinge to turn into a tweak and then a strain. Working within my capabilities is always the right thing to do but the next step of being grateful for those capabilities is just as important but usually more difficult. So it was with me today - until I sat down and thought about it.

Janathon 2013 Day 21 - Reasons

Gym - Run (treadmill) 9km, 45m, Weights 30m

In these Janathon posts I would usually say something about the days exercise and try to link it to a quote from a Stoic. Today I'm not even going to bother. I'm going to cut straight to the chase and post a cartoon from the ever wonderful xkcd, that is a perfect commentary on something I wrote about on Day 13. 

The first part of the first book of the Discourses by Epictetus is called "Concerning what is in our power and what is not" and it starts by saying that reason is the only faculty we have that is able to analyse itself. So voila:

Janathon 2013 Day 20 - Walking in the snow

Walk - 4 miles, Time - 1h 15m, Weather - cold, raw, heavy grey sky, light snow

When the weather is like this most of my attention is focussed on the ground a few feet ahead, looking where I step, trying to keep upright. The paths are ice with a light covering of snow and when I place my foot the heel will sometimes slide to one side or the other and I make adjustments. At times I can look like a bad tightrope walker but at other times I can crack on. Walking is hard though: the stride is shorter and less regular and it is difficult to drop into a rhythm. The coldness of the air and the snow on the face make you want to hunker into yourself and the obvious question should be: ‘why am are out here when there is no real need?’ But that is not what I am thinking. I am both enjoying myself and not want it to last too long.

Sometimes I listen to the silence as all noise seems to have been dampened. I appreciate the hazy, grey beauty and they way outlines become blurred and more mysterious. There are a few people about but for stretches there is no one in sight and it is pleasant to have the illusion of being alone in the landscape.  

There is every reason to be out. I did though make sure I left promptly, at 8 o’clock, so there was no time for procrastination. On that subject this quote from marcus Aurelius seems appropriate:

At dawn when you have trouble getting out of bed tell yourself ‘ I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of if I have to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into this world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

• But it is nicer here.

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

Many, many times do I need to admonish myself in this way

Janathon 2013 Day 19 - Action by action

Run (treadmill) - 4.1km, time - 20m, Weights 20m

If I hadn’t already planned most of my January exercise to be in the gym, today I would have been here. Snow fell yesterday  and as the temperature has not since risen above zero it remains on most pavements as a slippery mess. I’m sure some hardy souls will be out there showing they can take mucky conditions in their stride, proving that nothing can stop a run if you are possessed of superior determination.

To all such people - I salute you. But I am not one of you. If conditions outside are adverse (i.e. majorly unpleasant not just a bit meh) I prefer being inside. It is after all one of the reasons gyms were invented.

Today a lot of people thought the same and the place was packed (though this might also have something to do with it being January: the month of resolutions). Sometimes I had to wait for a machine but I felt quite relaxed as it gave me a chance to look around and watch all the other people with their different routines and aims: some working on their strength, some on flexibility and some on just trying to get going. The thing is that we were all trying, and I liked that. Today everybody in the room was in earnest. I looked around out of curiosity but also on the chance of seeing something I could copy. Not today  though.... but I did see something extraordinary. A lady on a treadmill had taken off both her trainers and was balancing on one of them i.e her rear foot was placed across it, whilst the other leg was stretched out in front, not touching the ground. She slowly moved it to increase or relax the stretch, whilst squatting on the rear leg and then lifting up. It was controlled and wonderfully balanced and looked difficult. I have no idea what she was really doing or why she was doing it on a treadmill.

It is one of the fascinating things about being somewhere like a gym. We all share a common high level objective i.e. to get fitter but the reasons for this fitness, and the uses we want to put it to, vary. There are common machines but that are used in slightly different ways (according to those objectives), and everybody is going at their own pace (nevermind different speeds on the treadmill, weight and crunches are pushed at vastly different rates). Everything is similar but not the same. There are very few clues as to what anybody else is thinking and there is limited interaction. It is all perfectly civil, people smile at each other when their paths cross, and there are some small groups of people working out together, but for the most part the room holds individuals working on their own.

When I looked around I thought it a very stoical space - everybody was working on just what they could control and not worrying about anything else or anybody else's opinion.

One of the core aspects of stoical thinking is the division between things you can control and things you can’t. You must do your best with what you can control (in other words attempt to act virtuously), whereas for the things you can’t - well those things must take their course.

You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action. And be satisfied if each one attains its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening

• But there are external obstacles ...

Not to behaving with justice, self-control, and good sense.

• Well but perhaps to some more concrete actions

But if you accept the obstacles and work with what’s given, an alternative will present its self - another piece of what you are trying to assemble. Action by action.(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VIII 32)

This is what you see in the gym: action by action.

Janathon 2013 Day 18 - Noise

Running (on treadmill - 8.2km time - 42m, Weights & stretches - 40m. The weather outside was snowy.

Gyms are noisy places. Not only is there the thump of feet on the treadmills (some people are very heavy runners) there is the sound of the motors, then there is the background sound of some sort of music. If the body builders are in there are grunts, and if someone is using the punchbag there is a slapping sound. I cut out much of this by listening to my own music and concentrate on what I have to do. As I look around I see that about half of us do the same.

Gyms were ever noisy:

“I cannot for the life of me see that quiet is as necessary to a person who has shut himself away to do some studying as it is usually thought to be. Picture me with a babel of noise going on all about me, staying right over a public bath-house. Now imagine to yourself all manner of sounds that can get you hating your ears. When the strenuous types are doing their exercises, swinging weight laden hands about, I hear grunting as they toil away - or go through the motions of toiling away - at them, and the hissings and strident gasps every time they expel their pent up breath. When my attention turns to a less active fellow who is contenting himself with an ordinary, inexpensive massage, I hear the smack of the hand pummelling his shoulders, the sound varying according as it comes down flat or cupped. But if on top of this  some ball player comes along shouting the score, one is done for! ...But by now I have so steeled myself against all these things that I can put up with even the coxswains strident tones as he gives the oarsmen the rhythm. For I force my mind to become self absorbed and not let outside things distract it. There can be absolute bedlam without so long as there is no commotion within, so long as fear and desire are not at loggerheads, so long as meanness and extravagance are not at odds and harassing each other. For what is the good of having silence throughout the neighbourhood if one’s emotions are in turmoil.” (Seneca, Letters, LVI)

Seneca had his self discipline. I have an IPod. TA less virtuous method but times change. 

Janathon 2013 Day 17 - If on a winter's day

Walk - 6 miles, Time - 1h 45m, Weather - nippy

Today I went for a longish walk. 

he cloud was heavy, although there were patches of light picking out the heavy frost on all the bare branches. Everywhere the tones were subdued, predominantly white and grey but with traces of green and brown on the ground and in the sky areas of light with slight hints of orange. The ground was hard and frozen, and the landscape empty. It was quiet and if said hushhhh, I could watch my breath hang in the air. 

Winter days like these are pleasing, if you are dressed up warmly and you can stride out unhindered. For some reason, when there is a frost so heavy it’s indistinguishable from snow, it is slightly magical. It’s as if the trees and hedges are sketched with soft pencil on white paper. I stop to look and then start walking again. Everything seems so clear - and then I think about my sense of wonder and am pleased I am not so jaded it has been lost. My body might be worn and showing it’s age but inside there is still a child looking out. That is as it should be

Today’s Stoic quote is about that feeling:

To shrug it all off and wipe it clean - every annoyance and distraction - and reach utter stillness 

    Child’s play 

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book V, 2)

Janathon 2013 Day 16 - Many people are faster

Run - 3km in 15m (treadmill), Weights - 40m

As I walked up a woman (probably in her twenties) was leaving the next treadmill, to have a break and fill her water bottle. Her face was red, she was breathing slightly heavily and between her shoulder blades there was a growing patch of sweat on her t-shirt. ‘That must have been a heavy session’ I thought, ‘mostly you don’t see people put so much into their running.’ I was already impressed before I took a peak at her stats, which were still displayed. ‘Bloody Hell!’ she had run for 33 minutes below 4 minutes per km pace. This was by some degree a different order of running to my own, or anybody else in the room. Ho hum. Never mind just carry on with your own programme, what others can do makes no difference. ‘Running beside her will be interesting though’I thought.

She came back and started again at 16.4 km per hour. I was impressed not only at the speed but that her feet did not make big thumping noises and the treadmill didn’t rock.  Other people sometime run at speed but you can usually hear them across the gym. I carried on with my run around the 12 km per hour mark and thought that over a third faster is quite some difference but was quite happy with what I was doing. If anything my enjoyment was increased because it was pleasing to see someone putting in a good shift, rather than pootling along (which is far more common).

In the circumstances today’s Stoic quote must be this from Epictetus:

Consider the price at which you sell your integrity, but please, for God’s sake, don’t sell it cheap. The rand gesture, the ultimate sacrifice - that, perhaps, might belong to others, to people of Socrates class. ‘But if we are endowed by nature with the potential for greatness why do only some of us achieve it?’ Well do all horses become stallions? are all dogs greyhounds? Even if I lack the talent I will not abandon the effort on that account. Epictetus will not be better than Socrates. But I am no worse, I’m satisfied. I mean I will never be Milo either but I don’t neglect my body. Nor will I be another Croesus - and still I don’t neglect my property. In short we do not abandon any discipline for despair of ever being the best in it. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book 1, 33-37)

Janathon 2013 Day 15 - New shoes

Running (on treadmill) - 5K, 25 minutes, Weights - 30 minutes

I am always suspicious of theories based on speculation about our early ancestors or movements where the proponents are evangelically convinced of the rightness of their cause. For that reason I have shied away from the barefoot running debate. I am unconvinced of the reasoning that says we were adapted to running before before shoes and so this is the optimal style, therefore shoes are not only unnecessary they are a problem. In the same way that I am unconvinced by the suggestion that we should eat a stone age diet. And anyway why is running so different to walking? There is nowhere need the same head of steam behind any idea that we should ditch our walking shoes.

That is not really the point though - all that really matters is if it works or not. The key claim is that barefoot running (or running in minimalist shoes) reduces injury and this should be open to testing.  Over the next few years (now there are enough people to provide decent sized samples) we should be getting some answers. In particular I will be interested in the results of this research which plans to track people in this years London Marathon.

But in the meantime should I wait or should I try for myself, especially as a number of people I know have made the switch and are enthusiastic about the results? As I also like the principle of 'being an experiment of one' and am liable to tinker with things, I have been edging towards giving minimalist running a go. After all there is nothing much to lose. If I switch and my running improves then everything is worthwhile, however if I don't get on with it, I have lost nothing but a little time playing about. On the other hand inertia is a powerful force so why change?

However my mind was made up when New Balance offered me the chance to try-out one of their minimalist shoes. The scales of the argument lurched violently to one side and I am now quite excited with the idea of trying something new.

I have now collected them from the Post Office and have tried them on around the house and must admit to being pleased. They look good, feel comfortable and I am anxious to try them out. At the moment that is all I can say. If they were normal trainers I would take them out and know very quickly how they compared, but with these I will be running slightly differently and so will not know straight away. i will break them in gently and although they are trail shoes they will spend the first part of their life on a treadmill, starting with only 15 minutes tomorrow. It will actually be a little time before I know what I think of them.

So what of my Stoic quote of the day? Unsurprisingly they say absolutely nothing about running styles. However there is something quoted by Seneca in Letter IX, which is pertinent to the way I thought of making the change and how it actually happened:

If you pray a thing may
And it does come your way
'Tis a long way from being your own

Janathon 2013 Day 14 - Pain

Walk - 3.5 miles, Time - 55m, Weather - snow

“For times when you endure pain: See that it doesn’t disgrace you, or degrade your intelligence - doesn’t keep it from acting rationally or unselfishly. And in most cases what Epicurus said should help: that pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination. And keep in mind too that pain often comes in disguise - as drowsiness, fever, loss of appetite.... When you’re bothered by things like that, remind yourself: “I’m giving in to pain.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book VII)”

Today’s Stoic quote couldn’t be more pertinent because there is nothing runners think and talk about more than injury.

The Phrase “listen to your body”  is useful in reminding us that we must always be alert to how we are feeling and how well the various parts of our body are working.  Are we fresh or jaded, strong or weak, ill or well?  We should regularly scan these things and act on the feedback. It is about more than pain, for example tiredness and sleeplessness could be a warning sign of overtraining, but pain is the most dramatic indicator.

The trouble is that it can be elusive Sometimes something can suddenly hurt but then just as suddenly disappear, at other times something that doesn’t seem much of a problem on a run can seize-up the day after and be a long term problem. Between the extremes of feeling tickety-boo and lying on the floor screaming in agony, there are all sorts of grey areas and an internal debate as to whether it is a twinge, an ache, or a serious pain. This only highlights the difference between listening to your body and understanding what you hear. It can all be very confusing and we must try to stop both magnifying things in our imagination or ignoring them out of stubbornness .

The important thing to do, as the quote, suggests is to make sure you continue to treat pain rationally. Above all you must try to work out what it means and whether you want to give in just because you feel a bit meh. If you are strong and well motivated you must then look at the circumstances. If it happens during training you must think long term and concentrate on injury prevention and healing, as a small rest in the early stages is much better than a long lay-off later. If it happens in a race your main thought is about completion and getting through (unless it is something serious that would cause long term damage)

Runners are lucky in that we are unlikely to suffer a catastrophic, impact injury (though there is a remote possibility of tripping up and falling into something), our injuries are more often the result of attrition. In other words we keep on going beyond the point of recovery and so a twinge becomes an ache before becoming damage. Mostly we hurt ourselves through training errors, forcing the body too hard before it is ready and mostly we do this out of pride and unrealistic expectations. The art of acting rationally is recognising this and acting accordingly.

P.S. This post was brought on not because I have any injury at the moment (today was just a planned easy day) but because I thought the quote appropriate

Janathon 2013 Day 13 - cunningly constructed clay

Run 7km (on a treadmill), Time - 35m, Weather - outside it was getting colder

Well what does Zeus say? 'Epictetus, if it were possible, I would have made your little body and possessions both free and unrestricted. As it is though, make no mistake, this body does not belong to you, it is only cunningly constructed clay. And since I could not make the body yours, I have given you a portion of myself instead, the power of positive and negative impulse, of desire and aversion - the power, in other words, of making good use of impressions. if you take care of it and identify with it, you will never be locked or frustrated: you won't have to complain, and never will need to blame or flatter anyone. Is that enough to satisfy you?'.

This is from the beginning of Epictetus’ Discourses where he lays the foundation of his argument that the only tool we have to guide our judgement, and the way we behave, is our reason. It it is the only faculty with the ability to examine itself and this reflexive quality makes it supreme as well as unique. It is the only quality that is truly ours.

I don’t want to argue whether this is true or false. I merely want to acknowledge the premise and the consequent idea that a human being, if he uses this gift, is perfectible. In other words the application of reason can enable us to be virtuous. It is an underlying faith that makes Stoicism an optimistic philosophy and also something (believe it or not) that has some bearing on running. Every time we start a training schedule, or undertake a challenge we are in effect saying to ourselves that we can get better. We have faith in the possibility of improvement and that the consistent  application of good principles we will be rewarded. At my age the objectives might have changed to slowing the decline rather than striving for new PBs, but the principle is the same.

In the beginning, when it was founded in Greece, Stoicism had three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. Ethics concerned how you led your life and was the ultimate aim but the other two subjects gave you the tools to understand the basis of your decisions. One of the metaphors used was that Stoicism is like a fertile field enclosed within a fence of logic, with physics as the soil and ethics as the crop. (Diogenes Laertius, Zeno, VII.40). I like to think that is what we do with running: We apply logic to the evidence of how our abilities match the demands we place upon ourselves and the way we respond. The soil is basic physiology: what we know about how the body works an responds, and the crop is our performance. 

Having noted that similarity though, it must be pointed out that we are working on the body, and as can be seen in the quote at the head of this post, that is of little concern to Epictetus. It is merely clay. But it is here that I must admit to a difference in outlook. Instead of seeing the mind and body as different realms, I see nothing but their interconnectedness. Exercise not only improves the tone of my muscles it helps my mood, concentration and ultimately the quality of my thinking. If I want to continue the metaphor: it is the rain needed by the soil for my crop to grow.

Janathon 2013 Day 12 - Weights, freedom and wine

Gym - run 3.2 km + weights, Time - 1h 5m, Weather - definitely getting colder

The weather is cold and raw but that is not the reason I am back in the gym. I am there because I want to continue my programme of strengthening exercises and use the weight machines. Now I know that the consensus is that machines are not as good as free weights but I find them easier to use - because I don't have to think too much about what I am supposed to be doing. In their small way they offer a parable about freedom and choice. Free weights offer unlimited opportunities to exercise specific muscle groups and choose the exact weight you need, whilst machines limit your range of motion and exercise specific muscle groups only. However to best exercise your freedom you need to know what you are doing and have a routine worked out, in other words a certain amount of expertise, whereas I don't want to think about it too much. I just want to work-out the bigger muscle groups without worrying. All I want is something I can do quickly and efficiently. Choice is a good thing but it is not always the ultimate good. The guys in the corner, sculpting their bodies, need their free weights. I do not.

To finnish this little piece I had thought of finding a Stoic quote about the limiting ones freedom and how less can sometimes be more, but I came upon something a little unexpected: a passage that shows that Stoicism is not about self abnegation and continual control. The aim is to be able to live a good life, not being an ascetic. Although it mentions that freedom is best in moderation it is mainly about sometimes letting go, or more specifically enjoying wine.

"We must humour our minds and grant them rest from time to time, which acts upon them like food, and restores their strength … at times we ought to drink even to intoxication, not so as to drown, but merely to dip ourselves in wine: for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind, and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases. The inventor of wine is called Liber, not from the licence which he gives to our tongues but because he liberates our minds from the bondage of cares … Yet moderation is wholesome both in freedom and in wine." (Seneca, On Peace of Mind, ch xvii)

It is Saturday and I think that gives me a good steer as to what I should do tonight,

Janathon 2013 Day 11 - Carrying on as if nothing happened

Run - 6.2km, Time - 33m, Weather - cold but bright

“Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? "What sinews are those?" — A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised, careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” (Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, ch. 8).

As if to show how far I am from being a philosopher Janathon is now a bust. Yesterday I did nothing and consequently wrote nothing. I could not, with all honesty, represent a bit of walking around as an exercise session and so didn’t try. This means of course I cannot complete Janathon and have to mark it down as a failure (after all the challenge is binary: either you complete all 31 days or you don’t. There is no scope for a fudge). There are excuses (I left the house very early and didn’t return till late, and when I did return I felt more in need of food than exercise) but they are only that - excuses. If I had really wanted to I could have done something (20 minutes with weights would have worked) but I didn't and preferred my comforts obviously.

Stoics are not terribly impressed by this sort of weakness of mind, as the whole point is to train it to act rationally and overcome those instinctive, emotional responses that cloud our judgement and cause us to abandon plans. You can see this from the Epictetus quote. But this is the ideal and  learning philosophy was never seen as a simple judgement, an exam which you either passed or failed. It was a process. The only failure would be to give up trying. In such a spirit I will accept that I failed to honour my resolution completely, but that was yesterday and today is different, I will carry on and it will  be possible to complete 30 days.

“A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.” (The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, 63)

I must now try to stay on the right path.

Janathon 2013 Day 9 - Peace of Mind

Run - 6.5km, Time - 36 minutes

“What we are seeking, then, is how the mind may always pursue a steady, unruffled course, may be pleased with itself, and look with pleasure upon its surroundings, and experience no interruption of this joy, but abide in a peaceful condition without being either elated or depress: this will be ‘peace of mind’ (Seneca, On Peace of Mind)”

This is not my default state of mind but I can sometimes feel like that and it can be induced by a run. I know nothing that beats the feeling of earned rest, when the body feels slightly tingly and the mind is alert but empty. After your stretches, you can drink your tea and eat your banana (or whatever else you do) and sit, or lie, in a state of quiet contentment. Sometimes I like to put on some music (usually something ECM ish) and it often seems clearer and more coherent than normal because it is all there is. I am thinking of nothing else. 

It is possible to run your worries away - at least for a short time andI think this little interlude is as good a reason for running as any.

Janathon Day 8 - Just enough is enough

Treadmill - 4km in 20 minutes + 20 minutes stretching

“If you seek tranquility do less. Or (more accurately) do what is essential. If you can eliminate it, you will have more time and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment ‘is this necessary?’ But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4)

Further to yesterday’s post on the desirability of rest days I am posting some training advice from Marcus Aurelius. On first sight it might not seem the sort of thing any leather skinned, granite jawed, hard as nails,  coach would spit out but it is exactly the same as Tim Noakes’ 6^th law of training: achieve as much as possible on the minimum of training.

It is easy to be seduced by the idea that if something is working and making you a good runner then a little bit more will make you even better, then a bit more and a bit more until ... well until things fall apart. You will either get injured, ill, or your legs will become heavy and lifeless. The point of training is not to try to prove how hard you are by showing you can cope with monster mileage. The point  is to do enough to fulfil your ambitions, whatever they may be. Training to finish the course has a very different load from training to win the race and the two programmes might look very different but they both share this aim.

It might take some experimentation but the ultimate aim for all of us is to find our optimal level. As I run mainly for my own satisfaction and sense of well-being, my optimal mileage is probably quite low. I have to find the amount and type of running essential to keeping my interest and enthusiasm high. That is all.

Janathon 2013 Day 7 - Could do better

Walk - 3 miles, Time - 50m, Weather - damp cold, and grey

Last night my plan was to go for a run before breakfast but sometimes good intentions are only that: intentions. I woke up feeling headachy, low, not quite the ticket,  and far from the picture of an athlete at the peak of his prowess (disclaimer I have never looked like that). I really didn’t want to do anything much in the way of exercise but I had a get out. I am a firm believer in rest days and taking things easy on at least two days a week. So going for a walk was just fine.  I would like to report that as soon as I got out and felt the air on my cheeks my spirits lifted and a spring returned to my step - but that would not be quite true. It wasn’t bad but neither was it good. it was merely mechanical.

However I carried on with my reading of the Stoics and today’s quote emphasises something common to any activity, any skill that needs mastering, and certainly to Janathon: the need for consistency. It is as true of running as it is the study of philosophy.

Yet this conviction, clear as it is needs to be strengthened and given deeper roots through daily reflection; making noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good...although I have great hopes for you, I do not yet feel quite confident about you. And I should like you to adopt the same attitude: you’ve no grounds for forming a ready, hasty belief in yourself. Carry out a searching analysis and close scrutiny of yourself in all sorts of different lights. (Seneca, Letters XVI)

No grounds for complacency there and it is something we should all heed as well as Lucius. I have said many times: running is about honesty. The time you take and how far you can go shows you exactly your level. There are no excuses and your level is exactly as high as it deserves to be. In other words you must always look at what you achieve with a clear eye.

For myself, today, I need to look closely at my change of plan and be honest with myself whether it was acceptable or whether it was backsliding. I will only really know tomorrow.

Janathon 2013 Day 6 - Negative Pre-visualisation

Gym - various weight exercises, Time - 50m

In some ways Day 4’s post about staying in the present was a bit of a tease because one of the key techniques of the Stoics was pre-visualisation: they anticipated the future in order to prepare for it. This is the same as rudimentary sports psychology, the thing most players do before they set foot on the pitch, but there is a slight twist. The sportsman imagines themselves succeeding: the striker pictures themselves scoring a goal and the  the runner sees themselves crossing the finishing line strong and triumphant. However the Stoic technique turns this on its head and imagines the worst. It has another name: the premeditation of evil and it is done by imagining the things you hold most dear being taken away from you. 

There are three reasons for it. The first is basic honesty. All things are temporary, everything comes and goes and it is an undeniable truth that at some time you and I will both die. It is foolish to close ones eyes and try to forget it will happen as sooner or later you will have to face up to these things. This leads on to  second reason: by mentally preparing for loss you are better able to cope when it happens. The third reason though is not about the future it is about the present and is perhaps the most important reason of all: if you think something might be gone you are likely to appreciate it more keenly. If you were given a good bottle of wine told “After this you will be giving up alcohol for good.” The chances are that you would savour the drink, stretch it out, try to taste every drop and remember it. In other words you would closer attention than if it was just another bottle with just another meal.

“As you kiss your son good night, says Epictetus, whisper to yourself, “He may be dead in the morning.’ 

 Don’t tempt fate, you say.    

By talking about a natural event? Is fate tempted when we speak of grain being reaped?” 

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations XI 34)

This might sound a bit extreme but the important thing is that it should not mawkish. It is an exercise in appreciating what you have, not an excuse for sentimentality and it should not be a cause of worry and anxiety, i.e. an unreasonable fear of imminent disaster. We not want to end up like Private Frazer of Dad’s Army.

But what is the relevance of this to going to the gym?

It is that, along with a number of other things, I take it for granted. I do it because it suits my purpose and think of it in functional terms. I give no thought to the fact that I am able to run on the treadmill and lift the weights. In this respect I am careless and instead of thinking I should be faster or stronger, I should appreciate what I can do. Being healthy is a colossal blessing and something that should never be underestimated. I once read of a survey  which asked two linked questions: what would make you happy and what would make you unhappy.  The answers for the first was the usual mix: more money, better car, house, holidays,love, job etc however what almost everybody thought would make them the unhappiest was illness. Nowhere on the list of things that make you happy was health mentioned, yet it was the thing you would miss the most. It is not a mistake a stoic would make as they would have already pre-visualised its loss and what it would mean.

In the gym I have reminders to help me. For example a man, partially paralysed down one side, who is constantly working building on the strength he has. Another man who can hardly walk and is helped onto each machine by his wife, will still smile and there is a lady who can barely shuffle but keeps plugging away on the treadmill. I am in awe of all them, as I am of anyone who keeps going in the face of great difficulty. In an instant, by a stroke of fate I could be struck down and face the same battles. Would I be as strong? 

I don’t know. It is something I would have to face if it happened. In the meantime it behoves me to appreciate what I have. 

Janathon2013 Day 5 - Not too much exercise

Walk - 3 miles, Time - 50m, Weather - grey and overcast.

Sometime in the past 3 months I might have moaned about the miserable weather, complained about the dreariness of the light and suggested that we have had enough rain already. How boring - complaining about the weather is one of the more useless types of conversation you can have and it is not anything a fully paid-up Stoic would do. Nevertheless it has happened and in my defence I post this picture to show how dull, waterlogged, and grey everything is. It might prove a point but it also shows you how far I am from a practicing Stoic - but there again I make no claims to be one.

As if to prove the point I will give you a quote from Seneca (Letter XV) contra to my current endeavours:


"For it is silly, my dear Lucilius, and no way for an educated man to behave, to spend one's time exercising the biceps, broadening the neck and shoulders and developing the lungs. Even when the extra feeding has produced gratifying results and you've put on a lot of muscle, you'll never match the strength or the weight of a prize ox. The greater load, moreover, on the body is crushing to the spirit and renders it less active. So keep the body within bounds as much as you can and make room for the spirit."

So there we have it. Seneca believes that you should do the minimum amount necessary to keep the body healthy and devote your time to the pursuit of wisdom and seemed to think there was a degree of conflict between body and mind. But you should never believe anything just because it was said by someone with a reputation for wisdom. In some cases it is possible, just possible, that a Japanese sports goods company  has a better idea.  A sound mind in a sound body - yes indeed!

Janathon 2013 Day 4: In the moment

Cycling - 15.5 miles, Time - 1h 11m, Weather - cloudy

The weather today would have been unremarkable if it hadn’t been for all the other days but at the moment no rain or heavy grey skies should be celebrated. So I took to my bike along the country lanes, up and down a few hills, and enjoyed the views and the feeling of hard work going up before the release of going down. It was fun;  not highly charged as if suddenly everything felt alive and full of zest but more restrained in an english  “you know this is really quite nice” sort of way.

When going down hill along twisty lanes with hedges that obscure the view I go much slower than is possible. All the time I am thinking ahead, wondering if there is a car behind the next bend, keeping to my side of the road and preparing to take avoiding action. It kills the freedom of sweeping descents where you can use the apex of the corners and go for the best line but it seems like the best thing to do.

It got me thinking about whether I was actually living in the present or the future because I was thinking about nothing else other than the descent and handling my bike but at the same time I was thinking ahead, even if the time frame was short. It is rather academic because all that matters is that I was concentrating and fully absorbed however it does lead me to the Stoic quote of the day about the living in the moment.  It is from a letter of Seneca where he talks about fear and hope being bound together because we project our thoughts forward instead of adapting to the presents. In other words  although forethought is one of our greatest gifts it can also be a curse:

“Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present.”

On my ride I was really like that animal (though not at all wild I hasten to add), I reacted to potential dangers but once past I forgot them. When home all I was left with was a tingly feeling on the skin  from exertion in coldish air, and the memory of the muscular pleasure of turning the pedals.

Janathon 2013 Day 3 - The medium on which you practice

Gym - various weights + 17.5m running, 3.5km, Time - 1 hour, Weather - irrelevant

Last year I toyed with the idea of base training and limited my speed to stay below a specified heart rate. It was slow and frustrating as I kept on having to slow down or even walk but the idea was that the training effect gradually increase the speed I could run at that heart rate, as I gradually became more efficient. It never happened. The only result was I got used to running slowly and anything else felt like an effort. In other words it was boring and it messed up my head. From this I will not say base training does not work, as many other people have used it successfully and it could just be I didn't run enough miles or gave up too soon. However I will not be trying it again.

Looking back at the year when I ran at my easiest my approach was completely different. During the winter months I combined strength work with running short distances (2-3 miles) at varying speeds, on a treadmill. I then moved outdoors for the endurance training, with a weekly long slow run and other runs at mixed pace. I have no clear idea why I abandoned this approach. Perhaps I fell prey to a false idea that real runners had to keep up a higher weekly mileage, or perhaps I just wanted to try a different approach. In the end  I forgot what had worked.Now though I am now back with the old way and we will see if it still works.

There are a couple of lessons in this. The first is the famous quote of George Sheehan that "you are an experiment of one". In other words try things out to find what works for you, which might well be different to what works for your neighbour. But do not do this haphazardly, give each method a fair go and learn from the experience. The other lesson is related (or perhaps a different way of formulating the same idea) and is my Stoic quote of the day (again from Zeno):

"The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

I will amend that slightly for the purposes of this blog and make it 'living in agreement with your own nature. You should not try to fight yourself, force yourself to cut against the grain, instead you should be trying to reveal yourself.  Or in the words of another Stoic quote, this time from Epictetus:

"Just as wood is the medium of the carpenter and bronze is the medium of the sculptor, your life is the medium on which you practice the art of living."

Janathon 2013 Day 2 - Little and Often

Cycling - 11 miles, Time - 50m, Weather - mizzle

I thought it was just going to be grey and overcast today and so a rare chance to go for a ride without getting soaked. But what do I know? After I had been out for a short while dampness descended like a blanket and the cold, steady, drizzly rain never let up. It didn’t stop me enjoying the ride but I did shorten the route. I had planned about 15 miles but cut a corner so as to come home not quite drenched.

In the end though I thought the distance perfect: long enough to work both muscles and lungs but short enough to leave me feeling fresh at the end. I must remember this as a lesson: there is no great virtue in going further than you need. Obviously if you are training for a marathon your need is to prepare  for that distance and you need to go long but otherwise little and often, including a bursts or two at higher intensity, is a good way to build fitness. 

This brings me to my Stoic quote of the day, from Zeno of Citium, who founded the school:

Well being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.

Perfect. I told you Stoicism was a neat fit with running.

Jan(quote-a-day)athon 2013

Run - 4.7km, Time - 26m 30s, Weather - there was an unfamiliar yellow object in the sky and the sky was blue! 

So another Janathon has arrived and this time I am not sure how I will manage. It is not the daily pressure to exercise that worries me so much as what to write - because frankly a lot of what I plan to do will be rather dull. My main running goal for 2013 is not until  October so I am using the winter to build up my strength with the hope that this will allow me to run injury free for the rest of the year. A lot of this will happen in the gym and try as I might I have little to say about lifting weights. I need an additional theme.

As my running is rubbish at the moment and 2012 was a year when everything fell to pieces. I feel that I must learn to be content with where I am and rebuild from there. In other words I must be stoical in outlook - not in the generally accepted “mustn’t grumble” meaning of the word but in the more precise way of following the advice of the Stoic philosophers of Greece and Rome. Perhaps I could write about that. Each day I could find a quote and make some tenuous connection to running and my current situation as half-arsed addendum to Stoic Week (recently organised from this blog)

I might be wrong (and I probably am if the reaction of my sister is anything to go by) but I think there is growing interest in ancient  schools of philosophy, especially the stoics. Instead of authors like Epictetus or Seneca being seen as a bit esoteric, the preserve of the minority with a classical education and therefore brushed away with the put-down of elitism, it is now recognised that they can still speak clearly of the human condition. Our way of life may have changed drastically over the past two and a half thousand years but the underlying psychology, drives and desires are the same; so their advice is still fresh. Modern academic philosophy may be arcane and highly technical but many of the ancient schools were concerned with how to live a good life and thus have much in common with modern self-help guides. This quote from Epicurus (who founded a competing philosophical school to the Stoics) shows, philosophy of that time was not for the select few but something that could be widely grasped and applied:

"Vain is the word of a philosopher that does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either, if it does not expel the suffering of the mind."

Strangely it reminds me of running because I believe that, for us non-competitive  runners, there is no profit in running if it does not expel the suffering of the mind. This overlap gives me hope that some sort of Jan(quote-a-day)athon might not be impossible. On the other hand it might end up being a bit silly and I abandon the idea. 

We shall see.