pavlov 2.0

So, most people are familiar with Ivan Petrovich Pavlov who famously conducted an experiment using dogs. The term "Pavlov's Dogs" is commonly used to refer to situations which display the accuracy of his findings. If you have no clue who Pavlov is, I would recommend you google his dog experiment, but in short here's the basic explanation (hopefully I remember it correctly, a few details may be off, but it's basically what happened): Pavlov would ring a bell just prior to feeding the dogs for a period of time. In time, once he would ring the bell, the dogs would begin salivating. They associated the ringing of the bell with eating time. Even if he rang the bell during a non-normal feeding time, they would become hungry and begin to salivate. Homer Simpson also stated this theory when he noted that cats come running into the kitchen when they hear the can opener. He then went running outside when he heard the ice cream truck. So, why am I bringing up an age-old experiment, you may ask. Well, I believe that his premise is generally accurate and there is an annoying occurrence in traffic which proves it. Police cars, especially when the lights are flashing. In the same way that the ringing bell would cause the dogs to salivate, the sight of a police car makes people hit their brakes. And quite frankly it's annoying. It causes so much traffic. A person can be driving 55 mph in a 65 and they will still hit their brakes at the sight of a cop. It can be a cop driving down the highway, one sitting and doing radar, or one with someone pulled over or assisting a broken down vehicle/accident. Lights on or off, people's first reaction is to him the brake. WHY?!?!?! We need to break ourselves out of this cycle. Let's prove Pavlov's theory wrong for a change and keep our feet away from the brake pedal the next time we see a cop. Thank you.

across the finish line

Thanks again to everyone for the support for my marathon run, both through donations and encouragement. Things didn't go exactly as planned and I learned a lot about perseverance, but as I said, I finished the run. And I can assure you, the pain was less and sense of accomplishment was greater once I was finally across the finish line. I'll write more about my full marathon experience later. In fact, now that my training's done, hopefully I'll be back to blogging a little more regularly. Below are a couple pics from the marathon.

it's not a sprint...

After months of running and training, the marathon is just around the corner...only 3 weeks away. There have been a lot of awesome things as result of the training. Obviously I've trimmed down and my overall health has improved significantly. I've had some lessons in patience and discipline. It's been fun at times. And there have been a number of frustrations as result of the training. My free time has been eaten up and well, I have to run a lot. Weighing those things out, I've come to the conclusion that I cannot wait for the marathon and will be excited when it's over...haha.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported Speed the Light through my run. I love you guys!

Also, when the marathon's over, I'll probably have time to update my blog again!!!