Work affects your health, tremendously. Not liking your job is like not liking your roommate, a low-level infection. Or, to use the one poetic French phrase I ever managed to create, “C’est une mode de survivre, pas de vivre.” (It’s a way to survive, not to live.)

Today RMA, the online business relationship academy I founded with Keith, Tahl, and Craig, opened its new session, which makes me happy because interaction with the participants brings me a lot of unexpected joy. It’s weird that I didn’t see that coming, but back in the days when we were glued to our laptops for 10 silent hours at a stretch working on the curriculum, it was easy to forget that the product wasn’t the end goal. The experience people would get out of it was the end goal. Happier, more satisfied and successful people was the end goal. And when people tell me they’re getting that experience, and when I can personally help people get it, well, it makes me really happy.

It also made me happy that I could run to and from work to get my miles in AND be able to have a full day at work and not feel as rushed as I usually do. It did mean, however, that when we decided to go for the celebratory “RMA Launched!” drink at the swanky bar downstairs, I had to do it in Spandex.

NY will never recover.

Do you like your work? If you do, tell me why!

PS: Go check out Colleen Newvine’s great blog and enter her contest by creatively answering the question WHAT (not who but specifically what) are you grateful for? The first thing that jumped to my mind was the key pocket in my running tights, giving “junk in the trunk” whole new meaning. I could definitely pull 200 words on why I love that pocket.

After yesterday’s jubilant plans for a 110% week, today’s fail really hurt.

How do you know when to push yourself, and when to stand down?

A couple things I’ve read….

• Run with a head cold; stand down if it’s in your chest.
• When you have a pain that’s a 3 or below on the pain scale, definitely run. 7 or above, rest.

Today I felt too physically debilitated to run. I put on the clothes, got my feet on the pavement, and it still felt WRONG. But the fact is, I could have done it, I would have survived. To run was not impossible.

Today’s run: 3 miles, 30:17 minutes. Like a comic book character consumed with diabolical revenge plots, all I could think about today was how much I hated my stupid, no-good, lying Nike Plus (mileage here is adjusted to account for its stupidity). But the weather was nice and I saw my favorite Mastiff, on my first run ever wearing glasses. Bring out the gimp!

I know that the conventional wisdom around distance running is that you need to “Carb-o-nate”: load up on carbs and not much else before a race. As someone who’s carb-shy – I’m all about protein and veggies, occasional whole grains and very occasional sweets – this made me wonder if my body isn’t made to run a marathon. (Actually there are a bunch of things that make me wonder about that….my stubborn fatness and a desire to avoid things that are uncomfortable being among them…)

Anyway, point here is, eating nothing but carbs for a couple of days would send me down the rabbit hole. But I did some searching and was glad to find that there are, in fact, low-carb marathoners, as well as a bi debate about whether you can burn fat to fuel long runs. (People get so vicious over the topic of carbohydrates; it’s like the South Park episode where the atheists take over and “God” becomes “Science.”. Good one, btw.)

I do most of my runs on a nearly-empty stomach and do just fine. I don’t get hungry and the thought that I might be burning away some fat? Balloons, bells, and whistles!! But as I increase the length of my runs, I’m curious to see whether I’ll hit a wall.

What about you: carb-happy or carb-wary? Has this changed since you became a runner?

A friend recently told me that he has a lot of thoughts that are too weird to say out loud – something he sometimes discovers mid-sentence. I think that may be what the italicized portion of this blog is becoming.

* * *

I remember after I ran my first 10K – “run” being a stretch of the term – we went to a ’50s diner and had shockingly huge breakfasts. Then we went home and pretty much collapsed on the couch for the rest of the day.

These days, I have terrific energy all day after 10K runs. It’s in part being in better shape, but I also chalk it up to my awesome recovery drink. This is all I eat after a run, and I try to wait at least 2-3 hours before I have my next meal. Sometimes it’s hard, but trust me, it’s keep a spring in your step.

Note: This is not my actual green drink, but it's more or less what it looks like. I think I'll try adding mint!

GREEN RECOVERY DRINK

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 scoop Macro Greens (TJ’s has a similar seeming product, Green Drink Powder, that I haven’t tried yet but is half the price)
• 1 scoop Designer Whey (“research proven,” but to do what, we don’t know)
• a few ice cubes
• 1/2 cup berries or other fruit (optional; I don’t usually add fruit, but I will admit it tastes better that way)

Blenderize and drink!