I was going to start this post with a yawn. I was going to tell you how ho-hum I’m feeling; about how I’ve got nothing to say. I was going to talk about how I signed up for 2 more triathlons (both sprint) and how sometimes I get excited but mostly I think, ho hum – big deal. Then I’d move to beating myself up because I’m really good at that. Then I had to think about my motivation for writing like that. Then I had to think about how boring that was. Then I got back to the yawn. Then I started going through my blogroll and I found a video tribute to John Blais over at .1 of 1%, Mal James running blog. Then I got a grip.

So it isn’t really Hump Day Miscellany. It’s Hump Day Inspiration and Tribute Day. Thank you, Mal for posting this video. For those of you who are not Mal, he is a cameraman for Fox over in the Middle East and in addition to going from being a runner and marathoner to signing up for an Ironman (sound familiar??) he sees war from a very different angle than the rest of us. If you’d like a birds eye (or is that a Mal’s eye?) view into conflict in the Middle East please go to his other blog, Unholyland News. and I assure you, you will get quite an eyeful. Not of tragedy and mayhem and limbless bodies but of sorrow and terror and madness.

So here’s to John Blais and to Mal and to Me and here’s to You, too. For all of your efforts, your strength, your bravery, your determination and your contributions to the larger community. Here’s to all of us. I think John would appreciate our efforts to go the distance and seek personal triumph as we run and swim and bike our way through personal demons, through our fears, through our sore muscles and in spite of busy lives until we cross that finish line.

Click here to read more about John Blais and the Blazeman Warriors
“This is where you will win the battle – in the playhouse of your mind”