I dressed based on the thermometer this morning. When I went out I
was surprised to realize it was raining pretty hard. I went back in and
swapped my outer long sleeve shirt for a jacket. I jogged up to the
corner to see if perchance Larry or Wayne was running today. I didn't
see them. During this time I realized that there was a pretty strong
wind to go along with the rain so I went back home. I was tempted to
just stay there, but instead I put on my long pants, put the long
sleeve shirt back on, with the jacket, and headed out for a solo run.I only went 5.1 miles at a very easy pace, and my knee was a little stiff, but I enjoyed the loop up through Lindon. If
the weather isn't too bad, and my knee agrees, I plan to run again at
noon. I'd really like to get my weekly mileage back up to 50 and headed
towards 60, but I'll have to play it by ear and take what my body gives
me. Karen and I visited our Chinese friends Kenny and Mindy on
Saturday night. While Karen and Mindy worked on their food plans for
girls camp this summer, Kenny and I, and their pre-teen son Nathan,
just hung out and talked. I asked Kenny what they knew about "gua sha"
(the scraping techinique Josse and others on the blog use). He said,
"gua sha?" and looked confused, but then he said, "Oh, gua sha!" I
guess I don't pronounce Chinese very well. It turns out they use
it regularly. I was a little embarrassed when I mentioned I had bought
gua sha tools. Their tool literally cost them 1 penny. It actually is a
penny, stored in a bottle of Vic's Vapor Rub.Kenny also pulled out his cupping set and taught me a little about cupping. I
found it very interesting and am considering purchasing a cupping set. Their
son Nathan knew all about gua sha and cupping and demonstrated both for
me on himself, going so far as to raise a sha rash on his leg with the
penny. Kenny said that whenever he feels a cold or other illness coming
on he has Mindy do his whole back. He said she did it once while they
were at a hotel. Since it was his back, and it didn't hurt at all,
Kenny forgot about it and went to the pool. When other people saw his
back they thought he had been whipped or beaten. I find this all very interesting. I've
been experimenting with doing a little gua sha scraping on myself. I'm
not sure I've been aggressive enough yet to do much good, but I'm
pretty sure I haven't done any harm. Kenny assured me that it is very
safe, that I shouldn't worry about doing any damage, and I should be
quite aggressive. He says Mindy is very aggressive on him and it has
never hurt him. I plan to be more aggressive, but by degrees.
Kenny explained that the western approach is to cover up,
wrap, and bandage injuries and treat illness by putting foreign
chemicals (drugs) into the body. The eastern approach is more focused
on getting the bad stuff out of the body and letting the body heal
itself. The latter seems to make more sense to me. The wisdom of man
creates drugs and medical treatments, many of which are nearly
miraculous in my eyes, but they are imperfect, and none approaches the
incredible wonder of our bodies themselves, created by the infinitely
greater wisdom of God. I plan to consider the advantages of both east and west by exploring the eastern a little deeper. It's already very interesting. At noon I went 6.25 miles on the extended Lake View route with Nathan. There was a little pain in the back of the knee, but it didn't affect my running much and we averaged 7:35/mi.
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