BROADCASTS.com

With this episode I\u2019m off and running on my 9th year of podcasting.\xa0\nDid I think that I\u2019d still be at it after all this time?\xa0 To be honest I didn\u2019t really think about it...I just kept on producing the shows.\xa0 Clearly, this isn\u2019t the same Phedippidations that it was back in 2005...alot has changed with the writing, recording, production, sound quality, processing, sound effects, music sounders and beds...not to mention the changes in the life of the host.\xa0\nWe homo sapiens are funny when it comes to change, and I\u2019m not talking about \u201cFunny Ha Ha\u201d.\xa0 I think to a certain extent, many of us go through the course of our lives in blissful or less denial on the topic of change...I know I\u2019m guilty of that...so I\u2019ll speak for myself.\nIntellectually I understand that change is constant, but in my heart I try to ignore that truth.\xa0 I have always preferred to belive that I live in a secure, understandable, familiar and unchanging life and lifestyle...but that\u2019s a fantasy...the truth is that every day and every hour brings change.\nThe way to become happy in life, is to be mindful of this change.\nParents with young children experience such change to the extreme. \xa0\nThose of you with new born and young kids must cherish these moments...for when I warn you that they will pass by much faster than you can possibly imagine, you have to belive me.\xa0 I don\u2019t mean to bum you out...but almost literally tomorrow your babies will be full fledged adults, and you\u2019ll have the nest to yourselves...it\u2019s a little freaky at first, but it gets better...it really does.\nIt\u2019s these transitions in our lives that shock and awe us...but they shouldn\u2019t.\xa0 I\u2019m talking about our \u201cfear of change\u201d here, something that the buddist nun Pema Chodron writes about in her book \u201cWhen Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times\u201d\nShe writes:\n\u201cWe\u2019re always trying to deny that it\u2019s a natural occurrence that things change, that the sand is slipping through our fingers. Time is passing. It\u2019s as natural as the seasons changing and day turning into night.\xa0\nBut getting old, getting sick, losing what we love\u2014we don\u2019t see those events as natural occurrences. We want to ward off that sense of death, no matter what.\xa0\nWhen we have reminders of death, we panic. It isn\u2019t just that we cut our finger, blood begins to flow, and we put on a Band-Aid. We add something extra\u2014our style.\xa0\nSome of us just sit there stoically and bleed all over our clothes. Some of us get hysterical; we don\u2019t just get a Band-Aid, we call the ambulance and go to the hospital. Some of us put on designer Band-Aids. But whatever our style is, it\u2019s not simple. It\u2019s not bare bones.\xa0\nCan\u2019t we just return to the bare bones? Can\u2019t we just come back? That\u2019s the beginning of the beginning.\xa0\nBare bones, good old self.\xa0\nBare bones, good old bloody finger.\xa0\nCome back to square one, just the minimum bare bones.\xa0\nRelaxing with the present moment, relaxing with hopelessness, relaxing with death, not resisting the fact that things end, that things pass, that things have no lasting substance,that everything is changing all the time...\u201d\nShe\u2019s right of course...I\u2019m hardly an enlightened soul, but I do understand that everything is changing all the time...and that includes Phedippidations.\nI\u2019ve recieved thousands of comments about this show over the years, and one of the common subject lines mentions a listeners unhappiness with the many changes that I\u2019ve made with the show.\xa0 I cannot, and will not apologize for that, because it\u2019s not something that I have control over...part of the reason I have no control over this is because we\u2019re going through a journey here, together.\nLike it or not, you\u2019ve been listening not only to my rambling diatribes and presentation of road races and running related topics...but you\u2019ve been listening to the story of my life, and the lives of my friends and family.\xa0 I could have made a better effort to sheild you from all that...having worked in commercial radio broadcasting, I know first hand how the private lives of Dee-Jays and Talk Show Hosts are often hidden from the audience.\nBut I didn\u2019t want to do that here, because this is a conversation for and about runners. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.\nToo many of the professional and corporate production houses who have entered this space...as I knew they one day would...continue to follow the tired, old way of broadcasting content.\xa0 Many or most are afraid of being complely open and honest, and until they do...they\u2019re always just going to be a radio show pretending to be a podcast...or netcast...or RSS driven audio enclosure....whatever you want to call it. \xa0\nCan we agree that the \u201cpod\u201d in \u201cpodcasting\u201d is no longer relevent?\xa0\nAs my life has changed, this show has changed.\xa0 As this show has changed, our relationship as host and listener has changed...and I like to think that this change is, or will be, for the better.\nSomeone asked me recently \u201cHow long will you continue to produce Phedippidations\u201d...and there is an answer to that: \u201cuntil I\u2019m finished\u201d. \xa0\nThat could mean until I\u2019m physically unable to produce the show, or it could mean until I\u2019ve reached the end of our journey together...it doesn\u2019t really matter.\xa0 I\u2019ll miss you, you might miss me...but rest assured, somewhere up ahead of us in the near or far flung future, is the last episode of this podcast.\nWe should find comfort in that as we should find comfort in all the alpha and omega moments of our lives. \xa0\nWhen Ani Pema Chodron suggests that we return to the \u201cbare bones\u201d in our response to change, she is suggesting that we live for the moment, every moment...that we learn to relax and not resist the fact that change is constant and that everything comes to an end.\xa0\nNothing in our lives remains the same, ever...so if you like something, hell...if you LOVE something or someone, an experience you\u2019re having or once had...cherish that thing, person or moment, now...right now...and relax...be better for the experience and move on as the world moves on.\nAnd yes, I am the pot pointing out that the kettle is of a darkened hue...but as runners we have an opportunity to think deeply about change...change in our lives, change in our friends and families lives...and even something as goofy as the changes with a podcast.\n\nLinks:\n\nFriend, Fellow Runner & Wine Freak: \n\n\n\n\nSong\n\n\nEpisode\n\n\nDate Published\n\n\nSong Title\n\n\nArtist\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nFdip295: Dr. George Sheehan \u2013 Facing the Future\n\n\nSept 8th, 2012\n\n\nAll My Days\n\n\nAlexi Murdoch\n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nFdip296: Motivational Gadgetry\n\n\nSept 20th, 2012\n\n\nLet Them Feel Your Heart Beat\n\n\nA Silent Film\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nFdip297: What is this thing called, Love?\n\n\nOct 13th, 2012\n\n\nTomorrow\n\n\nBlack Lab\n\n\n\n\n4\n\n\nFdip298: The Problem with NSAIDs\n\n\nNov 10th, 2012\n\n\nThe Day\n\n\nMoby\n\n\n\n\n5\n\n\nFdip299: An Honor to Run with You\n\n\nDec 2nd, 2012\n\n\nFurther\n\n\nLong-View\n\n\n\n\n6\n\n\nFdip300: A New Hope\n\n\nFeb 1, 2013\n\n\nRun, Run\n\n\nThe Rivals\n\n\n\n\n7\n\n\nFdip301: Unwrinkling the Runners Soul\n\n\nFeb 28th, 2013\n\n\nGood Men\n\n\nA Boy and His Kite\n\n\n\n\n8\n\n\nFdip302: As Fast as We Can\n\n\nMarch 22nd, 2013\n\n\nAs Fast as You Can\n\n\nOur Lady Peace\n\n\n\n\n9\n\n\nBonus Track\n\n\n\n\n\nLearn to Dance\n\n\nAndrew McMahon\n\n\n\n\nIntervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com\n\nIn Vino Veritas with at \nONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 70 friends and fellow runners:\nWilliam, Vera, Katie, Heather, Ryan,\xa0Chaise, Gordon,\xa0Scott, Mike,\xa0David, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane,\xa0Cheryl,\xa0Ron,\xa0Mark, Martha,\xa0Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill,\xa0Michael, David, Doug, Vance, Brad, Marcelo, Shawn, Roberto, Zaki,\xa0Jan, Margaret, James, Norm, Simon, Albert, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Teresa, Glenn, Trey, Steve, John, Angie, Al, Toni, Martin, Lynn, Nancy, Matt, Eric, Claudia, Jim, Kara, Robert, Dino, Joe, Martin, Rich, Sarah, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Hisham, Andrea\xa0and one\xa0Anonymous fellow runner!\nTHANK YOU! {}\n\nFollow me on:\nBlog: \nStream: \xa0\nApple App: \xa0\nAndroid App: \xa0\n\nSupport: