Documentary about the Vegan Joggler

Thanks to a very talented group of students from Bronxville high school for producing this short film. Although I kind of liked being this mysterious figure and this makes me a lot less of one, I’m still glad I got to share my story since a lot of people find it inspiring. I was very impressed with the finished product, especially the music. I rarely mention the horrible backstory that lead me to take up joggling because it was eons ago and now my joggling is so intertwined with my veganism that I almost forget how it all started.

If you like stories about passion and perseverance, then this is for you. All credit for the documentary goes to Ohto, John George, and Scott; I didn’t film or edit this, that was all their work. There are no special effects. I hope all you fit-freaks and even non-fit-freaks around the world find it informative and inspiring.

What keeps me motivated

Joggling across Croton Reservoir on the Putnam(North County) trailway in Westchester county, NY

Staying motivated to exercise every day can be a challenge for some people. But with the right amount of motivation, it becomes much easier. This is why I believe it is a good idea to write a list of reasons to exercise, that way you don’t lose sight of why you do it. While some of the reasons I exercise are pretty standard, there are some motivations that are unique to me as a vegan joggler. Here is what keeps me motivated:

• The health benefits of exercise, and this includes both cardiovascular and mental benefits
• Joggling is fun
• When I joggle, I often wear a vegan or vegetarian T-shirt. In this way I can help dispel the myths that many people still believe about veganism. This is probably one of the best ways to open up people’s minds to the vegan lifestyle. I can’t “convert” anyone, but by setting an example as a vegan joggler, I can suggest the idea to them
• For the kids: A lot of kids love seeing me joggle around the neighborhood, so the fact that I am a source of entertainment and inspiration for a lot of children also helps me stay focused on my fitness routine. Who knows, maybe one of them will take up joggling some day and set some new world records!
• To ensure I am as fit as possible for running competitions or for hiking adventures

I think we should all try to make our fitness routine as fun as possible, and set a good example to inspire others. Doing competitions or fitness events, joining a running club, or running for charity are other good ways to keep you motivated. You don’t have to be a joggler to do these things, but it will certainly bring you more attention. If you can find a way to entertain children while running or exercising, that’s yet another reason to exercise, and you will even forget you are exercising.

What keeps you motivated to exercise?

Moon Joggers

Here is an inspiring story about a group of runners from around the world who decided to run the distance from the Earth to the moon(238,857 miles/384,403 km) by combining their miles – A simple fitness goal shoots to the moon: The inspiring story of the Moon Joggers

They wondered, could they enlist the help of others and run the distance to the moon — 238,857 miles?

“We thought if we could get 237 other people to run 1,000 miles, we’d get there by the end of the year,” says Angie, 31, who works with special-needs children in Frisco while working on her MBA. “We put it on Facebook, and it exploded.”

That was Dec. 1. Within the month, “we had hundreds of people all over the world,” she says.

On May 23, seven months and eight days earlier than scheduled, the runners had accumulated enough miles to reach the moon. When Angie posted the big news on Facebook, Moon Joggers in Finland, Turkey, Egypt and New Zealand as well as the United States posted giddy congratulations.

This is really neat and inspiring. Very often, the right kind of motivation makes all the difference. There are so many different approaches that can keep runners motivated. This is one of the most unique ones I’ve heard of in a while. It’s like I always say, be creative when it comes to fitness, use your imagination.

I gotta admit of course that I immediately thought of “moon joggling”. This can involve the same goal of running 238,857 miles to the moon, while juggling balls that look like moons. If this distance isn’t challenging enough for you, then maybe you should consider jogging or joggling to Mars, which is 140 million miles(225.3 km) away from Earth, on average(this distance constantly changes due to the Earth and Mars having different orbits and because they move around the sun at different speeds).

238,857 miles or 140 million miles may sound like a lot to some of you, but compared to the size of the universe, this is nothing. The observable universe is a sphere with a radius of 46 billion light years – and it is expanding as I write this. One light year = 5.87849981 × 10¹² miles(9.4605284 × 10¹² kilometers). I think a saw an apartment in Manhattan the other day that went for around this much. It’s something of a brain exercise trying to imagine something so extremely vast, nevertheless, see if you can run that!

Change your perspective, change your world

What is holding you back from living the life you want to live? What is stopping you from becoming a fitter person?

Sometimes, changing your perspective can make a difference. For instance, what is wrong with this world map?

Source: Wikipedia

It’s wrong because it is upside down, right?

But that’s just a convention, with the north being on top on virtually all maps. This is why this world map looks “wrong” to you. You’re northern-hemisphere-centric. Just change your perspective(or pretend to be an Australian or New Zealander) and you will realize this is just as correct as maps with north at the top.

How many problems in life are similar to this? Our perspective being limited by what we are used to, and what we are used to being seen as “right”?

Change your perspective, break with convention, and I know it sounds cliche, but “think outside the box”.

As Albert Einstein once said: “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” or it is sometimes phrased as: “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”

So think differently, and you may see results.