John on my ACV, Rainy Day run

RUN 10.1 miles in about 1:38
BIKE COMMUTE 9.6 miles, errand to Walgreens

Last night I was looking at my new bottle of ACV and found my STALKER JOHN on it!

3 John 2: Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well

This is now the 4th time he's found me! I'll get back to that later. First the run. Another mid-50's temp day like yesterday, this time with a very light rain in the first few minutes of the run. Yay! The route was a simple out-n-back to TGP with the MoBot loop. No music, no food, just water. And the Whisper of Rain :)

Now back to John. My STALKER. I should come up with a better name, it's probably not nice to call him that. Especially in all caps.

I don't think I've detailed this yet, so here goes. On the way to B2B last fall I was consumed with the idea of a 1 year transformation. I'd been watching that TV show with the fitness trainer giving people that 1 year to get healthy and reach a weight loss goal. I started watching it on the trainer after MiTi. For some reason I was craving a change. In retrospect, I know why. I started mapping out this 4 phase plan to make changes, set goals and mini goals, and "fix me" by the end of one year -- my 40th birthday! I was so unhappy, needed something, and this seemed to fit.

On October 23rd while driving through Tennessee I went for a short run from the hotel, and came across a church on a rural road with a sign saying 

John 3:3 Thou must be born again. 

In the first pass, I saw it and smiled. Sounds like what I was thinking about -- being reborn! On the way back, I realized how much this struck me and stopped to take a picture. There are many many times I want to stop and take a picture while running, but don't, because I don't want to stop. And besides, what will I do with the picture? Load it to my SpaceBookTweetAgram account?! But there I was, taking the picture.

Later in the car, I started reading up on it. It's Jesus talking to Nicodemus, saying Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. I read more, laughed a bit at the idea of being reborn in to the church, read more on being reborn. Then moved on to my race. 

On Oct 25th I start not only the race, but Phase I. Phase I was heavily disrupted by life events and it wasn't until it ended on January 24th that I took stock to begin Phase 2. 

Sometime in mid April I'm surfing the radio during dinner, seated in the DR as per my new goal to eat like an adult and not surf at the counter top. While randoming through the stations, I'm caught by a strong voice delivering a sermon. I'm so caught that I stop to listen:

Wilt thou be made whole

I listen, he talked about making choices in life to heal and be free. Interested, I google it only to find out it's John!! John 5:6, in which Jesus is asking a sick man if he wants to be healed. What?! Isn't that what I'm doing?! Trying to heal myself?! 

To learn more, I pull out Gramma L's bible from the China cabinet. Over the next few dinners, I'm flipping through it. None of it is familiar, even though I did attend 8 years of Sunday school and church. I'm more fascinated anyway by the maps included in the back. While flipping through them I come across a list of gospels to read on certain dates. Since the next day was May 1st, I look that date up. And get the F out of here, it's JOHN!

John 14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Whoa. This can't be just coincidence, can it? I talk to JG about it, she thinks someone is trying to talk to me. She loans me a few books, I'm still reading them over. I'm not yet convinced. As the meme joke says, just because a Bible was written doesn't mean God exists because if it did, think of Spiderman and Marvel comics...  Or better yet Gondor and Lord of the Rings!

Then I buy my ACV, and while reading the label I see 3 John 2. At first I think it's really John 3:2, but I learned soon enough that no, the 3 refers to a separate chapter not the gospel. 

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!? Well from what I learned last night, John wants me to have good shits :)

This has been a somewhat stressful week so far, learning more about my future plans and making decisions. I've talked only to JG and TH about this, they've been great resources. But now what do I do?

As for the ACV and stomach acid experiment, in my 3 baking soda tests I did have small burps, so I think I'm OK there. They were mini burps, is that enough? Should I be able to detect something I ate 7 hours ago? Dunno. It's too early to tell with the ACV, give that a few more days. I'm skeptical, but willing to try. And the more I read, it seems that a diagnosis of SIBO could fit me. But there's so much overlap with IBS, they seem linked and collaborative. Still debating the SCD after the race.