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The Making of a Dumb Datum

Imagine 10,000 years in the future. Two archaeologists are digging a site, and they find the remains of human bones. They take those remains to the lab, perform tests on them, and try to reconstruct the habits and lifestyle of that human. Say those bones belong to me. They are trying to find out my story, how I lived, what I ate, where I traveled, etc. Once they find all the info they need, they toss it into a museum where they store all other such ancient human remains they find. I was essentially one data point to them in trying to understand how humanity evolved over time. Or I can also call myself a “datum”, the singular form of data, literally one piece of information to solve a bigger puzzle. Honestly, I don’t need 10,000 years to become a datum. I am already a part of several datasets people use these days to study many things. So for that objective learner, I am already a datum. Now let me get to how I got the dumb part of it. I have had an interesting and eventful life so far...

Miles 1510 - 1520

 1. I managed to gain 370 ft of elevation gain on today's run, thanks to a deserted and steep hill I found in uptown Dallas. BMW Dallas Marathon's total elevation gain is 843 ft, so there is still some work to do, but atleast today a step in the right direction. I am planning an even hillier route for my long run on Saturday, but the key here is to not go bonkers. I can only assume that tearing my hamstrings while running uphill doesn't seem as fun as it sounds.

2. I am dreaming about packing a picnic blanket, some food and a book in my backpack, take it along with me on my bike ride till white rock lake, find a corner with no humans but a lot of birds and ducks, and just spend my entire day there. I did this last year once and it felt wonderful, as long as I overlook the ants that kept crawling up into my pants. 

3. There is this song by Pink called 'Just give me a reason', which has a line, "We're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again". It brings silent tears in my eyes everytime. I will try to remind myself everyday that I am just bent and not broken.

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