In my youth I was an athlete, more or less. Not a traditional high school basketball-type guy - my traditionally caucasian genetics prevented excellence in traditional sports - I was more of a long, endurance kind of guy. I ran, swam, cycled, surfed; heck I did just about anything that required less ball-hitting eye hand coordination, than the ability to maintain a ridiculously high heart rate for equally ridiculous amounts of time. I swam distances, 1,600 meter events suited me best; I ran anything longer than a 10K with enthusiasm and cycled 50 to 100 miles at a time.
I kept up the effort until just before my 40th birthday when a surfing accident left me in ICU for 2 weeks with a perforated intestine and about a year of recovery thereafter. I think that was a turning point for me. Athletics faded to memory, pain meds and 6 months of antibiotic therapy left me interested in little more than leisure, and the last 12 years followed suit. The point? What was once a temple - my body that is - had become more of an amusement park and I was the carnival barker.
Last year, I decided to turn the tide on what would have been an inevitable conclusion and return to athletics. I started surfing (paddle board and traditional) again - very, very poorly - cycling, lifting weight, running is next I guess and, in short, making the most of the gift of life we all get and far too many of us fritter away with compunction.
I write this installment after an evening of researching dietary and nutritional information - doctor's orders you see - planning a weeks worth of workouts and pondering whether the end will justify the efforts. OK, so I know the answer to the last "ponder" already. So I guess I'm searching for the courage to do so publicly.
I'm the kind of guy who bears a fair amount of distain for those who blog their private lives - who really gives a shit whether Bruce something or another actually ran 3 miles on any given day - but I do believe in the power of the group, the support of others, and the occasional "atta boy" from some stranger who stumbles upon my posts.
So here it is. I'm going public with the next year of my fitness quest. Pictures to follow when I believe myself photogenic, but I'll strive for honesty and hope that anyone looking for similar inspiration will find a bit here. Fair enough?
