Fit by 50?

I'm thinking of stealing an idea from Adam the Woo and working to get fit by 50. He talked about it a bunch last year. Well, I'll be 49 tomorrow so I would have an entire year to get into shape. It wouldn't require much of a change in my plans given the Goofy Challenge waiting for me in January. Now, I could just do enough to get through the races as has been my pattern since moving to Florida, but I very much do not want to just get through these races. I'm fine with just getting through the marathon if I give a good effort in the half. My early thinking would be a solid half effort, which at this point would mean running pretty much the entire distance (with breaks at water stops and character photo ops), and a full marathon time similar to what I've been doing for the last few years. I would like to do better than my previous efforts, at least break 6 hours (which would only require me to maintain some kind of running effort after Animal Kingdom). While actually running is the biggest part of getting ready for this event, cutting some weight, adding more cross training (which means more rowing for me), and more weight lifting to improve my overall strength would all result in better running performance. 

I've already added one small addition to my daily effort as a first step toward these goals. I'm back on the ab exercises. 50 butterfly kicks has been my accepted ab exercise for years. Well, at least it was several years ago. My goal has traditionally been 5 days of this exercise a week. Assuming I take 2 minutes to make this small effort sometime today or tomorrow, this will be the first week I have achieved this goal in years. Once I have this habit re-established, I will work on getting back to the gym 3 days a week. Lifting at lunch has always been the key for getting in my lifting workouts. That's just not going to be something I'm going to be able to bring back as long as I'm at my current job. That means either going before work or in the evening. Evening workouts were a good option when I could go with my son, but he works most evenings. Maybe I should plan my lifting around his schedule. It he's available one evening a week, I could go Friday morning and Sunday. At a minimum I need to start going on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon. I can always do a quick session in the garage to get three sessions if I can make it to the gym for the other two.

As for my weight, no fast food during Lent has reduced my desire for Taco Bell and McDonald's. I didn't even eat Taco Bell this week and my McDonald's trip was largely about convenience more than a desire for that kind of food. I just need to cut down on weekday snaking and desserts to start making some progress. That progress assumes I'm back to running 15-20 miles a week, My foot is much improved. I could probably run at this point, but I'm more worried about aggravating the injury and losing even more running time. It's been one month since my last run, the Springtime Surprise 10 miler. I'm anxious to get back out on the road, but I lost a good month last year when I tried to rush back from my hamstring issue. I would probably be running now if I had just not run prior to the 10 miler. I could have made it just fine without additional training. Oh well, live and learn. 

So there is really no big dramatic plan for fit by 50. It's really just committing to doing the things that I've done in the past (which gets further in the past every year) and have been trying to get back into my life for years. It's doable. It will just take a little effort and focus.

First Quarter Update

I gave myself a little side quest to read a book while my wife was out of town. She left on Saturday. I started Indignation, a Roth book I bought on a used book binge before I left Richmond, that same day. She's still out of town, we'll see her Friday night, but I finished Indignation last night. It's a short book that butts right up to the limit for a novella. My copy is 230 pages, but the font is big and the margins are generous. The shortness of the book made it easier for me to finish in a few days, but the book was engaging and pleasant. It was deeply Roth, but his writing makes up for his focus on intensely personal experience. I'm happy to have read it. Roth is yet another reading project lingering on the edge of my future plans. I should probably finish at least one of my many reading threads before I start crossing titles off of a list. (I've read 3 Roth novels according to my Goodreads records with another one of his books in that I'm not sure if I actually finished this on space.)

Indignation is the fifth book I've finished this year. I'm ahead of last year's pace, I was just finishing up my fourth book this time last year, but way behind my reading pace of years past. At least I haven't bought any books this year. I actually haven't even felt tempted. I want to read down the pile that I've built up over the last year or so. All my recent buys are intriguing so I'm not looking for something new to pique my reading interest. We'll see how easily I refrain from book shopping once I'm left with the ambitious reads that I scooped up in my carefree and optimistic youth. That's in the future. I'm content with what I have in front of me at the moment. I started Submission today. Houellebecq feels like a superior Roth. I appreciate the masculinity inherent in their novels. I'm the antithesis of the reader publishers care about right now so there isn't much contemporary stuff that really resonates with my life experience. I can read and appreciate current prominent women writers, but it's nice to have a book that resonates with my male brain (no matter how estrogen soaked). That lack of really compelling new material is a big reason why it's been easy for me to stick to my book buying ban. I expect that I will just drift into older books rather than wander into the pointless crap on the tables at Barnes and Noble (older books outside of the most classic of classics have essentially disappeared from B&N shelves).

The book I finished before Indignation, The Doctor's Wife, was an effort to go back to men writing free from the imposed guilt of being a white man. It was a fine book, but there was a strong feminine energy (which I guess shouldn't have been a big shock given the title). The use of a female protagonist had the same feeling of the main character in the Hulu Predator movie Prey. The character didn't need to be female. The story could have been told with a similar impact and result with a male character. The use of a woman (girl in Prey? Her age is ambiguous) feels like an attempt to be subversive rather than being an essential element of the story. I guess there are no more men's stories. We're all just interchangeable people. Strong women must be more essential than strong men. 

I'm making no progress to become a strong man. I've decided that my reluctance to go to the gym is rooted in my dislike for the Y that I've been using. It's an excuse, but it's also true. I've never really liked the way the free weight area is set up. A new Crunch is opening soon. I'm hoping new scenery (and equipment) will get me back into a gym groove. One evening, Friday morning, and Sunday afternoon would be enough to get back on track. Easy to say, harder to execute. I'm starting to get fat so I need to start lifting again soon. My body is aging quickly. I may not have many years of throwing 225+ around on the bench. 

First reading update of 2025

Two months into the year, I've managed to finish two books. That low number is more due to the massive Wind and Truth that I read to start the year more than any lack of reading on my part. I obviously didn't read as much as I could have during January and most of February, but I managed to make it through the fifth volume of the Stormlight Archive. I've decided that the disappointment people have expressed about Wind and Truth is more about the exceedingly high expectations created by the first two books in the series. W and T was overly long and lacked the exciting action that was central to earlier volumes, but it moves events along nicely. The increasing importance of the Cosmere in Sanderson's books is also likely turning people off. I've read enough of his other stuff that I knew Wind and Truth had to end with Odium positioned to influence the wider Cosmere. That's the only way that story can really move forward. We may have even seen some of his plans being executed in other Cosmere books. If you're not into that broader narrative, Wind and Truth is not going to do much for you. I will keep reading the series despite the massive time commitment required to get through them. 

I've also finished James. I had read about half of that before I bought Wind and Truth so it was an easy task to finish that slim (by comparison) book. Everett is a good writer so the book was a pleasure to read. I'm not as taken with as all the acclaim would suggest. That acclaim is too based in the broader scope of the book more than the book itself. That's just a decision that culture has made. Celebrate the political or social space staked out by the book rather than the inherent quality of the book itself. I don't regret reading it. 

I picked up The Last Picture Show after James. I have about a third of the book left. This was a quick read. I've read a good bit of McMurtry so it's been nice getting back into the appealing flow of his prose. The dialogue is believable, the characters are authentic, and the story is well paced. The efficiency of this book highlights the bloat of Wind and Truth. The danger of The Last Picture Show will be going on to read the sequels. I could probably get them from the library (print versions, I don't see them in Libby), but I would rather focus my reading effort on my owned books. Maybe there is a place for an audiobook. I've never listened to a McMurtry book. I should finish this one by the end of the weekend to get to 3 books for the year. At least I will stay on my book a month pace. 

I pulled The Doctor's Wife off the shelf with The Last Picture Show. I read a couple dozen pages soon after it was delivered. I was quickly engaged with the story, but I was in the middle of James and about to start Wind and Truth so I set it aside. It's a short book so it has the appeal of a quick read to go with a good story. I may change my mind, but I'm pretty sure that will be my attempted book 4. I will need a quick read as the college basketball tournaments are about to ramp up. Those will take my focus for a good chunk of March. I'm actually building some reading momentum. I should really try to get at least a few pages in around the games.

I have stayed strong with my book buying ban. I haven't really even been tempted. 

Making my life better

If I need a reason for why I do things like run the WDW Marathon, getting the year started overcoming a big challenge could be as good a reason as any. I completed my fourth WDW Marathon in 4 years on Sunday.. My times are incredibly consistent given the nature of the marathon. I finished 3 of those 4 marathons in 6:20. The only exception is 2023 when I sat down wrong and messed up my knee a couple weeks before the race. I'm not going to revisit my recurring marathon training themes. I know what I need to do to be more comfortable in these runs. If I'm not up for the training, why do I keep entering this race (other than I really enjoy the whole runDisney vibe)? A pretty basic answer is that the race provides motivation for me to actually get out and run. My recap of my first WDW Marathon in 2022 highlighted that I was using the race to get my training runs back up to at least 10 miles. I run more when I am registered for a marathon. My run volume would plunge without a marathon looming over me. The race itself is highly rewarding. Every hard event is inherently rewarding, but covering all those miles on Disney property gives the marathon a little extra panache. There are drawbacks too, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. I also do the marathon because I can do the marathon. I'm approaching 50. My time for these kinds of activities is not unlimited. I need to accept the challenge while I still have a choice. There will be a day when my body makes the decision for me, but I still have the agency to make the choice to get out there and cover the miles. Running the marathon just feels like a better choice than not running the marathon. It's a choice that makes my life better. 

Making my life better is the point of all my resolutions/side quests/various pursuits and activities. Reading makes my life better. I'm not going to detour into detailing the specifics of how reading makes my life better, but it does. My Bookshelf Zero challenge is about getting me to read the books that I expect will make my life better. Reading a challenging book is not always pleasant in the moment, but I will be better for having read it (just like I'm better for having endured the marathon). Staying strong and losing weight are about staying healthy and active so I can live my life as I choose. I watch my Mom lead a small life where she has implicitly accepted all kinds of limitations by not taking care of her health. That is not the life I want to live. I set resolutions to give me an extra kick to get to the gym. It doesn't always work as much as I would like, but that goal probably gets me there more than if I didn't have that external measure. 

I put a book buying ban on myself this year. That restriction makes a moment less fun (lots of good choices for sale at the library yesterday, but no books for me this year), but focusing on reading what I already own makes my life better. I attempted to explore jazz last year. I was looking to expand my musical horizons and find new rewarding experiences. I found that I don't particularly like that style of music, but at least I gave it a try and don't feel like I'm missing out on something that would make my life better. I failed a goal, but I learned something valuable about how I experience the world and derive meaning from what I experience everyday. 

Of course I only explore a small part of my life in this space. I rarely delve into professional goals and challenges. I never share any details about the nature of my relationship with my wife or how I feel about being a parent. I call my resolutions and other goals side quests because my family and career are the primary adventure. Doing all that I can to make those parts of my life the best they can be will do more to make my life better than any book I read or workout I complete. I've made the decision to find another job. My current job is not doing much to make my life better (or maybe the best thing I could do to make my life better would be to find a new job). I've applied to what looks like a good opportunity. We'll see how it all plays out. I've been thinking deeply about my relationship with my wife. I look back at some of my actions with regret (it's about how I have failed to show her how I feel about her with words and actions, not any deep betrayals like cheating or something like that), but I'm focusing on how to move forward and make what we have better. Small improvements in my marriage will make my life dramatically better.

Here's to making my life better in 2025.