Where It Hurts

I made the mistake of working out yesterday, and today I'm seriously giving thought to never doing that again. (This is not even about New Year's resolutions, because "getting in shape" is silly. You never "achieve" fitness; you just richochet off it every now and then. No, I would have done this workout in September on a Tuesday, had the mood struck me.)

Anyway, on a Saturday in January the mood struck me, and today I've vowed that should it strike me again, I will judo chop that mofo right in the throat, because everything is in pain.

Now that everyone I hang out and work with is at least 40, I feel like I must encourage my peer group to be more careful. The other day I stood up from my desk and limped, winced and limped to the printer.

Did I hurt myself? No, I am old.

Six months ago I laid down for a short nap and injured my left elbow. I'm about to go see a physio. The pain is preventing me from graduating from a 2 lb. to a 3 lb. weight when I do my 10 bicep curls twice a month.

It's a great friend who will join you in your foolishness. A friend and I made a long-distance pact to complete the Couch-to-5k after he caught me bitching about not getting past the first week of runs after at least 8 tries. Speaking of runs, we have both individually and collectively learned what not to eat prior to Week 3 Day 2's workout.

I've been learning to focus on the process of what I attempt, not the outcome. This is a big lesson for me, and I find that it has a ton of application, from C25k to writing to plain ol' life:

With the C25k program, I can look at this as the launching pad to fitness, weight loss and a return to long distance running and ultimately my next marathon. My sister and I have a half-baked plan to run one another one when we turn 50-ish. If I want to do that, I need to start planning for success, right? Or I can just get after my next run later today (following a nice bland bowl of broth) and not worry about the rest of it when I’m “only” 45.

With my writing - not sure if it's obvious or not; it probably is - but 99% of the stuff I post is off-the-cuff, what's-on-my-mind BS vs. any outlined, researched and painstaking effort. The moment I sit down and try to impart a nugget of wisdom, I write a steaming literary equivalent of what Winston deposits in the backyard.

With life, with this smoking wreckage of a world, I figure God's working the outcome, and I just am going to hitch a ride. So if that's a resolution for the new year, then vamos. I can't do anything with my left elbow for a while, and everything else hurts after yesterday, but at least my thumb still works.