In Fitness And In Health

The right equipment is essential for getting the job done. You wouldn’t cut a steak with a butter knife would you? We’re not strangers to spending money on the hobbies we enjoy. I have a friend who spends his time on various DIY projects around his house. I can only imagine what his Home Depot bill looks like. Another friend enjoys photography. Her camera is so advanced it could probably make me breakfast. Yet too often I see folks skimp on fitness equipment. I’m talking the bare essentials.

You’re not there yet, and you desperately want to be. I get it. The vision you have for yourself is clear. You see the path forward. But walking the path is taking longer than you’d like. It always does though, right? We don’t commit ourselves to something one day and reap its rewards the next. That’s not how this works. The universe tests our resolve by putting obstacles in our way, the greatest of which being time. Time for us to demonstrate our commitment, our spirit, our intention.

Our bodies have a simple feedback mechanism when something’s wrong: pain. We’re all too familiar with pain. A sharp pain here. A dull ache there. Chronic pain that greets us in the morning and tucks us into bed at night. Pain tells us when we’re pushing too hard, when we need to back off. When our fire burns too hot. But sometimes pain stops us prematurely. Sometimes we’ve got more in the tank. Sometimes that dull ache is nothing more than a dull ache.

You ever have those mornings where getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain? I was up way too late last night playing a game of cat and mouse with one of nature’s furry little friends. I was a terrible cat, he was a terrific mouse, long story short he’s sleeping soundly somewhere and I look like a zombie out of a Resident Evil film. The last thing I want to do today is exercise. I’m tired, irritable and it’s barely noon. Just the thought of tying my running shoes makes me weary.

Determining the things we want in life are the toughest decisions we face. There are simply too many options. A million and one careers to pursue. 50 states to make a home. No children or many. And don’t get me started on picking a movie to watch — oftentimes I scroll for twenty minutes then give up out of frustration. Choosing a fitness goal is just as difficult. Should I focus on losing weight? Building muscle? Improving heart health? Running a faster 5k?

It’s about to get cold in a hurry. For many people that means shuttering their workouts until they dig themselves out in the spring. The weather’s too cold, there’s not enough light, or they just need a break. All of these things are true. Trust me, being a distance runner I know exactly how cold it gets and how little light is available. And lord knows my body could use a break after many months of pounding the roads and trails. But I don’t throw in the towel.

If you haven’t watched comedian Dave Chappelle’s recent Saturday Night Live opening monologue, you should. Dave is one of those rare individuals who navigates the world with a curious and open mind. One of those rare birds who thinks before he speaks, is measured in his responses and tries to see all sides of an issue, resulting in an incredibly clear perspective. I suppose that’s why he makes the big bucks. There’s little surprise he’s compared to George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy.

Time is our most valuable currency. You’ve heard this song before. You can accrue more money, more stuff, more status, but not time. You can’t buy time on Amazon and have it ship same-day like your favorite coffee brand. The clock started ticking at the beginning of the universe and streams only in one direction. You can however extend the time you do have. You can limit how fast the sand in the hour glass flows. In effect, buying more time. Here’s how.

The older I get the more I realize how much my past has shaped my present. And I don’t just mean my past experiences. I mean the experiences of my ancestors. I am who I am because of where I come from. Eons of evolution and countless generations manifesting themselves in me, here and now. I run in large part because I am built for it. Moderate height, slight build, strong heart, straight legs, tough bones. Traits passed down the generational chain.

Nothing else needed to be said. Everything that needed to be said had been said. Everything adjacent to what needed to be said had been said. Yet the monotony continued. As we rounded the 2.5 hour mark the CEO began babbling about her daughter’s gymnastics career. I began wondering if a fall from this moderately comfortable chair was enough to kill me. It’s a strange thing, to contemplate one’s demise at the hands of a piece of furniture ordered out of an OfficeMax catalog. I looked around the table.