Gavin and I have been going to the gym together for 4 years now. Lifting only. We go 3-4 times a week at minimum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a few months back, I realized (as an old guy who eats what he wants and will always be set to that) I had to do a bit more. Enter Cardio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last time I did cardio (barring the Peleton I bought during the pandemic, which Tina uses regularly) was years\/decades ago. The best I did was when Tina and lived near UNM and ran a mile around campus. I still smoked during that time, so I wasn’t a great partner. I think I did it more to impress her more than anything. I hated it. Abhored it. All along, I have never never understood anyone who ‘runs’. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I faced a partial reality over the summer that I had to do something. I decided to run on the treadmill at the gym. Why? I don’t know – I just really enjoy facing things that scare me, intimidate me, or make me feel weak. I think that’s it. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on it while treading through the agony of using this machine. The first 15 minutes is trying to endure my legs through the pain. The second 15 minutes or so is ‘hey, I’m doing it. I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve got a pace going.” The last portion is watching the clock … the minutes and miles tick away. “I’ve come this far, I’m not quitting.” In the end, it’s elation. I did this. Come at me, bro. And then I go home and eat gummy bears and have half a pint of ice cream. I earned it, biotch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started with a half mile. I would then add 5% every visit. I don’t use headphones or watch TV. I let the clomp clomp clomp of my run and watching the meter go to antagonize and motivate me. I wondered why, today, why I don’t just run in the neighborhood? I realized it is because I’m agro-competitive: anyone in my lane of treadmills I must outlast. I silently clop away while side-eyeing their pace and time. I can beat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, I did 3.1 miles – a 5k, if you will. Wow. Felt fucking great! Still agony, but I reached a point I would have never imagined. And this is the 3rd in the week (the other 2 were 2.9 and 3.0 miles). I feel at this point a 5k 3x a week works (plus the other 3 days of lifting) for me. Not phsyical or any midlife thing – just so rewarding mentally for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I can still eat gummy bears and ice cream with no worries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gavin and I have been going to the gym together for 4 years now. Lifting only. We go 3-4 times a week at minimum. But a few months back, I realized (as an old guy who eats what he wants and will always be set to that) I had to do a bit more. Enter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2toiQ-sq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1023,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=1023","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":0},"title":"The Dog Likes Beds","author":"admin","date":"1010.2020.1414","format":false,"excerpt":"So Lucy, our Black Lab, likes her bed. Our cat, Wallie, likes it too. Wallie will sometimes take it over. So ... Tina went out and bought Wallie her own bed (cats don't need beds, am I right?). Tina put it in the living room, walks out and comes back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "animals"","block_context":{"text":"animals","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=59"},"img":{"alt_text":"LucySmallBed","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/LucySmallBed-1024x754.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":374,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=374","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":1},"title":"Dream Toilet","author":"admin","date":"0505.1515.1111","format":false,"excerpt":"Tina and I are beginning to explore remodeling our master bathroom. I came across this ... wow!","rel":"","context":"In "home improvement"","block_context":{"text":"home improvement","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=64"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=49","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":2},"title":"“I Must Warn Others”","author":"admin","date":"0909.0606.1010","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Are you going to post about this?\" Tina said tonight, as I ran out to the patio to snap the above pic. \"Yes, Dammit.\" I said. \"I must warn others.\" I continued to eat ice. I was on my 5th or 6th mouth-full. Earlier, Tina kicked off the harvest season\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "food"","block_context":{"text":"food","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=30"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/IMG_3743.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1222,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=1222","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":3},"title":"Happy 25th!","author":"admin","date":"0303.1818.1818","format":false,"excerpt":"25 Years Ago today Tina and I started dating. Crazy. What better way to celebrate than Frontier on a Sunday morning!","rel":"","context":"In "food"","block_context":{"text":"food","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=30"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_3643-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=297","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":4},"title":"Gavin will Hate Me for This","author":"admin","date":"0202.1313.1111","format":false,"excerpt":"I know Gavin won't like this, but I simply can't resist. Tina found this in one of Gavin's drawers today. \"N\", apparently, is Nadine. Gavin was pretty upset that this was discovered. And so it begins ...","rel":"","context":"In "kids"","block_context":{"text":"kids","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/GavinAndNadine.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1447,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=1447","url_meta":{"origin":1762,"position":5},"title":"Where’s My Chair?","author":"admin","date":"0909.0606.2121","format":false,"excerpt":"Was at Lowe's yesterday with Tina and saw this while in the cabinet fixture aisle (building a cabinet for my 3D printer - more on that some other time) ... It's just a curious thing that this really has to be called out on the packaging ...","rel":"","context":"In "law"","block_context":{"text":"law","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ChairNotIncluded.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ChairNotIncluded.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ChairNotIncluded.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1763,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}