I actually downloaded a "marathon training ap" yesterday that is supposed to take you from couch potato to marathon distance in 36 weeks. Sadly, that may be as close to running a marathon as I ever get, but hey, progress.
It's a first step. They all count. Curiously the main reason I got onto this jag was because of the covid silliness. Having decided I didn't really want to stay in my house hiding under the bed until the fuhrer graciously permitted me to take the hugely dangerous step previously known as Going Outside, I found quite roads to walk where I wouldn't have to encounter anyone else. And then got to walking faster, then running the easier parts, then running more of it, and pushing ever-harder. Maybe your inspiration will be some idiot on an internet forum who started running and got you thinking about running? So on that basis I suppose you could say that covid has made me incomparably healthier than I was before.
Well, sorta kinda well not really. My "inspiration" is two fold. First, my wife and I recently had a good friend die and although he had significant cardiac issues and was 15 years older, a close death always kicks the mortality meter a bit. Plus, my wife re-iterating "If you go and die first I will kill you." So, there's that. Second, I'm replacing a soon to expire life insurance policy, and the physical will be in about 10 days, so I might as well get serious on that for a week and a half and then just keep it going. Drop a couple of pounds, make sure the blood pressure isn't spiking, make sure the cholesterol isn't out of control. Dropping 10 lbs would be fine, 15 better, 20 great. I just know that sitting behind this desk 10+ hours a day isn't getting me any healthier, and I know it is time to be a bit better steward of the meatsuit. I don't want to drop dead of a heartache from being a lazy slob and the first thing I hear is "What are you doing here already... too many cheeseburgers?"
That's true enough. As a young man whenever I heard about people dying it was either a freak accident or someone waaaaaay older than me. Mortality was for other people. It shook my mother pretty hard when a distant cousin my age was killed in some freak accident or another (I forget the details, I didn't even know the person existed, I just remember being barely into my 20s). Now when people die they are usually older than me but "usually older" is very different to "waaaaay older". One of the actors who starred in a longstanding sitcom I enjoyed died of a massive heart attack when he was..... the same age I am now. Ouch. Also a good reason. Ironically as my weight gradually rose and my annual medical checkup contained the usual comments from my doctor along the lines of "what are we going to do about this?" and my standard response that I should move around more (followed by not moving around more), it was the fuhrer telling me not to move around more that got me moving around more. From what I gather you need more than a week or two of exercise to tip the balance very far. Maybe start out walking more, then increasing the speed, and then think about your marathon. I've often been surprised how a small change can make a huge difference. When I stopped drinking soda with meals out and replaced it with unsweetened iced tea I started to lose weight. I have something of a weakness for cheese and found if I avoided keeping lots of cheese in the fridge I didn't snack on it, and losing weight became a little easier. That would be embarrassing. Are there cheeseburger chefs in heaven? If so you could always sue them...
My new porch lights arrived today. They weren't supposed to arrive until after Christmas. It's dark now, so I welcome guesses what I might be doing tomorrow when it's light again....
T The people that walked in darkness [will] see—- I see four lights!!!!! I always struggle with scripture recitation…
What if one of them were a single light fitting that contained two light bulbs? Should it count as one light or two? Would it make a difference how many switches control the fitting, or whether each bulb could be switched on and off independently?