taking the stairs

As part of the new "I'm-36-and-ready-to-take-my-life-by-the-horns" mentality, I decided to switch it up at work today.  Something daring and bold; something that would alleviate any doubt in my mind or the minds of others exactly how serious I am about getting in shape this year.

I took the stairs.

I work on the 5th floor of a very sterile and depressing building.  Normally, I pile into an elevator like actors in one of those old Dial commercials.  Everyone's breathing heavy from having to walk in from the parking lot.  And no one speaks or looks around - everyone just stares at their feet and no one says a word.



But today for me was different.  I took the stairs.  The security guard made fun of me and coworkers gave me a strange look, like I was trying to fool with them or expose some sort of hidden crime.  I imagined mumblings and shaking heads as they piled onto the elevator.

I kept a steady pace and made it up and stopped before I walked onto my floor so that I could catch my breath.  That took a while.  As I walked to my seat it seemed that my heart was going to bang right out of my chest.  I took the stairs!!  And so I thought I'd treat myself with knowledge.  Everyone knows that taking the stairs is better than using an elevator, but I thought I'd do an internet search and see what came up.

What I found was this great article from the BBC... after reading it, I think I'll take the stairs again tomorrow.

Climbing stairs can prolong life

Taking the stairs instead of the lift at work could save your life, claim Swiss researchers.

Banning the use of lifts and escalators led to better fitness, less body fat, trimmer waistlines and a drop in blood pressure, a study of 69 people found.

This translates to a 15% cut in the risk of dying prematurely from any cause, calculate the University of Geneva team.

The results were revealed at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

Before the study, the 69 participants had what the researchers described as a sedentary lifestyle, meaning they did less than two hours of exercise or sport each week and climbed fewer than 10 flights of stairs each day.

Read the rest of the article and the study HERE.

2nd Run

So today I ran... it was my 2nd run since I turned 36.  Which is to say it's my 2nd run in the last 5 years.  It was hot today, too.  I'm in North Carolina and it hit 93 degrees today.

I walked to a soccer field down the street and walked a lap, then ran a lap.

I ended up running five laps and walking six.  Not sure how far that ended up being but it was taxing for me.  I'm not sure which is more out of shape - my legs or my lungs.  Either way, it hurt.. but it hurt so good!!  I really felt great (despite the pain).  In total, I moved for 35 constant minutes.

Also, I listened to the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, which, if you like to listen to music while you run, that is a fantastic choice.

I will probably only walk tomorrow.  I'll also do some strength training.  More to come.
Thanks to anyone who's read this blog; I appreciate the accountability and the interest.

Pieces of a Whole

So I turned 36 recently.

Turns out I'm basically the same person that I was when I was younger.  I'd really like to change that.  Not that I'm a terrible guy - I'm a pretty involved dad.  I take care of my family.  I'm nice to my neighbors.  I help my parents with yard work.  I'm a nice enough guy, really, but it turns out that I'm lazy in a lot of areas in my life.  I'm just kind of eeking by.  I'm living, but don't feel wholly alive.  I don't feel totally engaged in my days.. it's as if I just watch as the days unfold and I'm shocked to see how things happen to me.  These are the results:

* overweight.  I'm 5'10'' and weigh 238 lbs.  I should be 180.

* hate my job.  Which isn't a big deal.  Alot of people hate their job, but I let the stress of it consume me sometimes and the fact that I don't like my job makes me feel a bit defeated - like I have no control over what happens to me.  I would probably like it more if I took ownership of it and became more involved.

* zero creativity.  I used to be very creative.  Acting, writing, and more... but now, I'm always tired.  I just want to come home and go to sleep.

So it's time to change all this.  I'm past the half-way mark.

I remember when I was in college in the early 90's I was interested in the idea of running.  In my school library I thumbed through some Runner's World magazines and stumbled across the writings of George Sheehan.  I was mesmerized.  Here was a man describing what I thought running should be - it was a mix of physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual.  This was before the days of the internet and instant gratification (and instant boredom), and I had to wait for a whole month for the next issue of Runner's World to come out before I could read another article.  But I kept reading.

I only ran a handful of times in college.  After college came years of waiting tables and traveling and drinking and eating badly.  Then marriage in my 30's.  Now young children and a stressful job and BAM! I feel like all of the sudden I've woken up and found that 15 years has disappeared and I'm terribly uninvolved in my life and overweight.

So it's time to change all this.  Years ago I fully signed on to the psychological and emotional aspects of Sheehan's writings.  Over the last couple of years, I fee like the spiritual has started to take shape.  Now it's time for the physical.  I think that, based on what I've seen in other people's lives, all these pieces together will form a whole.  And I'll feel whole.  Human.  Alive.  Involved.

I'm ready to experience what I read in a Sheehan essay back in my college library 18 years ago: "Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from places a shower will never reach."