<div class="header-image"></div> <table class="table-header"> <thead> <tr> <th colspan="2"></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>2024-04-23</td> <td style="text-align: right;"><a href="About.md" class="internal-link">About</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> # My Personal Fitness History ![runner](Assets/runner.png) I was born in 1974. Yes, earlier this year I turned 50. I am in better shape now than I've been since I was about 14. That was when I quit playing hockey. I really did nothing for exercise at all after that, nothing vigorous, anyway. I walked a lot, but that's really it. And I started smoking when I was 16. For those keeping track, I turned 16 in 1990. And when 2000 rolled over I was 25. The 90s was a crazy decade. Just in general, but also for me. It was completely decadent, almost a retelling of the 70s but with a cyberpunk aesthetic. And after the long Reagan years --"Just say no," the Satanic Panic, and the moral majority of the 80s-- drug culture came back with a vengeance. And with it came a scoffing attitude toward physical health and wellbeing. I was very much a part of that drug culture, and the nightlife that came with it. I lived for the present, not caring at all about the future, and certainly not thinking about my own safety. I did all sorts of psychedelics, and more acid than my brain could handle, I think. I also did a fair bit of coke and crystal meth. The drug culture was a bit like being a part of a secret club. Along with music, it became a part of one's identity. And it felt good to be separate from society at large. I could look down on all the robots ("sheep," or "normies" would be the modern vernacular) who lacked a personality and did nothing but work themselves to death. After 2000, I finally went to college. I put all the drugs behind me at that point too, and I thought I would quit smoking before I hit 30. That didn't happen. A whole decade went by. I was intermittent fasting during that time, though I didn't have a name for it. I just got in the habit of not eating during the day and having a large dinner. I thought then that I was just doing myself more damage. Little did I know that this habit would have a fitness buzzword in just 10 years. At 38 I *finally* quit smoking with the help of e-cigarettes, which were brand new at the time. By this point I had been smoking for 22 years, anywhere from half to a full pack a day. I used e-cigarettes (or a vape-pen or whatever the kids call them these days) as a replacement, and then stopped vaping. I started eating more, but just fast-food garbage and pre-prepared frozen meals. I also started drinking more. I put on a lot of weight rather quickly. I gained 40 pounds within about 2 years. I never became obese, by any definition, but certainly overweight. Through various dieting stages, I lost and gained that weight back a few times. The first was just with diet only. I quit drinking and became mostly vegetarian. I lost all the weight I gained very quickly, but this was very short lived. After 8 months or so I just fell back into my old habits, and put the weight back on within a couple years. In 2019 I decided to try running. Looking back, I don't know what it was that made me want to do that. It was completely out of character for me up until that point. I was overweight, and didn't like what I was becoming. I suppose that was it. I was also drinking a lot again, and wanted to make a change. So I replaced drinking with running. My goal at that point was just to be able to run 10 km. I wanted to do that regularly, and enter 10k races. If I was just running 10k's all the time, then I wouldn't even need to train for races. I could just sign up and run them for fun. And this is exactly what I did. The weight came off again, and my first 10k race was the Terry Fox run in September of that year. Not really much of a race per se, but still fun, and a real accomplishment. This was all well and good. I slowed down somewhat in the winter, but kept up with some treadmill running and indoor cycling. But then in March the pandemic hit. I won't get into the psychological changes that I went through; we *all* went through it. The important part is that there was immense pressure to stay inside, only go out when necessary, and *always* wear a mask. The social stigmas of doing anything outside of these requirements were huge. Where I lived we were permitted to get out for exercise, but we were required to wear a mask. If we didn't, we'd get frowning looks of disapproval, and often people would be quite vocal about it. I was still new to running at the time, and I couldn't wear a mask while doing so. It felt suffocating. So I just didn't run. And that was the end of that. And two years later, I was back again where I started, with 40 extra pounds and drinking too much. The mask mandates were lifted in early 2022. We could be maskless outdoors long before then, but I was not running. I was upset with myself that I let myself regress to my starting point yet again. I was losing track of how many times I had to start over. I needed a mindset change. I could blame the pandemic for my current condition or take some accountability and change my outlook. In the fall of that year I got a physical trainer to teach me about weightlifting, and come up with a program. And I started running again. I stayed on the treadmill for the winter, and began running outside again as soon as the weather cooperated. I found myself looking forward to running on my workout days, and looking forward to working out on my running days. By the spring I was running in 10 km races again. I kept with it, and was encouraged by steady, continuous improvements in my distances, pace, and heartrate. By the fall I was running half-marathons, and doing it rather effortlessly. So when [injury struck early last November](2024-04-21%20Running%20Injuries%20Suck%20Balls.md) , I was determined to keep doing as much as I could to ensure that I didn't regress back into old habits yet again. I'm through that injury now. I'm still doing physiotherapy every morning and evening, but I'm running again, and am slowly creeping back toward my previous fitness level. That's the end of this story for now. I've got some races coming up, including a couple half-marathons in the fall. My starry-eyed dream is to start competing in full marathons and qualify for the Boston. There will be further posts about my progress on that front. My point in writing this is mostly to contrast where I began to where I am now. It's never too late to start taking better care of yourself. It doesn't matter what sort of person you are, change *is* possible, but only if you want it. And don't worry about false starts. Just begin again when you have to. You will be surprised what you're capable of, with only a little determination.