Monday Musings, Very Gloomy Day Edition

It is dark for the time of day and raining heavily here. The wind is starting to increase. This area is under a High Wind Warning for most of the day.

Living among many tall trees this is the type of weather that worries me most. In the nearly ten years we’ve lived in this neighborhood, two homes have suffered major damage from falling trees. (This development only has about three dozen homes in total.)

Yes, tall trees are lovely in nice weather and when the leaves are changing. However, they can be very dangerous on a day like this. Repeat after me: NOTHING in life is all good or all bad.

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A picture of me after yesterday’s run, a modest effort of 2.75 miles in 30 minutes. (I excluded my head and face deliberately. I’m not that bad a photographer.) It was about this time of year ten years ago that I had the “Aha” moment about running.

At that time my Primary Care Physician was part of a concierge medicine group. For an annual retainer I had 24/7 access to him and other perks including an “Executive” physical that lasted almost all day. It was April, 2010 when I went in for my annual physical that, of course, included blood work.

The doctor gloomily informed me that my lipids and sugars were not well-controlled despite my taking FIVE prescription medicines a day in order to manage them. He asked me if I exercised and I said I walked on a treadmill, which was not a bald-faced lie, but was not the whole truth, either. Although I did exercise regularly for many years beginning in the 1990s, after my near-fatal infection in 2004, my shoulder surgeries in 2005-6 and the onset of Meniere’s Disease in 2008 I was only walking occasionally.

My doctor, who was a runner, suggested I take up running. When I said I just couldn’t run, he said many people believe that only to find that they can and many of them even begin to enjoy it.

Genuinely concerned by my lab results I began to run on the treadmill that had been used for my walks. At first, I could not even jog for more than 3 or 4 minutes. However, over time my stamina increased and so did the time/speed/distance of my runs. My personal best for time is now 66 minutes.

Ten years in, I am 20 pounds lighter, my lipids and sugars are well-controlled AND I am only taking two prescription meds a day, not five. No diet, no combination of pills, especially over-the-counter, can replace regular, moderate exercise. When it comes to exercise I think most Americans are just lazy. I don’t care if that sounds judgmental.

If a person is 150 pounds overweight, they didn’t get that way overnight. Instead of putting in some time and effort, most Americans seem to want a magic pill, a magic diet, or a magic surgery to lose weight. Magic isn’t real, it’s an illusion.

How much time? How about as little as one percent of your week, about 100 minutes. Please take care of yourselves.

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Speaking of Wheeler Dealers, as in the show referenced on my sweaty T-shirt, one of my two or three favorite episodes featured one of my all-time favorite cars in what has become one of my favorite car colors. From rarecarsforsaleblog.com, a picture of a Honda S2000 in Imola Orange.

 

 

Of course, this is far from the first time this car has appeared in Disaffected Musings. The S2000 might be the only car that could get me to reacquaint myself with a traditional manual transmission. All 110,000 of these were equipped with a manual. The lack of an automatic was the main reason the car was excluded from my Ultimate Garage 2.0. I just love these cars, though.

Stay safe and be well.

 

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