It's amazing to me how quickly I've been moving from fantasies, to dreams, to goals, to achievements and beyond. Cycling moved quickly that way for me in the summer. At first it seemed nearly impossible or something that would take years to achieve. I came up with tobogganing with my kids as my winter goal this year and I'm amazed, as I was with cycling, how fast I moved from a dream to an everyday, no-big-deal, occurrence.
I noticed last night that I wasn't looking at my heart-rate monitor watch on a regular basis. Only once did I glance at it to make sure I wouldn't push my heart too far. When I did look, it was a little over my target maximum of 85%, but that's okay. I knew what was happening. My heart, and hill-climbing muscles were all getting stronger and more efficient, to the point that it was no big deal to walk up that big hill.
This means I felt like a normal, fully-capable person, for the first time in many, many years. Maybe even more capable than some sedentary thin people my age. This feeling is very different than what I experienced on the same toboggan hill a year ago with my kids. Then, I stood at the bottom of the hill and watched. Occasionally, I'd sneak halfway up the hill, slowly and with long pauses to rest, and shoot some pictures of my kids having fun. It was ingrained in me that I couldn't do what they did. I was ostersized from the world of the healthy.
After a couple exhilarating runs down the long toboggan hill last night, I stopped near the bottom, looked up at the surreal, artificially-lit winter scene, felt the strong but harmless winter wind in my face, and thought that I hadn't had this much fun since I was a kid. I later found myself alarmed by this realization. How much had I really missed out on all my adult life? And how much more fun should I be perusing in my future?
I'm not sure the answers to these questions yet, but I do know, a day spent without being active is a day wasted.
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