I, James, am happy to announce that I am now an athlete.
F.A.Q.: "James, what do you do?"
A: Excellent question. I'm an athlete.
For the rest of my life, that's what I vow to be. You see, I don't want gastric bypass surgery. I don't want my disability to return. I don't want to not enjoy everything that life has to offer a healthy human being. I don't want to live out my life stuck in quicksand.
To me, keeping fit means putting my chronic disease (obesity) into remission. Thank God I don't have to take pills or undergo invasive treatments for my debilitating disease.
All I have to do is have fun.
Even if I were a naturally thin person, this is what I should be doing with my life. One's health or quality of life isn't necessarily dependent on the size of one's waistline. I believe the older we get, the more important fitness is for our quality of life no matter what size we are.
On the weekend I headed out to a nature preserve that is an hour out of town by bike. My eight year-old son and I traveled on gravel roads to get there. It took about an hour each way. Unlike on roads, I had trouble keeping up with my boy "off road" on my less-efficient mountain bike.
He was so proud of what he accomplished and so proud of his dad, who did almost nothing with him up until last summer.
When I got back from that exhausting trip (it wouldn't have been so exhausting if my son took it easy) I had had my fill of cycling. It was even something of a letdown to be done that goal and not to have anything else on my list of things to try.
But a day or two later, the feeling started to burn inside of me. I want to tear up something with my bike. I want to get out there, to make my heart beat fast, and to push my body to it's full, ever-increasing potential.
I hope that fire never goes away. It's my choice to keep it going.
Even though there are those naturally thin people out there, your exercise regime is better than most of those people. You'll end up with a stronger heart, that can probably better hold up better under stress and the occasional need to shovel a bunch of snow.
ReplyDeleteA teacher in the uplands area, several years younger than us, died last Friday from a heart attack. Don't know his history, but it makes one think.
When I was being an 'athlete' it was something to be proud of. Especially when a person was never one when they're young. Now I need to slowly get back to being a lifetime athlete like yourself. It's the only way to help one hopefully not become disabled at too young an age.
Keep up the good work.