This is the end of the year review I promised months earlier. Well since my last review post I’ve only had two major events.
The first was my entry into the world of real estate. I took out a loan and purchased a small house in west Houston and have put it up for rent. My hope is that I will be able to rent it for a couple of years and then sell it for a profit. My initial plan was to try to “flip” a property quickly to generate some funds quickly but the housing market in Houston is quite competitive and good properties are hard to find. This will take longer but I think it will be profitable.
The second event was my vacation to Costa Rica. A bit of a headache to plan but it was so worthwhile. You can read a recap in the previous posts. I was somewhat sad to see my vacation end and to have to bid goodbye to my travel partner but I am already looking forward to my next vacation.
One thing I did not mention in my travel posts is that I got a lot done as far as planning my upcoming year. I’ve laid out my goals and have edited and re-edited them until I think I have everything well planned and laid out.
If 2015 is as good or better than 2014 it will be a banner year. At the very least I hope it will be as good as this last year. These yearly goals have helped me immensely. They’ve consistently allowed me to improve my life. I’ve also enjoyed sharing the goals and the progress I’ve made on this blog. So much so that I think I will again post 4 yearly updates in the coming year.
All I can tell you folks is to stay tuned. It’s going to be a heck of a year.
It lay at the bottom of the list under the category: fitness goals
16 miles
The Galleria trail. I find it helpful to give things more personalized names. A name like “trail 6” or “route 5” just doesn’t have the proper gravitas for me. The Galleria was one of Houston’s best known malls and it was in the vicinity of this trail. The trail was actually Briar Forest road all the way to Loop 610 west and back home. 8 miles there and 8 miles back.
I’d been crossing things off my goals list, left and right during the year but had consciously avoided this one as much as possible. The thing seemed ludicrously impossible. I was still mastering 6 miles a day. Never mind such lofty goals like 16 miles or even a 26 mile marathon. This remained in the background like one of those unwinnable prizes at a crooked carnival game. Ever beckoning but you know you just can’t do it and trying would be a waste of time. So you just leave it up there and tolerate it cause it looks so good.
Long about June or so I had made great progress in some areas. Far more frankly than I’d expected or hoped. This goal came up again. Maybe, just maybe it was worth a try. It wasn’t.
About 5 miles in I began thinking about the rest of the distance and my will faltered. I stopped around Chimney rock street and returned home. About 13 miles or so and my feet and legs already complaining. I obviously needed more seasoning.
So I got on with life. This goal went back up on the shelf for the time being.
October rolled around and I decided that I was now ready and made two equally disastrous attempts. 14 miles. Close but it wasn’t happening. More than anything I lacked the willpower to see this through.
It’s late November and this unfinished goal nags at me. Late Friday night and driving home after an art show and I’ve had a pretty dismal day and I’m keyed up. Hell, I’m angry. Just a frustrating day overall. I want something. Something to work out my frustrations on. The Galleria trail. I want to go now, never mind waiting till morning. I’m beyond just giving it the old college try or doing my best. 16 miles or bust.
I finally have the impetus to do this. The proper frame of mind to tackle this.
I go to bed pretty late but I can’t sleep. I keep thinking “How, how can I do this if I’ve failed three times already?” Then the answer hits me. Don’t do this. Do more. Go up Briar Forest but return by Westheimer road. I get up and fire up the computer and plot out the new route on Google Earth. 16.6 miles. I stretch out the course some more by adding twists and turns and it comes out as 17.5 miles. I go back to bed. That should be enough.
I was setting up an even more impossible task and diminishing the power of the original challenge.
I can’t sleep the rest of the night. Not that I have much night left anyways. A few hours of lying in bed with my eyes open and unable to fall asleep. Let’s do this now! Tear’em to pieces! I finally get out of bed just after 4 and dress and head out. I have to practice self control to avoid going full out. Save it for the long haul.
Down Briar Forest and past the giant estates in the Memorial Villages. Miniature towns carved out as tax havens back in the 50s for people with money who wanted to get away from Houston taxes but to still enjoy the benefits of Houston living. For such a rich community they were sure chintzy about street lights. At that time of the morning, Briar Forest was as empty and dark as a country lane.
Past Voss, past FountainView, past Chimney Rock and into new territory. My body holding together quite well. Morning after morning after morning of runs have accustomed my body to long runs of this length. But will it get me through a much longer run?
Post Oak Boulevard. Our version of Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. Past this is my goal. Loop 610, the steel and concrete moat that surrounds old Houston and divides Houston between the suburbs and the urban areas. Between the places that people want to be and the places that most have to live in.
I worry that the Loop off ramps will be swarming with traffic but at this hour on a Saturday the off ramps are nearly deserted and I cross the street quite easily. Running under the Loop and above me it fairly hums with life as traffic rolls on past overhead.
I crossover and go inside the loop. I take the last few steps and land with a triumphal hop on the sidewalk of the other side. I had made it. Even if I have to crawl back home now, I had made it. I run over to Westheimer and take the road back.
It’s amazing how you can drive by a place all the time and miss so many details. All the little shops that I didn’t know were there near the Galleria area. You really miss so much cocooned away in your steel and glass car.
Back at Chimney rock. The first of the pains start. Maybe my quadriceps. A throbbing dull ache with each step. I tell myself it will go away or at least hope that it will. I’ve got nearly eleven miles in and six or so to go.
I go into a rhythmic pace. left, right, left, right. Must not stop, cannot stop. Keep going. Three more streetlights till Hillcroft. Can you see it? Way down there. Just 3 more lights.
A new pain. This time one of the toes in my right foot. Each time I step into it. A sharper pain.
3 more lights till Dunvale. Must be around mile 13.
You’ve done more than before. Quit now. Sit down and have a rest and then walk the rest of the way home. No. Keep going.
Running on the road now as the sidewalks are cracked and easy to trip on. In a bit of a daze as I tire out. I can barely hop out-of-the-way of oncoming traffic. Keep going.
3 more lights till Fondren. Then you’ll see some of the more familiar running routes. In the distance there it is. Chuy’s restaurant. You pass Chuy’s on your long runs. You’re practically home, see? Just keep going.
My left leg is now as stiff as a board. I don’t think my knee is even bending now. Aches with every step. Knees are the old tenants of the body. They constantly complain and remind you about tenant agreements and threaten to report you to the super.
My mouth is dry. Despite the cool weather I’ve sweated out every drop of water. Wish I cut spit. My mouth feels like sandpaper.
“You’re doing this, you’re doing this” my mantra to keep me going. My little prayer to maintain my faith here in this dark hour.
3 more lights till the Beltway. Why’s it always three more lights?!?!
Behind me the sun is rising Just lightening up everything around me. A ludicrous thought enters my mind. If the sun comes up you will lose and have to do it all over again. No! that’s ridiculous. It’s true. No, that’s dumb. Despite the pain I quicken my pace as much as I can which isn’t much.
Hayes road. I could cut through Hayes road and get back home quicker. No. I signed up for the full course and I will do the full course. If I do this now then I won’t have to do it again. Of course that’s a lie. I will have to do this more times and do even more. I knew what the next stage would be. No more messing around with more intermediaries. 26.2. Once I mastered this route then there could be no more dallying. But that was for next year.
Stoneford Drive and finally there’s my street. I can’t muster up any more strength as I reach my driveway. No celebrations, not even a mental pat on the back. I slow down and try to walk. My legs can’t make sense of walking and I stagger round like a drunken man almost falling over. I can barely get the key in the lock.
My knees protest as I trudge upstairs. I sit in my office chair and peel off my shoes. That ache in my right foot was a toenail. I had ripped it and the sock was bloody. I always heard old-time runners complain about bloody socks and black and blue toes. Now I understood what they meant. Now I was an old-timer.
I had done “the impossible”. I headed for the showers as a wave of exhaustion finally washed over me. I tried to focus on what would be the next impossible goal.
A mantra for a popular shoe company or an attitude to live one’s life by?
I was recently talking to someone who had a myriad of options to consider as far as their career including job options in Houston that weren’t quite what they wanted and career options on the east coast that were better but would involve uprooting their lives and moving. They had been weighing the pros and cons all summer long and now some of the offers were expiring and they had to make a decision.
They asked my opinion.
Firstly this is one of those things I hate opining on as I didn’t know all the ins and outs of this person’s, what their deepest desires are, how they really see their life shaping up and all those other fine details that really make a difference. So I took a middle of the road approach.
I told them to just pick one and go. Didn’t really matter which but do it. Of course they asked what if they chose wrong? I told them it didn’t matter. Making a decision was better than no decision when it comes down to it. Standing around paralyzed with indecision was the worst state to be in.
So they chose to move. Will it be a good decision? Yes and no. I’m sure that there will be ups and downs along the way but this person is young and still has time to grow and learn. But sitting around and waiting for things to be decided for them, that’s worse.
Whatever you do, take charge of your own life. Be the one that makes the decisions instead of letting life decide things for you.
This of course is a follow-up on a post I did in May of this year to sort of check myself on my goals and plans. I promised an August or early September follow-up but things have been incredibly busy and still remain busy. So let’s get into it.
Health. That’s proceeding apace. I had a bit of a stall out round late June to Early July but I’ve gotten back on track for the last couple of months. I’ve got some 5 and 10k’s coming up. I can’t say I am 100% committed to the Houston Marathon early next year. Not yet up to a full 26 mile race but we will see.
Business has rebounded and it’s one of the primary things that’s keeping me up late on weeknights and keeping me busy week in and week out. I am once again finding the joy in work when things are going well. Honestly I am enjoying this more than I have in ages. But don’t tell the boss.
The house improvements came in and despite some hiccups they installed fairly smoothly. So now I have granite counters and tile floors in the kitchen. If things go well the last remodeling phase will be next Summer.
One thing that has changed is a financial side project that I’ve been working on since late April and I’m not quite yet ready to unveil to the general public. Patience, please.
Local events? I hit 6 comic or anime related conventions this year. I am done with conventions for the year thank you very much.
The vacation…. There’s a plan in place. Late November/early December and it will be overseas. All signs point to yes, so stay tuned.
So compared to last time are things better, worse, the same? I have to admit it’s going better. No, not perfect but way better. I think (think mind you) that this will qualify as one of my better years. Not perfect, some setbacks here and there but I cannot say it’s been a bad year.
Of course you need to check back in late December to get the final analysis.
Way back when I started on my long winding path towards fitness I knew that I had no clue as to how I should proceed. I knew I felt bad all the time. That was a start but as far as anything else I hadn’t a clue. I did some online research and concluded that my feet would be the primary instruments of weight loss. But how far should I walk or run or jog? Again not a clue.
So I determined that I needed a pedometer. A simple little device that counts your steps. A very basic tool. I found a very cheaply made pedometer at a dollar store and clipped it on. I wasn’t expecting much. Just to get an idea of how much distance I covered in a day. The results were startling.
I had no idea that I was that sedentary. In the course of a day I didn’t even cover a mile! The health guidelines I looked up online said I should cover at least 5 if not 6 miles per day. The cheap little pedometer inspired radical changes in my behavior and diet.
When I got more into fitness I bought a pedometer watch to track my heart rate, distance, and steps taken. I found it somewhat useful though limiting.
Years later I got a new smartphone with a fitness app. Since most smartphones now have accelerometers and access to location devices, they can be used for fitness applications. As it’s also a phone and a web device I found it pretty much irresistible not to carry it on my runs. In the last year I have been using it to keep up with my general health trends.
You see, that’s what I need more than anything. It has been suggested to me that I get devices like the Fitbit bracelet to more accurately track my workouts but I see that as overkill and potentially harmful.
I don’t really need or want to track every calorie I burn or eat. I think that causes people to obsess on the tiny details and not focus on the overall health program. What helps me more is to know that my health trends are generally going in the “right” direction and I find that it motivates you just enough without becoming a smothering presence in the back of my mind.
I really believe that with this that I can achieve my goals in time. I may not do it in the smallest amount of time but I will get there.
Did you ever have a moment where you thought to yourself that you might want to change everything about yourself? I used to get these all the time. I would be doing whatever it was I was doing and suddenly contemplate if what I was doing was right or even if it was worthwhile doing and where was all of this leading to? Pretty disheartening but I had no over arching plan.
Part of the problem I think was that I did not realize the need for long-term goals to fall back on. That is what these goals are for after all. To give you something to look forward to during those long periods of time when you can’t see what the point is anymore. To check your progress against a master list to see if this really is worthwhile doing.
But lets face facts. when I was younger I did not think in the really long-term. Unfortunately that is all too common for younger people. But that isn’t something new or unique to my generation or even just me. That’s been around for ages. Those folks that have the gift of having the forethought to plan out their futures in minute detail are the ones that make it in this life. They can put off immediate gratification for the sake of “the plan” and that’s something special in this life.
Took me a while to figure it out. Know what I really like about all this planning? Putting these individual parts out there and seeing how they fit together. But equally enjoyable is actually deploying them and seeing “the plan” come together.
Things are going remarkably well if I do say so myself. That’s when things usually fall apart, right? Maybe they will, but that’s what the well thought through goals are for. To prevent that from happening or to have a backup in case something happens.
An acquaintance of mine is starting to take his health seriously. This takes me about 4 years ago and to my decision to get fit. Oh how clueless I was about it all.
So many things to learn, so many things to decide and to actually start doing. I don’t envy him the learning curve that he’s going to have to go through. Learning the ropes was a nightmare to me. But I have to admit that I’m glad I took the plunge and committed myself to a healthier lifestyle. Without that radical change in my habits I think I would be in serious jeopardy right now as far as my health goes.
The food portion of my plan was and still is the hardest part. I can get a handle on the exercise portion. Even though I may complain from time to time I keep to my fitness regimen. The food though…
Finding something that my system would be satisfied with was a huge hurdle but I was finally able to find something that I could eat on a regular basis and keep my palette from getting bored or feeling empty. Still, all it takes is one over indulgence to ruin an entire day’s work.
But from time to time you do have to give yourself that indulgence. Your body is a bit of a child and will rebel if you don’t give in every once in a while. A couple of cookies here, a slice of pizza there, something from the naughty side of the menu.
The trick is to keep a check on those indulgences. My acquaintance related how he plans to cut his alcohol intake and only drink a few nights a week. Hopefully he will learn how quickly calories from alcohol can add up and how slowly they burn off and how long it takes to burn them off on the jogging trails. Time and effort will teach him. It taught me.
I don’t want to do this. I just want to skip today and sleep late. Sit up in bed. What will it hurt to skip a couple of days.
Sigh
I get up and start changing into my running gear
6:57 PM
I finished a chapter last week and I have no clue as to where to take the story now.
Sit and stare, sit and stare. Nothing comes to mind.
Pace the room, read a magazine, look at a website. Still nothing. I start typing something. anything. Hope that a story will resolve itself from the effort.
9:01 AM
A pile of emails. Requests, inquiries, return emails, phone messages. So much to do. Where to start? How to start? Where will I get the enthusiasm to tackle it all? Start, one email at a time.
Energy is like that. Some days you spring out of bed, fresh as a daisy. Other days not so much. When you’re young you have that energy to spare and you can disregard those low energy days. As you age it gets more difficult. Exercise and a good diet can help mitigate that to an extent but you also have to admit that sometimes it’s overwhelming.
But the thing is that you can’t give in to the lethargy. Nothing good comes out of that. You slip on one day and then another and soon you’ve got a bad habit going. So you soldier on as best as possible. If you’ve built up a routine over the years this will help you carry on during these spells of low energy. Force of habit is a good motivator. But what will get you across is just a sheer stubborn will not to give in.
You have to stand up straight and continue on regardless of how low on energy you feel. No dramatic declarations of intent, no promises of rest as a reward at the end. Just a determination to get things done.
One thing I find interesting is how a few improvements in your life give you a different perspective and change your outlook on things.
I’ve been tinkering with a little side project the last few weeks. it’s still not ready for unveiling but I have to say that even as recently as last year I would not have contemplated something like this.
My economic situation has only marginally improved in the last year but it has improved and that has given me the confidence to contemplate some things I would have never thought about before.
It’s feels like I’m a prairie dog that has stuck his head outside his burrow for the first time and realized that there’s a whole world out there waiting for me. I’m sure that it has probably been the same for anyone else in a similar situation.
I have to admit it’s a slightly scary proposition but I have thought it through thoroughly and the situation looks very positive. Of course there are downsides and potential negatives to any situation and I fully realize and accept the risks. On the whole however I think that this will have a positive outcome once everything is said and done.
I hope I can share some good news on this project by the end of the year.
So, inspired by my recent post on ensembles I decided to clean out of my closet and dresser.
I’ve lost a bit of weight and I have to supplement my clothes to tide me over till I reach what I think is going to be my stable and sustainable weight for the next few decades.
Before I spend any money on new clothes I realized that I needed to make an assessment of what I need and what I had. I also needed to get rid of what was worn out or no longer fit. So I cleared out my closet and my dresser and piled everything on the bed and started sorting things into piles.
In some ways it feels like I’m moving. I suppose I am in a way. I’m moving away from the person that I was and moving to the person that I want to be. Just as in any move some old things have to stay behind and some new things have to be acquired.
The old stuff that isn’t too badly worn is going to charity and the rest will go into the waste bin.
Some things are easy. Winter clothes can be bulky and oversized so they’re not hard to sort and it’s time they went into storage anyways.
Suits and sports coats. They fit remarkably well but need a good cleaning and pressing and maybe an alteration here and there.
Shirts. My old office clothes. Some frayed and worn out, some oversized. A few still useful.
Pants. I didn’t realize how large I got. A couple of size 46 pants. I’m tempted to keep a pair to compare my old waist size to my new but that’s so cliche.
t-shirts. Most of these I keep. They’re such handy clothes.
socks. I have way too many and most of my time is spent sorting them. I look at two nearly identical ones and try to determine if they’re both navy blue or black. Most of my white tube socks end up in the charity pile.
handkerchiefs. How did I end up with so many?
Some things still have stickers and tags on them. Most of them gifts I would guess as some of them I would never wear.
I’ve filled two giant trash bags full of charity clothes and another bag for the garbage. My closet seems empty now but I have a good idea of what I need to buy.
I feel good about this in different ways. I’ve cleared out some of the clutter in my living space and made room for the new. More importantly I’ve made a clean break with the old me. Those old oversized clothes were a sort of safety line to my old self. As long as they existed I could lean on them; see them as a place to retreat to, even if just unconsciously. By doing this I commit myself to a new life and don’t have any choice but to move forward.
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