SNOW & EXERCISE
Up early today. Off to the Y and then on the road by 7am to Illinois for sales calls all day.
Yesterday shoveled our circle driveway. Thank God the snow was powder. Took me about an hour and a half to clean the driveway, my car, and the sidewalk. Then I pushed myself late in the day and hit the Y too. Another 30 minutes on weights and then 40 minutes on the Gerbils {elliptical (32 min) and treadmill (11 min)}. Pushing myself after reading the WSJ article I mentioned on Tuesday. Dr. Williams in another WSJ journal from Monday stresses that more exercise is better. I have to say I agree. When I worked in construction all day one summer in college, it was like being at the gym all day.
Anyway, all this activity started making me think about when, in my life, I was the most fit. I hate to admit that it has only been a handful times that I was at my absolute prime. That is not to say that I have not been healthy through various stages (ages).
Below is the chronology of where I have been over the years (in ages):
- 0-8 Average
- 9-15 (Increasingly overweight) My family Doc described me as mildly obese when I was in Sixth Grade. On Jan. 13, 1979, in eighth grade, I severely sprained my ankle playing Basketball (Lourdes vs. St. Clement), and I was fitted with a cast. One week later got chickenpox. The perfect storm. I went from 210 lbs to about 175 lbs over that two to three week stretch. When I sprained my ankle, I stayed in bed for week. My mom and grandmother fed me. I would not get up except to use the bathroom. Went back to school for a week and then poof, chickenpox. I was 5' 10" at the time. My highest weight prior to this event was 220 lbs. Needless to say I was a "big" kid. My waist at one point was 44". Ouch!
- 15-41(overall healthy) During high school, my weight stabilized and fell within 185-195 lbs. In college, I do recall gaining weight freshman year which is very common. I topped out at 205 my sophomore year first semester. Horrified, I became more active and watched what I ate. Of course, nothing for BF, a Snickers for lunch, lots of Diet Pepsi with Nutra-death (sweet), and regular dinner was the daily routine. Hardly healthy. So in the spring of that year I come home at 177lb and felt great. But I remember Joe Schweppe, my best friend, being freaked out by how skinny I was. I did manage to again keep myself within a range of 185-195.
- 42-46 Slowly I have gained weight since "retiring" from ice hockey. So that as of Dec. 31, I maxed out at 251 lbs.
(I will come back to these different stages later to into a little more depth about where I was mentally during these stages and how it related to my gain and loss of weight.)
So throughout my adult life, I have struggled a couple more times. I think my previous high to this past Dec. 31, 2009 was about 230 lbs while I attended graduate school. A couple of years out of college I started playing adult ice hockey and joined Bally's. Those two activities largely kept me within an acceptable weight range. I would say that in my late 30's I played hockey in the 205-210 pound range. Not my ideal playing weight.
My healthiest, strongest, most fit times are only a few. The summer of 1986, I lived with my Dad and his second wife in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Dad was a VP Accountant for McCarthy Brother's West Coast Division. He got me a summer job working for MCB at the Phoenician Resort which McCarthy was building at the foot of Camelback Mountain. I have never been in better shape in my entire life. Everyday I would start work as an unskilled laborer at 5 am, before the heat, and for 7.5 hours (and 30 min lunch break), I moved dirt with a shovel, tamped it down, and jackhammered holes in the granite for re bar for the metal workers. I had an absolute blast. I ate everything in site. I would lose 5-10 lbs a week and still eat like a maniac. I did not have an ounce of fat on me. This only lasted the summer.
Then my senior year I took a phys-ed weight training class and I ran 2 miles a day, five days a week. But grad school changed all that.
I do also recall playing in a hockey tournament in Kirkwood when Henry (my youngest) was a little over a year old (spring 2004). I worked my weight down to 187 lbs and played out of my mind. In fact, my other best friend, Big Daddy (Matt Bradley) who I played with remembered that I played like I was a completely different person. In fact, this summer he mentioned that tournament and how well I skated. It meant a great deal to me that he remembered. I do recall feeling like I was a feather skating on the ice. I played twice a week at the time. A couple of people on the team and one of the wives came up to me after the last game and said "I did not know you were such a good skater." That should have set off all kinds of light bulbs, bells, whistles, sirens, you name it, but it glazed right over me like icing on a donut.
Now that I mention it, I also recall that when I lost all that weight in grade school, I became fast. And in first grade, I won the boys race on field day. I am not bragging. I realize now how much potential fun I have been missing out on.
AND THAT MUST END NOW.
So, from now on I will be posting pics of me in various stages on the blog and commenting on them for inspiration. I am by no means a vain person. My purpose is to remind me of my health potential. I have a goal in mind: 90 years of age. I am not sure I can pull that off since I have tortured my body for so many years in so many ways, but I will give it a shot. I would like to make 84 at least and be married to Suz for 50 years. That would be an accomplishment in today's world!
Sorry this blog is so long. Side note: No flu for Suz. I think she is suffering from Post-Christmas Stress Syndrome {PCSS}. It sounds crazy, but I am sure someone has written a paper on it already. Ha Ha. She takes after her Dad. One minute you think she is going to die and then she is up doing laundry.
