The Wanderer

Hello friends! It’s been a while I know, I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I recently switched into a new project with a lot more responsibility and it’s been taking a toll on my priorities. I haven’t been working out as much, still at least once a day but rarely twice, I’ve been traveling pretty often, and been trying to spend anytime in between with my friends and family. It feels like the last two weeks, while really good and productive, have been rushing by me, and my health goals have taken a step back in the process. But today was a good day.

I woke up at home, a given for most but when you’re traveling almost weekly, any day you wake up in your own bed feels like a blessing. I had some meetings in the morning, made breakfast, cleaned the apartment, and did some laundry. On my project, any time spent off site is relatively relaxed, so I’ve grown to absolutely cherish Fridays. I had some meetings until around 1pm and some work that brought me to 2. After a quick Costco run (Every day I become more and more like my parents lol) my friends and I went out to play a round of golf. While the weather looked great early in the day, it quickly turned for the worst as we were playing, dropping by 10 degrees during our round. I remember setting up my tee shot for the last hole. My hands freezing as I fumble around my pocket to find my dirty golf ball, I place the ball on the tee and watch, to my surprise, a snow flake fall next to me. I look over to my friends with dread as they come to the realization as well, the expression on our faces reaching the same conclusion simultaneously: we gotta get out of here. Regardless, any day on the golf course is a good day, and considering the weather I’m happy with how I played.

As we warmed up in the car after the round, my roommate and I decided to go get a quick workout in before heading back to our apartment. The workout was short by design, we were tired from golf and wanted to chill, but getting at least one workout in a day is, at this point, so cemented in my daily routine that it feels weird not to. My workout today was hopping on the bike for 30 minutes, my goal was to hit 8 miles before my roommate finishes his workout. I’ve been biking a lot lately, usually 10-15 minutes before my regular weight lifting. It’s been really fun for a warmup as it’s a low impact way to get some cardio in before focusing on weight training, and an even more impactful warm down after to keep the heart rate up. But for this workout, I wanted to challenge myself with an achievable but difficult goal. On the bike, I’ve been using speed and watts as a measure of exertion, so I started off slow by maintaining 90 watts for the first mile or so. After that, with the music bumping, I pushed up to 100 watts and then 125 watts for the first 3 miles. I finished 3 miles in 11 minutes and I knew I could complete my challenge. I was gassed after those first 3 miles, so mile 4 was spent in recovery as I maintained 90 watts again. For the next 3 miles I maintained 110 watts to keep around a 4 minute pace, getting to 6 miles by around minute 23. With 2 miles to go and 7 minutes left, I put it into high gear and pushed myself as far as I could go. My quads screaming at me to stop and take it easy, I went through the pain through the next 1.5 miles. The finish line only a few minutes away, with just 2 minutes left, I kept pushing, maintaining 125-130 watts until the end. I finished 8 miles in just under 30 minutes. I had done it. After a 5 minute warm down and some stretching, I left the gym and spent the evening making dinner, playing video games with friends, and watching a movie (the warrior – really good check it out).

I think of Casey Neistat a lot, especially when it comes to achieving health goals. For those who haven’t heard of him, Casey Neistat is a youtube vlogger. When he was 25 he got into a motorcycle accident and broke his leg. After going through extensive surgery and rehabilitation, his doctor told him “You might be able to run to catch a bus, or to catch up to your children, but you’ll never run again.” A year later he completed his first marathon, and has ran 20 more over the last decade. I’ve been watching Casey since I was in high school, and with every video my motivation grows. His latest video about breaking a 3 hour marathon (insane) had me wanting to run a marathon at that moment (I was sitting in an airport gate waiting for my flight at the time). I don’t know, its difficult having the job I have and still finding time to pursue these large endeavors. I think to myself sometimes that I don’t need to try so hard, that I look fine and am happy with my current fitness, that I can just coast and life won’t be that bad. But some moments I find myself wanting, needing, to push my boundaries and get better and better. Whether that’s in my career, in my love life, or in these little goals I set for myself. One thing Casey said recently that spoke to me was the following. At the end of the day, no one cares if I achieve this goal. I made this goal when I was 26, I was young and I still couldn’t achieve it. And now I’m 40, I have a wife and kids, it’s only getting harder and harder. The world will keep spinning regardless of my outcome, I could quit. But that’s just not who I am.

I don’t know if running a marathon is in the cards for me. I don’t know if its my destiny to accomplish this silly goal of mine. The world won’t care if I succeed or fail. Its indifference, as haunting as it is, is consistent. But I do know that I won’t quit, that if it means nothing to the world, then its only up to me. That race is there, it’s coming, it’ll happen with me or without me. If it’s not this one, it’ll be the next one, or the one after that, but at some point, somehow, some way, I’ll make it to that finish line. That’s just who I am.

Thank you all for reading this blog, it means a lot to me. I try to put my true thoughts out here, and it feels really good that some people resonate with it. We’re all in this together, so let’s get out there and make it happen. Cheers, see y’all next time.