BD ([info]bd1) wrote,
@ 2006-08-23 15:30:00
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Rest day
Life has been nearly overwhelming. After the last post:
- dinner w/ friends & their 2 kids
- trip to aquarium w/ other friends
- went to Sesame Place
- went to Crayola Factory
- cleaned & prepped house for visit
- visit from Aunt L and Aunt A
- during visit went to 6 Flags and Wild Safari
- during visit had an early b-day party for T
- during visit went to Atlantic City (I climbed a rock wall there at the amusement rides -- great fun but sore the next day)
- had friends over to celebrate wedding (great food, many bottles of wine)
- b-day party for T at preschool (he turned 4!)
- b-day party for T on weekend at Chuck E. Cheese
- 3 b-day parties for T's friends (everyone is turning 4)
- moved mulch
- dug up manhole cover of septic tank
- found week old green beans in back of Subaru - horrible smell - experiment gone terribly wrong -- cleaning up was fun
- chapter nearly done but then lost part of it due to saving error -- sadly have to reconstruct some of the work -- J has written 5 chapters in the time it has taken me to write one -- I suck
- worked
- kids are sick, waking up at night
- haven't slept more than 5 hours in a single night in over two weeks...3-4 hours last night

T wants to be a robotic engineer. He's becoming a good conversationalist on the phone.
R says "dis" all the time. He is very curious and has a strong will. He will not be denied.

There's much more but I can't remember it all.

Somewhere in there, I'm still running. I haven't lost as much weight as I had hoped but I'm holding steady on the negative side of the equation. I'm proud of a couple runs. A week and a half ago on a day when I had slept little and felt tired I managed to run a 6:15 mile and still had enough left to finish a 5K in less than 22:30. I didn't even think I was going to run that day. That gave me encouragement. On another day when I felt cramps b/c I was mildly sick I managed to run 8.1 miles including a sub-23 5K. Yesterday, I only managed a 6:30 mile. My times are going in the wrong direction! It's clear that I'll need everything to go just right, training, diet, weather, sleep, etc. to break the 6 minute barrier. It's a huge challenge, especially on my chosen route. The first .4 miles, being uphill, is a killer. I always feel blasted before the half mile mark. But I'm going to give it all I have (within currtent life constraints). We'll see. One and a half weeks left.

Classes about to start up.

On a positive note, research keeps finding that exercise and maintaining reasonable body weight prolongs life. You think?

I did some math.

If I exercised 4 hours a week for 35 years and it only gained me one year of life back then it would still be a good investment of my time. Why?
4*52*35=7280 hours invested
24*365*1=8760 returned

I will get a 20% return on every hour invested. In the meantime, I also feel happier and healthier. Plus I save money (lowered insurance rates, fewer medical bills, etc.).

The reality is probably even better. Assume I exercise 4 hours a week for 50 years (yes 50!). If that gained me a mere 4 additional years of longevity then for every hour invested I'd get more than 3 hours back. If only the stock market or bank accounts worked like that.
4*52*50=10,400 hours invested
24*365*4=35,040 returned

I think I'll keep exercising regardless of the math.



(Post a new comment)


[info]blueidgrl
2006-08-23 08:59 pm UTC (link)
Me too.

Having said that - how incredibly interesting - and inspiring - for those days when it's hard to get up and go to the gym. Very few things in life have that kind of return.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]bd1
2006-08-24 02:30 pm UTC (link)
Yes, and it think the return is far greater than implied by the numbers. That's just the return in investment in time. It doesn't count the wonderful improvements in nearly every aspect of life that accrue from taking care of oneself.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


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