Fitness

I have always liked being fit, for a variety of (mostly obvious) reasons.

I was in my best shape ever in my senior year of high school, at the end of wrestling season. For the last few weeks of the season we added a 45 minute before-school running session to our 2-1/2 hour after-school practice. In addition I had gym class each day; it happened to be when swimming was being taught, so I passed on the varsity-athlete exemption and went ahead with the lifesaving class. And I recall being aware of my state: "Gee, I'll probably never be as conditioned as this again."

Wrestling was an interesting sport, especially for someone with more of an academic bent. Having moved to a new school right before my senior year, my new friends in my AP classes were surprised at this activity: "You do what?" (Of course the guys on the wrestling team had the opposite question: "You're taking what classes?") But through hard work and my innate athletic ability I managed to achieve mediocrity on the mat. It's the kind of sport you leave behind in high school, but with a few fond memories.

During college exercise was mostly fun -- intramural and pick-up sports, especially basketball, etc. My conditioning throughout varied with the ratio of exercise to beer consumption, semester to semester. Later on I did get into running a little, but found it pretty boring. (No iPods back then, remember?) But it was a start: Fitness for fitness' sake!

A favorite quote at the time was from John Irving's novel The Hotel New Hampshire, from the football coach Iowa Bob: "You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed!" I had that written out on an index card, taped to my dresser mirror.

In 20+ post-college years my workouts have come and gone, depending on how busy I was at work, or how many squealing babies we had at home. But I always come back to a routine like "Run on Monday-Wednesday-Friday mornings, lift weights on Tuesday-Thursday at lunch." I suppose that's pretty tame as obsessions go -- no drinking raw eggs, or punching meat in a freezer, or running up the museum steps. But it has worked for me, generally.

For at least 10 years now I've been dogged by exercise-related injuries: tendonitis in my shoulder from lifting weights, a partially-torn Achilles and later plantar fasciitis from running, etc. After the second of these my doctor diagnosed the root cause as "You're getting old." I have to be extra-cautious when starting a new routine, and extra-conscious of any joint aches or pains. I have no desire to run a marathon, or bench-press a certain weight; just maintain a reasonable level of fitness.

There have always been at least two other motivations at play:

• I'm a cheapskate, and if I get too pudgy I'll have to buy all new pants.
• Like everyone else, I look better when I'm in shape. (I'm more vain than I appear...)

Moving from adulthood into middle age, a final motivation is: I should stay in shape for my health, for the sake of my loved ones. If I can put off that heart attack until my 70's, it'd be good for everyone involved. Especially now.

A quote that describes my current fitness approach is from Gandhi: "Everything we do is futile, but we must do it anyway." It's this attitude that would keep Gandhi from being a personal trainer today. That, plus his unorthodox ideas about "healthy sports drinks."

So if you go by the house early in the morning and look up at the 2nd floor porch you may see a slightly flabby, grey-haired guy huffing and puffing on the elliptical machine. And you'll know why, if you didn't already.

Pat