Fitness and Me

Live Wire

I remember the moment I first sipped from a bottle of Mountain Dew Live Wire. I could feel all the little addiction switches fusing on in my head. It was glorious. Those of you passingly aware of Mormons and me may be surprised to hear that. We don't drink coffee, black/green tea, alcohol, smoke (who drinks smoke?), etc. This particular dietary oddity comes from a chapter of scripture known as "The Word of Wisdom" or Doctrine and Covenants 89. A quick summary is: To protect the weak among you, don't drink wine or alcohol, don't ingest tobacco, don't drink coffee/tea, eat good natural foods in season, don't be a glutton with meat, remember and you will be wise, discover hidden treasures, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.

We get all snooty about how good we are about the first bit (the alcohol/coffee/tobacco) and often forget all the later bits. But I digress.

Bald Mountain Fire Tower

I long lied to myself that I was strong and healthy. It was just hidden beneath a bunch of nature's insulation. I remember climbing a piece of the Finger Lakes trail in Camp Cutler with my scouts and having to stop every couple of steps, and still lying to myself that I was okay.

Then, one Saturday I was hiking with my scouts along ridges to the east of Bald Mountain Fire Tower in the Adirondacks, and I was not in a good place. And so I start having a Tevye conversation with God. Basically, I'm saying "I do all that you tell me to, and yet here I am walking and fainting". And, I do not exaggerate, the words come in to my mind "What about those two liters of Mountain Dew in your truck?"

I gave away the two liters and haven't touched the stuff since. The addiction is not gone, not by a long shot, but I ignore it.

The Lie Continues

A couple of years later, I start training for a Triathlon. The pounds (130) melted off of me, my fitness improved, and I accomplished what for me was the impossible. I ran and was not weary. I discovered wisdom and hidden treasure in this wonderful world of ours.

I didn't think it at the time, but I in some completely wrong sense proved myself right, that I was healthy underneath it all. And so I allowed myself to slip (60). I dropped the good natural foods in season bit, and here I am with two ultra marathons under my belt this year in the worst shape of my fiveish years of trying. Let me put it another way: This year I'll run twice as far as I ran two years ago, and will be in much much worse shape than I was then.

Where do I go from here?

Well, my hope is that I'm learning my lesson. Back to the good foods. Back to strength training. Back to pushing for improvement and discovering my potential rather than my current limits. Honestly track what I eat. I don't truly know how/if it'll happen. I do know I am not alone. Not in faith, not in family, not in friends.