7 years running

Today marks 7 years, I say running, but it didn’t start that way at all. It was today in 2012 I started out by walking around my neighborhood. This also means, come October it will be 8 years since I officially quit smoking, and 8 years just passed since an asthma attack landed me in the hospital for 3 days.
It’s so strange, because it feels like I was in high school just yesterday, but the asthma attack, quitting smoking, and starting to run feels like it was in another lifetime. Is it nostalgia? I don’t think so, while the asthma attack was unpleasant, and I hated being in the hospital, and quitting was difficult, none of it was much more uncomfortable than being in high school was for me. I hated it there. So it’s not like I’m yearning for the “good old days” and that makes me feel like they weren’t that long ago, whereas more unpleasant things are so distant, even though they are physically much closer.
More than that, running has given me so much. Apart from the friends in my great running club, and people I’ve met just overcoming my shyness and anxiety during races. It’s given me confidence, direction, it’s helped me discipline my mind, even though I’m still pretty much a mess.
The thing is, I still feel like “ugh running” when I’m out there, but I still wouldn’t trade the experience for any other. And while I’m not out here to break records and win trophies and such, I do like it when I push myself to my particular limit, and exceed said limit. When I put in a super fast mile (relative to me) or a super fast (again relative to me) 5k, 10k, 10 miles, whatever, it feels good. It feels as good if not better than any other sporting/physical accomplishment I’ve ever managed. That includes winning championships/league titles in different sports.
Anyway, I’ve also been hitting some core training, trying out the “One Punch Man workout”. It’s simple enough, but I’ve certainly had to work at it. I’m about 100 days in of 100 pushups, 100 situps, and 100 squats every day, and there are some differences. Apart from physical appearance of more muscle definition (which I don’t care about), I feel stronger. I legitimately feel more stable, more powerful, more capable as far as those muscles go. Some things are easier to do.
It hasn’t coincided with faster running times, as the heat, even in the morning, has slowed me down, along with a nagging injury in my left hamstring, so hopefully that sorts itself soon enough and I adjust to the heat.
My only other issue right now is my shoes are running to the end of their useful running life and I need to put together the money for a new pair. It’s hard when your job only really runs 9 months out of the year, and you ended up with about a month off in the middle of it due to circumstances out of your control. So now it’s a mad scramble to try and find income for the summer. We shall see what happens.
At this point, I need to get ready to go do some things, so I will cut this one short. I just wanted to check in and mark this day with something. It seems like something to take note of. It’s an important day for me. It really is the day that started me on this path I’m on now, today is the day where I didn’t just want to change my life because of a really horrible thing that happened, today is really the day I made that change begin to manifest into reality.

Have fun, keep running and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!


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Slowing it down and simplifying

No, not my running, if anything it should pick up (as long as I can buy new sneakers at the end of this month). I’ve been staying at it, hot here, so the last couple of days I’ve walked a little bit during my usual route, drank some water, relaxed. I missed the last 10 days because my oldest niece came to visit, and that was nice to show her around and whatnot.
But anyway, what I noticed slowed down was Pride Month stuff. So at the start of June it’s all “pride, pride, pride, remember Stonewall was about riots against cops,” every year. Then the parades happen and that’s it, that’s the end of it, everyone goes silent. I have no skin in this game besides my 100% support for everyone to do what they want, love who they want, and be comfortable with themselves, as long as they’re not harming other people, but it’s a whole month. It’s not a week and a half and then a parade.
That being said, another theme of my thoughts and conversations recently has been around body shaming, and the fact it seems literally everyone has gone through that. Why is this all so complicated? It shouldn’t be, so I’ve decided to write up a simple guide here.
How to “survive” in a “PC” world? I don’t know what to title this, but holy crap is it easy.
Rule 1:
Mind your own fucking business!
Rule 2:
If you’re not sure what to do, refer to Rule #1.
That’s it, that’s the whole thing. It works with the LGBTQ+ community. It works with members of the “opposite sex”. It works with POC, religious minorities, “those kids down the street”, you name the group of people, or singular person and it literally works with EVERYONE!
Now, there are times when you shouldn’t mind your own fucking business. We don’t need rules for that. If someone is literally not minding their own fucking business and trying to harm other people, either physically, or via legislation, because they think it’s their business what other people are doing, because they think their “god” or whatever told them to not mind their business. Well then we need to step in and say, “No, your god didn’t fucking say that, now go mind your own fucking business.” Or whatever the appropriate thing to say would be.
Beyond that, if they continue to not mind their own fucking business, if they start to physically harm people, then hit them with a fucking milkshake, or whatever you have to do, until said person or people knock off their shit and start to MIND THEIR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS!
Generally speaking, I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, I piss people off. But usually when I have a shitty idea about something, it’s about something inconsequential that doesn’t hurt anyone. Like the rank commercialism and capitalism of people whining about “spoilers”. But you know what, it takes precisely .000005 milliseconds to be a decent human being, and usually all that’s required is to midn your own fucking business.
Oh, you’re offended that that person isn’t conforming to your idea of what “proper” love is, ok good, tough shit for you, Mind Your Fucking Business.
Oh, you think that person there isn’t in the “right neighborhood,” Alright, mind your own fucking business. You think “the poors” don’t “deserve” a “handout”, fuck you, mind your own fucking business.
So one of the things Benjamin Franklin (not saying he was a great guy, he had his own issues) did was mint coins. The very first penny he ever made for Pennsylvania didn’t say anything like “In God We Trust.” No, it literally said, “Mind Your Business.” Minding your own fucking business is as American as apple pie, baseball, oppressing POC, and starting wars under false pretenses*.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!

*new war on false pretenses coming soon, Iran didn’t blow up any oil tankers.


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