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Fitness is what the hell

Wednesday 7/31/24

Quick fitness accounting.


Walked five miles, did 100 push-ups, and completed five circuits of stairs in the Bunker Hill Monument on Saturday. Walked three miles, did 100 push-ups, and did five more circuits in the Bunker Hill Monument on Sunday. That was five straight days of five circuits each day in the Monument.


Sunday was a key day because I ran the first 100 stairs each of the five times. It had been a while since I'd done that--over four years. Part of the reason for that is because my stair-running is spread around to all of these different places (and also the Monument being closed for years because of COVID). All stairs are different, and all stairs require different things. You run one set of stairs a certain number of times in a row and things change. Your relationship with them changes.


I went in there on Sunday with a plan, and it was a pain because there were a bunch of people clogging up the way. It's hard to run and pass a dozen people. There isn't a lot of room. People get rude, they're offended that you don't wish to remain behind them, you catch them unawares, they're oblivious and you have to say, "Excuse me" three times, etc. What will happen often is I'll run, say, seventy-five stairs, and then there's someone on stair seventy-six, and I pull up. I walk a few stairs, regather my wind, and pass them when they stop to rest, which they'll be doing soon because that's the nature of these stairs for many people.


But as I said, I was committed. So committed that when I arrived before the Monument opened and there was a line, I just cut the line. Sorry, my bad. But these people were very out of shape and I wasn't getting trapped behind them. When I get to the top or the bottom and someone is about to start down or up, I'll put a finger up as in, "Just wait a second if you would," hoping they'll be bright enough to realize this guy is working out here and he's going to blow past me and if I wait a second we can avoid that, but sometimes people just don't get it, like the couple who kept advancing as I was coming down on Sunday. There was like this foot of space at the bottom, and it was akin to a race to that foot of space. I had to get to it, turn around in it, and get started back up again before they got to the first step or else I'd have to deal with trying to pass them. Well, get there I did, but, sad to say, they both bounced off of me and were like "What the hell?" and all offended.


Fitness is what the hell, sloth-types. Clear the way.


On Monday I walked three miles, ran 3000 stairs at City Hall because the Monument is closed Monday and Tuesday, and did 200 push-ups. Ran another 3000 there yesterday and did 200 push-ups again. Was able to get that Tdap vaccine a day early on Sunday when I was passing by the pharmacy, so I'm good with that for another ten years, allowing I'm still here (never assume--go out and earn and make it count).


A woman came up from behind me right as I was finishing a set of push-ups at the base of the City Hall stairs, and said, "I was about to sit on your back."


Sunday marked 2940 days, or 420 weeks, without a drink. Monday, incidentally, was the twelfth anniversary of my fateful day in San Francisco.



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