January 1, 2007
mortality
Phew. Just got back from my first run in London for years. I did about 15 minutes, carrying 2 kg. weights [which get surprisingly heavy after a while].
My New Year’s resolution is to run every day, and lift free weights twice a week. Let’s see if I can make it to February!
I’m at the age where if one doesn’t do something, one tends to not stick around for very much longer.
I’m supposed to quit smoking this year, also. I’ll believe it when I see it.
When I was up in Glasgow this autumn, some friends of mine went to a funeral. I didn’t know the fellow, but he was only 46 when he keeled over from a fatal heart attack.
The thing is, he wasn’t that much older, or lived that much unhealthier, than a lot of my friends. Let’s just say the sentence before this one was a common conversational thread that day.
Food for thought…
F me Hugh — that’s great. Happy New Year takes on a new meaning!
A
I live in a country where many smoke and drink (daily and copiously), and in a part of the country that is relatively poor yet people live longer than most north Europeans. But…it is (almost) stress free.
One of the great benefits of living the Microbrand.
What happens to a blog when you die? Is there a dead bloggers charity that’ll keep paying for the bandwidth and monitor comment spam for you? Just a thought. Hope you don’t die too soon Hugh. Happy new year.
Good intentions Hugh.
But a suggestion if I may…make it interesting. Something that’s painful and/or a chore will never keep your interest long enough for it to give you any real health benefits.
I recommend taking up something like martial arts or (dare I say it) salsa or some similar dance classes. You’ll get fit as a side effect of living an active lifestyle.
I was hypertensive at the age of 30 due to a stressful job, long hours and a drinking culture in the city of london. Taking up martial arts and dance allowed me to keep pushing my career forward, but now I’m as fit as I was at 18, and it was really fun getting there.
Its no fun getting fit fot getting fit’s sake…its just a painful slog. Getting fit as a beneficial side effect of having fun, thats the way forward.
stopping smoking will have tremendous health benefits for you almost immediately — but it means not going to bars where there is smoking or hanging out with friends/relatives who smoke. It’s tough but those are the breaks.
Ah the good old new years resolutions. My biggest problem is business travel which I do quite a lot. It’s filled full of means out, dining alone and far too many beers. Perhaps someone needs to create a diet book for the business traveller. I’d be more than happy to try it out !
Nige
You are a smart guy so you already know that there is a better way to approach this health thing.
However, I ask to be indulged as I remind you of 2 important things: if you have not already done so, you might switch immediately to roll your own cigs. They are for you. Pouch tabacco probably tastes better than what you are currently smoking and roll-your-owns are a relative pain in the ass to produce so you necessarily smoke fewer than you do ready-mades. You can still go to the bar but do not roll a dozen before you go. In fact, no pre-rolling allowed! Before you know it you’ll be ready to give up those 4 cigs you are down to per day. I will tell you that this is no easy task but things like exercise, kissing and hanging out with people who don’t smoke will help.
That brings me to un-solicited suggest number 2: leave the dang weights out of it until you are into the jogs for at least a month. You’re just going to end up sore enough to have a good excuse to skip the next day if you fail to ‘develope your base’ first. Don’t forget to stretch. Before and after. As a green horn you should be spending as much time stretching as running.
Other than that, you’re on you’re on the right track and I wish you health and happiness in 2007.
I love your blog. Thank you.