WALKERS HIGH

On the treadmill again, alternating my eyeballs between the monitor tuned to Fox News, ESPN and the occasional attractive middle aged women who happen to cross my field of vision (God I never will learn)!

I'm about 7 weeks into this latest diet and about 6 weeks into the knowledge that my wife wanted to be the next X. 

I joined the local fitness center by my new place of residence and everyday I start my workout with time on the human equivalent of the hamster wheel, the treadmill. 

I started slow and short due to the problems I have been having with my heart and shortness of breath. 

Losing several lbs and exercising every day dramatically improved my breathing and I worked up to doing the hamster wheel for a solid hour at a pretty good clip. 

After I hit the treadmill for an hour I workout with weights for 30 to 60 minutes. 

I have to remind myself that it's ok if I'm working out with weights that are lighter then some of the women there are lifting. My rotator cuff repairs let me know real quick if I am over-doing it. 

The biggest improvement was realized on the treadmill after a couple of weeks of adding minutes and speed until I was able to go an entire hour without falling down with a heart attack. 

Then one day after about 45 minutes of sweating and grunting I noticed my breathing rate slowed and I suddenly felt great. Wait a minute, this is the part of the treadmill workout I should be hitting the wall.

Instead I felt like I had just started the walk. 

That thought took me back in time, I was in my early 20's and I was in the best shape of my life. Considering I was a smoker and party animal back then, that's saying something. 

My exercise regiment consisted of working out hard and heavy with free weights one day, the next day I laid off the weights and went for a long run. 

After 2 miles I would feel the wall right in front of me, I would be gasping for air but I would push on through. 

Then one day as I felt the wall closing in, my breathing rate returned to normal and I closed my mouth and started breathing through my nose like I had just started running. I felt great and it seemed like I could run forever. 

I had heard of "the runners high", but this was my first time feeling the euphoria that comes with it. 

Too bad that feeling and the workout regiment didn't last. 

I eventually gave up the running and the most weight I was lifting after that was the 12 oz curls. 

There would be other sporadic fits of fitness in the intervening years, but I never got another taste of that runners high. 

That is till last week in the gym, never mind that I was walking not running on a treadmill, it still felt damned good. 

The only thing the X said that was true that night when she was laying out all the reasons she was voting me out of tribe was when she said I had put on weight and wasn't being smart about my health. 

I had started my latest diet a week before she laid her bullshit on me.
I'm not doing this for her or because of her, I am doing it for my grandson and my kids and the rest of my family, but mostly for myself.

I've lost 28 lbs and my body is in a lot better condition. I've still got a ways to go, at least 25 more pounds but I feel great achieving my "walkers high".

With feeling really great comes the memory of someone else that said he felt really great. 

He had been a college basketball standout and is the all time NCAA Division 1 scorer. 

He had a good NBA career that was cut short by injuries. 

He still enjoyed playing pick up games and some years after his retirement during a game he was heard saying "I feel great"!

He walked back on the floor and collapsed. 

At the age of 40, Pistol Pete Maravich laid on the floor dead of a heart attack.

Which brings me to this feeling of some angst about "feeling great" after my hour on the hamster wheel and my Walker's High.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!

I have about 20 half written posts laying in state. It's not that I have nothing to vent, with all the crap that comes with divorce land, I have more to vent than ever. Mount St Helens got nothing on me.
Since my soon to be X flaked out and threw me under the proverbial bus, I can detect the caldera is at maximum pressure with magma building up.
But that can wait, now is the time to give thanks.
I'm thankful that I'm no longer being deceived, ignorance is not always bliss.
Trust but verify, is my new mantra.

I am very thankful for the people in my life I can always count on, family and friends.
Wives come and go, but I always have felt fortunate to have a great family.
I hope this day finds you with similar surroundings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

RING OF TRUTH

I was driving back from a doctor’s visit when suddenly I saw a gold clad Sphinx waving a cash for gold sign.

I look down in the ashtray and there lay a worthless piece of gold that had cost me dearly, in terms of money and years of my life that were wasted.

A few weeks ago I had slipped it off my finger noting that that would be the last time I would ever make the mistake of letting someone put a band of gold on that finger.

I pulled in the parking lot and went in to see the Pharaoh.

I laid the ring down on the counter and the Pharaoh looked at it with his magnifier and weighed it. I had no idea what he would offer me for this now worthless symbol.

I figured 20 buck?, I didn’t know, I didn’t care, I just wanted it the hell out of my sight.

Do I sound bitter???

I guess maybe I am, when I put that ring on, I made someone a promise.

I kept that promise, I guess the bitterness comes from the knowledge that she didn’t.

I watched the Pharaoh work his magic calculator wondering what number he would conjure up.

I figured it might be worth a pizza or something.

I was surprised when he said $101.00 smackers!

I didn’t remember what we paid for it, I know her engagement ring cost over 1500 bucks.

I told the guy that ring cost me 10’s of thousands of dollars and 10 years of my life.

Then I told him “Sold”!

I watched him take the ring back to the area where it would be melted down to be reformed into a new life. I hoped it would serve the next sucker better than it had me.

Now what to do with my reclaimed life and my reclaimed $101.00?

Maybe buy a supply of Viagra and spin the wheel of mis-fortune once again?

No thanks, dating is one thing, but as far as looking for a serious relationship, I’m good.

I am going to have one hell of a lawyer bill by the time we wrap this divorce thing up, I could just give it to her. Naaa that doesn’t sound like much fun.

Maybe I’ll buy the Viagra and go out on a non-serious date!