Day 5.143 This is That

Maybe I should be more serious. Perhaps my inept attempts at self depreciation in the human condition, my part anyway, are ways to cope with the gravity of the situation. Maybe I laugh at myself because if I didn't I would spend all my remaining days sobbing for my poor, poor pitiful self.

An altogether new sensation has appeared, centering in my chest, and causing a fairly high amount of discomfort. I will stop short of calling in pain, but it is real and it is here. And since I have never felt anything quite like this, it is concerting.

As in what now?

I took a Tylenol last night before hitting the futon and laid down hoping for the best. If that was the best I hate to think what second best might be.

It was also DAY ONE of the no alcohol test period. We agreed yesterday to test this before launching further into pharmaceutical experimentation. As much as I would love to rid or reduce the amount of current discomfort by any means, we need to test the obvious first.

IS MY DAILY CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL A TRIGGER?

I have been avoiding this for along time. You know the reasoning, the excuse, the deal. We have a beer after almost every workout. It is social, a bonding with the team. But I am kidding myself to think that I can down four seven percent (by volume) IPAs every night and sustain any semblance of good health, let alone get back to race shape. The road is long and windy enough.

So I cut a deal with the good doctors yesterday. We'll test for thirty days. No beer or wine (I quit hard liquor thirty years ago) and review the results on June 26, my next appointment.

Today is DAY TWO.

Some of the topics I wanted to present this morning in our ninety-minute spin session were, I think, a way to empower myself at the start of this effort. Self motivation, if you will. They were:

Doing the radical. You want big change you need to change big. Check.
Effort. This will take all I got. Period.
Making magic. That happens in the moment, not last week or in thirty days.
Respecting ourselves as we waddle through the mud.
Challenge. What a great opportunity for growth.

This, my dear friends, is that.