Last year, I started up as a volunteer firefighter, at 41 yrs old. In January, they started providing a rec center membership for us, and I started going. My “reason” many mornings for going was simply to do *something*, as I didn’t want their effort to get this for us to go to waste. In 7 months, I’ve gone from not being able to run 1/2 mile to running 1.5mi the last several runs, and 1.6 mi once (letting my limit be a reasonable target heart rate, not my pain threshold, which would be higher). I’ve also seen similar results on weights.

I have no goals, no plans, no “need” to surpass what I did yesterday. I’m comfortable with setting a new best distance, and then not seeing it again for a week. And for that matter, I still don’t even consider myself a “runner”. A “real” runner in my office (dude is training for a marathon, but that’s *his* thing) keeps wanting me to push, go harder, keep training. I keep laughing, going at it mildly, and making more progress than I’ve ever made before in many previous attempts.

Thanks to both KL and KR for their stories and encouragement. Gentle and mild is just awesome!

DJ

Since I’ve started reading your blog I have been able to take some positive steps as well. I took the advice to do something daily seriously – whether big or small – and applied it to my new business idea I want to launch. I still have a way to go before things are fully operational but thanks to your nudging I have almost finished one major component that is required to get things up. And not long ago I was paralyzed and not doing anything because I was thinking too far down the road to be practical. This concept works! My idea is moving forward everyday and soon it will come to life. That is sooo cool. My new bus is almost here!!!

Thanks once again,
Mo