future plans

My foot is feeling better; I still have to do half an hour of stretching exercises every morning, but the difference in terms of ease of walking is incomparable. I’m starting to get my blood up, in terms of getting back into exercising: I’ve started jogging on the treadmill at our gym (cautiously, taking care not to overstrain my feet); I’m planning a bike ride to Coney Island and back (roughly 30 miles; last year, I was doing these roughly every other weekend); I may wind up doing the New York City MS Ride. Also, in the longer term, I’m thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail^*.

I’ve actually been thinking about this for several years now; something- perhaps my recent foot problems, and the attendant frustrations of temporarily limited mobility (as relatively trivial an issue as this is, health-wise); perhaps being on the verge of turning 40- has galvanized me. I’m going through online chat forums, in which the merits of various types of equipment are debated; I’m learning various stretches to help keep my back and knees flexible; I’m beginning to work out again, cautiously, but regularly. I’ve needed something like this for a long time now: a chance to remove myself from the draws and distractions of everyday life, to isolate myself in the wilderness, and invite my soul; to nudge my body back toward a more proper level of fitness for someone of my age and general capability. I have a huge amount of preparation to do- that I probably won’t be able to work on seriously until after New Zealand; but I’m doing this; it feels right for me.

Wish me luck.

^*Personal to porcinea: Thank you for loaning me those books; I’m reading them avidly.

(no subject)

While doing my stretches this morning, and listening to my apartment mate on the phone telling someone how it was good that the Yankees won their final game in Yankee Stadium, I found myself remembering an exchange from 2010:

Heywood Floyd: I'd love a hot dog.
Walter Curnow: Astrodome. Good hot dogs there.
Heywood Floyd: Astrodome? You can't grow a good hot dog indoors. Yankee Stadium. September. The hot dogs have been boiling since opening day in April. Now that's a hot dog.
Walter Curnow: The yellow mustard or the darker one?
Heywood Floyd: Darker.
Walter Curnow: It’s important.

I always wondered what a Yankee Stadium hot dog tasted like; I’m not much of a sports fan, and Yankee Stadium was always one of those New York experiences I’d vaguely meant to get around to someday. (In a similar vein, I’ve known people without any particular fear of heights who lived here for fifty years without ever going up in the Empire State Building.) Ah, well.