Starving Foodie

Moments of Reckoning
About 3-4 years ago, Juli and I went to Boston for a weekend get-away.  We both like history and tooled around Boston on the Freedom Trail.  One of the stops is the Bunker Hill national park where a  221 ft obelisk is the focal point.  I climbed to the top and nearly died in the process.  I blamed it on the heat, but in reality it was poor health.  Terrible diet, no exercise and too much partying was the real reason.

Looking back on that moment, I realized that my quality of life was suffering because of my poor health.  A year or so later, we were in Montreal for the F1 race.  F1 is like crack for an adrenaline junkie.  Nearly 800 horsepower launches the car from 0-60 in under 2 seconds.  These are phenomenal bits of machinery.  Plus, the international atmosphere is great.  However, poor health coupled with  record heat wave made the event barely bearable.

Hiking to the Furthest Northwestern Point in the Lower 48
This past week, I was in Seattle. One of the highlights of my week long stay was a day trip to the Olympic Peninsula and Cape Flattery – the most Northwestern point in the continental US. The best thing about this trip — no health issues. I managed the ~2 mile hike with ease. If I had the time, I could have hiked for miles.

Perfect Motivation
For the first time in several years, I was able to really enjoy myself without nagging health issues. I never realized that I had “health” problems, but I did. I avoided certain routes, stayed out of the heat, chose to drive instead of walk. Now, being as fit as I have been in a long time, I don’t shy away from a 5 mile walk through a city because I know my knees will hurt the next day.

I probably walked 20 miles while on my trip. Only did a long car trip annoy my back, which some yoga took care of pretty quickly. Sprints up the stairs to Pike Place Market, which would have killed me a few years ago, where part of my exercise routine.