Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans

For those few stalwart individuals who have followed my efforts to “blog”, you will have noticed that my posts have been conspicuously absent for several weeks. Possible causes would be that my computer crashed, I quit my ironman quest and turned my energies to more productive and realistic pursuits, I have been ill this whole time and could not muster the energy to type, or that I was abducted by aliens and am on my way at warp speed to some sort of intergalactic zoo. All plausible, certainly. All wrong, of course.

No, what happened was something a lot less dramatic but easier to understand. Life happened. Between work, activities outside of work, keeping to a rigorous training schedule, eating, sleeping, and the myriad other necessary and discretionary activities that make up the average day, there has been literally no time to sit down and write up a post to put on the blog. 

 

24 hours in a day seem like a good number. At least it seems so until you get to the end of the day and you still have items on your list that have not been moved to the “done” column. What’s more, you know that tomorrow more will be added to the growing “to do” pile, even though you have not yet crossed off all the existing items.

 If you are reading, hoping that sometime in this post I will offer up a solution to this perpetual dilemma, you can stop right here. I won’t. Cliches become clichés in large part because they reflect truths that we know, either experientially or intuitively.

I thought the problem was purely mine. If only I were more disciplined, more organized, more……something, I would be able to get everything done each day. I have come to realize that, even though I am undisciplined, disorganized, etc. there is more to it than that. There really is too much coming at us each day to ever truly complete the day’s assignments, both those we give ourselves and those that others put before us. The frenetic pace of life and its attendant technology require that we read and respond to emails, text messages, telephone calls (both land lines, for those who have them, and cellular phones), update everything or fall hopelessly behind, read the instructions to the never ending “new” additions to our gadgets, stay current on the events around us, connect with our friends and families (both face to face and via social media), etc. etc.

 Sometimes, I find myself wanting to shout, “ENOUGH!” or, like the character played by Peter Finch, in the movie Network, shouting “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” But, I don’t. I just suck it up and continue to try to make the best of it. In a classic episode, Lucille Ball, as Lucy Ricardo, went to work in a chocolate factory with her best friend, Ethel. The two were supposed to simply take each chocolate as it came down the assembly line and wrap it up. This was fine until the chocolates began to come out faster and faster. Soon Lucy was piling them out of the way, stuffing some in her mouth, and falling further and further behind. It was pretty funny. Who knew it would someday swerve as a perfect metaphor for life in the 21^st Century.

So, all I can do; all anyone can do, is to try my best to keep the days from getting too out of hand, try to cross off as many items as possible on the “to do” list each day, keeping my priorities in mind, and try not to worry too much about the ones that get missed or put off to some time in the future. In 100 years, most of what we have done, or not done, won’t really matter all that much anyway. It helps to keep things in perspective.

 

Florida Ironman training log:

            This week was a good week in terms of completing all the required sessions. I could have done a few more rounds of my mobility exercises but, all in all, I feel pretty good at what I accomplished. No unusual aches or pains, with the exception of what feels like a slightly strained  left groin muscle- gracilis for those who are anatomy savvy. I will just have to be careful stretching that area for a while. At least it doesn’t bother me swimming, biking, or running. The neuropathy continues to be a challenge but it is more and more like background static in my life. I can largely ignore it except when it flares up particularly strongly. Then, it is a pain, literally. Congratulations to my niece, Melissa Greenlee, who completed her first Olympic distance triathlon. Despite being the only swimmer without a wetsuit, riding in the rain, and on a hybrid bike, no less, she posted a very respectable time and is ready for the next step up, to a half ironman. I have doubt she will do it.

Week’s training summary:

Mon- 5/13- Swim, 2286 yds, 2:49 min/100 yds, 1:04:16 total time

                   Bike (on trainer), one legged pedaling drills, 35:02 min total time

Tue- 5/14- Run, 3.51 mi @ 8:03/mile, total time 28:44 min

Wed- 5/15- strength training at NTC

Thu- 5/16- Swim, 2350 yds, 2:43 min/100 yds, 1:03:44 total time

Fri- 5/17- Run, 4.96 miles @ 9:04 min/mi, 45:01 total time

Sat- 5/18- Bike, 40 miles @ 14.5 mph, 2:46:04 total time.