I’m recording on my phone today, actually holding the phone up to my face, because I like recording podcasts. And I brought the recorder that I normally use, but I forgot the memory card. This doesn’t sound too bad being recorded on my phone, and hopefully, I don’t get tired of holding it up to my face.

It’s a beautiful day at Lake Fayetteville. It was freezing earlier, literally. Thirty-two degrees, freezing. It’s in the thirties now, thirty-nine. It is pretty cold, but it didn’t feel as cold when I got out of the car. I was in the sun. Now I’m going through some shade and wish I had brought the gloves. Oh well. I’ll get warmed up quickly.

If you want to live a long life, come along with me on my health journey. If you’re looking for a cooking show (although I do talk about food) you might want to look elsewhere.

There are quite a few people out here. I forgot to stretch my back before, so I’ll do it while I’m recording here. I look forward to doing longer walks because it’s a lot more crowded near the parking lots. It is January 1st, 2024, New Year’s Day. I was watching a parade today, and it was beautiful there, too; it was in California. It’s a day when many people make resolutions, especially about their health: exercise, weight, etc. I stopped doing that long ago. I like to make my resolutions whenever I need to. And I did make some goals for 2024. Not necessarily physical goals, although someone close to me made a goal for me, to get down to 200 pounds by the end of the year. I already stated on that. Today I am 276, down from the high of 281.

I did hydrate today, and I pre-gamed with a little ibuprofen. But it doesn’t seem to be helping. My back is hurting constantly. So I don’t know; I really need to cut that calorie count and lose a few pounds, I think. I’m still eating three meals daily, but they need smaller meals. I’ve got to find a way. I need to keep coming out here. Now I’ve walked three times in a week. It’s the start of a habit, I hope. So I’ll probably just go a mile today but I want to see if I can get that far. I will have to stop a few times along the way, I’m sure, but to make progress sometimes you have to just hold your own.

Even on New Year’s Day, it’s a Monday, I’m not going to claim holiday status in terms of my health routine. I did some celebrating. I was at church earlier today. I visited with my mother for a little bit late morning and early afternoon. I watched a little football, which is the American thing to do.

So the back is hurting but not so bad that I feel I need to stop. My hydration was in the form of Tang. They have a liquid Tang mix that you can just squirt into a bottle of water, and it mixes a lot better than the powdered stuff. Plus, the bottle is small enough to keep in your pocket or in a desk drawer. It’s convenient. It’s awesome! It is better to drink the Mio Sport, healthwise. But they only have one flavor of that. Orange is such a great flavor; it’s just awesome, whether you’re drinking pure orange juice or orange Mio, orange soda, or Tang. It’s just a great flavor that God has given us. God gave us oranges; man gave us Tang. So there you go. Divine inspiration. I never thought about that. I never thought that Tang would be made with Divine inspiration.

First stop of the day. Soon, I’ll be able to make a mile with no stops, and then we’ll go for more distance. Sometimes it’s good to hold your own. It’s a lot better than sliding back. And again, because I’m so heavy, the level of effort is high. I should be able to do more. I should be able to do more, but I’m too heavy. But if I can do it twice in a row then there’s a better chance that I can do it the third time. If I can keep my weight down and not increase my weight it should get better no matter what. More than the pain in my back is causing me to stop, sometimes…I come around the corner, and I see this really long strip ahead of me, and my car is nowhere near it. But it’s downhill, not that that matters a whole lot because the problem isn’t in my legs, it’s in my back. Sorry if I am complaining so much, but that’s just the way it is. I’m describing life the way it is.

Alright, it’s hood-off, hat-off time. I’m actually doing a pretty good pace, all things considered. And I’ve got to tell you, my back is not as bad as it usually is. I’m not sure if it’s the Ibuprofen or just the exercise making it better. I should really stretch my back every day in the morning. That would be a good thing to do. Good physical therapy. The last time I was out here, the stopping was not helping a whole lot. Today, the stopping is helping. The pain starts to decrease as soon as I stop, which is good. “No pain, no gain.” That’s what they say.

But the main thing now, apart from saying “never give up,” my other biggest topic is habits. And I keep talking about them, and talking about them because they are so incredibly powerful. It’s something about the way we are built. It’s something about the way we are made. Either it’s mental, or it’s physical as well. Something about repetition. You might even say spiritually because I find that repeated prayers are good for me spiritually. I don’t have to come up with something new every time.

I’m recording on the phone, just like my first few episodes were recorded right on my phone. Of course, I’ve been through a few phones since then, but this one seems to work well. The Running: A FEVER-mobile is in view, and I’m going out in the sun a little more. I hear all kinds of animals to my right. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, who knows? So get out and form a good habit today. It’s the first day of the year for me, it’s later for you. And go out and get some orange if you’ve forgotten how good orange is. Get some Tang — not a sponsor of this show but I just like it so much.

Photo by RDNE Stock project
https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-drink-in-a-drinking-glass-6529722/