I’m at the Running: A FEVER world headquarters and about to head down to the Lake Fayetteville trail. It’s cloudy, and I’m getting some drops, but do you know what? I’ve been wimpy about the weather for too long. I’m just going to go and fight through it. They say, ‘Are you a man or a mouse?’ It doesn’t take a ton of courage to walk in the rain. I’m worried about my shoes that don’t have a lot of mileage on them getting a little muddy or dirty, but you know what? If I use them enough, they will get that way anyway. Not that big a deal.

I am wearing my Red Sox hoodie, which will be fifteen years old if it makes it to this fall because it is from the 2009 playoffs, which would be October or November of 2009. I remember the first time baseball went into November. It was in 2001. In 2001, there was 9/11. 9/11/2001, September. I was there for that. I was not there where a plane crashed, but I was there in terms of being awake and alive and in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Anyway, they canceled a bunch of games, and they restarted the season later. I remember watching one of the big games, and they had a thing on the scoreboard that said, ‘Welcome to November baseball.’ The hoodie is made mainly of polyester. It should be waterproof. Not entirely, but hopefully, it will not get completely soaked in this process.

This is the week that most schools take for spring break. That affects everything because kids are out of school, and people take vacations. They take their kids and leave their jobs, so there is less traffic. Of course, we have a university here, and that affects traffic. We have the University of Arkansas right down in Fayetteville. If they are on spring break, many people will be away. So traffic is light. I was really surprised because I kind of slept in this morning. Usually, at five o’clock, I can hear trucks on two highways. Two big roads intersect near my subdivision. Usually, after five, the noise starts, and it doesn’t stop. I heard a little bit, but not a lot.

Alright, here’s the Botanical Gardens. There are a lot of cars here. It’s not early, 7:48, by my clock in the car. There are probably fifteen or sixteen cars and no parking in the first row.

Okay, here goes. I’ll get out in the rain and do my warmups. Before that, I will drink my BCAAs because I didn’t on the way down here because I was talking to you. It’s always good to get hydrated. 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20.

Welcome to Running: A FEVER. This is a podcast about fitness, diet, and medicine. My name is Michael Davis. My goal is to live a long, happy, healthy, active life right up to the very end. If that’s what you want, then you’re in the right place. I want to love my life enough to make it last as long as possible.

I don’t have my contacts in, so a lot of stuff just looks blurry. I can read the signs if I get up close. It’s not raining much at all; knock on wood. It’s lovely. Fresh air. It’s been a while since I’ve been out here. I had a couple of stationary bike episodes.

I’m out here today now that I’ve got a day off. I took today off. It’s what’s known as a floating holiday, which means it’s not a holiday where everybody takes off, but you can take off any day of the year that you want. I get one of those a year. And next week, I’m taking a whole week off, and you’ll get to go with me. I will record at least one episode while I’m on vacation. And I’m going to a state park where I’ve never been. It’s Mount Magazine State Park. And Mount Magazine is the highest point in my state. I’ll definitely be visiting up there.

Here’s a scooter. How do these things work? It makes a noise. It’s not going anywhere. There’s no screen or anything. I have no idea how that works. I ought to learn; it would be a helpful skill. It might be funny in one of those action cops-and-robbers movies. The hero, instead of commandeering someone’s car, commandeers a scooter. One of the funniest examples is in the movie Speed, with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock and that other guy who’s been in a bunch of movies. I’ll think of him in twenty minutes. That’s how my mind works. Everything is on backup tapes now. I have to go find the tape and put it in the player, and then I’ll remember. That’s a metaphor I like to use; I hope you understand it. Anyway, they found out there was a bomb on the bus. And they are on the highway for some reason. It’s a fancy car, like a Jaguar. Instead of kicking the guy out of the vehicle, Keanu moves him to the passenger seat and starts driving. He gets alongside the bus; he says there is a bomb on the bus. Make a sign. He gets something and writes “BOM” on it. And he shows it to them. And, of course, he’s going crazy about how this guy’s taking his car. What if they used scooters instead? That would be funny. It couldn’t keep up with a bus, I bet you. Those only go about twenty miles an hour at the max. And this was a stand-up scooter that I found along the trail. So, file that under the humor department. Laughter is a very healthy thing. So watch funny movies, tell jokes. One of my proudest moments was when I was in Mexico learning Spanish. I was finally able to tell a joke in Spanish. I understood it, I made it up, I told it. And Spanish-speaking people laughed at it. That was fun. Of course, I can remember any of it now. That was many years ago.

People are out listening to stuff on their little machines and walking their dogs. A little sprinkle is coming down; it may be just from the trees. The temperature is fine. It’s a little cool, but not uncomfortably so. I’ve been talking so much that I don’t know how far I’ve gone yet. But here’s a sign. I can find out. Four-Eleven. Total of thirty-hundredths of a mile. I might as well say, ‘It’s a beautiful day at Lake Fayetteville,’ because I say it every time. And it’s true every time. I’m sure you can hear birds chirping; they are happy even in the wet weather. I can still see the lake through the trees. It’s not fully spring yet. They haven’t filled out their leaves—4.25 mile marker. I guess they mark every quarter mile in concrete. I’m trying to stay on the right side of the line as we do in America. I wonder if they walk on the left side of the line on trails like this in the UK? I’m guessing they do because it’s a weird country. But most of the signs are on the left, so I have to cross dangerously over because you never know when a speeding bicycle could come at you, passing you from behind or straight ahead. Those are the dangers we live with when we come out here. It’s no place for the weak at heart.

Diet Dept. My diet’s been all over the place. It really has. It’s been crazy. Let’s see… yesterday I had no food all day. I’ve been drinking coffee with sugar-free creamer and ‘no sugar added’ hot chocolate and decaf coffee. Then I came home, and I had thawed out some burgers because I was thinking of inviting somebody over for dinner. I decided not to because I wanted to fast. I’ve been fasting a little bit here and there. Then I thought, well, I’ve got these burgers thawing out, and I needed to eat them instead of trying to refreeze them because I think that’s a no-no.

Four-forty-one, I think. Six tenths. Exactly. I think we’ve been here before. I’m heading back toward the Running-a-fever-mobile. It’s been a good day. My back isn’t hurting, which is good. I stretched a little bit before coming out here—before I started walking anyway.

So I put the buns back in the freezer, which I think is okay. I grilled the burgers well done.
Picking up the pace. Well-done burgers and some bleu cheese. That would be okay, but I had a serving-and-a-half of granola, about three hundred calories. So that was about a nine-hundred-calorie day in one meal. I was planning to fast on Wednesday, but I had chips and some granola with extra honey.

It’s still sprinkling, a little too stead to be coming off the trees. I feel good. It’s worth whatever dirt gets applied to my shoes.

So today I’m going to try to fast again. I was supposed to lose six pounds a month, but it didn’t happen. So now I have to get down to 258, and I’m currently at about 270 as of yesterday. Calorie restriction is reasonable according to the Blue Zones philosophy, though it needs to be more regular.

Thanks for listening. If you’ve got the fever, keep it burning. If not, catch the fever out on the trail. And I will catch you next time on Running: A FEVER.