Hitting the Ground Running (so to speak)

New Year’s Day used to be dedicated to lying on the couch, eating junk food and watching the college football bowl games all day and into the night.  Somewhere along the way, sponsors starting taking over the bowl games and creating new ones, to the point where many of them have almost no relevance.  Just as well anyway, I suppose.   I don’t have the time to just lie around all day doing nothing anymore.  Besides, I just wrote about how this year is going to be about the pursuit of health, wealth and “happyness.”

I woke up this morning ready to pursue better health.  As the saying goes, you need to learn to walk before you can run.  Even though I know how to do both already, it’s been a while since I’ve done any noteworthy exercise.  With no desire to go to the gym, and a crisp, sunny day outside, I decided to go walking.  As I grabbed the Blackberry, I noticed that the battery was almost drained.  Since I use the Blackberry to listen to Pandora while I walk, I had a decision to make just hours into the New Year.  Do I walk without music or procrastinate and risk not getting any exercise in?  I chose the former, but it didn’t last long.

I give a lot of credit to people that can walk or jog without music.  To me, it’s like trying to drive a car with the emergency brake on…you’ll move, but very slowly.  It didn’t take long before I was back in the door.  I wasn’t quitting, just waiting until I could charge the Blackberry.  About an hour later, I was ready, bedhead and all.  No time for vanity!

One of the things that Texas has over New York is wide sidewalks, and plenty of places to walk.  This bodes well for me because I need enough room to comfortably play my air instruments without disturbing others.  Unabashedly, I flailed my arms to the beat of the drums, I played air guitar – including a kick-ass solo during Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper.”  All the while, singing aloud to every song that I knew.  At times, I found myself grooving to the music and walking in lockstep with every beat…giving new meaning to the phrase “marching to the beat of your own drummer” – especially during Queen’s “Another Bites the Dust.”

Did I look good doing this?  I highly doubt it.  In fact, I can safely say that I was the only one who wasn’t covering up bedhead with a hat.  And while many others had headphones on, none of them were playing air instruments or singing aloud.  People are generally friendlier in Texas, so I responded in kind, stopping my air instrument playing to wave and stopping my singing to say “good morning.”

Did they think that I was a bit off?  Perhaps, but that’s ok.  Maybe it will land me my own reality show.  I’ve even thought of a working title already – “The Crazy Yank of Texas.”  Catchy, isn’t it?

Although my morning walk was anything but conventional, it was effective.  By the time that I got back home I had walked over 7 miles in just under 2 hours.  Not a bad way to start the New Year!