Remembrance of Easters past

Happy Easter, everyone. Beautiful day today .. reminds me of Easters back on the farm at my grandparents' place. First tulips of the spring (we lived in extreme southern Ontario where flowers bloom three weeks earlier than down the road in Toronto. So while the daffodils are out down here, the tulips are likely coming out in Ruscom).

Childhood memories of Easter all revolve around being able to finally go outside without a coat on with my city cousins. In recent years, one of my strongest memory was Easter morning in the Appalachian mountains ... I decided to haul out the mattress and sleep under the stars so I could watch the sunrise. I awoke to the sound of birds .. one of the best choirs I've heard in my life.

So Happy Easter, Passover or whatever Rite of Spring you celebrate. The Light has returned after the long, dark winter.

The Nature of Progress

For the first time in my life, I decided that I was going to go to the gym on a regular basis.

That was last August. The first few months (until about December) were really, really painful. The minutes dragged by so slowly, my legs complained at me constantly. I ran out of breath. I could run for maybe a minute at a time at a speed of about three and a half miles an hour (which isn't even a fast walk) before I had to drop my speed back. My heart rate maxed out at 140 once I approached a 4 mph ... it was working hard.

Well, today I ran at four and a half miles an hour for five minutes without stopping (hey, I know it's not marathon standard but really good for me). I even got up to 2 minutes at 5 mph. I couldn't get my heartbeat to go over 140 even at that speed .. at 3.5, it barely went over 118 today.

And as I ran and walked I reflected on how much harder I have to work now to get the same result (actually I wasn't so much reflective as pissed off). Somehow it just didn't seem fair. Do I have to keep working so damn hard ALL the time?

But that's what happens. I do more and more, and expect more and more from myself. And how often do I stop and look at what I can do now that I couldn't do last summer, and compliment myself on how great I'm doing?

That's what I am realizing. I will always expect a lot of myself. When I achieve one milestone, I will constantly look ahead to the next one. And that's good .. as long as I remember to appreciate where I am at this moment and allow myself at least a little bit of contentment before taking another gulp of water, mopping the sweat off my forehead and challenge myself to Five and a half miles an hour.