“The greatest wealth is health.” ~Virgil

Jogging has been on my mind lately.  Even though it is quite cold and icy here in Iowa and I am still far from being able to jog without needing a team of paramedics following closely behind, I keep thinking of jogging.  I believe this to be a very good sign.

I was an athlete in high school and college.  I played on the tennis team, the volleyball team (briefly) and the football team in high school.  In college, I just played on the tennis team and was also a very active outdoorsman.  I was also a cigarette smoker – a very consistent two packs per day.  I can remember being so proud of my ability to jog four miles in under thirty minutes and then immediately lighting up a cigarette.  I also found pleasure in beating others in tennis while smoking – literally holding a cigarette in my hand while I played.

Where and when I grew up, smoking was not discouraged like it is now.  It was a badge of manhood and I gladly took it on.  As the years progressed, and I learned more about the dangers of smoking, I decided that I needed to quit.  Wow, was I in for a surprise – I was now a genuine drug addict!  I had been smoking since I was in my teens and in the twenty or so years of almost exactly two packs per day, my body had really come to depend on nicotine (and the complete smoking ritual).  I’m not going to talk in this entry about the epic steps that I took to become a nonsmoker.  I’ll talk about that some other time – it is an interesting story.  I will share that I added ninety five pounds of bodyweight in the four months after I became a nonsmoker.  That’s right – in the four months after I finally quit smoking for good, my bodyweight went from one hundred and ninety five pounds to two hundred and ninety pounds.  Wow!  My waist went from thirty three inches to forty six inches.  Wow again!  I literally could no longer recognize myself in the mirror and I certainly did not need to worry about tennis or jogging at two hundred and ninety five pounds!

Well, more than ten years have passed now.  I am still a nonsmoker and intend to remain one.  Sadly, I still am carrying around those ninety five pounds from more than ten years ago (plus a few more!).  It is more than time for this to change!

I will make it back to my ideal bodyweight in the coming year.  After what I went thru to become a nonsmoker, I know that I can do anything once I set my mind to it – and my mind is very set indeed.  Over the coming months you can follow here my adventures in returning to health and you can bet that jogging and tennis will be part of the process.  I dream about them both everyday.

Till next time…Jack

“The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank.” ~George Sheehan