Plethora

We are faced with a plenitude -- indeed, a plethora -- of suspects, all of whom have the ability to use black magic against Master Sir James Zwinge, and had the opportunity of doing so.

I've loved that sentence since I first read it many years ago. In fact it's all I can do to read it enough to verify the quote and NOT go on reading the rest, as they discover which magician did the dirty deed, and not through black magic. It's set in one of my favourite SF/Fantasy universes, and I regret the author died so young, so there won't be any more. Still, we have Too Many Magicians, and The Napoli Express, and some others, and the world is a better place for it.

One of the things that's happened to me over the last few years is people asking how I can spend so much time working out, and people sadly admitting to me that they could never do an ironman. Then they give the reasons they can't. Usually just a couple per person, but in aggregate the list is amazing.

In the first case I'm not spending so much time lately. I'm trying to settle in about an hour a day on average, and it's still a bit of a struggle to find the balance. I can feel my old bod is finding it more difficult to recover than even just a couple years ago. Plus I'm determined to have a social life.

Today, for instance we met the couple that is probably our closest friends (as some of you know, we aren't a particularly friendly or social couple) for lunch and a movie. We went to the Kingsland Market and each picked up what we liked. Tragically, La Boulangerie is no longer at the market. I had a quite nice Lamb Souvlaki, and a piece of carrot cake nearly the size of my head that was tres yummy.

Then to Canyon Meadows for a $5 movie. Tell me again why Empire Studio 10 charges $13? We watched Hotel Transylvania, and had a perfectly nice time chuckling at it. The theatre was nearly empty. Then here for tea and conversation.

So what wasn't I doing? I wasn't on the bike, or out for a run, though the weather was nice enough to be outside on the bike, with a bit of care. Neither was I in the pool for a swim, nor doing a core workout in the basement.

Of course, we don't do this every day. Most of the time I'm pretty good about getting my workouts done. After all, I don't want to degenerate back into being a blob again, and I do love eating food.

However most people are not good at doing workouts at all. They know, in a theoretical sense, that they should. Sort of like how smokers know they should quit smoking. They have a plethora of reasons why they can't, or shouldn't, or won't. Some people have genuine health issues and could never put out the effort to get into shape for an Oly distance, let alone an IM. Others have complicated lives, and it would take organization and work to be able to make time for the workouts. Some will and some won't. And then some, well, essentially they have a TV habit to keep up with. Pity we will be paying their health care down the road.

One of the things that is really really cool about the triathlete world is the plethora of motivational phrases they have, and the support they give to each other. I think the one I like best is "Pain is temporary, pride is forever." Unless, of course, you really overdo it. The other one I like, and I don't hear it much is, Swim 3.8 K, Ride 180 K, Run 42.2 K; Brag the rest of your life.

Most of them don't thrash around looking for excuses, they get their game on and do it. That sort of attitude is wonderful to be around. It works for all sorts of stuff. Get in, get on with it, get it done. Almost always the fear of it (whatever it is) is worse than the it itself.