Day 51

Okay - so this is an accountability moment. Allow me to explain.

On the 16th, I got the flu. Fortunately, it was not COVID - the test was negative. But unfortunately, it was the day before our long-anticipated (and unrefundable) vacation to Colorado.

So I masked up and went to Colorado. After I slept for about twenty hours, we had a great time skiing, snowmobiling, and eating.

Machine Gun Ridge, 12,500 feet

I didn’t do any serious exercise besides the skiing. I was still kind of raw and did not want a relapse. And Vail is not really a walking environment at this time of year.

Case in point: as I was standing on Machine Gun Ridge, I decided to walk over to the edge of the summit to look down.

“Hey!” our guide said. “Stand still!”

“What?” I said.

“That’s a cornice. Take a step back towards me.”

I thought a cornice was one of those things on a wall, like crown molding. It turns out it’s a term of art for an extremely dangerous snow drift at the top of a mountain that I had almost stepped on. Had I taken the extra step, I would have experienced an avalanche from the top down.

So trust me when I tell you that walking in Colorado is fraught with danger. After Machine Gun Ridge, I was afraid to walk to the Starbucks.

We eventually made it back to Houston, traveling through Denver on the worst travel day of the year. You really can’t fully appreciate how privileged your life is until you look out your airplane window, sipping Buffalo Trace on ice, watching a guy loading your luggage in sub-zero weather. I paid my dues as a kid cleaning grease traps, working as a garbage man, and mowing lawns, but man, I didn’t do anything that tough. Respect.

When we got back, I worked out with Art and Sam (no Avina - on vacation), but I wasn’t motivated to walk yet. I’m not sure why - I was still a little congested, and the weather wasn’t great, but I think it was that I was in vacation mode and not interested in getting back to work.

So on Wednesday, I was at my workout with Art and Sam and feeling punky. We were doing sets of twenty 40 pound chest flies, and stair climbs with 30 pound kettlebells and I was done with that. Just done.

So I made a bet with Art. 

“Let’s do a weigh in, right now, and if I’ve lost more than 5 pounds since my last weigh-in, I get to end this workout,” I said.

“Nope,” he said. “That’s not good for you. Plus anyone can lose 5 pounds in three weeks.”

“Okay,” I said. “Ten pounds.”

Art arched an eyebrow. “If you’ve lost ten pounds, I’ll give you a free session. But there’s no way you’ve lost that much weight.”

What he didn’t know is that I’d weighed in when I returned from Colorado and discovered, to my shock, that my bout with the flu had burned off twelve pounds. I’d been strength training and walking and playing basketball for months and not getting anywhere with my weight, but a week of flu carved a whole brisket off of me.

So we weighed in and Art thought there was something wrong with the scale. Eventually Sam laughed and told Art that I had been sick. Art smiled and told me I’d won the bet, but that I had to use the free session by the end of the year. It being Wednesday, December 28, there was a pretty good chance the offer was going to expire before I could claim it.

But Art was just creating an incentive for me to exercise on Thursday. He offered a gym visit at 5:00 a.m. (nope) or a workout at his house at 3:15 p.m. I was feeling bad about scamming him, so I offered to let him off the hook.

And of course, as the uncommonly decent man he is, here’s how he responded:

So at 3:15, I was at his house to walk. We walked a mile

with his daughter Everly, who showed great musical talent, singing along with this hilarious song from the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special:

We then dropped her off at home and did another four miles in drizzling weather. It was a nice walk, and after we traded stories about terrible jobs we’d had, I asked him, “Do you ever feel amazed with how great your life turned out?”

Art, usually taciturn, surprised me with the passion of his answer. 

“Yes!” he said. “Every day!”

Me too. Happy New Year!