Time for some housekeeping after all the fun with copyrights and Life After this or that.
First off, it is streak update time. Fire me your updates and take a look back at the December posts I did about goals and then look at the first half of the year. Are you close to where you wanted to be in December? If not, get back on the horse and make sure that when you look back in December you are happy. Now is the time. The key to this writing stuff is not falling down, it’s always getting back up and starting again. Now would be a good time to reread my December posts on Goals.
At some point I will put those posts all in one place under a tab. Haven’t got there yet.
Over the next week I will be teaching first a structure workshop and then a contracts workshop. And working with a number of people between the two workshop on advanced story structure. It’s going to be a great week and I’m looking forward to it.
Kris and I have decided to do one more year of workshops. We’re not burnt out yet and are having fun and learning. So one more year. We have some really fun workshops scheduled. We’ll have the schedule finalized here and announced shortly, more than likely this next week. And we still have room in the Fiction Career workshop in September this year. It’s open to any writer of any level. Write me for details and put Writers Workshops in the title line. (Master Class is full.)
Also, I am still dropping weight for a goal I have not mentioned here before. Somewhere around my 60th birthday in late 2010, I plan to run a marathon. Yup, 26.2 miles.
I ran one near my 30th birthday and figure this would be a good thing to do to start the next thirty years.
Now I decided this when I was 246 pounds, sitting at a computer and eating as a hobby. At 6 feet tall, that’s into the obese area. It is impossible to run at that weight on my bad knees. (Far too many years of hotdog skiing and playing professional golf. My doctor said I just wore them down.) My knees hurt just climbing a flight of stairs at 246 pounds.
So now, a year plus later, with my weight ranging around 209 and dropping, and a smashed toe almost healed, I’m getting to the first stages of training. At this weight my knees don’t hurt at all, interestingly enough. And I can run one mile without stopping on a treadmill.
My goal weight is 165 for race day, so I am about halfway to my goal on the weight. I’ll be running with a friend of mine from Boise who is about at the same place in training and weight loss and we’re shooting for the City of Trees Marathon in early October, 2010. The goal is not time involved, I just want to finish.
That’s my new challenge. No health issues involved, my doc says I’m good to go, so here it is, out in public. Anyone want to come to Boise in 2010 to run or cheer, you are more than welcome. It’s going to be fun. Lots of work, a bunch of pain, but I know when I turn 60 I’m going to be damned glad I did all this, just as I was at the ripe old age of 30.
Regular updates on my progress will follow, just because this is my web site and I can do that sort of thing if I want.
Thanks everyone, on the responses, both positive and negative, on my Life After… posts. It’s been a lot of fun. There may be more. That’s a warning.
Cheers, Dean
Holy schmoly, I have been forgetting to send updates the past two weeks. Just fired you an e-mail. June’s weekend in Lincoln City was a kick in the pants. Much obliged.
Good luck with your challenges! Have you seen “Born to Run” by Chris McDougall? It’s about running longer distances. Might be something you’d enjoy.
Congrats on the weight loss. I’ve been doing the same (down from 230+ to 185 since January), and feel much better for it. I won’t be running any marathons, but I wanted to get recertified for SCUBA now that my daughter’s starting to dive, and my doctor and the dive club insisted on a stress test. After a program of more exercise in three months than I’d had in the previous three years, I passed it handily.
(And yeah, it’s amazing how much less the knees hurt after shedding that kind of weight. I might even try skiing again.)
Good luck, old guy. After forty, it’s patch, patch, patch …
Steve
Big congrats on losing the weight, and I wish you the best with the marathon. But, well, Ouch!
Trouble is, I’m 55, and haven’t ran more than two miles in thirty years, and now you have me thinking about getting in shape for a marathon.
Hmmm, my birthday is October 9, so a marathon would make a great present to myself. As long as it doesn’t kill me.
Talked to my wife, and she thinks it’s a great idea. Who knew she hates me so much? I have a doctor’s visit in two weeks, and I’ll see what he has to say.
Boy, a number of things to say here-none of which is the reason I came here but that’s another issue sort of dealing with that workshop in September.
Anyway, by the pictures of you I’ve seen I thought you were younger by ten to twenty years.
Even though you weigh less than I do I can pedal a life cycle for five to ten miles without stopping.
Not quite the same as a treadmill but I don’t feel coordinated enough to run full out on a treadmill. I’ve seen people fall off of those things.
I have thought of doing a half marathon, my city now has a Marathon and a half, just to prove to my Mom in law I’m in better shape than she thinks and it would be fun. But I would have to train everyday and that would cut into my writing time. I don’t get as much as I used to and even though I’m not writing that much right now I’m still jealous of the time I do have.
But have fun I hear that is a good way to get into shape.
Louis
James, I’m three months from 59 and haven’t run non-stop more than a mile in almost thirty years. I think it’s possible to do this, so slowly ramping up. I’ll let you know how it goes, how bad I hurt myself, and how good I feel when I get this challenge finished. Frighteningly enough, my doc thinks this is a fantastic idea (for some odd reason backed up by a ton of health studies.)
Jump on board. Boise, Idaho, very small marathon, flat course, October 2010.
Cheers
Dean