Physical Activity

Once in a while, I can feel pretty down. Things that don’t usually bother me, start bothering me. I don’t get excited about working to become a billionaire anymore. I get second doubts about things I’m confidant about. When it gets bad enough, I drop everything I’m doing, put on some my sneakers (or Crocs!) and go for a run.

I stopped regular physical activity after elementary school and paid the price in middle school and high school. Being super-flabby is by far the worst experience I’ve had so far. No matter how good the other aspects of my life were, I was limited by my weight.

For being a smart guy, it took me a pretty long time to figure out that being flabby isn’t cool, and even longer to realize that I could do something about it. For my 17th birthday, I bought a first-generation iPod and made a commitment to a slimmer future. I loaded up some 80’s music and went running.

Looking back, it’s pretty funny to think about how bad I was when I started running. Let’s look at the route I ran:

I ran the Freeman-Staniford-Lexington loop. It’s exactly 0.7 miles per loop. When I started out, I could barely run half of one loop without stopping for air. Everyday, I would run 2 loops, a whopping 1.4 miles, in about half an hour! That’s pretty slow.

Luckily, your human body does not care how comically slow you’re running. The weight started going away and I soon felt like a young Octavian, ready to take on the world. As other formerly flabby people will tell you, it felt great to be rid of the shackles around the belly, and did much for self-esteem.

Scientists and parents will try to trick you into exercising by saying how good it is for you, how exercise releases epinephrine, which makes you feel good, etcetera. Getting a natural high is definitely a good reason to exercise. However, a better reason is so that you don’t become flabby. Because being flabby sucks, just the fact that one is working on not becoming flabby should make anyone’s day.