682.

First push-up competition

Reflecting

Biceps still shaking a bit but delts/lats/pecs still feel fresh after my first push-up competition.  I planned on hitting 300 and 600 was my stretch goal until a friend offered the charity $1,000 if I could get to 680.  Final count: 682.  I was super strict about form despite the judges being, ahem, pretty lenient.  I didn’t hear anyone getting no repped.  Excited to try again next year.  Here’s what kept me going: after deciding to shoot for 600, a kind and generous friend sent me this note:

I was 100% committed to hitting that and did with 2 to spare. 

Training

Two great runs this weekend.  Just loving time on the trails with friends.  Had two jiu jitsu coaches working with me on ground work; making slow but steady progress.  They’d like me to be less analytical and smoother.  More flow and less pausing for a beat to think through the optimal reaction.  They are naturals.  I’m… not. 

Fueling

I finally found an MD who’s like-minded on fueling.  He wrote Longevity...Simplified: Living A Longer, Healthier Life Shouldn’t Be Complicated which I just finished and recommend.  TL; DR: modern first world diseases mostly come from habits and metabolic disease, both of which are more efficiently attacked at their roots rather than at their many symptoms. 

I’m really happy with getting alcohol dosage down to zero, which I’m increasingly convinced is the correct dose.  It is a drug and not a very good one in terms of its costs and benefits.  But culturally it is so pervasive that it is nice to have something to sip so my long-suffering wife and I recently tried and liked this substitute – it has a lot of the same feel as a cocktail without the booze. 

Closing

One final thank you for everyone who gave!

I got to meet the organizers who gave me great confidence that the money we raised will be well spent.  The event raised a lot of money to help send (very) sick kids to camp.  It was both fun and genuinely moving (a word I rarely use).