Vanity, Vanity

I think I’ve said that I’m not vain per se, in that I don’t spend undue time (relative to almost everyone I know) on my personal appearance. However, I’ve been unhappy with my basic body drift during my years in the South, a process that accelerated the wrong way in the last two years with illness. I’d exercise and stop, exercise and stop.

But this summer I’ve reversed that trend after holding steady throughout the winter. It’s almost like a gladiatorial preparation for law school. I want to go in lean and frosty as I’m sure both pizza and low amounts of sleep will catch up with me eventually, and, even so, I don’t need to be one whit duller, surrounded by the brilliant people I’ll be surrounded by. So that means pushing myself now so I can try to hold steady later, and let my health and improved focus maximize my learning.

But anyway, I’m quite unscientific about the whole getting back in shape process – I simply ride until I can’t ride. No heart monitors, only a vague sense of road miles, little games about sprinting to this or that landmark, that sort of thing. I didn’t take my weight at the beginning of the summer (155? – all flab). I don’t know my weight now, but here’s the vanity. I fit into my size 30 black jeans again. My jawline is again slightly concave instead of convex. I can go up 4 flights of stairs, two at a time, without getting winded, flushed, sweaty. I got chatted up by an 18 year old art student this week. Not bad for an old man.