Giving something up...

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

For me, Lent has become a time of self-improvement. Growing up Catholic, I knew I was supposed to give something up and went through the exercise…pretty unsuccessfully…every year. The nuns (I went to parochial school for the first eight years) would constantly remind us to stick with whatever we’d given up during the week and on the weekends, the priest would bash us over the head from the pulpit. I knew my mom would do things like giving up drinking or chocolate, but when Lent was over, so was the ‘giving up’.

Holly was Episcopalian and once we got married and kids came along, I’d go to her church where the minister seemed to have a slightly different approach. “Change something about yourself for the better and keep doing it…forever,” was the basic message. For a guy who struggled with doing something good for forty day, this seemed like a bazaar concept, but I’ve tried. You know…stuff like Thumper’s dad recommended…”if you can’t say something nice about someone…don’t say nothing at all.” Umm…right Thumper’s dad.

I’m trying to make sure I do something aerobic every day in Lent this year. That means no days off (hiking won’t count since I define aerobic as getting my heart rate into my training zone for at least 20 minutes). Technically, Sunday is not one of the forty days of Lent, but I’ll try to maintain it anyway. It will be tough, but so far, so good. And even though it’s not something I’ll change about myself for the rest of my life, it does get me focusing on not taking the easy road some days…which is something I can maintain.

And I’m also trying that thing Thumper’s dad talked about…but I suppose I’ll probably end up saying ‘nothing at all.’

Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 900.