As regular readers know, on September 22 I began a nearly inhuman (for me) crusade to rise at 5 a.m. every day. The goal is to condition myself for playing with the morning basketball crowd three days a week at 5:30, so that by the time soccer season rolls around in April I'll have six months of conditioning under my belt.
Like never before, I've been asking to guard the best player on the court when possible. Most times people gladly let me take the assignment. I want to be forced to cut and move and recover. I want the legs and lungs to burn, and then to push myself down court for one more fast break, or one more defensive stop.
Things are happening.
Yesterday morning I found myself swooping in for rebounds, stealing the ball from opponents on the dribble, scoring layups in traffic, and even starting to drain a few longer shots.
Most encouraging of all is that my body fat percentage has dropped to 14% for a solid week. Coupled with a steady diet of extra protein, I can see muscle and tone building. As long as the goal is to play my best, and not necessarily to win, then mistakes simply become part of the growth process.
The feeling of setting a challenging physical goal and meeting it is a boost that's carried over into work and relationships. This week's featured a couple of great "wins" at work for my boss and team, wins that started out as darkly as a sunless morning sky. So what to do? Give thanks, and rise one more day!
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