Month: September 2026

Posted on

When the Brakes Fail: An Unexpected Interstate Adventure

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today was supposed to be relatively straightforward, but it turned into an unexpected interstate adventure.

I had my hematology appointment, and my wife had taken one of her rare days off from work. Normally, I would take an Uber to the appointment, but since she was available, she offered to drive me instead. It was a nice change.

Unfortunately, her car apparently had plans for the afternoon, too. We had barely entered the interstate on our way home when the brakes suddenly began making a horrible grinding noise. That was accompanied by the unmistakable smell of something burning near the tires.

Neither sound nor smell inspires tremendous confidence while traveling at interstate speeds. We immediately pulled over and stopped beneath an overpass. Once safely off the road, we took out our phones and began looking for a tow truck. That should have been simple, except our location introduced an unexpected complication.

Because we were directly underneath another road, GPS insisted that we were actually on the road above us. Technology is marvelous right up until it confidently announces that you are somewhere you are not.

After some explaining, we finally managed to convince everyone, including the technology, where we actually were. A tow truck was dispatched, leaving us with about forty minutes to wait beneath the overpass. Eventually, the truck arrived and carried my wife’s car to our regular repair shop. We left it there overnight and took an Uber home.

So, ironically, despite my wife taking the day off specifically so I wouldn’t need an Uber for my hematology appointment, we ended up taking one anyway.

Life does enjoy preserving the original plan whenever possible.

Once we finally arrived home, I returned to ordinary life. I showered, started the laundry, and began cooking. After an afternoon involving failing brakes, interstate shoulders, confused GPS coordinates, tow trucks, and an unexpected Uber ride, mundane household chores felt remarkably peaceful.

Then we checked the mail. Waiting patiently in our mailbox was an invitation encouraging us to rejoin AAA. Perfect timing. Absolutely perfect. Apparently, AAA’s marketing department has achieved a level of situational awareness our GPS hasn’t.

Back
Posted on

Balancing A Busy Schedule With Family Time

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today required a little more attention to the clock than my usual Saturday. Naturally, Saturday morning also meant my regular run, but I expected a busy schedule.

We had arranged to visit my sister’s house to celebrate both my wife’s and my mother’s birthdays, which meant I needed to finish my normal morning routine before it was time to leave.

So, as soon as I woke up, I put on my running clothes and headed outside. Unfortunately, the run itself was difficult.

Once again, my pace was disappointingly slow. I have been working hard to improve my speed, so seeing another slower result wasn’t exactly the encouraging start to the morning I had hoped for.

Fortunately, I wasn’t running against only one clock. I may have lost to my target pace, but I was still comfortably ahead of our departure time. I’ll count that as a different category of victory.

Once I got home, I didn’t have much time to contemplate my running performance. Saturday’s next contestant was waiting for me: the vacuum cleaner.

I finished vacuuming, took a shower, and finally made my way to my desk for breakfast. I still needed to fit in my planking and stretching exercises before we left, so the morning became a carefully choreographed sequence of running, cleaning, eating, exercising, and occasionally checking the clock.

Some Saturday mornings are relaxing. Others apparently require project management. Despite the full schedule, everything worked. We left on time and arrived at my sister’s house exactly as planned. Once there, the stopwatch could finally retire for the day.

We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and celebrating the birthdays together. My brother-in-law made tacos for the occasion, and after a morning filled with running and exercise, I was more than prepared to participate enthusiastically in that part of the celebration.

My running pace may not have been what I wanted today, but the rest of the day went beautifully. That is worth remembering.

Not every successful day needs to include a personal best. Sometimes success means finishing the run, completing the chores, arriving on time, spending an afternoon with family…

and being rewarded with tacos.

Back

Posted on

Birthday Celebrations, Lawn Mowing, and the Mystery of Four Pounds

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday.

She isn’t normally someone who makes a great production out of birthdays, so I was especially pleased that she was genuinely excited about the gift I chose for her. I bought her a collection of glow-in-the-dark acrylic paints. Apparently, I chose well.

She has already started experimenting with them and, judging from the number of ideas she has mentioned, the paints have acquired a rather ambitious project schedule. I suspect various objects around our house may soon begin glowing after the lights go out.

While my wife was happily experimenting with her birthday present, I was occupied with a rather different project.

I was trying to regain four pounds.

Apparently, my body had decided yesterday’s disappearance was merely temporary. I was so busy last week that my body couldn’t maintain the weight.

We also plan to try a new restaurant as a belated celebration of my wife’s birthday. Under ordinary circumstances, a calorie-dense restaurant meal might inspire a little nutritional guilt. At the moment, I am looking at it more as strategic replenishment. After today’s mowing session, those calories already have an assignment. Hopefully, they’ll help prevent another dramatic drop on tomorrow morning’s scale.

In the meantime, my wife has new paints to experiment with, I have regained my missing weight, and we have a birthday dinner to enjoy. All things considered, that sounds like a successful celebration. And if tomorrow’s scale disagrees, perhaps we will simply have to celebrate her birthday again.

Back
Posted on

Summer Lawn-Mowing Session: The Workout I Never Signed Up For

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

After finishing this morning’s usual lawn-mowing session, I stepped onto the scale and was greeted by some encouraging news. I had gained a little more weight.

For the first time in quite a while, I found myself almost exactly in the middle of my target weight range. That may not sound particularly exciting, but after spending much of the summer trying to keep my weight from drifting downward, it felt like a genuine victory.

Around our house, mowing the lawn is less of a household chore and more of an endurance event. Our backyard sits on a fairly steep hill, which means every pass with the mower feels like a workout. Even though I use an electric mower, it still takes five or six hours to finish the entire yard if I attempt it all at once. I’ve learned that’s not a particularly wise idea. Instead, I divide the work over two days. My legs, and probably my back, seem to appreciate the compromise.

Even so, mowing burns an astonishing amount of energy. It has become one of the main reasons my weight fluctuates throughout the summer.

Before I took over the job, my wife handled the mowing herself with a hand-push mower. Looking back, I honestly have no idea how she managed it while working full-time. She also divided the work into several sessions. Even then, she insisted it felt like running a 10-kilometer race at full speed.

Having now inherited the responsibility, I’m no longer in a position to question that comparison.

In fact, I may owe her an apology for ever doubting it. Because all of this extra activity burns so many calories, I’ve been making a conscious effort to eat a little more throughout the day. The balancing act is delicate.

I need enough calories to maintain my weight, but I also have to respect the dietary restrictions that come with my kidney condition. So far, the strategy seems to be working. My recent lab results have remained stable, which is reassuring. Of course, maintaining weight isn’t something you accomplish once.

It’s something you accomplish again tomorrow. And the day after that.

If experience has taught me anything, tomorrow morning’s weigh-in may tell a different story. The day after mowing is often when I discover that several pounds have quietly disappeared.

At least now, I have a little room to spare. My hope is simple. I’d like the scale to decide that staying put is perfectly acceptable for a while. After all, sometimes the greatest fitness achievement isn’t losing weight or gaining weight. Sometimes it’s convincing the scale to stop being so adventurous.

Back