New Year’s Day 2.5-Hour Walk

Jan. 1, 2021

Happy New Year! How did you spend the special day? Mine was great. It started with watching the New Year Ekiden Race that took place in Gunma Prefecture. Honda won for the first time. They are a very young team with all of them in their early to mid twenties. They will continue to do well for the coming few years. 

Two Olympic marathoners ran the race: Shogo Nakamura of Fujitsu and Yuma Hattori of Toyota. But neither of them did well. Are they injured? Are they burned out? Are they undertrained? I don't know. But they are good athletes. And I like them both. I hope they will come back stronger again.

Anyway, I had three healthy meals today, and felt completely recuperated that I went for a long walk late at night. 

I bundled up because it was freezing cold. The sky was clear. I enjoyed gazing up at the stars while walking. 

I also listened to Brian Tracy's You Tube lectures. They are about communication and self-management. Five As in developing your "charm" were useful. I also enjoyed listening about "creativity". According to him, creativity is simply "improvment". I look foward to using these concepts for corporate seminars that I will teach down the road.  

 

Morning Walk & Morning Cooking

Oct. 14, 2021

I woke up to see a blue sky. After doing some leg exercises on futon, I threw myself into athletic wear and hit a nearby park. I walked slowly on a loop inside the park while listening to English. Several small groups of local elderlies were playing filed golf. Occasionally I passed or was passed by elderlies who distanced themselves from those engaged in the group activities. They are loners. Like me. 

After walking for 20 minutes, I crossed the street to another smaller park between apartment complexes. There are swings. I used them to do swing push-ups. The swings, of course, hang from a horizontal bar that is about 2 meters above the ground. Therefore it can be used to do chin-ups, although the bar is quite thick in diameter, and it makes it hard for me to hold on to it, but I take it as an added bonus. It builds your grip strength. 

A few rounds of push-ups and chin-ups got me reasonably out of breath. I returned to the larger park and made yet another lap around the loop to warm down while listening to English. 

It took about 45 minutes to do all this. By the time I got home I felt hungry like a wolf that hadn't eaten anything for weeks. I made the dish below to fill my empty stomach.