I’ve established many habits – good and bad throughout my life. They say that it takes 30-days to start one. Brushing my teeth was probably the first, along with combing my hair, things that hopefully all of us do every day in the spirit of personal hygiene. I didn’t make daily flossing a regularity until later in life. Push-ups are part of my daily regimen, dating back to my teenage years and inspired by a grandfatherly-like figure on family vacations at the Bay Palm Trailer Park, now just a few miles down the street. I do about 90 every day, along with some stretching and crunches before my morning run. This has been slightly disrupted recently with medical procedures.

I’ve tried to add swimming to my list of good habits, but only with marginal success. Some of my many bad habits are sweets, mainly cookies, Diet Coke, and television binging. Video games on my phone, like MonopolyGO and Solitaire Cash are rapidly becoming addictive practices. The phone itself is something I can’t put down, constantly searching sports, Facebook, weather, and personal banking apps. Screen time is often shocking and continues to grow. My wife considers leaning, shuffling, and shallow breathing to be annoying habits of mine. Her list is probably too big to elaborate on. 

My biggest addiction is running every day. I’m obsessed with it from the moment I wake up, often regretting what has become a daily task. The Florida heat had me up earlier but overcast skies and cooler temperatures have kept me in bed longer of late. What was once a 7:30 start is now closer to 8:30. I was also in the habit of doing a daily 5k, but excessive heat and humidity caused me to reduce that by a mile. I just completed the month of September with only 64 total miles, and I’m also at 737.5 miles this year, with only 91 days left to reach my 1000-mile goal. For the first time in many years, I probably won’t get there!

I continue to shuffle down the street every day, doing my best to ignore stiffness, lack of balance, and awkward form. Today, was #5,390 on my quest to reach 15-years of running every single day. It is likely that I won’t make that either, with a pending heart procedure that will probably put me in the ICU for a few days. I try my best to enjoy these last days of “The Streak,” but under the circumstances, it’s hard to remain motivated. I feel like I’m running on concrete legs with a piano on my back while the slightest headwind might bring me to a stop. Once I do stop, will I be able to start another one? That’s the million-dollar question, as old habits are in this case thankfully hard to break!