Counting with Calendars

Greetings! I appreciate all the encouraging and supportive notes from the 19th anniversary of The Streak. Thank you. As I move into the 20th year it’s interesting to think back over all the ways and places I’ve exercised. I keep up with what exercise or how long I ran using what Shannan refers to as "1970s technology." I write each daily entry on a calendar. Of course, this was the most obvious way to keep track of the activities in the late 90s, when the Streak began.  Over the years technological advances have provided other options such as applications for computers, Palm Pilots (I was a big fan of these), cell phones, pods, pads, tablets and now smart watches. I used an electronic calendar once in addition the paper one. However, I fretted too much about losing the data, so I stayed with the old fashion method. This is particularly odd as I am a digital archivist :-).

Truthfully, I sort of enjoy making hand written notes. In the past I was much more detailed. I wrote notes on the weather, my food intake for the day as well as how I felt before and after exercise. These days I simply write the type of workout, location and if Shannan joined me. Paper and pencil documenting is archaic, I know, but I’m not a young man anymore. As John Mellencamp sings in Don’t Need This Body, “This getting older, ain't for cowards.” However, we don’t have to sit on the sofa and aging happen.  I’ll keep exercising for health and wellness, and until publishers stop printing yearly calendars, that’s how I’ll keep track of The Streak.

Keep Records. Run.

Tom