A friend and former colleague Clem introduced me to the 365 Club – exercise 365 hours in a year, an hour a day. In 2017, I completed 365 hours on Nov. 30, 2017, while walking around Oaxaca, Mexico. Since then? I have fallen short. 317 in 2018. 354.5 in 2019. 2020? Was there a year that year? I think coronavirus ate my homework.
But this year, things were looking up. On Sept. 5, 2021, I was 49 hours ahead of pace (248 hours due at the end of that week; I had 297). Then I started slipping: 42 ahead, 38 ahead, 37 ahead, 34 on Oct. 17, 20.5 on Nov. 7 and now, on Dec. 26: Minus 6.75 hours with 353.25 hours of exercise clocked.
It rained a lot in November. My Pilates instructor went to Hawaii. It was cold. We’ve been stuck inside this country all year. I’m a lazy person with no discipline who needs others to goad him to shut his book (can’t put down “The Girl who Played with Fire”), turn off “Bosch” on TV and move 10 feet away from the couch.
So now I have five days left to do 11.75 hours of exercise by January 1, 2022. This is like college, like finishing a 3,500-word term paper and I have two paragraphs written. Short ones. It is due at 8 a.m. Dorm clock reads 2:20 a.m., and the party light is barely dimming. Plus, the math teacher wants a solution for Fermat’s Last Theorem by noon.
Back to the tail end of 2021, where the weather outside is frightful.
11.75 hours in five days to make 365? 2.5 hours per day would do it with 45 minutes to spare on Dec. 31. I’m reminded of my favorite author when I was in the third grade: Willie Makit, who wrote “Run to the Outhouse.”
Daily counts start Monday, Dec. 27, 2021.