A Balancing Act

Having a lot more time than I had the last few months I was in Miami, I decided that it’d be a great thing for me to get more physically fit since I have the TIME and the facilities in the hotel gym and Lumpini Park nearby.

B and I have always managed to take time for some physical activity during the day. For years we have walked in the morning a total of about an hour or more.  Not too strenuous but it gave us the chance to stay fit and also to catch up with each other as we walked and talked during that time.

During 2012, we managed to keep the exercise routine but it kept suffering when I’d received urgent calls from work or the staff at the factory was waiting for an ingredient that I had to buy on my way to work.    The routine suffered even more when our eldest son arrive in the scene as I wanted to maximize our time together by carpooling, then our walk evolved into a more leisurely walk in the evenings with his family and our grandson.  Fine by me but not so fine by my body.

In the last 6 months before we left to BKK our exercise routine was almost nonexistent and I could feel the weakness in my muscles and bones.  So what I great opportunity to rebuild my physic (I don’t even know how to spell this, let alone having one), regardless, I want to stay alive to see my grandson get married so I better start working on it.

As you can see, I had the best of intentions.  And then I found “the Thai FOOD COURTS”.  And that was the end of my idea of getting my body to where it has never been.

My new plan is more sustainable.  I have already started my exercise program, but my goals are less grandiose.  I’m not aspiring to much just to stay somewhat healthy to stick around for a while.  I have been jogging every week morning after I walk B to her work.  The “jogging” part is about 2.5 KM (sounds more if I use the km instead of miles), which is the route around the Lumpini Park.

My excuse is that I don’t want to jog on the sidewalks of BKK, one because I could get killed by the motorcycles that love to ride on the sidewalks, and two because BKK air is so polluted by the thousands of cars riding its streets, that you could easily get some clogged arteries just by breathing the air, let alone, breathing heavy while jogging.  So, for health reasons, I’m not jogging beyond the required by the distance of the jogging trail inside Lumpini Park.  The argument works for me, take it or leave it.

When I return to the hotel, I’m usually still sweating, not only for the jog but because BKK is VERY HOT all the time.  Once in the A/C building, I head straight to the gym where I do some stretches, a few push-ups and a couple  of abdominal exercises and with that I check that box faster than a I can hop onto the elevator on my way back to our room.  So, like everything in life, it’s not good to overdo anything.  Everything is a balance and I have found my new balance, a little exercise to compensate a little Thai shopping mall Food Court.