In a now rare, but once commonplace hour, I begin writing this at 3 AM. This is not the moment where I will take up my dumbbells to fight again. Nor is it one in which my green headlamps will "rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Am I off track? Is there a cascade of a Twinkies waterfall in my life; am I sliding down a hillside of Blue Bell's Cookies 'n Cream?

120+ lbs pounds ago—those days I once knew. But the clothes don't fit; I just came out of my fat focus day, a leaner diet than I'd like with two sticks of butter with 32 oz of iced coffee. And I return this morning with protein, specifically from a 3.3 oz salmon fillet.

I had so much passion on the workout angle in those December, January, and February months. I miss those days. You might say, "Golly, Bill, that was just the other day. Go take 'em back!" And in response, I take a big breath to unload and..."You're absolutely right."

Unfortunately, the context that shut things down mid-February hasn't lifted. But, change is on the horizon. And yet, as much as poses in the mirror will whittle my future days with delight, I want more.

Today, I'm rolling back a declaration—OK, a handful, but my returning to Google and Garmin is immaterial—I will be wearing shorts in 2024. Yes, I've held off—didn't own nary a one! My thoughts remain, yes, men look goofy wearing shorts. They have names like Todd.

So why the change?

Training level up! Specifically, I'm bringing back what I wore when I ran on the UofM pedestrian bridge to Panera Bread and past the Oak Court Mall in 2021: Sanabul combat shorts and sandals. I picked up apparel with a purple accent and another with neon green. As to the footwear, I got the same pair from 2021, my beloved Xero Z-Trail EV. Three years later, I still love my current pair, though the velcro is no longer reliable and a segment of the tread is on the way breaking away. Best shoe I've owned in my life.

But, it's like that Apollo Creed quotation from Rocky III:

Now, when we fought, you had that eye of the tiger, man; the edge! And now you gotta get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning.

That's what I'm doing. It's 2018 again...
...2019 again...
...2020 again...
...and in 2021, I was on the cusp of something special.

Now, <179 lbs is still a bit in the future with a projection to the 2nd half of August. In the meantime, I'm fighting to get my stamina and sensitivity back.

As to the more...stay tuned...