100 Words Per Mile: Exercise, Control

I learn how to move in more ways than one.

July 13, 2021
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They gym has been kind to me. This morning I spent fifteen minutes on the elliptical and found myself smiling as the first bead of sweat rolled down my face. I’ve also found that I can manage the leg press machine, since most of the pressure is applied to my heel and not my toe. The gym can be daunting to some. Intimidating even. But I promise you, just building the routine is all it takes to make a difference. This isn’t a physical health thing. It’s a life thing. I’m becoming a better person simply by taking care of myself.

I’ve been playing with the idea of turning this into a piece of fiction. Mostly because I find myself writing things like the paragraph above, which I mean sincerely, but come off kind of preachy and cheesy. There’s also a novel I really like called Home Land by Sam Lipsyte constructed in a similar fashion. Whereas mine is a diary of sorts, his was a collection of submissions to a high school alumni newsletter. As a form, it was wild and engaging. I wonder if there’s something I can do here with a similar approach. My life is such a mess of A-plots and B-plots, and it’s not as if I can simply edit them out, or workshop them to become something a little more compelling. If this were fiction however …