Thursday, January 2, 2020

Looking Ahead to Seventy


“And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat. I don’t say these things because I believe in the ‘brute’ nature of men or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour — his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear — is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle — victorious.”
Bottom quote also from Vince Lombardi taken from here

This is the same guy who said winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. While that seems to be a bit at cross purposes from the above quote, I agree that you must have the will power and discipline to be successful and you need to experience that "head to head combat" Lombardi speaks of. I've always thought amateur boxing fell in line with this school of thought - one of the best ways for young men to do head to head combat in a controlled environment. I'm gearing up for a couple of events this year that will require a bit of the grind and discipline. I've no desire for any head to head combat - way too old for that - but I've done a few things in the past that required some hard training and Old Vince was right - it's a great feeling to be victorious even if the only real opponent was you. 

I've started training a bit harder at the boxing gym, I'm doing some strength training and I'll work on improving my diet now that the holidays are over. I enjoyed doing the ruck march and I'm thinking some back packing/hiking would be good along with another bicycle trip of some sort. Other than the 50 mile challenge I don't have anything specific to train for right now but I'll pick a couple of things and hopefully will be in kick-ass shape when I turn 70 later this year. 

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