Reid ‘Em & Weep (2019.1)

Reid ‘Em & Weep (2019.1) – Update on Reading, Writing, & Running

The “Dutch Lion” hasn’t written much yet in 2019. No real reason but mainly I’ve just been busy as a father, a semi-retired worker, and a dude who has so many interests and hobbies that I just can’t keep up. I’m not complaining. It’s a great life. I feel so blessed it’s hard to put into words. My wife, my children, my family and my station in life are all going so great it’s amazing. God’s grace fills my life daily.

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Running

Today I decided to run. I need to work off some of the winter weight I gained starting last Thanksgiving going all the way through Spring. I want to lose five to ten pounds and get my six pack abs back. Who am I kidding? I just want a four pack! Years ago I had it but took it for granted. Now as a forty-four year old it’s much tougher to keep up, especially because I swear my wife is trying to fatten me up. She makes so much great food! She’s always baking cookies and brownies and I can’t seem to help myself.

I’m not big on diets. Let’s be honest. It’s all about working out more and eating less. It’s about calories gained and calories burned. Typically my diets are me disciplining myself by eating no sweets for as many days in a row until I cave in from the pressure of the chocolate and the ice cream that my family tends to taunt me with daily. Oh well, it’s not the worst thing in the world.

I gained about 10 pounds since last year, jumping from 172 to about 182 pounds. That’s where I topped out and now I’m already back down to between 177 and 180. My fat percentage is way higher too, going up from about 16% to 19%.

My goals are 165 pounds with 15% body fat. Those are extreme goals. If I can reach 170 pounds with 16% fat I’ll be satisfied.

Check out Monday’s run. I used the running app “Map My Run” on my Samsung Galaxy 8. I ran 1.57 miles in 14 and a half minutes while burning about 210 calories. Not great but it’s a start.

https://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/3583234603

Now I need to keep it up. Can I run two times a week? Three? We’ll see. I’ve thought about running more official races but I always get confused about the 3k, 5k, and 10k’s. Why do you ask? Because of the metric system! (“Look at the big brain on Brett!”) If these races were termed 2 milers, 3 milers, 5 milers, 10 milers, etc. it would be more likely that I’d run. Haha! (“I’ll have a Royale with cheese” while I’m considering it.) Seriously, thanks to all of you bloggers for inspiring me with your running posts. It helps!

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Reading

My goal for 2019 is to read one book per month for a total of twelve books. So far, so good….. at least until we hit May. I’m getting behind due to this huge book I started by Jane Leavy. I’ve enjoyed reading Leavy before. Her book on “the Mick” Mickey Mantle was fantastic. This one about Babe Ruth…..it’s early but we’ll see.

January : “Hawk: I Did It My Way”  by Ken Harrelson with Jeff Snook – The Hawk’s autobiography

• I LOVED this book. As a lifelong White Sox fan, I thought I already knew everything about the Hawk. I was wrong. He told all about his growing up in Savannah, Georgia and his days as a player, golfer, GM, and broadcaster. Talk about a guy that knows people. Hawk has seemingly met everyone at some point over the last half century. His stories are wild and enlightening.

February : “The Opening Kickoff: The Tumultuous Birth of a Football Nation” by Dave Revsine

• I borrowed this book from my brother-in-law Joe. I enjoyed it as I do most football books. This one was about the early years of amateur football. Most of the stories focused on Ivy League schools and teams such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, as well as Army and midwestern teams such as Northwestern, Chicago, and Wisconsin. I especially enjoyed the stories of the games in New York at the Polo Grounds.

March : “Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character” by Marty Appel

• I love baseball books and this one about Casey Stengel was really interesting. I learned a lot about the game during the first half of the century as well as the 1950s Yankees which I’ve read about numerous times before. It’s crazy that Casey (named because of his growing up in Kansas City (“K.C.”)) Stengel was a part of all four New York baseball teams: the Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, Yankees, and expansion Mets.

April : “Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency” by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard

• I don’t read a ton of political books but this one was really good. In a way it’s not even really a political book. It’s more of a history book. Bill O’Reilly is a talented writer. He not only wrote about the Reagans in this one but also about the attempted assassin John Hinckley Jr. I learned a lot about Reagan who was President during my youth and even more about First Lady Nancy Reagan. Plus, this insane assault happened when I was just six years old so I’m living through this for the first time in all reality. O’Reilly has also written about Lincoln, Kennedy, Patton, Jesus, and more. This one was good enough that I may delve into the others also.

May : “The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created” by Jane Leavy

• I’m on page 135 so far out of about 600 pages. It’s been a struggle so far due to it’s chronological jumping back and forth between Ruth’s youth and the “present day” format of 1927 along with other 1920s references. The chapters are too long for me to read an entire chapter per sitting which makes me more confused than I should be. Oh well, I just gotta hunker down and get through this monster book.

Future books for the rest of 2019: TBD

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Writing

Now that I’m off for summer, I plan on writing plenty in my time off between all the sun, baseball, parties, lawn mowing, and other leisure activities. I have 45 stories in “The Hopper” and now I just need to proofread and finalize. Look for those feature stories by “The Dutch Lion” soon!

Thanks and have a great June!