Exercise is Tough…

At Any Age…

And especially when you are way out of shape.

In 1980, as I was about to turn 30, I had gained a ton of weight in law school, so started to slowly run, just blocks at first and then more as each month went by until later that year I ran in my first full marathon. Did great for 20 miles, last six I try not to remember, but I finished.

Over the years after coming to Vegas, I did a bunch of 5K and 10K runs and every year I finished the half marathon in the Rock and Roll Vegas Running Series. Some years I did better than others. My best time for a half marathon (13.1 miles) is two hours and fifty-six minutes. My run/walk and lack of real training every year kept me pretty much at that pace.

in 2020, right in the heat of the pandemic, when I was about to turn 70, I finished another full marathon of 26.2 miles. So I did one at 30 and another at 70. I did not do well in that one either. Ran the first six miles, stepped on a large rock that went through my shoe and my heal, and I limped and bled the remaining 20 miles in just over 6.5 hours. But I finished.

Today, I am finishing up a book with the really fun title of WRITING NOVELS WITH THE WALTESE FALCON: Writing Novels at Speed. It is about me writing novels with my cat, Walter White Kitty, or as Kris called him, “The Waltese Falcon” at my side. He was my heart cat, a white pure Red-Point Birman, and he stayed with me all the time for years. I wrote three novels and blogged about the writing at one point while he was with me and he figures in two of the books about the writing.

One novel I wrote in ten days, one in seven days, and one in five days while traveling. (Walter did not travel with me on that one.) Three books on writing three novels, so I have now redone them a touch, but they are still the same three books that have been out for years now. They stand up great and wow do I miss Walter.

I am putting them in one book with a 2026 introduction and the new title since the old covers sucked beyond words.

So what does this new book have to do with exercising and gaining strength in the running and distance??  A lot, actually. Writing at speed, into the dark, without an outline, or any rewriting? That needs training and a slow build up, just as running dow. They are skills you work up to, practice and train for, and then just let go and do it.

I have eight half-marathon medals on my wall and a lot of 5K and 10K ones as well. Training to exercise and get in shape and lose some weight.

After I get some of these collections out this spring and summer with my short fiction, and get Smith’s Monthly back up and running, I will be allowing myself to do more writing and gain speed there as well. I will need to train myself back up to speed just as I will need to train for the distance in walking and running.

So watch for the new book when it comes out in a StoryBundle next month. Going to be fun!!

Here is the cover…