Day 19: You Think You Can't But You Can

Day nineteen dawned and I got up at my usual time. My knees were very thankful for the rest and I managed to do all the strength exercises will little problem from them. The heel was still a bit tricky, but I managed it.

I went to work and it felt like I had been on my feet all day. My knees and heel were complaining. By afternoon I was dreading going home and having to do 900 jumps. I was tired and sore and just wanted to put my feet up again. By four o'clock that was my plan. I could barely stand on my right foot.

Strangely enough, when I got home from work I had this burst of energy that told me I HAD to attempt the 900 jumps for the day. I knew if I didn't make the effort then the whole thing would spiral out of control. Not jumping today could lead to no jumps the following day, and the day after that—and if I didn't have to jump, then I didn't need to do my strength exercises, and that would totally justify me to start cheating on the diet, and so on.

It wasn't a pleasant thought. I wasn't going to be the first to quit. I wasn't going to disappoint Patrick and my team. I wasn't going to return to the unhealthy life I had been living. I wasn't going to be a loser!

When I'm determined to do something, I can be a stubborn SOB. Just ask my parents.

I hobbled into my bedroom and strapped on the two knee braces. I placed a gel insert into my sneakers to help cushion the right heel. I grabbed my water bottle, tape player, and jump rope. Out the door I went to the backyard. I picked up my nine stones and set them near the tape player. Then I stretched my arms, my wrists, my shoulders, my legs, my knees. I jogged in place. I did a short meditation to sync everything together. I picked up the jump rope, turned the tape player on, and jumped.

The jumps were not the smoothest by any means. There was lots of tripping and tangling going on, but I pushed on. After each 100 jumps, I grabbed one of the nine stones and threw it. Eventually I ran out of stones. I had successfully completed 900 jumps. I finished with a number of cool-down stretches, a walk around the backyard, and a short meditation.

I went back into the house, took off the knee braces, grabbed a pack of ice and foot bath of warm water. As I sat there with my foot soaking and ice on my knees, my partner came in to the room and said to me, "With all that stuff on, you looked just like the bionic man."

"I feel just about as broken as he was."

"Yeah," he responded. "But they made him stronger. And that's what you're doing. Sure, you may need extra equipment to help keep things in place and it may take you a little longer than it would some of the younger people, but you'll eventually get there."

Yes I will.