An Email to My Middle-Aged Self

The closest I ever came to Dan Marino.

Dear Rick,

This email comes from yourself, sent nearly twenty years from your future. I'm sending this message because, damn, that picture is not a good look on you.  More importantly, I know that you are completely oblivious about what you’re doing to yourself.

We're not talking about those chipmunk cheeks and waistline hidden under that aqua jersey. What prompted this email is that you actually believe that you’re only ten pounds and a couple workouts from total fitness.

I’m here to inform you that your denial will hold you back for years.  (I also hate to be the one to let you know that Miami will lose that game to Buffalo you're about to see - and a lot more of them in the coming years. But that's another story.)  

I know that you're in the first third of a fifteen-year sojourn in Wisconsin, striving to establish yourself in a demanding profession while struggling with a marriage that ultimately isn't going to survive.

But dealing with those challenges does not have to come at the sacrifice of your fitness or your health. Where you are when this picture was taken in 2005 is the culmination of several bad decisions.

• Poor Eating Schedule. With a job that requires you to work most weekday evenings, you typically respond by skipping dinner, only to devour everything in sight when you arrive at home, washing all of it down with a beer or two. You then feel bloated enough when you go to bed that you skip breakfast the following day, perpetuating this dismal cycle. And when there is food for an evening meeting, you miss no opportunity at going back for seconds or thirds.
  

My 47th birthday where I continued to relish not having to tuck in my shirt. Fortunately, I did not mistake this poor dog for a German sausage.

• Unhealthy Diet. Yes, Wisconsin is famous for cheese and brats. But that doesn't mean they should be mainstays of your diet. Truth is, you still disdain salads and vegetables that do not call themselves corn or potatoes. And what you do like, you consume as though there's no tomorrow, including anything greasy, buttery, sweet and/or steeped in carbohydrates.

• Lousy Fitness Habits. You put running on the back burner when you purchased a home near a two-lane highway with virtually no shoulder and located several miles from towns with sidewalks. As it is now, you have to drive ten miles to the nearest YMCA. I know you say you're fully engaged in Spin, but hey, I know you skip more sessions than you attend. Just between us guys, you do either do Spin or a two-mile run three times a week - at the most.

• Demanding Work Schedule. Like I said before, you have to work most weekday evenings in a stressful job. But to be blunt, one of the positive tradeoffs of your work is that you have a good chunk of the mornings to yourself. Meaning that most mornings, you do not have to be at the office by a specific time. You could schedule time for workouts before heading to the office in lieu of sleeping in or lounging around.

• I'll Just Run It Off. This denial mindset constitutes your greatest obstacle. You go to bed after engulfing a bag of BBQ Ruffles and half a plate of brownies - all washed down by a couple stout ales - secure in the delusional belief that you'll just burn off all those calories with either a spin session or sluggish two-mile run. I cringe as I recall this common statement where you say," twenty years and twenty pounds ago, I used to run in college." The years may be right, but you need to at least double that weight estimate.

Why am I saying all of this?

Because the next eight years are going to be some of the most remarkable ones of your life. Before you leave for Iowa - yes, Iowa - you will make dear friends, both through work and outside of it. You will have an impressive array of professional successes that that will be wiped away with the stroke of future Governor's pen. You'll live through several lonely, bitter months when your marriage ends. But you will also emerge from those empty nights more mature and much wiser.

To be better prepared for all of that, I recommend one thing.

Introduce some discipline into your life.

What I lost in weight, I gained in wrinkles and gray hair.

That means establishing some boundaries and routines. You don't need to eat three massive pieces of birthday cake at the office when a small piece will suffice. You can have something healthy for dinner before those meetings. You will also make absolutely - no exceptions whatsoever - that you eat breakfast each and every morning. Even if it's just toast with peanut butter. When there are meals with your meetings, one serving is sufficient with reasonable proportions.

That also means developing a workout schedule and sticking to it. Whether running, Spin or a stationary bicycle, you will commit to no fewer than five workouts per week. Toss in some core work as well when at you're at the YMCA. Keep those arms and abs toned. It should be at least thirty minutes of steady exertion. Work can wait until you've had a good workout followed by a nutritious, filling breakfast.

I'm sure you're wondering if this is really that important. I'm saying that it is because by doing it, not only will you be healthier, more importantly, you will be a better person. You'll find that discipline spilling over into your work and finding more time with your friends with the opportunity to make even more.

How do I know this will work?

Because it's what I did after leaving Wisconsin for Iowa where I've had the finest years of my life. On one final, but unrelated, note, you should know that one year after that Miami picture is taken, you'll move on from the Dolphins for the Green Bay Packers and never look back.

Needless to say, this 10K is not in my Top 10 finishes.