The Hypothosis

Can I make my ritualized paranoia work for me? I’m known by many to have a quirk or two (or 5 million) when it comes to OSU sports (especially football). I am sane enough to realize these have no actual effect on the outcome of any one game or season, but crazy enough that I need to do these for my peace of mind. I would say I’m mildly/functionally OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and this tends to manifest numerically in my daily life. I count how long my soap is in my hair and it has to be some increment of 30 seconds, this is a good example my OCD behavior. I’ve seen things on television where people have extreme OCD and it ruins their life, fortunately I’m not that bad – mine is manageable. As I mention before OSU sports is where this affects me the most with the things I like to do to “help insure victory” (it funny just typing that). So this football season I’m going to attempt to use this disorder to help with another life long battle.

I’ve always been “the big kid”, but sometime in the last 8 years (I’m 31) I came to understand I wasn’t fat, I actually was a really good athlete and though a little chunky – in pretty good shape. That train left in college and has stayed far away since. A couple of years ago I did lose 40-50 lbs (eating better and exercising, crazy huh?), but ___________ (fill in excuse here) I gained it all back really easy. Plus, I’m kind of an all or none person who has never done moderation well. So when I exercise and eat right I do really well till I fall of the wagon and then I jump off the wagon on the edge of a cliff! It’s all bad, so my idea is to attempt to exercise and tie it to my sports OCD.

Now if you’re skeptical or want to say, but what if….. I’m not stupid, I know the bucks could tank in week 2 or any other week and then where would I be? Well, I’m starting with the opening of camp for 2 reasons: one, cause that’s when the prep for the season begins and when I should begin and two, if the team should falter than hopefully I’ll be seeing enough results to continue on. The plan is to walk/jog/run 2 miles 6 days a week starting Aug 5th (players report for camp) till Sept 5th. From there I will add a mile every month on the 5th (eventually getting to 5 miles 6 days a week in Nov) and hopefully looking good as the buckeyes look good for a run to another National Championship?! Last night I did a test walk and finished at 40 minutes, I did have a few pauses with the dog (to keep him away from a runner at the track) but think I’ll average about 36 minutes for the first week or two. Hopefully within each month I can make gains in speed/time and jogging more than walking.

My lovely wife is going to be trying this with me (accept for volleyball night), so hopefully it will be good for both of us. I get annoyed at work listening to people talk about this workout and this run because I’m usually more of a shut up and do it person (when I quit smoking I just decided regularly smoking a pack a day wasn’t for me anymore and quit cold turkey) but in this case I figure ‘blogging’ about it would be a good way of holding myself accountable to others and give me something to write about on slow news days. If this adventure is successful I’ll put some pictures up, hopefully looking like a young Greg Fry! Lol!! Go bucks!!