It's been well over a decade since I've exercised regularly enough to maintain a decent level of fitness; I've been in a slow decline since, and I've had about all of that I can stand.

I joined the Marine Corps at age twenty-one. I was in fairly good shape then, and it only got better after I enlisted, of course. After a few years in the Corps, I could run for miles, fuck for hours, and go days without sleep if I had to. I was strong and agile and dumb enough to take it all for granted.

It has been only in the last few years, as I entered into my forties, that I've noticed a marked decline in my strength and endurance.

Those eight years I served put a goodly sum of fitness in my body bank - enough that I survived the next decade of largely abusing it with booze, bad food, late hours, and the stress of life in the nightclub business.

My "fighting weight" should be somewhere between 175 and 185; at one point a few years ago, my weight had ballooned to almost 240. I was FAT.

I've since lost that, I'm about 193 as I sit here, not that far off from my ideal weight, but the 180 I carried twenty years ago (damn, has it been that long?) was a barrel-chested, thick-armed, thighs like tree trunks 180, not the potbellied poundage I'm sporting now.

Here's what I wonder: can I get it back? With enough hard work, can I reach again those levels of fitness I had in my mid twenties?

Only one way to find out.

The voyage of discovery started a bit back. I'm still not drinking, and a few weeks ago I started eating off a healthy menu of fish, chicken, fresh fruits and vegatables, high in anti-oxidants and low in fat. Last week, I started to ease my poor shocked body back into the idea of exercise by walking at a brisk pace for an hour each day.

Starting this Sunday, Easter Sunday, as it turns out, (and I suppose the Resurrection of my body would be an appropriate and ironic date to start this, if only I were a Believer) I'll begin to exercise twice each day, tossing some light weight work into the mix. I'll continue that for thirty days by the calendar, then the workouts will start in earnest.

I'm still deciding exactly what those workouts will entail, so far as the exact program, but it wll be a combination of several types of aerobic work, along with weight training for power and endurance.

Here's what I'm shooting for:

Body Composition Goals

1. Get the weight down to 175-185
2. BodyFat < 10%

1. Bench Press 2x body weight
2. Bench 1.5x body weight 10 reps
3. Do 25 strict pullups
4. Squat 2.5x body weight
5. Squat 2x body weight 20 reps

1. Run one mile < 4:40
2. Run 3 miles < 18:00
3. Run a marathon < 3:20
4. Swim 2 miles < 1 hour
5. Cycle 100 miles < 5 hours

Those goals are roughly what I could do when I was in my mid twenties.

Here's the really hard part - I want to hit just that right blend of strength and endurance, and perform all those goals in one calendar month.

Here's what might keep me back.

My knees are in poor shape from years of running on concrete, thinking I was bulletproof or something. They're full of cartilage particles, and I probably need to get scoped.

My right ankle has never fully recovered from a ligament tear when I rolled it over playing volleyball Way Back When. I was never able to run more than 25 miles a week after that before my knee and hip, affected from that instability, acted up.

Finally, about three years ago, (when I was at my heaviest) I was diagnosed as a Type II diabetic. My blood sugar is under fairly good control now, but my feet do pain me from time to time, and I don't know how well they're gonna hold up to all the road work.

Well, we shall see what we shall see. I'll post on it from time to time, but nothing like a daily training diary. I wouldn't subject you, dear reader, to that.

Wish me luck.