I used the following line and reference from the 1987 movie Broadcast News in a post I wrote more than five years ago.  It was true then and it is even more true now.  In fact, too true.

The line was:  “What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?”  The character who was asked the question said, “Keep it to yourself.”

Yesterday I spent more than an hour on the elliptical and tallied nearly 7 miles.  That was in the morning.  In the afternoon, I walked more than five miles.

This morning I got on the elliptical for 69 minutes and tallied 7.43 miles.  This afternoon I did a strength training workout given to me by a former Medora student.  Michael Powell was kind enough to come to my house and lead me through it five years ago.  Actually, there are workouts A and B.  I did “A” today.  It includes lifts, pushups, and some dreadful thing called “dead bug”.  I got through it today.

To keep my rhythm and pace I watch and listen to music.  Yesterday I came upon the London Live Aid Concert on July 13, 1985.  I was probably in a hay field throwing square bales that day.  This concert was a big deal.  It was the brainchild of Boomtown Rat turned activist Bob Geldof.  The concert was epic and it was all about feeding the world, as the refrain of the song Do They Know It’s Christmas? says.  In addition to the London location, the same day JFK Stadium in Philadelphia was holding an American Live Aid Concert to augment the efforts across the pond.

Today I watched the show from Philly.  In the photo above, you can see George Thorogood.  He played Madison Blues and it was off the rails good.

JFK Stadium is long gone.  That day was a long time ago.  The music lives on in my heart for sure.  I was 17 when these concerts happened.

So why Running Scared?

WIthout getting into gory details, I feel better than I have in a long time.  I had some robbers removed from my stomach last month.  Even more robbers are coming out June 14th.  Tumors, polyps, both of those words are on a piece of paper I can show you.  I call them robbers.  They were robbing my vitality.  I was severely anemic.  For how long?  Who knows?  I don’t care.

With the help of a few medicated therapies and new asthma medication…and removing those darned robbers, I can tell you that I can breathe easier than I ever have in my entire life.  I got here with breathing troubles and they have haunted me.

When I go more than an hour on the elliptical at a nice pace, I can keep going.  My lungs, for the first time in my life, are not betraying me.  I can breathe deeply and freely with ease.  It took a trip to Denver to find this kind of breathing ability before.

Yes.  I am running scared.  I am scared to death I will go back to the way it was.

For many years I have eaten well and exercised more than the average bear.  I didn’t know my will was as strong as it was.  I kept moving and kept hurting for a long long time.  I only tell myself had I not done that who knows where I would be now?  I don’t care.  I can breathe now.  I have lost pounds that did not have a chance to leave me before.  I’m not working harder now.  My body and I are finally in concert.  The sound is great.  And I know better.  That is why I am running scared.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson