Non-Smoking

So no smokes for the last 48 hours, almost exactly. Okay 46 hours.

I won't go into the knuckle biting, sweat-inducing, temper-flaring moments of the past couple of days. Yes, I technically quit last week but I managed to fall off the wagon several times and a boat once. Do not attempt to go boating with a little brother who takes the position of "captain" way too literally. Cap'n Bligh ain't in it.

Besides the long term health benefits of not smoking $12.49 a day, I found (again to my surprise) there are short term benefits. As I've mentioned, I've taken up running on the treadmill and try to get in three 5-K runs a week. I mostly managed, but with a couple of two-minute "breaks" of just walking.

Today, I went the whole 3.1 miles at six miles per hour straight, no breaks. Plus I managed to up my weight on all my sets and almost get to max reps. Which is unprecedented.

There have also been some mental benefits. Capa may have noticed that I was boppin' in my cubicle all day. On the way home from work I couldn't wipe the cheesy grin off of my face. And generally I went the whole day without homicidal mania kicking in even during the drive to work. So that's good right? And maybe just maybe there has been a subtle confidence boost: I noticed I was being checked out by women at the gym and they weren't repulsive (urinating dog! urinating dog! Pratchett reference).

Now I'm still going through withdrawals. I'm chewing through a pack-and-half of gum a day and gnawing tooth picks like I have a recessive beaver gene of something. But this time it feels good and right.

Mind you all the good things above may just be my version of dead-baby-crawling-on-the ceiling (Trainspotting reference) but even if it is I'll take it.

I'll be able to afford the week in Maui I just booked for my birthday/mid-life crisis. And I won't be as embarrassed to take my shirt off at the beach. There's still the dead-white skin that is my heritage but at least there won't be as much of it.