It is About the Program

We had made reservations at the hotel for two evenings but the more I thought about it the more it didn’t make sense to stay the second evening. Without traffic it takes less than an hour to get home so why should we stay the extra night when we all could be home in our own beds in our own house in less than an hour. I think my wife and daughter wanted to stay the extra night but I saw a very slow start to the morning especially knowing we were done with the Disney parks.

We did make our way home last night after a very fun filled two days in the Disney parks. Yes, it did take less than an hour and it is always good to sleep in my own bed. Also; I needed to get home to since I had a few meetings to attend and although those meetings were in the afternoon I just wanted to avoid any possible “confrontation” if we were indeed staying the second evening. Thankfully we made our way home and there weren’t any “confrontations”.

My foot was feeling 100% better but I noticed that my legs were sore in places they had not been sore in ever. I got up and made my way to the gym after taking the day off yesterday but I decided it was best just to ride the bicycle instead of putting any pressure on my foot and leg. This seemed to be the best course of action and the workout was good. Psychologically this is a little disconcerting knowing the marathon is in less than 10 days.

I have started 8 marathons and completed 7 of them and I have come to find out that preparation is the key but there is a huge mental factor especially in the ladder stages of the race. I will never forget my first marathon where my body and mind quit at the 18 mile mark and I struggled those last 8 miles. Incidentally, I won’t forget the one and only time I dropped out of a marathon because the pain in my knee was too much for me to go in. I want to go into the marathon with fresh legs so riding the bicycle this morning was the way to go.

As I was riding the bicycle I had three different people come up to me and talk to me about my running. These are people who are regulars in the gym and I do see on that regular basis. I am not much of a conversationalist when I am running; really only my good friend comes up to talk with me while most other people keep their distance. Since I was on the exercise bicycle I was more accessible and these people gave me so many positive comments about my running. This was very much like my entire 19 ½ month sentence as I ran most of those days. I just wanted to mind my own business but by minding my own business running around the track and now running on the treadmill I did create attention. This is not what I intend to do in either case but I guess not too many people log the miles I log and I am that “sweaty mess” on the treadmill so there is the attention. I very much appreciated the positive comments and I really don’t have much to say other than “thank you”.

My workout was over and I had meetings to attend while the rest of the family was enjoying grandma’s visit. Today was a “movie” day and they were off to see “Bedtime Stories” while I had my meetings to attend. This may not seem like a good trade off but I am extremely grateful to be able to have “meetings” at this stage in my life and I do know that I am on the right road to recovery. Those meetings went very well and went a little longer than I had expected but I was home to play a few rounds of “spoons” before I had to depart for a very special Gamblers Anonymous celebration.

As most people who read this blog on a regular know that I am a huge proponent of the Gamblers Anonymous Program and when I noticed that there was a very big celebration this evening I had made plans to attend. Yes, my mother is visiting from the East Coast this week and I do need to spend time with her but as I do my best to achieve “balance” in my life I wanted to attend this celebration. After those few rounds of “spoons” I said my good-byes and made my way to our meeting point where 7 of us would make the drive to the very big celebration. The celebration consisted of a 2, 12, 18 and 28 birthdays in the GA Program. I know 3 of the 4 celebrants and the celebrant with the most time has been very influential in my recovery.

The drive was very nice and the celebration was outstanding. I realized after someone shared that these celebrations are NOT for the celebrants but for the program. This does show the new members that the program works and seeing a huge gathering from one of the member’s family does exemplify the power of the program. I did think that the celebrations should be taken with a grain of salt because it is only one day in a lifetime of recovery; however; if these celebrations didn’t occur it would be a disservice to the program. I also realize some people make a big deal about these celebrations as an individual accomplishment but for me this is not the case. The accomplishment is a group effort and as was the case this evening should be shared on a group basis. I am so happy I made the time to attend the wonderful celebration and with over 100 other members at the meeting it was clear in my mind that the program works!!!