Training at El Dorado Park, Long Beach

Call me Neil
Fitness is like Captain Ahab’s White Whale. Like Ahab, I’ve chased the White Whale, thinking it was just around the corner. To quote Captain Ahab, “I’ll follow him around the Horn, and around the Norway maelstrom, and around perdition’s flames before I give him up.” I’ve nailed a gold coin to the proverbial mast and bellowed that anyone who can get me into form can have it. At times I’ve come so close to the whale I have felt the sea spray on my face. But as quickly as fitness surfaces, it plunges back into the murky depths and I’m left wondering if I’ll ever see it again. I fear that in my attempt to spear the White Whale I’ll only become entangled in my own obsession and it will drag me to the bottom. I’m going to take a different approach to killing the White Whale. For the next week or so, I’m going to climb down out of the crow’s nest, put down my harpoon and watch the sea instead of chasing through it looking for the White Whale.