FEBRUARY:
11th - 60
12th - 90
13th - 60
14th - 60
Wimpy numbers, I know. But it wasn't until this point when I decided to get serious and set my goal at 30,000 for the year...until I did a little math and bumped it up to 50,000...after which a pesky little voice stuck a toothpick in my ear, telling me I really was being a wimp. 'Fine,' I said. '100,000 it is.' And I went to work.
15th - 190
16th - 400
17th - Day Off (wimps have to ease into this stuff)
18th - 420 (including 60 outside while my sons play with clumps of dirt)
19th - 300 (including 60 in a park, can't afford to care what people driving by think)
20th - 430
21st - 450
22nd - 445
23rd - 305
24th - 495
25th - Day Off
26th - 455
27th - 410
28th - 510
29th - Take advantage of Leap Day by doing nothing.
FEBRUARY TOTAL: 5,080
-- Maintaining a regimen akin to these past 15 days puts me right on target for 100,000 for the year. This even allows for a few extra days off here and there for things like lazy days on a kayak and hangovers.
MARCH:
1st - 550
2nd - 460
3rd - 460
4th - I wake up to the sound and, strangely, the feeling of a piece of dry spaghetti snapping in two inside my upper arm. My shoulder had been nagging me since day one - actually since before I even began this nonsense. Per my long-established modus operandi regarding anything in my life that might matter I ignored it. Unfortunately that strategy hasn't helped my shoulder get better. So I've decided to take some time off to try to rest and heal.
6th - My cadre of experts suggest I have a rotator cuff injury. Ice and rest are the immediate remedies.
12th - Neither icing nor resting is easy. My son likes to play hockey in the driveway, and with his mom eight and a half months pregnant she doesn't pose much competition, even to a four year old. So out I go. Then in the evening I tell myself, amid the papers and notebooks that comprise my stagnant literary aspirations, I'll pull out the ice pack 'right after I finish this'. I don't even know what 'this' is sometimes but it always keeps me occupied until past midnight and I promise myself I'll ice the shoulder tomorrow.
22nd - I've rested a little, iced even less. Shoulder still bothers me. A little. But the weeks are passing. Today I'll get back down on my knuckles, do shorter sets to relieve the overall stress and ice more. I promise myself not to let 'this' (whatever it is) get in the way. ** Finished the day with 250.
23rd - 350
24th - Morning taken up by work, my son's first organized race (50 yard dash, he got a medal and a t-shirt)(same as every other kid), and a trip to the beach. Rest of the day spent with extended family. No pushups.
25th - 400
26th - 300
27th - 500
28th - 450 (Lots of nicely rounded numbers, I know - sets of twenty-five make the math much easier.)
29th - 450 (In sets of thirty now. As insignificant five extra pushups seems, I feel it in the shoulders more.)
30th - 450
31st - 300 to finish out a solid week (2850) and reach 10,000 pushups to date.
** The real test lies ahead. Late in the evening on March 31 my wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl, and those moments I've been squeezing in sets of pushups will now be taken up with making milk and fetching diapers and keeping my sons from gouging each other's eyes out with pieces of plastic train track (though this last one is nothing new I suppose).
MARCH TOTAL: 4,920
RUNNING TOTAL: 10,000
Okay, I've given my wife and baby girl three days of dedicated attention. Back to work.
APRIL
4th - 350
5th - 350
6th - 430
7th - 380
8th - 380 (weighted down with chocolate eggs even)
9th - Still getting some residual pain in both shoulders (oddly, still, when I'm doing something that is not a pushup) but it seems the worst is behind me. Rest today, pushups tomorrow.
10th - 550
11th - 750 Highest one-day total to date. No idea how it happened, I had the kids most of the day.
12th - 560
13th - 400
14th - 600
15th - 560
16th - Another Monday off. Strange pattern forming here.
17th - 400
18th - 600
19th - 920!!
20th - Day off...because with days like yesterday, I can.
21st - 800 (which seems like a walk in the park after the 19th...)
22nd - Another day off for my son's 2nd birthday.
23rd - 750 - Mainly in sets of 50 now, too bad I'm still as skinny as ever.
24th - 640
25th - 300
26th - 100 I blame my kids for today's low output.
27th - 500
28th - 100 I blame my kids for any day's low output.
29th - 803 Yes, 'and three' - I tried to do a set out on the driveway today and managed three pushups before the blacktop ate through my skin right into the tendons of my knuckles. Won't be trying that again too soon.
30th - 550
APRIL: 11,773 pushups
RUNNING TOTAL: 21,773
So far I've been able to keep family, work and other such niggling responsibilities at bay while I pursue this superfluous goal of mine.
Priorities, right?
MAY:
1st - 500
2nd - 400
3rd - 350
4th - 600
5th - 654 I'd just hit the floor for a set when the phone rang. If I'd been up to around 15 pushups I'd have kept going and let the machine pick up. As it was I was only at 4 so I got up, figuring I'd just start over in a minute. Turned out to be a telemarketer selling some sort of advanced-age-related medical elixir. So I'm counting those 4 pushups.
6th - Day off for a trip out to Long Island; learned acronyms like CIP, CBX and MTASUX.
7th - Started the day feeling ambitious. Got in 750, thought I had a shot at my first 1,000 pushup day until the boys and my lack of sleep all ganged up on me around 9pm.
8th - 250
9th - 360
10th - 600
11th - 360
12th - 200
13th - Happy Mother's Day! No pushups today so I could dedicate as much time and attention to the kids as possible so my wife has time to make us all a nice picnic lunch.
14th - 800
15th - 550
16th - 100 Best of intentions laid to waste today. Blame the kids.
17th - 510
18th - 400
19th - 400
20th - Third consecutive Sunday off.
21st - 450
22nd - 600
23rd - 450
24th - 500 Including 5 sets of 60, trying to up the game another notch.
25th - 200
26th - Could have squeezed in some reps between swimming and playing horse and otherwise enjoying the phenomenal weather with family............nah.
27th - 500 Squeezed in ten sets of 50 among the swimming and playing horse and otherwise enjoying the weather with family.
28th - 260 completely insignificant Memorial Day pushups
29th - 600
30th - 600 Ten sets of 60, trying again to ratchet up the effort.
31st - 360
MAY TOTAL: 12,304
RUNNING TOTAL: 34,077
JUNE:
1st - 60 And an absolutely smashing start to the month! (Spoken in a bad British accent)
2nd - No pushups - Georgetown University Class of '92 20th Anniversary Reunion
3rd - 100 Drag myself out of bed, pack up and drive up I-95 to Jersey. Amazing I managed any today.
4th - 700 Back in the saddle baby! (Spoken in a mildly horrendous cowboy accent)
5th - 800
6th - 500
7th - 740 Included 7 sets of 60, plus a set of 30 as my son has taken once again to jumping on my back when he sees me on my knuckles.
8th - My biceps have felt a bit sore this week. Makes no sense to me. Day off, on the other hand, makes perfect sense.
9th - 500
10th - 700
11th - 810
12th - 620
13th - 350
14th - 1 -- Yes, I did ONE pushup today. I hit the floor and barely halfway through my first pushup of the day my cell phone rings and that was it, crap to do from then on out.
15th - 210 Ending the week weak after a strong start. Dang it.
16th - 610
17th - 340 Went strawberry picking, didn't do any pushups in the strawberry fields.
18th - 580
19th - New Moon on Tuesday, no pushups.
20th - 750 A good sweaty start to Summer.
21st - 130 So much for the good start to Summer. Still sweating though.
22nd - 600
23rd - 600
24th - 600 (I seem to be in a sort of groove.)
25th - 0 -- So much for the groove.
26th - 350
27th - Goose Egg - Spent the day driving up to Lake Ontario, took the scenic route through the finger lakes region, it was worth putting the kids through the extra time in the car.
28th - 375 - I'm supposed be on vacation. This doesn't mean I want to get away from doing pushups, it means I'd like a break from the kids. My second son is not cooperating one bit as I try to sneak out into the yard, or over to the side of the house, or into the neighbors' yard to try to get in a set without him flying through space and clinging to me like a magnet.
29th - 480 - My wife teaches me a new Japanese phrase: 'Kingyo no fun' which means 'goldfish turd'. I don't like to think of my kids in such terms but the visual certainly fits.
30th - 200 - My second son continues to live up to his new nickname. I head out on the kayak and consider paddling to Canada.
Some days I manage to find moments here and there to squeeze in some sets. Some days I don't. Some days I can't but more often I just don't. Then some days I am a goldfish with a turd stuck to me.
Vaguely unsatisfied with the month.
JUNE TOTAL: 11,706
RUNNING TOTAL: 45,783
JULY:
1st - 260 All in the evening after the long and scenic ride home.
2nd - None, I'm all over the road trying to get squared away for Japan.
3rd/4th - Lost a day crossing the international dateline, didn't get in any pushups on the 13-hour flight.
5th - 200 Or maybe more but in my jet-lagged haze I'm not sure. First pushups on a Japanese tatami floor.
6th - 500
7th - 450
8th - 700 And over my jet lag. More or less.
9th - 600
10th - 300
11th - 550
12th - 350
13th - 0 Feeling beaten down by the humidity. Or else rice and seaweed does not make for good pushup energy food.
*** 14th - 560 Which puts me over 50,000 pushups. Coincidence that today (not yet realizing I'd hit the halfway point) I decide my form is far less than ideal. I start making sure I push all the way up on every rep, and suddenly I'm struggling to do forty without having to pause. So I guess I've been slacking?
Screw it. I'M HALFWAY HOME!
15th - 400
16th - 600
17th - 520
18th - New Moon on Wednesday. Day Off.
19th - 520
20th - 520
21st - 520 (I see a pattern forming here...)
22nd - 0 (Didn't want to fall into a rut.)
23rd - 400
24th - 680
25th - 400
26th - 800 An inconceivable number six months ago.
27th - 360
28th - Spent the 95-degree morning in a suit and tie, spent the rest of the day trying to keep the kids and myself from overheating. The Fukushima Summer has arrived, and she is pissed off.
29th - 850 The Fukushima Summer will be pissed off until September, no sense trying to avoid it.
30th - 250 No sense in overdoing it either.
31st - 700 And a respectable finish to a decent month (not counting the first five days).
JULY TOTAL: 11,990
RUNNING TOTAL: 57,773
RUNNING TOTAL: 57,773
AUGUST:
1st - 600
2nd - 720
3rd - 600
4th - 700
5th 6th 7th - ROAD TRIP! Camping with the family, swimming with the boys in Lake Inawashiro and the Sea of Japan.
8th - 500
9th - 500
10th - 900
11th - 750
12th - 400
13th - 600
14th - 500
15th - Travel Day - eastbound over the international date line so i get a reeeeeally long day off.
16th - 500
17th - 500
18th - 550
19th - 550
20th - 300 Relatively low day's output but with this I pass the 2/3 of the way there milestone.
21st - 0 Spent the day traveling to Long Island and back. Trying to figure out whether to move the family out there for a job that will likely come through though of course nothing is 100% (except my wife getting crazy angry for moving her and the kids out there for nothing).
22nd - 650
23rd - 500
24th - 500
25th - 0 Another day on Long Island. Found a great area to live. Found no decent homes for rent.
26th - 500
27th - 600
28th - 500
29th - 0 Found a great house in East Northport. Need to make an offer and have it accepted in the next 48 hours.
30th - 500 While sweating out the possibility that my offer on said house will be rejected just because I have no actual job yet. (Forecast for tomorrow: 'Hi, I'd like to rent your house and move in tomorrow.')
31st - 750 While celebrating my offer being accepted so my family won't have to live in a crummy duplex.
AUGUST TOTAL: 13,770
RUNNING TOTAL: 71,543
SEPTEMBER
1st - 0 Drove out to Long Island to sign a lease on a house I am fired up to show my family. Then went home to start packing for the UHaul.
2nd - Uhaul experience allows for no pushups but merits a fine and biting blog post in the near future.
3rd - 250 Then off to pick up the family after their long journey from Fukushima via Tokyo, LAX and the prospect of one ugly layover (that, fortunately, never happened).
4th - 250 When you have kids and they fly across 13 time zones, you end up with jet lag just like them.
5th - 0 Hauled the family out to their new home. What a great feeling.
6th - 600 Back to work. (With the pushups I mean, not with any sort of actual paying job.)
7th - 500
8th - 500
9th - 500
10th - 500
11th - 500 (Yes I have developed a committed routine here.)
12th - 600 (Though there's always room for a little extra push.)
13th - 400 (Or a little slacking off.)
14th - 600
15th - 400
16th - 500
17th - 500
18th - 200
19th - 750
20th - 650
21st - 500
22nd - 500
23rd - 250
24th - 750
25th - 500
26th - 500
27th - 360
28th - 510
29th - 700
30th - 650
After a slow start to the month I was on my knuckles 25 straight days - a couple low totals in there but hey, forget it, I'm rolling...
SEPTEMBER TOTAL: 13,520
RUNNING TOTAL: 85,063
OCTOBER:
1st - 450
2nd - 600
3rd - 400
4th - 700
5th - 100
6th - 400
7th - 550
8th - 130
9th - 250
10th - 200
11th - 350
12th - 350
13th - 200
14th - 300
15th - 150
16th - 50
17th - 500
18th - 300
19th - 250
20th - 200
21st - First day with no pushups since September 5th - a streak that will ultimately save me in December.
22nd - 300
23rd - 250
24th - 250
25th - 200
26th - 200
27th - 250
28th - 200
29th - 200
30th - 100
31st - Happy Halloween! Woke at 5am to bike to work, flat tire on the way, took over two hours to ride home, immediately had to find the wife and get the car keys and go get gas and was thus in no mood to do anything more than have a drink with our friends down the street and eat some of my son's chocolate.
OCTOBER TOTAL: 8380
RUNNING TOTAL: 93,443
Work has me up at 6am if not earlier, six days a week now. From my math, if I can keep up my new routine of doing 100 pushups before heading to the train station in the morning, another 100 in the evening after the kids are in bed, six days a week, I'll make it to 100,000 with not many days to spare...
NOVEMBER:
1st - 100
2nd - 200
3rd - 150
4th - 300
5th - 250
6th - 200
7th - 200
8th - 100
9th - 150
10th - 200
11th - 200
12th - I've been pushing through a recent bout with some brand of intestinal bug. Not today. Ugh.
13th - 200
14th - 200
15th - 100
16th - 0 Bug seemed to have moved on but another has taken its place on the heels of the meatball hero I knew I shouldn't have eaten yesterday. Good Lord.
17th - 0
18th - 0
19th - 0
20th - 100 And amazed I did that many.
21st - 21st - 0
22nd - Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am thankful for being able to eat without bringing the bug party back. In subdued celebration I ate way too much.
23rd - 350
24th - 150
25th - 400 Highest one-day total in HOW LONG??
26th - 200
27th - 250
28th - 200
29th - 100
30th - 100 This makes 1,500 for the week, salvaging an otherwise mediocre month and putting me in spitting distance of the finish line. Meaning I will likely be spitting up as I push through these last couple of thousand.
NOVEMBER TOTAL: 4,650
RUNNING TOTAL: 98,093
DECEMBER
1st - 100
2nd - 250
3rd - 150
4th - 100
5th - 100
6th - 150
7th - 150
8th - 200 Making it 1,100 for the week though I feel like I've done next to nothing.
9th - 250
10th - 200
11th - 200
12th - 0 Waiting for the chance to get my kids in on the last set.
13th - 0 They are great but not always cooperative.
14th - 0 Not that I am particularly organized.
15th - 207 And I'VE DONE IT!! Check out the fiasco finale on YouTube. Now the question: do more?
16th - 0
17th - 0
18th - 0 Seems I've suddenly become a slacker.
19th - 75 Barely keeps me off the slacker list.
20th - 0
21st - 0 (Celebrating the first day of Winter?)
22nd - 30 All right I can't even fake not being a slacker anymore.
23rd, 24th, 25th - 0
26th - 40 (Sheesh.)
27th - 80
And that's it, I spent the remaining few days of 2012 eating myself silly.
DECEMBER TOTAL: 2,282
2012 TOTAL: 100,375
So...what about 2013?...
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