cru jones

i'm beginning to think that as bad as it was to have puberty delayed until i was 18, it's even better for my body now. i am turning 30 in a little over 3 months and i have never felt better. one would think that with all of the damage i have inflicted to this body both internally and externally i would start a pretty steep descent into fatness and sloth. but it is just the opposite. i am more flexible now than ever and have a pretty decent of amount of energy. it's as though my body is 3 to 4 years behind my age.

it's probably because of my delayed puberty that i've always been a bit of an emotional guy, pretty girly actually. i distinctly remember crying while i watched "the lion king" in the theater, right when it came out. when scar chucks mufasa off the side of the cliff, the slow motion, the desparate paw strokes at the air as he plummets downward. the look on simba's face. fuck. i lost it. i even remember the huge popcorn pail i was eating my tear-soaked popcorn from. this wouldn't be as big of a deal if i wasn't 12 years old, still wearing sweatpants everywhere at all times, and only having had one testicle drop (figuratively, really). i know i drove my teachers nuts with both typical schoolboy exuberance and my panic attack-inducing need for attention, which is a pretty girly behavior when you think about it. having to go through almost half of high school at under 100lbs was a weird experience. going into freshman year i weighed less than 90lbs. not much testosterone floating around in that frame. i was still pretty athletic and pretty fast, but grace was never something that came to me naturally. but even that has helped me to remain injury free, never landing the same way twice, perhaps.

my point to this rant is that i think that is now paying off.

it is paying off in the way i am able to approach my training. i have been around different types of staying in shape and activities for a long time. i have had the opportunity to try a lot of things; rock climbing, skiing, lacrosse, soccer, biking, swimming, running, rowing, lifting, cross country, ultimate. i have done all of these things for at least one full season and they all have been a huge part of my athletic development. i have tinkered with so much shit it is awesome. many people have done these things and done them for much longer than me. but my advantage right now is that my body thinks i am still 26. i am able to recover quickly from minor injuries and even some serious ones. i still have a large threshhold for pain, which allows me to push not only harder, but smarter. each time i am exercising i am positive it is boosting me towards the next level because i have had the chance to see what works and what doesn't.

it's a lot of fun to be able to draw from past experiences, apply them, try new things, get results and still want more.

get it right, get it tight.