What Matters Most

#smilingontheinside – Tuesday 08 July 2025

While I was out climbing my steps yesterday I got to thinking about the weekend just gone… about how the Other Half lived… about all the exercise I did over the weekend and last week and how I was feeling.

What does the best of me look like…?

As I was plodding up and down the steps I realised I’d prefer to go into weekends after a ‘easy’ Friday. By that I mean redesigning my Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine of stepping. Especially as I’ve been making Fridays longer by going home via the “high” road – Beerescourt > Awatere > Ann back to the car.

Which has been great – it really has – I’ve enjoyed doing it. But it also meant – because of my current lack of fitness – that I was asking too much of myself for Saturday and Sunday to be equally as hard as well.

Sadly, I’m not as young as I used to be… I’m nowhere near as fit… and notwithstanding both of those facts, I still want to share the best of me with the best of Alan … which means still having something in the tank so that I can walk / ride with him. #smilingontheinside

Weekly Step-Climbing Goal

When I first started climbing these steps, my goal was to get to 3,000 pw: 12x Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Thirty-six repeats.

On Monday I came up with my grand “active recovery” plan of 7×5 = 35 = 2,940. That is, every day I’d climb 7x.

Then yesterday I realised I needed to have some reserves for the weekend, which meant making Friday an easy day. So I climbed one extra flight yesterday. Instead of doing seven, I did eight. I wanted to do nine, but I could definitely feel my legs on seven and eight was a very slow, old-lady, ascend.

Should Wednesday Be My Hard Day…?

I want to improve my fitness, not just maintain it. Which means a stretch needs to be included. I still want to be able to climb 12x.

Will I have enough in my legs to climb 11x today? If I’m aiming for 36x per week and I don’t want every day to be a hard day, then, perhaps:

7 + 8 + 9 + 8 + 4 = 36 might work…?

This week (all two times, hahaha!) I’ve opted to take the long way home, so I am getting more time on my feet. I’m clocking up more walking kms. I haven’t measured it, but I think the long way back to the car adds another 1.5km to my route.

Lives of the Other Halves

When Alan and I were walking around The Waterways in Pauanui over the weekend we both commented on the very impressive houses, boats and motorhomes, parked up. We saw one empty section with a price tag of $2.1m.

We walked past one house that had a motorhome parked on the driveway that was probably worth more than our only house… they had a humungous power boat as well – that would’ve probably made my eyes water as well.

But so many of these houses were closed up. Curtains drawn. Holiday homes. I think that’s a bit sad and I hope we don’t fall prey to the same thing with our little motorhome: you buy it with every intention of using, but then don’t.

I wondered how happy the owners were. How content with life…? While Alan and I were walking around the streets admiring what they had, were they stuck inside an Auckland partners’ office somewhere, clocking up billable hours to meet the mortgage payments…?

Could they only get through their high pressure lives by self-medicating on cocaine, meth, alcohol…?

Were they heading towards T2D because every meal was eaten on the run…? Was their BP, glucose, cholesterol all so high, they were on statins and other 21st Century medications…?

Were they happy…?

We both agreed that as much as being able to afford all of that was seductive, neither of us would trade our very ordinary house in a very ordinary neighbourhood… our little secondhand motorhome… our ordinary married lives… for any of that! #smilingontheinside

Because we were out there doing it and they were wherever they were – not enjoying their beautiful holiday home.

My Tuesday 08 July In Pictures

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Here’s to getting sorting out routines that work…

Here’s to appreciating what I already have…

Here’s to wanting to share the best of me!

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Here’s to SmilingOnTheInside!