Project 101: update #2

It's been 417 days since I started my Project 101, approximately 300 days since my last update here on the Rhetoric blog. Pretty poor really.

It's fair to say that I'm not as far along with completing the task list as I'd like to be, but also I feel that I have achieved a lot more than I would have if there wasn't the list there to motivate me in the first place. There's at least two significant outcomes from this that have prompted me to write this particular update, and a nice little note to finish off.

37. Get a full health checkup

This should be on everyone's list (whether they have a list or not). Completing this task was both a good yet scary reality check for me, as like most people who put these things off because they feel fine and healthy, I was quite cocky about how good my health was.

Unfortunately, the results weren't exactly what I wanted to hear:
"You have high cholesterol" and "You have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia"

Now, if you are as uninformed as I was, it's relatively reassuring to know that I am more likely to die from the high cholesterol than the CLL. So that was quite a few months ago, and the latest tests for the CLL show the lymphocyte count going down (a good think), but I am due for a follow-up cholesterol check soon. While both of those findings didn't dramatically change my view on life or my place in it - it did remove some of the mental barriers as far as tackling my health overall - two of the results are:

5. Compete in the Otway Odyssey 100km MTB race
13. Complete the 115km alpine Three Peaks Challenge

I didn't quite finish the 100km Otway Odyssey - 40deg heat saw myself and my friends and co-riders pulling out at about the 60km mark. To say that it was one of the most physically demanding things I have ever attempted is an understatement - but I will be back there again next year with the aim of completing it as well as competing in it.

Completing the 115km section of the Three Peaks Challenge (the actual full challenge is 230kms) was something I am very proud of. It was a pure mental effort in extreme conditions that saw hundreds of entrants pull-out of the race. Road riding is not my strength, and in fact I only started riding using a road bike at the beginning of the year to compliment my mountain bike training. One has to drive this course to get an appreciation of the distance and altitude involved.

Finally:

24. Attend a theater performance in Melbourne

I checked this task off by attending the world famous "Cats - The Musical" at the majestic Regent Theatre in Melbourne. Thankfully I didn't pay for the ticket as this was one of the most pointless, childish, boring, [insert similar words here] show I have had the displeasure of seeing. How this ridiculous story and its production became "world famous" I have no idea - you really have to like costumes, dancing, no plot or drama, lack of character development or substance to enjoy this.

Until the next update...