I've mentioned in the past that I play this nerdy game called Ingress (join the Resistance, we have cookies!). It's an always-in-flux worldwide game of capture the flag using your phone and GPS location. There are flags (portals) everywhere around you and you use your phone to claim (deploy) or capture (use xmps) them, get resources from them (hack), or connect them to other locations (link & field).
It came into my life when I wasn't feeling so great about my work effort in the gym (back in December 2013). I couldn't run as much and there were days when I could barely walk. Ingress gave me the motivation to get out of the house and at least try to walk around the block at the very least. Some days I was able to move more, some days less.
You can play the game as a solo player, but the game's strength is when you start playing with other players (agents). My teammates have been a great support at times (and sometimes a pain in my ass). One of my favorite friends from the game even came to the hospital to visit me when my back went haywire a year ago (wow, it's been a year since being in the hospital).
We also have these large-scale events called anomalies where hundreds of agents converge on a single location to play the game for a 4-hour block of time (with meetups before and parties afterward). This past weekend, I had hundreds of teammates (and opponents) converging on Washington, DC for an anomaly.
I was very busy preparing for this event last week -- so much so that I walked 72 km (44 miles) from Sunday 5/24 to Saturday 5/30 while playing the game (almost 2000 km since 12/18/13). Crazy, right? Sadly, the Resistance lost the DC Anomaly - but I had a lot of fun playing on the NYC team (**waves to Team Cherry Bombs/Terribly Delicious Decisions**).
Now that the anomaly (and the swag orders) are over, I can start to focus on my next big event: Fitbloggin 2015.
Much like DubyaWife, I always spend the few weeks before Fitbloggin with a certain amount of dread and self-critique: "You don't belong here..." And my friends spend the few weeks before Fitbloggin reminding me that if you feel like you don't belong at Fitbloggin, that's when you need to be there the most.
This year I'll be leading a discussion with Janet Oberholtzer on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Living With Pain: A Survival Guide. Both Janet and I have had some pretty fun injuries. I think there's a big difference between suffering an injury and learning to live with one. Living with an injury isn't about accepting limitations or accepting defeat -- it's about moving into a new phase of your life with a bit of grace, humor, forgiveness, and a plan of attack.
I can't wait to see you all there.
This year I'll be leading a discussion with Janet Oberholtzer on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Living With Pain: A Survival Guide. Both Janet and I have had some pretty fun injuries. I think there's a big difference between suffering an injury and learning to live with one. Living with an injury isn't about accepting limitations or accepting defeat -- it's about moving into a new phase of your life with a bit of grace, humor, forgiveness, and a plan of attack.
I can't wait to see you all there.
