One Week, One Book, 16 Miles, and some sore legs...
This should have been the hardest part, just getting started, But Will Wight's "House of Blades" has made the first steps interesting.
Honestly, I would have expected some bets against me to get this far…
Hell, the degenerate inside of me may have taken stock of the odds and had a conversation with myself about whether or not there was a profit worth making by giving up early. But I didn’t.
I made it through the first 6 days without missing a trip to the gym. My legs are sore, my muscles ache, and my feet have a bit of shooting pain at the end of the night when I get home to walk up the stairs to my second-floor apartment.
But it’s gotten easier to get up and out of bed each morning since the first, even though the pain and soreness have become a constant.
But hey, 6 days, is not too shabby.
First things First - Week 1 By The Numbers!
6 days, 6 walks, 16.4 miles, and 405 minutes of physical activity. I’m to the point where I can comfortably say I can do 2-3 miles in an hour each night. Each day it seems to be getting a little bit easier. As of now, I’m planning for Saturday night to be my rest day.
We’ll see if that’s enough rest. And hopefully, next week, we can start trying to up the pace, and going a little faster!
But What About The Book?
House of Blades, the first volume in The Traveler’s Gate Trilogy by Will Wight has been ringing in my ears every night as I’ve been experimenting with this newfound venture of physical activity. the experience of audiobooks is also something new to me. I’m not going to lie, it was difficult and challenged me to comprehend and understand what was being said on my first pass. I spent two nights walks, and two hours, listening to the first 6 chapters, and realized I couldn’t recall even the characters’ names, never mind the plot or the progression of the novel.
It wasn’t the book, it wasn’t the story, it wasn’t that it was uninteresting, it’s just that I found myself unable to remember what I heard if I did not read it instead. After 2 nights, I forced myself to try something else. I purchased the Kindle version of the book along with the audiobook and discovered that it had audible narration, which matched my reading speed with the narration and indexed the audiobook to the Kindle version by the word.
This has proven to be the magic bullet for my problem. Sure, I can’t exactly pay explicit and exact attention to reading a Kindle while exercising, but just casually glancing at the words in front of me, being highlighted in time with the narration in my ears, even at 2x speed, I’ve found my recollection clear, and thorough, so I went back to start over!
Even writing off the first two nights as a loss, in just 4 nights I’ve finished the book, and have already found myself itching for the sequel!
While I may not have been the biggest fan of Will Wight’s Cradle series, Traveler’s Gate has captivated me in a way great fantasy hasn’t in years. It isn’t the magic system, it isn’t the politics, it isn’t the plot or the narrative devices that have held me in, as great as they are. It’s the fact that I’ve found the protagonist so easily relatable and understandable.
Simon, a young boy who’s been dealt a bad hand, is determined to make it through, content with survival, no matter how much he has to fight. He’s not complacent, but he is content but harbors a bit of bitterness and anger towards his peers who seem to walk gracefully through the challenges that weigh on him.
Well, Simon overcomes this through hard work and his determination. But along the way, he’s matched, or even outpaced by peers whose struggles he doesn’t understand and doesn’t have respect for. He’s not a hero, but he’s put in a position where he needs to decide to become one. Instead, his motivations remain selfish and focused on his feelings rather than some selfless goal.
I understand Simon, I feel attached to Simon, I empathize with him, and want to see him overcome the adversity he’s been faced with.
And I can’t wait to see where Crimson Vault takes him in Book 2! If you want to read along this coming week, you can get book 2 of the Traveler’s Gate trilogy to read or listen along with me right here!
Support this endeavor, and join the book club!
A new book every week, increasing mileage, increasing my heart rate, and increasing my level of health and fitness. Whether you want to read along with me, or just keep up to date with my mission and my growth, You can help out just by subscribing here and following along every week.
If you want to join the book club and help free up more time for exercise, you can do so over on the Patreon, or by subscribing as a paid subscriber right here on Substack!