On Track for 1,000,000 views before August 2026.

 

                          At Capo de Roca (Portugal), the Westernmost point in Europe in 2019 

Well today's post is again about how the algorithm that captures the imagination of the 'spiders' than trawl the internet, and lo and behold, my little blog suddenly can garner around the region of 150K views per month when at the start of this year, it was hovering at about 30K  views per month.

A 5 fold jump in viewership. In a span of say 3 months. Whether this translates into anything tangible and beneficial or detrimental is beyond me, but the power of social media is out there for all to see. I profess not to have paid anything in the form of SEO or SEM for the search engines, but the numbers are  beyond my simple comprehension.

                            The famous lighthouse at Capo de Roca Portugal 2019. 

When I started this blog way back in 2008, some 17 years ago, I wanted to just keep an online diary of my life and how my physicality and mental maturity had developed over the years. My physical self has seen a decline since after I turned 55, but it has not seen a drastic decline - as yet. 

Once I had enormous energy, I could run 10 to 14 km per day, go and attend to work for about 10 - 12 hours and go home to the family. I would be able to do that, easily 3 - 4 days consecutively and rest for a day, before resuming the runs. So at my peak of running, I was clocking 60 - 70 km per week.

Now, in my early 60s, I am doing at best 10 km running per week, with a lot more walking (say 2 nights of 5 to 6 km each). My joints are shot and achy after a 'long run' of say 8km. My time has dropped from a peak of 4.5 to 5 mins / km to easily 8 mins / km and sometimes even slower.

I take Creatine Monohydrate supplement for recovery and I feel my age, honestly.

I hope to have another 10 - 12 years of running, albeit slowly.

That is if, I do not succumb to osteoarthritis or cap replacement  beforehand. That is a big IF but I have seen enough friends who are struggling with their weight and they are carrying easily 10 - 15 kg more than me and are as tall as me. This means that their body mass index is calculated and categorized as :

Weight (in kg) /  Height (in m) x Height (m)

To be in the healthy range is between 20 to 25 ; above 25 is overweight. above 30 is obese, above 35 is severely obese.

Below 20 is underweight and below 18 is severely underweight

I fall in the overweight category and have a score of 26.3. 
                                   

Not good. 

                                                   Devil's Inferno Cascais 2019 

Metabolic syndrome is hitting many of my friends. I do not want to be part of that number because, the longer you have it, it deteriorates your overall health. 

First, you will be diagnosed with high blood pressure, then diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer. Of course, its not a given that you will hit all of the 4 one after the other, but it is a precursor when you are diagnosed with one. The likelyhood of getting the other 3 subsequently is then hgher.  

So I must persevere everyday, eat less processed food, eat more vegetables and lean meat, 

I need 7 to 8 hours uninterrupted sleep, go to the toilet at least once a day and laugh at least once a day. 

Wish me luck on my journey onwards to a nice retirement.

In the meantime, wish me luck on reaching that magic 1,000,000 views by August 2026.