I usually aim to add a card-related essay in this space, but with my work travels all week I didn’t have time. So I’ll whine about aging instead.

I turned 45 on Friday. This isn’t really noteworthy, but I’m going to note it anyway. I was always an athlete; I grew up playing pretty much any catch/hit/shoot sport you can imagine, and really excelled at basketball, which I played competitively until I was 35 and couldn’t keep up with the 23-year-olds fresh out of D2 anymore.

I took up running at 32, and cycling at 37. I stayed in some semblance of decent shape until the pandemic hit in 2020. Then I took it up a notch. With 90 minutes back in my typical day because I could stop commuting, I allocated most of that to family, but also jumped into running more than I had since college. I ran trails almost daily, and lifted and did core workouts several times a week. I got extraordinarily fit at the age of 41, which I never expected.

And then it was all gone. But it took me a while to realize and accept it.

On September 26th, 2020, six months into my new running life, I was 3.5 miles into a 4-mile trail run when I felt a little pain in my small toe. It didn’t feel serious, so I finished my run, and even dialed up the pace for the last quarter-mile. When I got home and took off my sneaker and sock, there was nothing visible wrong.

But it still hurt a week later. And a week after that. I went to see a foot doctor and he was clueless. I got x-rays and an MRI and they showed nothing. I wore a walking boot for weeks. Still no improvement.

(It was at this point, incidentally, that I pulled my childhood collection out of the closet and ended up getting immersed back in The Hobby.)

All the while, I kept doing all of my exercises to keep me in shape. I felt like I could be a competitive trail runner when races came back, and I didn’t want to ruin my opportunity.

After seeing 2 different surgeons over 4 months who gave me completely different treatment suggestions, I saw a third who said surgery on my foot would solve it easily. It was an easy decision for me. In mid-March 2021, I underwent foot surgery, and within a couple of weeks it was obvious that it was a mistake. It exacerbated the problem and made it clear that the problem had been nerve-related all along.

I spent the next six months depressed, working on my YouTube channel, and keeping myself fit without cardio. Then in October I was able to run again, and all the work I’d done paid off; I was still fit and fast! But the foot pain came back without warning. And it would last for weeks.

2022 continued the challenge, and I ultimately gave up on running at some point early in the year. Running might happen again, but not soon. Running for a week or two isn’t worth the pain experienced for weeks afterward. My YouTube channel thrived, and it officially took that passion over that I had had for running.

2023 saw me let myself go. I didn’t exercise at all, cardio or weights or core. I’m now at my heaviest weight ever. And at 45, my body lets me know. I sit all day for work, and then sit all evening watching tv or doing stuff with my family.

2024 needs to be the year I find a better balance. I’m hoping to be able to walk on my treadmill, but walking more than a quarter-mile hurts. I picked up rollerblading (or inline skating, if you prefer) in 2023. I played a ton of street hockey on blades in my teenage years, and I found that the skating came right back. (Side note: I mentioned this in a video and someone who had never commented on my channel before made fun of me for rollerblading. I hope that guy is never forced to find a no-impact exercise.)

My blood pressure and cholesterol are high now, and I suspect I’ll need to go on my first prescription(s) this year. I don’t want to continue on this path. I need to focus on my diet and moderate exercise.

Starting tomorrow.

Nothing really funny this week, so I’m sharing one that made me feel good.

I honestly don’t know. I don’t have anything specific that I’m looking forward to, but I always find something good.

I was in Dallas Sunday-Friday, so I only put out two videos all week. It was probably my lowest output in a couple of years!

I finally put out my video sharing my viewers’ grails. Pretty good reception!

On Tuesday I took an Uber to Baseball Collector Mike’s house and spent 3+ hours going through his insane personal collection. And then he took me out for legit Texas bbq. Spectacular. Unfortunately I forgot to include the photo of me eating when I edited the video:

See my video above from my visit to Mike’s house to see my only pickups.

I decided to list my Caitlin Clark autograph for sale on eBay. I really don’t want to sell it, but I will for a big offer. It’s tough to tell what it might be worth. A clearly-inferior one sold for around $650 in early January. The autograph on that one, while graded a 10, is in black ink on a black background. Mine is yellow on the black background and really pops. And now Caitlin is about to pass the NCAA scoring record.

I have offers open.

A lot of people nominated cards this week! Mark’s is amazing and you can see it here, but for the story I’m choosing Jake’s:

I stopped by my LCS this last weekend and always head to the $1 cards first. I've seen this Ichiro card in the past and have always liked the colors on it. Just thought it was a cool looking card. Brought it home and couldn't find card #320 in 2008 Topps checklist with this image. I thought maybe it was a variation or something. I kept finding the image of it under 2007 Topps Walmart exclusive #WM15. After about an hour of research I finally noticed there were two different cards in the top loader..lol Ended up getting two for a buck!

To nominate your card for next week, reply to this email and include why it should be included and a photo. Please don’t be offended if I don’t reply.

I didn’t read much Hobby-related this week, but I always enjoy Courtney Recklein’s writing for Hobby News Daily. I thought this article about The Hobby being an episode of Jerry Springer was very good.