Thanks for your insight, Dev! I find Japanese work culture to be fascinating...the concept of Honto is really interesting and other cultures could benefit from it as well.

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Ahh yes, what we around these parts call "putting your head into the lion's mouth". Good luck with that, we've got you! ¡Dale!

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Yesssss! Welcome back!

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

"Sticking your head in the mouth of lions was balls!! Making sure that lion don’t eat my head?? That is art!!!"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Just tell family members they can have alcohol, but you're celebrating your birthday without. It sends a message that alcohol is not neccessary for celebrations. What do you think? Doable? And if it's your birthday, you can tell them they have to join you too!!!

This is my first alcohol-free December. Partly because I started training for a late April 70.3 in the beginning of December. And partly because it just makes me feel like crap the next day and it's hard to train feeling like that. I just can't process alcohol in my 50s like I did in my 40s. I only attended one small gathering for the holidays and it was just my local open water swim friends (who I consider family, no other friends qualify lol). I brought a new decent non-alcoholic beer called Sober Carpenter (similar to Athletic Brewing) and it comes in the big cans so you can even be discrete about it if need be. But our friends are supportive. They are just happy when I leave the house for something other than training. Going to keep the streak going into January and probably at least until my 70.3 in April. After the race, I might have one drink as I normally do after a race. But we'll see......The longer I go w/o alcohol, the less I miss it and self-medicating.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Hello Dr. Cupcake ... thanks for being back for this year's challenge and for your huge support. It really makes a difference. I am in ... I think this will make it 3yrs in a row.

Roughly it was my experience being on long haul travel to get to Asia or Europe and then change cities every day in between, and trying to train at 5 am before the next day of work and drinks at dinner just "GOT IN THE WAY". In any case, the entire process made the decision making easy. Which 70.3 are you doing in April. I have Oceanside70.3

Yes very understandable. And training after air travel is hard enough. Alcohol makes it more challenging.

I'm signed up for the new IM 70.3 in Cap Cana (Punta Cana), Dominican Republic. Looks like a fun race in the Caribbean. And I haven't been there yet. I signed up after I said no more air travel for a while recovering from the long Kona flights. It just looked too good to pass up and didn't want to risk it going away for 2025. I hope to do Oceanside someday. Haven't done it yet. It's not that bad to fly to SD for us. And I did do Indian Wells 70.3 a year ago.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

57yo and have never tasted the stuff. Ive been an athlete since childhood and it always seemed counter productive to my athletic goals.

I'm down for another year!

I stopped drinking in early November. I found out I had gout and when I stopped drinking beer realized that just drinking cocktails wasn’t good for me.

Can’t drink NA beer as it has Purines, so that made quitting a little tougher the dry Joes in the past. A fun non-alcoholic drink is Pathfinder, it is very tasty with some lemon and a splash of club soda.

Woop woop! Let's get it!

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Ugh, no fun! Glad you found a path that works for you. And a Pathfinder that works for you, too! :) Keep sharing what you've found to be good substitutes when you get the "itch".

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

My dad was the teetotaler with 8 brothers who all died of various complications of alcoholism. In med school, I watched my uncle die from hepatic encephalopathy after a portacaval shunt to stem bleeding from esophageal varices. A heavy drinker in college and early in med school, I cut way back after my uncle passed. I became a gastroenterologist and for years treated complications of alcoholism including bleeding from esophageal varices. This year marks the 10th anniversary of my little brother’s death from alcoholism. After he passed, my 5 drinks a year went to zero. It amazed me how many of my friends would offer me alcohol when I explained why I didn’t drink alcohol anymore. My last drink was in February of this year, wine with dinner while vacationing in Patagonia. My wife and I came down with Covid and since then, I haven’t had the desire to have any alcohol. I don’t miss it at all. I have no issues with anyone who drinks and enjoys it. It’s just not for me.

That's one of the most interesting aspects of this annual thread is the stories about how merely not drinking causes such a "scene" at times.

Even on this forum we typically get 1-2 two posters who pop in and are really upset that there's a thread about not drinking for a month.

Last January I attempted to join the No Alcohol January challenge here on ST. After a week we had a friend come up and bring beer after I told him I was not drinking in January. I was weak and had a beer. Peer pressure is hard. Another reason I hardly entertain aside from the fact that I'm off-grid and not easy to get to. But yeah it sucks when people can't just accept what you drink or do not drink. Even with food it's the same thing. People feel upset or threatened if someone doesn't eat meat, or gluten or carbs or whatever the fuck it is.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

I am in. Kinda have to. Went for my annual and blood work shows elevated cholesterol, so dietary changes are in effect. This last year was a rough one for me and I could easily drop 15+ pounds. Booze is the low hanging fruit and makes the biggest impact on how I feel.

I'm in again. I've done various dry months over the years including Dry January with you guys one or two times before. I'm looking to do more than just 1 month. Not sure how long I'll go but the Jan/Feb/March sounds like a good idea. After that, maybe just keep going until after my 70.3 in August?

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Welcome. You've got this! Let's sit in the corner and bitch about how rough this year was once January goes full tilt.

Are you going to go back in for more labs once the month is done?

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Welcome back! You'll be in good company if you to the Q1 challenge ;)

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Did a full panel, so should be good. Get my first colonoscopy, though! Yay!

In my experience, The Punk Rock Community is incredibly supportive in this way

"You're not drinking? Oh, OK"
"You're vegan? Oh, OK"
"You won't eat beef, but you will eat goat? That's cool"

And so on

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I’m in.

I made it part way through the month in 2022 then dropped out, but then went completely alcohol free in October 2022. Didn’t join the thread in 2023, but also didn’t drink. Happy to be here to support those who need it! Life is good without alcohol.

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Move on. Keep training. Be an adult.

Had my first one a few months ago. Not really bad at all. Worst part is the day where you're drinking like massive amounts of laxatives and Gatorade to clear things out. Actual colonoscopy, meh. Granted the drugs they pushed on me that "wouldn't put me under, just make me care less about what's going on" did indeed knock me right the hell out for most of it.

Was slightly bummed after the whole deal the entire report was just two words - "Normal colon." Was hoping for a bit more verbiage one how awesome my colon is.