I was acutely reminded of how much I dislike physical exercises as I continue a training programme that Ishta suggested for me, to get me "in shape".
The training centers on running. I have to admit that Ishta chose to train a skill that excellently matches my primary instincts when facing an enemy.
However, rather than running in a straight line, which would make sense to evade an enemy, I am to run back and forth between two lines, going absolutely nowhere. It seems like a silly sport. It's even a sphereless sport - note that many sports involve throwing, bouncing, kicking, hitting or punching spheres - with some exceptions using ellipsoids. I have to reach the goalpost before hearing a beep, and then turn around to run back to the first one. The time between the beeps gradually decreases until, inevitably, the task becomes impossible. After a while, it has me spinning around like a rabid hamster that lost its running wheel.
I could clone into a younger version of myself, and cybernetically enhance my legs, but the trainer considers this cheating. Also donning an exoskeleton would be cheating. It would however be the rational thing to do for one that cannot run well, and yet has to go on a mission. Why all this pain and suffering when there is an easy technofix for this?
In the end, I resigned myself to this training, though. I have come to see these exercises as a form of self-flagellation, or maybe spiritual exercises. I try to discern in it a theological allegory, one of perseverance in the face of inevitable failure.
