Post 3 day weekend recap

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Really enjoyable weekend, lots of fun times, with friends and family.  Got in some good walks, and a little basketball to keep up the activity.  Watched an excellent game of World Cup soccer.  Had good time at Spam O Rama.  And started a new idea on Twitter.

Family

I started the weekend off with a nice dinner with a friend.  It was a good chance to catch up.  And also a chance to impart the lessons I have learned from my weight loss as he is trying to do the same thing.  It is interesting to realize how much I have learned from this experience. 

Saturday morning I went for a walk with Spotty, then came home and watched the World Cup game.  Then focused on planning for the rest of the weekend.  Went grocery shopping etc.Saturday afternoon we went to the Spam O Rama.  Which was fun, although different since I did not take a spam dish this year.  And a bit of a shock as I was reminded how much I have done in the past year with the fitness and weight loss in comparison to many of the people I only see once a year. 

Sunday morning was devoted to cleaning, getting the house ready for the party.  Then a nice, relaxed 4th of July family barbecue/birthday party for Selena.  It is interesting to me how much the family chemistry has changed over the years.  We have always enjoyed hosting these parties.  But as the composition of the family has changed the chemistry of the parties has changed as well, for the better in most cases. 

Monday was a nice family day.  Kim worked in the morning, I took Daniel to his Y camp, then took the other 2 shopping with me, then library and then the park.  Once Kim got off work we went to lunch, then went and saw Toy Story 3, which was a great movie by the way, just spectacular.  So lots of fun times for the family and friends.

World Cup

I watched the Germany - Argentina match.  Wow, what a difference from other matches I watched.  It really was a step up in terms of the quality of play.  Not just Germany, who obviously played really well in winning 4-0.  But also Argentina, you could see how they would have matched up so well against lesser competition.  It was like the transition from from a college to a professional football game.  I will really miss watching these games and following the tournament once it is over.

Running

Saturday morning I woke and tried the shoes, and the blister still really hurt.  So I made a command decision to just put on my boots and take a walk instead.  And did the same thing Sunday.  I knew I wouldn't get the chance to look for new shoes until Monday but I didn't want to miss out on the exercise.  Sunday I also played some basketball in my bare feet, thinking that if I was serious about getting the minimal shoes or running barefoot I needed to start somewhere.  So yesterday I was pretty sore, but ready to look for new shoes.

I went to the Colorado Running Company determined to get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, the ultra minimalist shoes that I had been reading up on.  My thinking was that since I am still fairly new to running it was as good a time as any to make the transition to running barefoot (or as close as possible).  However, once I got there and tried on a pair it just didn't work, my big toes were just too constrained.  So I did the full evaluation and settled on a different pair of still relatively minimal running shoes.  I tried them out today and was pleased with the feel during and after. 

My plan is to run the Mesa route (19th to King to Mesa to Uintah) on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and the track on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  But I am making the Mesa route a transition for now, walking 5  minutes, then running 5 minutes etc.  Until I am able to run all 5 days.  And focus on increasing my pace on the track for now. 

Things I Didn't Expect

So I started doing this Saturday morning.  No telling how long I will keep doing it.  But I had a thought during my walk about all the things I didn't think about or expect once I started losing weight and getting fitter.  And I thought it might be fun to make a daily entry of these thoughts, using the ever ready Twitter as a way to capture all of them.  And just to keep things simple I decided to go ahead and do a hash tag for it as well.  It is mainly things I have discovered regarding the weight loss and fitness process.  But I will probably start using it for thoughts on the rest of my life as well.  It's just a fun way to keep these one line thoughts in the same place.