Patience, what our country and culture are missing and what it means to me

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Again and again on this weight loss and fitness journey I have had to remind myself to be patient. It took 30+ years to build myself up to 240+ pounds and you cannot change that overnight using healthy means. And along the same lines, you cannot just jump up after doing little to no formal, regular exercise and start running in 5K or longer races. I had to be patient with my training, trust the people who put things like Couch to 5K and 100 Push ups and 200 Sit ups together to know what they are doing.

And that patience has borne fruit. A year ago I started running, and today I am contemplating running 10K's. 2 years ago I was over 230 pounds, today I am close to getting under 180. I had to be patient, stick with it when things got tough, plateau's appeared, setbacks occurred.

Today's workout

Tough run today, pushed a little harder than normal, really wanted that 6 mile number, and I got it, maybe not as fast as I would like, but that will come. On the fly tested a new route and it worked, maybe not as hilly as I would like, but still a good challenge

What does this have to do with our country and culture? We as a culture have become addicted to the quick fix, overnight sensation effect. And we think that everything we want: fitness, healthy weight, riches, happiness, can all come by following just the right scheme, diet, fitness program etc. Where has that led us? We have an epidemic of overweight, obese people in this country. We have a damaged economy. And we no longer have the will to simply work on the right path to fix these things. We expect that by just taking a magic pill we will drop 50 pounds overnight and have a model's body. And we expect that someone, somewhere, can wave a magic wand and the economy will rebound.

This week I have been reading the book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi. And if you take the time to read this book, and read it with an open mind, if you are not ready to gather a mob together to storm Wall Street and Washington D.C. there is something seriously wrong. The litany of wrong doing, and outright criminal behavior that led to the destruction of our economy is just astounding in it's depth. But you know what lies at the root of all this? Lack of patience, people didn't want to be the last ones on their block with the big flat screen TV, expensive SUV, fancy addition to their house, or even new house that they couldn't afford. Administrators, bankers, pension fund managers etc. didn't want to be the last ones in their circles to claim a 7 figure bonus and 8 figure salary, so they overstepped and ignored caution and common sense and leapt at the promised quick bucks. It just irritates me. While I have tried to step away from the political posts I had to say something, and this seems to be the best way to link my common interests of fitness and politics together.

Reaching the Do stage, past the Do or Do not stage, and well past the Try stage

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

This weekend I read on a friend's blog about how she had lost weight, and improved her lifestyle and fitness. And reflected on how she referenced me in the blog. And as I was reflecting this morning in my workout that my focus is no longer solely on weight loss. Yes the weight loss is still important, but instead my focus on now on what I can Do, and doing more. For example, after my little bout of illness last week, on Thursday, instead of letting the lingering stomach pain hold me back I went ahead and did my push ups and knee bends. Also after missing 2 days of running, and then rearranging my running schedule I could have taken Sunday off, but went ahead and ran anyway.

Sunday's workout

And instead of just doing a short run, I went out and pushed myself a little, and ended up with a good 5 mile run. Which is what I can Do now. Before, I was just focused on trying to run, then on just doing some running. Now it is not enough to just run some, instead a 5 mile run is becoming my norm, up from 2 or 3 miles. That is what I can Do, and my focus is on doing more, not on just hanging on to that.

That is what the last 2 years of hard work, patience, and life style changes have done for me. I no longer have to Try and run, I know I can run, it is about how far I can run. I can Just Do It now. That is a big hurdle to cross, and I am pleased to realize that that I have crossed it.

Because fitness is a journey, we all have our ways of travelling on that road. The first goal is getting on that road, then finding a mode of travel that works for you, be it running, bicycling, triathlons, crossfit etc. Once you are there, it is much easier to stay on that road.

One Hundred Facts about me #100factsboutme

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Here's an interesting exercise one of my friends has undertaken, I thought it would work better in this format that tweeting 100 separate facts (if only to save some of my followers and friends on Facebook who don't want to be bombarded).

1. I am 10 years older than my wife (but sometimes feel younger)

2. My political beliefs have undergone multiple major shifts from Liberal to Conservative to Very Liberal in my life

3. I have lost over 50 pounds in the last 2 years, and have literally never felt better about my overall fitness.

4. I suspect that my running is turning into an addiction, but am totally okay with that.

5. I am a constant worrier about my children, even though I know that they are actually doing very well.

6. I agreed to get a dog as a companion for the kids, and never expected to become the main companion for the dog

7. In my perfect world there would enough time for me to spend several hours each week playing table top war games, but that time does not exist for me now, so that is a part of my life I had to give up.

8. I could talk with my Dad for hours on end about virtually any subject under the sun. I really miss his being around when he takes his 3 month trips to Arizona.

9. My handle FreeRangeGeek comes with my coming out about my many geek interests: wargaming, role playing, sci-fi & fantasy novels and movie, combined with the idea that I can pursue those interests simultaneously with my more main stream interests: sports, pop culture, politics.

10. At one time in my life I really wanted to be a teacher, spent a good couple of years pursuing that interest, was smacked down by reality, but find that being a parent fulfills all the teaching urges I could ever have.

11. My favorite professional sports teams are (in order): St. Louis-LA Rams, Denver Broncos, LA Lakers, Colorado Rockies I am an admitted sports bigamist

12. When watching a sporting event where I have no vested rooting interest (not one my teams playing and/or a team I actively dislike) I always go with my Grandmother's strategy of rooting for the team farthest west (unless that team is from Texas)

13. I grew up with my Grandmother living in my fathers house (or on the same property) so as a result I am actually excited for my kids to have my mother move in next door to me.

14. I firmly believe that you cannot call a computer game a role playing game, role playing games involve face to face interaction.

15. I played my first game of Dungeons & Dragons in the summer between 6th & 7th grade and instantly became addicted to role playing.

16. I returned to role playing a year after I graduated from college, and credit gaming in general (RPG, TTG, CCG) with saving me from drinking too much.

17. I grew up playing table top family games with the whole family, and it strikes me as odd that other families didn't as well.

18. I view my priority as a parent is to keep my kids well rounded: play sports, read books, play games, be artistic etc. Never too focused on 1 thing to the exclusion of others

19. I loved theater in school, and enjoyed performing in plays until they began to have a negative effect on my grades, leading to my being forced to stop doing them.

20. I was never a very good student, relied too much on my good memory and (occasionally) good relationships with my teachers

21. Much of my pre-college education would be considered non-traditional, attending private schools for 8 of my 1-12 grades.

22. Being the 'fat kid' led to my avoiding team sports much of my life, one of the few things I really regret about my childhood.

23. Today I do love to play in team sports, the main thing that stops me is a pretty low skill level.

24. Running has become a primary outlet for an almost zen meditation time. I have no desire to run in a group outside of races.

25. The main reason I run in races is to gauge my skill and improvement against myself, and to support the causes the races support.

26. 5 out of the 10 members of my immediate family (mom, step-mom, dad, 7 siblings) are or were teachers, add in 3 more from the extended family.

27. I think that Penn Gilette's views on raising a Princess are/were dead on, and like him have no idea how I ended up raising a little girl who thinks she is a Princess. (In the end I blame society)

28. I thought I was a repository of useless geeky trivia and quotes, until I became friends with people far geekier than I was and discovered new depths of knowledge in my friends

29. I love libraries, I was practically raised in ours, and have made sure that my kids go there almost every week, even if they don't check anything out they know that is where you go to get books instead of buying them.

30. Aside from some specialized items (like running gear and shoes) the majority of my wardrobe was purchased by my wife for me from thrift stores, I hate clothes shopping and paying full price almost as much.

31. I know from a health perspective I would do better with a near vegan or at least vegetarian diet but I love meat too much to do that.

32. I am normally (90% of the time) early for pretty much any event that I go to, and have a serious dislike for being late (drives my kids crazy in the morning when it gets close to time to leave for school)

33. I have a bad temper that I have learned to redirect towards inanimate objects when I lose control

34. I developed a sweet tooth later in life (sure makes losing those last 20 or so pounds that much harder)

35. I don't drink, smoke or pretty much 'party' and neither does my wife, but we're not teetotallers and are perfectly comfortable with other people doing those around us (as long as they are control).

36. I love all of my friends, even those I have had limited contact with over the years, and find it hard to grasp that some people have very limited social circles.

37. I love sarcasm, and often have to think twice before using it with family and some friends, and especially on the internet.

38. Having been raised by an atheist father and an infrequent church attending mother (at least when I was a child) I have little personal use for organized religion.

39. I like my job, even though it does get frustrating from time to time, the fact that I rarely have to do the exact same thing every day keeps it fresh.

40. I am a creature of habit and routine, but routinely accept and embrace change.

41. The single most irritating thing you can do to me is interrupt me (and yes I know that I can do that and am trying to train myself to not do so)

42. My favorite hobbies are simply too time consuming for me to keep up with in a house with 3 young kids

43. The best thing in my life is my wife Kim, without her I wouldn't have my wonderful kids.

44. I am an fervent supporter of the Free Range Kids ideal, and would let our kids range far more if they were older and my wife would let them.

45. My favorite movie of all time is still Apocalypse Now

46. My wife and I went to see the movie Seven for our first date, and both really enjoyed it (that should tell you a lot about us)

47. I refuse to be pinned down to listing a favorite band, there are just too many great bands and I love too many genre's to narrow my choices

48. I love my high school alumni gatherings, I go every year, and don't understand people who refuse to attend even the important reunions (20th, 25th etc.)

49. I love living my life out loud on the Internet: Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, blogs, most of my life is an open book to the world

50. I have lived in the same town/city for the majority of my life (35 out of 44 years).

51. My wife and I are both natives of Colorado Springs.

52. I firmly believe in remembering the past, but not regretting a single minute of it, no use wasting mental anguish over things you cannot change

53. I am strongly opposed to open handgun ownership, I follow the wisdom of Lynyrd Skynyrd in wishing we could just dump them all in the bottom of the sea.

54. I watch a lot of TV, but it's a part of my life and my mental outlet.


55. I know that I have lost at least 2 'friends' due to my politics.

56. I wish I had time to learn to be a better cook.

57. When we bought our house I could barely drive a nail, since then I have learned to frame a wall, replace electric outlets and light fixtures.

58. I am red-green color blind, which drives my kids crazy.

59. I have learned that while I like and watch a lot of procedurals I know they are all fictionalized.

60. I have 2 brothers, 4 step siblings and 1 foster brother in my extended family I'm the second youngest.

61. I have multiple tattoo's and wish I could afford more.

62. I am much quieter and argumentative in person than I am online.
 
63. I drink a lot (too much probably) soda, fortunately for my weight I prefer diet soda.
 
64. I own and love an iPhone, and sometimes it takes an act of will power to put it down at night.
 
65. I do not care about cars, and while I joke about giving up my manhood when we traded in the SUV for the second minivan, it really amde no difference to me.
 
66. The single thing I was not prepared for when I lost all the wieght was how much I would notice cold than I did before.
 
67. Like my not drinking or smoking one thing I am also having to adjust to with the weight loss is not being preachy about fitness and eating right with my friends and family members who have not gotten the picture yet. And sometimes that is really hard.
 
68. I learned a long time ago that there are plenty of people smarter than I am in this world, and the smart thing to do was accept that fact.
 
69. One of the other things I learned, but late in life is that I am very good at multi-tasking, the flip side is that I have a hard time focusing on 1 thing exclusively.
 
70. The single biggest strength that crosses over from my work to home life is patience, I am for the most part a very patient person (I better be working at a help desk and then having 3 little kids).
 
71. I generally don't care about money, not that I would like to live like a pauper, I know that the things I like are not free, so I work for them, but like smarts I learned a long time ago that I don't have the ambition to do the things that would make me 'rich'.
 
72. I enjoy learning new things all the time, one of the cool things about all this running is learning the new facts, things like how long to wear shoes, when to stretch, how much water to drink etc.

73. I hated studying math, and the one thing I dread abut my kids is when they reach the point where their math classes get beyond my basic skills (that's when my parents and older brother will get tired of what may be constant visits and/or video conferences).

74. I am rhythmically challenged and tone deaf, but love to sing and/or dance so I limit doing those things to when I am alone for the sake of other people.

75. I have a B.A. in Political Science from CU Boulder and an M.A. in Southern Studies from Ole Miss.

76. Daniel says I'm big

77. James say I'm an awesome dad

78. I have a pool table at home, and like most things, wish I had more time to play

79. I am not very good at video games and have no desire to get better

80. I love spending time with the family photos

81. I love all kinds of music, and my iTunes library is very diverse.
 
82. I strongly believe that going out of my way to eat a spicy meal at the onset of a head cold is the best way for me to head off the worst part of it.
 
83. My wife and I were each other's first.
 
84. I am a homebody, my idea of a good day rarely involves leaving the house.
 
85. I have the best mother in law in the world, the woman is a saint.
86. I am a tinkerer and planner, forever starting projects, and making changes to things, but not a very good finisher, which is why I have far too many incomplete projects in my life.
87. I am a creature of habit when it comes to eating out, I tend to eat at the same places, and get the same thing, I’m not an adventurous eater.
88. I am working hard to develop a more discerning palate and eat different things as I get older and my diet gets healthier
89. My favorite TV show currently is Justified, with Mad Men a very close second
90. I’ve been working at the same company for 10 years now, with no end in sight.

91. I think 100 facts is probably about 20 too many to think up.

92. I don’t believe in most conspiracy theories, but I do think that our open Democracy is losing ground to a country ruled by a very small group of the super rich.

93. My favorite TV show of all time was WKRP in Cincinatti

94. I am really reaching to get these last couple of facts

95. Vampires over Werewolves, provided the Vampires are real, scary ones, not sparkly friendly ones

96. My ultimate athletic goal is to run a marathon before I turn 50.

97. I wish I could ride my bike more, but it’s not real feasible until my kids can all ride on their own.

98. Pirates over Ninja’s, because sometimes style counts.

99. Kirk over Picard for the above reason.

100. Last fact: This was pretty exhausting, I hope some people read and enjoy it.

Learning about hydration and trying to change/add better habits

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

1. I drink probably too much caffeinated soda, don't drink coffee or tea, but I love my Diet Cola. Unfortunately I think that sometimes I drink that instead of water just out of habit, and the side effect is I do not get enough hydration.

2. My stomach problem was due to some constipation, which was likely caused by poor diet (a battle I always fight) and more immediately not enough water. I think that while I did make a point to carry a water bottle on my long run Sunday I didn't drink enough the rest of the day, especially after all that running around playing kickball at the park.

3. First order of business is cutting back on the soda, and drinking more water. Part of that will be to start tracking both in my LoseIt app. I will do some research on what is a good target number, and I do know that changes with the weather. As it gets warmer I will probably want/need more water for my runs.

4. Find ways to make sure I have water when I run, or at least right after. We have a Camel Bak that we bought several years ago so I will make it a point to have that filled and ready to go in the mornings before my long runs. And then make sure I have a water bottle with me when I go to the Y so I drink before and after my treadmill runs.

5. I can't say everything that happened Monday was due to dehydration, but it's the one thing that really stands out. And the after effects definitely point in that direction.

Health concerns again take precedence over training

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Odd occurrence, Monday I was fine all day, felt great, if a little sore from all the running around Sunday. Then Monday night I started getting some stomach pains, then felt feverish and chills. Ended up feeling feverish and horrible all night, kept waking up, going to pee, then trying to get comfortable with the pain in my stomach. Needless to say I did not run Tuesday morning, and stayed home from work. Spent the day laying on the couch, dozing off and on. Had some odd cramps in one of my feet that took pretty much all day to work out.

Limited myself to bread, Gatorade and water all day. My fever broke relatively early in the day. But the stomach pain didn't really die down until nearly bed time. I was able to sleep good, but chose not to try and do any training today either. I came to work, despite still not feeling great. Partially because I owed my co-workers, but also because with the kids home for Spring Break I would get more rest at work then staying home watching them.

Hope that I feel well enough tomorrow to run, but that really depends on how the rest of the day goes and how I sleep tonight. I would hate to have too much of a break with the training routine, but have to listen to my body too, it's a delicate balance.

Excited to see all the hard work put into practice

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

The new weekend schedule went surprisingly well. It would have worked better if the little ones had slept a little later on so I could do my workout in peace, but otherwise it went very well. Doing the stretching, sit ups and push ups did not affect my ability to run at all, and the fresh energy from a Friday off helped carry through the rest of the weekend.

Sunday's Run

Went very well, I guaged the distance just about right for my route. Cranked out nearly 6 miles in an hour. Only slowed for a couple short walks. Spotty as awlays was the mighty pace dog, kind of hard to go to slow with her dragging me along. Changed things up by bringing along a water bottle to take sips from, and I think that helped towards the end, where I tend to really die down. So between getting stronger and adding that little bit of added energy I felt stronger at the end than the last couple of long runs.

Sunday afternoon after a family birthday party we took all the kids to a park, and we started up an informal game of kickball. And I got to really run for the first time since I started the exercise last year. And boy did it feel good, to really sprint, and feel that I was outracing people for a change. And to have the energy to do something like that. On Saturday James and I were walking downtown and he out the blue took of running to race me, and I was able to take off and keep up with him. It's not so much that I was able to keep up with him, it's that I can do that for more than a couple of yards now, that's the real difference.

Change, just for the sake of change or will it make a difference?

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

I have been thinking about what my friend Joe (the marathon runner) mentioned a couple of weeks back in a comment on Facebook. I need to budget in a rest day. Not just alternating the running and quasi weight training. And this morning, as I lay in bed, not very motivated to get up, it hit me. I would make Fridays a true rest day, no exercise at all.

But then I said to myself: 'self, when are you going to get in your third day of sit ups, push ups?'

As I stood in the shower I finally came up with the answer:

'Since I generally get up early on Saturdays anyway, and then have some time sitting around the house until I can get the kids to go to the Y why not do those on Saturday mornings, and then my run at the Y?'

Doing the stretching, sit ups and push ups should not affect my ability to crank out the easy 30 minute runs that I have on tap on Saturdays. And I have the time to squeeze them in without any problem or affect to my schedule.

So that's the change I will be implementing this weekend, specifically tomorrow. On the Race days I will have to skip since the rest of my races are early in the day instead of the late start last week. But once month should not be a problem.

Great run this AM gave me a cushion (which I promptly ate)

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Today's Run

A good one today, and second in last 3 where I was able to leave the gloves and winter hat at home. I am consciously trying to involve more hills in my runs, especially at the beginning, to prepare for the May run. As it is right now I think I could tackle a relatively flat 10K, but I live in Colorado and there just are not a lot of long flat races. So it is better to acclimate myself to the hills.

The long run (5.3 miles) gave me pretty big calorie cushion, which I promptly ate up by succumbing to some hunger urges. But that's okay, as always the weight loss at this point is more a by product of my increasing fitness. And besides these things are a journey not a destination. So I know the occasional slip or caving in to temptation will not ruin me.

Struggling with my appetite this week

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

I have been good for the most part (save for someone at work bringing in a large container of Peanut M&M's). But it has been a real struggle. Here I am, work is slow, and I have finished my allotted snacks for the day and I am still hungry. Am I hungry enough to hurt or is it just bored, sitting still hunger?

Yesterday after my run, and dropping off the kids at school I had to make a conscious effort to not stop and grab a fast food 'second breakfast'. Some weeks are like this. Others it is easier. When I started my weight loss journey it was seemingly easy, because I made a big leap in my appetite due to some intestinal problems. Which helped to decrease my appetite. And for the most part that is still the case, I could not regularly consume the amount of calories on a daily basis that I used to without feeling sick. But that doesn't prevent me from occasionally having days where I do eat a huge amount. Or at least what is for me now a huge amount.

The tough part is knowing when it is legitimate hunger, that is my body wanting/craving sustenance from all the work outs. And when is it just my mind feeling hungry, either due to boredom, appetite clues (someone close by has some good smelling fast food) or just simple urges. I am sure that today it is the later, so I have to maintain some mental toughness and focus. And to some extent it is probably also because I loosened up a little last week and I am feeling the increased appetite from that too.

Appetite is different from motivation to exercise. Normally I can now get myself motivated to exercise. I have pretty much crossed that threshold, and weeks like last week remind me how it feels to not get that exercise (miserable, tired etc.). But appetite is different because the reward for restraining myself is less apparent and immediate. I know that if I give in and run over to Wendy's for a Frosty and fries I will inevitably feel overfull and kind of icky. But if I don't do that and just stay here the only real reward is a mental 'atta boy', and the knowledge that I don't feel overfull and icky. Not any where close to the same reward as the relaxing, and energy producing effect of a good workout.

So writing this pushed me past the mental threshold, I can make it past this point with a stick of gum. But it helped to sit down and write out and hash out my thoughts.

Starting to capture the Zen feeling from those solitary runs

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Today's run

Felt real good to get back out there for that solo run in the darkness. Race's can be fun and challenging, and it is nice and good for the dog to take Spotty along my run, and the treadmill also has a role in training. But I feel best and run at my best when I am running all alone out there in the darkness.

It's one of the reasons I don't feel a need to seek out a running club or running partner. Running is not a social thing for me. Instead it's an outlet, a chance to be alone, something I don't get all that often in a house of 5 people plus 2 pets.

Taking last week off was good, and I will probably look to do the same, only next time I plan to do after a race rather than before the race. One of the real challenges with the rest of the races is they are all longer (5 miles in May is the shortest, the rest of the series is 10K or more), but they are scheduled for Saturdays. So I will not be as accustomed to the long runs those days, but since I generally take Fridays off, except for stretching and some strength training that shouldn't be a big problem.

Race results and feeling ready for next step in training

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

First, the race. I felt it went well, such a huge crowd made it harder to maintain pace when you spend all your time weaving around people. And for some odd reason my music stopped part way through so I had to reset it. I even took a short break around the 2 mile mark and walked a little bit (maybe a quarter of a block). Despite all of that I felt good and the results agreed:

Race results

It takes some digging (there were over 2000 runners) but if you narrow down to my age group you will see me at 69th place, with a chip time of 28:05. Which is much better than my last timed race number of over 30 minutes. And an average pace of 9:03. So all the training of the last several months has really paid off! I was really happy to see that, and gives me the confidence to keep this up and feel that if I follow the training I will be able to handle the longer races.

I took things easy on Sunday with just a 2 mile run up to Mesa with Spotty, the fabulous pace dog. Seriously, I am not sure I could ever wear her out. A friend of mine was talking about his dog just runs along behind him, while Spotty practically drags me along, no matter how long the run.

Now I am ready to resume my normal training schedule with the race out of the way, and any health issues also healed up. I know I have some prep work as my next race is a 5 mile run in the Garden of the Gods which is a quite hilly course.

Changed goals and gear this week and still saw success

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

When the week started I was amped to get ready for the 5K race this weekend. I wanted to really build up with some good long runs so I could really push it on Saturday with confidence. Confidence to turn in a really good personal time. But when the cold and sore throat reared their ugly head on Monday I had to change gears. My new goal was to get rested this week, and head off the cold before it could really take over.

That meant no runs, no walks, and no other workouts. It was and it wasn't easy. To be honest, while I have reached the point where it is easy to strap the shoes on and head out the door on any given day, it is still kind of easy to not do so too. The hardest part was actually forcing myself to sleep a little later, and really get some rest. By the end of the week I will say I was getting a little restless from the forced down time. But it was well worth it, because I feel very rested and ready for the race tomorrow.

I can't say that I feel as confident about turning in a real top notch performance, but I am confident that I will do at least as well as last summer. I will be interested to see how I do in a race environment, where (despite my better judgement) my competitive juices will flow, and I will probably race faster than I normally run, just because I am in a group. Only time will tell for sure how I do, but I am definitely excited, and glad I took care of myself so I could run healthy.

Day 2 of taking it easy, not as simple as it sounds

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Damn cold still threatening me, but showing signs of just moving up into my head, which is what I want. Because I run with the sniffles and a head cold, in fact the run will just help clear up any congestion I have. But it's not easy to turn back over and go back to sleep instead of getting up and exercising, not at this point anyway. But I know it is the right thing to do, so I let my body do it's thing.

On the plus side I should have really fresh legs on Saturday, even if I get out tomorrow and run as I normally do. Which is my plan, I think I should be able to to get out tomorrow morning.

Multiple reasons for not running today on this cold, icy morning

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Wanted to run, but a couple of things that came up made that a bad choice:

1. Starting yesterday I started getting the scratchy throat that normally leads to a cold. And since I have the race on Saturday the worst thing I could do was to aggravate that by wearing myself out physically. By now I know my body pretty well, and know that when these colds hit the best practice is to take it easy the first couple of days, focus on getting as much rest as I can.

2. We had a late snow storm last night, and while we didn't get a lot of snow what we did get covered the sidewalks. And that would have meant running on what amounted to a sheet of ice. And again, with the race coming up the last thing I want is to hurt myself.

3. My legs are still a little sore, probably not so much from Sunday but from that plus doing knee bends yesterday. Probably pushed that a little too hard.

If I hadn't paid for this race and hadn't made plans for it I might well have pushed it. But in light of those factors I made the smart choice. It's times like this I remind myself that missing 1 or 2 workouts are not the end of the world, and that sometimes the body needs rest more than it needs exercise.

Found some inner resolve, kept me on the right path

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Friday night I was out much later than normal, getting about 4 hours of sleep. Which did not exactly get me all ready for my run. But I stuck it out, went to the Y as usual, and cranked out my customary 5K. Which felt really good to do, showed how far I have come, both physically and mentally.


Sunday's Run

Sunday I went ahead and took Spotty with me for my run. Which went well. she was well behaved, although we avoided any other dogs on that route, I will probably make that a habit until we get her to the dog park on a regular basis so she can handle the excitement of other dogs better.

The long run was a challenge, I did better than last week as far as running, but still ended up walking for portions of it. But that's okay, because I know I am getting stronger, and I just need to keep working on that route until I can do it without any walking.

Sunday I got to spend a chunk of the rest of the day engaged in other physical activities, which felt good as well although I did sleep quite well. Although that meant I was a little worn out for my Monday workout, but again, just keep plugging away, doing something is better than nothing. Although I will probably not take any more Friday's off.

Taking the day off in anticipation of busy, active weekend

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

First the good news, finally nudged a little below my plateau, not below 180 yet, but still nudged a little lower. Second, last night I decided to take this morning off from my normal work out. See this weekend is going to be pretty busy and active. We have plans for more furniture moving and now some painting thrown in to boot. Given that I figured that I needed a day of rest some where. And I wasn't going to give up my Saturday or Sunday runs, so today made the most sense. I don't plan on making this a trend for all Fridays, just doing it this one time.

On the weight loss front I wonder if there isn't actually a little hidden science I stumbled across. Last week I was really good, every day I came in under my alotted net calories, but I didn't lose any wieght. This week I was actually closer to target pretty much every day. And I wonder if the net calorie amount is there for me to actually hit, not try to see how far below I can get. I know that it is possible to push the body into starvation mode if you don't eat enough, and maybe that is what I did the previous week.

I officially signed up for the long series for the Colorado Springs Grand Prix of running this week. The first race is next week: the St. Patrick's Day 5K. The funny thing is that I have been running at least a 5K every Saturday for at least month now, and that is actually my easy or light running day. So the race next week should be a snap. Whioch goes to show how far I have come from a year ago when I was just starting the running program, who would have thought I would be here today?

Cranking them out, feeling the strength returning & building

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Today's workout

Tough one today, took a couple of short breaks, but I ended up with 5 miles in roughly 50 minutes, so a solid 10 minute mile average. It's been a tough week, as I feel like I am hitting a wall with the sit ups and push ups, and the slow pace of Sunday's run and aborted run on Tuesday. But it's coming together, and all it took was a good run like today to get my mental focus and confidence back.

Also been a tough week for eating, been a lot of temptations and my appetite has been strong. Not anywhere close to last week as far as keeping my intake below my goal. I am still good, haven't succumbed too much to temptation. It's just been hard mentally to stay focused.

But I took the time yesterday to pull a little history from Lose It and realized that a year ago at this time I was still sitting over 200 pounds, and I was just starting the Couch to 5K plan. So every time I feel a little down about having to walk a little on a 5 mile run, or start beating myself up about not being able to break this plateau of 183 I just remind myself how far I have come. Do I still have goals and am I 100% satisfied with where I am? No, but I know that I have come a long way and that's really good too.

Time for a little clean up

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Lately Facebook has been driving me crazy, my Feed was overflowing with all kinds of cool stuff, but so much of it that I missed a lot of people's status messages. And that's really why I am on Facebook, for the people. So I was pondering this on my lunch time walk, and realized that pretty much all of the stuff that I saw in Facebook was also coming from accounts I follow on Twitter.

Returning from lunch I set to figuring this out. And came to one important realization, the biggest thing that is missing from Facebook is a good way to organize and filter your feeds. You have two choices: see everything, or just those people you recently interacted with. But the second option doesn't seem to stop the feeds from page's you have 'liked'.

Thinking about I decided that since most of those Pages I liked that were cluttering up my feed fell into 2 groups: accounts I also follow on Twitter (redundant news) or I 'Liked' just once, but not because I wanted the constant news. Figuring that out it was easy to just start clicking on those posts I didn't want and setting them to hidden. Now I am much happier, I am seeing people on Facebook again, not a bunch of redundant news feeds or updates about things I really don't care about.

There you have it: if this issue drives you nuts about Facebook then the solution is simple, start hiding what you really don't want to see.

Sometimes the appetite just seizes control, as do other bioligical imperatives

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Today's run

Cut short today as biological necessities required I get home ASAP. I was doing real well until that point. These weekday runs are fun, although I might have to start getting up a little earlier in order to get them done in a reasonable time before the kids get up. Something to bear in mind for Thursdays run.

Yesterday I made an error in packing my lunch: too many snacks. The problem is that since my job is sedentary, there is nothing to stop me from just snacking all afternoon if the food is there. To top it off someone brought in Cinnamon rolls for the team, yet another temptation to which I succumbed. Bottom line is that while I did my exercise, I still ate too much. But as always when this happens, I need to not let it get me down, just move on and make today a better day.