Daring...or dumb?

Whoops! Today I almost over-extended myself. Since the fitness room at work was closed, I decided to go for a jog along a trail that goes through our neighborhood. I was figuring I wanted to run for about 30-40 minutes so I would go out for 15-20 minutes and then back.

I had never been on this trail before, so I was enjoying checking it out since it goes alongside a wooded creek. I guess I kept wanting to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill, because before I knew it I had reahced a street that I recognized as being near my work! I looked at my watch, and sure enough I had been going for about 20 minutes.

So I turned around and before I was a quarter of the way back, I saw the first few flakes of snow coming down. I knew it was cold when I left (about 35 degrees), but was hoping I'd make it back before the weather turned. So I ended up finishing the last mile of my trek home in very light flurries.

Now how many of you can say that you went jogging in the snow, hm? A testament to my new-found dedication to exercise? Or a testament to my oft-disputed sanity?

All-in-all it was about 3 miles round-trip, and according to my wife, I was very stinky.
When I went in to shower, I thought I'd check the scale. (I know it's not a good habit to be checking the scale too frequently, but oh well). As it turns out, I had reached a major, major goal for myself: After more than a decade, I am finally under 200 lbs!!!! (199.5 to be precise; my ultimate goal is 170)

Since I didn't get to do any weights today, I'll probably do some push-up/sit-up sets.

Catch-up

No, not Catsup…I wanted to try and get a second update in March so, here we go…

Obviously the 2 big stories currently at the front of my mind have been
1. Cosette’s broken arm (Wendy has good photos)
2. My sudden weight-loss and exercising inspired by giving up soda for Lent

Wendy’s got the whole scoop on Cosette, I’ve got nothing to add.

As for my changing body/lifestyle, I know I’m still in the early stages (the “Honeymoon” stage, if you will), but I think it’s good to try and ride that momentum as much as possible while you can. Also, I know you’re supposed to ease in to a workout routine when you haven’t done it in a long time, but I know me. If I just dip my toe in the water, it’s a lot less likely that I’ll actually get in the pool. I’m the kind of person that needs to just jump in the water to start swimming.

The price I pay is a bit of soreness. I only need to watch my timing and make sure I’m not too sore/stiff come moving day. (Two weeks from today!)

What I’ve been doing is 25-30 min. on a machine (elliptical or treadmill so far; there’s also a stair machine, but I’m not crazy about those). Then I move into what I consider the “fun” part: weights. It’s not just a macho thing, it’s something I have experience with and have had success with. The season I wrestled in high school was a big influence on me in this area. It was a pretty intense program, so I was doing a lot of weights, jump-roping, running, and the wrestling exercises themselves (sprawls, shots, lunges, etc.).

After that, I took Coach Orr’s weight-training class one semester, but I dropped after a month or two. I liked the weight-training part, but he made the class run around campus every time, and that did me in.

So I’m forcing myself to do the elliptical or running on the treadmill for 25-30 minutes before I get my reward of weights. I know that the cardio/resp. training is better for a well-rounded routine anyways.

Running is one of my most hated nemeses, so I was kind of surprised that not only did I not hate it when I did it this morning, I actually kind of enjoyed it! I’m looking forward to the day when I realize that this routine I’ve started is feeling easier, with less soreness. I’ve even considered getting a bike, because there are a lot of bikers around here, and nice trails for it…and it’s so gorgeous here, I’d get to spend more time outside. But I need to reach a certain fitness level before I’ll consider that.

More to come…I want to save some for another update. =)

Getting Old (Sort of)

So this morning, while getting ready, I was contemplating some of the gray hairs in my beard and temples, and suddenly was thinking that the big "4-0" is right around the corner. (You know...9 years is "right around the corner") It just felt pretty weird thinking of myself as a 40-year-old man.

Right now, 40 still sounds old. But I remember when 30 sounded old, but now it doesn't so much anymore. So maybe by the time I'm 41, 40 won't sound old.

Surprise! It's Arby's!

Kind of randomly around 10:00...the co-worker I share an office with "M" was telling my boss and I about how she had woken up with bad heart-burn and not feeling good, etc. It passed after about 20 min. and she came into work. But at 10, she was feeling it again, called her doctor, and was told she should go to the ER to rule out a heart attack. (She's around 60 years old)

So Boss says she'll drive M to the ER and someone else will drive M's car to leave it there for her when she's done. I go through two reactions: 1) Oh boy! I wanna do it, just for the diversion to get out of the office for a little while....then 2) Oh crap...I don't wanna do it, M's a smoker.

It turns out I'm the least busy and am volunteered, so I say OK.
Fortunately, the car wasn't as bad as I feared...she has a nice air freshener thing attached to a vent, and I drove with the window down (it's a balmy 54).

Bonus: As Boss is driving us back to work (around 10:30)...she says she wants to stop and get us an early lunch. Hmm...lemme think..OK! So she bought me a sandwich at Arby's...she offered to get me the full meal, but I was a good boy and said no thanks. I don't really need the fries, and I'm not drinking soda right now anyways.

It's 11:30 now, and we still haven't heard from M, so hopefully she's doing ok.

Don't blame me too much for making her health scare into an adventure for me...I'm sure if you read her blog later, it'll probably barely mention me at all! =)

Getting Kinda Personal Here…

I don’t usually like talking about overweight issues (most fat people don’t!), but this is too dramatic and awesome not to share. (Besides, I’m looong overdue for an update)

I’ll give you the punch-line first, and then the long version.

In a nut-shell: I weigh 204 pounds!!!!!

Now let me tell you why all the exclamation points.

I started college in 1994 at about 200 lbs. even. By the time I graduated in 2000, I was holding steady at about 225-230, and that hasn’t changed in the last decade. No big surprise…eating plenty of (yummy) junk and not exercising. I’ve been resigned to the fact that I’ll pretty much always be that way.

Lent started a little over 2 weeks ago on Wednesday, February 6. A couple of times in college I observed Lent by sacrificing something (once, I gave up TV/Movies/Video Games…and another year I gave up soda). I decided to give up soda again this year, since that worked well for me before. In addition to the spiritual purpose, I reasoned that we would save a little money, and it would be more healthy for me. I had been drinking 3-4 cans of soda a day up till then.

In conjunction with this, I had also been invited to be a regular at a 10-hand Texas hold ‘em poker home game. It’s a $20 buy-in each Wednesday night. It’s a great bunch of guys, and I love the camaraderie and I really love the game. But to off-set that weekly cost, I made a deal with my wife to not eat out for lunch or breakfast any more (which I was easily spending $30-40 a week on). Again…a side benefit would be health reasons.

So for the last 2-3 weeks, I’ve cut WAY down on eating out, (there’ve been a couple times where we were out as a family out of necessity) and have cut soda out entirely. In fact, I spent an entire week of nothing to drink except water because we ran out of apple juice at home. (I finally bought some more juice last night.)

ALSO, a few weeks ago, my brother and I were talking about how much food we eat…that even when we’re getting full, we plow ahead and finish what we’ve got in front of us, etc. Restaurants really help promote over-eating with gargantuan-sized portions. So I’ve been trying to eat smaller portions as well. (Only 2 pieces of pizza instead of 4, not going back for seconds, etc.)

So even though I have really changed the kind of food I eat, and I’m certainly not exercising…I’ve lost about 25 pounds over the last 2-3 weeks. When I checked the scale this morning, I was positive I was going to be around 215…when I saw 204 I did a literal double-take and shook my head, and started over a couple times to make sure it was accurate.

I never dreamt that I would actually be able to break under 200 ever again…but at this point, I’m so stinkin’ close, I wanna do it just for the sake of doing it if for no other reason.

Since have access to a corporate gym in my building (for free), maybe I’ll even think about utilizing that…even if it’s just once or twice a week/month. =)

Kind of a long post, and I’ll be surprised if more than 3-4 people read this, but I know that at least those people will probably enjoy that I shared.

Social Etiquette = Blech

This morning, as I was walking into the kitchen area to get some water, 2 of the ladies in the office were exiting. Here’s the sequence:
Lady 1: “Good morning.”
Josh: “Hi.” (that’s the most you’ll usually get outta me)
Lady 2: “Good morning.”
…5 seconds (and several feet of walking) later…
Lady 2: “Josh!....Good morning!”
Josh: “Oh…good morning.”

Now I know I’m not ever going to win an award for Superior Social Etiquette, but I thought that my acknowledgement included both women, but apparently Lady 2 was a tad miffed that I hadn’t given her a separate, individual greeting.

In truth, I don’t really care that much, but I didn’t feel a tad awkward/jerkish like I had made some faux pas that took me a while to process. And then I thought, “Hey! I haven’t posted on my blog in a while…here’s some fodder.”

Guess who's back?

Ok, I remember when I did that last post back on Dec. 26, I considered making a "resolution" to post more regularly. I know I only have about 3 regular "readers" (more like "check-in-once-a-monthers"); maybe partially because there's rarely anything exciting to intrigue more viewers?

Anywho, wanted to share a story that Wendy doesn't know about cuz she wasn't here.

Tonight while Wendy was out, Connor was playing with one of his toy phones. He'll make it ring and then start talking to someone randomly. Tonight, in addition to his usual calls to grandma/papa and steve/nikki...he "called" ric and jeri. Here's kind of how the call went:

Hey Ric! Hey Jeri!

Ya.

What you doing?

Ooohhh...*chuckle*

I have trains.

Oh, ok.

Bye.


I ask Connor what Ric and Jeri wanted, and he says, "Ric wants chips".