Taking Personal Responsibitly

All I can say is that it has been a really busy time for me the last few weeks and getting in a workout has been hard sometimes. I have been having to get up early in the morning and get it out of the way in order to get it done.

I failed to mention last week that I had reached another milestone this year and that is that I have walked/ran 300 miles this year. That may not seem like a lot for some but for someone that has only been doing this for nine months I think I am doing pretty good. I also had more miles last week than I have had in quite a while. In June I only ran 15.3 miles in 3:10:37 but this month I have already ran 14.2 miles in 2:53:34. I am ready.

What I’m not so ready for is the heat. I have struggled the entire summer so far but I am getting faster. I ran 3 miles this past Friday at an 11:37 pace and another 3 miles Saturday at 11:30. I ran them down at the park and it was hot. Saturday morning I got up and it was 75 degrees with 100 percent humidity.

Now on to my topic for this week. There has been a lot of talk in the media about the government regulating the advertisements aimed at children. One area of our country has even banned the sale of the Happy Meal at McDonald’s because it has a toy in it. Do we really need the government telling us where we can eat and what we can eat? Isn’t going to the fast food place a personal choice? Nobody makes me go into McDonald’s and order fries with my meal. I know eating too much fast food will make me fat. Oh, did you know that you can order a Big Mac without fries? You don’t have to order the combo.

This not only goes for the fast food places but even when we go to the grocery store. We choose to buy the food we take home with us and if it is all chips, cookies, and sugared soda then we must take personal responsibility for buying it. While I am in the aisle with the water, no one is there telling me that I have to buy a soda on the other side. I choose to buy water and not soda.

I am not aiming this post to anyone except those that complain about being big and then don’t do anything about it. I can write about this because I used to be one of those people. I got tired of being overweight and decided to do something about it. I still go to McDonald’s and other places like that but when I gain a pound or two I know what I need to do to get it off again. I am determined not to go back to my starting weight and keep what I’ve lost off. I have worked too hard.

I will get off my soapbox now and hope I will see you again here next week.

Bottled or Not?

Last week I got in a big hurry and left out a few detail that I did want to share with you about my week. I will go ahead and get those things out of the way. I did start back running this past week. On Wednesday afternoon I went to the gym and ran 2 miles on the treadmill and the on Thursday morning I went down to the city park and got in 3.17 miles. I had no pain at all in my right leg so the rest was good for me.

Now onto what I wanted to share with you this week. If you read my post last week, you found out that I did get to my goal of no soda for 90 days and have extended that time to 96 days as of today. I drink lots of water and while I out on the truck I drink bottled water. I usually just buy the 20 ounce bottle of Sam’s Choice Pure Drinking water because I like it. I was drinking Ozarka spring water for a long time but decided to change.

While I am at home I don’t drink bottled water much because there is a cheaper way of drinking water. It’s not cheaper starting out but not all that much more than a case of water. I use the Brita Bottle with Filter. This is bottle that has a filter right in the top of it and holds 24 ounces. You fill the bottle with water and while you are drinking the water is filtered. Pretty cool! I bought my bottle at Kmart for $9.99 and two refill filters for $7.99 a while back. They both can be bought at Amazon for the same price. I have included links to both products here too. It is a little cheaper to buy two bottles at the same time and you can find that package here. Be sure to follow the directions when you first use it or you will end up having a mouth full of carbon. I filled the water with water and squeezed the water out through the filter and it will black as coal. After that though it has been clear. This bottle will save you lots of money and the taste of the water is great too.

Thanks for stopping by again this week.

Ninety Days Has Past

This weeks's post is probably going to be the shortest I've ever written. I have been busy this week and next week looks almost as busy too.

I just wanted to share with you that I did reach a goal of mine two days ago. If you remember back on March 31, I shared that I was going to give up soda for 90 days. That ninety days was up this past Wednesday. I am happy to say that I still haven't had a soda and really don't even know when I will drink one. I thought I would want one on the 91st day but now on the 92nd day I still don't want one. I may make it to 100 days after all. Drinking water isn't bad. I still do have tea and coffee and about once a week put some Crystal Light in my bottled water.

Next week I will tell you about what I use while I'm at home and it's not bottled water.

Thanks for stopping by this week and look forward to seeing you all again next week.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Wanted to share a couple of pictures with you.  The one on the left was made on June 19, 2010, and the one on the right was made on June 18, 2011.  What a difference a year makes.

Too Much Too Soon

This past week was a week of many challenges. I did have a good week overall. When I got off the road on Wednesday I was going to go to the gym that night but decided to wait until Thursday to go for a run outside. It had been a while since I had ran and the weather was going to be cooler Thursday morning. I left for my run about 9:00 and the temperature was a nice 70 degrees. By the time I had ran five and a half miles it had already hit 82 degrees. It was a good run until about an hour or so after.

I had no pain at all during the entire run but within an hour I was having some serious leg problems. I did a little research and found that it was my IT band and took some ibuprofen. That helped a little. Friday morning it was better and by Saturday morning it was gone. I did have another problem brewing though.

When I first started my journey to a healthier lifestyle I had gout in my left wrist. That was the second time in less than a year I had had it in that area. Before that I had gotten it in my right foot and ankle. This time it showed back up in my foot and ankle. It started just being a slight pain at first but by Saturday morning it was really hurting. I do have medicine that will keep my body from making uric acid so I started taking it. Unfortunately, it does get worse and then it gets better. It will probably take me another few days to get completely rid of it but it is better today.

With all the trouble that I am having I have slowed down a lot this month and have only ran 10.1 miles. I have still been exercising at the gym on the stationary bike. It’s not my favorite but it will do. I’ve been giving some of my running muscle a rest and working some of the other muscles.

There are lots of ways to keep from getting injured and you can find articles at Active.com and many more places online. The main reason for injury is “too much too soon”. I don’t think that is what caused me to have problems before but I think it was this time. I should have started back at two or three miles and worked back up to the six.

That’s going to do me for this week. Have a great week and I will see you again Thursday. It’s going to be a little late on purpose.

Do You Feel Any Better?

As of today I have been soda free for 76 days. Some days are tougher than others but I find that it has been worth it. I did kind of quit cold turkey but when I did quit I was only drinking about 2 or 3 soda a week.

Last week I posted on Facebook that I had reached the 69 day mark and only had three more weeks to reach reach my goal of going 90 days without a soda. I was asked at the time if I felt any different and decided that I would answer that question in this weeks post.

I can't say with any certainty that I feel any different but one thing that I have noticed is that I don't think I crave sugar as much. Anytime that I drank a diet soda I felt that I craved sugar for a long time after. I didn't drink regular soda at all and even if I did I don't want to drink my calories. I just have to believe that when I did drink that diet soda (Mountain Dew most of the time) I would just later go ahead and eat something with sugar in it. Fast forward to today and I still have sugar cravings but I normally eat a banana. I will admit that I do still eat a candy bar or a snack cake but not as often as I did several months ago.

This past week saw a big drop in mileage because I did have some leg pain but also I had some congestion in my chest and couldn't run very far without running out of breath. Instead of running I decided to get my workout in with a stationary bike. I ended the week with 1.5 miles or running and a little over 16 miles on the bike. I also did some weight training while I was at the gym too.

Now for the scales part. I haven't said anything about the scales in a couple of weeks because at this point in my journey I am satisfied with my weight but if I can get more off then that will be okay. I did step on the scales this past weekend and was up 0.2. That still makes my weight lose 40.8 pounds since October 10, 2010. Not to pat myself on the back but I am really proud that I have taken all this weight off and know that I can keep it off if I just keep on doing what I've been doing.

Thanks for stopping by this week and sorry this was a day late but my schedule has been really busy the last couple of days. Have a great rest of the week and will see you again next week.

Running with the King

Me, "Elvis" & Rob

This past week was a good week but a hot one. I ran 10.7 miles including the Running with the King 5K that I did with Rob. I won’t spoil it by telling you what he ran but I ran it in 37:14. The heat really slowed me down.

One of the things that disappointed me about the race was it only had one water station about the half way mark. Is that the norm? With the heat I felt that there should have been a station at the first and second mile. The peanut butter and banana sandwiches that were served were good but they weren’t fried like Elvis liked them. All-in-all I did have a good race and was satisfied with my time. Thanks Rob for letting me be a part of your first race.

I know this was short but that is going to do me for this week and I’ll have something to share with you next week for sure.