Year 2, Week 22, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 184.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 184.3

Today's food: yogurt, banana, clam chowder, 4 clementines, navajo taco, bowl of chili with chips, 9 oreos

Today's exercise: 7 miles @ 9:16

Year 2, Week 22, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 186.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 184.3

Today's food: yogurt, 4 clementines, orange, banana, honeybun, a few bites of chicken and meatloaf, clam chowder, small handful of nuts, donut

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 21 Wrapup

This is the week that I was finally going to start running again after taking three weeks off for my knee. I was going to start on Monday, but I was really busy making dinner that evening, and we've committed to having family home evening more regularly, so I didn't end up going out that day.

On Tuesday evening, I was all ready to go out, but then I burned the crap out of my hand on a pan in the oven and didn't feel like it anymore. I didn't want my hand to be throbbing from the burn while the rest of me was throbbing from running pain.

On Wednesday, I finally got out running for my first run in 3 1/2 weeks. The good news is that my knee didn't hurt, but the bad news is that everything else did. I was sore all over, especially in every joint, and it felt more difficult than it should have for being only 5 miles. But, I never felt like I couldn't finish or anything.

I did another 5 on Thursday with much the same result.

Then, on Saturday, I drove down to Sahuarita to run 16 miles with Jimmy. The 16 was a lot harder than my 16 I did 4 weeks prior, and I was really out of gas for the last 2 miles, but I finished and wasn't in too much pain afterwards, so I think I'm going to come out of this okay.

I will say this: Nothing in my life has ever tasted as good as the McDonald's breakfast deluxe (eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes) that I had in the car on the way back from the 16 miler in Sahuarita.

Year 2, Week 21, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 187.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 184.0

Today's food: donut, steak, baked potato, donut, 2 cookies, meatloaf, garlic rosemary smashed potatoes, 2 pieces cake, popcorn, tall hawaiian punch

Today's exercise: day of rest

Year 2, Week 21, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 186.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.6

Today's food: clif bar, fig newton, mcdonalds (breakfast deluxe - eggs, 3 pancakes, sausage patty, biscuit, hash browns, chocolate milk), 20 oz gatorade, tall lemonade, lil' smokies, baked potato, green beans, tall hawaiian punch, 6 donuts

Today's exercise: 16 miles @ 9:50

Year 2, Week 21, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 183.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3

Today's food: 4 clementines, 1 samoa, orange, grapefruit, golden corral (crapload of crap)

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 21, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 182.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3

Today's food: mcdonalds (quarter pounder, medium fries, medium coke), korean style short ribs with rice, tall lemonade, chips and salsa, 2 oreos

Today's exercise: 5 miles @ 9:17

Year 2, Week 21, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 184.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.5

Today's food: lasagna, garlic bread, apple, bratwurst, clam chowder, red hots

Today's exercise: 5 miles @ 9:17

Year 2, Week 21, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 185.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3

Today's food: manuel's (chips and salsa, cheeseburger, crisscut fries), Reese's, clam chowder in bread bowl, tall lemonade, red hots

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 21, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 183.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.1

Today's food: yogurt, banana, the real last of the corned beef & cabbage, twix, 2 bratwurst, curly fries, tall lemonade, microwave popcorn, tall orange juice, 2 rolls

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20 Wrapup

I have just finished my third straight week of not running. This is the longest I have not run since the fall of 2007. It's taken great commitment and dedication to consistently not run for so long. I've got to say, though, it's been really tough to stay motivated to not run, especially when it just seems like you have to keep not running, day in and day out, without so much as one day's rest from not running. I think it really comes down to the strong support and encouragement of my family that has really made the difference in helping my to overcome the temptation to backslide into running again. Through their kind support and my single-minded focus on my goal of getting fat again, I'm able to every day again make that decision that I will again make the effort to not run.

In actual reality, my knee was still hurting this week, although it feels almost better. I will definitely start running again next week. I've got to say, though, after not running for so long, it's very hard to imagine running the way I used to again. I don't feel like I have any extra time in my week when I'm not running, so I have a really hard time imagining dedicating another 8-10 hours per week to marathon training. It's been only three weeks, but I'm honestly having a hard time imagining how I ever did it. I have a very small window left to start running again before I'll just probably never be able to. The lesson from this is that the physical conditioning gets lost over time, but the mental conditioning appears to go away much faster.

My weight has jumped way up, of course, but I'm sad to report that this isn't solely due to the not running for three weeks. My average is up about 7 1/2 pounds since the 1st of the year, but most of that gain was before I stopped running. Looking back over my log, I have apparently been eating like a pig this year, and this will probably need to change.

An example: Adding up the information from my logs shows that I ate 73.5 donuts in calendar year 2008 (not including donut holes, donut gems, or other donut like products). Thus far in 2009, I've eaten 51.5 donuts. That's way above the 2008 pace. Also, those are both large numbers of donuts. I like donuts.

Year 2, Week 20, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 185.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 183.0

Today's food: m&ms, 3 servings german pancake with strawberries, 1/2 piece pizza, gummi bears, tall lemonade, last of the corned beef & cabbage, peanuts, tall orange juice

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 185.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 182.7

Today's food: donut, tall pepsi, potatoes & sausage, m&ms, corned beef & cabbage, swedish fish

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 183.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 182.5

Today's food: 2 donuts, burrito, 2 1/2 slices pizza, tall root beer, tall pepsi, strawberry shortcake, a few forkfuls of corned beef, swedish fish

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 184.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 182.3

Today's food: yogurt, triple play (5 cheese sticks, gyro, medium cherry coke), 2 pieces fried chicken, potato wedges, roll, m&ms, 4 donuts, tall orange juice

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 184.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 182.1

Today's food: yogurt, orange, 2 clementines, sausage and roasted potatoes, 5 oreos, peanut butter cookie, microwave popcorn

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 185.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 181.8

Today's food: donut, yogurt, 2 bowls corned beef & cabbage, snickers with almonds, skor, corned beef and cabbage, 1/2 donut, 5 oreos, 2 clementines, watermelon, jelly bellies

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 20, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 183.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 181.4

Today's food: yogurt, beef stew, 5 donuts, 1 slice pizza, watermelon, peanuts, donut, 32 oz tang

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 19 Wrapup

I had planned to start running again this week, but my knee was still sore, and it was just too easy not to go out. I'm counting on the fact that I'm still in good shape to make up for the fact that I've missed two weeks of running. I still shouldn't have any problems with the training for the Ogden Marathon, but it might make things tougher for me when I start up again next week.

Year 2, Week 19, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 184.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 181.2

Today's food: peanut butter cookie, chicken chow mein, peanut butter cookie, bratwurst, baked beans, 1/2 peanut butter cookie, popcorn

Today's exercise: day of rest

Year 2, Week 19, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.9

Today's food: 1/2 waffle, 1/2 banana, orange, chinese buffet (huge amounts of items too numerous to list), 4 peanut butter cookies, oreo

Today's exercise: none

at convention

Year 2, Week 19, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.9

Today's food: frosted flakes, apple danish, hard rock café (nachos, big bacon cheeseburger,fries), café rio (tortilla soup, medium dr. pepper)

Today's exercise: none

at convention

Year 2, Week 19, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.9

Today's food: bagel, cheese danish, china inn (happy family combo), chocolate chip cookie, large cherry pepsi, ruth's chris (calamari, filet mignon, potatoes, baked ziti, bites of crème brulee, chocolate explosion cake, and bread pudding)

Today's exercise: none

at convention

Year 2, Week 19, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 182.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.9

Today's food: yogurt, peanut butter cookie, carl's jr (western bacon combo, onion rings, large coke), gyro combo (gyro, fries, medium mr. pibb)

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 19, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 180.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: yogurt, panda house (honey shrimp, general tso's chicken, lo mein), 3 potato wedges, 2 pieces fried chicken, 1 1/2 roll, 1/2 churro, 3/4 costco berry sundae, pork chop, 5 peanut butter cookies, tall orange juice

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 19, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 180.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: cinnamon bears, pork chop, 2 bowls chicken chow mein, chinnamon bears, tall orange juice, kettle korn

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 18 Wrapup

My knee was hurting from last week, so I wanted to take a few days off. Also, I was going to Legoland/Disneyland this week, so I didn't think I was going to get in a whole lot of running there. I ended up just not running at all the whole week. I did get a lot of exercise by walking approximately 42 miles per day at Disneyland, but I offset that by eating every delicious thing that Disneyland had to offer.

My knee still hurts a lot, but I'm going to try to start up again next week and see how it goes.

Year 2, Week 18, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: 3 donuts, small strawberry cheesecake blizzard, orange, apple danish, apple, mashed potatoes, cheesy asparagus, nachos

Today's exercise: day of rest

driving back from disneyland

Year 2, Week 18, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: 2 donuts, orange, 2 mini donuts, café orleans (pomme frites appetizer, 1/2 seafood crepe, 1/2 monte cristo, 4 glasses coke), pretzel with cheese sauce, hot chocolate

Today's exercise: none

disneyland

Year 2, Week 18, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: orange, donut, pear, 1/2 cup of tang, corn dog, large coke, 3/4 bag potato chips, 3/4 bucket popcorn, blue bayou (1/2 roll, braised short ribs, potatoes, asparagus/broccoli, a few bites of crème brulee, 5 glasses of coke), hot chocolate

Today's exercise: none

disneyland

Year 2, Week 18, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): didn't take

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: breakfast buffet at country inn (scrambled eggs, oatmeal, 4 strips bacon, muffin, 1/2 bagel with neufchatel cheese, waffle, 2 cookies), pear, a few apple fries, chinese buffet (items too numerous to count), cinnamon bears

Today's exercise: none

legoland/driving to anaheim

Year 2, Week 18, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 181.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: honey bun, 2 pieces fried chicken, potato wedges, potato salad, 4 1/2 cookies, piece of chocolate, subway 6" tuna sandwich

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 18, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 181.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: 2 donuts, skillet chicken with rice and peas,tall root beer, parmesan crusted chicken breast, 1/2 chocolate bar, 1/2 honey bun

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 18, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 180.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.6

Today's food: peach, orange, 5 donuts, sausage and mashed potatoes, cheese covered asparagus, mini donut, tall root beer, peanuts

Today's exercise: none

Year 2, Week 17 Wrapup

I was planning to race this week, so I was going to taper this week anyway. But, I ran on Monday and then got sick the next day, so Monday was the only running I did before the race.

I had been doing speedwork the last six weeks in an effort to set a new 5k PR of 22:30. With me getting sick this week, I thought it wouldn't be possible. But, on Saturday I was feeling a little better, so I drove up to Kiwanis Park in Tempe for the Care for Life 5k. It has something to do with raising money for African children.

It was a fairly small race, so when it started, I decided to take the lead for a bit, just because no one else seemed like they wanted to, and it seemed like fun, if only for 10 seconds. After about 10 seconds of easily staying in the lead, and about 20 seconds of struggling to keep it, I backed off to what should have been my normal pace.

I was maintaining a 7:15 pace, but really hating it about halfway through, and could really feel my body being drained from being sick for so long. After about 2 miles, I just thought, "No. I'm sick. I'm not going to make my goal. I shouldn't kill myself trying when I could just go home, recover, and make a better effort in a couple of weeks." And just like that I stopped and started walking. After about 10 seconds of walking, though, I saw the dude in front of me make a wrong turn. I thought I better at least get ahead of him before he figures out what happened, that way I can at least finish one place higher. And then, I took off running again.

I finally finished in 22:39, just 9 seconds short of my goal. If I hadn't started walking, I might have finished closer to my goal, or I might have finished slower since I would have been more drained. There's just no telling. I was close enough to my goal, though, to still be proud about it, especially since I was so sick. The crappy part is if I had just skipped this race and waited a couple of weeks, I maybe could have done 22:20 or something.

I was 8th out of 59. I didn't get an award, but I kind of feel cheated about it. First of all, the paper registration form said awards would be done in 5 year brackets. However, when I got there, I found out they were doing 10 year brackets. Then, they didn't pull the overall winners out of the brackets. There's no rule or anything that says they have to, but it's common enough that I would expect it. So, the first place winner was 38, and the second place winner was 31. If you pulled out the first place winner, and did five year brackets so that the second place guy was in a different bracket from me, then I would have got an award. I stuck around for the raffle afterwards and was hosed there, too.

The real bad news is that my right knee is totally hosed now. It hurt after the race Saturday and still hurts Sunday. There's a lot of pain right behind the kneecap, and it hurts especially when I go down stairs, or kneel down, or move it after it sits still for a while. I'm going to take a few days off next week and see if it gets any better.

Year 2, Week 17, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 180.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 180.7

Today's food: 1/2 pop tart, peach, 3 banana nut pancakes, chips and salsa, dinner at gabbitas's (rosemary bread, banana bread, green beans, lasagna roll thing, salad, lemonade, 2 cookies, brownie, cupcake, cheesecake), 2 grapefruits

Today's exercise: day of rest