I want to see what happens if I don't.

Bobby - 2, Runs - 0. Killed it again last night, another non-stop 4.5 mile run. You know, as hot as it was last night the run felt a little easier, well until the last mile. The last mile about killed me but I felt great until then. Definitely had to dig deep last night to keep running the last few hundred yards. For the first three plus miles all I could hear (other then my iPod) was that little white angel helping me along, "Go, Bobby, go!!", and then damn you last mile because the little devil took the microphone and kicked the angel to the curb, "Go ahead stop, it will feel sooo good." It would have felt great to stop because I was exhausted and I had been running in 93 degree heat for 40 some minutes but giving up would never feel as good as knowing I ran the whole thing. Pain is temporary, but the quitting would stick with me much longer. I kept thinking about my wife, how strong she is, how she motives me so much, how much I wanted to tell her that I did it again, that I ran without stopping. I wanted the high five she hits me with as soon as I walk in the house with that smile on my face, the smile of accomplishment. For the last bit of the run, it was her voice in my head that helped me when the going got real tough. Instead of following the old Bobby path of making excuses why I couldn't, I looked for reasons why I could. I just decided to focus on finishing instead of thinking about why I should stop. I already know what giving up feels like, I want to see what happens if I don't.

I am a runner.

Run one for the week done and done. I think I have run Burke Lake something like twelve times in the last couple of weeks. Twice I have been able to do it without walking, oh I'm sorry, make that three times after last night, BOOYAH!! Let's get something straight right off the bat, I don't feel like I have ever been a runner, it's not something that has agreed with me very much. It's hard for me to run, always has been. I do think running is absolutely necessary though in order to be physically fit, it's pretty much a yard stick for me on how fit someone actually is. You may have the biggest bulging biceps in the world but that does not mean you can run a mile without stopping. I have found that running is an incredibly useful tool in regards to health, fitness, and all around well being. I finished the run last night and while I was tired, I felt fantastic. A runners high. All the stress of the day was gone, work was completely forgotten, and I was even more excited to be home with my family. Maybe I am a runner, I may not love the act of running but I love everything that follows. I am not a fast runner so maybe in my head I think that I need to be able to run a six minute mile consistently to be a runner. The fact of the matter is, I went out and ran. I put one foot in front of the other, over and and over and over again. That makes me a runner. I may not be the fastest but still I am a runner. A twelve minute mile is just as far as a six minute mile. Tonight I will try to run the lake again without stopping. I will try to do it a little bit faster. I will focus on the end of the run rather than the moment itself when it hurts. Funny thing about a run is that they all end, yes it may hurt but it will end. I'll crank up the iPod, I'll push harder, I'll know the end is in sight. I will do this, I am a runner.

I can. I will. End of story.

It's been 221 days since my last blog post. If we were travelling to Mars, we would be about half way home at this point. That is too long. I have lost track in more ways than one. I need to get back to writing and keeping better track of my eating and working out. It's so easy to slip once, and then again and then again until you are just no longer following any type of plan other than when exactly it's time to break back out the fat clothes. I am not to that point yet but by golly it's getting close. Too close.

I previously spoke of my troubles with keeping up with boot camp while still trying to be healthy and a good husband and father. Read about it here. Well, I still have not been going to class much and have opted to cancel my account for a while. That does not mean I have not been working out, I have just been trying to find a schedule that allows more then an hour a day with my family. For the last few weeks that has been running Burke Lake. I am averaging 3 runs a week right now, with a goal of making it 4 runs this week. Right now running is working for me and I have been enjoying it, so I am sticking with what works. With a run, I still get in a workout and I don't get that overwhelming nagging feeling that I am not being there for my son. A run win-win. When you ask? Tonight.

Next week we are at the beach for a week. For. A. Whole. Week. OMG may I share that I am beyond excited? My goal is some kind of workout everyday. A boardwalk run with Hila and Eli in the running stroller, a beach run, an at home boot camp class, something, anything, as long as it involves moving and breaking a sweat, once a day, everyday.

I have been thinking that I needed to start writing again for a few weeks now and as soon as I start to forget about it again someone brings it up. "Hey Bobby, what ever happened to the blog?" Well, you know what friend, here it is. I'm back and I have missed you terribly. Writing keeps me focused, it keeps me grounded, it keeps me in check. Without it I lose focus, it becomes easier to put off a workout, I lose a sense of accountability. I need this in my life. I need you. This blog is another tool that helps me succeed, I just need to start using that tool again to help me find my success. I can. I will. End of story.

So we spent last night in Jail...

Holy moly what a week!  I am whooped.  As of this morning I have gotten in three workouts, one Burke Lake run and two boot camps.  I am so glad I was able to make it to class last night since we played Boot Camp Monopoly.  Good God I love this game.  It really makes for such a fun class and adds even a little more friendly competition to the evening (friendly being the key word here ladies).  I think it's safe to say that Brent and I spent the better part of the evening in Jail.  Eight times.  Eight friggin times we got sent to jail.  Let me paint a picture for you with my words.  Roll the dice, yeay a three, we do 20 leaping lunges.  Roll the dice again, a six, sweet making our way around the board, run three laps.  Roll the dice, two, pass GO, collect our check mark for one completed lap, do 20 bicep curls and 20 up right rows, hell yess already breaking a killer sweat.  Roll the dice, three, push ups - 20 regular, 20 wide and 20 diamond.  Roll the dice again, four...DAMN IT, jail, 20 burpees.  Now here is where things become interesting.  From Jail, Go to Jail is exactly one roll of the dice away if you roll a six, oh how I hate you Mr. Six.  So what do we do, we roll a six, Go to Jail, 20 more burpees.  New burpee count - 40.  "Brent roll again, roll another six and I will beat you."  Six, DAMN IT!!  20 more burpees, new updated burpee count - 60.  I am picturing the movie Groundhog day because this keeps again, and again, and again.  Eat, sleep, burpee, repeat.  End of class total burpee count - 160.  Let me do some slight mathematics for you, that is a shit-ton of burpees.  The word of the day today is ouch.  Legs - ouch, arms/shoulders - ouch.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.  Good God I friggin love it.  Here are some pics of what all this madness looks like from the parking garage, thank you Kristina for all the pics!!

Us in Jail, burpeeing it up.

Brent, what happened to you head?

This week started week one of my 10 week training program for the Army 10 Miler coming up in October, and so far I only have run once so I definitely need to get in a weekend run fo sho.  Here is my training plan for the next 9.5 weeks.  I made this myself but am essentially following a 10 mile Hal Higdon training plan just slightly modified to accommodate my workout routine.  This may change slightly some days but ideally this is what I am going to try and follow.  I am nervous even putting this next sentence into words but (deep breath) here is goes.  My goal for this race it to beat all other times of any previously run 10 miler.  Whew, that has hard to get out.  I am scared, I am nervous.  I always seem to struggle with the training, things come up, this, that, yada yada, blah, blah, blah, it just doesn't seem to go well for me.  And that is my fault, I make it not go well by my lack of commitment.  Well I am committed this year and I plan to achieve my goal.  Best previous time was 1 hour 36 minutes (9:36 pace).  That is not very fast but it's fast for me.  Maybe this year will finally be the year I finally beat my wife, whoa that came out all wrong, I do not beat my wife, maybe this year will finally be the year that I run a faster time than Hila.  On second thought I am not making that my goal because she is a beast and will surely make me eat those words...

I run to add life to my days.

The majority of running I have done in my life has been by myself.  Not because I smell bad after a 5 miler or anything like that it's just that other than running with some peeps in class I don't really have anyone to run with.  My wife has ALWAYS been faster than me so when we run together I slow her down.  There is not much worse than running for an extended period of time at a pace slower than you are able, for really fast runners that slower pace is harder on them than their normal fast pace.  I slow my wife down and I want her to succeed and run as fast as she can all the time so we end up not running together that much.  Yesterday my friend Brent and I went out and ran Burke Lake.  We both run at similar paces and do not despise each others company.  The run was fantastic, it was cool, sprinkling a bit at the and and all around a damn good time.  As we finished the run I looked and Brent and said wow that went by crazy fast.  We ran 4.5 miles, talked just about the entire time, about work, about life, about whatever and literally the time just flew by.  Even today I look back at that run and know that it made my day a little bit better.  Having a partner in crime eliminated the monotony of running alone just listening to your own breathing.  We didn't have music playing, we just chatted it up like a couple of school girls and had a great time.  I think we are going to make this a weekly thing.  Hit boot camp as often as we can but run Burke Lake once a week.

Well done ladies.

So something strange happened to me yesterday in class and at this point I still don't have an explanation.  I felt fine before class and I felt fine after class but the entire time during class I felt light headed and could not exert myself at all.  I feel like I just kind of went through the motions and did what I could but after five or ten exercises in a set I hit a wall and just wanted to sit down.  This has only happened to me once or twice before and I can only assume dehydration.  Literally right after I stopped pushing myself I felt fine but during the exercises I wanted nothing more than to stop.  I will be drinking plenty of water today with the hopes of catching back up and being fully hydrated.  Don't want another class like last night.  While I am glad that I worked out I by no means had a good workout.  Oh well, at least I am feeling better and today is a new day.

So this Sunday was the Girlfriend 5K that Hila planned with all her girlfriends.  I think there were 14 girls total.  I could not be more proud of these girls.  Some are lifetime runners and others this was the longest they have ever run in their life.  Hopefully they will continue to run these races and pick up the running bug.  Well done ladies.

The Army 10 Miler

Just got home from the race.  While official results are not posted online yet according to my watch the race was 10.2 miles and I ran it in 1:44, that is a pace of 10:11 per mile.  Just to see how that compares to the rest of the 10 milers I have run, I pulled up the results of all seven Cherry Blossom races and my one other Army 10 Miler time.  While this was not a PR (Personal Record) it was my third fastest time ever.  With everything we have had going on the last few weeks, I am more than happy with this time.  I am ecstatic actually.  My initial goal was a nine minute pace, and while I didn't meet that pace goal, I still pushed through and I feel great, I am very proud.  Seeing all these race times I remember now that the only two Cherry Blossom races I have missed in the last eight years have each been due to both my shoulder surgeries a few weeks before hand.  I did not realize until pulling up these results that I have now run nine 10 mile races, I just didn't realize I had been running for so many years.

Cherry Blossom Results 2012:

Cherry Blossom Results 2005 - 2011:

Army 10 Mile Results 2009:

I also ran today with Hila and Jess, each of them running together at something like a 9:20 pace (unofficially).  That is great.  Hila has run maybe eleven 10 milers, beaten me every time and still beats me even being close to five months pregnant.  They both crushed it and I could not be more proud.  Well done ladies.

Today I am definitely look forward to relaxing some, opening up a bottle of Kosta Browne and watching the Redskins game with the wife.  Not going to lie I am already sore and sitting down feels fantastic, especially since where we had to park was a 40 minute walk from the finish line, I mean really Mr. Race Officials, you make us all walk even more miles after just running 10?

Now I just need to figure out what race I want to sign up for next...

 

I may not be the fastest...

Monday night weight loss - 2.4 pounds.  Down to 211.8.  Getting there...slowly but surely.  Down 8.8 pounds in total.  On average that is about a 1/2 pounds a week.  Now that sure feels like a weight lifted...

I can only hope I feel as great on Sunday as I did on my long run last night, running was just a little bit easier last night than it has been for me on my last several long runs.  I was able to push both the pace and the distance a bit.  Ran 8 miles in just over a 10 minute pace.  Like I said before, not where I wanted to be at this point but still faster than last time, and I felt fantastic!

I keep all my running stats on a site called Dailymile.  All you do is enter your time and distance for each run and it gives you all sorts of different stats.  Since last night was possibly my last run before the race (I may run a 4 miler on Friday just to stay loose and make my total distance a cool 100 miles) I was reading through some of the stats and thought this was interesting.

In the past three months I have run 23 times for a total distance of 96 miles.  The breakdown shows exactly how many miles I ran each week and I like the comparisons about 70 donuts burned, and hey look I saved $5 in gas...sweet.

This is a great tool for tracking workouts if you want to closely follow your progression.  With this site I can see exactly where I missed runs, or how my pace has improved, and even where I think I could have pushed harder.  One difference in my training this year has been a GPS watch, this is the one I have.  I don't know how I ran without one before.  I set the watch to show my pace, so whenever I want to see how fast or slow I am running I just check the watch.  Like last night I kept checking to make sure that I was as close to 6 miles an hour as possible.  If on the uphills I slowed down then on the downhills I tried to pick up the pace.  Without the watch I feel that I just run slower since I have no way to gauge exactly how fast I am running.  With the watch I find I push myself harder because I am in constant competition with myself.  Whether I succeed or not I always try to beat my last time, pace, distance, whatever.  For me this watch helps do that.

I may not be there yet but I am closer than I was yesterday.

Well it's official, they have rescheduled the MOCO Epic bike race until next weekend.  For me, this is both good news and a bit disappointing.  The good news being that frankly I am just not ready.  I have not devoted the time necessary to mountain biking that is required to be able to ride 25 miles over several hours.  I have only done half that distance and only once.  The bad news is I really wanted to do this race.  I wanted the feeling of completing such a challenging ride, I wanted that notch on the belt.  Intentions don't win races, it takes weeks and weeks of training, and I just did not train hard enough.  Oh well, it will have to wait until next time.  In hindsight I probably signed up for too many races all at once, especially with them being concurrent weekends.  Next time I will do things differently, sign up for one race and devote my training to that one event.  Not try to run three days a week, go to boot camp the rest of the days and then fit in long distance mountain biking in between.  Maybe it was a bit Too much,.. I eat too much, I drink too much, I want too much, Too much.

At least I was able to get two days at boot camp this week after being sick.  Kristina pretty much killed it, yet again.  Sore legs, arms, shoulders, and abs.  Boom.  Well done and thank you Kristina.  And a big shout out to Brent for signing back up for class.  Here's to many, many sore days ahead!!

Army 10 miler is next weekend so last long run this weekend, I am thinking 8 - 9 miles.  I am still not at the level I wanted to be with the running either, just not as fast as I want to be.  I can do the distances they are just slow going.  It looks like I will not beat my initial goal of running under a 9 minute mile but I will run this race without stopping and I will run it as fast as I can.  I had goals, and I will continue to have goals, and while I may not be there yet I am closer than I was yesterday...

Boot camp running week.

Six days in a row working out and pretty much some kind of running workout every day.

Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - 3 miles
Monday - Serious Ass Kicking
Tuesday - 7 miles
Wednesday - Quarter mile splits, half mile splits, quarter mile splits.  Put 2:30 on the clock, run a quarter mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another quarter mile, rest.  Put 5:00 on the clock, run a half mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another half mile, rest.  Put 2:30 on the clock, run a quarter mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another quarter mile, rest.  Sounds easy right, anyone can run a 10 minute mile or faster for only a quarter or half mile right, easy peasy.  Okay, then you try it.  What happens is you start off running at a 6 minute mile and then by the time you cross the finish you are running a 10 minute mile, breathing so hard you want to pass out.  Then you do it all over again, and again, and again.  It was tough, really tough.  Then after all that, we still had to workout.  Needless to say I slept well on Wednesday night.
Thursday - A bit less running but still running none the less.  One partner sits up, pushes, planks, jumps, lunges, whatever while the other runs a lap.  My issue with this is that I don't like anyone to beat me on the run so I take off like a banshee and push myself even harder.  Result, another deep sleep.

I have loved the workouts this week, also felt great to get 6 workouts in a row under the belt.  One thing I have been focusing on this week is my eating and weight loss.  I have not been losing the weight I want mainly due to the fact that if I have one night "off plan" I tend to let that spread into several nights "off plan".  For this week and also for next week I have lowered my allowed daily points by 5.  So normally I get 46 daily points, now I am only working with 41.  Instead of focusing on just eating whatever I want up to 46 points I have been much more focused on eating healthy foods, lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and limiting my carb intake.  I just want to see how this feels and works for two weeks and see how successful I am on the scale come Monday night.  I have a feeling I am going to have a substantial weight loss.  Honestly I feel better.  I feel satiated and just better in general.  I don't feel weighed down by processed foods and crap that really provides no actual benefit to the body other than calories.  I have not been this focused in a while and I want to keep this motivation going.  After these two weeks, if I continue to feel great and satisfied from what I am eating then I may decide to adjust my diet from here on out accordingly.  I have had highs and lows throughout this entire journey, some days/weeks I fall, but I always find a way to pick myself back up.

Keep calm and drink more water.

All day yesterday I was trying to find the time to post and I was just too busy to fit in even a few minutes of extra time.  Crazy day for me yesterday for sure.  I made sure I set aside some time this morning to post.

So let's see, Oh yes, 7 miler.  Ran Burke Lake on Tuesday.  One lap of the lake is 4.5 miles, so what I did was run 3.5 miles around then turnaround and run back the way I came.  Not an easy feat by any means.  I normally just run the lake, one lap, that's it.  So when I am about a mile from the finish I start to push it out to finish sooner and I know I only have about 9 minutes of work left.  So to see the last mile ahead of me and then realize that I am just at the halfway point and need to turnaround was a little disheartening but I did it.  Yes I reached that runner's high!  The run was hard at the time but totally worth it by the end.  One thing that made it harder was the oppressive heat, 90+ degrees is tough, really tough to workout in.  Just needed to make sure I replaced all the water I lost.  I easily drank 2 gallons of water!

Last night at boot camp was much the same, close to 90 degrees.  Of course it was cardio day as well so needless to say it was hard.  Boot camp is always hard but cardio day is especially hard, you never really get a break from work.  It's constant, from one exercise to the next with little to no break.  Yes, we get a solid 15 seconds, which just sitting here seems like a decent amount of time but try doing burpees for 45 seconds and then tell me how quickly that 15 second break goes by.  I am telling you it's fast, before you know it you are back to those burpees, sweating your keister off!

Hydration is key during weeks like this.  I am willing to bet most of you out there do not drink enough water.  I can feel when I have not had enough water.  I fell sluggish, drained and I tire easily.  When I am well hydrated I feel unstoppable, I can run faster, push harder and I just all around feel better.  On an average day I drink at least a gallon of water, days like this week easily two gallons.  I rarely drink soda, maybe one a week, but I do have coffee each morning and sometime wine at night.  I make sure I drink even more water if I have the wine.  It's important to replace the water you lose from sweat and from anything that will dehydrate you like alcohol.  I go with the one for one plan, one glass of water for one glass of wine, seems to work well for me.  Goal for the day, drink up...the water that is.

The world is my playground.

Other than my wife being out of town and the Redskins losing it was an all around great day yesterday.  Made it to boot camp after about a week off.  Although I did not stay for the second part of class.  I was thinking all day that the game was at the normal start time of 8:30, luckily I was informed of the 7 PM start time or I would have missed most of the game.  After class I shot over to Weight Watchers and pulled in a 3.2 pound loss, booyah!!  Felt great to get the gain off from my last weigh in.  Gotta keep focus this week and pull off another great loss next week.  Yesterday was also my first class with our new trainer Kristina.  Great class and my legs are definitely sore today, not to fear though I am sure I will loosen them up tonight with the 7 miler I have planned.  This will be my longest run yet and there is something about a run of this length, you actually get to a euphoric feeling when you are complete, a runner's high.  I don't feel it after a 3 or 4 miles but once you get up to 7 miles I think you burn though all your bodies natural resources and all that is left is the feeling that you accomplished something great.  Even though it will be hot as blazes tonight, I long for that runner's high, it's going to be awesome!

Also finally have my bike fixed up and repaired from the pedal breaking off.  I am thinking this Friday I will head over to Laurel Hill and ride till it gets dark.  If I ride all of the trails shown on the map it's about 10+ miles total.  I love this trail and it very similar riding to what I will be doing for the MOCO Epic 25 miler.  It has been a few weeks since I have been able to ride and I am beyond excited to get back out on the trails.  Really need to make sure I am riding twice a week until the race, especially since I have taken so much time off.

Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is how much I workout outside of the gym.  I have a gym membership but have not even been in a few months, since I got my sling off.  I used to think that the gym was my only place to workout, if I couldn't make it to the gym then I simply was just not going to workout.  I love working out outdoors, hot, cold, rain (although I still have not been able to get a rain run in yet... hmpf).  Well the heat sucks sometimes, like tonight its supposed to be close to 90 but you know what, hey I will sweat more, which means more weight loss!  You don't need a gym to workout, all you need is yourself, shoes (hell you don't even really need shoes), and a little motivation to just get your butt out the door.  Maybe that's one reason I love my boot camp so much, we are outside.  We spend so much time indoors it's nice for at least an hour a day to just be outside.  

Time to turn it on and get it in check.

I am feeling better after last week and my back is not bothering me at all.  I had not felt any pain in a few days but was thinking that after my run yesterday (a run usually agitates the nerve) that it would start hurting again.  Thankfully no pain at all.  Thank God!

I am back to boot camp this week and will be doing a class and half since our two classes have been combined.  It will be nice to add in another 30 minutes of exercise especially since we are about a month out from each of my races.  Time to turn it on a bit.  I just hope that I can stay injury free.  These injuries have really put a damper in my training.  I have missed several runs and boot camp classes.  I am getting a bit nervous with the running since I have not kept the plan the way I intended.  I have another long run tomorrow, 7 miles, so I will see how I feel on that run.  Yesterday I was doing some work around the house and decided to go for my weekend run right after I ate lunch, literally right after.  I was worried that if I waited too much longer that I would end up skipping it.  I had dinner plans and football was on so there were too many distractions that might keep me away from getting that run in.  So even though I just ate I said screw it I can do this and went for a run around Burke Lake.  Probably not the best idea.  I did complete the run but it was hard and I was cramping.  In hindsight I should have just waiting an hour and I would have been fine.  But if I waited that hour would I actually have made it out for the run??  We shall never know.  

I have not done too well with my eating this week either.  With the holiday dinner on Wednesday and eating more easily prepared food (Trader Joe's frozen food section...) since Hila is has been out of town, I could have done better.  We will see how I did tonight at the weigh in.  Honestly I am worried.  I had the big gain last time and really need to get this in check.  No more tomfoolery, from this point on I am on it.  Counting everything, no cheating and actually spending some time in the kitchen preparing more healthy meals.  If I stick to the plan and I can achieve my goals!!

Long run - check!

Finally got in my long run and it felt great.  I didn't know how I was going to feel with my back issues and the fact that I have missed a few runs recently so I just took off at a nice leisurely pace, a speed I know I could keep up with for a longer distance without walking and I actually had a really good run.  I was debating on how to get in 6 miles at Burke Lake.  I really didn't want to pass the finish line which is only 4.5 miles then continue on further then come back again, that kind of messes with the head some.  So all I did was run 3 miles around the lake and then turnaround.  Fantastic idea and worked wonderfully.  Anything that makes a run/workout easier on the brain is good for me.  The more I have to think about it or the more I have to worry about it the harder it becomes.  For me the out and back run is the best mentally.  You know that as far as you run out you have to run back the same distance.

Probably won't have time tonight to get a workout in with family coming over for dinner.  But I will be at boot camp tomorrow with the new class and new instructor.  So we are combining two different classes, our's that starts at 5:30 and the adjacent class that starts at 6.  One good thing about that is any day where I want to workout for an hour and half instead of an hour all I have to do is stick around for the end of the other class.  That will definitely be in the cards on the days that I can.

Tonight is going to be tough with food.  I will take pictures but I can assure you that there will be a full spread on the table tonight.  I even hear there is a special surprise for dessert, I will take a picture and you can try to guess what it is.  Unless you have had it before, I bet you can't guess.

Some success and some failures this weekend.

Some success and some failures this weekend.  I did not make it three for three this weekend and what I skipped was my long run...again.  Not good.  I will be back at it tonight, I am thinking Burke Lake or somewhere where I can get close to 5 or 6 miles in.  I cannot blame anything other than laziness for my missing the run.  We were out and about all weekend but I could have fit it in, I chose not to.  I chose to stay home and hang with the missus.  I should have run, oh well all that means now is that I need to get back out there and do it.  Tomorrow is a family holiday dinner so not sure I will be able to make to bootcamp then either.  We are also supposed to find out about our new trainer at some point today.  No clue who he/she is going to be but looks like I am going to miss the first and second workout with him/her regardless.  I will have to get the inside scoop from one of the girls in class.

We did make it to the Labor Day boot camp class yesterday though.  Something like 40 plus people and CFC raised over $500 for the Life with Cancer house, an absolutely great charity.  So proud to be a part of that.

This should be an interesting two weeks.  Hila is going to be out of town for most of the next 10 days and I will be on my own.  I will need to make all my own meals, if I am being honest that NEVER happens.  I am spoiled rotten, everything about my meals is taken care of for me.  We went shopping yesterday so I have everything I would need to be successful while she was away.  It will be difficult but I will work through it...somehow.  I just need to plan in advance and make sure I actually spend the time prepping and preparing good healthy food.  It's just so damn easy to order out.  Usually the portions are huge and always less healthy than if they are prepared in the house.  At least when you prepare the meal yourself you know exactly what is going into the food.  I struggle with eating healthily when we order out.  I feel like if I am paying for it then I am going to get what I want.  That mentality has not worked for me in the past.  So while I may order something one night while she is away, I will be preparing all food myself most every other night.  Wish me luck.

Just saw this picture and thought it was fitting since its exactly how I felt after missing the run this weekend.

The hardest part of any workout is just getting there...

Wow, what a weekend it has been so far.  There have been so many events that I don't really know where to begin.  I will just start at the beginning:

Friday - Off to the National's game we went.  My goal was to avoid the pizza, failed.  My goal was three beers, failed.  Now looking at the bright side, as a group we ordered a pizza so I only had two small pieces instead of the massive slice they serve you if you just order one slice.  (I counted it as 8 points a piece).  Secondly, I ended up having four beers, I mean it's a baseball game OK?  What really got me was the snacking on the ballpark peanuts.  While great, totally unnecessary.  A few small handfuls added up to 6 points and didn't really do anything for me.  I would have rather had another slice of tomato pie.

Saturday - Now things get interesting.  My wife, Hila has started what she calls the Girlfriend 5K.  What she has done is get a group of her girlfriends together and they have all agreed to run a race in October.  She has somehow been able to get 17 girls to agree to do this, phenomenal woman, my wife.  What a fantastic idea.  In the group of girls there are all different fitness levels, from marathon runners to girls who don't even prefer to drive 26.2 miles.  They are doing a program called Couch to 5K.  This is one of the most basic running plans I have ever seen but the idea is obviously to get someone from couch potato level to 5K running level in 8 weeks.  For us who are active we have forgotten about the first couple workouts/runs where we literally wanted to die after the workout.  I am reminded of these times again seeing the girls here yesterday.  Some of the girls met here at the house and all ran together.  I really like this.  What I like about it is the fact that not only are these girls working together, even the stronger runners are participating in the run/walk program as well.  The non-runners need time to get acclimated to running and we all know that takes time.  I am really proud of all these girls and I wish them the best of luck on their training in the upcoming weeks.

While the girls were doing their run, I also ran and did a quick 3 miler (27 minutes 55 seconds - fastest run yet!!)  Afterwards all this the girls hung out for breakfast, and what did they have???  My Chocolate Smoothie!!!  A smashing success, all the girls loved  it.  Just seeing this picture makes me want one.  So I have to give props where props is due.  While we were making these smoothies, one of the girls, Hilary suggested adding some instant coffee to the mix to add a type of java flavor.  Let me tell you that it worked, I will definitely be doing that again!  Thanks Hilary.

Here is a group shot of the lovely ladies (plus mascots) post workout and breakfast.  (Team WTF - Where's the Finish?!)

Later in the day Saturday we had a few friends over to BBQ and ended up lighting up the fire pit.  My main concern with this was making sure I watched was I was eating and drinking.  This was the second night in a row of having an abundance of options for food and drink.  We all pitched in and helped with food and grilling and all in all I would say it was another smashing success.  I did end up using 59 points but I had been saving my weekly's and planning accordingly.  I also used some of my activity points but I feel great because I kept things in check and did not wake up today regretting any severe buffoonery.  Plus any night when the fire pit is burning is a great night in my book.

For breakfast this morning Hila made me a healthy version of Eggs Benedict.  Soo good.  Yes yes, I am that lucky!!!

At some point today I need to fit in a 6 mile run.  We have to go out around lunch time so I am thinking it will be later in the day, hopefully it does not get too hot.  Maybe it will rain and I will finally get my rain run in, I have been wanting to try that for weeks.  My boot camp program in having a Labor Day charity boot camp class tomorrow in Vienna at 8 AM, definitely going to that!!  I love that I know I have a committed workout scheduled and I don't have to worry about getting myself to the gym or out for a run.  For me the hardest part of any workout is just getting there...

Just going to take a little bit of discipline.

Boot camp Monopoly was a smashing success, as was happy hour for Jen.  I had to modify some of the exercises because of my back, the burpees and push ups.  Other than that I did feel some pain but was able to make it through class without issue.  My teammate this time was Allison and we did not win.  Not only was I taking it slow so as not to injure myself we were also sent to Jail 8 times, I blame Allison and her rolling of the dice.  So that was quite a few times that we did no pass go that we did not collect our $200 (1 point).  We did 6 complete laps and the winners did 12.  Yes, we got crushed this time.  Regardless it was a lot of fun.

Going to be yet again another tough weekend, I forgot it was a three day holiday weekend.  Tonight we are off to the National's game, goal for the evening enjoy a beer or three but avoid the pizza, there is just something about ball game pizza.  Mmm mmm good.  At some point I am sure we will meet up with some friend types for a few drinks or just to hang out, might be a good weekend to light up the grill and the fire pit again.  Been too long on that front.  Just need to make sure not to over do it on the drinking or eating.  To be make these right decisions is just going to take a little bit of discipline but I can do it even if I might not want to at the time.

As far as workouts I need to fit in a 6 miler and maybe a Saturday boot camp depending on how tonight goes.  Since I have had so many days off I think I really need to make it three for three with workouts and days off this weekend.  Yet again more discipline.  I also am not sure if Weight Watchers is open on Monday so I may shoot over at some point to weigh in, need to make sure I have dropped that ungodly 3.8 pounds from last weekend.

All in all I am beyond excited for a long weekend.  Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

A hectic couple of days.

Where to begin?  It has been an eventful few days for sure.  So I last posted about some back issues I was having, well my back bothered me all weekend but today it finally feels like its getting better.  It's not quite 100% but close enough to get back to working out again.  Three days off definitely helped.  Yesterday after a 4 hour drive home from the beach I immediately changed into running clothes and took off out the door for a quick 3 miler.  It was hard to do but I am beyond happy that I did so.  My back bothered me the entire time but I needed to do something after this weekend.  The run itself felt great, too bad my back was hurting because I could have kept on running.  Because of this back issue I have now missed my long run for the week which was supposed to be 6 miles.  Looks like tomorrow I will have to get that run in, I cannot miss the long runs, they are the most important.

We left for the beach first thing Saturday morning and came home yesterday afternoon, there was a lot of eating out and not a whole lot of watching what I ate, other than watching it go from the plate to my mouth.  I could have done better with the eating but at this point it is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it.  Saturday night we did get crab legs which is one of my favorite things to do.  I skip the butter and just dip the meat in a mixture of vinegar and old bay.  I also do my best to skip all the fried food they give you which is really just to fill you up so you eat less crabs.  I did reach a point where I made myself stop eating which I am very glad that I did.  I could sit and eat crabs for hours but I knew I was at a point where I was just unnecessarily forcing it in when I was already satisfied.

We will see how the weigh in goes tonight.  I missed last week so it should be twice as much weight loss as normal but its been a hectic two weeks with being out of town each weekend, having family stay with us and quite a bit of eating out.   I still feel pretty good about it.  

One thing I am excited about is getting back to a full week of boot camp.  I only went to class twice last week and I truly miss it.  It is so hard to get into a routine of working out but once you are there it actually becomes part of your life.  It becomes the norm.  Plus this week is the last week we have with our trainer Jen, she is moving so we have to make the best of the time we have left.  

Workout for the day complete by 7 AM!!!

Thank you Burke CFC for hosting me this morning.  Great class even with the massive back spasm I had and am still having.  I never get to come to this class since its M, W, F from 6 AM to 7 AM, even though it is literally at the end of my street.  I always have to be at work at this time.  Well not today suckers!!!!  I am off, I cannot remember the last time I had a mid-week day off, its glorious.  And by 7 AM my workout is complete.  I love it.  I am off because we have family in town staying with us and I wanted to be able to spend sometime with them.   I am not sure what we are going to do today but a trip to the farmers market is definitely in the cards, need to stock up on some fresh fruits and veggies for the week.

It's been a few days so let me update the workouts this week.  Monday I got to class a bit early and ran 2 miles beforehand.  Yesterday I left work early, came straight home and squeezed in a little 3 miler just because I could (28 min so that's a 9:20 pace, finally getting a bit faster!).  Went to boot camp this morning and I will go to boot camp again tomorrow.  I have been using Friday's as my rest day and going to boot camp on Saturday mornings.  But this weekend we are off to the beach for the weekend so I might try to do something Friday since I really have no idea how or when I will be able to workout this weekend.  Even with all that I still need to run a 5 or 6 miler at some point.  It's really difficult to manage all these extra curricular activities and maintain a health lifestyle while training for the Army 10 miler.  Somehow I will find a way to make it work.

So I thought I would be able to post some of the pics of us running the Mud Factor but go figure you have to buy the pictures and they are $7 - $20 each.  Which is complete BS.  I would love to get a copy but I am definitely not paying more money for this race.  Oh well, can't win them all...

I am not a natural runner.

If I am being completely honest I do not enjoy running.  I do find that it is necessary in all aspects of fitness and athleticism, that does not mean I like it.  I have run one half marathon and something like 7 or 8 10 milers.  Yes I enjoy the feeling after a run and even sometimes have enjoyed the run itself but more often than not that is not the case.  I am not a natural runner, it does not come easy to me, I have to work at it constantly just to be a below average runner.  I struggled with the 5 mile run last night, a lot.  The minute I walked in the door afterwards I told Hila that I am not meant to be a runner.  Her response was "It takes time, and it's also hard since you are running at the hottest part of the day.  Wait until it's 60 degrees and you go for a morning run, its glorious!"  I am hoping she is right, it was hot and the run sucked yesterday but at least it's done.  I did my weekly long run last night since I won't be able to do it on Sunday because we have plans.  I also have to remind myself that I only started this training plan three weeks ago, that is not much time at all in the grand scheme of things.  It has to get better, it just has to.  I will keep to it and push through as best I can but sometimes it hard to keep your head up when each run seems harder than the last.  I know eventually it will get easier and maybe I am trying to run too long of distances right off the bat but I am definitely struggling.

Boot camp tonight and tomorrow, I will probably take Friday off since Saturday morning we have a 5K mud run in Maryland called Mud Factor.  It is not going to be anything crazy like a Tough Mudder but should still be fun.  I love doing all the obstacles, that is by far my favorite part.  And as far as the running goes its only 3.1 miles.  That I can do!