I learned a lot today

While cutting the grass or riding my bike, I'm alone with my thoughts and I get to think about a lot of stuff.  You can add jogging to that list of time when I get to think.  I was out for about 20 minutes today and it gave me time to ponder.

I learned that wearing just any old hat isn't smart.  Most of the caps I wear keep a lot of the heat in.  I'm sure runners wear some sort of breathable hat made specifically for them, but I'm not yet that advanced.  We're having a bit of an Indian Summer this year, yesterday was in the 80s and I think it's supposed to be there for the next few days...think I'll just go topless this week.

I learned that I don't enjoy running into the wind any more than I did riding my bike into the wind.  I figured it would be easier to run into the wind rather than ride because the speed you're moving isn't as great and you wouldn't be as affected.  Pretty sure I was wrong about that.  Running into the wind sucks even more than riding.

I learned (actually, I learned this the first day I ran) that just because you can ride a bike for two hours doesn't mean you're in shape to run for two hours...or five minutes.  It seems cross training is the way to go.  After finishing three rounds of P90X, I figured I could do anything.  Then I went for a bike ride and thought I was going to die.  It seemed none of the muscles that strenthened during P90X were the same muscles I used for riding a bike.  I figured after riding my bike for between 100-125 miles every week for a couple of months that the transition to jogging would be simple.  Yeah, not so much. 

I learned that one little chink in your running armor can be a problem.  Today I felt good about everything.  I'm doing a better job of stretching (don't want to hurt my groin), the weather was nice, and I was looking forward to setting a new personal record (more on that later).  I started off nice and slow.  My lungs were fighting me early on, but they soon relented and gave in.  My legs felt good.  So, the two parts that have been holding me back the most were cooperating.  Then a mile or so in, the outside of my shin near my ankle started to get tight.  I've been stretching it quite a bit lately, but it did no good today.  It really pissed me off.  I stopped once to stretch it a bit more, but stopping only made it worse.  But, I'm a warrior, so I kept going.

After I got home and had some Gatorade, I hopped in the shower.  There I learned that my 8-year old spills more soap than I use.  We use the liquid soap and one of those scrunchy things.  When Hayden gets through in shower, not only am I left with a wet towel, but I have to dodge all the drops of slippery soap in the tub.   Today I did nothing more than take the scrunchy and rub all over the soap bottle and it was plenty.

Mostly what I learned today, though, is that I'm one fat bastard who is in awful shape.  I've not been sharing all the results from my runs because they're embarrassingly bad.  I'm changing that today.  Since I mostly pick on people for everything, he's your chance to turn the tables and take a few shots at me. 

I got on the scale today and after laughing, the scale showed the numbers 1, 9, and 0.  I started working part-time three months ago and I weighed 178 at that point, so in 14 weeks I've gained 12 pounds.  Pretty impressive.

My first run was on 10/9.  I think I had a small heart attack that day...because I ran 0.91 miles.  Yep, that was it.  I couldn't even run a mile.  Pathetic.

Yesterday I felt pretty good about things and was all prepared to top 2 miles on a run.  My shin issue (I'm not sure what exactly shin splints is/are, it might be that) killed that and I topped out at 1.91 miles.  Today I did finally cross that 2-mile barrier with a whopping 2.07 miles, but my average speed was down to 5.93 MPH because of the stop. 

I've shown some improvement since I started running a couple weeks ago, but I'm still a fat bastard.  That's stopping as soon as the football game ends tonight.  I'm cutting my beer, root beer and potato chip intake in half.  I'm cutting out (most) desserts. 

Until I hit 179.9 pounds or less, only one beer a night.  A root beer for dinner, not lunch and dinner.  A handful of chips with the nightly beer, not a bag of chips.  Desserts only for special occasions, not just because the day ended in a 'Y.' 

I'm pretty sure I hit rock bottom today.  I hate being fat and worse, I hate feeling fat.  Jennifer and I went to Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner on Saturday.  I wore jeans.  My gentlemen's region is still bitching about the smashing they took.

I look and feel like crap (thank God I'm still good looking).  My goal is to be hot again by Thanksgiving so I can get fat all over again.