Throwing in the towel

Well, not quite, but I've got the towel in my hand. 

Today was beautiful out.  55 degrees and mostly overcast with the sun popping its head out occasionally.  Since I don't have to be at work til 12:30 or so today, it was the perfect opportunity to run as long as I pleased.  I set my goal at 4 miles, thinking that would allow me to work up a crazy mess of a sweat and drops some unwanted water weight so I could hit my longer term goal of weighing less than 180 by Thanksgiving.

I had a good, long run on Saturday, ran a couple miles Sunday morning and Sunday night, then ran a couple more miles yesterday morning.  Originally I wanted to put in a couple more miles last night, but as night approached, I wasn't feeling it and combined with the fact that I had a lot of free time planned for this morning, I just decided to give myself a break.

Slightly refreshed, I headed out today for what I'd hoped was a 4-mile run.  However, it didn't take long to realize I didn't have it today.  I don't know what 'it' was, but I knew immediately that whatever 'it' was, it was lacking.  I could tell I was running at a slower pace than usual, and even at the slower pace it was hard to maintain. 

After one mile, I pulled up lame and walked a bit.  I made it home to finish the second mile, and again, pulled up lame and walked.  At that point, I was starting to get annoyed but then I remembered on Saturday, when I went for my longest run yet, it was after taking a full day off of doing nothing...something I haven't done yet this week.

I made it another half mile before walking, then another half mile before walking, then another half mile, and so on.  I hated doing so much walking, but several people have told me it doesn't matter how fast you go it's all about finishing.  So, I finished the day at just over 5 and a quarter miles.  I was proud of that, given how the day went, but felt pretty indifferent about the experience as a whole.

After peeling off my clothes and hopping in the shower, I topped the scale at 182.2.  Given that a small group of us are getting together tomorrow night for a Thansgiving Get-Together, I've got to see 179.9 by tomorrow and that's pretty unlikely at this point. 

In looking back as some previous posts, I'd down 8 pounds in 4 weeks.  That sounds good to some people, but I should have lost more by now.  My cousin, Bryan, hit the nail on the head when he said training for a mini-marathon would be more about maintaining weight than losing it because I'm burning more calories and have no choice but to consume more to provide energy.  The same thing happened a few years ago.  I ran over 100 miles in one month and didn't lose a pound.  I was eating full meals 4-5 times a day.

After the holiday, I'll re-evaluate and consider smaller runs a couple times a day to kick start my metabolism, with a longer run on the weekend.  I'll likely set my goal to not only run a mini next summer, but to see 169.9 pounds.