Texas Stew and lots of laps

I was wearing shorts in the afternoon and had to be in some heavy clothes this evening.  Temperature was near 50 and then snowing tonight.  Crazy!

Today was a good day though for some stew.  I made a recipe called Texas Stew.  It was delicious!  It has been one of my favorite meals so far this year that we've eaten.  Actually, it was awesome.

 

I really can't wait until I get to have some leftovers. 

 

..........

 

Last night I got to play some basketball over at the church.  We had been having a lot of guys just show up that we had never met and causing some fights.  No fist fights but I do believe that it was heading there.  We had taken a break for a while from playing and that break helped weed out the guys that were the hotheads.

 

I noticed though that I was out of breath a lot faster than I used to be.  So...

 

that means that I need to get in better shape.

 

...so I ran laps at the gym.

 

 

 

Fillings. Beards. and Wife

I got that filling fixed yesterday morning.  I'm so thankful for that!  When I got back into my office I checked out my facebook and saw this story...

(googled "clear facial piercing" for this pic)

 

I don't mind piercings and plugs and stuff as I've had multiple piercings. This just seems creepy to me.  Granted, I might have grown a bit of a phobia of dentists through my latest dentist experiences but I can just see the lens, or the metal from the loop, constantly knocking against my teeth. 

Anyhow, I'm DOWN to 208.8 lbs.  That's less than 9 lbs from ONEderland again.  It'd be nice to get down there.  Also, I've shaved my beard.

The beard reached just over 3 inches during that 3 month period (I grow a beard like a man...and some women).

 

Now it's trimmed 1/2 inch long beard.

 

And this is how my wife has been waking up next to me each morning...just to keep all of you in the loop.

 

 

1 Month Strong and down 10 lbs

Since posting the last time - I've been working at losing some of this weight.

I'm down to 210 lbs and have been soda free for 1 month now.

What has helped with the soda free deal is the dentist.  yeah, the dentist always tells you to not drink soda because of all of the acidic stuff in the soda or to at least drink through a straw.  Well, I do drink through a straw most of the time but this was much different than just a cleaning the last trip to the dentist.

I had to have a tooth extracted and it was a difficult extraction (and broke a recent new filling and you can't have all of the carbonation and such when the healing is taking place.  It's been pretty easy to give up the soda.  I believe the hardest part was the no drinking of soda during the Christmas dinners and New Year's party.  It worked out though for the best.  I go to have a temporary filling removed on Tuesday and the permanent one put in.

It was a crazy ordeal and one that I'll be glad to be done with.

Challenge Accepted: 2 Hour Half Marathon

A few weeks ago on HIMYM, Barney accepted a list of challenges from Lilly and Robin on picking up women.  If you know anything about the show - Barney will accept the challenge before hearing it...and even when he puts forth the challenge himself.

Nobody has challenged me to the 2 hour half marathon and for many marathoners, especially successful ones, a 2 hour Half seems a little slow.  How about this though, my first (and only) Half Marathon was completed in 2hr 35min.  I'd be trying to cut 35 minutes from that initial time. 

I've gained some weight since that race as well.  I'd say around 25 lbs I've added since running that Half Marathon. 

Today I weigh 220 lbs. 

To be able to get a 2 hr Half Marathon under my belt - it's going to take a lot of discipline, determination, and self-control.  I want to do something to focus my winter time so that I don't gain 20 more lbs and since I love running - this seems like a legitimate and achievable goal.

So, here's to you Barney Stinson - challenge accepted.

5 Rules for Getting Started

Figuring out your starting point is vital to being successful in pursuing quality health. No one ever realizes how unhealthy they are until it hits them at the doctor’s office or on the home scale. Health just does not come in terms of a number on a scale however, but getting rid of the excess fat from the body is a good starting point.

 

1.  Write down your Starting Weight.  Yes, this does mean that you need to use the scale that is in your bathroom.  It does not have to be a bad thing.  We can lie all day long but accepting where you are only allows the opportunity to speak from the point from which you’ve conquered.

 

2.  Calculate your BMI or Body Mass Index.  You can do that HERE for an idea of where you are at.  If you have a gym near you, a trainer would probably take their time to help you out and also give you a free workout as a tryout.  It doesn’t hurt to ask and to receive professional help.

 

3.  Physically, write out a plan and make it viewable on a regular basis.  Give yourself a challenge or level that you can embrace mentally.  If you would’ve told me that I would be running 13.1 miles without stopping when I first started my health journey – I would have laughed in your face.  When starting, write out a plan that you can mentally embrace and push for.  It’s important to be able to see it as achievable.

 

4.  Be in prayer about your health journey.  This isn’t a diet.  A diet is “something that you regularly have or take part in” (my definition); this means that if you daily eat cake and soda than you have a diet of cake and soda.  This is a life change, a journey to become healthy.  We pray about every other part of our lives but only about our health when we go to the hospital or get diagnosed with something.  Pray about this too.

 

5. Walk out the door.  This is the follow-through.  Everything listed before this can happen and you still fail.  Be bold and walk out the door.  Go and be active.  Don’t be afraid.  Be strong and conquer what has conquered you to this point.


(pic from google image "getting started" search)

vbs mohawk

man with a plan. nope, just a stroller

I jogged for the first time with a stroller. 

Blake loved it.

I felt weird.

Everyone smiled at me and said Good Morning.  Even the one chick that never says Good Morning said Good Morning.

I think I'll do it again - run with the stroller. 

Blake got to play at the park after the run since we were already there for the path that winds in and around the park.  It's so nice to have that just across the street so that when I wake up, I can eat my breakfast and then get Blake out of bed and dressed and then go for my morning workout.  this makes 9 or 10 days in a row that I've gotten up on time...early that is...and gone for a workout. The one day that I did not work out was on purpose as I get up early anyways on Sunday so that I can get over to the church (my place of employment).

A.C.E. A.C.E. Ace

That is my ACE chant for volleyball.

Killed it in volleyball last night.  I don't know what happened but it seemed that the volleyball would not go anywhere except to the perfect position of a set for me to spike it.

I loved it. 

We played for probably almost three hours last night.  Only ten people showed up and so we played best of 7 games and our team won four out of six so we called it quits.  It was evenly matched and some great volley.ing going on.

This morning I was pretty sore.  I felt like an old man getting out of bed but I got up on time and still made it to the park for some exercise to get this thing back into shape.  Well, honestly, I am not 'out of shape' since I am always active, but I'm not where I want to be definitely. 

I'll keep it going!