by Jaime

Oh yes, I have a secret weapon...a weapon so secrety, in fact, I was not even aware of it myself. This puts my weapon a full degree of sneakiness over anything James Bond has ever had. I never saw a movie where say, his shoelaces flew off and strangled a guy when he didn't even know they were special. I'm getting off topic.

Luckily, as predicted, I lost interest in Air Supply this weekend, and found something new to obsess over - the length of the trail around Gear for Sports headquarters near my house. I can google map the distance to and from the trail, because I'm always running on a sidewalk by a road. The trail itself is a different story - no road for google to follow, so the best I could estimate was 1K. And that seemed like a logical size for a trail.

The problem was that I seemed to be running the 5K round trip to/from the trail a lot faster than my loops around the trail. And the trail is the best terrain - mostly level, soft surface - ideally where I'd be running the fastest. So the obsessing began - am I running more than I think? Or somehow less? How does this affect my plans for the half-marathon at the end of this month??

I finally called this morning, and the verdict is in - 0.8 miles. The trail is longer than the 0.62 miles (1K) I'd been estimating. Mystery solved - I appeared to be running faster on the sidewalks because I was underestimating how long the trail was. This is awesome news, because it means I can run faster than I previously thought. It also means I've been getting more of a workout, especially on the longer runs where I do more loops around the trail.

Take saturday. I thought I ran 13K (8 miles) - 5K round trip plus 8 times around the track. But that's actually more like 15.3K (9.5 miles). This is HUGE. I now need to figure out how to confirm this - possibly by biking out to the trail and using the odometer. If this is accurate, then I'm a hell of a lot more prepared for that half marathon than I thought. As Kirk Van Houten would say, "I'm a superstar at the cracker factory."

by Jaime

Okay, this is starting to freak me out. Just for fun and laughs, I looked up that Air Supply video on youtube last night. Then the video ended, and the list of recommended vids popped up, and boom - another song I recognized. Then another. And another. Here's the list:

• Lost in Love
• All Out of Love
• Every Woman in the World
• Even the Nights are Better
• Making Love Out of Nothing at All

I am bothered by two things. First, my parents were apparently rabid Air Supply fans, because I remember hearing these songs all the time during my formative preschool years. Second, growing up I thought these were all man-woman love duets. I thought they were singing to each other. Now I find out it's two men, and they're apparently singing to the same woman in some sort of twisted love triangle or Cyrano de Bergerac situation. I am now forced to reinterpret all of these songs based on this new information. Luckily, I'll lose interest in a few hours, and we can put this whole thing behind us.

by Jaime

I feel like such an idiot, I neglected half of the story with my little lesson on air. Aside from just not over-exerting yourself, the other half of air is...well, breathing. I find on the longer runs especially, I focus a lot on my breathing, and it helps. Here are some pointers:

Breath at a steady pace.
I happen to do best breathing in for two steps, then out for two steps, but figure out what works for you.

Make the most of each breath.
Don't try to max out your lung capacity on every breath, but make sure they're deep enough to really soak up that oxygen.

Don't wait.
This is the most important tip I can give you: start breathing well, right at the beginning of your workout. Don't wait until you've got $1 left in that imaginary account to start budgeting. Air is kind of like water - humans have a hard time knowing when they're low on either. Breathe right, before you think you need to.

Oh, and stay in school, keep off drugs, etc.

by Jaime

Let's take a test:

Are you lost in love?
Don't know much?

If so, then your google search for Air Supply has led you horribly astray. I'm talking about how you manage your oxygen on long workouts. Sometimes I forget that I had the benefit of a great cross country coach in high school who started every friday practice in the classroom. I should start sharing more of what I learned.

Some Back Story

I've decided to go for broke, and run the Olathe Half Marathon at the end of this month. Today I began more race-specific training, by dedicating Saturdays to an extended run to prepare for the 13.1 mile race. That's about 21K. Today I ran 13K, and I'll increase that by two each Saturday until the race. I'll limit my weekday jogs to about 8K.

The Lesson

The fact is, you can probably run/walk/whatever a lot farther than you think, just by managing how you breathe. 13K drained me, but it was possible because I never let my oxygen supply get too low. Analogy time. Say you open a shiny new bank account with $1,000. Every week you earn another $1,000, and life is good UNLESS you spend more than that. If you overspend, eventually that account will run dry.

Your body is like that account. At the beginning of a run, your body has all the oxygen stores it needs. Breathing is how you replenish that supply as you run. But exert too much effort, and you will slowly drain that supply as your workout progresses. The trick is to find the level of effort where you're replacing the oxygen as quickly as you use it. At this speed, you'll find you can run almost forever. Today, I was able to run for just over 2 hours, and that's saying something - 2.5 months ago, I weighed 300 pounds.

The key is to never work hard enough to get winded. Once that happens, it's hard to recover. As a bonus, you tend to burn the most fat when you're in an aerobic (fully oxygenated) state, so it's a 2-for-1 sort of deal. By relaxing just a little, you may be able to turn a 30 minute workout into a full hour, and even with the lower effort, you'll still burn near twice the calories.

UPDATE: I just watched the video to Lost in Love and I am absolutely blown away that both voices in that song were men. I never knew that.

by Adriene

I meant to write this yesterday but I totally forgot.   So yesterday was a very strange day, not like any other I have had since starting this diet.  I woke up and ate breakfast like I normally do.  As the morning progressed I started feeling a weird sensation in my tummy and it took me a while but I finally realized that my stomach was actually growling...I was starving!  I really should have eaten a small snack but I was afraid to try it when I was so hungry so I just put off eating until Lunch.  Well, here comes the second strange thing.....I all of the sudden had an overwhelming urge to eat MEAT.  Yep, I went into the fridge and finished off the brisket we had brought home from the weekend which was probably about 8-10oz and then I ate a piece of left over ham from the night before.  That was my entire lunch, just meat.  After eating it my craving was gone and I then started to realize what I had done.  It's funny how binge eating works, you truely don't realize you are even eating, you just get caught up in the craving..... until it's done and you think back to what all you ate.  I am really hoping my binge didn't spoil my weigh-in for tomorrow.

On another note I was thrilled that was able to run a small distance. I am not a runner...I just never seem to have enough oxygen when I run and can usually only make it a block or so before having to stop.  Today I was actually able to run 3 times around a small gym and I felt pretty good...so good that I called Jaime at work during lunch and told him of the good news.  I could tell he was having a very hard time trying not to laugh but he was still supportive.  Thank you sweetie!

by Jaime

This is awesome. My last good run was a week ago exactly. Since then, I fell ill Thursday night, through Friday. I tried to run on Saturday, and eeked out a decent 65 minute jog. It was tough, and it was clear I wasn't ready to run again. A busy weekend kept me from recovering, and this was the first night I felt up to it. It couldn't have gone better. This is only the second time I've run 10K. A few weeks ago, it took me 108 minutes. This time, it took 93! I shaved off fifteen minutes.

I thought about running 2K more, but two things stopped me. First, Adriene and I had planned to try some new coffee I'd picked up, and it would have been 10pm before I got home. Second, as I finished up 7.5K, which is when I had to decide, I felt like my oxygen level was low. I know it sounds funny, but I can tell.

So, with just two days left before weigh-in, I finally got some exercise. I only hope I can do as well tomorrow night, and put up a decent weight loss on Friday.

by Jaime

Well, I haven't posted for a couple days, but I've had some good excuses.

First of all, I'm happy to announce a new blog I've started, called KC on Rails. I'm a web programmer by trade, and this year I started programming in Ruby on Rails. I'm hoping to get a community of Rails developers going here in KC, and that blog is part of the effort.

Also, I've been recovering from a stomach bug that hit me last friday. I ran a decent 6K workout on Saturday up in Omaha, but that was probably a mistake. I wasn't ready yet. So I took the next couple days off, and it felt good. Almost too good. So no matter what, I'm hitting the road tonight and getting a good (but easy) run in.

Oh, and if you have any remote interest in what I do, visit my new blog!

by Jaime

For this blog entry, I had several good topics at hand. The front runner was actually a tribute and funny imaginary letter to Ted Nugent, whose music helped me eek every last ounce of effort out of a recent jog. It even had a catchy title - "Ted Nugent Gave Me the Runs".

But this entire weekend has been overshadowed by something that happened late friday afternoon, before our two day trip to Nebraska. My boss called me into his office and told me he was unhappy with my performance over the last couple months. Right off the bat, I want to say I'm not fired, he's not angry, and I think the whole meeting opened a good dialog about some communication issues we'd been having, in both directions.

You're about to read a story that is still being written. Obviously, it's a delicate topic, and I'm going to treat it that way. I don't want to offend or disparage anyone, especially those who sign my paycheck. But it's something I'm going through, and this is my journal that helps me make sense of things like this. So here goes.

The Meeting.

My boss was very complimentary of my work and abilities. There was no shortage of praise for what what I can do as a programmer. His concern was that I seem to have lost focus over the last several weeks, as if I no longer "care" about my projects. The more I thought about that, the more I think he's right.

He and I have been working very closely over the last couple months on a couple of projects. This is way more "boss time" than I'm used to having. That, coupled with some differences of opinion, has left me frustrated. I have to admit that while I've tried to remain professional about it, there's no substitute for actually being happy, and I'm sure it's started to affect my productivity.

So on to the weekend.

Hollywood Offers Its Advice.

A wise woman, Bruce Wayne's love interest in Batman Begins, said this: "It's not who you are underneath; it's what you do that defines you." Remember this, it will become relevant later. And technically that didn't happen this weekend, but I remembered it this weekend, and it's my blog, dammit.

Morgan Strikes a Chord.

This has nothing to do with her newfound Guitar Hero addiction. She recently ran her first road race after losing over 95 pounds, but mentioned still having trouble calling herself an athlete. I commented on her blog, saying that it's not how you look or whom you beat that makes you an athlete - it's what you do. Running several times a week, even before competing, makes you an athlete. Do you see the theme developing?

I Learn About my Great Grandfather.

Apparently my great grandfather was beloved by all. During the depression when employment was impossible, he would volunteer to unload produce trucks. At the end of the day he was given a basket or two to take home. Produce perishes fast in a pre-fridge world, so he fed not only his family but his neighbors as well.

If it helps/educates/enlightens, he was a legal mexican migrant worker. To me, he embodies the spirit of America, and he's one of the many people I owe thanks for the great life I have. Back then, he had the wit and skills to survive, where my particular gifts would have probably made me a starving, out of work cotton gin mechanic.



Ben Folds Offers His 3.6 Cents.

If you've ever heard One Down (3.6 To Go) by Ben Folds, my favorite part is:

I could be bussing tables,
I could well be pumping gas.
But I get paid much finer
for playing piano, and kissing ass.

That poetic, profanity-laced recognition that no matter how high up we deem ourselves, everything is a gift. My intellect, my (unusual) education, my upbringing, my opportunities.

The Reading at Sunday Mass.

Finally, it was Church time, and the gospel was about a blind man that Jesus cured. When questioned by angry Jesus-haters, he said, "I don't know if he's a sinner. I just know I was blind, and now I can see.". Being a 30 year old Catholic, it's safe to assume I've heard this same line exactly 30 times - once a year, the 4th Sunday of Lent. But today it clicked. So let's wrap this up, kids.

If you didn't pee earlier, we're almost done.

Batman's girlfriend, my great grandfather, Ben Folds, the man formerly known as blind, and even me, giving advice to a friend: we all knew the same fundamental lesson. Our labels don't matter. Even our past (and future) accomplishments or failures are secondary. It's what you do that counts. If I AM a man who can quote every bible verse (I'm not) but I don't look for every way to help others, I'm just not a good Christian. Well-versed (pun intented) is something you are. Helping is something you do. Which is more important? And I'm a great programmer. I'm a smart guy. But if I don't produce great work, it's kind of for nothing.

My boss and I have our differences. I'm sure there are things we could both be doing better. I'm going to work on mine, so I never have to wonder what I could have done differently. Like my best friend said when I brought up all this, there really is no excuse for not doing your best.

by Adriene

First of all, I know what you are thinking.....two blog entries in a row from Adriene, that's amazing!  To that I say, I TOTALLY AGREE, lol.    Anyways, this morning was our weigh-in day and I was very pleased by both of our progress.  Me not getting the workout I really wanted to yesterday didn't really affect me too much.  I actually made my goal of 1% plus a little extra!  YAY for me.  And Jaime had a very good week too, way over the 1% goal. 

I also found out yesterday that I am soooooo close in moving down a size in my jeans.  Currently I wear a size 18 but they are so baggie around the legs and butt that they feel more like clown pants.  The problem is my stomache isn't going down much so I can get my 16's on just fine and those are actually fitting a little loose in the legs but I can't quit button them yet.  My goal for this coming week is to get into those smaller jeans so I guess I will have to do more crunches and stuff. 

We are going back home for the weekend and my mother in law is a huge cooker so we are both a little concerned about our eating habits.  She is having a retirement party on Saturday and there is sure to be just tons and tons of awesome foods so we will have to be careful.  Luckily I have Lent on my side to take care of the sweets, that's what I gave up, but I am a sucker for everything else.  We will let you know how the weekend goes when it's over. 

Take Care

by Adriene

Tomorrow is the day, the weigh in day that is, and I am hopeful it will be a good one.  I say hopeful because I didn't get to workout today like I planned or wanted to because I think I am getting sick.  I just felt so run down today, tired and like my whole body was made of lead and I started a little cough and hurt all over.   I am hoping to make  my 1% this week! 

To all my friends reading this blog right now, yes my husband is a smartass but his sense of humor is one of the things I love most about him.  If you knew him like I do you would take his blogs lightly and actually find them a bit funny, much like I do. 

And to you my friend/neighbor Kate....I hope you are reading this (see I told you I do write blogs, lol) you know how Jaime can be and like I told you before he was not mad or upset at your family....it was just a frustrating day for him.  And like I told you before, this is a place where he likes to vent those frustrations....it's his journal and like any paper journal you write what you feel.  So please don't take offense to what happened as it was not intended to be that way.

I will post another blog tomorrow to let you all know about my weigh-in!

Night

by Jaime

This random picture shows a Happy Jaime.

I didn't realize this, but apparently if you don't know me very well and you read this blog, I might sound like an angry, disgruntled person. Nothing could be further from the truth! I'm quite happy, and extraordinarily gruntled. Here's the proof:

So let's put the smartassery (which is my trademark) aside for a minute. My wife told all her friends to start reading our blog, and apparently I rubbed some people the wrong way. I guess I just want to say two things. Again, no anger. Remember the smiley face above? Okay, I'd better hurry because I'm starting to be a smartass again

First, I have a dryer, more sarcastic sense of humor. In time, you will grow to love this about me. But I guess if you've only met me briefly (probably on the birthday circuit) you haven't gotten a chance to see that. The important thing to remember is you really can't take me too seriously, especially the stuff I write for all the world to see.

Second, if you read this blog often enough, I can guarantee you will catch me in a bad mood eventually. This is my journal, my log of what I'm going through as I attempt to lose 120 pounds. It has to be one of the biggest undertakings of my life, and I'm glad to say I'm a fourth of the way there. If anyone ever reads this for their own inspiration, I don't want them thinking it was a walk in the park.

So there you have it. Kate, I'm sorry if you were offended by my rant about one of your relatives. In all fairness, that person did offer me cake three times inside of a single minute, and it came at the end of a long weekend of temptation. I don't hate that person, in fact your whole family seems very nice. That's why I answered politely, kept my frustration to myself, and vented later on the internet.

Well, that's all for now. Please be warned, I will most certainly be a smartass again, the next time you read this blog. 

by Jaime

My friend Morgan made a comment a couple weeks ago about how you can be fat and fit. I agreed, but I'm really starting to live it now. And it's a good thing. When I look at how much I weigh now, I am much fitter on the way down than I was on the way up. That's because on the way up I wasn't running several miles a day, or watching what I ate. I dare say even 20-30 pounds lighter, I wasn't as fit as I am now.

The good news is that fit removes fat. Before, it was easy to gain weight - just keep doing what I was doing. Now the same is true in reverse. All I have to do is maintain the lifestyle I've cultivated for two full months now (well, it would be two full months if tomorrow wasn't a "magic" extra day), and I'll continue to shrink.

A couple of good indicators:

• My 2XL clothing, the staple of my wardrobe for the last year or so, is starting to look baggy. In a less and less attractive way.
• I never believed the women in the office when they complained about it being cold. Now, I'm starting to feel colder, and I think it's due to less insulation.
• I think my basic body shape is starting to return, which is awesome. I look cool with a lot of upper-body muscle, so I'm going to start working on that.

It absolutely blows my mind that Morgan can run as fast as she can, and that she would smoke me in a road race. I look forward to getting back to that level. I'm even going to start doing road races, and try to do 1-2 a month. The big goal is to run a half marathon at the KC Marathon this October. I might even bump it up to a full marathon, depending on how things go. I'll keep all (three) of you posted.

by Jaime

It's not often you can break both speed and distance records in the same run. But that's exactly what I did last night. Records since this year, of course, because I used to run a lot more in years past. Anyway, I had 90 minutes to run last night before being back home at 9 to watch Biggest Loser, which we'd recorded. Ten of those minutes were lost to a last minute story that had to be read to me, by my five year old. It was his homework.

I hit the ground running (literally) at 7:40, with 80 minutes to go. I knew there would be heck to pay if I didn't make it back on time. Not just for the show, but since I was skipping putting the younger kids to bed at eight, I had to make sure I was back at nine to put our oldest son down. At a pace of 11 minute K's (kilometers, about .62 miles), I could only get 7K in, but I really wanted 8K. I have this 5K loop I run, which takes me right past the 1K Gear for Sports track I've mentioned, where I can modify my run distance as I please.

Well, I booked it, and made it to the track a couple minutes ahead of schedule. So I really pushed the first of hopefully three laps. The first was nine minutes. The next two were 8.5! I was on fire, and I had all the time in the world to get back home at a leisurely pace. But after pushing so hard before, I was able to take a pretty good pace home, and arrive with over 5 minutes to spare.

At this point, I really need to work on pacing myself, because I can tell I'm getting overeager to push it, which eventually leads to a crash. I think an all-out run like this might be good once a week, but that's it. You burn a lot more calories with slow and steady, so that needs to be the game plan.

by Jaime

This random picture shows that no matter how far you've come, there's always further you can go.

This is a great day. I woke up this morning (after sleeping through the would-be morning run) to find I've finally broken the 30 pound mark. My short term goal now is to lose enough weight this week, so I can hit the 35 pound mark next week.

Last night, I made up for the weekend (kind of) by running almost 2 hours straight. 10K, almost 7 miles. If anyone lives near the Gear for Sports headquarters near 95th and Loiret in Lenexa, they have an awesome track around the building with a rubbery blacktop surface. For me, it's a 5K run if I jog to it and back without using it. So I've started jogging out there, and running as many 1K loops around the track as I feel like, and it's great.

On my fifth and final loop, I went all out, and finished the loop in under nine minutes. Ultimately, I'd like to use the jog to/from the track as warmup/cooldown, and start doing more structured workouts on the track itself. For now, it's enough to just put miles on, and build up a good base before getting fancy.

But this has told me something - I think I want to run some road races this summer. And I'm really thinking about a half marathon.

by Jaime

This random picture shows Troy McClure, an avid cigar enthusiast and lover of fish.

I have a problem with the perception of tobacco in this country. Cigarette companies have largely given tobacco a bad name. I have it from a very reliable source (television) that all tobacco is evil, and living within a mile of a smoker is somehow causing me irreparable harm. Well, I can certainly see how smoking a pack a day, or living with someone who does, can be very unhealthy. I'd even use the word dangerous.

But I'm not that guy. I'm the guy who likes to hang out with buddies, play a little poker, and once every month or two, light up a cigar or pipe. You don't even inhale those, so in a well-ventilated area, your lung exposure is much less than a cigarette. Bottom line, I wish we, the occasional cigar enthusiasts, were not lumped in with the larger and more deadly cigarette smoking epidemic.

That's why I'll be mad if this great tobacco shop I've discovered is no longer able to let patrons enjoy their purchase in their complementary cigar lounge. This would happen if the more restrictive of the two proposed smoking bans (in KC, MO) passes. I don't know why I can't be trusted to make my own informed decisions about how much tobacco I expose myself to.

It's easy to say "smoking is bad", and that relieves us of the burden of recognizing that there isn't just one type of smoking. Maybe one day we'll be saying "drinking is bad" or even "dessert is bad" simply because some choose to abuse those, as well.

by Jaime

This weekend was jam-packed with activity-related goodness. Sorry, I've been reading the boxes of too many health cereals.

We left the house at 9:30 AM (that's "ay-em" if you're hookd on fonix) to go to Union Station. The 3D dinosour movie is only around for a couple more weeks. That lasted until noon, then we went to Wal-mart for a couple birthday presents, and Subway for lunch. Yeah yeah, Jarod's great, Ronald McDonald is the devil, whatever. It was actually more about what restaurant was in Wal-mart, since time was a factor. But for the record, Jarod is great, and Ronald McDonald is the devil.

Then it was off to the 1st b-day party of the weekend, which ended after 4pm. A quick dinner, and then I was off to Fidel's, a tobacco shop in Westport that was having a live rolling event from 6-9. This featured a master roller who also happened to be the son of Fidel Castro's personal cigar roller. I finally got a chance to hang out with my friend and coworker Kendra's husband, and that was a blast. We're both pseudo-novices about cigars, so it was also very educational.

This random picture shows Matt on the left, Jaime on the right, and master cigar roller Avelito Lara in a photo taken by "Gene" of the Graycliff Cigar company.

Take a moment and smile with me, because things sort of go downhill from here.

Sunday morning kicked off with Church, followed by a frantic drive to b-day party #2. As Adriene mentioned, we didn't eat cake at either, and I only had a single (small) slice of pizza at today's. That got me thinking - there has got to be a healthier way to do a birthday party without being a spoil-sport. I'm getting tired of the repeated cake offers. Today was even worse, because some well-meaning relatives of the birthday girl were relentless. I was offered cake several times, but 3 of those times were all in a row, by the same person. So then I have to explain myself, that my wife and I are losing weight, and I have to make light of it. What I really want to say is, "not everybody has to eat f*cking cake at every gathering. Stop bothering me, and stop acting like I'm some weirdo."

My point is, people actually consider it absurd to NOT eat junk food at times, and that blows me away. And why do I have to play the (embarassing) diet card just to get out of it? Isn't not wanting it enough?? World, here is my advice. When a fatty says no to cake, that's one more slice for you. So feel free to go cram it :)

On a non-cake-related note (sort of): Adriene's last blog entry asked, why couldn't I just let her win one weigh-in? I really don't understand that. If I let her win, in my mind, she didn't really win. I have too much respect for her to do that. If she beats me at just a single weigh-in, the beard is gone, and she'll know she actually won. Besides, this was my lowest weight loss to date. I didn't even make my 1% goal. I hope she eventually realizes, I was struggling and working hard for *my* sake, and choosing to lose less than possible is just not an option right now. I'm definitely frustrated.

by Adriene

Well as you have read in my husband's last blog entry, this was kind of a disappointing week for both of us.  In a way I was thrilled finally loose again instead of stay the same or even gain but I still didn't make my 1% goal for the week.  I have decided to just take a loss for what it is.....a loss and be happy.   That being said, you seriously couldn't just give me this week honey?  I mean, it's more than obvious that I am not going to beat you in a weigh-in any week during our little challenge here and this was probably the closest I am ever going to get.  Yet you still insist on keeping the beard, which  may I remind you, was promised to be shaved off on Jan. 31st!!!!!  Oh well, did you ever stop to think why I may be so crabby lately????  I'm just saying.  Of course, I still love you I just wish I had the smooth faced cutie pie that I had a few months ago----well minus the weight right?

Well, I will try to work hard this week and hopefully I will end up losing my 1%.  We had a very long weekend full of temptations but I am proud of the both of us, we did good!  We had two birthday parties this weekend, one with just cake and the other with pizza and cake.  Neither one of us had any cake at either party, YAY for Lent on that one.  I choose not to eat any pizza at the party today because it's loaded with salt, which I cannot have since I retain water horribly if I do.  Jaime only ate one piece, from what I recall, which I was surprised but very proud even if it was two pieces, lol.    Of course, in hind site I really should have eaten just one piece because by the time we left I was shaky and very light headed from the lack of food.  Live and learn I guess.

by Jaime

This was the most disappointing weigh-in for all (both) involved. Neither one of us made our 1% goal!!! MeatFest appears to have done more damage than a maniacal amount of running could cure in 5 days. Adriene herself will not know until she reads this post, but if she had lost just a tenth of a pound more (the smallest unit our scale has) I would be a clean shaven man today. But the beard stays. Of course, since yesterday morning I've run 11 miles, so I think I earned it.

I give things one more week before I officially declare myself in a slump. This week, I can blame MeatFest for my mediocre results, but if I have another week like this, I'm going to be miffed.


This One Goes Out To...

My lovely wife Adriene. Yup, this morning I woke up at 5:30am, for a last ditch run before the 7:15 weigh-in, and decided to think about my wife for this run. True, it's been difficult during the times when I wanted to lose weight but she didn't. For one thing, she's a great cook, which can be deadly to the dieter.

However, she has always loved me for me, whatever size that happens to be. Maybe you'll think this is a bad thing, that she enabled my fatness by never pushing me to get in better shape. But the fact is, you really can't push someone into something like this. Change has to come from within, and until I was ready to make that change, she was perfectly content with the plumper, more flawed Jaime. It's a good feeling.

And now, I've seen her make a great effort over the last couple months. She's an emotional person, and sometimes she gets discouraged. But she's managed to stay on task week after week, and I'm proud of her for that. Ladies and Gentlemen, my wife.

by Jaime

I'll admit, I had no good way to summarize all the topics in this posting, and the above title seemed more eye-catching than "My Morning Run".


Momelettes

Lately as I jog, I've been thinking about the various people in my life who equipped me for this challenge. Many of them played a key role years ago, and it's just now that I've become willing/able to use what they gave me.

Today, I thought of my mom. Growing up military, we lived a frugal existence. But when it came to sports, I always wore the $90 shoes I had to have. She bought them for me even though money was tight, and my dad got by just fine on shoes at half the price.

I also thought of how she picked me up from practice every night, even though we lived a solid 15-20 minute drive from the school. A 30-40 minute commute, just so I could play sports. I'm dreading this when my kids get older. Therefore, I've decided we'll either live within a block of our kids' high school, or form a one-family shantytown at the school's border.

It's about this time in the run, thinking about the different ways she encouraged fitness in my life, that I cross paths with a man and his large, jumpy dog. So this embarrased owner is tugging on the leash, and saying, "Heel! Heel!" when it's clear this dog had no idea what it meant. I thought, you might as well be shouting "Omelettes. MAKE OMELETTES." I had a good laugh, but only in my head. I couldn't afford the oxygen.


Jimmy Cracked Corn...So I Stabbed Him.

This random picture shows the impressive styling and "stabability" of your typical balisong.

Well, not really. Unless I was running, and Jimmy cracked his corn in my direction with malicious intent. Because I always carry a pocketknife with me when I'm walking/running/biking any further than a block. It's a balisong, the perfect blend of style and menace for that "wow" factor when dealing with a would-be assaulter.

Back story: When I was 19, I was biking with some friends on a country highway. On the horizon appeared a glorified trailer home with no less than five hungry german shepherds in the yard. Most dogs will do you the courtesy of waiting until you near their property before mauling you, but these dogs were impatient. But their breach of canine/victim etiquette would prove to be their undoing. They started after us so soon, we were able to turn around and escape with our lives. One dog got as close as my back tire. Since then, I have always carried a knife on exercise outings. I don't trust any owner to have the level of control necessary to keep their pet from gnawing my (apparently) delicious flesh.


The Bossroom.

Finally, this last thing has nothing to do with my fitness, except what it does to my stress levels. There's an office in our building I like to call The Bossroom. It doesn't exist all the time, and it can technically exist in different places at once. The Bossroom is any bathroom that your boss has commandeered for business purposes.

Yesterday, my contacts were really dry, so I grabbed some solution and went to the restroom. My boss was just leaving, but he stopped when he saw me. For the next 3-5 minutes, as I tried to remove a sticky contact from my eyeball without peeling away valuable eyeskin, and as patron after patron wedged between us to wash their hands, he grilled me on various aspects of the software I'm coding. It's the kind of thing I'd really need to be at my desk to answer. At the very least, I'd need to NOT be knee deep in thin plastic and eyeskin. He finally gave up, but I see a dangerous trend developing. This is episode #3 of The Bossroom for me, and until now I'd thought they were just flukes.

The bottom line is this. Communication is all about connecting. And I don't want any man "connecting" with me in what should be the most sacred and private of places. Even a woman would be a little unsettling, depending on the circumstances.

by Jaime

I am not one to gossip. At least, I was always able to say that until I started writing this blog entry. Soak it up, kids, because this is probably the only time I'll ever talk about a TV show like some women talk about Days of Our Lives.

The black team was totally stupid to let Paul go. When it came to results, he was their strongest member. So he slipped up at home - that just meant he had that much more weight to lose next week. Bernie said he voted for Paul because Paul was a "threat". He's right, but it's too early in the game to start hobbling your own team. No, he and the other younger members voted Paul off because he was an outsider, just as he and Kelly claimed.

"But Jaime," you'll ask; "didn't Paul make himself an outsider with his little yellow shirt stunt?" I simply reply, "Call me Mr. Bellmyer. You and I are strictly writer/reader at this point, so let's not make this more than it is." Seriously, when Paul sported that shirt at the elimination, the other members had already voted him out, even though it hadn't been revealed yet. And he was just expressing frustration at what he knew was coming.

Like every good American, I love to root for the underdog, no matter how lame or undeserving they might be. Except for when the Giants steamrolled over everyone in the playoffs this year, that just pissed me off. Anyway, despite this american underdog complex, I'm squarely rooting for the Blue team. Black is comprised of whiners and cryers. Paul was both, but he also worked hard. Plus, I think we all secretly hoped there was still hope for Paul and Kelly, and now that can (probably) never be.

I have to go, I think Young and the Restlessis on, and I need a break from drama.

Oh yeah, was there ever an adult film called Genital Hospital? Because I always thought that would be hilarious.


Early to Bed, Early to Rise...Hurts

I have this problem where I've been walking/running at night, which is fun and quiet, but it interferes with my day. So for about 2 weeks now, I've been trying to flip my workout over to mornings. Problem is, how do you run a full workout from 8:30 - 9:30, and then do it all over again just 10 hours later? Oh wait, that's actually just what I did. It didn't hurt as bad as I'd thought - perhaps I was not conscious enough to feel pain. Honestly, the harder part was getting up an hour early. We'll see if I can keep it up.