At least it is Father's Day...

This has been a pretty stressful week, to put it mildly!  And only God knows (no's!!??) what is in store for us, but we can still count our blessings, after all, it is Father's Day.

Tomorrow I start training for the business center.  I like the idea of working there, as there won't be nearly the number of customers, and the order size should be very small, finally the others should be much better too!

Nuff said for now...

Vital Stats
Beginning Weight - 197.2
BMI - 29.1
Miles Walked/Ran - 6.89

Y-T-D Miles Walked/Ran - 187.95
Ending Weight -196.2

BMI - 29.0
Weight Lost <Gain>- 1.0
YTD Weight Lost - 23.8

Better

<cue theme music from "Rocky">

Ok, maybe I didn't do THAT well, but I did have a better week.  I actually got out and ran three times this week.  And last night I ran my long-slow run, and went nonstop over 3 miles.  Ok, Ok, I know most of the other bloggers and posts I read on Active.com, consider that an easy day.  (I think some of them would even consider it a day off!).

It continues to be hot here in the hill country of Tx, but I am slowly getting acclimated to it, and running late at night.  I tried early in the morning once, but the dogs were out, through out my route, so I ended up walking the entire way!

I saw a cool Nike ad this week "Chosen ".  Well of course I had to look up other Nike ads and love the one about no excuses, although I did hear him mention more than a few I have used!  Do you have a favorite Nike ad?

This week's race I'm considering is the "Keep Austin Weird Festival and 5K".  I'm hesitating because of the cost, $45, and it is in Austin (meaning huge crowds and dogs at the race) and finally it starts at 7PM which I think means it will be hot!

Vital Stats
Beginning Weight - 198.4
BMI - 29.3
Miles Walked/Ran - 7.48

Y-T-D Miles Walked/Ran - 181.06
Ending Weight -197.2

BMI - 29.1
Weight Lost <Gain>- <1.2>
YTD Weight Lost - 22.8

The Lovely Month of May

Yes it was a lovely month.  We made some progress on the weight, towards the end of the month I've decided on a renewed commitment to my running and we have been doing better on the diet stuff.  Financially, things are still awful, but I've renewed my determination to find a full time job, and Leta had her appeal hearing with Social Security.  Leta also has been doing much better on her diet, has started walking!

I love to think we could walk the Hersey Half Marathon in October and visit nearby Lancaster PA, home of Amish/Mennonites and beautiful fall colors.  Not to mention the mountains and oh yeah even some relatives are back there!).  Maybe Leta and I could get matching 13.1 tats!  I'm thinking for motivations we ought to plan a trip there, what we would like to see, and where we would like to visit.  Even Philadelphia isn't that far away.

Well Erica and Tom return from their "summer in Europe" adventure and I have to retrieve them from the Houston.  I need to get a run in before that plus run some other errands.

The numbers from May:

Miles Run - 27:58 (lowest number for a month this year, but fast pace at 13:19
Y-T-D miles -  170.28
WT - 196.4
LBS lost - 7.4 lbs
Y-T-D LBS lost - 23.6

Leta walked 1.6 miles!

Ready, Set, GO!

That is the name of the new 8 week health initiative my company (HEB) is sponsoring and includes education, training, and culminates in a 5K Walk/Run.  Not sure yet of the date or location of the race.  HEB is using Run on Texas as the training partner.

Our store (Fredericksburg 561) is considering forming a Team to encourage participants.  I'm looking for suggestions on how to organize and keep the momentum.  We all work varying schedules and live in different towns and everyone will have different fitness levels.  The program offers 3 training schedules (walking, jogging and running.)

A couple ideas I have are:

•  M/eaybe post times for people to get together to exercise (for example Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 7AM  at the Local High School Track 
• Set up a Group on Yahoo or Facebook to foster discussions and communication
• Set up tracking of workouts for participants
• Set up a "Challenge" with rewards for achievements both for the team and for individuals ( e.g. walking 30 miles wins a water bottle, if the team logs 1,000 miles we all get a t-shirt.

Do you have any ideas, suggestions, comments, or experience that you would like to share?  It will be greatly appreciated!

Oh yeah, we need a team name too!

Class of 2023

Went to Cedar Park to see the grandchild graduate from kindergarten this week.  The principal mentioned we were celebrating with the class of 2023.  At first I thought he was kidding around, but a quick mental mathematic calculation indicated (with an 80% reliability ) that he was correct!  OMG that sounds so far away, (after all we just turned the calendars from the "19's -ya know 1998, 1999).

BTW as I was writing the previous paragraph, it reminded me of the saying "80% of Statistics are made up".

After the ceremony we went out for breakfast at Kerbey Lane and then off to see Kung Fu Panda 2, which was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be, especially considering I had never even heard of Kung Fu Panda Uno.

After the movie was over we killed time waiting for her mom and her aunt to get out of their movie (Bridesmaid).  We took some more pictures of Abby, but soon she wanted the camera and started taking pictures, and it wasn't long before she was posing Leta and me.  Here is an example of her work.

I was able to win the 'head game' twice this week and got outside and exercised two times this week.  My diet was slightly better in that we had pizza once this week and I didn't finish the entire pizza and actually was able to save a couple pieces for lunch the next day.

Vital Stats
Beginning Weight - 198.6
BMI - 29.2
Miles Walked/Ran - 6.38

Y-T-D Miles Walked/Ran - 165.03
Ending Weight -199.8

BMI - 29.5
Weight Lost <Gain>- <1.2>
YTD Weight Lost - 220.2

Just another week, it wasn't the end of the World!

Just another week gone by.  Nothing much new to report.  Some preacher predicted the second coming would occur yesterday at 6 PM, but alas we awoke this morning and still have to pay our bills....sigh.

On a more positive note, Leta and I did walk one time this past week.  We walked over half a mile!  Not  bad for the first time out.  I then ran the 5k loop.  That was all I did besides walking at work, although I did set up a training program for a 1/2 Marathon by October 16th (think positively about Hersey PA!) for Leta!

Goals for week.  Run more than once!   Encourage Leta to walk.  Yoga a couple times this week.

Vital Stats
Beginning Weight - 198.6
BMI - 29.3
Miles Walked/Ran - 3.19

Y-T-D Miles Walked/Ran - 158.65
Ending Weight -198.0

BMI - 29.2
Weight Lost <Gain>- .6
YTD Weight Lost - 22.0

MIA

I've definitely been Missing and Inactive!  I can't believe its been almost a month since my last post, and ever since the Blue Bell Ice Cream Run I haven't been very active.  Even though I did run the Fredericksburg Wildflower 5 K run.

I was pretty excited when I saw the results (a PR for me at 32:37).  However, I thought it was a bit odd, as I really didn't think I was running all that fast, but on the other hand I did only walk 1 time and for just a few minutes.  After the race, I was reading the reviews of this race , a few people commented that their gps devices showed the distance as only 2.8 miles instead of the 3.1 miles.  Hmmm... I'm still claiming the PR, but I suspect the distance was short.

I haven't been out running much, but at work they have me 'walking the floor' as we go through our wall-to-wall remodel and reset.  I believe I walk over 20,000 steps in an eight hour day, although I'm not sure what that equates to in miles.  Bottom line is I think I'm still getting the exercise that I need, without the normal running routine.  

The downside to all the walking seems to be my feet are exhausted, hurting and achy by the end of the day.  I've tried alternating shoes (my running shoes seem to do best ) and looked into the Dr Schools orthodics but they cost $50.  My the gel pads will suffice.  Also I'm not scheduled for as many hours this week and next week.

Tomorrow night the Relay for Life walk starts.  I plan on heading over there after work and walking my lap or two around the track.  Our team, HEB Helping hands as already raised over $18,000 easily surpassing our goal of $1,000.  Linda, Mike and Mom are supporting me by making a donation!  Thank you!

I need to go take a shower (yes I did run (ok,I mostly walked) today, as it was a day off  from work for me!)

Vital Stats
Beginning Weight - 199.6
BMI - 29.5
Miles Walked/Ran - 3.19

Y-T-D Miles Walked/Ran - 155.46
Ending Weight -198.6

BMI - 29.3
Weight Lost <Gain>- 1.0
YTD Weight Lost - 21.4

April Stats:

Miles Ru - 33.71

Weight Lost - 4 lbs (estimated)