Monday, Monday

Well, the birthday passed quietly over the weekend. Relaxing and enjoyable. On Friday, my sweetie and I had a nice dinner in our soon to be new neighborhood....Saturday morning met up with our running group (although my running was basically nonexistent)...massage in the afternoon...Sunday a nice hike up in Wisconsin...and finishing it off with the Sopranos. Not bad, huh?

As far as my running, like I said, lately it has been nonexistent. I've been battling shin splints since the beginning of the year. Add an on and off sore left knee and that has you earmarked for limited running. The last few weeks have been bicycling and some weight training. Hopefully, with extra stretching (which I neglect to do on a consistent basis) and the new shoes I bought over the weekend, the pain will go away or at least subside.

My history of running is pretty brief. Basically, I'm not a runner. I was on the track team in high school, but I didn't run too much. Some wind sprints the occasional mile run and that was about it. I was a shot put and discus guy. Although being inside this 'running world' is somewhat foreign to me, I'm knowledgeable on the sport itself.

I started pursuing this running endeavor on January 1, 2005. At the time, I was 41 and realized it was time to do something about my health. I've always been healthy per se, but being overweight has been a life long trait. I've never been thin....never. So at this time a few things started clicking in my head that started my motivation:

1) Being over 40...this is the time where bad things may creep up on a guy if you are not careful with your day to day lifestyle.

2) My Lora...in 2004 she started to get back into running. Seeing her enjoy it and seeing her happy with the results of her improved physical health. I saw this as something we can enjoy together. Plus, I want to make sure I'm around so we can grow old together.

3) Lastly, and honestly, The Biggest Loser...we watched the 1st season of that show and in many small ways, it began to influence my (and I think to an extent Lora also) health behaviors. The actual turning point for me (if you saw the show) was near the end of the season (around Thanksgiving '04 I believe) when they confronted the cardboard cutouts of themselves when they were at their heaviest. To see the emotion pour out of them and to say they didn't even recognize who that person was, kinda flipped my switch.

Needless to say, on January 1st, 2005 (sure, you can call it a New Year resolution)...I began my journey into the running world....unfortunately after a successful and enjoyable year of running (at least on my novice level) and getting 'lighter'....the injury bug has paid it's toll and 14 months later...here we go again...nowhere to go but up :)