From Summer into Fall into Winter

Well, it's been some time since I wrote. A surprisingly long time, actually. In fact, I really don't know where to start. How about last Summer? Yeah, that's as good a place as any.

Well, this past Summer, Cheryl decided she wanted to make another attempt at a century ride. If you don't know what I'm talking about, its a hundred miles on a bicycle. She and I attempted one a long time ago and, due to screaming headwinds (20 mph, gusting to 30 mph), we quit at the halfway point. Cheryl's always been unhappy about not finishing. So, there was one in September of this year. We trained for it, mostly on the weekends, since I was in a play that rehearsed every weeknight. Another result of my rehearsal schedule was that I didn't get in much exercise during the week and I wasn't eating right.

Now, a year previously, I rode in the MS150, which is a 150 mile bike ride over two days. I finished that without killing myself. In fact, I felt like it wasn't that hard at all. Of course, that was a month and a half after my first Body for Life Challenge, so I was in great shape and weighed in at 171 pounds. Going into this century ride, I was not in such great shape and I weighed in at around 180 pounds.

But we did it anyway. And we finished. There was a point at about 80 miles when I was pretty sure I wanted nothing more than to quit, but Cheryl was determined to finish and I couldn't bear to let her down. So I led the way over the last 20 miles, basically moving forward on determination alone.

Well, I got involved in another play, which turned out to be more stressful than any I'd done in a long time. I started eating the wrong things in the wrong quantities and collapsing on the couch every day after work. When the play was over, the holidays started and I went a little crazy with food and sweets. So, the day after Christmas, realizing that my belt was feeling tighter than it should, I got on the scale.

I was at 188 pounds. This was only one pound lighter than I weighed before I started Body for Life. Now, I'm hopeful that more than a little of that is muscle instead of fat, but I can tell that a lot of it is right around my waistline.

So, I've joined the ranks of the new year's resolutionists. You know what I mean, right? Just go to a gym on January 2 and you'll be lucky to get in the door. Everyone starts a new diet or exercise program on January 2. And most of them are gone by January 10.

Me, I stocked back up on nutrition bars, started cutting back on all the things I'd been bingeing on, and started the Body for Life program for the fifth time. Of those five starts, I only have one finish so far. But I don't want to go through life looking and feeling the way I do at 188 pounds.

So, I'm one week into the program. I have six workouts, three with weights and three aerobic, behind me already. I also got in some running and walking thanks to some great out of season weather. I have eleven more to go. So we'll see what happens.

I'm attempting to keep a video journal of the experience to let people follow along, but I'm having a devil of a time editing it with Microsoft Movie Maker (horrible, horrible software package, but free). If and when I get that posted, I'll add a link to it.

Well, I'm supposed to do lower body tonight. I hate lower body, but at least it's short. Gotta run. More soon.