Anyhow, we ended up hanging out at the place until the early morning. Around 1:00 we left to go back to our place. Along the way, we happened to come upon a car in need. I had Chris roll down his window (cause my car is awesome and stuff and it chose not to come with power windows) and I asked if the two guys needed any help. They were both winded and gulping down water. Between breaths they accepted our assistance. Apparently the car stalled out while they were driving and they had to push it for quite a while before we came along. So Chris and I pulled into a parking lot and the four of us pushed this Bronco-like SUV up this hill. The grade got tougher as we went and another gentleman on a bicycle stopped to add to our manpower. When we got to the top of the mini hill the owner said that he lived at the bottom of the hill and to the left at the intersection and that they were fine. So we all wished them luck and took our leave. My lungs were burning as I struggled for breath. Chris and I discussed how it might have been smarter to have put on shoes instead of wearing sandals. By the time I got to the car I had caught my breath but my lungs were hurting and my shoulders were sore.
WORKIN I skipped the gym this morning. I believe it was for a good reason. I needed sleep! Last night we went to a potluck with the Couch Surfers group and had a good time. What is now becoming the usual, I didn't eat a ton of food last night. I'm to the point now where I don't need to boast anymore about that. I'm proud of me for changing the way I eat, but I think I've tooted the buffet horn enough!
Anyhow, we ended up hanging out at the place until the early morning. Around 1:00 we left to go back to our place. Along the way, we happened to come upon a car in need. I had Chris roll down his window (cause my car is awesome and stuff and it chose not to come with power windows) and I asked if the two guys needed any help. They were both winded and gulping down water. Between breaths they accepted our assistance. Apparently the car stalled out while they were driving and they had to push it for quite a while before we came along. So Chris and I pulled into a parking lot and the four of us pushed this Bronco-like SUV up this hill. The grade got tougher as we went and another gentleman on a bicycle stopped to add to our manpower. When we got to the top of the mini hill the owner said that he lived at the bottom of the hill and to the left at the intersection and that they were fine. So we all wished them luck and took our leave. My lungs were burning as I struggled for breath. Chris and I discussed how it might have been smarter to have put on shoes instead of wearing sandals. By the time I got to the car I had caught my breath but my lungs were hurting and my shoulders were sore.
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Here we are at the world's end. Today I closed my eyes, jumped into the vast nothingness and took a plunge into my final run this morning. La Fin du Monde is French for the end of the world. This isn't the end of my running days but this marks the end of something that has changed my life! Due to the car issue, the last day I ran was Thursday of last week. Because I'm so awesome, I suffered no setbacks today besides a minor stitch in my side 3/4 of the way through. With no more delays, here are my FINAL stats for the Frank to 5k running program! Day 1 Here we are! Day one of the final week of my running program. I am going to run for 30 minutes nonstop. Confidence? I've got it for days! Overall the run wasn't that bad. I'm not used to going for so long so I ran into a small case of the checkums. The checkums is where you keep checking the clock every couple of seconds for a set period of time. Overall the run was pretty easy. It's crazy that I just ran for 30 minutes straight! To calculate my actual distance from running for 30 minutes I noted the distance I was at when I started running at the 5:00 mark and then again at the 35:00 mark and subtracted them. Now I know how far I can run in 30 minutes on the elliptical! Woo hoo!
3 mile time: 27:12 Time: 40 minutes total (30 minutes of running along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down) Total Distance: 4.25 miles 30 minute distance: 3.64 miles My super power? I shoot rainbow beams from my mouth. So tomorrow I run for the final time on the first round of the Frank to 5k running program. I'd like to take a moment to let that statement simmer... ... ... ... ... ... Alright! It's incredible how fast time has passed. I'll save the gushing for tomorrow when I write the final report for the F25k program. What I'm doing now is looking towards the future. At this very moment I am not at the point that I could register and then run a 5k race. I could participate and walk in one, but if I'm going to be in a race then I'd like to be able to run most of it- if not all of it. I have mastered the elliptical portion of the training program so I am going to reveal part two of the F25k program. Last week a friend of mine suggested this site to me that has a different program that is developed to get people active. This program is designed to get a person running 2 miles after 8 weeks. I chose to do this one because it is more gradual which is what I need. Running on the treadmill and in the real world is much tougher to do than on the elliptical. I'm in no hurry so two miles is enough to shoot for for the time being. What I'd like to do is run on the treadmill all but one of the days of the week. On the final day I'll run along the water line at the beach early in the morning. This way I get a feel for running outdoors. I've also decided that if I don't feel comfortable with my progress at the end of the week then I will do the week again. Like I said, I want to run a race but right now I'm not in a race to finish. Me circa 2008 after winning a karaoke contest. Don't ask... I know this blog is dedicated to my health and fitness, but I came out to California for a reason. And that is to act. Since this is my site, I figure I can talk about whatever the hell I want to. So I'm going to take a moment here and tell you a story about my morning Sunday and how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air After I dropped Chris off at his job I headed out to North Hills, CA for an appointment. It wasn't really an appointment, more of a "show up as early as you can between 8-5" sort of thing. Chris worked at seven so I bee-lined my way up there so that I could get this over with sooner rather than later. On my way up I noticed that my pants were kind of wrinkled. I wanted to make a good impression with the people I was meeting. I didn't know if I was going to sit down and talk with someone but I knew they were going to take my picture so I wanted to dress to the nines as they say. When I got off of the 405 into North Hills I stopped at the first Lavendaria that I could find and I did this old trick I learned. I took off my pants. That'll get their attention! No, I took off my pants and my dress shirt and I poured water on them and put them in the dryer for ten minutes. The heat and water created steam and took most of the wrinkles out. I drive another mile and arrive at this place that doesn't look like a casting agency at all. It's an old building for lease that has a gated off driveway with the gate slightly ajar and a sign on either side saying "Registration". Assuming that I was at the right place I stepped in. There was a line of about 25 people in various dress waiting. I went to the back and grabbed a clipboard and filled out the information to the best of my knowledge. (I didn't know the proper size of my shirt.) I wish we had gone to the gym so that I could have taken a shower afterwards because over the night my face had sweat a little bit and gave me an oily sheen. I saw the second picture and it reminded me of a child I call brother. The first picture looked awesome. I wish I could get copies! The second one not so much... The photographer had me lower my head and smile. So I'm all shiny, little hair frizzes here and there, but the angle makes me look really creepy. Like when I'm done with this picture I'm going to molest the photographer... :-/ One for two isn't bad I suppose. Before I left I paid my registration fees and I can say that I am officially part of the COMMERCIAL EXTRA'S casting agency! So in the future if you look really hard, you'll see me in the background of tv commercials! As I learn the ropes and take some classes then I'll progress to auditioning and within the next five years I'll be a recognizable someone! All of you reading now can say, "Yup. I saw that dude topless while he was a chubby nobody." *adjusts hipster glasses* Come on. Gimme a hug. Gimme a hug. You know you want to! Good day everyone! Wednesday was weigh in day and I was really eager to write about it and a few other things but then my laptop decided to pull the ultimate jerk move and shorted out the monitor. So I'm blind. Unless I open in slightly then I can see everything but the wireless card won't work... That put a huge damper on my day. To the tune of going to bed at 8:30 pm. Anyhow, life up to that point yesterday was pretty good! After kicking ass on the elliptical I almost ran to the locker room and hid in a stall so that I could safely and discretely pull out my scale (Planet Fitness is a "No Intimidation Zone" and scales scare the other patrons) and see where I am at. I stepped onto the scale and BOOM! 349.4 pounds. I released a squee of delight at the number smiling back at me! I couldn't believe that it was real. 350 was just past high school weight. I'm gettin there! I stepped off and then stepped on again. Same exact weight. I dove into my bag and pulled out my camera. I wanted photographic proof of this momentous occasion! I turn on the camera and I step on again and then my face fell... 351... I stepped off and stepped on again. 351... Damn it... What happened? I stepped on one more time and BOOM! 349.4! I was so excited that I leaned over to grab my camera and it dawned on me. My camera has weight. And it's putting me over my number... Damn it! Chris already left and is sitting in the car. On top of that I'm naked in a bathroom stall... *sigh* Oh well. You guys'll just have to take my word for it! This particular weight was an unspoken goal of mine because once I'm below this weight, I can weigh myself on pretty much any scale! All of the old school scales that they have at doctor's offices max out at 350. So now I don't have to worry about being discriminated at any office for being too heavy. In the past year I've gone from weighing up to 425 pounds down to a sultry, sexy 349! That's roughly 75 pounds! WOO HOO! I've still got some ways to go but I wanted to reflect on how good of a job I've done so far. I'm not one to toot my own horn but uh... TOOT TOOT! Of course with the good comes the bad... This morning, on the way to the gym, my car broke down. I fear the worse with it as well. I'll find out what's going on this weekend and hopefully it's something fixable and not overly expensive. I've already spun this in a positive manner for the worst case scenario. If I don't have a car and I can't get to the gym, I have only one more day of the Frank to 5k program left. I may call it a game one day early and transition to my next stage. That will be announced later! ...Sigh... First the computer then the car... Something that helped me recover this morning on the walk to work was a homeless guy with a sign that said "Smile. It could be worse. You could be me!" That was enough to break me out of my self induced funk. I've been on a campaign to smile a lot more in general. I am lucky to be alive. I'm thinner and more confident in myself and my abilities. So this is all for now. I have so many things to write about it's just finding the way to get it out there. ~*Positive vibes*~ Welp. My laptop is down again... This time it's a hardware issue, not a software issue so I'm going to have to get it fixed by someone else... Yeah... Don't know when that's gonna happen. It may even be time to get a new one. So posts are going to be a little erratic for the next little while. I've got work and Chris' computer to upload pictures and write briefly. If I try to bang out a fill post on the iPod I think I'll go nuts!
This is just a heads up so that you guys'll understand why there's fewer posts or multiple posts lumped together. Good afternoon everyone! I hope that this post finds you all well! I'm sitting here glowing after another completed week of running my Frank to 5k running program! Things started out pretty horribly at the beginning of the week but by the time today rolled around I was back in charge and breaking records! With that being said lets jump in to the pool of awesome! Day One I woke up today (Wednesday) refreshed and ready to go. It's been a few days since I've been to the gym so my enthusiasm is peaked at this moment. I get on the elliptical and walk my way through the first five minutes. As I'm running something feels off... Or should I say sounds off. I have my Run playlist going. This playlist has evolved so many times since I've started running and I am proud to say that it was near perfection. Note I say "was". My pace was a little off and I realized that I was listening to Journey's song Separate Ways. This was off of my original Run playlist. For the work I'm putting in now, that song does not address my needs. I realized halfway through that I needed more up tempo music to carry me through these challenging 30-40 minute runs. As I'm running (this happens a little over 7 minutes in) I'm looking at the playlist and it had completely reverted to it's original lineup. Had I been sitting down then this would have been a two minute fix. Unfortunately I wasn't. I was in the middle of a 38 minute session... Being as far in as I was, I decided to try to multitask with the focus being on keeping my pace. Eleven minutes later I had, what resembled, the optimal track list to run to. Because of all this rigamarole my numbers were off for the day. I was happy because I finished the run. That's all that mattered! 3 mile time: 28:32 30 minute distance: 3.18 miles Time: 38 minutes total (28 minutes of running along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down) Distance: 3.88 miles Day Two Today (Friday) I made special note to check my iPod and make sure that the running playlist was still the same.... It was. Due to everything being scrambled on Wednesday I redid the playlist and I swapped out two songs. I was excited to run because the list had a much better feel to it with almost all the songs being faster paced and enjoyable. Running felt great. I was easily able to keep my pace at or above 7 mph the entire time. I was surprised at how the time decreased to hit three miles but then distances after that were pretty close. I was kind of disappointed.
3 mile time: 27:44 30 minute distance: 3.27 miles Time: 38 minutes total (28 minutes of running along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down) Total Distance: 3.92 miles So... The email function for the site has failed to notify me that people have been commenting on my posts... Today and tomorrow I'm going to spend time updating everything that needs updating on the site and responding to EVERY COMMENT. I'm happy that people have been active on here and I want to make sure that I stay engaged with anyone who puts forth the effort to help me. Even if it's just a good job. The small things help keep me motivated to keep on going! Also, today is Wednesday which means weigh in time! I am pleased to announce that I am back down to 351 pounds so I am sure that all that water weight is gone! My goal for next week is to keep on track and lose another 17 pounds. At this rate I'll be skinny in no time! Actually I like pushing for three pounds a week so that'll be my goal that I set for myself. I feel like I need to write more but there is nothing new to report... I'll leave you with this link. A little back story on why this is happening. Recently BIC released a line of pens directed at girls/women. They're called BIC For Her. The pens are thinner, glittery-ish looking, and write smoother than normal pens. People have been ridiculing BIC because of how it's being marketed and how unnecessary it is. About two weeks ago people took to Amazon to voice their opinions in the form of snarky and sarcastic reviews for the product. Reading these comments has been a source of joy for me today and I hope that it entertains you as well! BONUS MATERIAL! This is the commercial they have for the pen. Enjoy! :-D The week before last I came across this video online and it made me laugh because how true it is. I didn't know how to write about it other than saying it's awesome. I had no reason to mention it because up until the GRAND adventure. Anytime I tell someone what I'm doing they have nothing but positive things to say about it. When people see what I'm doing I get support. Now don't get me wrong, the trip to the Grand Canyon was an incredible adventure in hiking, camping, and general fun and shenanigans (One and a half black men in a cowboy town... The suspicious looks we got!) There was one moment in time where I felt angry at people for their cruel and assumptive actions.
Love is all you need! So where did I leave you? Oh yeah. My fatal mistake. We spent almost five hours walking in and around the canyon. I did very well drinking water on the way down to our resting point and on the way back up. Afterwards... water just slipped my mind. We went into the town called Williams to get supplies for the weekend. No water was consumed. We were all pretty tired from the hike we took. Add that on top of the 3-4 hours of sleep we got the night before and at nine pm local time my brain was succumbing to the needs of sleep. Margaux had already retired for the night so I crawled into the tent and stretched out for a well deserved coma. What seemed to be hours later my eyes snap open. It's pitch black all around me and there is excruciating pain emanating from my right quad. It took about five seconds to realize that my leg had locked up with a cramp. I rolled around as much as I could to try and position myself to get the cramp to go away. Nothing was working. I decided to go outside and walk around until it went away. The only problem with that plan is I didn't know how to get out of the tent. I gingerly crawl to the zipped entrance of the tent and search for the zipper while trying to hold back tears (when I first wake up I don't have the processing power to compose my manly behaviors, so yes, I was really on the verge of bawling). After groping blindly for about half a minute I find the zipper and get the flap open. What was waiting for me at the end of the tent was another tent opening that was zipped up. This was the rain cover. I felt like screaming in anger/agony/frustration as I start another search for another zipper. This is a puzzle that I did not finish. The pain in my leg intensified and I decided to crawl under the opening of the flaps and out to freedom. I stuck my arms underneath and I drug myself under this staked down fabric. I stood up and walked around for a minute before the cramp went away. I went to the car and grabbed my bottles of water and Power Ade. I drank for five minutes off and on before I sat down and tested out the leg to make sure it was okay to be bent. It was sore but the cramp did not return. So I returned to the tent (through the flap, not via army crawl )and checked the time. 10:42. I wasn't even asleep for two hours... It took almost another hour to get back to sleep. |
Weight loss timeline:Starting weight: 446 lbs Archives
September 2016
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