Day 267 Workout Interrupted and Being Able To Accelerate

Day 267

Workout Interrupted and Being Able To Accelerate

After posting my blog last night we were ready to hit the trail for a wonderful 10K. That was where we were headed when we noticed lightning in the distance. Was it far enough away for us to get our workout complete? We soon found out the answer to that question: No. So our 10K was interrupted for two reasons. It's not smart to walk in a thunderstorm. And when the Oklahoma storms start to roll, I usually have to report to the studio to anchor live weather coverage. I'm one of three announcers on-call 24/7 in case severe weather breaks out. Around here, when the thunderstorms start firing, people want and need to know if it's going to be OK, or if they're going to need to take shelter, and we're the radio stations many people turn on for that information. So instead of completing the 10K, I was on the air until 2:30 in the morning as severe storms moved across our listening area. I finally fell asleep some time close to 3:30am, then it was back up at 5:10am for breakfast and coffee with my wife before heading back to the studio for the 6am “Sean In The Morning Show.” I can't sound like I'm exhausted on the air either, after all, it's my job to help people get going in the morning. I have to be upbeat and full of energy! You can't turn on your radio and hear me say “Uh, yeah, it's like six oh-three or some crazy time like that, sixty-seven ahhhh—yawwwn degrees, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to play twelve in a row on auto-pilot and sleep this first hour, why don't you just hit that snooze alarm and join me in dream land, alrighty? Nighty night, go back to sleep, there we go, that's it...to help us get there, the soothing sound of Otis Redding.” Even if I'm running on less than two hours sleep, I always seem to pull it off with a little help from coffee, I had three cups this morning! I was able to come home mid-morning and sleep a little while before returning to the studio for production work in the afternoon. Not the healthiest sleep schedule, but it doesn't happen very often, thank goodness.

Without spending too many more words on the subject, I wanted to clarify a couple of things from last night's blog. I didn't mean any disrespect to the people offering the young man food advice. In fact, their food recommendations were top notch stuff for anyone wanting to get into optimal shape. The two offering the advice certainly practice what they preach in their own lives. The compassion and sincerity in their offerings was obvious. They're good people, I'm sure. I just wanted to explain my concern from the lifelong morbidly obese perspective. I've made it a point to better understand the psychological side of losing weight, and although I don't know everything, I know enough to recognize the weak points in a plan right away, as it applies to someone like me. I smiled from ear to ear when the young man left a comment on last night's blog letting me know he did read the post and appreciated what I said. If you want to read his response, just scroll down and click on “comments” at the bottom of Day 266. He's got his head on straight, he's doing this, he's escaping just like me. I'm very happy for him and I look forward to witnessing his inspiring success!

We made a trip to Stillwater tonight for a visit with my mom and grandma. We also stopped by my Aunt Kelli's workplace and visited for a few minutes. Kelli and my mom are doing a tremendous job exercising and staying on top of their calorie budgets. They're learning how truly wonderful it is to grab control and command results with consistent effort! They're experiencing epiphanies left and right about how truly simple this completely natural way of losing can be. Before the visit we stopped at a popular mexican fast food place around here, Taco Mayo. We love Taco Mayo! The nutrition information of some of their items would blow your mind, but good choices can be made anywhere! The Taco Mayo regular beef tacos come in at 161 each. My dinner was three tacos for 483 calories. Talk about a wonderful calorie value meal, especially when you load them up with fresh veggies from the salsa bar! An even better choice would have been the grilled chicken tacos in a crispy white corn shell instead of the flour tortilla, those things come in at a guesstimated 145 calories. They only list them on their website with the soft flour shell. So the guesstimate takes into account the smaller calorie value of the crispy white corn shell versus the flour tortilla. We had a wonderful visit with everyone and I noticed something wonderful while we were there. My mom is looking smaller! I can see the difference in her face especially. She's noticed the difference all over. I'm so proud!

Tonight we didn't have to worry about the weather interfering with our workout. We hit the trail with the energy to complete a 10K easy. It was nice to have all four of us out there at the same time. Irene and Amber kept pace together while Courtney and I led the way around the trail. Once again we didn't hit the 10K mark. We decided instead to make it a “hard four.” And that it was! We walked hard and fast four straight miles without stopping one time. The last 40 yards or so was another all out sprint. And again, I love the way it felt to accelerate. I could never accelerate before! At 505 all I could do was “waddle” like a penguin. Now I'm accelerating! Maybe only 40 yards at a time right now, but I can clearly see myself eventually becoming a recreational runner. That's right, the same kind of person I would drive by and wonder, what possesses these people with the running? I just might become one of them. Isn't it amazing what you can do when you decide you can?

I'm headed to bed with a wonderful workout in the books and a perfectly balanced calorie budget. There's something really special you feel when you lay your head down at night knowing that you're doing everything you can to achieve the goal you desire. Weigh day is fast approaching on Wednesday and I'm ready to bring it on! Thanks for reading and leaving your thoughts in the comments. Goodnight and...

Good Choices,
Sean