Running

Nearly 50 years ago on August 12, 1958 at 3:30 AM I entered this world weighing 8 lbs 10 oz. From all I've been told I ate quite voraciously and quickly grew in stature over the next several years until 1972 at which point I was 6' 3" weighing about 125 lbs. By the time I entered college I was weighing just under 150 lbs but when I graduated from college and the food supply grew I quickly jumped up to the mid 170's. That is where I stayed until I accepted a job offer at Qualcomm and that is when things started going downhill (or uphill depending on how you look at it). I recently read an article that said that people who sit for most of the day have a metabolism that is only half that of a person who stands most of the day. Well two things happened when I joined Qualcomm, for the first time in my life I sat more than I stood and I started traveling quite frequently. When I travel I essentially have an unlimited supply of food. You can imagine what happened when my metabolism was cut by half and I started eating a lot more. My weight gradually but surely climbed until at one point when it hit 220 lbs I scared myself. I quickly went on my version of a southbeach diet and lost a pound a day for a month bringing my weight down to nearly 190. Unfortunately I like to eat more than just cheese, tuna and sardines and just last Christmas as my weight was starting to creep back up I made a bet with Brandon. He too was bemoaning his sedentary life style so we made a bet to see who could lose the most weight by Ben's wedding. If I won he was buying me an In-n-out hamburger and if he won I was buying him a steak dinner. Seems a little lopsided but who's counting. Well Brandon promptly went back to school and lost his 15 pounds but I didn't change a single pound. I then made the tough decision that if I didn't want to eat less then perhaps I should burn more. I came up with an exercise program that sort of fit into my very busy schedule but running was not a part of it. I couldn't picture my flabby body bouncing down the sidewalk and I was also worried about my back. Well about this time Alycia texts me challenging me to run with her everyday that she was home for spring break. I figured that if she actually wanted to spend that time with me that I'd better get to the point that I wouldn't totally embarrass myself. I started running two miles once a week and riding my bike to work and back (26 miles) once a week. Running is probably a poor choice of words as Sarah can testify. She came with me on that first trip and she was kind enough not to make too much fun of me. Well by the time spring break came around and Alycia came home I could actually do the 2 miles without walking. To make a long story short, Alycia only ran with me once but I give her full credit for getting me started on a running program. My first 2 miles (in February) was about 25 minutes and today I hit a personal record (at least a record for the last 25 years) of 17 minutes. I still wonder if I'm going to make it the whole way but at least I'm no longer seriously worried about having a heart attack. Obviously there is no picture on todays blog because I'm now the guy I always used to make fun of. "Look at that fat slob running down the sidewalk. He looks like he could do with a little longer run."