Well over the weekend I went out and bought some new running shoes and intended on running Sunday. Well the weather wasn’t all that hot down around here.. and by hot I mean good to run in… it was definitely hot outside.. but the tornado sirens and throwing winds didn’t really make for good running weather..

But today I ran.. for the first time in over 5 years, I went out for a run. NOW. I have been to the gym an awful lot over the past 4 years. I am down from 198lbs down to 168lbs and I am in my best shape since high school. However, this was all done in a gym on elliptical machines and treadmills, never outside.

I was skeptical what my time would be. I was hoping for 7:30 to 8:00 but I was going to be thrilled with 9:00, considering its been 5 years since I have “gone for a run” and since 10th grade since a timed mile. Over 10 years. My time was 8:01. Not bad. I am going to try to improve on it, and with a little bit of conditioning I think I can get to where I want to be.(I haven’t been to the gym since the end of my biggest loser competition at work(2 months, see a few posts down)) .

I am really happy with that time. Jackie ran with me, she is training for a full marathon. She beat me by 11 seconds. I tried to catch her but the closer I got, the farther away she was, I couldn’t gain on her. She is an amazing runner. Well this is just the beginning. I hope to eventually build my time back down to 7:00(6:59 is my goal) I don’t think it will be all that hard. The muscles weren’t really tired at all, but my breathing and endurance was Achilles’ heel(get it…. lol.. ok sorry) I couldn’t suck in enough air.

Now I did a timed mile my first time out because I wanted to see progress of me… average health male to average active athletic male to runner. In 1 month I am going to time myself again and ever month after I will run at least 1 timed mile. Like I said above, I am going for sub 7 min, once I get my speed where I want it I am going to start for distance/endurance, I want my 3 mile time to be 20 – 21 min. which I would be absolutely thrilled with. That would put me just below my high school pace.

Well it’s all for talk now. Now I gotta do it. lets see if I got it in me.

Not something you would normally want to say about yourself, but this time it is a good thing. Today we had our final weigh in at work for our biggest loser competition. My starting weight was 186 and my finishing weight was 171 for a total of 15lbs weight loss which is about 8.1% bodyweight lost. Not too bad for 1 month. All in all I am really happy. I went and found some old pictures that Jackie and I took when we first got our gym membership. I didn’t really think I was in as bad of shape as I looked. But compared to now, I can’t beleive I ever looked the way I did. I am actually pretty embarassed about these pictures but whatever, I put up embarassing photos of everyone else. So brace yourself. What you might see is disturbing. The first ones are from June of 2006 when I was 188 pounds. When I started the competion I weighed just just about the same so this is a pretty fair contrast.

And these are from today

Not bad..all it took was a lot of working out and some strict dieting. I am really happy about what I have accomplished and I am not done yet. I am after those 6pack abs which have eluded me since high school. I am gonna get them back.