Back on the road...

I'm in Miami (Weston at the moment). I've been on the road for 8 days, the first 4 days were in Miami Beach with Jenny. We ate and drank a lot, but didn't go crazy. We walked a lot, so hopefully we didn't set ourselves back (at least physically. Financially we set ourselves back a good $1,000).

After Jenny flew home on Sunday, I've been trying to run as much as possible. Monday I ran 2.5 miles in the morning and about that much at night (I noted my exact starting and stopping points in the morning, at night I ran intervals between lifeguard huts on the beach).

Last night I ran 4 miles straight (it may have been 3.8 miles, I'm using Google Maps to calculate). My knees are feeling it this morning, but it was great to push myself that far. That's probably the longest I've ever run in my life. When I was in boarding school, we would run up to 3 miles each morning, but I don't think I've ever done 4. After years of thinking I was too big to run, or that it would be to high-impact to be a practical exercise for me, I'm excited to be actually running.

It's a funny activity, because I feel liking giving up about 5 seconds in, and still feel that way a couple miles later. But there isn't any one moment that is so difficult that I can't push through it. So I just keep pressing forward.

My plan is to keep pushing myself to see how far I can go. I would love to run a marathon or compete in a triathlon.

After our canoe adventure in the Everglades, I would like to get into kayaking. I'm going to check out places in the LA area that rent them and see if it's something I could do regularly.

272.2

I've been traveling for work for the past month, but fell off my program for a couple weeks before that. Not sure what triggered it, but being on the road has a way of making you wish for time hit the gym. It also gives you a great excuse to not workout, even though I could find something to do no matter where I am. I seem to have my diet in check though, I didn't really gain any weight in almost 2 months off of a strict program, so that is something.

I was in Boston for a few weeks, then Florida for a few days. I'm heading back to Florida for a week and then Texas for a few days.

I usually need a gym to workout, but I'm trying to start running a few times a week, maybe building up to a daily run. That's something I could keep up no matter where I am, but I've always hated running and found I got tired or was in pain so quickly that it was hard to get in a decent cardio workout. But I'm almost finished reading "The Unforgiving Minute" by Craig Mullaney, which goes a lot into the Army Ranger training and pushing yourself past the pain or what you think is your limit. Obviously my fat ass trying to run around in a park doesn't compare to anything in the book, but just the attitude of pushing yourself farther than you want to go.

I just got back from a hike/run in Brand Park. It was about 3 miles (the hike portion was 1.1 miles and then I ran laps in the flatter part of the park).