Day 3

Day 3, No Run, First injury
278 lbs - Woot

Well this morning I woke up with pretty intense soreness in my lower calves where I was cramping the night before. I thought the walking throughout the day today would loosen those muscles up but It didn't seem to help.

I was going to walk some anyway but with the soreness even after the walking during the day was still pretty bad so I have decided to make this a rest day.

In the future rest days will be filled with stretching and light Calisthenics and Yoga exercise called the Sun Salutation.

Day 2

Day 2, Raining All day.
281 lbs.

Well its been raining all day and I wanted to run or at least walk. This morning when I woke up I didn't feel bad so I really wanted to run again.

@ 9:00pm it was still raining.

I ran anyway. That's right in the rain. I wasn't about to use a little rain as an excuse. It was too easy to just use the rain as an out.

The run was pretty much the same as the night before as expected. I did get a little cramping in my lower right calf muscle in the last 600-700 feet of the course.

Again no stopping

Weighed after the run showed me at 282 lbs. seems like I gained.

Day 1

Day 1, First Run
280 lbs

I began my run at 9:00pm and returned home at 9:26pm.
It was hard but extremely fulfilling. By the time I got to the top of the first hill roughly 4 blocks or 700 feet I was Sucking wind so hard people in New Orleans started to get nervous.

I broke up the run with brisk power walking. I refrained from stopping altogether as I wanted to keep my heart rate up for the entire session. In the middle of the course I make a full lap around an 1/8th of a mile track at a local elementary school.

I had a second goal to make a complete revolution around the track at a nonstop steady jog. I was able to do it but I was really pushing myself near the end of the track circuit.

My lungs were screaming.

As I finished the track and started to head back the way I came (at a brisk walk) I realized how good my body felt. Every cell in my body was screaming but they were screaming, "You're Alive!!".
It was kind of a good tingly feeling.

As I finished my 1st run in my drive way I was exhilarated I had done it. It was a breakthrough I had done the hardest thing I had gotten off the couch and taken the steps to change.

The course

This map was created on the Running Ahead site.

This shows the course that I'm running.
If you cant see the map click on the title of this post. For some reson it doesnt show up unless your on just that posts page.

Bike, run, walk, or swim

Well I have a choice to make. Which one should I use as my primary exercise? I used to ride a bike a lot but since letting myself go I can hardly move on the stupid thing. Walking seems like an easy out.

Swimming... Are you serious I just said I was a Fatty, did you forget?

Ok I Knew when I started this post I was going to run.

My thinking behind this choice is that I need to lose weight before doing any biking. I intend to use biking on my recovery days.

Quitting...it had to be done

Late in November 2006 shortly after Thanksgiving day I decided that before I could do anything I had to quit smoking. If I couldn't quit smoking there was no point in trying to lose weight or become physically active. Smoking would only neutralize my other attempts at being healthy and I had to quit!

I had been a pack a day smoker for probably 12-13 years. I'm 32 now so I started young and I knew I wasn't going to be able to just quit because I had tried that in the past.

I set a date. I set a firm date that I swore to not break. I told everyone. I let everyone know that I was quitting and that my Last day would be Christmas Day 2006. I picked Christmas day because I wanted it to be easily remembered and I wanted it to be a special gift to my Wife and kids.

I slowly cut my cigarette intake back a few cigarettes every few days till 5 days before Christmas I was smoking only 3-4 cigarettes per day. The hardest times for me were commuting to and from work and lunch or mid afternoon. I realized that smoking was merely a social habit for me and that I truly was going to be able to quit.

A few days before Christmas things got stressful for me and I increased my cigarette intake. Despite the setback Christmas Day I smoked 4 cigarettes and finished my last pack for the rest of my life.




Don't get me wrong I struggled with it at first but inside of a few days I was completely off of them and I haven't looked back.

Since I'v been smoke free for 5 months I decided it was time to proceed with the next step.

Moles Mutatus?

What is Moles Mutatus? Well its Latin. Moles - meaning massive or huge and Mutatus - meaning to change.

Now Why did I pick that?

Well lately I have felt like my life was just not turning out the way I wanted it to and I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop that which was already in motion.

"Lately" sounds like this was all a recent revelation. That's not so true. Its been probably about a year. Around November 2006 I became highly motivated to change how I was living my life. I realized after much thought that I had no clue how to change anything or even what I wanted to change. I decide to get real simple and start evaluating myself.

I came to a sad realization that I was a Fat Slob. Being an overweight and out of shape smoker didn't make me a very good husband or father. Because I was overweight and out of shape I was unable to do anything remotely resembling physical activity. I was to tired to do anything most days and being outside wasn't a very good either because most things outside required physical exertion. I was starting to see this behavior rub off on my family and I knew I was to blame.

I had grown into a lazy fat blob and I had sucked my family into the same lifestyle.

Some massive changes were going to have to be implemented to fix what I had ruined