I have achieved the 2 mile mark. Now it’s the inevitable 3.1 mile mark that I need to comfortably be able to run.

That may be one of the toughest part of this whole thing is not eating what I want.

Today I want a meat lover’s pizza, with some chicken wings and a Coke.

I will probably have a turkey sandwich with mustard, 10 baked lays chips and water.

Turns out I had the remainder of the breakfast pizza. I couldn't eat all of it which is a huge step in the right direction.

I went to work out last night and did some weights. We were at the gym for about an hour and a half doing all types of ill stuff. I felt like I accomplished what I needed to. My arms are sore, my legs are ready to run today and my mind is set on my goal.

I have lost 2 pounds this week. I need lose 1/2 pound more to be on schedule.

However, according to my forecasting chart, if I continue on the pace of weight loss, I will achieve my desired weight on Tuesday May 27. That would be super to lose 60 pounds in 98 days with 2 months till the wedding to bulk up.

Reality says that I will be cutting it close, especially if I keep eating Harold's Bar-B-Q. Our department had lunch brought in to celebrate a good February. However, I think this was a mastermind scheme to get us to work through lunch. In any event it was worth it.

His sauce is excellent.

However, that doesn't mean I am out of it. I need to lose 2.5 pounds this week to get to my goal.

Here is the weekend recap of what went down.

I have been notoriously bad on weekends staying inside of my parameters. I had a Dr. Pepper on Saturday, my first in weeks.

I didn't run Friday or Saturday. But I did run on Thursday. I ran so hard that I forgot which lap I was on and lost count. So I took the smallest number I remembered and ran a total of 9 laps. 9 laps, one more than 8 which is my personal best.

Today, Monday I went to Sharky's for lunch because they are handing out free drinks to those who have the coupon in the newspaper, which I did.

I'm in some sort of a funk right now. Don't know how to explain it, but there is jealousy, pain, anger and uncertainness about everything right now.

Sometimes you get that way and my body wants to blame it on the Dr. Pepper. However, yesterday I tried to run 10 laps. I brought my daughter with me so she could keep count, because I had lost faith in my brain. It started lightening pretty heavily and nothing looks more inviting than a large man running like a sloth on an open track during a lightening storm.

We left shortly after.

I really wanted to run 10 laps for her. She was so supportive. I feel like she needs to see me accomplish goals when I set out to do them so that she will understand what success feels like.

But I think she gets it. On the way to another engagement, we were talking about how excited I was about running in a real race and she said, “Daddy, I understand. You've always wanted to run in a race just like I've always wanted to be a flower girl!" She did get it. In July she will be a flower girl and she is super ready to walk down the aisle and then stand on stage next to her mommy. She will be beautiful.

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HOW TO CHANGE A TIRE by James Mayo
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My oldest and I decided to go fishing on Saturday night at Charlottes’ Cove, on Fort Phantom. Just to let you know, you need to pay to fish there and make sure you do. The owner will visit with you; I may or may not be speaking from experience.

So when we arrived, I opened the car door and heard the HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS sound escaping from my tire. I am familiar with this sound and thought that it could wait till later, because I wanted to fish. Then realizing that I had a little lady, the light was quickly going away and we had no real time to be home, I began my tire changing ritual.

NOTE: I had never changed a tire on this car before

I found the jack and located the tire, underneath the car. I saw that the tire was secured and tried to loosen it with some pliers, my hands, my feet and my fists. All that dumb tire did was mock me. I could spin it around but it never came loose.

That's when I made the call of shame to my father-in-law

I called my father-in-law because he has been helpful in these situations before. I would have called my dad, cars aren't his strong suit. Blackjack theory, flex capacitors and electrical stuff, I send his way. My stepdad didn't get the call, not because of his lack of expertise but because his knowledge is more centered on 1992 cars and older. If you ever feel like restoring a Mustang or fix-up a 1979 K-5 Blazer, call him and not matter how crazy it sounds, listen to every word.

So he answers the phone in 2 rings (I think he thought I was my wife because of the area code) and I explained to him the wheel is underneath the back of the car and is secured by a wire rope. He says there must be some sort of wench to get the tire down. Seriously? You would think I would be able to tell if there was a wench and be able to get the tire down without having to call. So I look around and decide on my own that he is crazy and I will be sleeping in the car tonight. However, as I crawl out from under the car and notice there is a cap in the back of the van on the floorboard that I lift up. Sure enough if there wasn't a screw that lowered the tire down on to the ground. Being the concerned Pappy my father-in-law was, he called back in 30 min. to check on us. I let him know that he was right and appreciated the help. He’s real good about these newer cars.

After that I went in to my normal routine of taking off the tire and putting it on all the while having my oldest hold the hub cap cover for me so I could put the nuts in them. Not really because it was a big deal or that she really wanted to help (she did). I did this because of The Christmas Story movie. I remember that scene and thought this was a perfect time to reenact it. It went flawlessly.

You know, I should give my oldest more credit. She's so careful and sweet and responds well to direction. Sometimes I take that for granted and fishing trips like this, she seems to understand.

Any way we got the donut on the van and headed down to go fish.
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Fishing with a little girl should be about me catching the minnow, baiting her hook and putting it in the water. Not her, she caught the minnow, wanted to bait her hook (no way I was going to let that happen), and put it in the water.

Then the conversations we had. I'm not going to share those because those are my memories but I did realize early on that my knowledge of dolphins was no where near hers.

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I need to lose 2.5 pounds this week. I plan on running 10 laps today.

Wish me luck.

2 MILES.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I ran 2 miles, I could have run further. I was so pumped about running two miles that I sprinted the last half lap. Sprinted, this for most people would be considered a gallop.

I made the mistake of mentioning to my wife that I should work on my abs more regularly. She AGREED and said we should do this one exercise together that we used to do when we were first married.

That made me smile until I realized she was talking about this crazy ab exercise I used to do in soccer when I had muscle and loose skin.

You lie on your back and have your partner stand over your head and you lift your legs up to them. The partner then pushes, throws moves, whatever your legs to the ground. Your job is not to let them hit the ground while keeping your legs straight.

Then you do it side to side and down the middle.

WEDNESDAY MORNING WEIGHT LOSS: 10 pounds

You bet it was ten pounds. This is so huge. I ran two miles without stopping and am eating healthy.

Morning breakfast of Carnation Instant Breakfast and then someone brought in doughnuts for the circulation department. I had one.

For lunch I had breakfast pizza. I LOVE BREAKFAST PIZZA. It the best and recommend it to anyone. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook. You can't beat it. It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but I was planning on running tonight.

We had church this evening where I tried to convey the message of the importance to teens of being in a relationship for the right reasons. Some of the kids are getting into relationships for the first time or second or third and thought it might be best for them to understand what is expected of them in these types of relationships and how they can be close but not too close, if you know what I mean. And if you don't then ask someone.

My wife and I told our story, which is a great one and how sometimes marriage can be difficult. I realize now that whenever someone says that marriage is difficult, its 100% the man's fault for it being difficult. This is general observation and 99.9% true of our marriage.

No running, no ab work, went to bed at 9:30pm

THURSDAY MORNING WEIGHT LOSS: 12 pounds

I skipped breakfast, not because it’s not important but because I was cranky this morning and thrown off on my routine.

It’s snowing in Abilene right now, weather men/women are putting on their best suits, and web sites are going to red alert, desktop weather apps are scrolling across the bottom of screens.

I have to go to Gatti's pizza and congratulate all the boys and girls who will advance to the regional Spelling Bee on Saturday. A definite perk to the job. These kids work real hard and can spell better than I can. It should be fun.

Plus, I get a free lunch. Or it comes out of my budget, but I tell myself its free.

Can’t wait till I write tomorrow about how much I ate and how much I had to run to feel better about myself. You know now that I say that, its kind of true. I could see how this might lead someone into anorexia, I physically feel better about myself after running. Maybe I’m starting to get issues. I’m not too concerned for myself right now because I still have 48 pounds to lose in 19 weeks or 2.5 pounds per week. I think its achievable.

My other goal is to run an organized 5k which is in April 19. I will be running in the 25th Annual Kirk Goodwin Run. 3 miles, I think I can do it if I am at 2 miles currently. The problem is that I have been to the two mile mark before and had some sort of hangup about going further. I think this is when I can push through. I will get to 3 miles on the track first and then work on running the race route.

So in two weeks I have lost 12 pounds, I can run 2 miles and more importantly I feel better about myself.

If I run a 5K, I’m buying myself a waterpack for my back, because I will be that hardcore. However, I’m still deciding on my attire for the race: High white socks, high shorts and some sort of runner’s shirt with a number on it. Plus I will be wearing sun glasses to tone down my radiance as I prance down the street.

Oh that will be the day, that will be the day.

It snowed in Abilene on March 3rd. Write it down!!!

Tuesday Morning Total Weight Loss: 9 pounds

My body is a yoyo and I'm the string. That's right the string, not the hand, not the ball, the string.

I was pretty disappointed with my weight and decided to take it out on my stomach.

For breakfast, carnation instant breakfast. You're gonna love it in an instant.

For lunch . . . one bird.

Yep, I attacked a whole rotisserie chicken. I think I really ate about half of it, but man it was sweet.

In other news, I will be playing softball on Monday's. You want to see something funny, besides my strike zone, watch me try to make a single out of a triple.

Hopefully I will get participation points.

Still drinking tons of water, still plan on running this evening, still plan on trying for two miles. However, my dad is stopping in town tonight, so I will need to get this out of the way either late at night or as soon as I get home.

Since the wife is busy at home cleaning, I doubt I will be able to get away and run for 45 minutes. That's 15 minutes of running and 30 minutes of rest before I get home.

Oh and its 67 degrees outside

Primary day: If you're a republican there is no need to vote, if you are a democrat you better get out there and pick your winner.

But I am sure you are all very educated readers and know that.

I'll pick up from there.

We have shake and bake and that was great. So in order to justify the 2 pieces of chicken I just consumed, I needed to go workout

We ran a mile. I still cannot tell you how happy I was that I could still run a mile.

Then my dilemma. The thing I dislike most about weight rooms is how I feel like everyone is starring at me. I know they aren't but it still gets in my mind.

We started with isolated bench press, some rows, and some ab work that bordered on dumb. Seriously "chopping wood" never did an exercise like that. Then we played catch with some huge medicine ball. The funny things is in High School I used to warm up with those things and now they are a little heavier.

Did a set of 21's and called it a night.

Tuesday Morning Weight Loss: 7 pounds

I woke up with a spring in my step and had my morning slim fast.

Went to work and came home for lunch. I was starving so I loaded up on a turkey sandwich, cheese, mayo and whole wheat bread. I had 4 thin mints and 10 baked lays.

I ate a ton.

For dinner had this soup my wife made. It was awesome. I had two bowls. That may have been overboard, but I felt somewhat anorexic because I felt like I had to go run or I was going to get fat again. So instead of going with my trainer I went alone. I decided to run around ACU (2 miles) I started off strong and ran a mile, I was pumped. I thought maybe I can do more and ran the equivalent of one lap extra. AWESOME.

I walked the rest of the way home with my mind on my money and my money on my mind.

Wednesday Morning Weight Loss: 6 pounds

Bunch of crap. I don't know how I gained a pound but I did and its eating at me.

Today went to lunch with a business associate and good friend. We ate at Sharky's and enjoyed a nice meaty burrito.

I had a special church event planned, we lead this group called Huddles with 3 other couples and have grown to love these kids. I can say that here because they don't read my blog and I'm the old guy trying to fit in. However, they each have special places in my family’s heart.

Ok, so we went to McDonald's and I had the Bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken. IT WAS AWESOME. Finally something that tastes good and was healthy.

Later on that evening we had cheesecake. I'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake however, this was good stuff.

I don't think I ran that night

Thursday Morning Weight Loss To Date: 5 pounds

I seriously cussed. I've gained two pounds in the past 2 days. My body feels fat and I think I'm drinking enough water. My wife was sick this day after going out last night against my better wishes. I stayed home with her and watched the kids. They have so much energy. I did get a nap in for an hour and had a conference call in the morning I was on and some ads I needed to approve. By the way Play Tastiest Tea

Slim Fast for Breakfast
100 Calories Chips Ahoy for Lunch
McDonald's Bacon Ranch Salad (yep, its that good for only like $4.50)
1,000,000 gallons of water

Friday Morning Weight Loss to date: 10 pounds

So the secret to my weight loss is to eat virtually nothing, and do no exercise. Seems like a healthy way to lose weight.

Sat-Sun was basically the same. I did run on Saturday. I wanted to see how far I could go. I stopped after a mile and a half. Pretty impressive for me, considering a week ago I could barely run two laps

Sunday I was ambitious and wanted to see how fast I could run a mile, against the wind while watching 2 kids. I ran it in 12 minutes. I am pleased with the number but that means it would take somewhere near 45 minutes to run a 5k. That seems a little long.

Monday Morning Weight loss Total: 11 pounds

I have now officially switched over to Carnation Instant Breakfast for my morning fix. It has some more calories than SlimFast, however, the nutrition is about the same and the cost is much less.

Today I am having lunch again at Sharky's. Let’s see how this will affect my weight. I do plan on running 7 laps today; however, in my defense I have the mindset that if I can run 7, then one more can't hurt too much. So hopefully I will be running 2 miles tonight. I also plan on lifting weights. That usually screws with my preparedness.

Here is my planned workout
Pull Downs
Bench Press
Shoulder Lifts (not sure if that's what its called bu I hold the bar towards the center and lift it up to my chin)
Butterfly
Triceps (pulldown and over the head)
Preacher Curl
Incline with Chains (insane whoever thought of that)
Ab Work*

*Ab work is something that I should take the approach of running with. When I was an all-star goal keeper, the best this planet or those within earshot of me ever heard of, everything you did was an ab workout. I think that is what I will begin doing to get back in shape. Some old workouts and probably take some shots.

We'll see.

Good Night Dear Diary

I have created some goals and I will achieve them. It usually takes some time with me but eventually I get there.

I WILL LOSE 60 POUNDS BY MID JULY 2008

How?

My brother-in-law is getting married in July and I want to be in tip-top condition before so.

My wife has graciously accepted the challenge as well.

So how do I plan to do it?

It started Wednesday night at 9:00 pm. I went to the gym. Just so readers know I do not have a gym membership, so I visit a local university’s gym and work out there.

First the embarrassing stuff.
I weighed myself and then measured myself and then wanted to go throw up.

I will not disclose what I weigh just because for some reason I am still embarrassed about it, but I will tell you that I am fat.

I have gained more than 100 pounds since high school. To be fair, I was way too skinny in high school. I needed to be about 30 pounds heavier. But for dramatic purposes, 100 pounds sounds better.

So yesterday I did my:
Bench press: Best ever and I haven't lifted weights in years
Leg Press: Embarrassing, I'm surprised I can support myself
Sit-ups in a Minute: 40
Pushups: 9, yep, nine pushups.
Curls: I did 30 of some weight. Probably should have paid attention to that
Running: I HATE RUNNING. I ran half a mile and it took me 6.5 minutes

Food: I ate a 12" subway sandwich. It was good, only 580 calories

This morning I started my day off with a Slim fast
For lunch I had some sort of pizza that was healthy and only had 290 calories, and 2 Samoa cookies

For dinner quesadillas, after I ran/walked 1.5 miles.

Most of the times I will be venting about how much I hate exercise but I need to do and this is a goal I want to achieve for my wife and kids. My wife, so that I can ease her worries about being around for a while and look somewhat like I did a couple of years ago. I want to do this for my kids, because I love them and want to be their dad for a long time.

So wish me luck.

This could be fun.

If you are not familiar with UIL Realignment, I will do my best to explain it to you in my own way.

The UIL Realignment committee re-evaluated the enrollment numbers in the Texas I am guessing?

So what, might be your response?

Deep Breathe

We need a cross-town showdown or our ticket sales will be crappy this year. I mean you can't get the same hype between Abilene High and North Crowley as you can with Cooper and AHS.

Wylie somehow made it in 3-A. These guys are about the same as Highland Park and the old Dallas Jesuit teams in the 90's. They should be playing at a higher level to challenge their talent but instead they remain in the same uncompetitive districts. Its job security for the coaches but seriously how many D-1 recruits have come out of Wylie?

I don't know the number but I bet if they played 4-A, they may give the kids the opportunity to showcase their talents.
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In other News the Cowboys lost and that team that beat them is in the Super Bowl. Eli didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. So for those who were waiting on the victory video, you will need to wait until next year when the Dallas Cowboys will be the first team to play a home game for the Super Bowl.

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Interesting Blog that still gets comments. "The Ride"

I get about one a month from this post requesting the song and asking to trade songs.

It must be a generational thing. When it comes to bartering, there were several different philosophies that I was subjected to.

-When trading baseball cards, my Dad would say, "Never trade anything you don't have two of"
-Another kid would trade away his card for another card but the total value of the trade had to be the same amount according to that month's Beckett.





I used this one because I still have the issue and was the coolest Score card ever, I still have two.

Moving on: Now in fantasy baseball I work trades for the long term potential for the good of my team.

For instance I have been propositioned by a gentleman I will refer to as Hardball on a trade for David Ortiz for Kenny Lofton and Cabrera. Sounds good, except for the fact that my stable of keepers for this upcoming season has no room for any of them. So I will negotiate a compromise that will allow me to be competitive

The value of this song is through the roof with me, but these other "lost gems" mean nothing to me and I know the circulation of my song, and I bet I could get their song, if they are willing to trade that quickly.

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In personal news, we had our third child over the break and could not be more excited. She's healthy and doing well at home. Still trying to figure out how to adjust to the rest and other things but that will come with time.

Good night Maisy

Politics do suck. I think I have learned over the course of my many years that political parties are dumb and people that vote a straight ticket are irresponsible voters.

also Eli Manning is not good at football.

The reason why I having this political discussion is because I saw something on the caucus and the gentleman said it didn't matter who his party elected he was going to vote for them, great!!

When it comes to the electing of a president I have a stance that is not favored by many and argued by most. I take into consideration the steps it takes to become president and who ultimately is responsible for making the decision who the next leader of the free world will be.

By the way, Eli Manning will throw 4 Ints. and Roy Williams will have the game of a lifetime (much needed) against that running back that is 6'2" 240.

Only in this country can McCain run for president 3 times in a row and finally this might be his best chance. Why couldn't he have done it 12 years ago?

Barack Obama - I think he's a strong candidate, however, just because Clinton looked cool playing the saxophone doesn't mean you should dance. With that past us, his support of celebrities is great, except he doesn't have Chuck Norris

Hillary Clinton - Tough to respect a person who would allow themselves to be taken advantage of. Bill was no saint and I am 100% advocate for marriage, there is absolutely no excuse cheating. Cigar-play counts.

Huckabee - Have no idea who this guy is but if has Jesus and Chuck Norris on his side, he must be a badass.

The rest really don't show up on my radar. I'm sure they are great, I think one of them starred in Die Hard, but it was the second one so he's kinda cool.

Eli Manning - Not consistent, unfortunately grew up in a quarterback house, he could have been a real good clipboard holder. Should have gone to San Diego. Now he is on the Citizen Ecco Drive watch commercials. They only take the celebrities Tag Huer won't touch.

This Sunday's game will start my celebratory dance. I plan to video tape it and post it on the web site.

Peace in the East.

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