Push-ups

So I was hanging out with my very lovely lady this weekend, and I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Not only was I having a great and relaxing weekend, but I was having a pretty good body image day.  Like most of us, there are days where I feel fat, even though I'm told I'm not.  My BMI is right where it should be and I run in the warm weather months, but I'm always looking for ways to improve my appearance (and since society frowns on people wearing brown paper bags on their heads all the time....)  One thing I've been doing quite a bit of lately is weightlifting, and I can start to tell a difference.  So I was hanging out with my gf, and I decided I would be all impressive.  She had to leave the room for a second and I wanted to make sure I was doing push-ups when she came back because in my simple mind, I would think this would look impressive.  I could tell she was "mildly" impressed, so I decided to up the ante.  I asked her if she would let me try doing a push-up with her on my back.  Now, I requested that if I was able to do a push-up with her on my back, I wanted her to brag to all her friends that I had done so.  If I was unable to do this, I pleaded she keep it a secret for the rest of her life.  With a rush of testosterone through my veins, I was able to do a push-up with all of her 114lbs on my back.  I believe her mild level of being impressed shot all the way up to moderate level.

When geese attack

I have been having some issues with my neck lately (trapezius muscle if you are technical). I've been going to the chiropractor for adjustments, and we have been trying to figure out why this keeps on happening. Essentially, it will spasm, I will get an adjustment, it will be fine for a few days, and the cycle will repeat. While I'm not sure what has caused most of these, I know what caused the last flare up.

I have been running of late preparing for my two marathons later in the year. I went home this weekend, and my running route at home takes me by the two reservoirs of my hometown as they bank both sides of the road. As I was running by the first time, I noticed the geese were out with their little babies. Because the babies were there, the geese were very territorial and they all hissed as I ran by. Not wanting to provoke any type of action, I wanted to be extra careful when I passed by on the way back. On the way back, I moved to the very center of the road as there were geese on both sides. Not only did the geese hiss at me again, one started coming after me. It flapped its wings as if to take off in flight and put quite a show. Not wanting to get my butt kicked by a goose, I hit the afterburner, but as I was looking behind me to see what was happening and wondering how silly my tombstone would look as it described the cause of my death, I felt my neck tweak. I knew I had hurt it and the chiropractor would be in my very near future. I would like to thank Dr. Jay Enyart for fixing my neck and not rolling on the floor laughing when I told him how I hurt it.

Are you Kurt?

I had left the symphony happy hour (see below) and I was going to meet up with a friend. Due to conflicting schedules, I was unable to meet up with her till about 9:00. I had roughly 2 1/2 hours to kill before we could meet up, so I was looking for something to do. I knew the Blackhawks were playing tonight, so was looking for a place to watch the game. As I was driving, I spotted a Snap 24 / 7 fitness. I had a workout shirt (no shorts, just jeans), so I decided to get a quick workout. Because i was going to meet someone afterwards, I wanted to make sure I wasn't a sweating pig. As a result, I took several breaks. I sat down on a machine right by a table where a woman was sitting. She was in workout clothes and I could tell she was waiting for someone. She looked at me for a second and asked with an unsure tone "Are you Kurt?" Have you ever had anyone give you a real nice compliment without meaning to? Sensing this may be one of these moments, I paused, closed my eyes, and said "I'm going to play this out in my head...is Kurt the name of your personal trainer?" She said yes!!! That's right folks, a woman (a pretty woman at that) mistook me for a personal trainer. My reaction to this was similar to Tiger sinking a 50' putt to win the Master's. I was pumping my fist, exposing my easy to be mistaken for biceps, and I spent the next twenty minutes looking at myself in the mirror with my lungs inhaled with air. If anyone needs me, I'll be drinking a protein shake!

Running, a puzzle, and bible gum

Today was a great day! This afternoon, I met a friend at Forrest Park, and we went on a 5 1/2 mile run. It was a very chili day, but we were both well dressed for the journey. While I'm not up to pace for long distances yet, I'm hoping I can continue to train and improve. After I got home from dinner, I started chatting with someone I'm going to go out with tomorrow, and through the conversation, we decided to meet up tonight for a "pre-date". I went over to her house and we watched "The Office" and worked on a jigsaw puzzle of Las Vegas. Through the puzzle process, I learned many things. I learned that I suck at putting skylines together, but I'm great at parking lots. I also learned that doing a puzzle is a great first date (or pre-date) activity because you get to work on something, yet you are able to talk and get to know each other too. On my way home, I knew I needed to pick up a few things from the store, amongst which was a new pack of "bible gum". Bible gum is gum that I keep in my bible because I know that my church has donut holes every Sunday, and I like to chew a piece of gum to get rid of the donut breath. When I was checking out, I struck up a conversation with the checkout lady where I had her guess my age. She guessed that I was 20 (boomshakalaka), where, in fact, I'm 29. Feeling pretty good about myself, I neglected to get the pack of bible gum out of the cart, and I walked out of the store without paying for it. Realizing what I had done when I made it to my car, I went back inside the store to pay for the gum. I think the checkout lady who thought I was 20 was surprised that I would do this, so I told her the story of what the gum was for and how I keep it in my bible. Of course, I have no idea if this person was a Christian, but as I was driving home, I thought to myself that I had just been a part of a special witnessing opportunity where I was able to share my faith and hopefully put forth a good example of why I was coming back in to pay for my gum. After all, I would never feel right had I shoplifted my bible gum...that's just wrong.

Fasting, Day 5

Being that this was my first day back to work, I found it easier to focus on activites and not think about food. I ate some nuts during the day and yet another delicious rice dish in the evening. Yummy. I'll report in w/ a weigh-in after the first week. I'm not expecting a lot of weight loss, although I do plan on getting a nice workout at the gym tomorrow. I did do an ab workout tonight.

Fasting, Day 4

People love to eat on Sunday. I am no exception, and for whatever reason, I found today very hard. I think it started w/ the donuts at church....sigh...those are some good donuts.

I am starting to miss meat. Tonight's rice was a taco rice, and it was pretty good. I think I will want to get away from rice for awhile after this.

I didn't do a run tonight, but I did get an ab workout in.