Ted Drews, a Run, and Tragedy

I went to Ted Drews for the first time...quite good. As good was pretending that it was summer for a night. All in all, it was an awesome night.

I ran a 10K in Forrest Park today with a friend after church. I really needed that run in order to kick my training in gear. I was blown along for a good part of the run since it was so windy.

This is going to be a very short posting. As per my usual, I have a lot on my mind this Sunday night. Of this, I'm thinking a lot about the shooting in Maryville today where a pastor was shot and killed during a church service. A link to the story can be found at the bottom of this posting. Please pray for the church and the family as they begin the near impossible task of healing.

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-church-shooting-maryville-030809,0,1093502

Is this what that women thought of me when she mistook me for a personal trainer?

So I had my long awaited personal training session tonight, and I was really looking forward to it because I was hoping that I would be really fired up by some muscle bound trainer that would give me a lot of pep talk and weight lifting advice. What I got was a very knowledgeable person, but someone I thought I was in much much better shape then. His shoulders were pretty narrow, and I distinctly saw a stomach that pouched out quite far for my tastes in personal trainers. I thought back to a couple of blog posts ago when the woman mistook me as a personal trainer. Is this what she meant? Did she think of me as someone who had no business doing what I do? Much like a blind man giving a guided tour, I'm somewhat suspicious...

As it turns out, I'm pretty proud of my beginning stats...blood pressure was good, 166 lbs, and 9% body fat. Now the training begins.

Wal-Mart is an enabler of fat and lazy people

It used to be that the only walking some of the more fat and lazy amongst us used to get was at the store, as we went to purchase more of what made them fat and lazy in the first place. Understanding their customer base, Wal-Mart, along with other stores, now have motorized shopping carts that people can use to do their shopping. I have no problem with people using these carts if their is a medical reason, but more and more I'm seeing them used by people that don't need them, including the phenomenon of taking their kids on a ride through the store with them.

Now as people know, I'm all for technology and making people's lives better, and I'm the last person that would tell people what they should and shouldn't do. It just makes me sad because I'm concerned about the health of this country, and I have the feeling that it will become more the exception rather than the rule that we won't be able to push our own carts and will will have to rely on motorized versions in order to buy our junk food.

What can be done you ask? Have some pride in yourself to make yourself feel better by eating less and exercising more if that is what you need to do in order to improve your health. Use the walking at the store as an opportunity to get in some extra exercise. And for goodness sake, leave motorized shopping carts to their intended use...drunk shoppers, college students, and people wishing to make unsafe motor modifications.

Night at the gym

I spent most of today at the gym getting buff for the ladies. I ran five miles, and I also lifted weights. I took some time to relax in the hot tub. There, I met a guy named Chris who is going into OCS for the Marines. I marvel at the service he is going to do for our country. We had a good talk regarding a lot of different subjects.

Before I went to the gym, I ate at one of my favorite restaurants...Sansai. It was quite different because I couldn't have meat. I had to side orders of white rice and it was quite good.

Shirtless No More

Due to a number of complaints, I have removed the pictures of me with my shirt off. Its probably for the best; I don't want to temp any married women with lustful thoughts.

Fasting, Day 1

Being that this was my first day of fasting, I didn't exactly know how I was going to do or what it was going to feel like. To reiterate, I am doing a partial fast, only having rice, nuts, and berries. I have decided that I would enjoy a soda with my one meal of the day (dinner), but I would make it a caffeine free drink.

Since this was my first day of the fast, I know that I was thinking about it all day. In other words, it doesn't feel like a part of my daily routine yet. Consequently, I am going through the process of weening myself off of the quantity of food that I am used to (which my family says isn't much anyway). I'm proud of the fact that I managed not to cheat (other than the soda, which was more of a modification than a cheat). I've got some "social engagements coming up, which would normally involve dinner. I'm wondering how I'm going to handle those situations. Will I cheat? Will I not eat? Will I talk about why I'm not eating.

As I become more used to this, I want to eat less and less during this period, with the goal of going some days without anything. We will see how it goes.

I have also posted my first pictures of what I look like now fitness wise. Caution...man nipples ahead. I also took a picture of what my only meal looked like today. I did have some nuts and fruit through the day as well. I also weighed in at 165.7 when this all began, and I will update you with the weight every now and again.