With deference to Eminem for the title of today’s blog, I heard the song on my run this morning, and felt the title was fitting.

That’s right, I am still running. For those of you who had been following me, encouraging me, and asking what’s next after the half-marathon I ran in November, the good  news is that I have been back on the road for about a week now.

When last I checked in, I  let you know that I had gained nearly 20 pounds since running that half marathon. The combination of the cold weather, holidays, and travel led to poor food choices and no running in December at all.

I promised to you that I would get “back on the horse” and start running again. I was committed to doing that, and started eating better right away. But with temperatures in the 30’s, I was still not getting out on the  road.

The rubber hit the road two weeks ago today for me. I was at a meeting in Arizona when one of my colleagues, who knew about the struggles I had gone through with my weight loss, said to me “I see you are putting some of that weight back on.”

Most people would consider this to be a rude statement, but I do not. why is it that people will praise you when you lose weight, but not say anything when you gain it. It’s the type of acceptance that allows people (myself) to delude themselves that there is nothing going wrong. In this case, since he knew my particular situation, and I had talked openly about it with him before, he had implicit permission to address my weight.

In any case, I knew he was right and it was the spark that got the fire going for me again. I told him that I would drop at least 10 pounds before I saw him again two weeks later.

Game on.

So, I immediately got myself back on track. I stopped eating the junk food that had so quickly become a daily staple for me again. Then, cold weather or not, I decided that I would be hitting the road no matter what.

But first, I had to step on the scale for the first time in a month and a half . It’s funny how you avoid the scale when you know the news is bad. It’s especially funny for me because I know that the scale is one of those items that spurs me to action.

262.

Damn.

So the next morning, I was up at 5am to run for the first time in more than a month. I figured that it should be like riding a bike. Wrong.

Before I hit the one mile mark, I was dying. I had stomach cramping and was completely winded. I completed the 3.1 mile course that I had planned for the morning, but was forced to walk at least 5 times. I honestly don’t know what my time was, but it was at least 40 minutes, perhaps more.

Without going through the annoying minutiae of my subsequent runs, it took about 3 runs for me to be able to at least run straight through a 3.1 mile run.

After 10 days, it was time to get back on the scale and see how my work had paid off. Would several runs, better eating, and overall dedication pay off?

Step.

Open eyes.

250!

Phew!

It’s amazing the impact of positive reinforcement can have. I got back to Phoenix and showed my success to my colleague. I was invigorated to move forward with my training. For the past two days, I have run 5.5 miles. The first day, I did have to walk a couple of times. But this morning, I got through the entire 5.5 mile run without walking, and in 53:46.

So I am back. You’ve read my ramblings long enough for today, so I won’t give you today’s playlist, but it will be back on Monday. Thank you for all of your support, and now it’s time to shoot for new goals.

A marathon this year.

215 pounds.

Let’s start with the important stuff first. It snowed in North Florida this morning!

Snow in North Florida

Now, to be fair, this was man made snow at a home in Middleburg, but the fact remains it was  COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW! Isn’t this supposed to be Florida? If I wanted freezing temperatures I would move back to Omaha.

What? It’s 20 below zero in Omaha? Nevermind.

But that still doesn’t change the fact that the forecast calls for a possibility of snow FOR REAL here tomorrow. Insanity.

Needless to say, I have not been outside braving the weather getting running in. But I have been eating right. And the results of just eating correctly, even without the daily exercise, continue to show up on the scale.

This morning I weighed in at 253. That’s 7 pounds down from Monday. I feel confident that by the end of January I will be back to where I was at Thanksgiving, 240. From there, I need to get back on track toward my ultimate goal of 200 pounds. That would represent a total 108 pound weight loss, and more than 35 percent of my body weight.

I also promised you that I would give you an update on my goal runs coming up. I am definitely going to try to run in the National 15k Championship, The River Run, here in Jacksonville. But there is another race I am getting ready to sign up for, and it would be a new hurdle for me if I do it. Details on that, tomorrow.

OK, so I’m going to get this out of the way up front. I did not run today. HOWEVER, yesterday was still a good day.

I got back into sound nutritional patterns. I had been eating so much garbage over the past month, that my body could not possibly process it all. Yesterday, I got back on the protein shakes for breakfast and lunch. And for dinner, a nice pork chop with sweet potato and green beans. I also got back into the habit of slamming as much water as I can hold all day long.

The result? Today I am down 5 pounds to 255. Of course, I know that means that a lot of the weight I was carrying just yesterday is water weight, but still, it’s a good first step.

A lot of people marvel at how the folks on The Biggest Loser lose 20 pounds or more in their first week. It’s essentially the same thing. Those first few pounds are screaming to come off with just a little help from you on the food and exercise front.

So, I got rid of the easy pounds, but the more difficult ones are yet to come. Can I let this early gain be motivation? I think so… with your help.

How about you? Did you gain the classic “Holiday 5 lbs?” What are you doing to get that off? I’m proof that you can make big changes in even a day with proper nutrition. Now let’s see what happens when I hit the pavement again.

(Note: as long as it is 20 degrees in North Florida, “pavement” may be replaced by “treadmill”)