Journal Entry

Busy weekend.

Friday night, I went to the gym after work and put in an hour on the elliptical machine. It was a pretty good workout -- I stayed above 160 strides/min the whole time, and according to the machines burned 900 calories and ran 5 miles. I also weighed in at 239, which is only 5 pounds below where I started back in January. Infuriating.

I'd already been thinking that I needed to extend my workouts beyond the 3 days a week that we're going to the gym. I did 5 days last week, but the drive time is brutal.

So, instead, I'm going to start jogging every morning before work. I'm going to try, anyway. I have to leave at 6:30 to make it to work on time, so that means waking up around 5:00 to get in a half hour jog. I managed it today, but it will be tough keeping on that schedule. I'm sick of seeing so little progress, though, and I've done what I can easily do to fix my diet (short of a dramatic and miserable overhaul of everything I eat). I'd rather work more and eat what I like, as long as that's an option.

Anyway. Friday night I killed myself at the gym, and then went over to my sister's place for dinner. D-- was supposed to meet us there, but he got home from work and fell asleep, so that didn't happen. I can't say I blame him. I was exhausted even before I got to the gym.

After dinner, T-- and I went home and watched some TV, and we went to bed relatively early.

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to go for the first of my morning jogs...and then I hit the snooze button and that was that. I woke up around 9:00, had some breakfast, and then went to the gym with T--. So, yeah, it's not like I was skipping exercise for the day, but I thought getting in jogs on the weekend would make it easier for me to go ahead with the plan on Monday morning.

Bah. We worked out with K-- and N-- for an hour, and then split up again. Saturday afternoon, T-- and N-- went to the zoo (which will be well documented on both of their blogs, I'm sure).

I went to Tulsa. The only thing I had to do was replace a circuit breaker for the new air conditioner. I wanted to get that done so we could show the house, and get full advantage from the costly system we just put in. Unfortunately, it was a pretty petty project for a 3-hour drive.

There's another job I need to do up there, but it sounds like a real chore. I was pretty sure I wouldn't even try it on Saturday, but I didn't want to go all the way up just to change out the breaker. I ended up spending a couple hours cleaning up the garage, which was still full of a lot of the detritus of our repair projects of weekends past, as well as some junk J-- had left behind when he moved out. It took a while to get everything sorted, and in the end all I had to show for it was a clean garage (not a major selling point), but I did get the breaker replaced, too, so I'd done what I came for.

It was also my first chance to see the house with the new carpet and all the tile work done. It's really an amazing transformation. The house looks great. I just hope it starts to show soon.

Anyway, I spent most of the drive home working on conceptual stuff for the game I'm writing, and organizing dinner by way of cell phone. I stopped at P F Chang's on my way home, and picked up dinner for five. K-- and N-- came over and brought an XBox game (Fusion Frenzy), and D-- brought an extra controller and Lego Star Wars, so we had a pretty full evening of good food and video games.

K-- and N-- headed home at 10:00 and T-- headed to bed. D-- and I sat up talking. For a while. My alarm clock was set for 5:00 (for the jogging practice, y'know?), but when I finally headed to bed at 3:58, I went ahead and turned off the alarm. No sense pretending.

Sunday morning I slept until 11:00, which meant I missed church. T-- took AB to class and services, and then we met up with K-- and N-- for lunch at Mazzio's. Afteward, I went over to K--'s place, and he showed me how to jog.

I did try a real-world jog on Friday afternoon, before I'd headed to the gym. I felt this incredible, terrifying tightness in my chest and back, pressing on my lungs, and I gave up after less than a tenth of a mile. Humiliating, yeah. I've always had that reaction when I've tried jogging or running, but I figured my three months of cardio at the gym had gotten me past that.

K-- wasn't so surprised. He was a cross-country runner in high school, and he said that even though it felt like a problem with my lungs, it was just my heart working too hard and desperate for oxygen. The solution to that is more long-term, but it'll get easier with practice.

Anyway, we went for a jog in his neighborhood, and then I collapsed on his couch for twenty minutes and watched some E. R. because I didn't have the energy to drive home. There are some pretty unique aspects to the show, but I still don't think I have any interest in watching it. I should for the perspective it would lend on Sarah's story, but I don't think I will.

At home, T-- and I spent the evening watching old episodes of Lost. I also spent a while searching Google Images for monster portraits for my game. Overall, a pretty productive evening.

Then, this morning, I was up at 5:00 and I made my run. The course I've picked out is 2 miles, and I jogged the first half-mile and then walked the rest. My short-term goal is to jog the first and third half-miles, taking the second and fourth to rest. Long-term, of course, I'd like to bump it up to a three-mile route and jog the whole thing. That's a ways off yet, though.

Oh, I also created a Blogger account this morning and got it all set up. But then, you already knew that....