Half of Phil

We finished our 5k this past weekend.  The boy took 2nd overall and in his age group, the guy that beat him is apparently the top cross country runner at his HS, so no shame in losing to him. I didn't make it in under 35 min, but I got ever closer and I shaved almost 20 seconds off my PR from May.  So I'll take a new PR as win. I'll admit I was out of gas at the end.  I did manage to finish strong though despite seeing the clock was well past 35 min when I rounded the corner. I've been working on getting faster throughout a run versus slowing down as I had been doing in the spring and summer.  I was able to do that this Sat, but I had to walk a couple times to be able to keep up the pace.  Hopefully if I keep pushing myself on my Tue & Thur runs I'll get there.  2 More races are on my schedule for 2019! This week is BBQ week, so it's been a struggle to keep up with steps and exercise, but I'm sure I'll get back in the swing of things ...

We had a good camping trip with the CAD brethren!  It was crazy hot, mid to high 90s during the days.  Record breaking heat for whatever reason.  Anyway I was glad to get together with our friends.  We've been doing this now for over 10 years, how the hell does that happen?  Time flies when you're having fun I reckon. We did some fishing but I didn't catch a thing, the boys each caught some small bait fish. I've been running some, this week it cooled off a bit and this morning I was able to get my time creeping back down. We have races planned out for the rest of year. Cara's Purpose 5K  on Oct 19th at Frank Liske Park. Veterans Salute 5k/10k  on Nov 2 in downtown Concord NC Jingle Bull Run 5K  on Dec 14th to raise money for HRHS Booster Club So I got 3 shots lined up to make my 35 min time.  Hoping to make it. Next committed update 10/22

We had 2 days of fall weather last week, but we are back to the 90s this week.  At least the mornings are cooling off to the 60s. We have our CAD Camping trip this weekend.  I'm hopeful the weather won't be too hot.  When I book the trip I literally worried it would be turning too cool by late Sept for the group that generally goes.  Alas best laid plans as they say. I've stalled in weight loss, but I'm keeping up with my exercise and diet plan.  Work and life in general has be hella stressful the last few months.  I'm told that likely has something to do with it. We signed up for a family membership at the HFFA club where my daughter is now on the synchronized swimming team.  I've been doing their boot camp class the last week.  It's just a couple days a week, but it's something new to add to my routine.  They have a great work out room so the boy is enjoying that.  There's a contraption there to minimize your body weight to help ...

We're starting to have some cool mornings and some cool evenings.  Fall seems to be coming, but not before we go through hurricane season.  We have one churning on the coast right now, looks like it won't bring anything to us more than some wind. It's been a rough few weeks for me personally, I'm not really looking forward to going into another fall and holiday season.  I'm not really sure why, but I do miss my Mom more the last month and have some dread about another set of milestones without her.  Could be because I recently learned her house was sold and a buddy sent me some photos of the folks cutting down some trees and starting to make it theirs.  It's what should happen, but it's bothered me more than I've realized I guess until I started writing this. The election season seems to already be in full swing for 2020 and I can already sense it is going to be a brutal one. I've probably already written about it here, but it weighs on me and I ...

Well our much anticipated Mud Run was kind of a bust.  It was crazy crowded the weather wasn't that great, but the worst thing is the course was no where near 5k.  We heard as we were leaving they were telling folks if you want 5k just run again.  Geez.  Anyway we had a pretty good time despite the obstacles not being that great and there being no real slide like the promo has been touting all year.  And the weather wasn't too hot so it's all good in the end and we got a medal. A lady at work approached me about the Living Well Champion feature at work last year.  She wanted to do a follow up article for a newsletter, but it ended up being feature on our main company intranet.  That was pretty cool. The response has been positive from folks at work.  Just gotta stay the course and hopefully the weight will start coming off again at some point. Next committed update is 9/6

The heat is definitely not winding down but summer is for sure.  my son made the JV soccer team where he'll start as a freshman in the fall.  I'm very proud of  him.  They cut nearly 40 kids and only kept 36! Their first game is next Monday.  Should be a hectic few months.  I've kept going to 9Round and trying to run some.  I was able to 3 miles in with a pace under 13 minutes for the first time in months.  I've read the summer heat hurts times, but I'm sure some of it has been the time I took off in the spring and early summer for a variety of reasons. I'm still hoping to make my goal of completing a 5k in under 35 minutes before the end of the year.  I need to settle on a race in Oct.  Our next race is the Mud run coming up 8/24. Next committed update 8/28

I was recently added to a facebook group for folks looking to lose weight.  It's got a huge following and was started by a guy who lost a bunch of weight and is promoting disney land or world one as his motivating factor. It's interesting to me to see all the posts about what works for this person or the other.  I gotta say though that I believe Tommy Tomlinson was right in his book .  I've seen variations of this meme a lot lately: The only sure fire way to lose weight is to set a target calorie goal that is realistic, track your intake and keep it at the target or under. Adding exercise helps with overall health but to lose weight it is all about what goes in. My best advice to anyone looking to start a health journey is to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).  Set the calorie goal, track food and exercise 30 minutes a day. It really is a lifestyle change and only you can decide if you want to start the journey.