Half of Phil

 2020 may actually end or it may not I don't know that we'll know until Jan 1 actually gets here. Seems like it's forever away and so much to happen between now and then.  The election is only 2 weeks away at this point, but I doubt we'll know the winner on election night.  I'm hopeful we'll know before Thanksgiving, but who knows for sure. We voted last week and it only took us about 1.5 hours. We have a new normal here now that school has started back in person 2 days per week for the kids.  It's strange to have them going to school.  I'm not certain its actually a more productive set up than their 100% virtual set up has been.  The kids though seem to have enjoyed the 2 days they went this week, so time will tell I guess. My daughter's puppy is growing she was 36 lbs yesterday so half way to full grown we think or maybe a bit over halfway.  Kinda like 2020 we really don't know until it happens. I took her for a 2 mile run the other day, then l...

 A friend of mine from HS added me to a FB group awhile back.  It's called Fluttering to Happy  and I initially thought she was just trying to sell tupperware.  Yes no shit folks are still using and selling tupper ware. Who knew?  I didn't for sure.   Anyway I digress that isn't her primary focus of the group I don't think.  She's using it kind of like I've used this blog, but definitely more frequently.  She posts about her recipes and her journey to better health.  Last week she asked folks for their non weight victories as inspiration for herself to keep up her motivation as well as to motivate others.  I didn't chime in at the time but it's been in the back of my mind so here go a few non-weight victories I've observed for myself over the last few weeks. On 9/29 I planted 2 Apple Trees and 3 Blueberry bushes in less than 3ish hours.  This involved hauling 3 wheel barrow loads of dirt and mud to the end of our street to some...

 The calendar has officially turned to Fall and the weather has as well!! I've upped my running to 6 miles on Saturdays and 4 miles on Tue and Thur for the last week or so.  Times are getting better but I doutbt I'm going to get the '10 min' mile 5k this year.  There are still a few months left though so who knows. Overall my paces are getting better, so any progress is good progress. Weight wise I'm not really losing but I'm sure that's because I've been stress eating.  It's been hella stressful at work the last bit and life in general is getting to me more than it should Last saturday we did mulch in the yard and I went to lowes like a million times.  It almost felt like normal good ole pre-covid days.   Next committed update:10/8/20

I graduated from NCSSM in '94 and on their FB Alumni Page the other day a fellow alum (I think) whom I guess does some PR work for the school posted asking for folks to share about 'success stories' of alumni for the school to use particularly those from WNC. It started a pretty cool thread and we got to hear about some of the really amazing and inspiring things alumni from the school are doing.  We got doctors, astronauts, CEOs of food pantries, folks with PhDs doing amazing things at universities all over the country.  And hell it's really cool in a lot of ways, but one guy posed the question?  What's a success story?  I've been married now 20 years, got a great family, steady job in the rail industry, couple good kids.  Is that not a success? So he got me thinking, that yeah that is a hell of a success.  I fit that bill, I don't know his back story but I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in my nearly 45 years.  I certainly won't fit the...

 So far I have been very pleased with my shoes.  I had an issue with the heal fraying on one of them but the company sent me a replacement pair. From a support point though on the shoes they have been everything they were advertised to be.  My feet feel good and my corn is not nearly as tender.  I believe it in time it may eventually go completely away, but who really knows. I've run more in the last few weeks that I had been before.  I've been running 5.5 miles on Saturdays and 2-3 miles each Tue and Thur.  Which has been my goal for awhile.  I may try to pick up some additional days running, but really wanted to get my feet well before adding more running in.  I feel like they are doing better, but this is now the 2nd week of school for the kids and I've been adjusting to another 'new' schedule. Covid has not let up on the country or our state, NC is doing better than most of the country, but overall the US has 25% of the worlds reported deaths ...

So we got my daughter a puppy for her birthday this year.  It was a few weeks early because ya know puppies can't be stored like normal presents I think she was pretty happy about it.  We had made up riding the VA Creeper Trail as an excuse to get up early and head to VA a couple hours away.  This is her face when she found out she wasn't actually going to have to ride the VA Creeper Trail. I have been active on social media about BLM for a few years now.  We have an internal Social Media platform at work and I've shared a few things there as well.  I was honored and surprised to be interviewed as part of TIAA's ongoing Be the Change program.  They did an article that was on our company intranet page.  It was very well received. I even ended up getting personal email from the CEO after he'd read the article.  That was very cool. I have kept up with my running through July and now into August.  My speed isn't geting anywhere close to the '10' ...

I downloaded the Nike Run Club app.  It has a guided run of 8 1 min intervals that I've been trying. I did it first on 7/11.  I had wanted to get around 5 miles in so I actually did the guided run twice.  My run pace overall was pretty good for how hot it was. My plan is to use the speed run setting on Tuesday and Thursday ams and then do longer 5 mile runs on Saturdays.  This last Saturday I did a preset 5 mile run in the NRC app.  Turns out the mileage tracking in the app is off, that or it just doesn't realize I actually run a slow as I do.  I don't know but I'll be sure to pay more attention to my fitbit tracking going forward.  Granted it was damn hot and I was glad to be done, but I really didn't think the mileage I had in my head was that off.  I should have stayed with the full route I'd planned to run.  Either way it was a pretty good run. I've been tracking my food since 7/6 and done fairly well watching my intake.  Weight wise...