1 October 2011
I have never blogged before.
I will make mistakes blogging.
I will not be too proud to ask advice.

I have joined the "Get Off Your Broomstick Fitness Challenge".
 I am pushing 60 years. A year ago, I weighed 214 pounds. I now weigh 160 pounds. I did not have surgery. I gained weight the easy way. I am removing it the old fashioned hard way--diet and exercise.

I slip on the diet. I try very hard not to slip on the exercise.

When I began, I couldn't walk two blocks without becoming out of breath.

I began slowing, walking to the local grade school (3 blocks); after a week, I tried jogging a little (a little = less than 1/2 a block). Idecided that I needed to be able to walk farther before jogging.  So I headed east, toward the railroad tracks (6 blocks round trip). Then I added the walk to the grade school (another 6 blocks round trip). Eventually I was walking to the RR tracks to the highway (16 blocks round trip).

The traffic was a bit of a bother, though.

I decided to use the walking trail on the other side of the highway. I have to drive there, but it's worth it.

I walked in the evenings when I didn't teach a night class.
I started walking in the mornings on weekends.
I didn't teach this past summer, so I walked in the mornings at dawn and then started walking in the evenings after sundown (we had 80 days of triple digit heat). 

Five miles a day became 10 miles a day became 45 to 50 miles a week.

And one day I jogged. Walked one lap, jogged three laps, walked one lap. It felt good.
Then, instead of jogging, I felt the urge to run. Run hard. Run fast. It felt good.
It became walk, interval sprint, walk, interval sprint.

School started. Now I am walking/sprinting 2 miles each morning before I get ready for work. I get up at 4:40 and am outside on the trail around 5 a.m. I like the endorphins. I'm cranky if, for any reason, I miss my workout. I have no butt. My clothes all have to be replaced. I want to lose 15 more pounds.