Ups and Downs

Ok, ok...so I promised that I was going to blog more and I thought that I had, but apparently it has been more than 5 weeks since my last post, so I guess I have to get onto myself for not living up to, my own expectations.  I want to write more...I mean to write more...I know I should write more, but then I don't.  What is it that so consumes my life that I don't take the time to write?  Really, there is no excuse, and after my weigh in today...that needs to be my new motto.  NO EXCUSES!!!

It's been a great ten weeks as far as I am concerned.  I started at 278.8 lbs on January 4th and weighed in last Saturday at 247.8 lbs.  In that time I have run just a shade under 250 miles, including the St. Pete Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon.  I beat my personal best time for that distance by more than 30 minutes.  Clothes that I haven't worn in years, if at all, fit and are almost too big for me.  I get up in the morning and my body screams for a run.  It wants to move.  It wants more activity.  I have more ambition than ever, even to the point where I am talking about how I will be able to run full marathons or even further when I shed more and more pounds.  CRAZY!!!

This week was awesome too.  Heather and I flew to San Antonio, TX to spend a much needed vacation with my Uncle Bob.  He has a great house, a couple lovely dogs in a neighborhood very near to Sea World.  The neighborhood was so nice that I found it necessary to run through it 3 out of the 4 mornings we were there.  It was a little more hilly than the neighborhoods here in Melbourne, FL, but hills do a body good, so ran I did.

Of course, if you have never been to San Antonio then one thing you might not know is that this is a city known for the Alamo, (which is much smaller than any movie has made it out to be) the Riverwalk, (which is much larger than I ever imagined.) and food.  That's right...food.  I don't think I have ever seen more restaurants than I saw in San Antonio.  We had our choice of any chain restaurant you can think of, and then a bunch of places that are local only.  I had no interest in going to places I could go to in Florida, so before we left I did a little research courtesy of the Food Network.

Here is a list of restaurants we visited and what I ate.

Saturday night
Dinner
Wildfish - 14 oz bone in Rib Eye, Beer, Wine

Sunday
Breakfast
Madhatters - Bacon Eggs Benedict
Lunch
Mall Food Court - Philly Cheese Steak Pita
Dinner
Dough - Pork Love Pizza, Fresh Mozzerella antipasto, Beer (Diners, Drive Ins and Dives location)

Monday
Lunch
Stoneworks - Fish and Chips,Beer
Movies - Popcorn and Beer
Dinner
La Hacienda - Puffy Tacos, Queso, Guacamole, Margarita (Throwdown with Bobby Flay location)

Tuesday
Lunch
LuLu's Cafe - Chicken Fried Steak and 3 lb Cinnamon Roll (Man vs. Food location)
Dinner
Yardhouse - Egg rolls, Calamari, Beer
Movies - Popcorn, Twizzles, Gelato

Wednesday
Lunch - Airport Club Sandwich

Looking back, I can tell that no amount of running would have been enough to suffice for all that food, but yet the week continued.  We came home on Wednesday and immediately had to join others from church at a potluck dinner.  I love potlucks at church, but seriously, they are not the most healthy of gatherings.  Thursday and Friday were calm, but then Saturday night came along and we had another birthday celebration.  For some reason, we chose an all you can eat Brazilian Steakhouse.  There was wine and cheesecake to go along with all the beef, chicken and sausage you could shove into your stomach.  As far as celebrations go, it was a wonderful....

...and then the interruption came.  Literally, as I was typing this blog I looked down from my perch high above the rest of the crowd and I see a friend in tears.  I don't know if it is the power of a worship service or if something else is going on in her life, but I feel a tug to go to her.  I am glad I did.  She asked if we had a blood pressure cuff at church.  We don't, so instead I drove her to the local fire station.  She got her blood pressure checked and her pulse monitored.  As we drove back to church with the decision being made that she would head to the emergency room just in case, I learned something...all the words above this don't matter.  What I had to eat this week doesn't make a bit of difference.  How many miles I ran in the past two months don't mean anything.  There is something so much stronger in our lives than what we are eating or how we are exercising.  There is the love of our friends and families, and you know what.  Those people are why I want to be as healthy as possible. 

The crux of this blog was going to be about how I gained 7 lbs during that last week of celebration.  I went from 247.8 to 254.2 in just 7 days, but I realize now that the number on the scale is so insignificant as to why I want to lose the weight.  I want to lose the weight because of Heather (my wife.)  I want to run farther and be healthier because of Bill, Brant, Mike, Dan, Kari, Amber, Sharon, Rick, and all the other people from my church family.  I want to put less strain on my heart and get my blood pressure down because of my fellow Army Wives...people like Daphne and Melissa.  I want to help others get healthy.  I want to live as long as I can in the healthiest of ways because of the people in my life who matter to me.  And...the longer I live, the more people can come into my life in extraordinary ways. 

James says that our life is a mist.  Here today and gone tomorrow.  I can understand that in the long range scheme of things over the eons and eons, my life may not have that much significance, but have you ever had one of those misting bottles at Disney World on a hot summer day.  They provide some much need refreshment from the beating sun.  That mist is joyful for a moment.  That is what I want my life to be, and I want it to be that way for as long as my mist can last. 

So I gained 7 lbs...so what.  I can lose that this week and be back on point.  More importantly, I learned why I want to be a Biggest Loser.  I learned an important point about what matters.  And I learned that in life there will be ups and downs, but it is how we live those ups and downs with others that really make all the difference.