Six on Saturday

Yes, I am again cribbing from the TGO's blog.

1. I ran 16 miles today. My legs were pretty much dead for the last two miles, and so I walked them (like... really slowly), but I got it done. Coach Ronnie asked how I was feeling, and I mentioned that I hadn't had a long run in three Saturdays, and my last run period was last Sunday (for the Carlsbad 5K). He told me that the lack of training this week just threw me off rhythm, and it's not a big deal and that I can shrug it off as a bad day. Although, 16 miles on a bad day is still cool -- because who does that on a regular day, right?

2. While on those 16 miles, I had to amuse myself. That's a long time that we're not allowed to wear headphones or have mp3 players. (This is because we're not in an official race, but training on the streets, so we need to be aware of our surroundings). I ended up making a Taylor Swift parody (?) to her hit "You Belong With Me", but from the perspective of a guy singing to a girl... (And no, I'm not a Taylor fan, but darnit, this song was all over the place and is catchy.)

You're at the bar with your boyfriend, you're upset

'Cause he ignores you for all his friends that you've met

He doesn't appreciate you like I do

You're dropping hints that you're ready to go home

But he's drunk and he is talking in loud tones

He doesn't think about you like I do

But he wears jerseys, I wear polos

He's into beer pong, and I play piano

Writing out a song that expresses exactly how I feel inside

So I'm singing out now

If you could see that I'm the one who'll be there for you

Do the things you like

So why don't you know

That your man's a schmo

That your man's a schmo

And when I got to that point, I thought that was enough ridiculousness for the day. And so I moved on to focusing on the cute girl running in front of me... (Just kidding.)

3. This is my medal and bib from the Carlsbad 5k. Pretty cool, yeah? I feel.

4. My delicious dinner at Hash House, where I was with The OSFs and some of Chris' family. This was a mashed potato and bacon burger. They know how to serve you up at this place, that's for sure. I ate half and saved the other for tomorrow. It was filling, and I didn't wanna stuff myself completely. Plus, Jordan's trying to get me to lose, and I gotta stay strong.

5. Apparently I have guns. Or am starting to have guns. As in my arms. I say this because I caught up with some friends tonight that I hadn't seen in a few months, and the three girls were all "whoa, you are looking buff!" Then they asked me to flex my biceps. And I did. And they felt them. And they said "oooooooh"... And then we moved on and chatted about real things... And then when our time was over and we had to split up, we all hugged and they asked me to flex one more time. I obliged, and they felt me up. It was just a funny moment to me, as this has never happened.

6. This video is one of the reasons I love Lea Michele. If only we had gone to see her at this cabaret before "Glee" had taken off! Now an intimate event like this with her there will never happen... But still, she amazes me, and this song from Spring Awakening reminds me and re-affirms my love of the show.

35 Days Later

Location: My bedroom, while people are playing Halo outside in the living room

The Date/Time: Cinco De Mayo 2009

Miscellaneous: listening to the new Mat Kearney song "Closer to Love"... and I'm in love. I see myself and Weez at one of his concerts enjoying this song, potentially in the near future...

I find myself not wanting to sleep just yet. I'm in one of those moods where I really just want to bust out in song. Like when I'm doing dishes, and I have my laptop out on the table, spinning a playlist, and I'm just going for those notes as I scrub the dried food off that plate. It makes the arduous task of dishwashing a lot more tolerable, if not even enjoyable for me...

But I can't just bust out into Jason Mraz's "Unfold" right now, as that'd just be weird. I can see it now...

Andy: Do you guys hear something?

OSF #1: It sounds like singing...

Me [singing from my room]: "My hands are hiiiiiiiiiiiigh... and I'm holding on..."

OSF #2: Is Ry singing in his room?

Random guest of Andy's: Who's Ry again? You mean that Asian kid?

Okay, so maybe not quite like that...

But instead of singing, I'm channeling that energy into my fingers and typing out my thoughts on working out for the last 35 consecutive days. And you know what, it feels freaking fantastic, actually.

It was a goal for both Chris and I to be more consistent with hitting the gym this year, and in late March I started going intermittently. And to be honest, it sucked. I hadn't worked out in awhile, and when I did go, I only did cardio. Last year, I used to hit the weights with Kasey, and we'd go pretty consistently after work, but that was back in the graveyard shift days. But since I moved to daytime hours in May 2008, I think I'd barely go once a month. It was hard getting motivated, especially as my various gym partners were never consistent either.

But I remember trying on some of my jeans/pants (around early March), and they were just not fitting well anymore. If at all. And I said "this is not going to work." All that sitting around in the office and eating out for lunch was not doing me any favors. And so there was my motivation for hitting the gym again.

Getting back into the routine was hard, but I eased into it. It was never an official goal to make it through the entire month of April without missing a beat, but it happened. I was adding weight lifting days eventually to the point where I lift every other day (and now I'm slowly increasing the weight too)... upping the difficulty (resistance) on the elliptical (I already could do incline at the max)... and being more conscientious about my eating habits. And so now it's been 35 straight days of hitting the gym, and it's weird to think that I might miss a workout... so I guess until further notice, the streak continues! And I'll read up on different exercises to mix things up...

I'll worry about gaining lean muscle mass with time (and my cousin's help/training, since he used to train hard for his hockey playing days), but for now my stomach is getting slimmer, and I dig it. :D