7-11

Friday
I ran tonight. 1.741 miles in 30 minutes. The first 8 minutes I walked then I ran the rest. The plan is phase out the walking over the next week or so. It's good to be back. Less happens while running when you run on a treadmill.

Saturday
I took a rest day today. As much as I want to run, I really don't want to injure myself. I think three days is fine for the first week back.

Sunday
I contemplated whether I should start my long run today or wait until next week. In the end I decided there was no time like the present. I ended up running 2.355 miles in 40 minutes. The first 8 minutes I walked. I didn't reduce any of my walking time since I was adding ten minutes of running already.

Monday
I weighed 303.6 lbs this morning. That is a gain of .4 lbs this week, bringing my total weight loss to 63.4 lbs. Considering how poorly I ate and drank this weekend I'm not too upset at this gain. Beer and pasta are not items that will make you lose weight. Equally as bad are the eggnog and chocolate pie. I didn't go out of control with any of these foods, but I know that consuming these in even the most moderate of portions will not help my weight loss.

Tuesday
I ran 1.77 miles in 30 minutes. I walked the first 6 minutes. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up the walking. It's just so incredibly boring. Perhaps the problem is that I told myself I would wait till I was back to running the whole thing before I would start upping my speed again. The slow runs have felt good, but it's like my legs want to go faster. Also the treadmill's normal whirring pulse noise that it makes while I run was louder tonight. I'm going to have to keep an eye, or ear, on this.

Wednesday
Rest.

Thursday
Today I had to wait a long time to find the silver lining. It was office party day so while my food in take was not as out of control as past years, it was also not as good as it would have been without a holiday party. When I got home my first priority was to hop on the treadmill. I started it up and it was still sounding loud. The deck felt more springy than usual also. So I stopped it and folded it up to see if I could see anything underneath. Sure enough a plate that holds the deck on the right side near the front had broken. The opposite side was severely bent and looked like it would be breaking soon. Needless to say there would be no using it today. I called my wife's cousin who knows how to weld and has the equipment to do so. He said he'd check it out and see what he could do. I decided that tearing the deck apart would be the best idea since there would be no way to weld the metal back on with all the wood and rubber so close. Figuring out how to disassemble a treadmill deck is not easy, and apparently it's designed that way. After some time I was able to get it apart a sufficient amount. Ideally I would have been able to remove the deck frame from the rest of the treadmill, but those alan screws are hidden a little too well. Later in the evening my wifes' cousin came over and gave the treadmill a look. He was happy that I'd tore it apart as he wanted no part of that particular necessity. Luckily he thinks it's a doable procedure, at this point it's just a matter of him finding time to do it. He thinks it might be possible to do on Saturday or Sunday, so if all goes well this won't be too long of a running drought. Worst case scenario someone at my wife's work is selling their treadmill for $250. One way or the other I'll be getting my runs, just not today.

*Sorry this took a week to get posted and ended up all in one entry. I'm not sure how much I will be updating in the next 11 days as I have them all off from work. In case I don't have a chance Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year, "wait minute... scratch that... reverse it."