Hope everyone is ok

It's good to continue to hear reports that people are recovering from the storm. I'm so sorry for those who have lost so much and for those without power and water. I won't elaborate because so many are suffering but I'll just report that we had no damage to our house and were only without electricity for a couple of days. Thank God we were spared.

Also, let me just say THANK YOU to the tireless (not literally speaking) first responders, utility workers, garbage collectors, grocers, healthcare providers, and government officials for your relentless effort to get us back to functional and back to normal. I know I don't reach many here on the blog and I doubt this will make a difference but I'll just mention this. I-45 into Galveston is currently in GRIDLOCK!!! All residents and visitors trying to get into Galveston are being turned away at this time. It's so bad that repair vehicles, food, water, medical supplies, and other emergency vehicles can't even get through to get into Galveston. Please, please, please do not try to go to Galveston.

Moving on...

Here's the report on where I am health wise. I was on a roll back in July but fell off again, for whatever reason(s). WAY off!!! I've gained 15 pounds since the middle of July and have become so sedentary, I'm starting to have difficulty with just everyday tasks. I'm only 20 pounds away from my all-time, life-time highest weight of 370 pounds. If I had one, single ounce of dignity or pride in myself, I'd never post this on the blog but hey, I guess that's just where I'm at right now. I don't care anymore. In some sort of perverted, upside-down, backwards way, I've let this blog become a crutch. I've let it become all about me!!! Now, that sounds kind of strange I know. Especially since this blog is about me. :) LOL!!! What I mean is somewhere along the way, instead of using this blog to chronicle my activities and my successes in hopes that it might reach out and inspire others, it's turned into this thing where I just want people to tell me it's ok. It's ok that I'm struggling. It's ok that I've "started over" umpteen million times. It's ok to just do what I can. Poor, poor, pitiful me.

So, I'm faced with a couple of options. 1) Abandon the blog because it's too embarrassing what it has become, or 2) Give it another chance. Make it something better. I think like so many other things in my life, just saying "I choose 2)" doesn't make it so. I've just got to do it. The same way saying "I'm back!!!" doesn't make it so. I've got to prove it. I think announcements like "I'm back!!!" and "I'm going to live healthy and eat right" or "I'm going to make this blog something better" are better made retrospectively than presumptively. So, rather than making some big announcement or claim, I'm just going to state how the last few days have gone.

I started a new running plan this week. It's a customized plan from RRCA-certified coach Humble Runner Bill. It's a perfect, insightful plan for me. It's completely customized for my situation...fat, sedentary, new runner. I think it's going to work nicely with my weight loss goals. The core goal of the program is what every beginner runner should be concentrating on, base building. And not just aerobic base building but more importantly, especially for someone who is heavy, musculo-skeletal base building. I've got to build up my bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage to stay injury-free.

So, I started this week with hard/easy/hard on Mon/Tues/Wed. Here's the hard - .25 miles at 18:30 pace. Yes, that's hard to swallow!!! But it's the right thing to do. Easy days are 1 mile walk at no target pace. This is going to be a long, gradual build up to get my running even close to where I want it to be and it's going to take patience. But Bill's got me believing this is the best way for a new runner to start. And yes, I may be an experienced runner but I'm an experienced, new runner. LOL!!! That makes NO sense.

Regarding nutrition, I'm still struggling. I don't have a plan right now besides just trying to make better choices. This is a good thing but my choices need to be made WAAAAAY before it's time to eat. Sounds a lot like having a plan!!! The weird thing is that I've done this before and I have some knowledge about healthy nutrition but when push comes to shove, I just don't make the right choices. Maybe for a while, I need someone else to make the choices for me. I'm talking a professional dietician. I'm talking The Cat-inator. Can I afford it? Well, can I really afford NOT to get her help. I think no. I'll have to see how this works out.

Later.