May 29

May 29 Memorial Day and Prefontaine...Weekly Weight Update

Before I dive into my usual weekly recap I want to take a moment to thank the men and women who have sacrificed their time, energy, and in far too many cases, life in service to our country. I have many friends that were or are currently in the armed services. I won't try to name them all at the risk of missing someone. I will name the one soldier that means the most to me, my dad, David Earl Clark.

I'm very proud of my dad and the over 20 years of service in the US Army. However, the story I want to share has less to do with his service and more to do with his character. It's something I'll never forget. You see, there is a pretty long history of service in my family. My dad was in the Army. His dad served. So did his dad. I even remember my dad mentioning relatives serving during the Civil War. I was going to be the first in a long line that didn't serve in the military. Dad never pushed me to serve and was nothing but proud about my choices. I remember asking him when I was deciding what I wanted to do at JMU if he wished I would do something in the military. I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "I'll respect and support your decision if you want to serve but I never wished for you to serve. I served so you won't have to."

It is an amazing sentiment. I'm sure no soldier wants to make the sacrifice but they do. They sacrifice for their spouses and for their parents. They sacrifice for their brothers and sisters. They sacrifice for their friends and their neighbors. And they sacrifice for their kids with the hope that one day they won't have to. Dad, and all the others who have made the sacrifice, thank you for your service. I hope that one day you won't have to.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The last time I timed myself for a mile run was back in November (I also spent some time Up on the Roof). At that time I ran a mile in 8:52 which represented (1) only the second sub-10 minute mile of my life and (2) the first time I ran under a 9 minute mile. November was a long time ago so on Saturday I thought I'd lace up the sneaks and try to pull my best Prefontaine impression to see check out my mile time.

It was incredibly hot when I went up to the track at the high school. The sun was blazing and the sweat was pouring simply from the short walk up to the track. I hit start on my watch and Ke$ha blasted in my ears.

I went out fast finishing the first two laps in 3:56. There was potential for me to actually break an eight minute mile. I wasn't expecting that and the beating heat was crushing me. Luckily I had planned my music and when Pearl Jam's Mind Your Manners came blasting through my head phones I pushed hard through the dehydration. Laps three and four were completed through determination and Eddie Vedder screaming in my ears. The sweat blurred my vision as I crossed the finish line but as I wiped the salt from my eyes I saw a wonderful sight: 8:05!

The first time I did the mile run during this blog was in August 2015 and at that time I ran a mile in 9:33. I was, and still am, very proud of that because it was my first time breaking a 10-minute mile. Now, about 9 month later, I have cut nearly a minute and a half off that time running an 8:05. I never thought I'd every run a mile that fast. To think that a sub-8 minute mile is possible is crazy! I suppose I'll have to run this again in August and see what kind of difference a year makes.

When your stomach doesn't appreciate you running in the heat.

This week was pretty consistent as far as eating and working out so I was fairly confident that I'd do OK when it was time for the weigh-in. A Saturday afternoon BBQ with my best friends in the world followed by a wonderful show at NextStop Theatre resulted in a slightly elevated food intake but I was hoping the rest of the week would offset those indulgences. It was also hard to work out because of the heat. I nearly threw up on Thursday afternoon while out running and after my mile "race" on Saturday I took it easy which meant not quite as many miles as I would normally have accumulated. Luckily, it was still a pretty good week with a pound lost resulting in a current weight of 205.4 making the total weight loss 62 lbs. I'm nearly back down to my lowest weight ever and only 0.6 away from a much needed massage.

Rizzo is a monster; an animal; and possibly a cheater. After I put up a record breaking week last week she decided to crush my spirit and soul by dominating that record this week. Not only did she beat me this week but she decided to make me go out in the back yard to pick my own switch to beat my ass with. My respectable 42.7 miles was nothing compared to her 52 miles. She has made it a competition pulling ahead by a single mile at 179.7 to 178.7 with three days to go. Time to turn up the heat in an effort to stay close to Rizzo.

Here are just some bonus pictures from the week.