Oct 4

Oct 4 On the road again...:Weekly Weight Update

The beginning of the week took me to beautiful Isle of Palms, SC for my firms annual management retreat. I can't complain too much because while the morning of the two and a half day excursion are filled with management meetings, the afternoons are (mostly) free and we always enjoy a nice meal at the end of the day. I was pretty tired for these few days having already been out of town for work the week before. As I have said before eating out isn't the most conducive to weight loss but I tried to keep myself in check, including passing on dessert and keeping the alcohol consumption down.

I arrived in Charleston, SC mid-morning on Sunday after an early flight and immediately met up with my coworkers for brunch then a trip to downtown for some exploring. We walked though the waterfront which allowed me to get some steps towards my FitBit challenge as well as get some good pictures of Charleston. It is a beautiful area and I'd recommend the visit.

Fountains at the Charleston, SC waterfront park.

Clearly of picture of me at Gettysburg battlefield

Monday morning started with a long run on the beach. Since I knew I would have a pretty full schedule during the day I made sure to get my run in early. A few tips when going for a run on the beach. (1) Locate the way to get to the beachfront from wherever you are staying the night before. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to find the path to the beaches in the blackness at 5:30am. (2) Make sure to check on the tides. It seems that the tides were coming in on Monday morning. Along with the tides came old logs and lots of water. On more than one occasion I was jumping into the thicket to avoid getting running shoes full of salt water. I was successful at keeping dry but not so much at keeping from getting a few scratches on my shins. (3) Make sure to stay on the firm part of the sand. This can be challenging when the tides are coming in and you are trying to stay dry. Heavy beach sand is very challenging to run on and is killer on the shins. You will be much happier running closer to the water line where the ocean has firmed up the sand a bit. It's still going to kill your shins but you will at least be able to walk the next day.

The tides swept in logs, sticks, and even peoples boats. This was just washed on shore.

Cellphone cameras don't take the best pictures in the dark but that is a lighthouse out in the ocean. You can see also see the shoreline a little bit.

After our meetings on Monday morning we all had some free time so a group of us made a trek to the Tangier Outlet mall in North Charleston. I was really just looking to purchase a new computer bag but also used the time to get some in some extra steps while walking around the mall and maybe pick up a few small gifts for Cece (which I did). I slid into Eddie Bauer to pick up a computer bag (yes, they have computer bags, backpack style, that are quite good) and figured I'd look at a few other things while I was there. Instead of just a few other things I ended up with four new shirts, a sweater, and a new pair of jeans. The reason I include this truly uninteresting story of a man shopping for clothes is because I ended up purchasing size 36 jeans.

All of the slim-waisted folks out there won't understand the joy and excitement I got from this revelation. You see, the last time I could slide my gelatinous body into a pair of jeans this small was in high school. When I first started this whole weight loss adventure I was wearing a size 42, and I was really testing the seems on those 42 jeans. To slide down to a 36 was a great feeling. Not only is it a non-scale indicator that I'm doing something right, it literally saves me money. Us huskier folks have to pay more for clothing once you reach a certain size. Usually the 40-42 waist range comes with a premium price tag, just like the XXL shirt size. Now that I'm out of that range I can save a few sheckles when I need to grab a new Highlander t-shirt.

Our group visited an amazing, if extremely slow, restaurant in downtown Charleston on Monday night called Poogan's Porch. The menu was the definition of southern cuisine. I, of course, had beer with my meal (Bad Penny Brown from Big Boss Brewing in Raleigh, NC, 4 out of 5 if your interested) and started with an heirloom tomato salad. That was delicious but nothing compared the the main course I splurged on; fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was delicious and worth the significant spike in caloric intake I consumed. The chicken was perfectly crisp but not greasy and it was served with a Texas Pete-Honey sauce on the side that was delicious. I'm sure that whatever headway I made during my beach run in the morning was negated by this deep fried piece of art, but it was worth every bite.

Some perfectly fried chicken from Poogan's Porch.

Traveling has disrupted my scheduled workouts but I'm still making sure to get them in but that means my normal Tuesday workout was moved to Wednesday. Since I had the day "off" I was able to spend the afternoon after our management meetings doing some exploring in downtown Charleston to visit some of the historic homes. One of my colleagues and I visited two historic homes in Charleston, the first built in 1808 and 1878. The were both amazing looking homes full of history and beauty. The tours allowed me to get in some good walking time through the streets of Charleston even though I wasn't getting in a normal run. I'll have to put Charleston, SC on my list of places to visit with the family in the future. This city certainly seems like it would be a fun place to explore if I had more time.

View of the Nathanial Russell House in historic Charleston, SC

Being back home on Wednesday afternoon felt great and really got me back into a good rhythm for the rest of the week. I hit the road again for a run on Thursday night. It was dark, misting, and cold but I wasn't going to let that stop me. It also marked the beginning of a new week in the 10k training app, bumping me up to a 64 minute workout. It was long but nice to be back home running through the streets of Herndon.

During my Thursday evening run I had something happen that was a new experience for me. I was on a fairly even pace feeling relaxed and about halfway through when the unexpected happened. When I am out jogging I usually have my mouth open, as is expected when out running. Well the combination of it being dark and running with mouth agape resulted in something flying into my mouth and down my throat. I have no idea what it was. It could have been a fly that made its way between my gums. It could have been a spider hanging from a tree that just happened to be right at mouth level. It could have been something kicked up off the road by a car. I don't know what it was but it went straight into my mouth and down my throat. I instantly started coughing and gagging. The legs (or whatever) were scratchy going down my throat. I tried to make myself throw up but to no avail. I had no water available. I suddenly felt awful but had no choice but to push forward. My throat remained scratchy for the rest of the run and I'm sure I felt something rummaging around in my gullet but I still powered through 5.5 miles. I hope none of you have to participate in such an event. I'm still not entirely sure what went down my throat. I just hope it doesn't result in some crazy illness.

When you are trying to get into running rain can cause a major problem in your routine. The end of the week tested my resolve to not allow the weather stop me from working out. The weather also turned me into the guy that everyone hates. You know the one. That guy that is still out running even though it is 17 degrees and snowing. OK, so it was 54 degrees and raining but you know what I mean. I put on a water resistant jacket and a light weight hat and got out on the roads. I guess it really didn't make much difference because I sweat so much anyway that I look like it has been raining even if it is a bright sunny day. Anyway, I'm proud of the fact that I still got in some good runs even through the weather did not cooperate.

At the end of the week I concluded the obvious, traveling and weight loss do not mix. Over the past three weeks on the road I packed on 2 pounds, pushing me up above the 220 mark to 221.2. I'm not too terribly disappointed after all the eating and drinking I've done so I'm hoping that it will fall off easily over the next week. Of course, I have one week at home and then another week on the road so I won't get to weigh in again for two week. After that I will be back at home and can get back on the serious wagon.