Cars...Weekly Weight Update
This week started off great. After the Sunday morning weigh-in the family came home for some pancakes and eggs for breakfast (as is our Sunday morning tradition that you can read about at Sunday Funday). I had plans to get over to the movie theater with my good friend Steve for a second viewing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens so I hopped in my car to be on my way. That is when my car didn't start. It wouldn't turn over at all. No time for dealing with this before the movie started I took Rizzo's van and went on my way.
After the flick (I love this movie, by the way) it was time to get home and deal with the wrecked car. I gave the engine one more try before calling for a tow to no avail. I knew from the sound it wasn't the battery. My fears were confirmed by the tow truck driver. He believed it was the starter but I wouldn't have a final answer until the mechanic at the dealership took a look the following day.
With no car at my disposal I hitched a ride with Rizzo to the Metro (the DC area subway system for those not from the area) and made my way to work to await the call from the dealership. It was about 11:00am when I got the call and felt like an ass-hat when the mechanic informed me that the car started right up and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Why is it that whenever something goes wrong with a car or a computer the error can never be repeated when the technician is around? What a pain in the ass.
My car was in prime working condition after I had the dealership perform the 75,000 mile service for which the car was ready for anyway. That lasted almost a day. On Tuesday after work I got in my car to make the journey home. I reached up to adjust the rear view mirror when something really unexpected happened.
My rear view mirror no longer attached to my car.
The mirror came right off the windshield in my hand. Who would have expected that the mirror is simply glued on to the glass. I feel like there should have been a better mechanism to keep the mirror from falling in my lap but I guess not. So now I have a functional vehicle but I can't see what is behind me. I'll have to get the mirror fixed one of these days.
After all this car trouble to start the week I needed to get some stress relief and nothing does that better than a good brisk run. I say brisk because my Tuesday night run was quite chilly. The temperature was hovering somewhere around 15-20 degrees which can make for a cool workout. I didn't worry about that too much as I love cold weather so I put on a t-shirt, a long-sleeve t-shirt, a running jacket, hat, gloves and a pair of shorts and was on my way. I did get one or two looks from people out and about in downtown Herndon for wearing shorts to run in the cold weather but it makes perfect sense. The warmest part of my body was my legs from the constant moving so wearing shorts was never a problem.
That turned out to be my last workout of the work week. Thursday I had a business dinner I had to go to so there was no running that night. Then, when I woke up Friday morning, my neck was acting very much like my car. I could barely move my head without a shooting pain down my back. I didn't realize that sleeping was a contact sport (I stole that line from a comedian but I don't recall which one) but apparently the older you get the more you literally fight sleep. This time, sleep won the battle. Nothing like going to bed feeling great then waking up barely able to move your head.
Not wanting to give up completely I spent 30 minutes on a treadmill in the basement that my Mom and Dad were gracious enough to give us. I certainly wasn't moving fast so I could avoid the pain of moving my neck but at least it was some movement. I must say that this neck issue really puts a damper on the mileage challenge I have with Rizzo. I guess I'll have to tear her ACL (which is incredibly easy to do for her) or something to even the playing field.
I woke up Saturday morning feeling a little less stiff but still not in prime workout condition. Not wanting to give in quite yet I still made sure to get out and do some jogging. It was slow and stiff but I still did 30 minutes of 1 minute running/1 minute walking. That interval run that I used to do over a year ago when I first started running was nearly as difficult now as it was a year ago because of the pain in my neck.
I decided to take Sunday off from working out all together to try and fully recover from my sleeping injury. By Sunday morning my neck was more stiff than anything else. Imagine a really long day at work where all you have done is sit and stare at a computer screen for 12 straight hours. That was about the status of my neck.
I had powered through on Friday (at least a little bit) and Saturday (a little bit more) but I came to the conclusion that I'm not playing for a professional football club that has made it to the playoffs. I don't need to, and shouldn't be, pushing myself through pain because that will just cause more problems later. Instead, I should try to fully recover before getting back out for a real run. This should make my runs more productive instead of just half-assed attempts to keep moving while I can barely turn my head.
Due to the lack of workouts I was concerned that the scale wouldn't be kind. I didn't feel like I had many non-scale victories this week since I barely worked out at all. I was pleasantly surprised to drop 2 pounds this week which means I lost all the holiday weight and I was back down to my pre-holiday weight of 210.0. Now it is time to get back in the weight loss habit to get past the 210.0 plateau.
Bring it On
When you don't go running you don't get in the miles. That is exactly what happened to me this week and Rizzo crushed my soul. For this week Rizzo put in good work getting 37.7 miles compared to my 33.2 miles. That pushes Rizzo ahead for the month at 49.5 miles compared to my 49.4 miles. That just means I'll need to run more and walk more this coming week. Rizzo, I must break you.
