Baby come back

Hey baby, how YOU doin'?

I quit running last year, and our break-up was rather public. But I've been doing some thinking over that time, and I've reconsidered. Maybe if you're not doing anything next week, we could... you know... get together?

The issue is that without you in my life, I've grown as a person. No, not figuratively, I'm really getting kinda big. I weigh myself every Wednesday, and have for about six years, and I record it in an Excel spreadsheet. All last year, 2011, my weight was in the 170's except for one week in September when it went to 180.5, and the last week of December when I hit 180 again. From January until May this year, 2012, there have only been three weeks when I dropped below 180. Since that article was written, in early November, I've gained about 8 pounds and kept it on. My goals of hitting the weight bench never materialized, so other than my weekly (indoor) beach volleyball games from January to March, I got pretty much zero exercise through the winter. Add in my increasingly lousy eating habits, and well, let's just say some of my large T-shirts aren't so large anymore. And they haven't shrunk.

So I've been thinking of giving you a call for a few weeks now but just like the weight bench thing, it just kinda never happened. The last straw was yesterday when I got a haircut. I got my standard summer buzz cut – #4 clippers all over. I don't quite look like I'm joining the Marine Corps, but it's close. This is quite a change from my shaggy "winter" haircut, so naturally when I look in the mirror the first few times after doing this, I get a bit of a shock. But this time, it wasn't "whoa, your hair's different", it was "whoa, you're fat". And you know, the baggy XL T-shirts won't hide the difference in your face.

So right then and there, I made the first move – I plugged my iPod Nano in to charge. I use the Nike+ thing on my iPod to track my runs, and that's the only thing I use that iPod for (I have all my music and podcasts on a different one), so the battery was completely dead. Note that I hadn't decided that I would go running, I just decided to plug it in so it would be ready to go... whenever I got off my lazy ass and decided to actually run. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day. But over the course of the rest of that day I happened to glance in the mirror a few more times and by the end of the day, I had had enough. The iPod was charged, so I grabbed it, changed into my running shorts and shirt (after blowing the dust off of them first), and out I went – and once again, my dear, we were together again.

I walked for the first and last couple of minutes and for a couple of minutes in the middle as well, but I probably ran about 2/3 of the whole thing which ended up being 2km. Not bad for my first time in six months. Was it good for you? I was pretty tired afterwards but not completely wiped out. To be honest, I probably could have gone longer, but I didn't want to overdo it my first time out. No, really!

The really dumb thing about this whole affair situation is that I picked the worst possible winter to not run. We had a bit of snow here and there, but it was generally gone (or minimal) on the sidewalks and roads a week later. It was also far warmer than our average winter, so there were only short stretches would I wouldn't have been able to run outside. You know how I hate running on the treadmill, but I really could have been running outside almost all winter long.

Anyway, it felt pretty good to be back with you again. I'm not yet sure whether it was the running itself that I enjoyed yesterday, or the fact that I was running. Either way, I'm glad I went. I really hope I can stick with it this time because to be quite honest, you're the one "mistress" that Gail really doesn't mind me spending time with. I had a different one this past winter called "lacrosse blogging", and Gail wasn't so thrilled with her. She took up a fair bit of my free time, including most Friday and Saturday nights and most of the day every Sunday from January to mid-May. I may see you just as often as her but it's for shorter periods of time, and frequently before Gail's awake. Plus she's happy that I'm getting exercise and staying in shape.

I know Gail doesn't care if I have a bit of a spare tire around the middle, but I certainly do, and if you can help me get rid of it, that'd be great. Thanks babe, it's good to have you back.