Reminding me of what I'm doing

18I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. 19Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. 20And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

21The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. 22With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God. 23But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. 24What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? 25Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.

ROMANS 7: 18-25

Okay, its official, Cruise Ships are where diets go to die. I've been struggling with regaining my original oomph after the cruise put my diet on life support. Thank God this verse was in the Lectionary at church yesterday. It reminded me that my diet started with God and it will need to end with God.

So, with God's help, I will now attempt to regain my original focus and, who knows, become inspired by Dara Torres and make the olympic team before I turn 41 (It'll have to be the Winter Olympics though... any suggestions as to what sport I should try? How athletic do you have to be to go headfirst down an ice shoot on a sled? ;)

What I'm Training For...

Everyone needs a goal. And my goal is to be able to go down this massive water slide with my nephew and niece in 2010.

Nice and simple. If only the training were as well.

Adventure Saturday

So, for the past month or so, I've been working on a new show for my website called Adventure Saturday. The idea behind the show is that on Saturday we all take adventures that get us out of the house and exploring the world around us. These adventures don't have to be expensive trips to theme parks or weekends in Las Vegas. They can simply be small hikes or visits to parks or shows. So, once a week, I have a guest host come and take me on an adventure and then I film as much of it as humanly possible. After the adventure, the host takes me to a "treat" where we indulge in a goody that caps the adventure.

The first "Saturday" was spent up in Central Idaho where I spent an entire week fishing, hiking, and filming myself fishing and hiking. The best part of the trip, footage-wise, was an extended hour long drive up through snow covered hills on a ATV in less than 20 degree weather to the top of a mountain in Idaho just to shoot the opening sequence of the show. I was so frozen I could barely operate the camera (thank God for tripods!). This episode will probably kick off the show when it begins airing in October on my website. For the treat, we visited Big Judds which is world famous for its incredibly huge hamburgers (still couldn't finish one after all these years).

The following Saturday, my brother and I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and filmed over in Muir Woods on the Bootjack Trail. This is one of my all time favorite hikes even though my brother was allegedly hosting the show. To be honest, we spent so much time hiking that we didn't get a lot of filming done. And we never finished a treat sequence.

Two saturday's ago, my aging Dad and I went across the Bridge again to hike the Dipsea trail - home of one of the most amazing footraces ever run. We've done this trail so many times and have so much footage of it from various projects, that I basically only had to film an opening sequence and a treat sequence at the end - there's a great hamburger shack at the end of this 9 mile hike.

Last saturday, my brother and I again had an adventure that ended up being at Land's End in San Francisco. This is a gorgeous route that my brother introduced to me a year or so ago that goes from the Cliff House all the way around to the end of the Lincoln Golf Course, along the far coast of the city. It has gorgeous views of the ocean, the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, and considering it was incredibly beautiful on Saturday, I'm sure I've got wonderful footage. Our treat afterwards was lunch at Mel's Drive In.

This week, I'm going to be in Reno for a Trade Show and I'm doing an Adventure Saturday special on what to do when your stuck in a trade show on Adventure Saturday. Its going to be a great episode. I think for a treat I'm going to try and visit Circus Circus in Reno (especially since the Mustang Ranch is closed ;)

In upcoming weeks, Andy will host one of my adventures. My sister will also host an adventure and maybe even my nephew (which will be cute). I'm also going to Alaska in two weeks - we'll be doing some sport fishing in Ketchikan and some hiking in Juneau. And then, of course, I'll have some adventures at a Class A Giants franchise baseball game.

All in all, Adventure Saturday has not only been a great deal of fun, it has become an integral part of my training. Its getting me out of the house every week and allowing me to enjoy the world that God created with one of my friends or family members.

Now all I have to do is edit these things...

The legs have memory...

Went for my first walk of the week - Monday morning - going to take it slow, ease into it. By mid-walk, I suddenly discovered that I was at full speed (and I don't remember how I got there). My muscle memory is starting to take over. That's a good sign.

I also felt completely at ease hiking up a pretty steep trail on Saturday with my Dad. Of course, we didn't go very far as we had other things to do, so it was more of a tease than a hike. This weekend, I'll be back to a full-fledged hiking experience. And the following week, I'm going to explore the Sierra's near Reno (for as much time as I can get away with).

Things I think about when exercising...

OOHHHOOHOHOOHOH GOOOOODDDDDDD! MAKE IT STOP!

No, but seriously, I try to remain focused on a particular goal and approach it. And if the goal is a long ways away, I tend to shift focus to something else - looking at the pain in my legs, for instance, in an abstract kind of way. Where does it hurt? Why do I think it hurts? What sort of stretches could I do to make that pain go away next time? When are my legs going to jump off my body and throttle me for putting them through this incredible agony?

Its hard to face such agony without smiling and trying to find humor in it. I mean, I'm walking here - not having a baby or passing a kidney stone. At any moment, I can simply stop and the agony will go away. Its not quite as sensitive as, say, selling out your fellow soldiers during a torture session, or being a Bothan spy with the secret location of the shield generator. No, this particular torture is self-induced and the simple solution is to stop walking. So, in order to forget this particular exit from the pain, I distract myself with nice shiny thoughts and feelings in an effort to forget that I can make all the pain go away by simply being the fat shlub that I am.

Whoever said, "No pain, no gain," needs to be shot. We'll see what that gains 'em.

Anyway, as I approach the final stretch, that finish line looms large in my eyes. Of course, objects seen in the mirror of our eyes while experiencing excruciating agony may be further away than actual. The last 100 feet can seem to take hours, as if exercise can create its own event horizon. Almoooooooooooooooooossssssssssttttttttt Therrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
And it seems like you never actually reach it. But, of course, you do.

Interestingly, I like to walk off my walking afterwards to let the muscles cool down and also to make it across the street and back to work. I guess its the closest thing I get to a victory lap. Maybe I should put some WD-40 on my shoes and try to leave a long skid mark in front of work to celebrate my victory. Or I could just hobble back to my computer and plop myself down in a nice comfy chair. That's victory dance enough for me.

And now, off to the weekend and a real Saturday Adventure...

Help Me Train!

Welcome to my new blog.

This is to replace the website of the same name - a website I just can't be devoted to right now. But I figured I can always write a blog post on occasion as necessary.

So the original goal of my training was rather nebulous and perhaps the reason that I never really expanded on the original site. Originally, the idea was to just get myself back to the fun-loving and adventure seeking Will of my youth - more of a healthy mid-life crisis than anything else. But the payoff has worked. My metabolism has increased. My stamina has increased. And I sound a lot like one of those Viagra commercials right now... okay, let's start over.

I'm feeling pretty good, though I'm a bit hungry. Since the start of the year, I've lost approximately 30 pounds. But more importantly, I'm walking faster and looking thinner. These are all good things. My body has not gone into post-cheeseburger withdrawal yet, either, which is incredibly good.

And so, with that set, I can now start actual physical fitness goals. I've decided to not set goals for weight-loss as they can be so arbitrary and unnecessary. If I make another goal, a physical fitness goal, the weight-loss will come along for the ride. So, for the first time in years, I'm actually starting to feel as if I might be able to run again. Besides the weight thing, my knees ain't what they used to be. So for me to feel like I can run is a good indicator.

Over the next three weeks (until the end of April, first part of May) I intend to start strengthening my legs by pushing myself to walk faster and farther than before. I also intend to get some good long hikes out of the way on weekends (for the TAC website and Adventure Saturday mostly). That will get me to the point where I can start running - not much at first, but enough to say that I did it.

By the second week of May, I want to be able to run a quarter mile (one lap) without stopping. Followed by one lap of walking and then another lap of running and a final cool down lap.

By the third week of May, I want to be able to run a half mile without stopping, followed by two laps of walking cool down.

By the final week of May, I want to be able to run 3/4's of a mile without stopping, followed by a single lap of walking cool down.

And finally, by the first week of June and the beginning of my Alaska cruise, I want to be able to run a mile without stopping.

These goals sound doable. And yet, they scare me for two reasons - first, they sound incredibly pathetic to my former cross-country running self, and second, if I should fail to achieve them... that'll be even more pathetic.

Okay. I've got my goals now. So its time for the rest of you to help my train.