A Mother's Prayer

Evidently my mom is going to pray that my knee will go out so I can't run (walk?) the Death March. It seems to be working. I went 2 miles last night, then had to quit because of my knee. But, surprisingly, it feels much better today. Maybe she hasn't had her quiet time yet.

I hope to get in a run tonight. But, my son Ben won a state championship (Critic's Banner they call it) in musical theatre last Saturday and they are performing it at the high school music concert tonight. So, I don't know if I will get the time. We will see.

A Good Week

I am back to running and training. I ran 2 miles Monday, 2 more Tuesday, and 4.5 miles Friday. My knee doesn't hurt much while I run, but the day after - aaarrrggghhh!!! Today, I am not walking well.

It was good to get back to running.

So, here's the deal. No one tell my Mom. Tommy Duncan is bugging me to go back to the death march, which will be March 30, in El Paso, TX. It is the most inspirational (and difficult) thing I have ever done. I would like to go, but I am going to have to train hard and faithfully.

I have found that when I train faithfully, my marathon conditioning comes back pretty quickly. I am heavier and slower this year.

Here's the plan.

I need to get an 8-10 miler in by the end of February.
I need to get a 15-18 miler in by March 15.
I need to run 3-4 times a week every week up until Easter.

I cannot get another injury that requires rest.
I cannot get sick again.
I cannot get lazy again.
If it all goes well, I will give the Death March a try.

Again, just don't tell Mom!

I think I am going to die fat

I am very discouraged. It has been one thing after the other. Back problems, headaches, medicinal reactions, a knee problem, then the flu (actually a different virus, but felt the same). Since I started the blog I have gained 10 pounds.

I still want to do this, but my body just will not cooperate. I think I am going to die obese - and probably young.

Dreams Dashed

I am afraid I may have blown a knee. I have played sports all my life and run in 6 marathons and done countless miles of jogging (as a bigger man). In all this, I have had almost no knee problems.

Then, last week, I was standing still when I felt my knee pop. I was JUST STANDING THERE! It has gotten consistently worse. Today, I can barely stand.

I have been hoping it would go away, but it seems to be getting worse.

This is going to force me to do what I have never been good at doing. I will need to lose weight by changing my eating habits, not by adding exercise.

Gross!

Living with Migraines

I guess I am just going to have to learn to live with migraine headaches. For the second time, my doctor put me on a medicine that was supposed to prevent migraines. It worked, but it made me a drooling vegetable.

I would take the medicine at night, before bed. I couldn't wake up in the morning, then wandered through the day in a total fog. Finally, then , I would sober up by about supper time. When I preached, I would get so dizzy, I could barely stand up.

So, today I took myself off the medicine. I may just have to live with migraines, but at least I can live!

A Bright Spot

I don't want to talk about my diet. I have been traveling and eating out every meal. But, today, I did run for 45 minutes (on a treadmill). I was encouraged to be able to run that long.

I am on a new migraine medicine which makes me feel loopy all day. I take it at night, and it doesn't really wear off till supper. So, I have about 4 or 5 lucid hours in a day. I finally ran at about 6:30 pm, when the medicine wore off.

I hate running on a treadmill, but with the winter we are having, there are no alternatives.

The Dave Diet

I have been successful at dieting in two circumstances. First, the diet must have very strictly designed rules. I am a diet legalist. Second, the diet must involve certain foods, but not involved starvation.

That is why I have done well on the Atkins diet through the years. It has rules. Don't eat carbs. It allows me to eat what I want of other foods, so I don't have to go hungry.

The problem with that diet is what I call "Snikta" Syndrome. Snikta is Atkins spelled backwards. It is what happens when I go off the diet. It is amazing how soon I can balloon up when I start up on the carbs again.

I am trying to do without the Atkins so that I don't have to go through Snikta.

But, I need rules. I guess my Baptist heritage is coming through. I need rules to follow. Here are the rules I need to follow this year.

1) I need to exercise for 45 minutes to an hour at least 3-4 times per week. I am sure my schedule will not allow much more.

2) I eat out too much, and especially at too many buffets. I am a bargain-hunter. Somehow, when I eat a lot at a buffet, I feel like I got a better deal. Pizza buffets. KFC buffet. Coyote Canyon. USA Steak Buffet. Big Dave has to avoid those places.

3) I need to control sweets. I love chocolate. I mean, I really love chocolate. Every dieting success I have ever had has required a lessening or elimination of sweets. I would wager that if I didn't do anything different, but just eliminated sugar for a month, I would drop 10 pounds or so.

Breads are about as bad as sweets.

4) I also need to watch my junk food calories. I can sit and eat a bag of Nacho cheese doritos in a sitting. When I get into the junk food, I go berserk.

5) I need to eat reasonable portions. That's my real problem - self-control. Eat a decent amount, then STOP, Dave!

I will try to follow these guidelines in January, then we will see.

Got to go. Jenni is frying pork chops, then we are eating black-eyed peas and rice. The Dave Diet starts TOMORROW!