The BIG Day

Well today was the Big Autism Walk at Lowes Motor Speedway here in Concord NC. It was an awesome experience !!!! There were TONS of people there all walking to support Autism Research. I walked all three laps (just under 4 miles.) It was great having Dee and Bailey there cheering me on. The view from the track was great, I can't even imagine what it is like to watch a race there. It was a bit warm for 10am in October, it was right around 80 degrees, and it was overcast and very humid, so I was sweating like crazy !!

There was a total of 4,500 walkers and they raised over $330,000. Thank all of you who have supported me, and sponsored my walk. It was a great exercise goal, and kept me motivated through out the Summer. I am going to try and do a 5k run/walk at the Charlotte Airport in November.

Midweek update

This week was very busy. I was finally able to get in and see my new Dr here in NC. I had a bunch of insurance issues at work, so I took me a while to get an appointment with a local Dr. I really like my new DR and the office. They even have a scale that can weigh big people like me (my past three doctors only had the old fashioned "balance" type scales that only went up to 350lbs.) I weighed in at 405 pounds, but I was fully clothed, with my keys, wallet, cell phone, and $2.00 in change in my pockets, so I figure that was about 5 pounds or so. I really need to concentrate on my eating to make the weight start coming off. The Dr renewed my old prescriptions for my high blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol, so I am back on track with that too.

I also walked 5k on Tuesday night getting ready for the walk on Saturday, so that is on track.

Sorry I am a cyberslacker :-(

I am sorry I have not posted anything all week. I have not been on the computer late at like, like I usually am. I will try and be more diligent in the future. I have been getting some walking in at least. on Wednesday the whole family went for a walk. It was great having Dee and Bailey out walking with me. We managed to walk a whole mile (that is a lot for Bailey !) On Thursday I walked another mile, and I went the hard way (mostly uphill) to build up my stamina. On Friday I walked 1.4 miles. Tonight I walked 2 1/4 miles. I am shooting for three miles tomorrow.

Friday night at the gym

I managed to leave work a bit early on Friday, so I got to the gym at a decent hour. I did another "Speed Mile" where I try and go as fast as I can for one mile. I averaged just over 3 miles per hour. Then I did some upper body work too. It was a nice way to end the week.

Two plus miles

Just a quick update today. I went for a walk tonight, I had initially planned to walk a mile, but I felt pretty good after the first mile so I kept going. I ended up walking 2.7 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute. The cooler weather is certainly making it easier to walk in the evenings.

Packed Gym Today

I stopped by the gym on the way home from work today, and it was crazy !! They were having some fort of member appreciation "party" going on. It was full of the usual after work people working out and even more people there for the party. They even had Hooters there catering some food (are Buffalo Wings healthy food ??) I was able to squeeze onto a treadmill and walked just over a mile. I really ramped up my speed to 3.0 mph or higher for the whole 20 minutes. It was pretty intense !! The only bummer was my iPod shoe tracker seems to be out of calibration, it was off by almost 20% I will have to look at recalibrating it.

Two walks today

I spent a nice Sunday with my family. Bailey and I went to the big park a few miles from the house. Bailey played on the playground for a while, then we explored the "Fit Trail." It is a walking trail through the woods, and it has stations every few hundred feet where you do exercises like jumping jacks or sit ups. Bailey really enjoyed it, and had a blast looking for the next station along the trail. On the way back to the car, Bailey kept stopping and drawing on the trail. It was very cute, and she had a good time, but it really messed up my running time on the Nike+ site. We ended up walking 1.42 miles in just over an hour.

After dinner, I washed the dishes and went out for another walk. My goal was to walk 3K (about 1.8 miles.) I walked the three Kilometers and a bit more (I was on the other side of the development when I hit my goal. I walked 2.29 miles in 51 minutes (22'22" per mile or 2.68 mph.) I got a pleasant surprise on my iPod, when I finished my walk, Lance Armstrong came on and said I had set a new record for walking a mile. What a great reward and pick my up !!