Turning Point

Last night, I stepped on the scale.

"Honey, I'm going on a diet," I called to my wife downstairs. She protested a bit, saying I was fine, but I wouldn't let it rest. Let's call a spade a spade: I've gained weight.

While training, for me anything around 175 is pretty normal. Now I'm at 186. Four pounds away from Clydesdale. I have a big frame, but still, I care not to fall into that equin race category.

This is on top of my very obvious discomfort with purposely stepping down my training. It wouldn't take Sigmund Freud to read my blog posts over the past several months to see that I was out of my element. The goal was to take a break and make myself hungry again. Well, I'm now there. Mission accomplished.

I need goals. There is Boston, but that's a ways off and I need something sooner. I'm formulating something, but I want to think about it a little more still so I'll hold off telling anyone in mass for now. As for weight, well, the goal is to get back down to 175. Shouldn't be too tough. Better diet with stepped up mileage and speed workouts will take care of that.

So, I hit the woods out back this morning. Enjoyed the cooler, dryer air immensely, especially after spending two weeks down in Florida. A former student/CC runner took good care of our place and cats while we were away, as evidenced by The Cheat and Nordi giving us the human equivalent of a casual "Oh. Hey, what's up," when we walked in the door. And it was a great trip, very glad I got to hang out with family and friends.

Deer flies were quite tolerable. Bad in a few spots, but in many areas they were barely noticed. Ran the big loop out back and just had fun.

Followed up the run with a short bike ride with Kate to the farm stand to load up on local veggies and fruits. Made an awesome salad for lunch with the ingredients. Yum.

Ran 7.5 miles @ 9:49/mile pace.
Trails.
Very hilly.
Lower 70s, cloudy.
Saucony Peregrine, shorts, short sleeved shirt, cap.