A First Time for Everything

Hello and Happy Memorial Day!  Remember that today is truly about recognizing those that have given their life to protect our freedoms.  Say thank you to a veteran or service member if you see one today.

As for Re-Dan-imation, I have quite a bit to share this week.  I have had a couple of first this week.  I have enjoyed some good food.  And I have progressed in my weight loss.  Let's get to 'em huh?

My first first this week was running 2 miles without the interruption of a walking break.  I decided that I was going to take my Garmin watch out for a spin because it is significantly less distracting than my phone swinging back and forth in my pocket.  Turns out it was a pretty good idea.  I went out to school and started my laps. After a decent warm up I started running and didn't stop until I had actually jogged for 2 miles.  I was so proud of myself.  I was able to keep a decent pace at just under 15 minutes per mile (the pace in the watch picture includes all my walking time).  That's definitely not breathtaking speed, but it is consistent.  I was happy with it as well as being happy with my first outdoor running in quite some time.  I kept walking to cool down and all said and done completed just under 3.5 miles.

This week we had a pitch-in lunch for a coworkers birthday and I decided I was going to bring something healthy.  I found a recipe for avocado chicken salad and decided this was going to be the dish.  I already had 4 chicken breasts that needed cooked so I baked them in the oven with a little butter, garlic salt, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  Those turned out good enough, but I then chopped up two of them and doubled the recipe from above to make enough to go around.  The best part about the recipe was that I already had everything at the house except the avocado because I was just out after using the rest of them up last week.  I felt a lot better about the recipe using my own fresh cooked chicken breast than that from a can as well.  It felt like I had more input and effort Read love and hard work) included in it.  When I took it to school the next day it got great reviews...however many people asked if my wife made it so I had to defend my abilities ;).

Before the Ride

The second first of the week happened on Saturday.  For many years, I have wanted to take a ride on the Monon Trail.  Well, when we woke up on Saturday morning my wife suggested that we take that ride.  I was super surprised because I never thought she would suggest it.  I figured I was going to have to guilt her into it sometime.  I loaded up the bikes on our Thule T2 XTR bike rack (pronounced Toolie by the way) and then "SNAP" one of the rear tire straps broke.  I came in and said we would have to make an extra trip to REI to get the situation handled as this is the first time the outer slot on the rack had even been used.  Well, after about an hour at REI we had a completely new rack.  Thank you to all of the great employees there that helped me even though I was about 2 months past their one year worry free guarantee.  Well worth being a part of their membership.

After the Ride

We then grabbed a quick bite at Hardee's (don't worry, I got the grilled chicken sandwich) and headed towards the 146th street junction of the Monon.  I have to be honest, I was a little excited to finally be riding on the trail considering the closest I had been was the opposite of healthy when I tried the Bub's Burgers challenge.  Probably not one of my finest moments.  We had decided before leaving that a 10 mile round trip would be good for us on our first outing.  We found the appropriate parking lot on Rohrer Road, unloaded, took a selfie and started our trek.  It was GREAT!!  The weather was perfect, the shade was welcomed, and the people on the trail were all friendly.  It took us just over an hour to complete the round trip, but we both ended with smiles on our faces.  I guarantee we will be back to do it again.  Hopefully for a longer ride.  I just have to get my bike shoes figured out so my feet stop trying to go numb on me.

Although my Fitbit doesn't capture steps while I am riding my bike, I can start an activity to track my heart rate and then sync it with MapMyFitness on my phone that mapped the biking route.  Everything eventually comes together in harmony.  I have also decided that my next piece of equipment with be a Quadlock Bike Mount for my phone so I don't have to take it out of my pocket to pause it or restart it and I will also be able to see my progress simply by looking down.  It even comes with a "poncho" in case it starts to rain while you are out.

Finally, to the part you have all been waiting for.  My Weight loss progress.  Well, I wasn't as consistent this week.  Actually, I had a GREAT week.  I am officially out of the 280s as I weighed in this week at 279.8 lbs.  That a weight loss for the week of 2.6 lbs. which puts me at a total of 14.5 lbs lost.  I am so excited about my progress.  My ideal plan would be to double that weight loss or possibly lose a little more than that in the next 7 weeks.

For those of you wondering about the shirt ordering progress...I have only had about 6 people so far that are interested.  That is the minimum order size for CustomInk but that puts the price for them at a little over $30 and I know nobody wants to pay that much for a random shirt.  So, I am again going to post that if you are interest please post on this actual blog so people may see how many others are interested as not all of the traffic on here comes from Facebook.  Hopefully we can get the number a little higher.  Again, here is the design. And yes, this is the color I would like to keep.  I think it is different and it stands out a little :)  Thanks for all of your support Everyone!!!! Don't forget to subscribe with your e-mail above!!!  Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!!!!