Remember Me?

It seems like it’s been forever since I have written a blog post, perhaps it seems  that way to you as well?  There’s a lot to talk about and I kind of doubt I’ll get to all of it today, but let’s see.

Things have been going fairly well at the gym.  I had my fourth session with my personal trainer last night.  Considering how I felt after the first session, I’m  tempted to say it’s getting “easier”, but I’m afraid he’ll hear me and make it harder.  The truth is I’ve made some decent progress as far as my stamina for the sessions goes.  I’ve managed to get through every successive session without  feeling like I was going to die.  Very winded, but not dying.  Every week, he  changes the routine up, which is probably a very good thing, keeps things  interesting.  The big thing last night was squats using a kettle bell and while  straddling a mat, and standing on steps.  My inner thighs are burning today, but  that’s the first time I’ve felt it there, so I guess it’s a good thing.

He will weigh me and take measurements, again, next week and I’ll be interested to see the outcome.  It may just be my wishful thinking, but when I look in the  mirror I feel like I see a difference.  Not to say that I’m not still fat and in need of help, but hey, a difference is a difference!  I have lost 17 pounds since I began  keeping track of my weight.  I’m not sure how that compares to starting at the gym.  I suspect it’s more along the lines of 8 or 9 pounds since then, but that’s  OK too, every little bit helps.  And as I constantly remind myself, I’m not there “to lose weight”, or “to look like an underwear model”.  I’m there to get healthier,  stronger and have more endurance.  If weight loss and model looks come with  that, so much the better, but that’s not the objective.  And let’s face it.  I’m going to lose weight in this endeavor…weather you’ll be seeing me in Calvin Klein ads  remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was you (there’s still the too  old, and bald head to consider.)

I’ve been somewhat impressed with this process, to be honest.  In the past I’ve gotten burned out really fast and had to force myself to go to the gym in the first place.  I didn’t like the gym, I didn’t like sweating and I didn’t want to do the work.  Not to mention it really got in the way of my TV and sitting around on my fat ass  time.  It’s amazing what can happen when you make up your mind to do something.  I go to the gym at least 3 times a week.  I need to go more, and I’m working on improving that, but I’m not going to discount the time I am spending there.  I even sort of enjoy it.  The sweating isn’t so bad since I go straight home  and take a shower.  My only other real complaint is how crowded the gym tends to be, but so far I haven’t had a lot of trouble getting in there and doing what I need to do.  I’ve only had to wait more than a minute or two for a treadmill once.

Speaking of the treadmill, you may recall that I’ve mentioned how I’m not a runner. I believe the requirements I mentioned were along the lines of rollerblades and a  jetpack, with a bear chasing me.  Running was not in the cards for me.  Well, after a couple of weeks of fast walking on a treadmill, sometimes as fast as four miles per hour, and not getting the kind of calorie burn I’d like to get… And looking at the calorie burn of the people running on either side of me, I realized, if I’m going to get this thing done, I’m going to have to pick up the pace.

I knew I had to start out slowly, and to be honest, I was a little scared, but  eventually, I resolved to do it.  After walking at 3.5 miles per hour for five minutes to warm up, I cranked the treadmill up to 5 miles per hour and ran, for five minutes.  It wasn’t so bad.  Toward the end, I was happy to slow it back down to a walk, but the truth is, I could’ve kept going a little longer.  I kept that pattern up for the full  hour, running a total of 30 minutes and walking a total of 30 minutes.  The last time I went to the gym and used the treadmill, I cranked the running up to 5.5 miles per hour.  Interestingly, (at least to me) I have found that running at 5 or 5.5 miles per hour is a little easier than walking at 4.0.  It’s definitely easier on my  feet.

And speaking of my feet, I bought a “friction stick” which I’m beginning to think is  just deodorant, and I rub it on my feet in the vulnerable spots before putting on my socks and running shoes and it seems to have made all the difference in the  world.  I haven’t gotten any blisters in a couple of weeks.

As you know, I abandoned you for a couple weeks to write; to really write.  Not that this blog isn’t valid and valuable writing, to me, but I participated in the 2010 National Novel Writing Month contest.  If you’re not already up to speed, the “contest” is to write at least 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30.  I validated my entry yesterday at 5:00 PM and at that time I had written 53,718  words, not including the first two chapters I wrote months ago.  And that was  writing only on week days.  Imagine what I could’ve accomplished if I had written  on the week ends as well!  I’m really proud of the work I’ve done, but still have so  far to go.  I’m going to keep up with it, but there’s no “deadline” now, so I can and will get back to blogging as well.  I know some of you were wearing a hole in the carpet, pacing and waiting for my next post.

I’m really excited at the prospect though.  I may be deluding myself but I think, once this manuscript is finished and fine tuned, it might actually be a viable  product for publication.  Maybe.  It is in my nature to doubt myself and my abilities and as I’m in the process of doing the writing, I’m inclined to feel like it’s utter  drivel, but when I read back over what I wrote the day before, I realize, “Hey!  This isn’t half bad!”

Ten days ago, somewhat unexpectedly, I bought a new car.  Actually was a new car.  My first one.  I’d been thinking about it for awhile so it wasn’t truly an impulse buy.  I just didn’t think I was going to do it so quickly… or suddenly.  I finally owed less on my SUV than it was worth (not much less, but less) and there was actually a vehicle on the market that I thought I might like.

The Saturday before last, I went to Michelle’s house to do laundry as usual and she informed me that she needed to go to the Honda dealership to get the oil  changed on her 2007 Honda Civic and we could eat while we were out.  I went with her and it turned out that the on-board computer on her car was recommending a couple other maintenance items while she was at it.  It was going to take about  ninety minutes, so we walked to a near by restaurant and had breakfast.  We walked around a Dollar Tree store and then went back to the dealership.  The car wasn’t quite ready but almost.

While Michelle was dealing with that, I walked to the side lot to look at the Honda  Insight.  I had done research on-line already and knew that this car had most of  the features I wanted a car to have, it’s a hybrid which means better gas mileage, and it was very reasonably priced.  They also had signs hanging all around the  building talking about Holiday Sales Event.  I almost gave up, when no one talked  to me and we were actually about to walk back to Michelle’s car and leave when  someone asked us if we’d been helped.

I wasn’t sure I was going to pursue the purchase, assuming that my credit wasn’t  good enough to get me a payment I was happy with.  The initial paperwork that they drew up, entirely on our conversation and without pulling my credit showed 9.9% interest (1% lower than I was paying on my SUV) and a payment that was  too high for my liking.  I was about to walk away, when the sales guy asked me if I wanted to do a credit app so they could give me more definite figures.  I did, and as it turned out, my credit score was about 30 points higher than I thought and they offered me 7.49% interest.

Once I test drove the car it was pretty much a done deal.  My payments are a little bit higher than they were on my SUV but I will be saving a substantial amount of money on gas.  Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my new car!

OK.  There’s more to talk about, but some of it is just plane not sorted out yet so I guess I’ll call it quits right here for now.  You will be hearing from me again soon, I promise. 🙂