Unchain Me!

What a nice day. It's been a great week.

This morning Dennis and I ran the Run for Hope 5K, it was a great chance to enjoy a relaxed run and socialize. It's a benefit for the PVHS Foundation and carcinoid cancer awareness. Dennis ran too, and he won his age group, brought home some hardware. Not bad for an old man, my old man.

It was a cool morning, humid but the temperature was perfect for the run. I got a few extra miles in with the Buffaloes before and then afterward.

After two weeks of not doing much, I finally got a fifty mile run in this week on the bike path, and only my closest and most trusted friends know the special name I gave that run. It was my cleansing ritual, my detox run.

After the race this morning we went out to breakfast. On our way out of City Park we noticed there was an Australian Shepherd show at the park, so we decided to go home after breakfast and get the girls and bring them to the park to see their "cousins". There were some adorable puppies, and we talked to some of the breeders and people showing their dogs there. The girls got excited to see the other Aussies, they act differently with their own breed than they do with other dogs. They know.

After we got home we both were tired and Dennis fell asleep on the futon. I went upstairs and took a 2 1/2 hour nap on the bed. I needed that. I have not been sleeping long enough, I always wake up early in the morning. We stayed up the night before the 5K and watched a movie, and then I woke up at 4:45 am, my usual wake up time.

Even without the nap, after my 50 mile run, Dennis remarked on how happy and relaxed I looked. I have heard that so many times this week. It's amazing how good it feels to have an unhappy weight lifted off your shoulders. It's going to be a bit longer process than a week to be completely unchained. I've paid quite a price in terms of my health and overall well-being.

Speaking of weight, I topped out at 130 pounds when I got back from Badwater. I have never weighed that much in my life. I have gained 18 pounds since 2007. It's stress, eating junk at work, eating too much at home, mindlessly, not paying attention to what I'm doing. It's the unhappiness that took such a toll on me. Now I feel like I'm carrying a lead brick when I take every running step.

So now the work begins, to shed the layers that I've been wearing for quite some time now, making some other gradual changes that will help me feel like myself again and will also contribute to getting my body and my whole, intact self back. Life is too short to stay in an unhealthy situation. After my 50 mile run, having all the poison out of my pores, I took a torch to a symbol of it to finalize things. It's behind me. Time to move forward.