Change is inevitable

I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas of getting to my goals... Not giving up, just feeling frustrated.  Or maybe it's just exhaustion...

I have been keeping two blogs, off and on - this one, and another that was more of my "workout" blog.  But this one here, I think, can do both tasks... sure, this started as simply a culinary experiment, but maybe now it needs to morph into a healthy living experiment - "let's all watch as Jason rids his body of all the nasty crap he's been eating for the last decade!"  haha  Haven't decided if I'm going to move everything from the old blog over to this one, or if I'm just going to do a "from here on out" switch...

I've done a few comparisons of my new Garmin 310XT HR monitor along with my old Polar monitor... for the most part, everything seems about the same - a heart beat or two off here and there, and the calories burned is a bit off, but I think that's because I haven't set the Zones in for me yet.  I think I may stop wearing them both - it's a bit uncomfortable, and distracting, to have two bands, two watches, and two sets of data.  So what I think I may do is wear the GPS for anything outside - running, walking, biking, etc.  And then wear the old Polar inside - treadmill, exercise bike, etc.  We'll see how that develops, too.

I was supposed to cook all sorts of goodies this weekend, while I was on duty at the station, but every time I started to prep, we would get a call, or there would be a meeting starting, or something.  I never got around to it.  In fact, we didn't even eat dinner last night until almost 2100!  (that's 9pm for you non-military time folks...)  But dinner was fabulous.  Fresh corn on the cob, chicken breasts smothered in a doctored-up BBQ sauce, a rice concoction, and rolls left over from breakfast.  I didn't do all the cooking, and I didn't get any pics, but trust me - it was good.

Today also marks the first OFFICIAL day of my Marine Corps Marathon training plan - the first email came this morning.  20 minutes of Cross Training.  I have to work a Keys baseball game tonight, so not sure if I'll do it tonight, or tomorrow morning, but we will see.  Let the fun (and pain...) begin.

One of those days...

A rare cup of coffee on my desk...

I had coffee this morning. You may ask why this is important, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s not. Unless you know that I’m not really fond of the flavor of coffee. The fact that I willingly went to the office kitchen and got a cup means one of two things: I am either sick and trying to cover the taste in my mouth with something only slightly-less disgusting, or I am exhausted beyond words. For the sake of argument, let’s assume it’s the second…

The ambulance station is going to be the death of me. Have I mentioned before that I volunteer at an ambulance station? Probably not, but I do. I started about eight years ago, and just recently completed my EMT-I coursework, so I can start running as a medic. I absolutely love the work, too. It’s so rewarding to walk into someone’s life when they are having the worst day ever, and to leave them a couple hours later knowing that I helped make it better. It is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. But calls in the middle of the night make sleep really hard to come by! And unfortunately, I find myself drinking pop (soda for some of you…) in the middle of the night, eating food I know isn’t good for me only because it’s available and you never know when you can eat again. It makes being healthy difficult…

I haven’t really mentioned it here before, but I am also training for a marathon – the Marine Corps Marathon, to be specific.  And let’s just say, training isn’t going as well as I would like. I hurt my leg about two months ago, so I’ve really been taking it easy, and only started running again a week or two ago. And now, it’s so blasted hot outside, running seems like a suicide sentence. But the training has had me thinking a lot about food – what I eat, what I shouldn’t be eating, properly balancing meals while still maintaining flavor and excitement. The more I truly think about it and explore the intricacies of different spices and herbs, the more I fall in the love with the idea of becoming a chef.

No real reason for posting, just felt like babbling...

Bite the Bullet!

(2/23/11)
I had a mental relapse yesterday… I bit the proverbial bullet and registered for the Marine Corp Marathon, scheduled for October 30, 2011.

I had filled out the online registration form and was hovering over the “submit” button, and second guessed myself, so I canceled out. About twenty minutes later, I tried to do it again, but the website was experiencing heavy traffic and I could not get through. But that worked out in my favor – a coworker, Jeff, came back from his lunchtime run and I was able to bounce the marathon off of him, asking if I was being unrealistic or setting my goals too highly. He encouraged me to do it, stating that October would give me more than enough time to build up the mileage. So in the last ten minutes of the lunch hour, I logged back in, got into the website, and registered. I clicked the ‘submit’ button quickly, before I could think about what I was doing. Of course, then I spent the rest of the afternoon in a near-panic at the mere thought of what I had just committed to!

If nothing else, I can always defer the registration to next year if I have to…

The more this sinks in, though, the more I get this urge to go out and buy a complete new set of running gear – new shoes, new pants, new shorts, new shirts, all in bright colors, and made of some fancy, hard to pronounce material. But alas, my checkbook keeps that dream at bay!