The weight loss progress has been at a plateau - summers are challenging for me. There are so many fests, fairs, sporting events, gatherings, etc that is makes it hard to lose weight. Normally I'm hiking, biking and even running (remember I said normally) enough that it counter balances the extra indulgences. Sadly the puppy has taken over so much of my free time that I'm doing a lot less. To clarify, it's not that I can't leave the dog; the situation is there is only so much time I have where I can leave - usually the morning before work, lunch time, and a little bit in the evening before I'm heading out to something. Those times are now most often spent walking the dog for bathroom breaks. Luckily the Light Weigh program does work for me and that is counterbalancing my lack of exercise. I wish I could add more exercise in, because I think with that and the light weigh combined I would be losing weight even with the extra indulgences. I attribute some of my 15 pounds of Light Weigh session one to the springs hikes I was doing. I hope to add more hiking, maybe with the dog (that overcomes one of the conflicts I have). This weekend I am boarding the dog to free up more time for me - I have some decluttering/clearing tasks I want to do, and I hope to get in some good exercise - probably a hike and possible a long bike ride.
Update on the specific running goals
First goal is to be ready for the BLS Fun Runs
Overall summer pace goal is to be a 9+ minute miler by the last of the fun runs.
---I'm doing ok with the 3 mile distance. It's hard and challenging but doable - at last night's run there were times I thought about stopping and walking but never felt the need so I kept running. Getting to a 9+ minute mile by the last fun run is next to impossible. I'm not sure what to do here....admit defeat and move on? select a much slower but more realistic goal? I'm not ready to do either - I need some time to think on this.
Second summer goal is compete a long distance race.
-- My running goal to complete a long distance race has been heavily on my mind. There are a few candidate runs - the BLS Discovery Run and the Chicago Perfect 10. As I slogged along at way too slow a pace made me question doing either. If I ran the Discovery Run at the same pace as last night's fun run then I would be the very last runner by at least 30 minutes. Now if I trained I'm sure I could bring down my pace and finish with those final stragglers. That's a better result but still not what I want. The Chicago Perfect 10 has a wider range of running paces and I would beat a handful of other runners. That race includes an Expo and Chicago tends to do Expos very well - so that is a big plus. The downside it that would require a hotel room because the run starts too early on Saturday to make it viable to drive down that morning and no train runs at that hour; although that is in someways a plus because it helps make this an "event" for me. I'm not sure either is a good fit - I'm questioning keeping this as a goal. I need to either get moving on getting to running regularly (and therefore increasing my pace and endurance) or drop this goal for this year
Third running goal is to
-- Zeus and I have done the Wirth Park trails. He did really well and seamed to enjoy it. The only concern was that it was really short - I want him to be able to go at least 3 miles without issues. We were through the trails and I wanted to take the path around the rest of the park but the pup was pooped and would not walk more than a few yards before he was stopping again (and again). This was only about a mile and half. Similar thing happened on today's lunch time walk. Zeus was so tired and barely made it back - all he wanted to do was stop and take a nap in the shady grass! It's things like this that make me concerned for taking him on a hike at Laphem Peak State Park - he may be taking a nap in the middle of the Red trail (Zeus is definitely not up to tackling the Blue or Black trails ....but we hope someday he will!).
