Seeing the ugly side of humanity

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." --the Dalai Lama

Today was a rare glimpse for me into the darker side of life. The side where it's ok to scream obscenities as loud as you can. The side where emotions can be left unchecked and actions can be reckless. The side where violence is always the answer. Ok I'm definitely overly dramatizing the situation, but the whole thing was surreal.

As I stepped onto the bus this afternoon after work I was met with two ladies in their mid-forties at least, screaming and cursing each other out. I scooted past and took a seat, but soon enough the screaming turned to violence. Hair was being pulled, arms were being punched, skin was being clawed...I contemplated letting the scene play out, but decided it best to step in before someone was truly hurt. So I got in between the two cougars with their claws out and tried my best to separate the two. In the kerfuffle I took an unintentional shot to the head which was the last straw for me. I yelled STOP loud enough to startle both on them momentarily, which was long enough for me to push them apart.

I don't know what started the argument, but I stopped it.

Gangster's Paradise

I saw the movie Public Enemies last night. With it's star studded cast and intriguing subject matter, this movie had SO much potential, but instead was rather long and slow. Sadness. John Dillinger did live in an apartment just down the street, on Grand and Lexington, from where I live and one of the shootouts that took place there was displayed in the movie.

I give the movie a hearty "Meh!"

New music!!

I've added a bunch of new music to my playlist, so check it out!!



I'm going to try to get back into this blogging thing again. I always have random / mundane things I want to share with people, but nobody to share them with, so I turn back to you, the internet. I'm sure all of my faithful readers have fallen to the wayside by now, but if anyone still checks this thing make sure to say hi.

So lets see, what's new with me. In the winter after the marathon, I succumbed to slothfulness and stopped running cold turkey. The effects were not pretty. I ballooned to nearly 285 lbs, developed knee problems, and of course my clothes didn't fit well. There are many factors which led to the realization that I needed to change things. The past 2 months have shown the effects of that change. I'm now back to running almost daily, eating better**, and have so far shed 35 lbs, with another 40-50 to go. I am going to enter the lottery for the Twin Cities 10-mile tomorrow so I have some sort of goal to work towards other than weight loss. But weight loss is a primary goal. Here's hoping I can keep it up!!

**I mentioned that I've been eating better, and in general I have, but the past few weeks at least I've had zero appetite. Each meal time I've have to force myself to east something, and even then my stomach is fighting back. I never feel like throwing up, but my stomach is always giving me the message that it's full. I've gone days with eating nothing or very little. Today for example was a good day. I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a chicken breast and green beans for dinner. That's not a lot of food, but it's more than I've been able to put down in a long time.

Hello my friends!

So I originally came back to this page to listen and update my music, but decided I could pull myself out of blogging hiatus and write something. So....where to begin. I last updated in June eh? I can't even remember that far back.

In September, I started a new job at the UofM with NTS (Network and Telecommunication Services). My primary job is phone support, but half the day is spent writing technical documents and assisting with walk-in support. It's very nice to be back in academia, and I made it back just in time. There's currently a university-wide hiring "pause". But things are much slower paces and "results oriented" here rather than at RBC where everything was very "numbers oriented", which is understandable since it is a financial institution. It was a slight pay-cut coming here, but the benefits and room for growth far outweigh the difference in pay. It was a good move. High five to me.

In October, I completed my first and only marathon of my life; the Twin Cities marathon! It was a cold, wet and rather miserable day, but wow what an experience! A few of the moments that really stuck out for me were first, running past the Basilica of St. Mary and they had all of their church bells ringing and people cheering. It was SO loud and gave me goosebumps and I bounced past. Second of course was rounding the corner by the Cathedral of St. Paul and finally seeing the finish line and the massive American flag floating over the top. My goal for the marathon was to finish and I achieved that goal, but I greatly underestimated the race as a whole. The last 4 miles of the course and the subsequent 3 days were the most painful experienced of my life. I hit mile 22 and my body essentially shut down. Every step was a struggle as my back, legs and feet screamed at me to stop. But I pushed on. I don't remember my exact time, it wasn't good in runners terms I know, but I'm proud of the accomplishment.
As I mentioned, the evening after and the following 3 days were absolutely horrible on the pain scale. I was forced to shuffle everywhere I went as my legs and feet were so sore and tight. I read a rather lengthy article in Mens Health not too long after which talked about how much damage marathons do to your body, which is the main reason I'm never going to do another one. That's not meant to discourage anyone who's looking to do one, in fact, I highly recommend doing one just for the experience, but don't do it for the exercise. The marathon training is the part that's good for you. The event itself is not.

That's all for now. Till next time!

6/19 - 2.65mi , 9'28"/mi, 511 cal
6/20 - 3.87mi , 9'06"/mi, 746 cal

Long weekend of drum corps ahead. Might get a run in tomorrow evening depending on when I get home, but most likely won't get another run in until Tuesday.

Day 2?? Crap...

Ok, so a couple posts ago I declared that my marathon training had begun and I'd be posting frequent updates with my runs and weight loss etc. Apparently I'm a complete liar! I obviously haven't updated in awhile and the marathon training? Horrible! I've been running sporadically at best. A couple runs here and there, but nothing consistent. The motivation just wasn't there. I'd get home from work and decide the weather was too crappy for running or last week I worked nights so it was too late to run by the time I got home. What?? No. Those are all rediculous excuses!
Thankfully over the last few days some events have occured which have really spurred the motivation. Last Thurday I was getting ready for work and tossed on a nice pair of black dress pants only to bend over to tie my shoes and rip the pants wide open. Not much is more humbling than demolishing one of your few remaining pairs of dress pants and not having much else to wear because half of the ones you own don't fit anymore. So with the combination of that and actually having to go clothes shopping last week and buy pants one size larger it really hit home that I need to get my butt in gear. The other event that occurred over the weekend that has really been helpful to me is that it finally feels like summer outside! I feel SO good when I get back from a run and I am completely drenched in sweat. I really feel like I've accomplished something. I don't get that same accomplished feeling when it's cool and I hardly sweat. Maybe a little weird. Bring on the 90's already!! So with that...

6/16 - 2.69mi , 8'49"/mi , 517cal
6/17 - 2.65mi, 8'37"/mi , 511cal

I know these runs aren't long, but due to my slothfulness I have to start my training program from square one. The bright part about todays run is that it was my best cumulative pace for a run, even including the runs from running frenzy two years ago

Ok I'm not sure how much I've run this week since I was poor at keeping track. But TODAY I ran 8 miles!! Yeesh! That's a long run! I hit my first wall at around the 4 1/2 mile mark and another at about mile 6 1/2, but I finished strong. I was able to keep my average at around 9'30" per mile too, which is awesome. I still have a long ways to go however.

Weigh in: 252.2 Progress!!!