All Good Things....Part 1 (Genesis)

Bear with me, as this will be the start of some episodic content I feel is kind of personal. The "All Good Things" that is in the title of this post that I am referring to is actually my sedentary lifestyle. After looking in the mirror, lamenting shopping for clothes, hearing the worried questions of family members and friends, I am getting my physical life back together and getting in shape. It really has been downhill since I graduated High School. I was able to eat anything I wanted whenever I wanted because I had the luxury of 2 a day basketball practices complete with running and weight room workouts, even in the summer. I was burning so many calories I could eat Krispy Kreme or taco bell at 3 AM and burn it off the next day (see pic with Clifton, above, circa 2003). However, coming into College, and adding the Freshmen 15 (or 30) and then breaking my foot and sitting on the couch and eating potato chips for 6 weeks, I am almost double the weight I was my senior year in High School. Not Good. While my acutal health is still very good (no Diabetes or anything along those lines) and my heart rate and blood pressure are better then average, I look at myself and emphatically declare that this is not how I wanted to look or feel at 25 (right). The odds are that I am significantly lowering my life expectancy by continuing this trend of eating more then I excercise. I have to big a circle of friends, supporters, and confidants (as well as a very steady and supportive Girl Friend) to allow this to continue. In all truthfulness, I have been working on this since September of last year, getting in the gym and getting a trainer, but since last Thursday, things have become a bit hardcore. I have a friend in my lab named Anup who is trained and ran the Boston Marathon (as his FIRST marathon ever) last year, and this year he is starting to train to run the New York Marathon in the fall. I started training with him last Thursday. I am no runner, but I am now working on it. We did 2 miles last Thursday and tonight did 2.5. While last week was a wonderful 68 degrees and breezy here in College Station, tonight has been hell. A cold hell. 34 degrees with 25 mph wind and dropping, school might actually be closed tomorrow pending whether we see any freezing rain tonight. But I did it. And I realized as we jogged back to the lab that there was no way on earth I could stop now. Not after running through light rain in 30 degrees. Everything else would be a cake walk after this. So I write this as a word of encouragement to anyone looking to better their life physically, trust me, it's not easy, but definitely doable. I am a testimony to that. I hope I have your support and keep me in your prayers as I try to slowly trudge back up the hill to being in shape (I want to Dunk Again!!). I'll do my best to keep the posts coming and let you know of my progress.