A brief update

Exercise update: Today was a 2011 milestone. I took my bike outdoors for the first time this year. It seems kind of pathetic that I didn't get out until May 30th, but I am a bit of a weather weenie. Today was just 10 miles, but it felt good. There was a strong headwind going out but I was able to fly coming back in. I stuck mostly to the flats today and used low gears to protect my knees.

I do love riding that bike. It's the best overpriced thing I ever bought. Running makes me feel fit, strength training prevents aging and swimming is challenging, but riding my bike is just fun. I suspect that if I'd gotten into it earlier in life, it's maybe the only area I might have had natural athletic talent in. Unfortunately as an adult, I hate riding in groups and elite bike riders are often my height...but 50 pounds lighter:). I'll stick to triathlon. My ride did burn 500 calories according to myfooddiary.com, so I've got that going for me.

Nutrition update: Today has been more balanced than yesterday and leaves me pretty full at 8:44 in the evening. We took the kids to the Trempealeau Hotel for lunch, which besides being a place I have fond feelings for (met and married my wife there), is a great place to eat because they don't serve french fries! That means I am one day away from meeting my goal of no fries for a month. I will make it.

I may regret one of my choices today when I weigh in tomorrow. I had lots of calories left headed into dinner, so went for the Tombstone pizza with my son. It didn't put me over the calorie limit, but pepperoni does seem to make me retain fluid. After a pretty solid week, I hate to have my weigh in spoiled by something so silly. I guess I'll know more in about 10 hours.

With May dedicated to eliminating my old friend the French Fry, I need a June diet goal. What I've selected is to stop drinking Diet Pepsi. This one could be tougher. Primarily because a lack of french fries doesn't give me searing headaches. I've stocked up on Excedrin and seltzer water, so I should be ok in a couple weeks. As with the fast food addiction, I'll need a few successful days before I stop missing it so much. Besides the health benefits, I figure I spend $3 a day on the crap. Over 260 work days, that's significant money.

Deep Thoughts: I just got some new books in the mail. I started reading the behind the scenes on ESPN called Those Guys have all the Fun. Pretty fascinating in the first 50 pages or so. I really liked the similar book about Saturday Night Live, so I hope this one is good too.

This week is GED graduation so I have to dust off my suit and see if it fits. I get to give a short address and announce the grads on Friday night. It's always one of my favorite nights of the year. You can almost guarantee one of the student speakers will say something that will stick with you and it's powerful to see the end result of the day to day work we do. My Dad always told me that education is a great job because each year has a beginning and ending. I think he might have meant he liked summer vacation, but even as a year round employee (I'm on the dark side, administration), I appreciate that cycle.