Visitors are Awesome

Matt and Jamie came to visit for a few days and it's always nice to have people from the outside world invade Alabama. I get pretty homesick and it's nice to have them here to remind me of Seattle. Here's a pic of them at the museum and a pic of the Blackhawk that I was supposed to fly last night before it got too cloudy.

Yesterday I ran 4 miles with James and Matt (James and I made Matt hate life obviously) and did 3 sets of pullups with 90 seconds rest in between, 11-7-5. I was pretty proud of my 11 pullups but the goal is do be able to do 3 sets of 10 with a 45 lb vest on. I'll let you know when that happens...

Today I did 50 pushups when I rolled out of bed and 299 during the card game with James this afternoon. That puts me at 22082 for the first 4 months, I'll take it! I also managed to make it the whole month without any refined sugar(alcoholic beverages excluded) so I think I'll treat myself to some cookies tomorrow. My mom sent me a huge box and I've been giving them all away. I wanted to go for a run today but I got a little busy showing Matt and Jamie around so I'll  get something done tomorrow morning.

Pushups: Today-349 YTD-22082

Pullups: Today-23 YTD-343
Running: Today-4mi YTD-267.92mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Ughhhh

Totally curbed myself this weekend. There was an awesome little street party in Nashville and there were these kids playing with a beach ball. Obviously I was super drunk and started playing with them. Played with them for like 15 minutes having a blast and then I chased an errant ball, almost ran over a 8 year-old and faceplanted on the curb as I was avoiding him.

Quite the sobering moment that would have never happened if I wasn't nearly blacked out. Obviously there are worse things that could have happened as a result of my binge drinking but a huge scar on the bridge of my nose should be a pretty good wake-up call. I've been just horrible with my drinking over the past year and it has to stop. I'm going to avoid hard alcohol for a while and avoid binging on anything after the next weekend where I'll be at a party that non-binging on beer just isn't an option.

I'm just so pissed at myself for doing this and acting generally like a jackass every weekend for the past year. Here are some pics, including me at the bar post-accident. When keeping it real goes wrong.

Quick word about this girl in the last picture because she is so awesome. I was hating on myself for the curbing and kept saying I needed to go home and she was like no you look great, you can't even notice it, stay and have fun. So I was all pumped up with confidence and stayed and had a blast that I wouldn't have had without her. She's a 4th grade teacher and wasn't at all surprised that 8 year-olds were part of the cause of my pain. She told me a lot of great stories about people getting hurt while playing with kids and totally lifted my spirits. Great girl that I'll hopefully hang out with more once I move up there.

Anyway, back to physical fitness and away from self-loathing. Shit will heal. On Friday I attempted to do a full deck of pushups and quit after 26 cards. I did 292 which is more than average and it really sucks not having a break when your partner would usually be doing pushups. Next time I do the game by myself, I think I'll make every other card situps, kind of like ripdeck. Saturday I did 60 pushups before getting wrecked and then today I did 60 pushups in the morning and played the card game tonight with James, logging 271. By my math that's 683 for the weekend.

I didn't get to Nashville until 3 AM on Saturday morning so I decided not to bandit the half marathon and actually didn't get any running done at all this weekend. I'll go for sure tomorrow morning, I have a PT test in 3 weeks and I don't think it's going to go very well unless I start hitting it hard right now.

Pushups: Weekend-683 YTD-21733
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-320
Running: Today-0mi YTD-263.92mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 26Apr - 200.4

Stretching it Out

I'm making a concerted effort to run longer again and decided to run 7.54 miles today. I recruited a buddy who is significantly slower than me and got to treat the run like an interval run, sprinting hills and waiting for him on the downslope. I felt pretty good and even though the time wasn't real good, I feel like I could have run it quite a bit faster. Here's the shitty map and graph:

Stretching it Out

Today was an off-day for pushups but I did one set of 50 with dinner. I think I'm going to try to knock out a full deck tomorrow and get ~500. I did 4 pullups on the minute for 7 minutes and then 3 pullups on the minute for 3 minutes. I think I'm getting better but I still suck.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a short run to stretch my legs out and then I might bandit the Nashville Rock and Roll Half-Marathon on Saturday. It depends on how I feel after the 6-hour drive up there. Unfortunately I don't get done flying until 8:30 PM so I won't get up there until around 3 AM. Blah.

This dude came into my room this morning and wanted to play with cars. I wanted to study. Guess who won that battle?

Pushups: Today-50 YTD-21050
Pullups: Today-37 YTD-320
Running: Today-7.54mi YTD-263.92mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Flying like a Champ

Flying nights is so awesome. The major advantage that the U.S. has over other countries is our superiority in night operations and it's really cool getting trained up. The night vision goggles are amazing even though they cut my field of view from its normal 200 degrees down to 40 degrees. You have to constantly scan from side-to-side to try and keep the helicopter flying straight and level at the proper airspeed and altitude. Tonight my instructor said that I flew so well he had a boner the whole flight...I think that's a good thing in Army lingo.

I ran 3.1 miles today after resting yesterday. I was feeling pain in my right knee and my doctor told me that was the one thing to look out for. Apparently I tore the hammy for sure but as long as the pain is in the middle of the hamstring I was fine. If the pain went to the knee or up to the hip area that would be a much bigger issue. I'm babying it a bit but I really really really am terrified of causing any more damage. I'm considering running long and slow tomorrow but it all depends on how the leg feels when I wake up.

Yesterday I did 60 pushups with breakfast and then 40 at night after flying. In the afternoon I did 3 pullups on the minute for 10 minutes. Today I played the pushup game with my friend Jack, laughed at him because he struggled so much, and logged 283 myself. I think I'm going to try to do the pushup game solo one of these days and log 500+. I'm feeling pretty damn good and I think I should be able to increase the load on my big days. I'm liking the one light one heavy approach and I'm gonna stick with it for a while.

I keep forgetting to take pics so here's a bag of pistachios. This thing costs $12.88 at Walmart, how in the world do they get away with charging that much? And why in the world did I buy it? Because pistachios are awesome.

I just added my totals and realized that 383 gives me exactly 21,000 for the year. Awesome coincidence. I should be at 22,000 by May 1st which puts me significantly ahead of pace. 5,500/month will have me damn near done in 9 months. Loving it right now.

Pushups: Today-383 YTD-21000
Pullups: Today-30 YTD-283
Running: Today-3.1mi YTD-256.38mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Night Shift

Today was a weird day. It's the first day of night flying so I just sat around the house all day. James came home at lunch and we played the pushup game. I got all 4 Aces again and did 323 pushups to his 232. Ridiculous. Then Marina and I went running and did 3.46 miles in 26:26. She's so much faster than she was and running with her is no longer such a break for me. Here's a sweaty pic we took after the run.

I'm off to work where I'll be flying until 1 AM. Today is night unaided where we fly around without any Night Vision Devices. My instructor pilot calls it "Night Vision Goggle Appreciation Day" because flying blind sucks so much. Wish me luck!!

Pushups: Today-323 YTD-20617
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-253
Running: Today-3.46mi YTD-253.28mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Been a while

Last week was horribly busy so that's the reason for the 5-day hiatus. I've still been getting physical, here's a brief synopsis of the week:

Wednesday: Did zero pushups. Felt a little sluggish and just decided to take the day off. I think I have less than 5 days with zero pushups so I don't feel that bad about it. My shoulder feels a lot better right now and I think backing off for a bit was smart.

Thursday: I decided that I absolutely had to run today after the flight line. My legs weren't feeling great but it had been a while since my last run so I ran to the gym, took one walk around the track to stretch out a bit and drink water, and then ran home. I felt like crap and I'm always super dehydrated after the flight line but my watch says I went 4.04 miles in 33:27. That time includes the walking and water drinking so I'm going to count all 4.04 miles. Later that night, James and I played the pushup game, I got all 4 Aces again, and logged 263 pushups. I felt a lot better and was very encouraged.

Friday: Did 60 pushups at breakfast and that's it. It was a rainy day so we didn't fly and I got off of work at 2 PM. Decided to go on a 3.3 mile run in the drizzle with James while pushing Dominic's baby stroller. We looked like a gay couple that adopted this little baby but we still managed a 7:40 pace. He pushed the first mile, I took him for the second mile, and he pushed the final 1.3. Afterwards, we did pull-ups, I did 3 every minute on the minute and he did 6 at the bottom of the minute. He only lasted 4 minutes and I made it to 15 minutes. 45 pull-ups isn't too bad when my yearly total was at 173 for the year. After showering, I went out with some friends and blacked out off of tequila and beer. Some things never change.

Saturday: Ran a 5k race here on post. Breath still smelled like tequila. I ran with Marina for the first mile, felt pretty good, and decided to run hard for the rest of the race and finished at 21:28. Marina actually ran a 24:44 which is huge for her. When she started training for the New Orleans half, she couldn't run 3 miles without stopping. I did 60 pushups with breakfast, 60 at a BBQ for lunch, and played the pushup game with James after dinner. He got 3 Aces and I only logged 219 pushups. We're going to start incorporating rules that increase the number of pushups we do and hopefully put up bigger numbers.. I love having someone else to motivate me.

Today: Was planning on going for a longish run but my legs are kind of mad at me. I'm going to take it easy and do something tomorrow morning. Did 60 pushups at breakfast and lunch and planning another 60 at dinner. We did the pullup game again and I did 4 on the minute for 5 minutes and then 3 on the minute for another 5 minutes. Army guys suck at pullups, what can I say? James was in a lot of pain and hardly did any pullups because his arms were so dead. I'm hoping we get better at these soon but my biceps look happy for the time being.

Tomorrow I start flying nights which should be pretty good for my workout schedule. I'll fly from 6 PM to 1 AM, sleep until 9 AM and then have all day to run, play the pushup game, or whatever. I'll have some homework to do but it shouldn't be nearly as bad as last week. Hopefully my legs appreciate the break they've been getting and I can log closer to 20 miles next week.

Here's a pic of me and Dom after the 5k. We're BFFs, obviously.

Pushups: Wed-Sun-842 YTD-20294
Pullups: Wed-Sun-80 YTD-253
Running: Wed-Sun-10.34mi YTD-249.82mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Busy Bee

Flight school has been extremely busy and I didn't get to run today. I thought my flight plan would take 45 minutes tonight and it took 4 hours. I'm tired of not running so I'm waking up at 0530 to get her done tomorrow. We have this magnet on our fridge and I'm tired of leaving buttprints in the sands of time.

I did manage to get 20 pullups done this morning and 307 pushups done tonight. My roommate James and I played a card game and I got all 4 Aces. He only had to do 217 so I got the raw end of the deal for sure. My boobies feel glorious though and I think they appreciate the time off I've given them. Hopefully my legs feel the same way tomorrow.

Pushups: Today-427 YTD-19452

Pullups: Today-20 YTD-173

Running: Today-0mi YTD-239.48mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3

Fri, 01Mar - 203.4

Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05 Apr - 203.0

Flying along

Flight school is just flying along. I will be done in 3 and a half weeks, hard to believe. I've attached a view from the back today, it's hard not to love this shit.

I put up another lame number today, did a set of 70 when I woke up and a set of 50 right now with no running. I'm not even going to log in to my computer to add my totals until I can put a run in there. How horrible.

Ailing

Shoulder still feels jacked up, I'm taking things real slow. Did 120 on Thursday and Friday, 110 on Saturday, and zero today. I talked to my friend's wife who is a PA and she said these overuse injuries just need rest. She also said that some balance would help...she thinks it's bicep tendonitis...my poor back and bis can't keep up with my chest and tris. I'll work on it. Anyway, I'm giving up a lot of ground that I had gained but I think that's why you gain the ground in the first place.

I ran 3 miles in 21:45 on Thursday and then took the weekend off because my hammy was tight. I don't think I'll have time to run tomorrow but I'm hoping to squeeze something in after my checkride. It's my penultimate checkride of flight school, how exciting!

Some of the airframes have shorter schedules so some of my friends are graduating on Thursday. They had a party with a live band and a keg on Saturday, which counts as a rager at flight school. It was a lot of fun and I said some tearful goodbyes to a number of friends. There was also a country concert this weekend and I decided to dress the part of Alabama redneck. How'd I do?

Back on the horse this week. I promise.

Pushups: Today-350 YTD-19025

Pullups: Today-0 YTD-153

Running: Today-3.0mi YTD-239.48mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3

Fri, 01Mar - 203.4

Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0 

Good to have Friends

Today was my first day on the 11-7 shift at the flight line and it kind of sucked. I got there at 10 to do my flight plan and didn't really realize that I wasn't going to eat for 8 hours. I got done early, around 6:15, and I was starving. When I looked at my phone, I had a dinner invite from my friends the Hennigans. I hired Helena to frame my poker article and she was done with it and wanted me to come over and pick it up. I have never been so excited in my life. My dinner options went from canned tuna and spinach to steak, salad, and asparagus. Upgrade!

Here's the framing job she did, I really like it even though it's a little vain. It'll go up in my office and I'll get to tell people all about my previous life.

I also hired Helena to make a Blackhawk painting for me, you can see it here: We own the night

Anyway, when I finally got home, Marina had chicken and quinoa for me. I told her I already ate so I'm taking it to the flight line with me tomorrow for lunch. It's good to have friends!

This morning, James and I woke up at 6 AM and ran 4.6 miles. My watch was dead but I mapped our run on Google. It felt like we were moving at a pretty good pace and he was gassed so I'm encouraged. They shut down some of the roads on post from 5-7 AM for organized PT so we headed out to those roads to run with the miserable people who are forced to run by the Army. It's really fun seeing all these miserable people and hunting them down as we run. I think having someone in front of me really helps me dig in and run hard. We're going out again tomorrow and this time my watch is charged. Hopefully it isn't too cloudy and it'll pick up some satellites.

My shoulders felt pretty good today but I just wasn't very motivated. I did 60 this morning and then a set of 55 when I got home from eating steak and then a set of 60 right now before bed. I think I really need to make my hay in the morning because this afternoon flight line is really draining me. It was 82 degrees today and there's no air conditioning in the Blackhawk, can you say Ball Soup?

Pushups: Today-175 YTD-18675
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-153
Running: Today-4.6mi YTD-236.48mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Fri, 05Apr - 203.0  

Dominic

Nothing great here on the fitness front. My legs are sore in a lot of wrong ways so I took another day off. James and I are waking up at 6 AM to get 4-5 miles in but I've warned him that we might be going slow. My chest and tris are begging for more work but my shoulders aren't too happy about it. I think I'm going to push for a big number tomorrow but today I only did 50 with breakfast and then two sets of 50 right now, just before bed. Oh well.

Living with James and Marina is awesome for a ton of reasons but a big one is Dominic. As I get older, I become more and more enamored with kids. They're just so full of hope and joy and limitless potential. I think everyone is full of limitless potential but especially these little guys. I'm going to be pretty bummed when I move out of here at the end of May. This is a short video of Dom from today. Enjoy.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-18500
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-153
Running: Today-0mi YTD-231.88mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Sore

Still feeling sore all over. Forced myself to do 3 sets of 50 at mealtimes. I might scale the sets back even more in the hopes that my shoulders catch up to my chest. Or my joints catch up to my muscles. Or whatever the fuck catches up with whatever other thing that makes my body feel like it's tearing at the seams.

I ran 2.73 miles today in 19:53 which I think is about at 7:17 pace. I accidentally set my watch up in Triathalon mode so the link is a little weird but the first split is actually what I did. It was hot as hell and my vagina was hurting so I stopped running where I did and walked about half a mile home. My hamstring feels pretty good but my secondary muscles hurt quite a bit, probably because they're compensating for the weak hammy. I really hope I'm on my way back, it's been two weeks of almost no running and it's pissing me off.

2.73 miles

I keep forgetting to take pictures so here's a picture of one of my Christmas presents. They're shot glasses made out of salt, made specifically for shooting tequila. They're awesome in theory but two are already cracked and I'd imagine the other two aren't far behind. Tequila nights are just too rowdy for these things.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-18350
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-153
Running: Today-2.73mi YTD-231.88mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Lazy Sunday

Shoulders felt real shitty today so I didn't get any pushups in. Shins hurt a lot today so I didn't do any running. Just a lot of hungover studying and homework. These are two of my new roommates, Maya and Rexy:

At the baseball game yesterday I got into a disagreement with an old poker buddy about Phoenix vs Atlanta, which one is bigger. I was pretty sure that Phoenix was top 5 and thought Atlanta was around 10. My buddy was adamant so I suggested betting $5 which he quickly bumped to $100. We looked it up and Phoenix is #6 while Atlanta is somewhere between #35 and #40 depending on the source. Boo-Yah.

Then, in the 8th inning, the Cubs had the bases loaded with 1 out and the Braves made a pitching change. We started debating what the Braves comeback chances were and eventually decided it was around 30-1. So Jeff offered me 30-1 on the $100 he lost to me and I took the bet. The Braves got out of the jam, scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, and then walked off in the 9th. So fucking awesome. Here is a graph of the win expectancy throughout the game:

Braves-Cubs April 6th

At the exact point where we made the bet, the Braves win expectancy was 1.9% so I really should have gotten around 50-1 odds. He made a good bet, and just got burned. He's got tons of money and everyone loves it when he loses so we had a big celebration, even bigger than we normally would after such an epic game. He was going to wire me the $3k but I think I'm going to keep the tab open for random bets like that. I won't mind losing it all back if that's what happens, it feels weird to win that much money from a friend, even if it is Jeff.

Anyway, that's much more exciting than today was. Tomorrow I have simulator time which is significantly less taxing than actual flying. I should have plenty of energy to get onto the roads and beat up my feet.

Pushups: Today-100 YTD-18200

Pullups: Today-0 YTD-153
Running: Today-0mi YTD-229.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Braves win!

Had an awesome trip to Atlanta. Had a great tailgate and got to see one of the best games ever. Oh, and I won $3100. Details later tonight. Only did 100 pushups yesterday, will add up my totals when I get home. Here are some random pics.

Team RWB

Today James woke up with a giant hangover and then got a phone call from Bravo Company telling him that there was a guy looking to trade a M-Model Blackhawk for his Kiowa. He went in right away and managed to pull off the transaction so it looks like he'll be a Blackhawk guy with me after all! Last night's drowning of his sorrows proved to be unnecessary but we have a lot of great memories from the night regardless.

I recently joined this organization called Team RWB. The purpose is to help veterans with PTSD,  survivor's guilt or any other hidden injuries of war reintegrate themselves into society through fitness. Team RWB does anything from 5k runs to Ironman Triathalons and each major Army post has a chapter. The Fort Rucker chapter is just starting up and I was lucky enough to know the guy who started it. He told me that Rucker doesn't really have many troubled vets...the veterans here all teach flight school and love their lives...but it can be a place to get younger soldiers(funny that I count as young) involved in the program and then they can bring it to whatever duty stations they end up going to after Rucker. So I'll take the concept to Fort Cambell in a few months and hopefully reach out to Veterans Affairs there and help some people out. Anyway, here's a video that will explain the team better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUIEk_6-lU0

I just wanted to bring it up because signing up is free and if you're in the military they send you a free t-shirt which came in the mail today. Check it out!

I also wanted to include my pull-up bar in the picture. I did 20 today in sets of 7-6-4-3. I know I'm pathetic but I'm trying. 

I moved out of Brian's house today and now I'm fully moved into James, Marina and Dominic's place. I really like them and I'm excited to help James study for tests that I've already taken. He's a PT stud and I already feel more motivated to do physical activity. We did pushups before dinner and I told him to do 60. He was only able to do 50 so I knocked out 70 to make up for it.  I'm better at pushups than he is but he's faster than me so hopefully I get faster chasing him on our runs. I did 3 other sets of 60 at random times for 250 for the day. I don't know how many I'll get done tomorrow but I'm going to try for the ol' 60-breakfast-60-shower-60 trick before hitting the road.

I ran 4 miles today and the leg felt the best it has since the injury. My supporting muscles are sorer than usual but I have to think the hamstring will get stronger over time. One friend recommended walking backwards on an inclined treadmill to help build strength so I might try that on Sunday. Tomorrow I'm heading up to Atlanta to watch some baseball and drink some beer. God bless America.

Pushups: Today-250 YTD-18100
Pullups: Today-20 YTD-153
Running: Today-4mi YTD-229.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Selection Thursday

My buddy James, probably my best friend down here, had his aircraft selection yesterday and got a OH-58D which is also called the Kiowa. He wanted to fly the M-model Blackhawk badly but so much of selection is about luck and timing. The Kiowa is still an awesome aircraft with an awesome mission so we went out last night to help him celebrate and drown his sorrows at the same time. He and Marina got a babysitter for Dominic and we went out for sushi. They don't drink very often so it was good to see them hammered. She talked a lot of shit about him being a lightweight, he and I talked shit to each other about Army PT, and he slowly wrapped his head around the fact that he's a part of the Kiowa community now. It was a ton of fun and I'd say the mission was a success.

I started yesterday off really well, doing 60 pushups after waking up, eating breakfast, doing 60 more, showering, doing 60 more, then getting dressed for class. It's so easy to put up a respectable number when you start your day off like that. I got to 300 and decided that was enough but then we got home from being drunk and I decided to see how many I could do in a row without stopping. I made it to 75, not too bad for a drunk asshole, and the babysitter was impressed.

I also did 13 pull-ups in a set of 5 and a set of 8, lol. I am going to make a real effort to include more of these in my daily routine it just sucks because I'm so damn bad at them. My damn leg is just permanently stiff so I didn't run but I can't just sit on it any longer. I'm going for a run today no matter what and will stretch the bitch out when I need to. It's really aggravating but I just need to suck it up.

Today I'm going to finish moving into James's house and then tomorrow I'm heading up to Atlanta for Cubs-Braves. Should be a pretty nice little weekend.

Pushups: Today-375 YTD-17850
Pullups: Today-13 YTD-133
Running: Today-0mi YTD-225.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Fri, 05Apr - 203.0

Moving On

Check ride day is always great because (a) I haven't failed one yet and (b) it serves as another milestone on the million-mile journey that is flight school. Today was my first check ride in the M-model Blackhawk and it went really well. My new stick buddy is one of the most motivated people I've ever met and I've really had to step up my studying to keep pace with him. We both kicked ass and will be starting our next phase of training on Monday. Tomorrow we have a class on Instrument procedures, which is flying in the clouds, and then we have a day off on Friday. Amazing. I'm going to use the free time to move my stuff out of my current house and into my new house. Pictured below is my new roommate Dominic. He's awesome and helps me when I'm missing Urijah and Emi.

My leg felt pretty stiff today and I meant to go running but never got around to it because I was at the library for most of the day doing the next two weeks of homework. I like to do all of the homework for a certain phase at the beginning of the phase so that I get a heads up as far as what to expect in school and I also don't have to worry about doing it on nights where I just don't feel like it. I did 150 pushups, 50 at a time, as my only fitness for the day. I swear my arms are getting weaker and my shoulders feel sore non-stop. Are they ever going to get used to daily pushups or am I going to have to start making it a routing to go 500 a day and then take 2 days off? If things aren't better by May, I may have to do that.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-17475
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-120
Running: Today-0mi YTD-225.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6

Tue, 02Apr - 201.4

Wed, 03Apr - 203.0

Booooorrrrring

This blog has gotten boring as shit. I've been studying hard in flight school and haven't really had much time to do anything interesting. I think I'm going to start incorporating one photo per day to liven things up. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand boring ass words.

I did random sets of 50 today for 200 total. I'm really focusing on my form and going lower than necessary and it's tiring me out a lot faster. I'm also feeling like being a pansy so I'm stopping when it gets sore. I didn't run today because I was studying for the majority of the day and also wanted to give the hammy a bit of a rest. I have a pretty important check ride tomorrow and I'll take a celebratory run afterwards. Wish me luck!!

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-17325
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-120
Running: Today-0mi YTD-225.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01Apr - 203.6
Tue, 02Apr - 201.4

3-month mark

I'm pretty pleased with the way the first 3 months have gone. I'm in a lot better shape than I was on January 1st and I obviously felt good enough to book 2 marathons in October. The hamstring pull has me down a bit but I'm confident that it'll just be a minor setback.

Yesterday, I ran 4 miles on it but I did 2 miles then stopped and stretched and then 2 more miles. My style of running isn't real hamstring intensive so it doesn't reallly hurt until I try to run hard and then I feel it tighten up. I ran 4 today without stopping and it felt real tight for a while, loosened up in the middle, then felt tight again toward the end when I tried to sprint it out. I'm trying to baby it a bit for obvious reasons but hopefully I'll be back to normal within a few weeks. I'm definitely afraid of the track now and I'll probably just do intervals during my normal runs from now on. Blah.

One thing that sucked is I talked to two people who have run multiple marathons and they both said, "the way you described that sounds like a textbook hamstring tear!!" Here's hoping they're wrong.

I did 300 pushups yesterday to push over 17k in 3 months. I'm pretty proud of that number because this challenge really feels like a grind at times. I'm moving in with a guy who just maxed his PT test and is just as competitive as I am so hopefully I'll have someone to put the fun back in. I only did 120 today because my shoulders hurt but at least it's something. I don't know how Dookie does it with his kids and remodeling that he does. His feat is probably more impressive since it's my job to run and do pushups.

I'm pretty thankful that April 1st is here because it gives me an artificial date to start eating healthier. I think I'm going to make a pact and eat zero processed sugar this month. I can drink beer once a week but sugar has to be from fruit or else I can't eat it. Boom, sugar free April is born. I like it already.

Pushups: Today-420 YTD-17125
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-120
Running: Today-8mi YTD-225.15mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Mon, 01 Apr - 203.6