The One-Eyed Pirate Stare

6:00am: This morning was a little rough. The game got over later than I thought it would, so by the time I grabbed a snack (can of tuna) and did my treatments, it was midnight. I actually woke up before my alarm went off and I had a feeling it was close to six but I was praying that I had a little longer to sleep. I rolled over to grab my phone and when I went to open my eyes only one agreed. I was laying there giving my phone a one-eyed pirate stare trying to tell what time it was. The other eye (I think it was my left) was super blurry, so at first all I could make out is that it was 5 something. After my eye adjusted and I grabbed a crow bar (I keep one under my pillow) to open the other eye, I saw that it was 5:58am. Son of a....I need to get up, but I was SO tired. My phone alarm went off during this time reading debacle and I hit snooze. I hate doing that because I know it can be a slippery slope and before you know it, it's 7. I only hit the snooze button once though and I was up and at 'em at 6:05.

Jezzabel was there to greet me at the landing of the stairs (generally where she sleeps) so I told her to find her leash and off we went. My lungs felt tighter this morning than previous mornings yet I didn't feel as labored (can I use that there?) when I walked. I was coughing up a storm and most of the mucus looked pretty clear. I think I only dry heaved once which is an improvement. Once I got into the swing of things everything felt pretty good with the exception of feeling like a horse kicked me in the right hip region. I pushed through it and ended up doing the same loop I have become accustomed to. I need to increase the distance in the loop next week though to step up my mileage.

Total Distance: 2.1 miles

Side note: Mandi gave me a heart rate monitor to use during my walk/runs to track my pulse. This morning it got up to 136bpm with just the walk. I believe my resting heart rate fluctuated between 99bpm and 102bpm. I really need to improve those numbers.

11:00am: Today was supposed to be chest and back again but my chest is super sore so I tried to think of other creative things I could do at the gym. After coming up with nothing and being called out by Mandi, I decided to suck it up and stick with the schedule. She said, "Remember, your body is a machine like any other and it adapts to the stress you put on it". Well put Robocop. She knows just the right things to say to me. So I went to the gym feeling pumped up again and everything went really well. I increased my weight or reps on every exercise (except for incline bench which decreased) and I even added pull-ups (with a lot of weighted assistance). There was only one hitch. My last chest exercise was seated cable row so I increased my weight from last week and did the same amount of reps. The first set felt really good, but I didn't want to push it, so I left the weight alone. Then a kid sat down to the machine next to me to do the exact same lift. Now he was about my height (5'9") but 130 lbs soaking wet. I mean he was teeny tiny. 130lbs might be pushing it. Anyhow, he started the exercise doing the same weight that I was doing. Ok, I thought, good for him. That's when it all came apart. While I'm sitting there slightly embarrassed that this kid half my size is doing the same weight, he immediately gets up and increases the weight. He was just WARMING UP! He went on to increase the weight every set eventually crushing my weight (and my ego) to oblivion. Here's the kicker, after I got out of the locker room to leave, he was on the same assisted pull-up machine. How much assistance did he need you ask? Don't even go there. I am certain that there was an invisible man lifting him up because he was cranking out pull-ups like he had wings on. Until we meet again teeny tiny boy....Current Weight: 189lbs

5:00pm: Today, Mandi and I took off to scope out some restaurants that we could eat at later. I drove a loop earlier in the day to find the best walking path to get there. I didn't run too much tonight because Mandi and I got caught up in conversation and one thing I can't do is run and talk at the same time (For that matter, I can't walk and drink coffee in the morning at the same time. I have to stop every single time that I want to take a sip). Running takes away way too much of my oxygen to be able to utter any words. When Mandi asks me a question, I either respond with a grunt or sign language. The other day while running, I told her that I sent an email by typing on an air keyboard and then pretending something was flying away. She got it, but the again, she's brilliant.

The walk tonight felt easier than other ones so far, but mostly on my feet and legs. I think they're finally getting used to pounding the pavement. My lungs have been tighter than normal all day today and I'm not quite sure why. I did however seem to recover more rapidly on the running portions of our walk. While running, my pulse got up to 150bpm but quickly got back down into the 120's while walking. The weather was perfect for the walk and we decided where to eat. Mission accomplished.

Total Distance: 3.1 miles

Total Distance Run/Walk for Day: 5.2 miles