A Light Through the Darkness

So, I apparently cannot estimate distances, since I thought the round-trip ride from my house to Kimble Jenkins Art School and back was 6 miles. Turns out that it's actually 3.5 miles each way, AND since I went further - let's just say that I was wondering why 6 miles was kicking my ass.

It's because I biked 8 miles, not 6. :p

The suggestion has been made, and accepted, to call my new bike Cerberus, because it's definitely taking me places. :D However, I think tomorrow morning, instead of going to the gym, I shall take it easy, have a good breakfast (blueberry waffles and bacon!) and go into work a bit early. I don't want to strain anything. I am going to stretch, though.

Things I need to get for the bike:

- a chain and lock
- gloves
- toe clamps
- a light (this is for next year)

More later. Am very sore now (but it's a good sore!)

Miles to Rivendell: 418.71
(I'll have to see where we are - the Black Rider has already gone by, but I don't remember what else)

As of my last weigh-in, right before RavenCon, I weighed 286 lbs. Not good. At 5'5" tall, I'm seriously obese - my BMI is around 47, which is horrid. And with some recent developments, I've finally decided that once and for all that this has to end.

Yes, I've made this sweeping statement before - and fallen off the wagon. But I got some really, really serious news in the past two months, and I realized a few things:

1. I'm not 22 anymore. My body just can't handle the abuse that I continue to try and dish out to it on a general basis (like, oh, drinking until 2 am at RavenCon and then not eating the next day when I had to fly home). I need to understand that - not just understand that, but acknowledge it.

2. If I continue down this road, there won't be a tomorrow to fix things. I'm a terrible procrastinator. Seriously. If I can get it done tomorrow, why do it today? Which is how I ended up overweight and out of shape. :p So I need to realize that if I don't make tomorrow a better day, I won't have very many left.

3. I'm not just doing it for me. I don't want the Pumpkin to look at me and see that it's okay to be this heavy. That's not what her parents are trying to teach her. And I want to be able to run and play with her when I see her.

So here we go. I've done a few things: I've signed up on 50MillionPounds.com, which is a free challenge put out by State Farm Insurance and Dr. Ian Smith. I'm vgford on there (I know, original, right?) - feel free to check it out and let me know if you sign up.

The other thing I'm doing is making a public challenge to all my readers - get active with me. I'm going to be posting an entry on this blog every day tagged "activity," letting you guys know what I'm doing as far as activity, and I challenge you to let me know how YOU'RE getting active. We'll cheer each other on! (Note: I am NOT advocating going out and spending money on anything - I know we're all strapped right now. Nor am I saying run a mile every day. Activity - ANYTHING that gets you moving - is what I'm looking for. Yes, running after toddlers counts - I've run after enough to KNOW how much of a workout that is!)

I'm taking my challenge to myself a bit further - for every 10 minutes of activity that I do a day, be it walking or gardening or fencing or swimming, I'm going to donate $0.05 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and $0.05 to myself. I've got two mason jars that are going on my dining room table - each day, I'll post the running total. I've discovered that I need a monetary reward, and SGK has now become my charity of choice, for a lot of reasons.

There will rewards for any of my readers who follow me on this, too, not the least of which will be the reward of feeling better! I'll be doing some random giveaways, and posting advice and things like that. But most of all, I'm looking for friends who will help cheer me on. Talk me down from the ledge when I'm out there with the pint of Ben & Jerry's. Be amazed when I finally get down to my goal.

Who's with me?