This Is Rob's Century

I'm Back!

2011-11-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

Hey folks, sorry I was away.

Combination of things messed up my website configuration, and in addition I've been busy and healing for the last few months.

I had some issues with the company that was providing DNS services and had to jump ship. I didn't realize that when I did, thisisrobscentury.com was redirecting to a different site that I was running for a while. So people trying to visit were getting redirected to another website.

Sorry about that, it has been fixed.

My friends in the cycling community in Pittsburgh may have noticed I've missed som big rides. Especially the reverse keg ride last weekend. There is a reason for that, I've been on the mend and not riding my bike much lately.

The century rides went ok. But during the second one, I manage to damage my knees. Nothing serious, but by mile 25 I knew I should stop.

Of course, I didn't. I kept pushing and pushing and finished in about 7 hours. Given the flatness of the course, that time should give you an idea of how bad my knees really were.

So, after that I took it easy for a few weeks and then started a dance class with CLI. I did better than expected, but in the second class I managed to hurt my knees AGAIN and was in a knee brace a for a few weeks.

Now, approaching 2 months since my last bike ride, I seem to finally be doing better. I've done some light running and am probably going to be getting back on the bike this weekend.

Fundraising

2011-08-02T20:08:00.002-04:00

A year a bit ago I introduced myself and my story.

Since 2008, I have lost (and kept off) approximately 150 pounds. First with my goal of a cycling tour of Wales, then with my goal of riding a century. Now I am planning to do two (possibly three) centuries in the months of August and September.

On August 20th, I'll be riding 100 Miles around the finger lakes to raise money for diabetes research.

On September 11th, I'll be riding in the Hancock Horizontal 100.

And finally (or firstly really) I may decide to do a century on my coming vacation in Maine. Just for kicks, you know?

As I said in my introduction, this is a disease that affects members of my family. And it is only by a stroke of luck that I was stricken when I was at my heaviest. So the Tour has become a kind of tradition for me, one that I hope to continue for many years to come.

If you have a spare 20, 10 or even $5, please contribute at this link.

Thank you.

Why I Know I'm Going To Cycle More....

2011-02-16T20:14:00.002-05:00

So yesterday I mentioned that I knew I'd be cycling more in the second half of this winter. That wasn't just idle talk, we (CLI and I) seem to have hit on a system that works. And I'm going to detail it below.

At the end of Janurary, I was listening to NPR on the way to work. There was a story (couldn't find a link, but here is an article about the same thing) about a gym that actually charges you if you don't work out.

The basic idea is based on behavioral economics (according to the story I heard). People are more likely to do the right thing (or not do the wrong thing) if there is an economic penalty for misbehavior. I thought the idea was brilliant... as long as you have the disposable income to follow through with it.

That night, CLI and I talked about it and came up with a plan. We both made a set of resolutions, each time we violated those resolutions we would put $5 into a pot and at the end of the month we would give that money to charity. Each month has a different charity, this month's is our local library.

As an additional rule there are 2 restaurants that are know are bad and they seem to trigger misbehavior for both of us. So, eating at either of those costs us $5 as well. (So if we both go it's an extra $10 tacked on to the bill).

My resolutions were: 1) 3 10mile or more rides a week, 2) 1 yoga class a week, 3) 6 hours of work on the wedding website and 4) keeping my diet in line.

So far: 1st week cost me $10 (restaurant violation and lack of website work) and 2nd week cost me $5 (missed bike ride). This week I'm on schedule for $0, but that could change of course.

It's a plan that seems to be working for us, so I thought I would pass it on.

New Century Date, Couch 2 5k And Someone To Follow

2011-02-15T18:16:00.003-05:00

I've been horribly lazy about keeping this blog up to date. I'm awful.

Anyway so much going on that I'll try to update about. However I wanted to let "everyone" (all 3 of you) know three things:

1) SInce CLI and are getting married in late May, I'm not going to be able to do the Pittsburgh Tour De Cure. :( Instead, I'll be doing the Watkins Glen, NY Tour on August 20th! I selected that for 3 reasons firstly the timing was right and secondly because I think WG is a really cool little town and finally after visiting the finger lakes a little more than a year ago I've been obsessed with cycling around there. There are smaller hills than Pittsburgh in general, but the roads are much windier... that combined with the omnipresent wind should make for a fun ride.

2) CLI are starting (tonight) the Couch 2 5K program. I can hear you saying to yourselves, "Wait Rob, you did a Century last year...shouldn't running 3 miles be a piece of cake." I wish. Sadly, I've never been good at running... and I can count the times I've run even a single mile on one hand. Also, the first half of this winter I've not ridden much. So this is going to be rough. (The second half, I've ridden more...and with good reason which I will explain in another post later this week.)

3) Finally, I wanted to point everyone to my friend Jeff's blog. He is currently going through physical therapy to enable him to walk again, and his log of his progress makes for a fascinating and enlightening read.

Stupid Things People Have Actually Said To Me: Part I

2010-08-18T08:16:00.002-04:00

With all the wedding talk, I thought I would share something ridiculous that was actually said to me by a former boss. This was at my first job out of college and I'd been called in for a 'discussion' about the way I dressed for work. The concern was that even though I wore a suit everyday to work, sometimes my shirts were ever so slightly wrinkled.... ok, they were pretty much always wrinkled and badly. OTOH, I NEVER dealt with customers, vendors or was even seen outside the immediate 10' radius around my desk... and if I did, I always had on my suit jacket.

At any rate, I promised to start ironing my clothes regularly. To which my boss responded (and mind you this was said in 1994...not 1894):

"Or you could just hurry up and marry your girlfriend. Then she could iron your clothes for you."

So much stupid is so few words:
1) What does marriage have to do with ironing?
2) Even if marriage did have something to do with it, it still begs the question of why SHE should iron MY clothes.
3) My co-workers and boss knew that my GF at the time was applying to PhD programs. I think that she'd have other things on her mind (like a career) than worrying about whether my clothes are wrinkle-free.
4) The inappropriateness of the comment to even begin with. My marital status is none of my boss's business.

All of this and we are talking about a slightly more than minimum wage job... I was there for another 2 years after that, much to my chagrin.

Cutting The Cake

2010-08-16T12:20:00.000-04:00

This weekend we got together with friends and cut the proposal cake.

As the videos show, the results were... interesting.

And the fingers...

The Proposal (or geeks in love)

2010-08-07T13:59:00.006-04:00

So on Thursday, I proposed to Cli.

Back in March, we went to NYC to see the Tim Burton exhibit, and while I was at the MOMA store, I saw this item. At the time, I knew the proposal was months away, but I also knew that it was coming...and that I didn't want to pick out a ring for her in advance. I couldn't purchase anything at the time (since she was right there...and the line was far too long for me to sneak back later).

So, when I got back to Pittsburgh, I went to the MOMA store and ordered it. At the time, my plans were vague... go some place special (Paris, the Bahamas, Alaska, etc..) and just pop the question. OR, I debated at the end of my century ride. In the end, I decided that the day of the proposal should be about her... not me. (One of the people I talked to on the century ride actually encouraged me to do this since Cli was SOOOO supportive... but by that time, I'd already decided on this approach.)

Later that month, we spent an evening watching (the original) Clash Of The Titans (which we'd both seen) and Krull (which I'd not). It was a blast, I made a bunch of Alton Brown recipes for dinner and we simultaneously mocked and enjoyed the movies.

One thing that really struck me, was that in CotT the way that Perseus and Andromeda became a couple. Perseus basically stalks(!) Andromeda, following her (while she's in a trance) to her old boyfriend's lair. There he lops of the ex-boyfriend's hand, grabs it(!) and escapes.

The next day he presents himself to Andromeda (who has never seen him before, mind you!) throws down the severed hand of her ex-boyfriend(!) and that's it... Twue Wuv! I commented at the time, that I would have to track down her ex-boyfriend and do the same. And in that moment, all my other thoughts of how to propose went out the window.

Clearly, I wasn't not going to track down her ex-boyfriend and sever his hand...but Cli is a HUGE Cake Wrecks fan. So obviously, it had to be a cake.

So, it just became a matter of timing. I wanted to pick a time when Cli would be out of town the following few days. While I was fairly certain that the answer would be 'Yes', I wanted her to have the option of taking her time to think about it. The first chance was on 7/9, but that was less than a month after we moved in together...and that seemed strange. I consulted a friend of hers, who kind of talked me through my thought process and I decided to wait.

Part of the rational in waiting was that finding a bakery that will make a 'severed hand cake' is not easy. Basically, I called around in the Pittsburgh area but every place either just hung up on me or treated me as if I was a prank caller. (Which, I can understand... it is an odd request!)

Finally, I out of desperation, I asked my soon to be nephew who went to the Art Institute and I thought I'd heard him say that he knew some folks at the culinary department. Turns out that he didn't but he directed me to this website, run by the wife of a former co-worker of his. If you dig around on that site, you'll see the owl from the original CotT....so I knew I found my bakery.

So then I picked my date, the next time she was leaving town was 8/6, so it became clear. Once I had the bakery, I sent her an email asking her to set 8/5 down as a 'no questions asked date.'

The next thing was to figure out how to present the cake. My first thought was to go to a restaurant or bar that we frequented. (There were several options.) I even debated having our friends at a near by establishment so that we could all celebrate if she said yes. First, I got talked out of the friend plan by a friend of mine. Her point was that Cli might want it to be a 'just us' kind of thing. So, the friend plan went by the wayside.

Once it did, I got thinking about it and proposing in a public place sounds nice... but what if she didn't answer right away... or wanted to say no/not-yet? Well, in a public place that would put a lot of pressure on her. So I decided to do it at home.

That left what to do with the mystery date. Fortunately, there was a photography exhibit that I wanted to see on the South Side ( here ). That would provide a bit of misdirection... and it worked better than I thought.

Once we did the exhibit (which was really cool), Cli suggested eating at Fatheads...and I thought to myself. "There is NO WAY she'll think I would propose after eating at Fatheads." So that's where we ate. (We looked kind of out of place since I told her to dress up and she was a very nice green dress that made her look amazing.)

On home, I told her she would need to wait on the porch. When we got there I ran in, and got the cake ready, walked her in (eyes closed) and got down on my knee. She was so shocked by the cake that she didn't realize what it was at first... but after a split second it struck her.

And she said YES!

7:20

2010-06-28T22:09:00.000-04:00

So the big day as come and gone. The 2010 Tour De Cure is over and after 6 months of preparation, my total time came in around 7 hours and 20 minutes. Not bad for a first attempt. Next year will be better.

I was making really good time until lunch. Up to that point I'd gotten 75 miles behind me in what seemed like no time. (Largely thanks to Taylor and Dave who shared most of the road time with me.)

After that, things got rough due to a combination of 1) me over eating at lunch and 2) the heat factor. By the time I hit mile 85, I was definitely overheated. At that point, I briefly considered calling it a day but after a few bottles of cold water (applied equally to thirst and dumping over head) I decided to press on.

Around mile 90 I had another crisis as I saw a large, steep hill rising before me and thought: "no way, just no freakin' way." But fortunately, I didn't have to make a choice... the trail veered to the right and was largely downhill from that point.

So I guess its time for lessons learned from all of this:
1) I did a freakin' century!!!!
2) I only lost somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds (sorry I can't be more accurate about that but my scale is misbehaving) and the majority of that was in the last few weeks. I think this is largely because I had problems figuring out a good eating pattern on the days of the long rides. I finally found the secret: as soon as the ride is over, eat something high in carbs (like an orange) and that will staunch the need to eat everything in site (somewhat).
3) Don't try working 2 jobs, moving in with your GF AND training for a century all at the same time.
4) I missed out on any rides the weekend before the ride. I really felt that. Not that I could or should have ridden... but if I had been able to, I'm sure I would have done much better.

If you are reading this and thinking "I could never do something like that," let me tell you: You can. It takes the will power , the dedication and having a support network in place that will pick you up when you fall down... but, if you have that you can do so much more than you think you can. Our bodies are amazing machines, and if we ask it will try to do whatever we ask. (Assuming that we are healthy, so check with your doctor!)

In October 2008, I asked my body to go on a short bike ride... from the corner of Beechwood Blvd And Hazelwood Ave down to Beechwood and Monitor St and then back. Roughly 2 miles if you don't know the neighborhood. At the end of that ride, I collapsed on my couch and couldn't move for 20 minutes. Within a few weeks, I was riding 10 miles a day... and within a year I was on a 300 mile, 8 day cycling tour of Wales. And now, less than 2 years after my first bike ride since college, I have completed a century.

So if you are thinking to yourself, "I could never do that," don't make that determination so quickly. You may not be able to do it now... but now isn't forever.

So I'll finish up with the traditional thank yous.

I have to send a big thanks out to everyone who supported me. My friends and family for all there moral support. My donors who helped me raise $1,075 for diabetes research. And my friends Dan, Tracy, Holden and Lyra who managed to be there at the finish line when I got there. (Even though nobody recognized me!) And all of my friends who were there in spirit, if not in person.

But last and most importantly I have to thank Cli. She's been amazing. Not only has she been incredibly paitient with me and changed our schedule around so that I could have enough time to train, but she was there at the starting line all day. That's right, she got up with me at 4:30AM and worked the waiver desk until everyone was registered and then went out and cheered the riders as they hit the finishing line. She's an amazing woman and I'm so glad that we are together.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!!!

2010-06-25T19:23:00.000-04:00

So I've been very, very bad about keeping this blog update and feel awful about that.

But the ride is this Sunday and I'm very nervous/excited.

Just a brief update on all that has happened since I started this:
1) Cli and I bought a house a moved in together
2) I switched jobs. Actually right now I'm working 2 jobs... my new full time job and as many hours as I can for my old employer
3) Century Training!!!

Overall, I've only lost between 5 and 10 pounds since this all started... but I can feel a huge difference in my attitude and general health.

My last training ride was the week before last... the same weekend that Cli and I moved. So on top of all the moving stuff, I cycled 75 miles and attended a yoga class. Somewhere in there I wrenched my back, and had to take it easy last weekend.

That's right my training schedule said that I should do 92 miles on Saturday and I managed exactly 0 all weekend. I did, however, manage to cycle to work via my new route (22 mile round trip vs 13 from my old apartment) for most of the week... so I'm not too, too worried about Sunday.

I'll post more details, and hopefully pics, after the ride.

Thanks to everyone for all the support, I've raised over $1000 so far!... and if you haven't donated, please feel free to follow this link and make a donation no matter how small.

Posts To Resume Shortly

2010-04-05T12:15:00.000-04:00

Posts should resume shortly, possibly as soon as tonight.

There were some big changes going on, and I didn't want to leak word of them until everything is set.

1) Closed on the house: Cli and I bought a house together. Won't be moving until closer to the century though since there is work to be done.

2) Switching Jobs: I'll be leaving my current job for a new employer effective May 1st.

Training is going very well btw, which you might figure out from the tweets I've been sending. 40 Mile ride yesterday...almost 1/2 of the way to a century!

My Sister's Article

2010-03-30T10:46:00.000-04:00

As I blogged at the time, last year I lost both my Aunt and my cousin. One of my sisters writes a bi-weekly article for the Plattsburg Press-Republican, a newspaper near her. Her article from Feb 19th is about her feelings about the loss. I thought I would share this during my little hiatus.

The hiatus should be ending next week, hopefully. Things have been crazy, but so far it is all very, very good stuff. I will summarize when I can.

The Silence Is Deafening

2010-03-18T21:07:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been incommunicado lately folks. There is a LOT going on in my life right now and I've made the choice to put this site on hiatus for a few weeks.

Everything is good. With the better weather I've been cycling more, and training in earnest wills start shortly.

But other things are brewing, and I don't want to nix them by talking about them too soon.

Log 03.04.2010

2010-03-05T08:00:00.002-05:00

Mood:Better, despite dinner
Today's Workouts:

Walking: 4 full dog walks, 3.4 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, soy bacon, toast and orange

Lunch: 2 soy hot dogs, banana and soy yogurt

Dinner: Pizza (see note)

So pizza was not my planned dinner. I had planned on experimenting with a broccoli/asparagus alfredo-style sauce made with soy milk. Sadly, what I did not realize was that the last time I grabbed soymilk at the store I had grabbed vanilla instead of unflavored.

Vanilla + broccoli + asparagus + onions + garlic + mushrooms = inedible mess

Seriously, it was wretched. So I had to throw it out and thank goodness for delivery.

Other than dinner, yesterday was a much better day. Thanks to my new alarm clock (see previous log), I was up bright and early, got cleaning done before and after work as well as during lunch. A little more to do today during lunch.

Mood improved, and I held to my 4 full dog walks. Now with the weather improving, hopefully I can shake this winter malaise.

Log 03.03.2010

2010-03-04T08:18:00.002-05:00

Mood: Clearly Something Isn't Working
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 min dog walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Omlete with mushrooms and onions, toast, soy bacon and orange

Lunch: left over lahmajun

Tea:nuts

Dinner: sushi

Evening Snack: king sized snickers, hostess cherry pie and a fanta

So clearly this has been a bad week. Work has not been good and I've really felt kinda trapped by the weather and the state of my bike. (The wheel need truing.) In addition, over the weekend I purchased Sonic The Hedgehog 1-4 and recorded Stephen King's The Stand in a fit of nostalgia. What I didn't realize was that those two things, combined with the cabin fever feeling really brought back memories of a bad time in my life. (The summer after I graduated college and was unemployed). Clearly, that did not help matters.

The primary result of all of this has been tiredness, sleeping late and just a general malaise. And perhaps worse, a craving for sweets that I'm sure has been noticeable in my daily logs.

I'm sure my outward mood hasn't been good either, although Cli nor my co-workers have complained.

So, I'm making some changes effective 3/04/2010:
1) First, doing full dog walks of just shy of a mile... returning to my 3-4 walks a day.
2) I changed alarm clocks to one for my iPhone. It is supposed to tune itself to your sleep cycle and help prevent snooze bar hitting.
3) The apartment is getting a good cleaning tomorrow. Basically, when I'm not working I'll be cleaning.
4) I'm going to finally call the bike shop and set up an appointment for my wheel truing.(*)

The good thing is that the weather here in Pittsburgh has been steadily improving and @pghtrails reported yesterday that my main trails should clear out this weekend. So starting next week, I should be able to get more rides in and the week after that, daylight savings time starts which means I definitely should be able to ride a whole lot more during the week!

* I actually have a defense for not getting it trued earlier. I'm purchasing a full bike toolkit and truing stand with the reward points on my credit card and I was waiting for it to be shipped. However, I just checked and it looks like it won't be here till the end of the month. :(

Log 03.02.2010

2010-03-03T09:15:00.003-05:00

Mood:Happy
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 min dog walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Omelete with soy cheese & mushrooms, toast, soy bacon and orange

Lunch:2 soy hot dogs, soy yogurt and a banana

Tea: orange and nuts

Dinner: Vegetarian Lahmajun

Evening Snack: nuts

The lahmajun recipe came from a Moosewood cook book, so I can't reproduce here due to copyright issues*. However, its a basic pizza crust spread as thing as possible the topped with onions, garlic, tomato, basil, feta cheese and tofu that has been frozen, thawed and then shredded. Freezing and thawing the tofu turns it into this really strange sponge like substance, the texture of which works well with the crispy crust.

* Well, I could and probably not get caught. But since I expect people to respect the copyright of my open source code, I respect the copyright of others.

Log 03.01.2010

2010-03-02T10:13:00.002-05:00

Mood:Stressed about work and sick of being cooped up
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 min dog walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast:Oatmeal, soy bacon and orange

Lunch: Puttanesca over pasta, orange

Dinner: Foot long veggie sub from subway, small bag of doritos, fanta

Evening Snack: cherry pie, king size snickers, fanta

Felt like crap all day due to stress.

Log 02.28.2010

2010-03-01T11:07:00.003-05:00

Mood: Lazy
Today's Workouts:

Walking:3 min dog walks, 1 regular dog walk <2.5 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Egg beater omelete with mushrooms & soy cheese, toast and soy bacon

Lunch: 6 perogies, garlic toast and salad

Dinner: 7 layer burrito, bean burrito from Taco bell, orange and 2 digestive cookies

Evening Snack:2 digestives

Probably should note that digestives are kind of tea cookie. Not sure if they are brand name or a style, but they taste more or less like a graham cracker but are a little moister.

Log 02.27.2010

2010-03-01T11:04:00.002-05:00

Mood: Toy Show!
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 Min Dog Walks < 2miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana and 2 digestive cookies

Lunch:Tofu sausage

Dinner: Portebella Wrap, tortilla chips, grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, 2.5 beers

Evening Snack:Cadbury cream egg

Yes, that is a massive dinner. It ended up being in two stages -- before beer and after beer.

Log 02.26.2010

2010-03-01T11:01:00.002-05:00

Mood: Cabin Fever
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 Minimal Dog Walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Tofu Scramble with Mushrooms, toast, soy bacon and banana

Lunch:Guiltless Gourmet California Veggie Wrap, Orange and Soy yogurt

Tea:2 Digestive Cookies

Dinner:Spicy China Doll, 2 Beers

Evening Snack: peanut butter sandwich

Looking after the 2 dogs and working at home has meant that I've been in my apartment pretty much all week, excepting a few errand runs. Getting cabin fever.

Log 02.25.2010

2010-02-26T07:52:00.003-05:00

Mood:Stupid, Stupid Snow
Today's Workouts:

Walking: 4 Dog Walks < 2 Miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Tofu Scamble with Mushrooms, toast and soy bacon

Lunch: Pizza (left over), soy yogurt, and orange

Tea: 2 Digestives

Dinner: Puttanesca over rotini, brocolli and toast

Evening Snack: orange and 2 digestives

Log 02.24.2010

2010-02-25T09:22:00.003-05:00

Mood: Saw a robin this morning, feeling spring fever
Today's Workouts:

Walking: 4 dog minimal dog walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Tofu Scramble, toast, soy bacon and pear

Lunch: 2 soy hot dogs, soy yogurt and pear

Dinner: Pizza

Not much to say about today.

Log 02.23.2010

2010-02-23T23:00:00.001-05:00

Mood: Can't I be back at the beach?
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 minimal dog walks < 2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Tofu Scramble (same tofu paste as last few days), toast and soy bacon

Lunch: 2 soy hot dogs, soy yogurt and pear

Dinner: 2 servings of Steamed Brocolli over Quinoa with Coconut Mushroom Cream Sauce

Evening Snack: Popcorn

Late Night Snack: 1/2 grilled cheese (soy) sandwich

Recipe Wiki

2010-02-23T17:25:00.001-05:00

Just started a new wetpaint wiki of my recipes.

Hopefully this will grow quickly.

If you have a recipe of your own or a variation on own my mine, let me know and I'll post it!

Rob's Century Recipes

Log 02.22.2010

2010-02-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Mood: Back at Work
Today's Workouts:

Walking:4 minimal dog walks, <2 miles

Today's Food Intake:

Breakfast: Egg Beater omelet with tofu paste and mushrooms, toast and soy backon

Lunch: 2 soy hot dogs and soy yogurt

Tea: orange

Dinner: Curried Coconut Mushroom Cream Sauce with tofu patties over angle hair pasta

I'll be posting recipes for the cream sauce and tofu paste/patties when I get a chance. I'm trying to think of a system to make the recipes more accessible so that I can link to them if I re-use them. Basically, some kind of recipe wiki is on its way.

So I'm now back from my working vacation. I had a lot of fun and was able to ride about 77 miles total over the course of the week. I would have broken 100, but on the last day I got a flat (ran over a staple) and decided to return the bike early. (I could have repaired the flat and gone for a ride but I decided against it.)

I didn't log what I ate during the week, and I'm really regretting it. About 8 pounds of regret to be exact. However, I've already lost 4 of them so I think a fair bit of it was water retention from eating salty meals. But there was a lot of eating so I don't doubt that the remaining 4 pounds are going to take longer to re-lose.

I did have 3 meals that involved meat. Two of them (lasagna an chili) were served to me by Cli's parents. My new years resolution was to only eat meat when it was served to me... so in those cases I kept my NYR. However, the third instance was someone sharing some smoked hog jowls at a restaurant. (And they were yummy.) In that case, I partook of several pieces and I think that does count as a NYR break. However, I'm back on the no-meat-but-seafood plan as of the say following the hog jowls.

So far, I have to say that it is very rare that I am tempted. Occasionally I'll get a craving for chicken wings or a hamburger but over all its been a pretty easy transition. The jowls were simply something I'd never had before and I figured I would take advantage of the opportunity.

This week is going to be a low-exercise week. I'm looking after a friends basset hound, and walking two dogs is just so much slower than walking one. That combined with the massive amounts of snow and ice still present on the Pittsburgh cycling trails make it pretty certain I won't be getting much exercise.

Short Hiatus

2010-02-17T11:51:00.001-05:00

Forgot to announce in advance, but I'm on a working vacation this week.

So no logs until I get back.

In good news, I've rented a bike so my twitter updates of workouts should still be valid.

Normal posting to resume on Monday.