Reverse Before & After

In decent shape for a 46 year old
just before the Maui Marathon in September

Hello, my name's Jim ... and I used to be a blogger!  The three of you that still read my blog know it's been a while since my last post.  What have I been up to you ask?  Well, basically I ran a really great half-marathon to wrap up my racing season, went on a wild ride through the baseball Postseason as my Kansas City Royals won the World Championship ... and oh yeah ... um, gained A LOT OF WEIGHT!!!

I basically took the month of October off, partly by design to give my body a break from training, but also because of way too many late night Playoff games.  We're Royals season ticket holders, which gives us access to tickets for every Postseason game.

Definitely going backwards in November

And if you followed their Playoff run, you know there were several nerve-racking nights that kept us up way past our bedtime.  Most of the mornings after, I didn't run, and in fact at really really poorly.  I think I gained about 12-15 pounds during a month.  Like I said ... I ate REALLY poorly.  We're talking donuts & breakfast sandwiches every morning for breakfast.  What can I say ... when I crash, I crash!

Most people post their before and after photos on social media to show off the fruits of their workout labor.  Here is exactly that ... in reverse.  The first picture is me right before running the Maui Marathon in September. (my wife took the pic ... no, I typically don't take shirtless selfies ... but I did take the second one, ha)  The next one is me, about three days ago.   You can't see my face ... but I was laughing as I took it.  A little because I was taking a shirtless selfie of an out-of-shape me in our basement ... but also because, just look at that gut!!!  It's hilarious!!!

What won't be so funny is how much work it will take to get rid of that boiler.  It always amazes me just how fast we lose our physical fitness as we age.  It took me monts of miles and supplemental work to get into the shape in photo 1 ... but only one month of basically doing nothing, and eating like the rest of the world to turn doughy in photo 2.  It's just not fair.

So here we go again ... back to the old grindstone.  I figured posting an embarrassing pic would keep me accountable and focused as I move forward to what I hope will be a PR at Phoenix in late February.  I just have to make sure that I don't take another month off for the holidays ... or there might have to be more reverse before & after shots.
... Be Great  Today!