77 Wars

4 miles today. it’s been six weeks since stephen and i started training for this marathon, but today was only the second weekly meeting of the official training group for aids project los angeles. we felt good. we did a bunch of push-ups. stephen could barely eek out three push-ups in a row when we started and today he did ten at a time. i got up to 25 in a set from a start of about 10. we’re training in a 13 minute-mile group on saturdays, but we plan on training ourselves to run harder than that when we work out on our own. we’ve been learning more about different kinds of exercises and what the best kinds of foods are for us during this regimen.

it feels great to have made it this far without feeling a lack of motivation. we’ve missed some days of training here and there, but the minimum we’ve done in a week is probably three work out days, while averaging about 4-5.

leg muscle mass has greatly increased, while we’ve noticed a decline in love handle action as well as in the man boob department. arm muscle mass has increased in the bicep/tricep area as well as some slightly noticeable difference in the chest area. soon enough we will post pictures from our start up to our current point, but it won’t be for at least another two weeks so that we can actually see the difference starting to be more obvious. another thing that feels great about all of this is the severe decline of ‘jiggle’. anyone who’s ever had a few extra pounds knows how absolutely wonderful it is to have parts jiggling all over the place and so, to have it stop in any area is great… the thigh jiggle factor is at about zero and the arms are close by… of course the belly issues are still hanging around, so to speak, but we’re working and sweating that all away a little at a time.

as far as weight, i’ve lost about 4 pounds and stephen actually gained weight, but muscle is more dense and heavier than fat, so this may be what is responsible. of course, overall health and strength outweigh the weight factor for us.

stephen purchased a body fat measuring scale and so we will have another number to look at soon, though it would have been great to see where we had started.

our main goal is to finish the marathon that we are training for and we are determined. for me, it may be the most determined i’ve been about any project so far in my life. of course, physical appearance isn’t the main point of concentration, so to that end we’ve been greatly successful, for our primary goal is to build endurance.

i’m proud of us and happy that we combined some different things we had talked about with goals of ours and we are achieving those goals everyday, a little bit at a time. stephen wanted to do some community work and meet people outside of our social circle and we both wanted to get healthier. when the idea of the marathon came up, i was immediately in. stephen had his apprehensions, which is not by any means bad or some kind of weakness. he wanted to be sure he felt a commitment for himself and that, if we were going to invest ourselves into this together, i was serious about following through. we’ve become better friends for it and i couldn’t think of anyone else i’d rather do this marathon with.

more to come.