It's All Mental...or At Least Mostly

Endurance.

Persistence.

In my journey to health, for each thing that I learn about fitness, I learn two things about myself.  Recently I learned just how much running is mental.  I know, for all you runners out there, you've known this for years, but for me it was something of a revelation.

I was running the other night and I started feeling a little tired.  I really wanted to stop, but I thought to myself, "I can run down to that corner," so I did.  Then I thought, "I can make it to the end of this street."  Guess what?  I made it there, too.

The funny thing was, I really wasn't any more exhausted at the at the end of the street than when I had that first inclination to stop.  It was entirely "in my head".  I wasn't actually close to any kind of physical failure at all, it was purely mental.

When you're exercising by yourself, and there's no one there to pace yourself against or to cheer you on, the only one that chooses when to stop, is you.  Or in this case, me.

What I learned that night about myself was that while I had been fairly disciplined with my exercise routine, I hadn't really been pushing myself.  Normally when I get tired, I stop.  I wonder how many times in my life I've done that?  Just stopping because I wasn't mentally tough enough to push just a little bit more?

"So, Aaron, what's the point?"

Mostly I'm writing this to just help me digest my own thoughts.  But, if this helps someone that reads this get past a little mental "tiredness", too?   Bonus.

I Don't Expect Much

You know, I don't expect much from my co-workers. But there's one thing that I just have to say something about.

We have an ice-maker in our breakroom. It's a nice ice-machine. I like it. I like ice. I like cold beverages in general. It even comes with its own scoop. There's a nice little holder built in to the right side to hold the scoop.

Every time I use the scoop I put it back where it goes. Every. single. time.

And every time I open the ice-maker to get some ice, I find the scoop laying in the ice. Every. single. time.

Why can't people just put it back where it goes!?!?!!!?! It's not hard. Why? Why?!?

Okay...I'm done complaining.

Not That Scary

The other day I posted about my then upcoming employee physical. I was a little concerned about my health stats since it's been a long time since I've had them done.

Well, I had it today, and...not too bad.

My LDL and cholesterol were a little high, but my triglycerides were fine and my HDL was just a point off. Not bad for a fat guy. It still motivated me to want to get all my stats down within range.

At least she didn't call 911 when she saw my readings and start yelling things like "We need a CBC and chem 7 stat! Hang 2 more liters of O-!!" like they always do on TV.

Thanks to those of you that were concerned with me!

A Scary Day

Next week, I'm scheduled to do my yearly pseudo-physical for work. This year, we're being required to have a lipid panel and blood sugar checked. It's just a finger stick. No big deal, right?

I'm not worried about the stick. I have a pretty high pain tolerance.

The scary part is that I haven't had my lipids checked in a long time. I'm afraid that I might get my results back and they will just say:

Chol = cheeseburger

HDL = french fries

LDL = sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit

I guess we'll see next week!

Oh, and let me clarify. We're not really being "required" to have our lipids and blood sugar done. But if we don't get it done our insurance will cost us $2o more per pay period.

What's your cholesterol?

And...Scene!

Well, after a year at the Hut, I'm done. I spoke with my manager this afternoon and turned in my 2-week notice, which turned out to actually be 2-minute notice. She's got plenty of drivers, so I'm just done.

Of course I'm a little sad, because I became friends with many of the people at the Hut. On the other hand, I skipped down the hallway when I got home!

I've got a couple of ideas (actually, just one right now) of ways to generate some extra income that don't require me giving up my weekends. I'm looking forward to giving them a go.

I think my year at the Hut was good for me. It got us through a financial pinch, caused me to "get out of the house", introduced me to some cool new people, and taught me all the back streets. Cool.

Next time you order a stuffed crust, remember me!

Taking the Month Off

So I'm taking the month of August off from the Hut. I've been a little under the weather this past week, and I think part of it is just from being tired.

Job #1 has been really busy for the past several months, and when you throw the second job on top of it, sometimes it's just hard to catch your breath. This weekend is my first full weekend off, and I am already loving it.

Had a great time last night! I did some puzzles in a brain teaser book and watched Jeopardy at the same time. Wild night.

Today, we cut my hair. Actually, I should say, shaved my hair. I haven't had it cut in years.

This afternoon, our church is doing a "Back to School Bash" in the parking lot for our community. We're giving away food, going to have some live music, fun stuff for the kids, etc. But the main thing thrust is that we are giving away a bunch of backpacks filled with the necessary school supplies. (That's actually my job, the handing out of the backpacks.)

It's going to be a lot of fun. It's from 4-8 tonight, so hopefully we'll miss most of the heat.

That's it. That's all I have to say. No clever quips or witty anecdotes. Just a little about my life right now.

One of My Favorites

Last weekend while I was delivering pizza for the Hut, I took this picture. That's my cool ride. This is one of my favorite places to park when I deliver to this area.

Mwahahaaa!

Sometimes Not Enough Is Just Enough

At my day job I support and develop electronic medical records. We have things called "GLITCHes", which are problems directly reported by our end-users (usually physicians) to the IT staff. When they submit one, it is sent both to our email and cell phones.

Some of us don't have email on cell phones. We have to go to our email to get the full message because the cell phone text message limit will truncate the GLITCH We will only get the first part, which is usually something like:

"Having problem with referral template, can't open..."

or something like that. Every once in awhile we get a funny one. This past week we got the best one ever. The physician was trying to discontinue a medication on a patient and was having a problem. Here's the message we received:

"Computer will not allow me to disco"

Classic. Maybe you should try to mambo instead...