Losing a part of me

Everyone who has ever run or jogged knows that it is hard on the knees; everyone who has jogged while overweight knows that every pound extra adds more strain on the knees. That is why I do not plan to start jogging – or at least, going for long jogs – until I am under 300-pounds. It could cause long-term damage that would require surgery to repair.

With that said, I decided today to just test my legs… and frankly, my lungs. So, for Kilometre Number Two of today’s 8km workout, on a stretch of road I knew to be straight and flat, I turned it out. My intention was to jog one and only one kilometre… and that is what I did. I did it in 8m38s, which is not terrible for a man of my size who has not jogged in two years.

As I predicted yesterday, it is another scorcher out there, with the temperatures hovering around 31° Celsius (87° Fahrenheit). I took a bottle of water, but I also took a break at the end of my third kilometre. I do not like to do that, but I also know that the jog put more pressure on my system than just walking, and I do not want to be stupid about it. I also paused my tracker for a few seconds at around the 6.25km mark, but that was because I was at a red light, and could not safely go forward.

As I predicted, I did not set any records on today’s walk. I said I was hoping to walk seven kilometres in under 1h15m. If we completely remove the kilometre I jogged, I missed that mark by six seconds. Of course, if we include it, then I beat the mark by 2m11s. Either way, I am extremely happy with the results… and getting hot and sweaty does not bother me!

• Distance: 8.0 km (9.03 km)
• Duration: 1:23:48 (1:33:28 minutes)
• Average Pace (Min/km): 10:28 (10:21)
• Steps: 10.1k (10.8k)
• Calories burned: 464 (524)
• Elevation gain: 29.3m (34.1)
• Average cadence (steps per minute): 120 (116)

These numbers include the kilometre jogged, so technically, the Average Cadence would be a record… but I am not counting it because I should be competing against myself comparing apples to apples.

My housekeeper is coming this afternoon, and it will be nice to have the place tidied up a bit. Other than that, the only plans I have for the rest of the day revolve around sitting my balcony, reading my book, and more than likely smoking a cigar. I am preparing a nice piece of fish and a salad for lunch… but before I do that, it is definitely time to hit the showers.