Day 4

It's day four, a Thursday, and that means it's a no-running day. Fine by me. My legs (again, mostly my thighs/quads) were a bit sore this morning, but they are otherwise okay. Mrs. FatManRunning noticed that she could see some little changes in the muscle on my legs. [I've always been blessed to have much less fat on my legs. Part of it may be how much I enjoy biking, but I believe carrying around my 300 lb. (+/-) frame all these years forced my legs to stay strong.] She might have been saying that to make me feel good, but I think I can see little changes, too. Let's see...apart from my upper legs, I have a little bit of soreness in my lower back, but nothing significant.

Overall, I feel pretty good. I feel pretty alert and clear headed. I had been a bit fuzzy lately, in part due to some of my medical issues (my sugars have been high, among other things). Blood sugar readings have been good yesterday and today--nothing above where it should be waking, before meals, and two hours after meals. [My doctor will be really glad to hear that.]

I got the lab results back from Friday's tests. My cholesterol has improved a few points, but my triglycerides are up. Also, the tests confirmed some of my own suspicions: my kidneys are dumping protein into my urine. That explains the metallic taste in my mouth, the unusual level of fatigue I've been feeling, and my frothy urine. The levels are not too high, so my doctor is going to keep watching them over the next few montsh. We both hope that this exercise program and my commitment to making better choices will help lower my sugar levels, thereby eliminating the renal (kidney) problem.

I guess you could say I'm in the honeymoon stage of this training program. I'm very excited about it, and have been telling friends and work and even complete strangers about it. I even emailed customer service at Asics, to tell them I started this couch-to-5k program, and to tell them that I've been impressed with their running shoes that have kept the feet of this 300 lb. man comfortable as my footfalls pound the trail surface. Can you imagine how surprised I was when, shortly after sending the message, I received a personal reply! The short message had some encouraging words and asked me to keep them informed regarding my progress. It also requested our contact information, as the representative wanted to send us something "...to help [us] achieve [our] goals." I'm man enough to admit it: I was just about moved to tears.

When I replied, I included a link to this blog, so I guess I've formally gone public with our 'secret' plan.

Tomorrow is the last day we run this week, so our first week is nearing completion as a success. I still have a lot of doubts, though. This program goes on for another eight weeks! I'm supposed to be able to run three miles by the time we're done. Those goals seem too distant and unattainable right now. I can't do eight weeks and I can't do three miles, but I can get up early tomorrow morning and do my 25 minutes. I think I'll take it that way for a while: one day at a time!

Oh, I'll also try to get my weight recorded tomorrow, so I may chart my progress. I don't know if Mrs. FatManRunning will want to post her's here. I'll leave that to her. I invited her to write some posts, but I don't know if she'll take me up on the offer just yet.