6/17/2025

Weight: 196.4lbs post walk

Diet: 1/2 chicken breast, cottage cheese, crawfish pie for dinner and 1/2 bagel for breakfast

One thing I learned today was that the distance meter on my watch is way off. My walk today was a total of 4.4 miles according to the markers on the trail, but my watch only showed 3.58 miles. That’s a major distance difference so I’m going to try a different app on my iPhone to see what that says. I’m not sure what the watch uses as a reference for measuring distance but I’m wondering if there is a drop in service along the trail if it’s using GPS type data. We shall see. Today I felt great on the trail and pushing my distance was pretty easy. I put a half a bagel with honey in the gas tank this morning and I think that helped. I also had a scoop of mushroom coffee mix this morning, which usually gives me an energy boost. Dropped closed to another pound this morning but my left foot is taking a beating. This is what distance runners deal with, so it’s just like old times for me, minus a few toenails falling out. Mind over matter means no pain, no gain. Sorry, for the graphic photo if you’re squeamish!

A week ago, I had to have some work done on a bone graft placed in my jaw three months ago for a permanent replacement canine tooth. It was pretty painful, so I’ve been taking some pain meds off and on as needed. The pain meds cause constipation and sometimes I need to take some drastic measures. Back when I was competing in marathons with the Navy, I was very conscious about my weight right down to the last pound or two in my colon. On race day I always wanted to run with as little weight as possible. This was me at 38 years old at the 24-mile marker during the Blue Angel marathon. At the start of the race, I weighed 152 pounds and at the end, I was probably in the mid to low 140’s. Just a pound or two of extra weight means a lot when running 26.2 miles and you definitely don’t want to have a colon blowout during the race. Trust me when I say, that’s not a good look for the finish line pictures.

Just to give you an idea of colon weight, when I came in from the trail this morning this is what I saw on the scale.

After one tablespoon of this tasty stuff and two hours later, Boom! Race ready!

Meal deal of the day: I’ll let you guys in on a little secret of mine. I’ve mainly been eating Chinese and for about 21 bucks I can split it up and get three meals from the Chicken and asparagus entree, fried rice and a large egg drop soup. That’s about seven bucks for my dinner and it’s the perfect size so I don’t overeat. Not sure where they get their asparagus but it’s always fresh and crisp.

Recipe of the day: *Hard work, pain and determination are the three main ingredients to achieve a higher level of success. –Jim Farmer

Favorite song for today.