Running (unrelated to student teaching, except for time frame)

I am an active person...sometimes....most of the time. My body has taken several turns on the path to fitness over the course of my life thus far. As a child I was skinny and full of energy, I could run/play all day. As late elementary school hit, I gained a bit of weight, weighing around 160 lbs between 5th and 6th grade. By my standards, I was a bit chunky, but most people go through a chunky period in life. By 8th grade I had grown a few inches, put on a decent amount of muscle, and lost 10 lbs. I attribute this to the start of middle school sports (football, basketball, track) but mostly to the beginning of my wrestling career. Oddly enough, I gained 30 lbs over the course of the summer (girlfriend, lots of food/pop, lots of lifting) which not surprising, didn't please the wrestling coach. I spend my first two years of high school between 180 and 195, not running much (lineman on the football team, shot and disc thrower in track). Junior year came about and I ran a bit more, I wasn't happy with myself when I hit 195. I started running 1.5 miles a day, a sizable distance for me. By the end of wrestling season, I weighed in at 169.5 lbs at the state tournament. I stayed between 168 and 180 for the rest of my high school career and have stayed around 185 since then.

Which brings me back to running. I go through periods where I run every day, sometimes 50 miles a week, which for some, isn't much, but for others is unfathomable. Oddly enough, no matter how much I exercise, my weight doesn't really fluctuate, but my body fat percentage does. I love cross country skiing, and had taken it up my sophomore year of college. Junior year I was fairly active in citizen races. Senior year, I was able to get two weeks in before moving to San Antonio (FYI, there is no snow anywhere near San Antonio). Now that I am here, I need to stay active. I run. I run to look for other things to do; where does this trail take me? can I rollerski here? should I buy a bike? road bike? mountain bike? singlespeed? does anyone want to play racquetball? I run because it allows me to clear my mind, however I have a hard time not counting steps:1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 5, 2, 6, 2, 7, 2, etc. counting allows me to easily do interval training, but it can be distracting when I just want to look at the beauty around me...speaking of beauty around me, I didn't have anything stand out to write about, so I was just going to write about deer. I saw three today, 10 feet away from me, I think I could have gotten closer but I didn't want to scare them out onto Bandera Rd. which was within 30 yards (3 lanes of traffic each way, 45 mph speed limit (never obeyed)). They were beautiful, one had some mangy looking fur, but otherwise looked healthy. I had a staring contest with one, I took a step forward, she took a step forward, I ducked down, she dropped her head. I think people have been feeding them in the park. (I will probably write about deer in the future).

For now, that was my thoughts for today, I'm sorry for wasting your time.