It was a nice run.  We ran 3.4 miles in 30 minutes.  There were some nice climbs and downhills in the first half while the second half was totally flat.  I was pleased with how I felt during the run as it was my first outside run in quite some time.  Everyone says that running outside is so much harder than treadmill running, but I don’t know if I agree.  My enemy on the treadmill is boredom and outside I don’t get bored at all.  Couple that with a running partner and you’ve got the makings for a really nice run.

So, I’m in the process of recruiting running partners.  I’ve got my training plan–my long run days are going to be Sunday mornings–I just need to find someone who wants to tag along.

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Related Articles at Get Fit Slowly:

• Positive Body Image: My Favorite Part of Getting Fit
• Mr. Roth Comes To Salem
• Five Pounds in January

Holiday travel
Pam and I wanted to get down to Southern California during the holidays so that we could visit with our friends and families during this time of the year. But we also wanted to be home for Christmas because well, there’s nothing quite like being at home on Christmas morning–the hot cup of coffee, the warm fire, the smell of the tree, and the excitement of the kids. So, pre-Christmas, we headed down to L.A. to visit the aforementioned friends and family. Upon leaving, we had two inches of snow on the ground. Pulling out of the driveway, I hastily threw the tire chains in the back of the van and we waved a goodbye to Megan and Pam’s dirty snowman. We spent a wonderful 9 days in L.A. and then we returned home to Salem (which may as well have been the north pole). It took us about 4.5 hours over two days to make it 70 miles from the airport in Portland to our hotel in Salem. Hotel? Yep, upon our arrival, we learned that our house had been without power for the three days prior due to all the wind, and ice. We finally made it home to a modern house, complete with electricity and running water, on the Tuesday before Christmas. All of our plans for baking and delivering cookies to our friends were out the window and we were dashing from place to place trying to finish our last minute shopping, wrapping, and house preparations for the visit from Pam’s sister’s family AND from Santa Claus too! It was a very hectic couple of days, but we made it.

Weight management
Upon arrival back at home, I was dreading the scale. But that Tuesday afternoon, I forced myself to step on it and was only mildly disappointed. During the previous 11 days, I only exercised one time! The very first day in L.A., I ran 3.5 miles. After that however, I made poor choices and decided that eating and socializing were more important than exercising. I did spend one day walking all over Disneyland while carrying/pushing Megan in the stroller. And I did play golf one day, but I drove in a cart so that doesn’t count. So my weight went up from 191 to 194.5 in 11 days. Since my return home, I’ve gotten my eating under control and today I went back to the gym. This morning the scale was back down to 191.8. So I’m heading back in the right direction.

Fitness Levels
I don’t have a lot of fitness progress to mention. Back in L.A. when I went on my 3.5 mile run, I ran very fast for me. The first mile was uphill and I ran it in about 9 minutes. but the last 2.5 miles was a very gradual downhill and I ran my first sub-7 minute mile ever. The other 1.5 miles were completed in under 12 minutes. I felt really good on those last 2.5 and really crappy on the first mile. Then today at the gym, I ran for three miles and lifted for 30 minutes. I’m already sore, but I feel like I’m ready and motivated to get back on the lifting program. I’m not sure about stronglifts yet as I’m really afraid for my back, but I will be lifting again starting now.

GFS Changes
JD and I are struggling with the identity of GFS. All along, we’ve meant for GFS to be solely a motivational tool to keep us working towards our goals. By writing about our endeavors, and having you all read about them, we feel like we have someone to hold us accountable for our actions. It works great and we’ve been very successful in our fitness progress. But as our readership increased, we both have started to feel the pressure of producing higher quality pieces–and more of them. We have tried to stick to an everyday posting schedule, but things inevitably come up and the schedule falls by the wayside. What does all of this mean? I’m not sure yet. This much I do know. We’ll keep working on and reporting about our fitness progress and hopefully you all will continue reading and holding us accountable.

As scary as these stats seem, there’s another set of stats, from a different age group that scares me even more. As a parent–a fat parent of thin kids–I worry a lot that my kids will turn out fat as well. If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know from my introduction that one of my main reasons for getting fit slowly is to be a better example for my two children.

You’d think it would be hard for kids to get fat. They have high metabolisms, grow a lot, and are generally very active. But the numbers aren’t good:

In 1971 only 4% of 6-to-11-year-old kids were obese; by 2004, the figure had leaped to 18.8%. In the same period, the number rose from 6.1% to 17.4% in the 12-to-19-year-old group, and from 5% to 13.9% among kids ages just 2 to 5. And as with adults, that’s just obesity. Include all overweight kids, and a whopping 32% of all American children now carry more pounds than they should.

Since I’ve been worrying about this of late, I’ve come up with a list, that is by no means complete, of some ideas to help parents help their kids maintain a healthy weight. I’d love to hear more ideas from those of you who are parents and have ideas that work for your family.

• Limit “Screen Time”–Television and the internet make it real easy to be lazy. Most American kids spend an average of three hours per day in front of the computer or TV–and that’s after they’ve been stuck behind their desk in school all day.
• Make the family meal a priority–With soccer and ballet, karate and PTA meetings, it’s tough to find the time to eat dinner together with your kids. But if you don’t provide a nutritious meal, and be around to eat it with them, they’re going to fall back on unhealthy choices.
• Be an active family–Everyone likes to go to the movies. But don’t forget about all the fun you can have outdoors. Go for a hike, a bike ride, or play soccer at the park. Weed the garden, mow the lawn, or trim the bushes together. Get the whole family out of the house as often as possible and you just might talk more too

My kids are still real young, but already I see in them the allure of TV and the internet. My daughter loves to watch “Sesame Street” Clips on Youtube. She also enjoys taking digital pictures and reviewing them on the computer. She would watch as much TV as I let her. But she also loves being outside, playing with her friends, and riding her tricycle. It’s up to me to help her make the right choices that will keep her healthy and active. I’m not a perfect example for my kids. I’m still overweight and I still watch more TV than I should. But I’m getting smaller, and exercising in front of them often. I can only hope that what they see me doing now will help them develop a love for being active and healthy.

The statistics and photo for this post was taken from an article entitled: How America’s Children Packed On the Pounds.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other sites out there providing interesting information on fitness and weight loss. Starting today, I’ll link to some of my favorite articles each week. Some of these articles will come from blogs that are part of the nascent Fitness Health Network, but many will be from other sites around the web.

This week, I’d like to point you to these stories:

At No Calories Needed, NCN is giving up soda cold turkey. I have a friend who did this two years ago. He lost weight and sleeps much better now. In theory, I cut out soda three months ago. In reality, I still have a couple pops per week.

Gal at 60 in 3 says that the number one rule of healthy eating is variety counts. By trying new dishes, he’s able to discover new foods. And having a variety of foods that he likes prevents his diet from getting boring.

Finally, Jim at Journal of Healthy Living says that it’s important to break the routine and monotony of your normal workout. “After you get a routine down, your brain consciously and subconsciously starts to figure out ways to make it more efficient, to use less energy, and consume fewer calories,” he writes. This is something I’ve been considering lately. I’ve been doing the same upper body workout for twelve weeks now. I like it, and I’ve seen definite progress, but I wonder if it isn’t time to mix up my exercises instead of doing the same things all the time. Do I dare try a bench press?