Do not turn your back on time

I was talking to my son Tyler about my workouts on the track the other day, and he asked me what my times were. I told him I don't really time them; it's more important for me to finish. His response: "If you don't know your time, you don't get better."

An interesting though. On some level, I'm doing this because I remember the feeling of being an athlete, and I'd like to get back there. I won't be what I was when I was Tyler's age, but I can be closer to that than I am currently.

So on my run last night I employed the stopwatch function on my phone and came away somewhat encouraged. The total workout was 3 miles (six laps on a 1/2-mile track). Of that, I ran 1.5 miles in .5 mile increments. I timed those three. First one was 4:29. Second was 4:11. Third was 4:26. Showed that to Tyler and he said good job.

Now clearly, I'm not going to be challenging Haile Gebrselassie any time soon. (He's one of the world's best distance runners of recent vintage). Still, a sub-9:00 mile pace isn't too shabby for out-of-shape and 48 years old. I'll take it. It was a small point of encouragement to help me keep going.

At some point I'll time an entire mile and see what that looks like.

Weight after exercise: 231. Food intake yesterday: Coffee, cinnamon roll, cocoa-roasted almonds. Lunch was pulled pork barbecue (no sauce) and cole slaw. Atkins bar and more almonds on top of that. Supper was baked chicken, steamed vegetables and a salad.

Yesterday was a difficult food day because I was on the road for work. The barbecue and slaw were the only carb-friendly items among the lunch offerings at the event I went to.

YTD foot mileage: 20.

Yesterday's soundtrack was Nickelback. Just a rock'n roll kind of day.