Where've you been?

I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I've written anything other than a Facebook status update or an email at work. To all of you who wonder what the heck is going on and am I still working out and all that, hopefully this will answer some of those questions.

Right now, in our photography business we are in full-swing... it's wedding season which is our busy season. This is our first really busy season so we didn't really know what to expect. Then, throw in my new promotion at work (thank you very much) that brought on a new schedule for me which makes the homelife time even less. Oh, and of course... we have Audrey, 3 months old today:) Combine all those together and I have a busy thing going on! But then again, who isn't busy?!

I've continued my 16 floor climb every morning at work and I walk about a mile and a half to and from the bus... and honestly, that's the extent of my actual "workouts". I still watch what I eat, or rather, I continue to eat a helluvalot better than I used to... I also throw in the occasional push-up/sit-up set a few times a week. Shooting a wedding has proven to be quite the exercise, too.

With all this put together, I've found a happy(ish) medium where I don't gain but rarely lose. I'm maintaining at 212 right now. It's not too exciting to talk about and rarely do I feel motivated to write something on here because there's just not much to tell... but for the sake of an update. I'm doing well:)

Hope you all are as well!!!

The Stairs Are There...and the people are using them

It's catching on. I'm not the first person who has thought of it but I've been telling my co-workers how I walk the 16 flights of stairs to our floor every morning. And, most recently have been climbing to the top floor (23rd).

One came over to me the other day to tell me that she has been climbing the flights from floor 10 (where our lunchroom is) up to 16. She is out of breath from it but feels so much better. It was really fun to talk to her about it and I challenged her to add in a few more here and there and to take the plunge. I said one day you are going to walk through the front doors and decide today is the day and you will huff it up the 16. Or, just stop at 10 and take the elevator. We'll see what she does.

A couple of weeks ago, another co-worker came to me out of breath after a large meeting we had down on the 3rd floor. I took the elevator but she totally showed me up, she decided to just climb them all to 16:)

It's really fun to see people around you getting into it. To me it's just a part of my day but they are beginning to understand how nice it is that we have those to use whenever we want:) I use the stairs as a justification for more coffee (which I don't need). I walk up the 16 to my desk. Then a few minutes later walk down to 10, get my coffee then climb back up 6 to my floor. A few hours later I go back down and repeat. So, by the end of the day I've climbed at least 28 flights... sometimes more!

"Didn't you have a beard?"

I've been running into random people here and there that are finding it hard to put their fingers on what has changed about me. For people that have been near me the change has been gradual and almost non-noticeable... but, there are others that I've met once or twice before that when I saw them again they didn't even notice me.

This last weekend, Sally and I did a photo shoot for a family that won a portrait package we donated for a charity auction (same family won it last year). We walked up and said hellos and the guy looked at me a little cockeyed and said "didn't you have a beard last year?" I said, "maybe... but, I've also lost a little weight!" He was shocked and we all discussed it for a few minutes. He said he didn't even recognize me, "you look really different".

I have found that sometimes people don't want to come right out and ask if I've lost a lot of weight and hide behind a question about some other trivial part of my appearance... then there are others who think I was a different person. Both are great to hear, and both make me feel like this is all worth it!

Too Busy to Blog

I am taking a temporary hiatus from writing so I can get through this big event at work. The biggest day is over and it should calm down next week. Tomorrow morning we are coming downtown to the Flagship Nordstrom store to walk and walk and walk while the girls shop and shop and shop. So, in a way it's going to be a great workout:)

I hope you guys are enjoying the wonderful weather. I suppose I have to pass one little tidbit of encouragement on to you... this last winter I made myself a promise, actually I made it known that I was going to lose weight during the holidays. This forced me to reconsider that third cookie or 7th beer... it all resulted in a few pounds lost during the biggest food consumption time of the year. Hey, if you want to rock out all summer long on jerky and cheap beer I kind of understand but just remember...if you want it to stop it's totally up to you. And, it's totally doable! Don't feel like "just because it's the holiday (or summer)" that you are destined to pack it on...it doesn't have to be that way:)

Talk to you in a while.

Audrey Royce

What a weekend!  My baby girl was born on my birthday, June 19th at 11:10pm. She weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 20.5 inches long.

As in all birth stories and recollections of all things fatherly, it is utterly impossible to put into words the feeling you get when you see your baby being born.  The rush of emotion and general haze it puts you in is just mind numbing.  Watching Sally labor through it all was really tough but I knew she could do it! And, of course...she did and Audrey Royce was born!

To celebrate and for reasons of sanity I took this week off from work.  A very wise decision indeed!  I'm excited by the smallest things this little girl does.  The first hint of a smile nearly reduced me to tears:)  

We have been helped out so much through these last few days and I am so thankful!  However, with all this good food around I've noticed the tightness I've worked so hard to attain is turning a little soft.  I'm excited that the weather will be cooperating this week and I hope to get out on the road and run a few quick jogs to get my legs back...they will probably be personal bests because of my want to be home holding or just looking at little Audrey! 

To see some more pics of Audrey and us at the hospital click here.

A Nice Morning Walk

What a beautiful morning!  Last night I decided that working from home made more sense...see previous post for many reasons why being at work around many people wasn't the best idea for me!!  I woke at my normal time, went downstairs, had my coffee with Sally, started working from home then we took a break and went for a neighborhood walk... down to Sandle Park and back. 

Walking down to that park is about as relaxing as a walk in our area can be.  We strolled checking out every one's yards and I kept her busy by asking her what types of flowers or plants we were looking at were.  I love checking out the neighborhoods and seeing how different people are and how it all seems to work.  It's always nice for us to get on the street together since my normal jogs are almost always done by myself.

The morning air and leisurely pace was exactly what I needed to help destress! I only have to work till 2 today so that will feel amazing when I can be done and have the rest of the day to hang out at home with Sal:)

Beside Myself

Today our baby is officially one week overdue. Never has a time in my life gone slower than the last week. I'm unable to describe how I'm feeling right now, but, it wouldn't be like me to write a post without at least trying! So...here it goes:

I feel like I'm floating and all the normal, everyday things are just flying past me because all I'm thinking about is Sally and the baby.

I feel like I felt back in school when I'd watch the clock and wish the next 3 hours would go by in a few seconds. Time would stand still, that's today!

I feel like there is a huge planned event that will happen any second but there is no way to predict nor know when it will happen.

I can't focus on anything (including this post).

I jump every time my phone rings.

I feel like a zombie but only because I want my reality to be something it will be inevitably.

I try to will things along and realize I have no control.

I'm a control freak and I've been rendered useless, I cannot control this situation.

I'm exhausted.

I don't want to go to work, not just because of the work, but because I have to face so many people and answer the same questions. (If I'm here, then no, the baby hasn't been born).

I'm still very excited for all my goals and working out again with Sally but feel I'm having to put life on hold till this happens!

OK, that's enough for now...I think you get it. It is truly a mind-F dealing with the day to day of waiting for our baby. I know it's going to be well worth the wait but I had to be honest with you. It's draining! And I'm just the Dad...I can't even imagine how Sally is feeling! I think she is dealing with it a lot better than me.

Wish us luck!! Thanks:)

Reaching Out

I've been learning a lot about this lately...it would seem to be a pretty obvious thing since, you know, that's what our business is all about. Every time I put myself out there and let people in on my "personal life" I usually get an amazing response and find that most people are just as excited to share information as I am.

Recently, here at my normal job I've let people know that I'm a photographer. I've found out there are a few other photographers including a wedding photographer, a lady that makes jewelry, two make-up artists, some venue owners, a florist, and on and on. I've also heard nothing but great response about my whole "losing 60 some odd pounds" thing. Just the other day I was asked if I take the stairs up to my floor...a girl from my work saw me entering the stairwell. The answer in short was, yes. I've been climbing those damn stairs for the last 7 months. I've only missed them a couple of times. Once when I was too sick and I shouldn't have been at work and the other time when I tweaked my back. Many days I fight it but still force myself to go up them, I guess it's just a part of my day now.

I know this isn't about my workouts or any cool goals I've achieved...this post is about life. It's about how fun it is to share ideas with people, it's about networking to become a better person and it's about the feeling I've gotten this last week from all the outpouring of support and new readers. It's been a lot of fun sharing running routes with our next door neighbors, challenging some newcomers to the Fatbet and seeing comments from people I've never met.

With baby due any moment a new chapter starts in our lives...Sally is excited to get back to pre-baby weight and I'm stoked to not have ice cream every other night...I mean, I'm excited to have her and I eating the way we used to because now I have a hefty goal. My next goal is to lose even more fat and become a sub-200'er. Yes, it's a word...and here's a fun fact. I haven't been under 200 pounds since before I was in 8th grade (maybe 7th)!!! That was the last time I saw a number on the scale that was less than 200. It's going to be a strange day for me especially if I think of what I was like back then. I had braces and spiky hair and I was uncomfortable in my own skin...that'll be a fun before/after shot:)

Here's to a new chapter and sharing it with some new friends! Cheers!

100 Push-Ups : Final Update

I opened my mouth a few weeks ago and now I'm starting to wonder if it was what I said that is making baby not want to come out. I mentioned that I made a goal of doing 100 consecutive push-ups before baby was born! Idiot...who puts that kind of pressure on their self (or their unborn child) but me?!

Last night I finished my 3rd day of week 6...the final day of the prep. All I have left to do now is 100 push-ups. I'm ready. I've taken all the necessary steps and it's on me now. What will it take to succeed? Ugh. One thing I noticed right away when I'm doing a long set like that is I get extremely bored and agitated. I'm not even really tired and I want to give up because it's an annoying motion to keep going through. Hard to explain but my goal is to put that all aside, put it behind me so I can finish this little challenge. Maybe tonight I'll give it my first shot!? Seconds after I finished my 9 sets of over 245 push-ups, Sally looked at me, congratulated me then said... "Oh great, now you can finish and do your 100 tomorrow?!" I laughed.

So, maybe tonight then? One thing that I'm excited about and gives me confidence is that after a big night of push-ups I awoke to little or no pain. My muscles have no recollection of the stress put on them last night. I kind of wanted to be sore to prove that what I've been doing is not going unnoticed by my own body...hmmm. I'm over it.

Wish me luck...and if you are just starting this challenge...keep at it. It's flipping hard at times but you will be SO surprised at what your body is capable of. I remember on week 3 looking at week 6 and thinking, "oh hell no, there is no way!!"

I'm on the third week of Sit-ups and am about to start the squats! I'm excited:)

Good luck to the newbies...Cheri, Dennis, Chris and Natosha! Let me know how you guys are doing!! I'm gonna keep you honest right here on this little blog of mine:)

Congrats to Andrew!

My blog buddy from New Zealand, Andrew, just completed his first marathon! He masterfully recapped his experience on his blog "Andrew is getting fit"...I urge you to check it out!!!

In it, he quotes a poster that was put up near the end of the race...it hit a nice chord for me too. "It's not that I finished but that I had the courage to start."

Nice work Andrew!

10 to go

Today marks 10 days till the due date of our baby! As you can see by my lack of recent posts, I've got a lot going on!

Right now I've shifted to just maintaining as I sort these new things out in my life. I'm also still participating in the 100 push-ups as well as the 200 sit-ups challenge. Tonight I am on Day 3 of Week 5 for the 100 push-ups.

Look at the crazy amount I have to do tonight! (amount per set): 20, 20, 24, 24, 20, 20, 22 and a max set of at least 50! Added up that is at least 200 push-ups tonight. The kicker...I only get 45 seconds between each set...yikes! What I'm finding is it really pushes me mentally, almost as much as it does physically!

I'll keep pressing on and finish this and will let you know when I hit the 100 continuous push-up mark! My PR for continuous push-ups so far is 67.

I'm excited for baby to be here, in part because I can stop being anxious about what I think it's going to be like and move on to just being a father and learning my new role. I'm stoked for it!

A Taste of Summer

This last weekend we had shorts and t-shirt weather. Around here, as soon as you can walk outside without a coat on the BBQ is turned on. I had a bit of a wake up call this last weekend. I was reminded that even though I’ve lost lots of weight and have gotten better about what I eat and drink, I still can’t just do whatever it is I want. I went out to happy hour on Thursday, we went to Sally’s Dad’s birthday party on Friday and a BBQ at my sister’s on Saturday. Phew…three days in a row of eating out and drinking.

Since Sally has been pregnant it has been a lot easier to lay off the booze and eating out but when people around here can get outside the plans start building up. I had a blast at all three of these events but I came away so bloated and fat. I’m going to have to figure out a new way to approach these events because I know I will be at many, many more to come. I get wrapped up in the celebration. Lots of food and drinking. I over-consume and I’m fully aware that it’s happening. It’s a bit of a slap in the face because I really thought I’d broken all the bad habits. Apparently, though, I’ve got some more work to do.

Having this first taste of summer will hopefully prove an invaluable learning experience…I’ve bounced back, or rather, shrunk back down to where I started last week which is great but going forward I must learn to separate the drinking and eating from the true reason of celebration! I’m excited to go to our pool in Chelan and not feel like beached whale for once in my life…so why ruin it now with burgers, ribs, chicken, gin & tonics, beer after beer, soda, chips and all those other crazy slaws and sauces. Bring on the fruit and small plates. I want to taste summer as a skinny guy!!

Running (a fever)

Yet another exciting set back hit me over the weekend. I was cruising through the last few months watching everyone around me fall victim to a nasty sickness. Alas, my body finally gave in and said "let's get it over with"... it hit me pretty hard. Luckily, it seems, the last few years I've gotten a similar sickness I usually save up and then it hits me like a ton of bricks all at once, then I get over it and go on with life.

I'm thinking this is what happened this weekend. On Sunday I woke up and felt really cold. I kept feeling cold and watched my very pregnant wife open every window in the house because she was boiling. Hmmm? I decided after an hour of not warming up to take my temperature (because it's not every Spring day where you'll find me in a full sweat outfit with big wool socks on). I declothed and popped the thermometer in (my mouth) and got a reading of 102.1... ugh. What's worse is this thermometer has been consistently reading our normal temps under 98.6, so further deduction made me believe it would've actually been higher.

I hopped into bed in the fetal position and proceeded to be babied by my very pregnant wife, who is also sick (just not feverish). I felt like such a wuss... I suppose that's why women are the bearers of children not men! She left me in my fever-inflicted comatose state to head to the store so she could make me homemade chicken noodle soup (hell yeah). I was continually reminded to hydrate and was given proper dosages of Tylenol and theraflu throughout the day.

Sally helped pull me out of the sickness... and I love her for it! Today I'm feeling so much better even though I'm at work, but at least I can move on to feeling normal again. Hope you are all feeling well and have gotten over all the sicknesses for the season! They've been nasty!

Feel Good Post-Prego Stuff

Shifting gears here for a little bit…talking about a sensitive issue here. As we get closer to the baby's due date, Sally and I have talked about our plans for our post-baby workouts. We have all sorts of walks planned which will be great for us and the little one to get outside but she is very interested in getting back to pre-baby weight as soon as possible. In addition to our planned outings, Sally has heard about and is planning on buying a post-pregnancy workout video. There are many of them out there but the one that keeps coming up in her searches is the Tracy Anderson Post-Pregnancy Workout DVD. The problem is it's so popular that it's nowhere to be found. Do a search on Tracy Anderson in Google and you are bound to see how she is the personal trainer for Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Yesterday we did a photo shoot of a friend, her husband and their 1 year old daughter. The day before she had done a 3.5 mile walk for the March of Dimes. I thought to myself, what a great way to get back out there…great exercise for a great cause! It also got me to thinking about an 8k coming up that's a really popular one for this area.

Beat the Bridge is an 8k which raises money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund). 2 mile's and 20 minutes after the last wave leaves the start area, the University Draw Bridge goes up…the idea is to "Beat the Bridge". I've volunteered a few times for this race and have participated in it twice. It is a blast. I'm looking at my schedule but would love to run it again:) They also have a 4 mile Family walk and a Diaper Derby.

It's great to know there are events like this to get us out of the house (with baby) and doing our part. I will be following up with more post-pregnancy ideas when I come across them!
Have a great week!

Life Happens

Everything is lining itself up nicely for a wonderful afternoon jog today and tomorrow.

70+ degree weather. Check.
Physically able. Check.
Emotionally ready. Check.
Motivation on high. Check.
Time to run? Not going to happen. Not today. Not tomorrow. Ugh. Life Happens.

Take today for example: Get home at 4, pay bills, mail off client's pictures, clean up from a party at the house yesterday, edit 5 photo shoots worth of material (over 1000 images), post on the blog (not this one), eat dinner, call the guy that hit our car (again!), grocery shopping, refinish the changing table (yes! Still working on that!), rehang the shelf in the baby room, patch 6 holes in the wall, hang a new light, work in the yard and then it's time for bed. Yes, you're right…too much!

I've been contemplating the morning runs now. I'm out of time, I have no other good time to get out there and take care of business…I've always been an afternoon/evening runner. I've gotten out on the rare morning occasion but it was usually around 9:30 not 4:30/5 like I’m planning now. If I time it right I will be getting back home right about the time I normally roll out of bed. I'm out of ideas because life is coming at me full force these days.

I've written many times about prioritizing your life and making time for a jog or a workout but the 30 - 1 hour blocks are very hard to come by these days. I'd love it if any of you have any other ideas how I can free up some time?!

In the (blue) Shadows of the Great Olive 8

My cubicle is next to a floor to ceiling window on the 16th floor of a building in Downtown Seattle. There is a new building, the Olive 8, being built across the street (South East) of me. The building has these odd, blue glass plate accents all over it. As the sun was passing through one it cast an eerie blue blast of sun into my whole cubicle. It was such a weird feeling that I had to grab some other co-workers and show them! And...so far...that's about the most interesting thing that has happened to me today!

The weather forecast looks great... at least for the next few days...enjoy the weather!