Home again and time to get back into my routine.

Today (walk) - 6:10am; 5.3kms; 51.5 mins; temp 8c and rain/drizzle

I've been at a conference in downtown Toronto for the last couple of days. However, I still got my walking/running in. I was at a hotel on King Street so my route because west on King to Bathurst, south to Front, east to Bay (Tues extended to Yonge) north to King and west back to the hotel.

Monday (walk)  - 5:50am 4.7kms (not sure how accurate this was); 42.5 mins; temp 16c
Tuesday (run) - 6 am; 5.9kms; 42.5 mins.; temp 12c

I'm experimenting with adding running to my walking routine. On Thrusday, excluding warm-up and cool-down walks, I ran 1 minute & walked 4 minutes, and repeated these intervals for the full 5.3kms.

Today I changed to 30 seconds of run & 2 minutes of walk for the same 5.3kms. Both Runkeeper and my vivoactiveHR fitness tracker can coach me as to when to run versus walk. Also, with Runkeeper I can program in the warm-up and cool-down parts. Vivoactive HR seems more focussed on just the actual Run (run/walk) part so I guess, to be most accurate with it, I should just start and stop it for the Run part only.

I'm going to be away at a conference for the next couple of says. I might try out a treadmill at the hotel as I do not know what the area will be like for running. I'll try not to fall on my face as I've never used one before. Maybe I should swim instead.🤔

Today 6:15am - 5.3kms; 50.5mins.; 5 mins walk warm-up, 16 intervals of 30sec run/2mins walk; 5 mins walk cool-down; temp 18c, humid; overcast (had been raining)

My day off from running/walking but I walked anyway.

6am; 5.3kms; 52.5mins.; temp 12c; partly cloudy

The passing of a particular decade in terms of age never really meant that much to me. Instead, the significant birthdates were: 16 (driver's licence), 18 (vote), and 19 (legally consume alcohol). After that, they were not significant - turning 20, 30 , 40  or even 50 didn't seem that important.

That probably changed for the first time when I turned 55. I went and got my motorcycle licence. I hadn't ridden since I was a kid. And, back then it was just a mini-bike.

The approach of 60 seemed to hit me different - and, I'm not sure why.

I mentioned "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D. in an earlier post. The book is almost 10 years old now. I don't remember hearing about it back then. Or, even if I had, it probably would not have made any difference. Today, however, I think it is a great book. Chris' writing is both entertaining and inspirational.

So, here I am - a 60 year old, 5'4", 172lb (and getting lighter) white male trying to reset myself, physically and mentally, for the next 1/3 of my life.

Today was a walk day - 5.3kms; 53mins., temp 12c, clear sky.

NEW BLOG NAME - NEW LOOK - I thought, since I've been doing this consistently for a month now, that I would try to learn more about how this Blogger thing works, and make things a bit more relevant - and cheerful!

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Yesterday I talked about my weight. I think I should emphasize how big a deal this is for me.

I do not remember my weight in high school. I do remember being teased in elementary school about my weight. However, as puberty set in, I became much slimmer. I believe at one time I was wearing pants with a 28" waist. I do however remember that early on in our marriage there was a couple that my wife and I used to hang out with, The ladies were getting concerned that their guys were gaining weight. So, we weighed ourselves. I believe I weighed about 165lbs at the time. That would have been over 3 decades ago - and, I was never that light again!

It would appear that I basically gained 20 lbs with the birth of our first child. Two more kids, and 40 more pounds, plus a few more for good measure, and now you can see how I eventually maxxed-out at 210lbs. (I gained with each child - no doubt sympathetic weight gain so my wife wouldn't feel so bad while pregnant. After each child was born, she lost the extra weight - I didn't!)

So, having recently clocked-in at 172lbs means I haven't been down to this weight in decades. It really is exhilarating- if that's the right word for it. And, I still have a ways to go.

Today was a run day - my intention was to get in at least 8 "run" segments so I went my 5.3km route; total time, including 5 minutes each for warm-up walk and cool-down walk was 47.5mins.; I had 9 x 1 minute run segments with 4 minute walks in between; temp 16c; clear. Some of the run bits were a bit of a challenge, but it seemed to get easier(?) the further along I got.

Part of trying to "get into shape", now that I am 60, is losing weight. I'm a short male - 5'4"/165cm. At one time, probably around 10 years ago, I weighed 210lbs/95.5kg. However, more recently (last couple of years) I have been around 190lbs/86kg. And, most recently (within the past 6 months) I was about 180lbs/81kg but frequently bounced up to around 185lbs/84kg.

I made a pledge to my youngest daughter (the giver of the Jawbone UP MOVE) that I would lose about 8 lbs by my birthday - when it was still 7 weeks away. That should have been relatively simple. Just starve myself (I was hoping to get down to 170lbs/77kg). Well, I failed. My biggest problem is snacking at night in front of the television. While we haven't had cable TV in years, I do have a selection of DVDs. And, of course, there's always Netflix.

Also, I have recently discovered that, while I do not have Celiac disease, I do appear to have a sensitivity to gluten. Eliminating gluten from my diet has contributed to an overall improvement in my general level of health. Also, since gluten is off my list, grocery shopping has changed and I am no longer tempted to buy snacks that, while tasty, are not necessary and definitely not a good idea. The only problem is potato chips are gluten-free! ... I'm working on it!

So, I got down to 173lbs/78.5kg by my birthday. Today, I am 172lbs.78kg. And, while I'm not to an ideal weight, I am no longer obese based on my BMI - and, my clothes don't fit properly anymore!

Today was a walk day - 6.1kms; 59.5mins.; temp 13c; slight breeze