Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

30 min stretching. Still tight but feels better.

Fresh Pond, felt decent. Followed by 30 min on the bike (what they call 9 miles). 

Hit the first weight target and well on way to the second.

It would be good to get more conscious of what I'm eating, even plan meals a bit in advance.   I know that since Fall semester my diet has been random, including - for the first time in five or six years - empty calories like m&ms and chocolate covered almonds, copious bad fats like Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches (yum!), and undisciplined consumption of rich foods like Greek 10% fat yogurt (totally awesome!) stinky cheeses (yes!) and too much gnocchi in cream sauce and linguine carbonara (wow!).

 Worse yet eating was irregular: periods of hunger when I was trying to get work done-- actually 'starvation' is probably more apt since I didn't really notice being hungry-- interspersed with rapid consumption of fats, sugars and processed starchy foods. On one late working evening I ate three 10 oz tubs of chocolate covered almonds.

Because of the ups and downs it is hard to peg my average daily intake intake, but given the amount of fat, sugar and processed food I don't think 3,500 calories is a crazy estimate.   So that means if I take it down to 2,500 or so, run 5 mi/45 min (600 calories burned over baseline) at least 5 days a week and do low impact cardio for 30 min (250 calories) at least 2 days a week I'll be at 7,000 + 3,500 = 3 pounds. Slightly more food or less exercise  hits the 2.5 lb weekly target exactly.

I hate counting calories but I'll try to record my food consumption and then maybe go back each week and make a back of the envelope calculation to see how it lines up with the weight loss.

Today's eating was ok but not well planned. Breakfast: 3 bowls of raisin bran with whole milk Lunch: None. 5 mi run and cardio workout in the pm, then Dinner: Lightly spiced white basmati rice and chicken breast sauteed in olive oil with sweet pepper sauce; ~1 qt vegetable juice; ~1 qt orange juice; 3 apples; romaine lettuce salad with oil and vinegar. 

Breakfast: 1/2 banana, 2/3 pint vegetable juice, 1 apple. Lunch: 3 egg omelette with feta, scallions and tomatoes in vegetable oil, (decaf) cappuccino. Afternoon: 1 pt vegetable juice. Post-run: 2 granola bars. Dinner: two pieces garlic nan, spicy mango lamb over basmati rice.

It was a good run today, around Fresh pond, up the hill to Huron Ave and back around. Still feeling heavy, but the muscles are starting to work together again. Good calf stretching afterwards in the shower, a bit of the ITB on Gal's couch. Probably could use some more of that action.  

Breakfast/lunch: 4 pieces dry rye toast, one and a half 2 egg omelette with ginger, scallions, refried beans (no lard), chevre, and avocado, 1 pint vegetable juice.

River 5 mi in the morning. Very pleasant morning, but it will be hot. I'm off the wagon and struggling with my routine, but seem to be keeping off what I've already lost. So while 152 is probably a lost cause by July 4, I have an outside shot at 155 or so. Hege has bought me a Stick, which will be nice on my ITB; it's sore.

Now walking back from a late dinner at Muqueca. The air has cooled, it feels just below skin temperature, with soft puffs of breeze that wash across the face like ripples at slack tide. The sun set gigantic and iridescent as we strolled around Inman Square in search of a restaurant with outdoor tables. No luck, but a sweet evening ramble. Now the moon has risen, the same size as the sun (that optical illusion which makes eclipses).

Gal asked me to write this. She said, "People read your blog, and they're expecting it," which isn't true; it means that she does. And that's enough for me. I feel a wave of love and affection. I want to taste with her the sweetness of the June air; the awkwardness of young women in short summer dresses that don't quite fit, walking together in threes; the forlorn headphones in someone's ear as he sits alone outside the falafel restaurant; the croak of a weatherbeaten couple on a bench in Central Square discussing their social security checks; the epicycles of the orange cat's tail, back and forth, back and forth in front of the gate at 117 Pleasant. I walk in the door and am home except for the Gal-shaped depression that's missing from the bed. She ought to be here, her absence feels like an error in an astronomical calculation. I can feel her gravitational pull all over this evening, and, as I drift off to sleep, there she is, it's only the luminescence that's missing, like a new moon that will be full again two weeks from now.

Found a good route out to the community garden. Run was easier than expected, kept a nice steady pace and my stride felt good. Am prepared to have to go through the oatmeal again at some point this week but it looks like I was able to maintain some level of fitness despite errant discipline. Air temp was already hottish and stagnant by 730.

Long beach run at La Push. There be whales. Happy birthday to me!

More beach running. It is incredibly beautiful. Played tag with the tide, which was coming in fast. Up and back twice on Olympic Beach Three.