This and That

Lot's going on the last few days to catch up on.

One Minute of Fame

When I was looking for a team to run with in the Baltimore Marathon Relay, I hooked up with a group from Alter Communications. Alter, among other things, publishes the Baltimore Jewish Times (JT), a weekly community newspaper. The leader of the team, Kim, is a writer for Alter.

Way back then, Kim asked if I would consider having a story written about me. Sure, why not.

Yesterday was publication day! Read the story on line here: The Weight is Off.

I pretty much kept this publication under wraps. Only a few people really knew about it. I was anxiously awaiting a call from my mother when either she read the article or one of her friends read it and called her. About 7:30, Deb called mom and finds out that she no longer gets the JT, but she had received a call from her friend Toby on her voice mail. Toby just said "nice article", but mom had no clue what about. Deb implored mom to go to Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy. A half hour later, mom is calling me from the parking lot, sounding a bit teary. Priceless.

Good Luck, Friends

A few blog friends are running some big races this weekend.

Katie is running in the Disney World Marathon, her first full marathon.

Pat is running the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon in Arizona. This will be Pat's first full marathon.

Pokey is doing the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

Best wishes, all. I'd wish you good luck, but I know you don't need it! You'll do great.

Anniversary and a Half

Today marks 18 months of my diet and exercise lifestyle change. It's been quite a year and a half. No statistics this time. (I'll save that for two years.)

To celebrate, I did a bit of an update to the blog. New background color. Also, added a "Favorite Posts" section, which are my favorites of the 150 or so that I've done (so far). Hope you like the changes.

Gym Rat

Finally, after much whining, considering, reviewing, unreviewing, yada, yada, we've joined a real gym. Actually, much more than that, we've joined Columbia Association (CA), which is a huge association that oversees the activities of nearby Columbia, Maryland. What is attractive about CA, is that our family membership includes their three full service gyms, (including one open 24/7, should I ever wake up at 2 am in desperate need of an elliptical run) and 23 outdoor summer pool, among other features. Lots of classes including 34 spin classes throughout the week at the various clubs!

So far, I've taken a Group Power class -- weights set to music -- and one spin class. The Group Power class was fun, but I'm still sore three days later. The spin classes are very popular and usually fill up. After a few tries, I was able to get in on one yesterday. About 20 minutes in I broke the bike! The left pedal broke right off. Have a nice 4" gash in my leg to show for it, too. That was fun!

That's all for now. Hope you have a great weekend.

L'Chaim!