Bachman Lake Trail.

Once again, my friend Monica joined me at Bachman. And, once again, my friend Monica kicked my butt. At about the 1.85-mile mark, she took off and beat me to the finish by a good 6 or 7 minutes, as far as I can tell. [Insert cartoon of me pulling my hair out.]

This problem with my knee is getting better but, Lordy mercy! It has really set me back on my heels. Three days off and my conditioning is in the toilet. Seriously! This is a mystery to me how the body — okay, MY body — is like memory foam. And not in a good way.

It’s the same way with my weight; it’s bouncing back up. Was 168. Now 171. I’m beginning to think the one thing that is keeping me from my goal of a 39 minute 5K is the extra 30 pounds I’m carrying. This morning, I picked up one of the barbells I use for curls. 35 pounds. I thought, ‘Damn! I need to lose almost this much weight by Thanksgiving!’ I can’t imagine running 3+ miles carrying an extra 30-35 pounds. But I’m doing it EVERY DAY. More motivation to get rid of this weight.

Perhaps, it’s all the character I’ve been building the past 7 weeks that is so heavy. From now on, I’m making a plan: No more discipline, no more perseverance, no more goals. It’s weighing me down! I quit all that stuff and surely the weight will fall off. Right? Right?!?

Maybe I just need to slog through the difficulties and quit complaining. Think I’ll do that instead.