Potpourri...

I've got no specific focus this week, so here is a smattering of thoughts I've had recently:

Literally
I'm aware of (and agree with) a current movement regarding the word literally.  People are using it without regard to the actual definition of the word, and just throwing it in a sentence to emphasize a point.  We need to all make an effort not to say things like "That story was so funny, I literally pissed myself!!", unless you actually sealed the deal.

So, that said, my daughter could literally run circles around me while we jog.  We have both started doing the "Couch to 5K" program, and have completed week one.  She is a fit, healthy teenager, and while not a runner by any means, is kicking her Dad's ass six ways to Sunday.

The program has you alternate between walking and running, and when it is time for us to take off running, she zips out in front and has to fall back to stay with me.  It wouldn't be that hard for her to just do a lazy loop around me during the run time.

On our last run though, she made me feel so good.  We had just finished our last stint of running and were cooling down with a five minute walk.  We both took our earbuds out and she said "You're doing a great job, Dad.  I know you feel slow and everything, but I'm so proud of you."  She's such an old soul - god she is so fucking awesome.

Back in the day
In my last post I mentioned that "back in the day" when I would work out, that meant running one mile and calling it all good.  I've done a little mental tallying, and have come to the conclusion that it's been 19 years since I last did any jogging.  Holy shitballs, that's a long time ago, here's a Time magazine cover from that year:

Now, I realize that I've got no right to go all word police here, but since I weighed in about "literally", what the hell.  I recently heard someone refer to something that happened in 2005 as "back in the day".  I propose that if you use "back in the day" to refer to anything that happened in the 2000's, you don't get to say it anymore.  Let's make it a rule.

The numbers game
I'm over 100 days in completely on plan now.  I'm not sure why that number is significant to me, but it just feels like it is.  It's weird how we put these numbers out there as milestones for different things.  With my 2 lb loss this week, I'm poised to dip below 250 in the next week or two, which means I'll be closer to 200 than I am to 300.  I'm not sure why that is overly significant, but I'm looking forward to that milestone nonetheless.  Our brains must be hardwired for mathematics in some way.  There seem to be a lot of things we humans put numbers on to label accomplishments in our endeavors:  the four minute mile, batting .400, a golfer shooting a round of 59, bench pressing 300 lbs, getting through an entire round of "99 bottles of beer"...