Getting back on track

Over the last several weeks, I have been in a bit of a slump as far as my weight loss journey.

It happens to a lot of people and I'm sure it will happen to me again.

To get out of my slump, I decided to participate in the Nevada Rotary's "Run Amuck" 5K on May 7. That 5K was the first time that I had run in about three weeks, which proved to be a bad idea. I learned a lot about myself during that run. I went into it with two goals -- run the whole thing and get a better time than my last 5K. After it was all over, only one goal was achieved. I managed to finish about a minute faster than my first go-around. The first 5K I participated in was a road course, however, this last one was a true cross-country course, not to mention it rained early that morning. The ground was soft and twisted ankles were almost expected.

I was feeling pretty down on myself for having to walk a portion of the race when a friend of mine, who is training for a triathlon, told me to cheer up because her time is usually about two minutes slower on a cross-country course than a road course. That meant a lot to me and it almost made the burning in my legs go away for a few moments.

For about an entire week after the race, I experienced a level of soreness in my legs that I had never felt before.

It was at that point that I decided I would never let myself go into a 5K without running beforehand. By the time somewhat normal feeling had returned to my legs, I realized that I had not worked out since the race and I quickly changed that.

My wife really wanted an elliptical, so we saved up some money and bought one a couple months ago -- it was enough of a workout putting the thing together. The machine had been sitting in our living room just taking up space for the past month or more, so I decided it was time to put that baby to work and I got on and got to work.

So far this week I have increased my level of activity significantly from the last couple weeks.

I've gone for another jog and worked on the elliptical a few times.

In addition, I've mowed my lawn and my wife's grandmother's lawn, with a push mower.

What it all boils down to for this week is that lulls in drive and motivation are going to happen. If you really want to lose the weight and get healthy, you need to find a way to work through it. It is in those moments that you learn the most about yourself. You might be surprised what you see.