I cheated and looked ahead. Tomorrow is indulgence day. I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I haven’t been the paradigm of diet perfection the past few weeks. This was so unlike PCP-me who remained vigilant and faithful throughout the entire program. KFB-me seems to be a cheater. Oh, it’s never anything big or horrendous—just little items like a cookie here or a bit of extra carb there.

Because of those slip-ups, I don’t feel I deserve to have an indulgence day. That’s suppose to be a treat for being good, not for slackers like me. But I know that I’m going to allow myself to indulge anyway. That’s pretty sad.

This past weekend is still affecting me. Although time seems to have returned to a normal pace, my stamina hasn’t. I was doing alright during the jump rope and Strength section of the workout sheet, and I was still going strong at the beginning of the Agility section—that is, until I encountered the Kicks. My legs started getting more and more tired, I began sweating up a storm, and my form eventually went to hell. I think I was pretty much dead by that point. Thankfully I only had the Flexibility exercises to go. Hopefully the energy levels will return tomorrow.

Who knew the two late nights and a pretty killer walk over the past three days would whup my ass today? At work, I was dragging like anything and the clock advanced ever so slowly. Then I got home an did the exercises—still dragging and time was moving at a snail’s pace. Dinner and soon I’m going to bed. How does a day fly by and creep at the same time?!? Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Even though the past couple of nights were late ones (there I go again, staying up way past my bedtime), I managed to wake up around 7am to begin my very busy day. Knowing that I was going to be on the go most of the day, I decided to start out the morning with the exercises.

Breakfast was the same thing I pretty much have everyday: raw vegetables, a hard-boiled egg, an organic multi-grain cereal (extra fiber!), a slice of homemade multi-grain bread, and milk. (Yeah, I’m pretty boring on the meal front.) Then it was time to get ready and leave the house for the day.

First stop: the 18th Annual 5K Walk/10K Run for AIDS Community Resources. I have proudly participated in this event for the past four years. I count myself lucky that I haven’t lost any close friends to this disease, which makes it all the more important that I do something to help those who haven’t been as lucky.

The drive to the event was interesting to say the least. The weather was being very temperamental as it would change from sprinkling to torrential downpour back to sprinkling in a matter of minutes. Well, the AIDS Walk occurs rain or shine, so I made sure I had my umbrella with me.

Amazingly, the weather gave us a brief respite. The organizers had everyone line up—runners in front, walkers behind them. With the cry of “Ready, Set, Go” we were off!

I’ve learned from past experience that the best place to be is right behind the runners. I have a pretty quick stride and there’s nothing worse than getting stuck behind people who like to saunter and refuse to move out of the way no matter how much you try to excuse yourself. When you’re behind the runners, they take off like a shot which leaves a huge open space in front of you and all the saunterers are behind you.

With my iPod playing all of my quick-beat dance tunes, I was on the move. I quickly left the pack of walkers far behind me and was only a few steps behind some of the slowest runners I have ever seen. That didn’t last very long as they started slowing down while I continued my steady pace, eventually passing them and then leaving them in my wake.

As I rounded the last bend of the trail, one of the event organizers stood before me at the fork and asked me, “Are you a runner or walker?” (At this point the walkers went one direction to finish their 5K walk, while the runners when the other way to do their remaining 5K.)

“Walker,” I responded.

The organizer grabbed his megaphone and announced to the people at the finish line, “First walker coming through!” A big smile crossed my face at hearing that announcement. I was going to be the first walker to cross the finish line!

As I walked under the balloon archway set-up for the walkers, I turned and looked at the finish line for the runners. The first runner was crossing his finish line at the same time I was crossing mine. The timer over the runner’s finish line read “36:57″.

Although other runners came in shortly after the first one, it was a good ten or so minutes before the next walkers crossed under the balloon arch. The last walker finally crossed the line somewhere about an hour and fifteen minutes after we had started.

It’s still hard to believe that I did a 5K walk in 36 minutes! Of course, I think all of the warming up and stretching from the morning’s exercises helped immensely with the stamina and stride that my legs were producing. I was totally pumped by that achievement!

Unfortunately, the organizers don’t recognize this type of accomplishment from walkers, just runners. They held a ceremony to give out awards to the first runner in, oldest runner, youngest runner, first and second runners in different age groups, most participants, most money raised, and so on. Nothing for the first walker in. (I totally understand why they don’t. It’s very hard to judge walkers as someone could easily cheat and run most of the route and walk only at the end. It’s difficult to do that for a runner.)

However, some of my teammates didn’t like the perceive snub that I received for the amazing feat I had just performed. So they took it upon themselves to recognize me for my accomplishment.

I think I have found a new exercise that will replace the love/hate relationship I had with the Plank. “I have given a name to my pain, and it is Horse!”

The Horse Stance wasn’t that bad in the beginning, but at a hold of 40 seconds it is a killer. Which probably means that I’m doing it correctly.

The first set was no problem. The second set was a little harder. Set three found me starting to quiver during the last few seconds. The last set started my legs shaking and almost giving out. Pretty much the same experience I had way back when the Plank was introduced into the routine.

Someday we might be on speaking terms, Horse, but not today. Definitely not today.

At the time it sounded like a good idea. Well, actually it didn’t. It was more of an okay idea which I decided to go along with. Little did I realize that by the end of the night it would prove to be a really horrible idea.

After the meeting last night, a couple of our friends decided that they wanted to go out and grab some dinner. I hadn’t planned on dining out and I really didn’t want to stay up late, but my partner wanted to socialize with them and they promised it would be an early evening, so I acquiesced and a decision was made about where we were going to eat.

Now Friendly’s really doesn’t have the best menu in the world, but that was where they wanted to eat. I hadn’t been in that restaurant in quite some time, but I figured I could probably find something vegetarian and relatively healthy to munch on. So off we went to the nearby location.

Much to my surprise (not really), they offer little options for a vegetarian. Every salad is covered in meat, they don’t offer any veggie burger alternates, and about the only thing that came close to being somewhat vegetarian just so happened to be deep-fried. There wasn’t even any fruit offered! How sad is that?

Well, needless to say, I sat there while every ate their meals, sipping my tall glass of water. One friend apologetically offered some of their onion rings and I knew I would feel guilty if I refused them, so I took a couple and ate them.

After the dinner was finished, they all decided to get ice cream sundaes. Well, by that time I was feeling a little peckish, so I placed my order for some too. I knew it wasn’t going to be the greatest stuff, but it was at least something. The desserts arrived and were devoured in short order.

About 15 minutes later my stomach felt like someone had just kicked it. The most unpleasant cramps started settling in too. I was a little surprised to experience it, because I hadn’t felt that way for the longest time! But I knew what it was and what was going to happen.

I quickly urged my partner to pay the bill and we dashed out the door and flew home, all-the-while my stomach making the most horrific sounds and convulsing. We pulled into the driveway, I leaped from the car, into the house, and rushed into the bathroom—which is where I remained for the next half-hour or so.

One would think that would be the end of the story. Ha-ha! My body had other ideas.

Although things were mostly quiet throughout the night, when I got up this morning my stomach once again proceeded with more cramping and I had to spend a bit more time in the bathroom. This has actually gone on throughout a good part of the day. I have eaten very little in the way of any kind of food—diet or otherwise. The stomach wouldn’t handle it.

It finally started to quiet down this evening. The weird noises have stopped, and I haven’t had to spend a lot of time on the toilet. I’ve actually started feeling hungry now, so I’ll get something to eat. Everything should return to normal in a little bit.

I will say this—that is the last time I’m going to Friendly’s for quite a while. This whole experience made me remember why I hadn’t eaten there in a long time—it’s because their food has made my stomach do this before. Much of this occurred before I started living a healthy lifestyle and had been written off as quirks with my body. Now I know it’s just bad food. I am sure this experience will be firmly burned into my memory, and that will definitely remind me I’m never walking into that place again.

I am skipping out on KFB today—no workout whatsoever. This was not the original plan I had this morning. Unfortunately there were a number of circumstances that went way beyond my control.

As some of you read a couple days ago, I had a deadline to finish a newsletter. Today was the actual printing date. I knew there would be very little time for me to race to the printer, pick up the copies, run home, assemble it, have dinner, and fly to the meeting. So it seemed that KFB for today would be a bust.

Then I had this brilliant idea! My partner had the day off! I quickly called him this morning, told him to pick up the newsletter for the meeting tonight. In my mind, it all worked out—the newsletter would be finished which would leave me just enough time to workout, grab a little dinner, and then go to the meeting.

When I arrived home, I discovered that all plans had been thrown out the window. First thing I discovered was that the newsletter pages were spread out all over the table. That meant my partner didn’t assemble it. Of course, I realized that I never specifically told him to put it together—I just inferred it.

The second thing I noticed was that all of the pages were wet. When asked, he told me that he had walked to the local copy store to pick up the printed pages. Once he had paid for them, he put them into his backpack and walked home. Unfortunately he also had his water bottle in the backpack, and it leaked.

Seeing that everything was ruined, it was an emergency dash to go back to the printer, have the whole thing reprinted, fly home to assemble, quickly grab something out of the refrigerator, and—as soon as I finish writing this—zoom to the meeting.

So no KFB today. That sucks.

The message today indicates that a change of footwear is suggested. The big clunky sneakers are good for jumprope, but hinders the other movements. A light shoe is recommended, especially one with a flat sole, or we can go barefoot (depending on the ground/floor condition). What I’d really love to get is a pair of Robin’s toe-boots!

It’s amazing how much shoes really affect the stances! With the big clunky sneakers, I had no problem balancing on one foot. It almost felt like I was anchored to the floor.

I have a pair of deck shoes that I decided to try out. They are lightweight and have flat bottoms—and they launch like anything when you kick! Luckily all breakables and cats were not in the room when that occurred!

Then I went barefoot. I couldn’t believe how wobbly I was! It’s just so weird that I felt more stable in the big clunky sneakers than I was barefoot. I’m sure that will change over time as I get use to little to nothing on my feet when practicing.

I have spent much time with family the past couple of days. We were with my partner’s family yesterday, and then I saw my family today. Amazingly enough, there was one theme that seemed to resonate with both groups that I got to hear repeatedly over the two days: “You’ve lost a lot of weight!” or “You look so skinny!” which almost always culminated to a “You’re looking real good!” Nothing boosts the ego more than a few simple statements like that!

My partner’s parents are getting up there in age. His father just got out of the hospital a few days ago after a nasty bout of pneumonia. They needed help digging up some dead bushes and planting new ones, so we went over there to assist because neither parent really has the capability any more to do manual labor like that anymore. Strangely enough, neither is my partner. He’s tall and skinny with no muscle strength whatsoever. So it was up to me to dig up the bushes.

Although this wasn’t something beyond my capabilities before PCP and KFB, as I had much experience pulling stumps out of our backyard for a number of years, this felt a whole lot different. I could feel a strength that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before as I ripped those bushes out of the ground. Energy was at a premium and it just felt totally amazing! Will the wonders never cease?!?

And although I had a real late night, the energy lasted through a long drive today, when I visited my own family at the campground where my brother has a seasonal pass. I brought my workout sheet and jumprope with me and proceeded to show them what exercise program I was on now. Needless to say, I think they were impressed. (Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete all the sets and reps, as I did get bombarded with questions as to what I was doing and how I was doing it. On the other hand, I was stuck in some positions for far longer than a few breaths!)

It was actually a pretty restful day. I had the opportunity to sit and socialize with my family, which I don’t often get to do because I live far away from them. There was nothing that needed my attention, no impending deadlines, no nothing. Just chillin’ with everyone. Just being there in the moment with them and not worrying about anything. Sometimes, I think that’s almost as good as sitting and meditating.

And now I’m home, tucking another long drive and late night under my belt. I really need to quit this whole staying up late thing.

I will say that I’m lovin’ the KFB exercise schedule, mainly because it mimics my old PCP schedule—Friday is the “end of the week” and therefore the easy workout day. This is perfect for me because Friday is the day that me and my friends gather for a potluck dinner and a movie of some sort (usually a bad one). These “easy workout days” gives me enough time to leave work, get home, exercise, make something fresh and simple, and meet everyone by 7pm.

This is a great time of year to begin a program like KFB. All the little farmer’s markets are starting to pop-up like daisies in a field. It’s the one thing I miss in the wintertime.

Now, I’m not totally opposed to the big supermarket chains as they have their own niche to fill, but there’s just something disconcerting about overpriced food! I don’t like how they seem to take advantage of everyone. The farmers suffer because the supermarkets don’t pay them enough to grow the food, the town suffers because the supermarkets usually don’t support local farmers, the environment suffers because the food has to be transported large distances, and the consumer suffers because they jack up the price to outrageous levels.

But then comes summer and the playing field starts becoming level again.

On Saturday, the huge Regional Market is open for business. That’s the first day of the week I buy my vegetables. (Amazing how my food buying has synced up to our diets and exercise “week”.) The Regional Market is doing quite well this year as they have had to expand to allow more farmers to sell their produce.

Next will be Tuesdays, as that is when the Downtown Market opens. (Only a week to go before it begins!) It’s quite a bit smaller than the Regional Market, but you can still get a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. As an extra bonus, it is close to where I work. A quick ten-minute walk gets me to the market, another ten minutes to do two circuits around it (one to view the produce, the second to buy) and then a final ten minute walk back to work with my purchases. Exercise and food! Woo-hoo!

Then there is the CSA that we belong to. “CSA” stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The basic idea behind it is that we pay a local farmer a certain amount of money in March with which he buys everything he needs for that season’s crops. Around June we go to a nearby pick-up point weekly to get our share of the produce that he has grown. It’s a little hard to plan meals around this type of program, but I will say that it’s fun to get a box of food that you have no idea what’s in there until you open it up. I guess you might call it “Vegetarian Christmas”.

That’s the beauty of summer—fresh food for three to four months. If I work it just right, I will not have to take a step into a big chain supermarket for much of this time. What a way to “stick it to da man”!