I have an 8am appointment this morning, so I was out jogging while it was still dark today. Bright, fingernail moon. It was clearly morning by the time I finished today, but it felt kind of cool to go out while it was still dark.
Today was a red-letter day. For the first time since I started jogging at the beginning of July, I went the whole distance jogging; I didn't drop down into a walk the whole time. This has been one of my goals all along, but I'm kind of amazed that this was even possible for me. God made our bodies good, didn't he? Even in middle age.
3.0 miles - 35 min - 5.1 mph.
This seems to be turning into my workout blog, which I didn't want to happen. I have some ideas for other posts that I am working on, I promise. But I appreciate your encouragement, which is why I wanted to share this success with you.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
September 25, 2008
September 1, 2008
Monday morning
2.5 mi - 35 min - 4.3 mph
Saturday I jogged in the morning, then in the afternoon I worked on replacing the baseboards in the living room. When working on the baseboards I spend most of my time crawling around on the floor, for hours. I tend not to crawl around so much these days, so yesterday I was so sore that I resorted to taking ibuprofen (which I don't like to do).
This morning I was still sore, but I thought, what the heck, maybe jogging will loosen me up. However, after 1 3/4 miles, I could feel that something wasn't right. I just felt really bad when I was jogging. Since I have it as one of my present goals to not get injured, I ended up walking the rest of the way, hence the 35 minute time.
Saturday I jogged in the morning, then in the afternoon I worked on replacing the baseboards in the living room. When working on the baseboards I spend most of my time crawling around on the floor, for hours. I tend not to crawl around so much these days, so yesterday I was so sore that I resorted to taking ibuprofen (which I don't like to do).
This morning I was still sore, but I thought, what the heck, maybe jogging will loosen me up. However, after 1 3/4 miles, I could feel that something wasn't right. I just felt really bad when I was jogging. Since I have it as one of my present goals to not get injured, I ended up walking the rest of the way, hence the 35 minute time.
August 25, 2008
Post service commentary; Moon day
Yesterday was Sunday, and I had the privilege of singing on the worship team. Here are some of my experiences from the service. Note: there isn't a lot of spiritual commentary on the following. Hopefully this won't disillusion either of you two.
I was really dragging when practice started at 8:30am - tired, and needing coffee. I hadn't really warmed up my voice a lot, so I took it easy at the beginning of practice and, fortunately, never felt like I was straining. We started learning a gorgeous new song that just begs for harmony. I've been thinking about other music to write this entry, though, and I can't remember the song right now. After practice I got some coffee, which helped wake me up. Unfortunately I forgot that the coffee at church is really hot and it burned the tip of my tongue - not good for a singer. I had to cut it with water to cool it down.
After coffee I went to the prayer room before the meeting, and, seeing that it was empty, started to sing in tongues. I was startled thirty seconds later to see someone curled up behind one of the chairs in the room. They were either praying or sleeping, I couldn't tell. Whatever they were doing I didn't want to disturb them, so I went outside into the hot sun to continue singing. Singing in tongues helps get my mind and spirit straight. Leading worship is work and I don't know that I will be able to do the worship that I need to do personally during the corporate worship, so setting a baseline of honoring God myself before the meeting really helps me. If nothing else, I have said to Him what I need to say: He is Lord, and I honor Him.
Before worship, the worship team had a typically hurried pre-game prayer. I usually don't pray out loud during this prayer; I'm either not into it, have nothing original to add, or am too far into worship myself to want to speak (though I sometimes sing in tongues - that's a prayer, right?). But yesterday I prayed that we would do something real during the meeting - that we would forget about the week and lay ourselves down and acknowledge that God is our Master. That we would get some real work done. I got some amens to that, so I concluded that it resonated with other people.
We started with a song that we have done several times: "Give You Glory" by Jeremy Camp. This song was a little awkward to sing. See, when Paul pulls chord music off the web, he prints them as-is, which usually means small, thin fonts on the page. This makes it hard for us old guys to read, so I take them and gussy them up with larger, bolder fonts. Well, for this song, I ran out of vertical space, so I opted to move the second verse up beside the first verse. The lines of the verses are really short, so the verses fit fine with lots of white space in between. However, it is an odd place to find a second verse, so I had a few seconds of my eyes fumbling around on the page trying to find the words that I was supposed to be singing. Not so good.
We did a new song today - "In You", written by Joyce. We've been chewing on it in practice for a couple of months now and finally brought it out yesterday. I've had problems finding my part during the bridge (which I guess isn't technically a bridge but is more like a "Chorus 2", but what the heck), but yesterday during practice I finally found a counter-melody during the bridge that I was satisfied with. Yay for the Spirit of last minute things!
Usually, when we start a song I sing melody for the first verse. It's mostly to "hold something back" musically. When we do a new song I try to sing melody more because I figure people need to learn the melody. In addition, usually when Joyce sings I will let her have the first verse to herself, because she has such a pretty voice. However, I really wanted to harmonize with Joyce on this song, so I came in half-way through the first verse - but I couldn't find my harmony. I started on the melody and just couldn't seem to find the harmony line. I could have backed off from the mic and worked it out, but I opted to keep singing melody. It wasn't until the end of the chorus that I finally found my harmonic line. Very weird.
I eventually got it together, though, and did my part during the bridge. It felt like I should sing my part really strongly during the the last run through of the bridge, and I think it worked. I actually listened to a recording of this part yesterday afternoon, and had the odd experience of getting goosebumps at hearing my own singing. That has never happened before - like most people, I generally hate to hear recordings of my own voice.
I also remember a few instances of singing some basic patterns in between songs, including one with Joyce. I think it added and didn't distract. At one point someone started some free-form singing after a song, which I was glad to join. I don't think I sang in tongues at all during the meeting, which is kind of unusual for me.
Our last song was "Let the Weak Say", and I got to sing/hum/ooh a little bluesy descant to the keyboard intro while Neil was talking at the mic. I enjoyed that. Because of this descant I tend to think of this song as a more gentle-type song, though it is really very declarative. We had a little miscommunication with this song, though - one team member was adding in an extra measure after the end of the chorus before repeating, which was a little disconcerting.
Externally, worship appeared to go well - I heard some nice comments, and even apart from the free-form worship I mentioned earlier I heard some things that led me to believe that people in the congregation were getting into worship. Also, a cool guy that I know went up to the mic to deliver a word. I don't think he's ever been at the mic before.
Christian taught on James 5 and did his usual excellent job. After the meeting I wandered around a bit, trying to see which of the wonderful people there that I should spend my time with. I ended up hanging out with Rebekah, who was unable to escape because of a sleeping child ;-). We ended up praying together for someone who was looking for prophetic prayer, which was cool.
Then I went home and fell asleep.
2.5 - 35 - 4.3
Today I woke up to a sore throat and a sore back. I considered cutting it short today, but I got through the first lap OK and so I continued. No spider webs today, and I remembered to low-five the evil branch on both laps today. However, today was the first day of public school, and as I live near a school I got to pass all manner of young people that looked like they think they will never be 44 years old. I'm glad I started this six weeks ago, otherwise the prospect of having such an audience would have put me off. I guess I'm pretty vain.
I was really dragging when practice started at 8:30am - tired, and needing coffee. I hadn't really warmed up my voice a lot, so I took it easy at the beginning of practice and, fortunately, never felt like I was straining. We started learning a gorgeous new song that just begs for harmony. I've been thinking about other music to write this entry, though, and I can't remember the song right now. After practice I got some coffee, which helped wake me up. Unfortunately I forgot that the coffee at church is really hot and it burned the tip of my tongue - not good for a singer. I had to cut it with water to cool it down.
After coffee I went to the prayer room before the meeting, and, seeing that it was empty, started to sing in tongues. I was startled thirty seconds later to see someone curled up behind one of the chairs in the room. They were either praying or sleeping, I couldn't tell. Whatever they were doing I didn't want to disturb them, so I went outside into the hot sun to continue singing. Singing in tongues helps get my mind and spirit straight. Leading worship is work and I don't know that I will be able to do the worship that I need to do personally during the corporate worship, so setting a baseline of honoring God myself before the meeting really helps me. If nothing else, I have said to Him what I need to say: He is Lord, and I honor Him.
Before worship, the worship team had a typically hurried pre-game prayer. I usually don't pray out loud during this prayer; I'm either not into it, have nothing original to add, or am too far into worship myself to want to speak (though I sometimes sing in tongues - that's a prayer, right?). But yesterday I prayed that we would do something real during the meeting - that we would forget about the week and lay ourselves down and acknowledge that God is our Master. That we would get some real work done. I got some amens to that, so I concluded that it resonated with other people.
We started with a song that we have done several times: "Give You Glory" by Jeremy Camp. This song was a little awkward to sing. See, when Paul pulls chord music off the web, he prints them as-is, which usually means small, thin fonts on the page. This makes it hard for us old guys to read, so I take them and gussy them up with larger, bolder fonts. Well, for this song, I ran out of vertical space, so I opted to move the second verse up beside the first verse. The lines of the verses are really short, so the verses fit fine with lots of white space in between. However, it is an odd place to find a second verse, so I had a few seconds of my eyes fumbling around on the page trying to find the words that I was supposed to be singing. Not so good.
We did a new song today - "In You", written by Joyce. We've been chewing on it in practice for a couple of months now and finally brought it out yesterday. I've had problems finding my part during the bridge (which I guess isn't technically a bridge but is more like a "Chorus 2", but what the heck), but yesterday during practice I finally found a counter-melody during the bridge that I was satisfied with. Yay for the Spirit of last minute things!
Usually, when we start a song I sing melody for the first verse. It's mostly to "hold something back" musically. When we do a new song I try to sing melody more because I figure people need to learn the melody. In addition, usually when Joyce sings I will let her have the first verse to herself, because she has such a pretty voice. However, I really wanted to harmonize with Joyce on this song, so I came in half-way through the first verse - but I couldn't find my harmony. I started on the melody and just couldn't seem to find the harmony line. I could have backed off from the mic and worked it out, but I opted to keep singing melody. It wasn't until the end of the chorus that I finally found my harmonic line. Very weird.
I eventually got it together, though, and did my part during the bridge. It felt like I should sing my part really strongly during the the last run through of the bridge, and I think it worked. I actually listened to a recording of this part yesterday afternoon, and had the odd experience of getting goosebumps at hearing my own singing. That has never happened before - like most people, I generally hate to hear recordings of my own voice.
I also remember a few instances of singing some basic patterns in between songs, including one with Joyce. I think it added and didn't distract. At one point someone started some free-form singing after a song, which I was glad to join. I don't think I sang in tongues at all during the meeting, which is kind of unusual for me.
Our last song was "Let the Weak Say", and I got to sing/hum/ooh a little bluesy descant to the keyboard intro while Neil was talking at the mic. I enjoyed that. Because of this descant I tend to think of this song as a more gentle-type song, though it is really very declarative. We had a little miscommunication with this song, though - one team member was adding in an extra measure after the end of the chorus before repeating, which was a little disconcerting.
Externally, worship appeared to go well - I heard some nice comments, and even apart from the free-form worship I mentioned earlier I heard some things that led me to believe that people in the congregation were getting into worship. Also, a cool guy that I know went up to the mic to deliver a word. I don't think he's ever been at the mic before.
Christian taught on James 5 and did his usual excellent job. After the meeting I wandered around a bit, trying to see which of the wonderful people there that I should spend my time with. I ended up hanging out with Rebekah, who was unable to escape because of a sleeping child ;-). We ended up praying together for someone who was looking for prophetic prayer, which was cool.
Then I went home and fell asleep.
2.5 - 35 - 4.3
Today I woke up to a sore throat and a sore back. I considered cutting it short today, but I got through the first lap OK and so I continued. No spider webs today, and I remembered to low-five the evil branch on both laps today. However, today was the first day of public school, and as I live near a school I got to pass all manner of young people that looked like they think they will never be 44 years old. I'm glad I started this six weeks ago, otherwise the prospect of having such an audience would have put me off. I guess I'm pretty vain.
August 22, 2008
Jogging and not jogging
Today is pretty. 60 degrees at 6:30am, with bright sun. Heavy dew. Is this really August?
During this morning's run (which sounds so much better than "gasping walk-jog thing"), I was thinking about the first time in my life that I tried to run for exercise. My brother had a book called Aerobics, which I think was the classic 1968 book by Kenneth Cooper. My brother had the book because he was interested in running; he eventually ran track in high school. I had already been overweight for a while, so I was probably about 12. Anyway, I took the test in the book, and I started jogging per the book's instructions. I took my bike and, using the odometer, I mapped out a course that I thought was about a mile. Now, using the Gmaps Pedometer, I can tell that it was more like three-quarters of a mile. I remember that I got to the point where I was running that distance in six and a half minutes, which is pretty good.
Then came the day that I got scared off from jogging.
I don't remember the incident too well. I just remember that toward the end of the day's run a girl from my school ran out at me and yelled at me. I don't remember her name, or what she looked like (other than a lot of tall black hair). I don't remember what she yelled. I just have this vague memory of being startled by having her run at me, and of being ridiculed that I (fat I) was bothering to exercise. Like it was ridiculous to think that I could change from what I was - which to her seemed to be "just the fat kid."
I never went jogging after that. I guess, really, this is the first time I'm trying to jog since then. I was afraid of being ridiculed. I was ashamed of being fat, and believed that everyone despised me for being fat. Anything that brought that feeling out into the open was to be avoided at any cost, and so I gave up the one thing that I was doing that could reverse the situation.
How would things have been different if I had been able to ignore her? Or if I had someone encourage me to continue? Or if I had given my parents a truthful instead of a mumbled answer when they asked me why I stopped? Or if I had known the Lord well enough to get help from Him?
Father, I choose to forgive - this girl, those around me, myself for giving in and giving up.
2.5 - 30 - 5
Wow, am I glad that I started timing my workouts! What an improvement! This is 9% better than I did on Tuesday! This is encouraging. To celebrate, I took an extended cool down over to the park near the creek, which is a pretty place to stretch. Then I ended up cleaning up some of the trash left in the park. :(
During this morning's run (which sounds so much better than "gasping walk-jog thing"), I was thinking about the first time in my life that I tried to run for exercise. My brother had a book called Aerobics, which I think was the classic 1968 book by Kenneth Cooper. My brother had the book because he was interested in running; he eventually ran track in high school. I had already been overweight for a while, so I was probably about 12. Anyway, I took the test in the book, and I started jogging per the book's instructions. I took my bike and, using the odometer, I mapped out a course that I thought was about a mile. Now, using the Gmaps Pedometer, I can tell that it was more like three-quarters of a mile. I remember that I got to the point where I was running that distance in six and a half minutes, which is pretty good.
Then came the day that I got scared off from jogging.
I don't remember the incident too well. I just remember that toward the end of the day's run a girl from my school ran out at me and yelled at me. I don't remember her name, or what she looked like (other than a lot of tall black hair). I don't remember what she yelled. I just have this vague memory of being startled by having her run at me, and of being ridiculed that I (fat I) was bothering to exercise. Like it was ridiculous to think that I could change from what I was - which to her seemed to be "just the fat kid."
I never went jogging after that. I guess, really, this is the first time I'm trying to jog since then. I was afraid of being ridiculed. I was ashamed of being fat, and believed that everyone despised me for being fat. Anything that brought that feeling out into the open was to be avoided at any cost, and so I gave up the one thing that I was doing that could reverse the situation.
How would things have been different if I had been able to ignore her? Or if I had someone encourage me to continue? Or if I had given my parents a truthful instead of a mumbled answer when they asked me why I stopped? Or if I had known the Lord well enough to get help from Him?
Father, I choose to forgive - this girl, those around me, myself for giving in and giving up.
2.5 - 30 - 5
Wow, am I glad that I started timing my workouts! What an improvement! This is 9% better than I did on Tuesday! This is encouraging. To celebrate, I took an extended cool down over to the park near the creek, which is a pretty place to stretch. Then I ended up cleaning up some of the trash left in the park. :(
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