It’s taken some time, especially with the cool and wet weather we’ve been having here in Houston, but now that Spring is starting to take hold, I’m able to get back into my routine of running at least three times a week. This is a big deal for me, as it’s great for my fitness, great for my mental well-being, and a necessity for my National Guard service.

I have a physical fitness test coming up in May, and I want to be ready for it. My last two-mile run time was 15:53, and I’d like to beat it. For right now, I come very close, but I’m not faster. I have two months to get there.

I pushed myself pretty hard on Tuesday, and my run time/pace really showed: first mile was an 8:03/mile, second mile was 8:33/mile, and the third and final mile was a 9:03/mile pace. While I’m working to bring the third mile pace to be more in line with the first, it’s the first two miles that I’m most concerned with as they relate to my National Guard APFT. I’m pretty pleased with my pace so far, and with the fact that I was able to push hard and not feel like dying.

Here’s something crazy about my run: for all that effort, I only burned about 365 calories. Think about that when you consider exercising away a bad diet. It just can’t/won’t happen. I’ve been running for a year and a half, and for me to exercise away a bad diet, I’d have to run for hours. That’s not even considering the anti-nutrients and harmful effects of things like grains, sugar, and legumes.

I’m debating on whether I will continue with my running blog. It gets very little traffic, and by now, I think the only person who cares about my running progress is me, so I can just use either Garmin’s app or Strava to keep track of/blog about my running. But I digress.

If you’re getting healthy, think about doing something about fitness. I avoided it for a year and while I’m glad I did to avoid injury when I was at my heaviest, I’m glad I do it now. I do feel so much better afterward.