A Change of Scenery

I started at the Chastain Park boot camp location last week. What a difference from my previous location at West Midtown for the past 11 months! The terrain at Chastain is very hilly, whereas the West Midtown location was very flat. To give you an idea, I ran a 7:33 mile on the last day at the West Midtown location. It took me 8:20 to run a mile the first day at the Chastain Park location. Granted I had a pretty wild Labor Day weekend in between those two mile runs, but I could definitely tell a difference when I was running up and down the many hills. Over the last couple of weeks, I'm slowly getting used to the large hills.

It's been a nice transition to the new boot camp location. I've enjoyed the change of scenery as well as getting to know some of my new boot campers and instructors. Although I'm one of the new campers, I already feel very comfortable with the group. This has been the second biggest issue that I have faced at the new boot camp location...other than the hilly terrain. After being with the same instructors and many of the same campers for almost a year, the first couple of days didn't feel right. I guess I was so entrenched in the everyday routine of the West Midtown location, that I didn't realize how big of a change I would face in changing to Chastain Park. One thing I have enjoyed is the larger group at the Chastain Park location. It's been interesting to see where I stand with the campers at my new location. Plus, it's given me an additional push to work harder with my new boot camp group.

I've hit somewhat of a plateau in my weight loss. I'm still hovering around a weight of 250 lbs. Although I'm down about 50 lbs. since I first started boot camp last October, I still want to continue to lose weight and get closer to my target weight of 200 lbs. I must admit that I've slacked off on my diet. I'm still watching what I eat, but not as strict as I used to. I've been slipping in a slice of pizza or a cheeseburger and fries every now and then lately. I'm planning to get back on a good diet starting next week when I return from a business trip. Hopefully, the strict diet and suggested meal plans will allow me to break through this plateau and continue to lose weight. It's going to be a tough journey, but I've made up my mind that I'm going to do it.

August was the first month of this year that I didn't run a race. I was out of town every weekend and just didn't have time to squeeze a race in one Saturday. I am signed up to run a race next weekend. It's a 5K sponsored by the St. Marten's Episcopal School on Ashford Dunwoody road in Brookhaven. I'm still looking to continue my streak of breaking my previous 5K race time with this one. It'll be tough, considering my last 5K was a totally flat course, but I'm going to strive for it. You can find information about the race on Active.com. Sign up and come out and join me!

I'll continue to keep you posted on my weight loss journey. Sorry for not keeping you more up to date over the last month. I won't let it happen again.