Just Do It: run again fat man, run again.
Often I have written about my struggles with health and fitness. I try, and I fail to do what I need to do, to ensure that I’ll be around for quite a while yet. I’m at my heaviest now; I’ve never weighed more than I do right now. I’m a fat mofo.
A few years ago, I ran. A lot! I loved it, but I kept getting injured, usually problems with the lower tendons in my calves. That made it easy not to bother, to just give up, convincing myself that I’m too heavy to run, and that is the reason I kept getting injured. But, that was then, and this is now. Things have changed. As I’ve written in other posts, my life is in a tailspin. I need something to grab hold of, something to give me some purpose, over and above my existing commitments.
Soooo, I’ve decided to try to run again. This time I’m going to try to do it barefoot! Well, not literally, but instead using the barefoot running technique, in combination with Vivobarefoot running shoes. Having watched a tonne of videos and having read a bunch of blogs on the subject, I am confident that this way of running will be the way that I can be injury free and able to dramatically improve my fitness.
The diet part of the regime will remain as three meals per day, making sure that I do not eat after 8 p.m. I’ll aim for around 1500 calories per day, but that’s about all I’m going to worry about with that side of things.
So, I’ll order some shoes from the clearance section of the Vivo Barefoot website, and begin to make preparations for my running. It’s going to be a slow process, but I’m reasonably confident that I can be running for 30 minutes at a time, within six to eight weeks. Ultimately, I’d like to be doing a daily run of 45 minutes, with a long run on the weekend. That’s how I used to do it, and it was working well for me. Apart from the running, I’ll continue to make a point of walking whenever I can. I only really need to use the car maybe two or three times per week, so I should be able to see savings in the form of reduced fuel costs.
Don’t think that I’ll be running a marathon, or anything as ambitious as that. The return to running is more about my health, both mental and physical, than anything else. Running will be my escape hatch, part of my meditation practice and a time when I can just be myself.
So if you see a 300lb balding middle-aged man with a big beard, sweating his way along the shore, give him a smile and some encouragement to help him on his way, he will appreciate it I’m sure.
Until next time, adieu.
Z