Motivation can be a bitch some times when it comes to the exercise and dieting stuff. I’m not miserable by any means and I kind of enjoy all the exercise in general. Sometimes? Sometimes you just have one of those mornings when you wake up and you just don’t want to do it that day. Everybody does it, so I’m not really ashamed of it. So far, I’ve been successful on pushing through those moments and making myself do it regardless.

At times, the fix for these moments is as simple as looking where I’m at now and where I want to be and realizing that this guy isn’t going to lose itself. Other times, it’s just a matter of rote habit that makes me get up there and ride that bike at 6am. Sometimes, it helps just to look at the whole picture and see where I’ve been to get a feel on just how far I’ve come. Thankfully, since I log all my exercise in Fitocracy, these numbers are pretty easy to find.

This morning, I had no problem getting on the bike, but I slept for crap the night before so I was feeling kind of mopey about it all before heading off to work. (No worries, all is still well. I’m down 35lbs as of this morning’s weigh in!) With it being Monday and all, I figured it would be a good idea to check in on my total mileage on this little adventure to perk me up a bit.

Going through my logs, I can now verify that I started this whole journey on February of this year. February 8th to be exact. We had a crazy warm end to the winter with temps in the 80′s in mid March, so I was able to get out more then as well. Last Fall, I bought an exercise bike off of a neighbor for a mere $5 and getting it out of her house, so that’s been my weapon of choice this time around.

For the exercise bike, as of today I’ve covered 335.7 Miles! That one was pretty surprising to me, I honestly didn’t think it was quite *that* much! I also know from looking at the stats that I’ve gone from doing 5.2 miles in 25 minutes on the bike to 7.2 miles in 25 minutes on the bike every morning. This stat I knew was improved, but I wasn’t quite aware that it was 2 miles worth of improvement!

For the walking, I’ve covered 88.5 miles! This has all been outdoors as I don’t have access to a treadmill. (Yet.) I know that I’ve blown this figure out of the water in past years/bouts with weight loss as walking was my weapon of choice. This time around, I was getting a lot of aches and soreness in my hips and thighs, most likely due to my weight, but this is improving. I kind of prefer the bike though, because as I said last week….I get to watch TV! That’s kind of fun. I was walking at lunch every day here at work through February, March and April, but it’s getting too warm and nobody wants to sit next to me after I’ve been sweating for an hour.

So, this is my mental pick me up for the week, realizing just how far I’ve traversed since the beginning of February. While this may sound like bragging, it’s not so much. Yes, I am damn proud of the improvements I’ve made and such. But, sometimes everybody is going to need a motivational boost to keep going. If your’e taking a similar journey as myself, this is just sharing one method of how I keep myself pumped up to keep fighting the good fight.

Note: For anybody that’s wondering, I started weight training two weeks ago to go along with all this cardio. It’s fun, it hurts like a mofo. But, I’m doing it. I can detail that in another post if anybody’s interested.

“Day late and a dollar short.” That phrase fits me well in so many facets of life. What can I say, I like to move at my own pace. Thankfully, this time around the things I’m behind the curve on aren’t anything too important. (Not like that time I tried to grow long hair after the bald spot was into its fourth year of spreading.) Like audio books. Audio books have been around forever! I haven’t really bothered with them before. Now that I’m hiking upwards of twenty miles a week, I’ve grown attached to my headphones and mp3 player as noise helps the time go by fast. Lose yourself in the music and before you know it, you’ve covered a mile!

Of course, the music works great to while away those foot logged hours. As they say though, variety is the spice of life! I’m as fond of reading as I am music, but I’m not very coordinated. My bulky personage stumbling about the neighborhood with my nose stuck between the covers of a book is not a good site to see. Somebody’s going to get hurt. Most likely somebody driving by as I stumble blindly into traffic as reading with bated breath to see what Sparkle Vamp and Pouty Teen are going to do about their ill fated love affair! Nobody wants to see somebody die from a book like that.

Enter the audio book! Hours upon hours of somebody reading a book to me! I like being read to. It’s been a long time since my mommy read to me, I missed it. I also like vampires, hunters, dead presidents and more, so snatching up a copy of Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer” seemed like a natural decision. After five CD’s worth of storytelling and about thirty miles, I can safely tell you that it was a great fit!

In 2009 Seth Grahame-Smith pretty much single handedly gave birth to a new literature genre with his mix-up (mash-up?) of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and “Night of the Living Dead”. People were wowed. They sat up and took notice. Stuffy old English class nightmares mixed with zombies! WOOOO ZOMBIES! …excuse me.
Perhaps it was the overwhelming culture love fest of the undead, but the new form of storytelling was a hit. It spawned other similar books such as “Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters” and more. Grahame-Smith wasn’t content with stirring up trouble in existing fiction though. Oh no. Next he set his sights on U.S. History as he gave birth to “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and fun was had by all. I can say that in all honesty despite only being half way through the audio book; the book is a blast!

We all know the stories about Honest Abe. We all know he was a pretty stellar human, president, and man in general. While I’m no historian, Grahame-Smith goes to great lengths to give us a healthy dose of the real Abe Lincoln in the passages of his gory and action packed fictionalization of our 16th president. Sure, the vampires are made up and I kind of doubt that Abe and Edgar Allen Poe were drinking buddies in real life. He was an Illinois lawyer and senator. His mother did die of disease in the backwoods of Indiana. We weave in and out of the true history of Abraham Lincoln with some good old fashioned vampire slaying mixed in for good measure! That’s what makes this book a blast.

When it comes to the undead and their disposal, Grahame-Smith spares no expense. The scenes of Honest Abe laying waste to a group of six vampires one by one as he and his friend lure them into the house one by one is spelled out in gruesome detail. His encounters are many, the blood spilled by the bucketful, and seldom does the story grow boring. History buffs will get their enjoyment two fold as they work out the real details from the fictional but blood and guts fans will find plenty here to like. In fact, if I had once complaint, it would be that the author could spend even more time detailing some of the fights. At times the events feel as if they pass too quickly and then we jump five years into the future. Where we sometimes would like to languish over some slaying and adventuring, we’re ushered on a bit too soon onto the next stage in the story.

My favorite moments of “Abraham Lincoln” come in the interactions between Abe and the fabricated folks and the misplaced true to life folks that populate this enhanced world of ours. The enlarged persona of Abe Lincoln feels like the perfect extension of the historical figure we’ve grown to love.

While I’ve got some CD’s to finish before I reach the end, so far the story is a rollicking good time. You’d serve yourself well to dive into the book, especially since Hollywood has now sunk their teeth into the franchise with a big screen adaptation in the works. (Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Marty Todd Lincoln? Helloooo nurse!) In the meantime, I’ll have to continue to explore these new fangled things called ‘audio books’. I hear there’s a bunch of them out there these days! Enjoyed some yourself? Be sure to share some of your favorites in the comments!

Total Miles Walked – 99 Miles
Total Pounds Lost – 22lbs
Outlook on Life – Kinda frustrated, but I’ll push through.

Total Miles Walked – 78.6
Total Weight Lost – 18 lbs.
Outlook On Life – Freaking Stoked.

Total Miles Covered: 59.3
Total Lbs Lost: 14

Today, it was nice out. The thermometer read 45 degrees. Conditions don’t get much better than that for taking a walk. So walk I did. 4.2 miles, to Hamilton Square Mall and back. On the bright side, I can see this 4 mile trek will be a breeze this summer thanks to the handy walking paths they installed along 146th street. To bad today they’re still covered with snow and ice!

Without any further rambling, here’s a little ‘photo blog’ of pictures I met along the way.

Bonus Pic!

Total miles covered this winter: 45.1
Total lbs lost so far: 12

Today I went for a walk. 4 miles later, it was the end cap of a banner 7 mile week.

If you’re like me, you get a little tired of talking to yourself around the 1.5 mile mark (I’m so moody, I’m no fun to talk to when I get in a mood). The best fix? Rock and or Roll of course! Thanks to a new music service I’m checking out, (feel free to take a gander at Rdio out yourself, it’s pretty awesome!) you can share in the aptly named playlist that pushed me on my adventures this week; “In the 90′s, When I was Cool”.

(Countdown to my old friends commenting with “You were cool in the 90′s?” begins in 3…2…1…)