When I entered this contest, I had a plan.  A simple plan, very regimented, requiring lots of diligence.  Log as many miles as possible on the treadmill.  Throw in a Boot Camp here and there so my leg muscles aren't lonely.  Most important: adhere to a strict, healthy diet.  No cheating.  None.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  Zip.

Then, like they infer in Saturday morning fitness infomercials, sit back and watch the fat melt away.

After twelve weeks, I have lost a lot of weight - about 35 pounds.  This proves that something worked.  I'm thinking it might be the diet and exercise, because being so busy on the treadmill,  I lost track of time and missed both my liposuction and gastric bypass appointments.  The only people I spent any time with for quite a while, besides my dear girlfriend, were the Produce Manager at Giant Eagle, and the guy who oils the treadmill at the fitness center in my office building.

With some early success, I thought I would be able to run once a certain weight level was reached.  I originally targeted that number at 180 pounds, an educated guess at the time.  As part of the plan, on the afternoon of the day that the scale displayed just under that number, I was off and running - literally.

After spending over a week of running - hard interval work, I discovered I am not quite where I need to be.  Although I surprised myself that I possess every bit of the speed of thirty years ago, I am just not light enough to push the endurance aspect of running yet.  This was evident last Thursday on a sunny, but cool day.  My attempt at running outside was met with tight leg muscles and not enough energy to make it around the block, which is about a mile.  Although I was not particularly out-of-breath, I did feel like I was running while carrying a bowling ball in each hand.

One thing I made clear to myself from the onset of the contest - an all-important part - is to avoid any injuries, so I stopped right there.

A couple of days later was the weigh-in, which went well.  As a token reward to myself, I took this past week easy, at least by my standards, slipping in a day off here and there.  What did this do for me?  Absolutely nothing.  No weight loss, but also no weight gain.  I need to get back to losing some more weight, but know that I can't run as well as I want - at least not quite yet.  It's time for a little shift in strategy to overcome this predicament:

"Dance with who brung you."

What does this mean?  My early success was based on simply putting in time on the treadmill.  Lots of time.  Sometimes over two hours a night.  Time to go back to that - putting the running and outside activities on hold - until about 10 or 15 more pounds are lost.  By then, the weather should be much warmer, perhaps 60 to 70 degrees instead of 40 to 50 degrees.  My body should be a lighter projectile to propel around the block by then, too.  And no bowling balls to carry.

Feet, don't fail me now.