Sticking with the daily running and eating well

About a month ago I decided that I didn't want to be another statistic of some fat ass expat who just sits around and drinks beer and eats garbage all the time. It really does constitute a large portion of the overall expat community in both Thailand and Vietnam and even though I promised myself it wouldn't happen to me (just like we all do) it started to happen to me. It took years but the next thing I know I started seeing photos of me that other people took and I didn't like what I saw.

These things aren't something that people normally notice because it takes years for it to become like that and I also presume it is going to take years for it to go the other direction, which is kind of frustrating because as far as enjoying the exercise is concerned, I don't really. I think it would be kind of strange if someone actually did enjoy running and yes, I understand there are people out there that claim they do LOVE running but come on now.... do you really?

Anyway, in the past month or so I have been doing daily 5k runs and I have only missed a couple of days. One was because i was horribly hungover (I should have done it anyway) and the other ones were because I had come down with a head cold the likes of which I hadn't experienced in many years.

I don't really shoot for a lap time and since I don't have an exercise watch or even a reliable GPS I rarely even look at my phone while I am doing the runs. The block in my neighborhood is almost exactly 400 meters around, just like an Olympic track so that is handy. I know that I need to go around 13 times to get to 5k and i'll be honest, I normally lose count.

I keep a bottle of water and a towel at one of the corners and stop most times around to dry off a bit and get a swig of water. For all of you runners out there that have never done your runs in a super humid and tropical environment let me tell ya! it is a whole different world. I don't even think that running 5k is really all that difficult but when you are completely saturated with your own sweat after 4k's, it makes it a bit tough to carry on because it is so uncomfortable.

I don't know if 6 mins per kilometer is good for others out there. It probably isn't but for me it feels like I am working pretty hard. I probably could go faster but I suffer from that mental block every time I go around like i'm sure a lot of people do where I see my bottle of water and the towel and that becomes my ultimate objective.

I think that I definitely could go a lot further than just 5k but running around a block is about as fun and awesome as it sounds in that it is not fun nor interesting. I always feel good about having done it when I am finished though and that is kind of the idea.

People that know me have made comments about how I look like I have lost weight and that is good because it was kind of the idea. I think my cardio is getting better too because I don't actually think that running the 5 k is even difficult, I just get so absurdly sweaty that by the time the 5k mark comes around I am dripping all over the place and call it quits. It would probably be a better idea for me to walk for a while afterwards and cool down, even bring the water with me. Perhaps I will do that in the future.

By the way I don't actually run all over the place like a loon the way that my Strava readouts would indicate. I have a cheap phone and there are tall buildings all over the place here. I'm guessing that the GPS has a difficult time actually knowing my location and it actually jumps me to the other block sometimes.

I'll continue doing this ever day because even though I do NOT enjoy it, I feel good about having done something good for myself each day. This combined with the lack of booze most days makes me kind of feel like a boring person sometimes but I know it is good for me, so I'll stick with it for now and hopefully well into the future since I really don't want to be old and fat. One or the other is ok but not both.

Here's a picture of Nadi getting zero exercise to round this thing out on a high and cute note.