Lasts

As I walked to work today, on pretty much the same route I've taken for months and months, I realized that it was the last time I'd have to wake up on a Monday to walk to my job.

The walk was disappointing. Nothing interesting happened, but it was the first day of school for the kids at Dora Moore, on 8th and Corona. I could hear them from a block away, playing, enjoying each others company like 3 months had not passed since they last spend any real time together.

I did get passed by a group of four ladies walking. They were in their late 40s, early 50s, and walking like Banshees must walk when they want to relax. One lady was talking about her most recent bad date with a man who was good-looking, but a "a total dick." She expressed a desire to find "a nice guy."

"Why can't anyone be both?" Her friend asked her.

It was this sort of thing that led me to look at myself in the window at the tattoo shop on 14th and Ogden.

Am I both?, I asked myself.

Closer

Inching my way up to goal, 2 pounds away.

My goal was to initially do it by the time the Democrats invaded Denver. There are nine days until that happens, so it looks like I'm going to make it.

Nothing of note to report walking to and from work. As the summer drags, though, it seems like people on Cap Hill are getting more and more restless, acting a little bit crazier.

I got a new job and I start Aug. 25. That means I won't be walking to work anymore, so the name of this blog is going to have to change. It's okay; it's been more focused on my weight loss lately anyway.

Two pounds to goal, 12 pounds to second goal, 22 pounds to final goal.

Almost goal.

I don't have much to say. I saw a cute girl the other day on my walk to work. I think she smiled at me, but she might have just been happy. She was good looking, after all.

I'm six pounds away from my first goal. I'm 16 pounds away from my second goal and 26 pounds away from my third goal, which may or may not ever happen.

I've lost 44 pounds since November 2007. That's 4.88 pounds a month. My weight loss has actually accelerated in the last 2 months, when I've lost 14 pounds. I attribute that to an increase in metabolism from running and just exercising more in general.

I've lost 44 pounds, but I've gotten a lot stronger, too, so I'm thinking I've probably lost 50 pounds of fat and gained 6 pounds of muscle.

Wow, it's tough to believe that I actually had 50 pounds of fat to lose, but I guess I did. Gross. And I probably still have another 25 on me.

I've gone from a size 38 to a 34 in pants. Size large shirts are WAY too big for me now.

All of these things help me to quantify exactly how much work I've put into this.

Six pounds! I can do it! That's only a 21,000-calorie deficit. My deficit is already 154,000 calories.

Funny things I've seen over the last 2 weeks

Lady standing on Downing in between 13th and 14th, smoking a cigarette with an oxygen mask on.

Guy sitting in wheelchair on corner of Colfax and grant who looked at me, was going to ask me for money, but gave me the peace sign instead. I gave him the peace sign back.

Same car almost hit me - twice. Once on one block, another time on another block, half a mile away.

The applesauce, spilled nearly 2 months ago in front of a house on the 1000 block of Downing, slowly degrading into a black paste that everyone refuses to step on.

People are funny

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. A lot of the stuff I see walking to work isn't scary, it's just funny.

I think one of my favorite things that happens when I'm walking is when someone is walking in the same direction as me. I somehow catch up with them, because I'm walking fast (losing weight, all that good stuff).

But I can never bring myself to pass these people up.

Some people are pushing a stroller. Some people are just walking like I am.

BUT FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE OUT FOR A LEISURELY STROLL.

They walk slow. They take up the whole sidewalk. And then, when I finally do try to pass them, the decide that it's the worst thing in the world. Then we have to awkwardly walk in a single-file line, for a block or two.

Or six.

That's what happened to me this morning. I had to pass this guy near 12th and Downing. He was just walking too slow.

So I passed him and he decided that it was emasculating him. So he tried to keep up with me.

Buddy, not a good idea. I may be a little chubby, but my legs are muscle. I could kick my foot through a cement wall.

So, to the guy with the tiger tattoo and the rainbow bandanna -- better luck next time.

more, more more

I haven't had time to update. A lot of stuff has happened.

Two of my best friends moved away within a week of each other, so I've been a little depressed, but I'm not too sad anymore. One is getting married, and the other started working for the AP in Atlanta, so I'm pretty proud of both of them.

I've still been walking to work everyday. I've lost 7 more pounds in the last month. I'm 16 pounds away from my goal now, but I may be moving that bench mark back another 5 or 10 pounds, depending on how quickly I get there.

I've been trying to smile more at girls, but no takers yet. I'll eventually find that special someone.

Again, sorry. I hope that I'll have more time to keep on posting. I really haven't seen anything too strange on cap hill, so if and when I do, I'll send it your way.

Kelly Clarkson doesn't even scare them off

It's been an uneventful two weeks on the way to work, besides the occasional chunks of what looked like pink lemonade vomit between Colfax and 14th on Broadway.



I wear my headphones on the way to and from work everyday. Yes, I look like a nerd. And for some strange reason, everyone who walks by me can hear exactly what I'm listening to.



Which means no more guilty-pleasure Kelly Clarkson. I mourn the loss.



Everyday, I walk by the Network Ministries building on Pearl and 14th. It's notable because it's where most of the transients I see on a daily basis hang out. They smoke cigarettes on the steps and talk mad garbage to most people who walk by. Good for them. I keep my head down. I've had my fair share of them follow me for a block or two, begging for a cigarette.


The photo above must have been taken while everyone was still asleep. Or drunk. I've never walked by and seen no one on those steps.

The search for interesting things on my walks continues.