Can I Shave Now?

I made a vow, I said I wouldn't shave my face or cut my hair until I win my next race. I posted this sometime in the beginning of December. I thought I would run the "Ring In New Year" one mile race in Jefferson City on January 1st, figured it might be an easy first win of the year clearing the way for a shave and haircut... if I so desired... Turns out, the weather was cold and I stayed up a little too late New Year's Eve, I skipped the race. When the results were posted, the winning time was 6:13, I'm pretty sure I could have won!

Somewhere in the whole mix of things, I got busy working on my house. Took two weeks completely off from exercise! I can't remember the last time I did that. No working out with no change in diet = weight gain. Fortunately, Columbia Multisport Club has put on a "Biggest Loser" weight loss competition the last few years and they decided to do it again this year.

Now if you ask most people, they would probably say I have no business participating in a weight loss competition. What people don't realize is as someone who works out one to two hours a day during the season, when winter sets in and training levels decrease, extra weight can creep on regardless how "fit" or "thin" I might look. My weight after holidays and two weeks off from working out had climbed to 17 lbs over my low weight from this past season! That's 17 lbs that I know I can loose.

Around this same time, I also signed up for the Suntrust National Marathon in March, a week following our final weigh in for the Biggest Looser. So combine training for a marathon or lots of running, with loosing weight. Those two things go together like two peas in a pod!


We're one week into our Biggest Looser competition. For this first week, I just went back to training like I should be for a marathon and cut down on the food a bit. I knew the first few pounds would come off easily. I weighed in Sunday evening following a 2 hour run in the snow. I was shocked to see I had lost around 9 pounds and was even more shocked to see the email to the club the following day with me in the lead amongst the guys! Does that count as a race? Can I shave now? Hmm, I suppose that was just a mile marker... I'm that guy who takes off on a mad dash for the first mile, gets his moment in the spotlight, only to fade when the Kenyans blow by him...