A while ago I wrote about signing up for the Corporate 5K Run at work. As I write this that run is about a week away and I thought I would take a moment to give you a quick update.

First, let me catch you up on my diet and weight loss. I have been counting calories as planned and done a fairly decent job of keeping within my goal range, which is to lose 1 pound a week. Of course, some days I go over that limit (especially if I eat a big meal out), but even then I am often able to keep within a range that should maintain my current weight. So far it’s been working and I am down nearly twenty pounds! This is more than five pounds ahead of schedule!

My wife has also jumped on board, as well. Back in the late 2000s, when I “sparked” before, she joined me and had great success, so this is familiar territory for her. She has been a great help by finding recipes for me to cook that taste great but are also calorie conscious.

One of the reasons my progress is ahead of schedule is that I have also added exercise to my routine. This includes strength training using resistance bands, as well as walking/jogging, which brings me to the Corporate 5K.

I’ve been trying to walk or jog at least three times a week since I signed up for the race in order to get in shape. You might recall that I mentioned registering as a runner, hoping to push me to train for a faster finishing time. While I didn’t mention it in the post, the organizer’s website classifies a “runner” as finishing under 40 minutes. While I have increased my time over the past few weeks, I will still be far from that finishing time. In fact, I don’t even have the stamina to run the entire distance. Instead, I will alternate between walking and jogging (with more emphasis on the walking). Based on my training times, I fully expect to finish in under an hour (current pace has me around 55 minutes) and that is fine with me.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back to let you know how it all went. Till then, stay healthy!