Hey all, time for more silliness in the life of smthng...

I still need to finish off the posts for my Colorado/Yellowstone trip, but I'm not really motivated to do so (yet).  I'll get to it eventually.

I've pretty much stripped down the FJR, but it's got to get into the shop for a tune-up before I sell it.  I just feel "wrong" about selling a bike I'm not convinced is in the best shape it can be in.  Might do that this weekend.

I got the KLR back from the shop with a new muffler, rear brake line and a few other bits that got killed when the exhaust fell off.  It's all good now.

Speaking of the KLR... I might be able to live with it for a bit and hold off on getting the BMW F800GS.  Not sure yet, which means I probably don't really need the BMW right now.

What else has been going on...  I took the wife camping and Jeeping last weekend.  It's her first time camping.  She had a decent time, but was a little put off by the lack of participation from our off-roading club (so was I).  Still, we had a good time and hit some good trails.  My friend Rob (the other Rob) and his wife joined us, and it was pretty much his first time out on rocks.  They had a great time and he's already trying to figure out what else he wants to do to the Jeep to be more capable.  JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket. ;)

The camping trip got me thinking about how to make camping easier and better for both me and the wife.  I'm not sure how it happened or exactly why, but she gave the financial nod to get a SylvanSport Go pop-up camper/trailer thing.  :)  That should just about cover any camping issues in the future.  It's ridiculously expensive, but it really does do everything I need it to...  camping, hauling stuff from lumber stores, towing the bike, etc.  It's also light enough that the Jeep can handle it (Jeep Wranglers are great vehicles, but don't weigh much, so they have a really low towing capacity).

Ok...  so now onto my running efforts.  I've decided to start running.  It's mostly my wife's fault.  :P  She's a bit of a health nut, but I hate working out because I don't feel like I'm doing anything.  A friend talked her into running a 10k last month and she diligently stuck to her little regimen and completed the training and the race (in a decent time, no less).  Honestly, I didn't think she'd stick with it, but she proved me flat wrong.  Wouldn't be the first time!  ;)

She was kind of at a loss of what to do after the race, and didn't have a real "goal" for continuing to run.  She also didn't have any real idea of how well or how bad she was doing.  So, I suggested a GPS for running as a good tool to help her train, examine her progress and stay with it.  I ended up getting a Garmin Forerunner 305 for her.  Of course, I couldn't let the wife get a new toy unless I got one too. ;) 

The 305 is really a neat little piece of equipment.  I'm very much "gadget motivated" and this is a cool gadget.  While I'd probably keep running without it, I know that I wouldn't be making great progress and I wouldn't be looking forward to running.  With the 305, I really do look forward to getting home, running a session, plugging in the 305, then immediately seeing everything about how I did.  It's instant gratification!

A bit about me and why I'm running...  I'm in my late 30s, 5'10" and was about 200 lbs.  200 lbs is my "trigger" to get off my butt and do smthng about my computer geek lifestyle.  I'm in reasonably good shape, but I eat a lot and don't do much in the way of physical activity unless I'm on a Jeep trail (which is only about once a month).  I do have a few issues with running, but I think I can get past them.  First, I'm basically out of shape.  Nothing critical, just fat and sedentary.  Second, I have a weird gall bladder issue that none of the docs have been able to diagnose enough to do anything about it.  It's occasionally very painful (morphine levels of pain), but I can pretty much manage it by watching my food.  Third, I have incredibly high arches.  Bad enough that a walk around the block in bad shoes will leave me in agony for days.  That pretty much covers the reasons not to run.  I'm working on all of them. ;)

Basic stats on me before starting to run...  male, 199 lbs, 5'10", 27.7% body fat.

Reasons to run...  Well, I've only gone out about a half a dozen times.  But, I've also been laying off the junk food and eating relatively healthy stuff when there's an option.  The results?  194 lbs, 26.2% body fat. That's 5 lbs and 1.5% body fat gone... in about 10 days of running and eating better. :)

More motivation...  Other than fighting "getting old", losing weight, feeling better, etc...  I'm signed up for an 8k run November 2nd.  I don't know if I'll actually be in shape to run the entire 8k, but I have no doubt that I'll be able to finish and that I won't feel like death on a stick when I'm done.  If you want to join in, check out Run! Geek! Run!  It's for a good geeky cause.

Anyway, that's enough of my chatter for now...  I'll keep you posted on my running progress (and what I'm learning), the Sylvansport (when it's built) and the bikes.