I had the pleasure of running a 5k in that ran along the streets of Hollywood, CA. Well, down Hollywood Boulevard and back at least.

The inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon and 5k/10k took place this Saturday and despite its problems (as I will detail later), it was a great time. How often is it that you can run down Hollywood Boulevard with thousands of others and not be a part of a mob of angry citizens up in arms about [insert source of frustration here]?

But as I said, there were some issues that were outlined by some runners later, including:

Parking: Not an issue for me because I rode the MTA trains to the venue and to Universal City Hilton to pick up my bib and timing chip on Friday. Once there, though, I witnessed what other participants would later complain about: traffic going in and coming out of the hotel was disastrous. Not only that, even if you took the train to the hotel, you had to walk up a massive hill to get there. And I heard that finding a spot was next to impossible and leaving the hotel as well as the event itself was almost impossible. Again, I thank [insert appropriate deity here] for the MTA.

Cups: Again, this was an issue that I hadn’t dealt with personally but read about on Hollywood Half’s Facebook page. Apparently there was a serious lack of cups along the half marathon route which did not sit well with many. Being I ran the 5k, I didn’t have the need to hydrate as often as the half-marathoners so I didn’t even notice the problem. Water was handed out at the end of the run as were bagels and bananas.

No Electrolytes: Lack of what your body needs during a long run was also a strike against the organizers of the event. Again, not an issue for the 5k runners. In fact many of them reported no complaints about the event.

All in all, I did have a great time and even set a new personal record for a 5k:

Is it the best? Of course not, but it’s my best and that’s all that matters to the guy who used to be 300 pounds. For comparison, here’s what I logged on Fitness Tracker.

Honestly, the way I finished, I’m considering a 10k later this year.

Like all inaugural events, it was a learning experience for the organizers to improve upon for next year’s event which I am already looking forward to.

And by then, who knows? I might be running in the half marathon.

For more pictures from the event, click here.

I know, I know. It’s been at least a few months since my last. Sorry about that. But at least this time I’ve got a little more to write about and despite the post’s title, you’ll see that things are for the better.

As I mentioned in this post, I have been working out – some can debate this – with the original Xbox 360 game Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Keep in mind this is the first version and not the 2012 version.

At any rate, I’ve been using it at least 3 times a week when I’m not running at night, something I’ve started to do once again in preparation for the 5ks I have coming up. And while I thought that the Xbox workouts weren’t doing much good other than getting my heart rate going, today I noticed something that made me change my mind.

I got home from work and changed into a shirt that, as you will soon see, I’ve had for a few years. But when I put it on this time I had noticed something different.

Here’s how I looked in 2008 at 205 lbs. with said shirt:

And here I am today at 213 lbs. with the same shirt:

For a better view, here’s a side-by-side comparison.

As you can tell (at least by the somewhat bulging pecs), there’s a lot more definition in my chest and that I’ve grown a goatee since the first photo was taken. That or I just shrunk my shirt. No, seriously, I do notice a difference sans shirt.

My arms and legs are also a bit thinner but more muscular which I attribute to the running and cycling and as far as the upper body goes, I’ve been following the programs on Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. In particular, I’ve been sticking to the cardio kickboxing and the Sleeve-Busting Arms Workout programs but I also downloaded the Gunnar Peterson G Fit workout last night and…yeah, it was pretty intense. It’s the reason I’m writing and not working out tonight.

To sort of speed up the process, I substituted the recommended 5 lb. weights with 10 lb. dumbbells which seems to be doing the trick.

So overall, things look a bit more refined even if I have crept up to size 38 pants. Just remember: I started at size 48 and got as low as 36. But I’m just glad to see that the most noticeable weight gain has been mostly muscle and very little fat.

That’s all I got for now. Until next time…

For whatever reason, I didn’t take advantage of it and the offer was gone the next day. But the idea still intrigued me – and I still wanted one.

The next day I rushed out to Performance Bike and bought the one you see in the picture above. And after a ride down the San Gabriel River Trail to the beach, it’s anything but clean (on the outside, at least).

So what makes them different? Clean Bottles are unique in that they solve the issue many of us deal with: mold or other gunk collecting at the bottom of our water bottles no matter how many times we wash them. Sometimes the rest of that stupid [insert brand of preferred sports drink here] just won’t come out, you know? To combat this, Clean Bottles open at both ends which makes them much easier to clean and pretty much ensures that you will never have to deal with a moldy bottle ever again.

This was the epiphany that Dave, creator of Clean Bottle, had when he came up with the idea. And what an idea it was.

After a few trial runs, I was sold. I loved my first Clean Bottle so much that I went out a week later and bought another one, and I never go on my rides (or runs, for that matter) without them. But after only a few uses, the most recently purchased bottle started to leak like mad.

I reached out to Dave via Clean Bottle’s Facebook page and explained my situation. He got back to me right away and suggested that the washer may be wonky. He asked where the leak was and said he’d send me a replacement washer right away.

Within a few days the washer was in my mailbox. Excited, I popped the new washer in and filled it with water.

It still leaked. A bit disappointed, I once again contacted Dave and explained what happened.

Within a week, a brand-spanking-new Clean Bottle was stuffed in my mailbox. I’ve used it many a time without one single leak occurring so I take it my leaky bottle was just a fluke. Needless to say, I was absolutely floored to get such outstanding customer service in both cases that Clean Bottle has made a customer for life out of me.

And to think that this was well before Dave’s appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank which aired last Friday. (You can see the full episode here; Dave’s pitch is the first one.)

I won’t go into details about the episode but it’s definitely worth a watch. In fact, this was the first time I watched network TV in a long time since I pretty much don’t do it anymore (watch TV in general, that is). In the episode, you will see how Dave marketed his product at the Tour de France, which former NBA great was in the Bottle Boy costume on the show, and who was willing to give Dave the $65k he was seeking.

All I can say is that Clean Bottle has had one heck of a great thing going on even before the Shark Tank episode. And with two recently introduced products, there’s no place to go but up. Those two new items are definitely on my Wish List.

If this isn’t enough to convince you to run out and buy one (or two) then I don’t know what is. An innovative product line coupled with amazing customer service truly is a win-win. What’s more, Clean Bottle also donates 10% of their profits to eco-friendly charities.

So congrats to Dave and all at Clean Bottle for their successes and all of the new customers they gained after last Friday’s episode. They won’t be disappointed with their products.

I think I’ve said enough. Go and buy yours now!

I have a new list of events I will be participating in this year. Ready? Here we go!

Hollywood Half Marathon 5k, April 7, 2012: The beginning of the year is always busy for me so I decided I’d let the first few months slide and start my events with this, the inaugural running of the Hollywood Half Marathon. This event will guide runners down two of Hollywood’s most famous streets – Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset – and finishes up at the Kodak Theater. It looks like a fairly simple run and as of now, it looks like one of the most organized and events I’ve done. Check out their Facebook page for constant updates. It’s gonna be a rockin’ event and I’ll be glad to be part of its history. And come on, who wouldn’t want one of these sweet finisher’s awards?

WetNWild5k, June 16, 1012: I participated in this event last year because it seemed like it would be a lot of fun. It sure was but unfortunately, the venue – Wild Rivers in Irvine, CA – was closed temporarily to make way for a new housing complex. I thought that this would be the end of the line for this crazy 5k.

Not to worry. The organizers managed to schedule the event another venue which is closer to home: Knott’s Soak City. The idea is still the same and yes, I’m sure it will be just as fun as last year. One of the many advantages about this event being close to home is that I know the area really well and will know exactly where to eat after the run. The choices are many…!

Long Beach Marathon Bike Tour, October 7, 2012: For the 3rd year in a row, I will mount my bike and be riding in this event. I bested my time last year and an hoping to do the same again this year.

So what else is there? Provided I can cough up the money for more events, I will definitely do so. The Del Mar Mud Run was insanely fun but just a bit too far to go, even if I did win an entry to the event. Still, I’d love to another event similar to that one.

Moving on. My weight continues to creep ever so higher but guess what? It’s a good thing and here’s why:

As my Lean Weight app clearly indicates, my muscle mass continues to go higher. This is fine with me because it means that the fat is dropping off and the muscle is packing on. I’m real happy with these results.

What have I been doing differently? In addition to my usual Sunday bike ride of at least 15 miles, I recently purchased Kinect and the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game for a change of pace. It consists of stuff like cardio kickboxing which is good because I haven’t been to my classes in a bit due to the holidays and fighting off a bad cold. While others will argue that these “fitness games” are no real substitute for the real thing, I have to admit that after an hour of doing it, I’m sweating pretty good. And since the chart you see above indicates the addition of body mass after purchasing the game, then I’d say it was making a bit of a difference. Either way, it’s a good change of pace. Hey, Wii Fit practically got me to start jogging because I got tired of standing on once place.

Well, that’s all for now. I may have another post later or tomorrow because it centers around a product I should have written about a long time ago: Clean Bottle. You’ll see why when you read it.

Thanks for reading. If you made a resolution to lose weight this year, forget it. They never work. Instead, make a commitment to lose weight and follow through with it by changing the way you live. You will succeed – believe me, I know!

On January 18, 2012 from 6 am to 6 pm 6 am the following day, I will be joining sites such as Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and others in showing my opposition to SOPA.

During those 12 24 hours, all of my blogs (listed below) will be set to “private” in order to bring awareness to what SOPA really and truly is: censorship of the Internet. You will not be able to access anything on any of my blogs so that you get an idea of how things may unfold if Congress decides to pass the bill. Additionally, I will refrain from posting on any social media outlet. I will be silent and will also be enforcing the silence. Because I can.

When you try to visit any of my blogs, you will get nothing but a warning page stating that the blog has been set to “private” and cannot be viewed. This means that all of you readers who have come here in search of information regarding Virgin Mobile phones, weight loss, etc. won’t get what you are looking for — by my choice.

Don’t let Congress have that kind of authority on the one thing they need to stay away from and haven’t screwed up yet.

Take action. Stand up to SOPA.

—

My affected blogs:

• Holographic Meatloaf
• 200by40
• Digital Resolution
• Pencilectomy

First, to thanks Fat2Fit Radio for once again mentioning my blog on their podcast! You can give it a listen here.

Second, where I am with my maintenance. Believe it or not, I’m still hovering around the 205 range and, not surprising to me or probably any other readers, still nowhere near the illusive goal of 190. I think I need to make peace with the fact that I may not ever reach that goal or if I do get close, it won’t be for very long if I want to build up some more muscle and kill the fat.

Third, the domain has finally been mapped to the blog! I know, it took me some time to do but at least I got around to it. Working all that overtime definitely paid off

Okay, now to the meat of this post. I took my first kickboxing class last night and let me tell you, it was definitely something. How intense was it? I can’t lift my arms above my head very well at the moment and class was over 24 hours ago. I worked muscles I didn’t even know I had, I sweat like mad, and also learned some handy martial arts moves that will come in handy the next time someone decides to get all up in my grill.

The first half consisted of some simple stretching and exercises which then led into the more intense stuff: medicine ball, running on all fours, and learning the aforementioned defensive moves. Probably the most surprising part was how doing something as simple as outstretching your arms to your sides and raising them slightly for 5 minutes can really work your arm muscles — and make them as sore as anything the following day. Well, that and holding an 8 lb. medicine ball above your head for a few minutes. Either way, my arms are grimacing and can barely be raised above my head at the moment, but it feels so right.

Another exercise involved working with a step: hopping on and off and keeping one foot on it all times. Not too bad until the trainer asks you to speed up.

Then there was the punching. The trainer stood in front of me with a punching mitt on each and and told me to start off slow then go hard. As my punches continued to get faster and harder, I really began to feel my upper arms turn to mush and the punches started to slow and had less intensity. I was almost to the point of throwing in the towel but my trainer insisted I keep going, pushing me and encouraging me along the way.

It worked. I made it, despite there being little to no kicking involved. But our legs did get a workout with some of the other exercises er did. I have to give a shout-out to the facility, The Fitness Mecca in Signal Hill, CA, and to Dana and Rich who are both good people and were glad to have me there. I enjoyed it and will definitely be returning very soon.

I’d also like to mention this. I was able to get these classes through a deal with Amazon Local/Living Social, which is kind of like Groupon in that it offers ridiculous discounts on local restaurants and services. In my case, $20 got me 20 classes and 5 smoothies at The Fitness Mecca. By comparison, individual classes run $10 each and smoothies are somewhere between $3 and $5. I was also able to score a 45 minute session with a personal trainer as well as 4 classes of my choice at another local facility for the same price. The offers seem to be much better than anything Active Schwaggle offers, even if you are a Active Advantage member (which I am). Sign up for the Living Social 1-Day Deal and you won’t regret it. Saving money and getting in shape — does it get any better?

Despite my soreness, I am definitely going to kickboxing again next Tuesday and also interested in taking something else like spinning or even yoga. I’ve got 19 classes and 5 smoothies left so I think I’m in pretty good shape

It’s been a month since I did my bike tour and 5k and while I wrote about them on my personal blog, I simply didn’t do it here. Shame on me. At any rate, here’s a copy of that post for your enjoyment. I’ll have a little bit more later on tonight.

Enjoy!

—

Well, this last week sure was a busy one.

As I had mentioned in this post, I rode my bike in the Long Beach Marathon Bike Tour for the second year in a row. That means that it was another day of waking up at the crack of dawn (or 4am to be precise), preparing my stuff, eating breakfast and then making my way downtown to find my assigned parking lot, ride my bike to the starting line, then wait for the 6:30 start time. A lot of preparation but a lot of fun.

In the end, I trimmed my time down to 1:42:43 which is about 5 minutes less than my time last year. It was a beautiful day and it’s always humbling to be riding the bike trail along the beach to see the sun rise with the sound of the waves crashing in the background. I love this event and look forward to it in 2012.

Do I look exhausted?

Nah, I was fine. I could have gone a bit longer but hey, 26.2 miles was cool. And in case you didn’t track me, here’s how it looked:

Believe me, it’s not all that bad.

With that done, it was time for the rest of the week in which I worked overtime on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the latter two days going in at 6:30 am. And oh, did I mention that I also worked my night job on Thursday and Friday from 5:15 to 8:30 or so? Told you I was busy.

But wait, there’s more! On Saturday, I participated in my first 5k mud run down at the Del Mar Fairground/Racetrack which is just within the San Diego city limits. While not as early as the morning of the bike tour, I woke up and pretty much did the same thing in terms of preparation, breakfast, etc. Then, of course, hit the highway for the 90-minute drive to beautiful San Diego.

I’ll admit that the mud run was about the toughest and most unsanitary thing I’d ever done in my life but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was also one of the most memorable and fun. It’s a party atmosphere at the event and all participants get a free beer at the end (although I ended up giving my ticket to someone since I don’t drink). My finish time was 46:47.5 and keep in mind that’s with trudging through mud and over obstacles.

As far as the course goes, it’s crazy. There are obstacles such as tires, walls, hills and of course, mud pits. Most of those are not too bad to deal with but crawling through the mud pits proved to be tough for a few reasons.

First, there is netting above the pit so you have no choice but to crawl on your belly to get through. As the run continues, the netting gets lower so by the last one you are up to your chin in mud.

Second, the mud is more like infield clay from a baseball diamond so it will really do a number on your knees if you aren’t careful. I survived without much damage.

Also, it’s hard to wipe mud from your eyes when your hands and shirt are covered in the stuff. Next time: goggles. Another thing to remember is that regardless of how light an outfit you wear, it will still absorb liquid and that weighs you down like mad.

So how did I fare? Here’s how I went into it…

…and here’s how I came out of it:

Great event, great volunteers, great crowd. There’s just not much more you can ask for.

Well, except for maybe eating one of these afterward:

This here is a 1/2 pound Steerburger which from Boll Weevil, a restaurant with locations only in the San Diego area. All my life, I’d been going to the original one on Midway but it was closed down years ago. Whether I was in town to visit relatives or go to a ballgame, I never made a trip to San Diego without going home with one of these babies in my belly, and Saturday was no exception.

I’ll work off the calories later. I was enjoying the day too much at this point

If you really want to do this, check my weight loss Twitter feed at @200by40 for a post that says something like, “200by40 Just began a cycling workout using #Endomondo. Follow me live: http://bit.ly/otuxqp”. That link goes to last week’s ride but when you see the one for tomorrow at about 6 am PST, that will be the bike tour.

So go ahead and cheer me on in the manner people seem to do everything from having sex to engaging in political activism these days – online!

See you at the finish line

Not only that, since I find myself posting here with less frequency, a Twitter account seemed to make even more sense. It’s a quick way to get the word out about my thoughts on a story I saw online, foods I might be trying at the moment, a workout I just started (courtesy Endomondo), a quick photo, etc. In short, a more immediate way to communicate.

The account also gives you, the reader, a chance to send a quick message to me if you wish since I now have a smartphone and use the TweetCaster app to check for messages. Even more interactivity! I’ve even gone ahead and added a Twitter widget to the sidebar so you can see my most recent tweets. Neat-o.

But before we get started, I have a few rules in place which are listed below. Please read and understand them before proceeding any further.

On Following: I welcome anybody to follow me provided you are a genuine, real-life human being with interesting and topical things to say about weight loss. Whether you’ve met your goal or are just starting, I’d love to hear what you have to say so I can follow you in return. This also means that if you are not and are just using Twitter to spam the whole Twitterverse with links to bogus weight loss products or other half-baked snake oil weight loss schemes, you will be blocked and reported for spam. I will not argue with you; I’ll just block you. Remember that this blog is about how I lost weight the right way and not investing in fishy weight loss products because they simply do not work.

On Direct Messaging: You can also DM me if you wish and I’ll try my best to answer you or just say hello. But the same rule goes for DMs: spam me and I block you. Simple, huh?

With all that said, go ahead and follow @200by40 on Twitter and let the fun begin!

This was taken before the run and will post a few more taken with an actual camera (not phone) later.

Summary: finished in about 42:00 or so but I’ll post my official time when I get home. Right now I’m relaxing with the family at Wild Rivers where we had to run through a wading pool of sorts.

Had a great time and looking forward to doing it again!

UPDATE 8/28/11: Alright, since I’ve got some time to do it, here are some highlights/memorable events from the run.

The day started at 5am since I had planned on leaving by 6am to get there in plenty of time for the start at 8am. Irvine isn’t exactly a long drive but when you go to events like this, you just never know what the traffic will be like so it’s always best to plan for any unexpected delays.

We did get there in plenty of time so we checked out the few exhibitor booths that were there. I tried a sample of a drink called Body Armour and it wasn’t too bad so I need to look for that the next time I’m shopping. We sat around for about 30 minutes before I had to get in line according to my anticipated finishing time, do some pre-race stretching, listen to some of the rules, etc.

This is a shot of the field from where I was standing, in the “29:00 – ???” group:

After the National Anthem and a prayer (more people seemed attentive to the former than the latter), the horn sounded and we were off. We trudged along through the parking lot of Wild Rivers and out onto the sidewalk the made a u-turn, where the first water station was. It was poorly manned and most of us had to wait for our water to be poured which is not good.

Despite that, I have to admit that I felt pretty good as I started on my way and at about the first mile, I was in my zone as I usually am. The run came back into the parking lot and started to wind through Wild Rivers itself for the first of two laps. During the second lap, we had to run/walk/wade through this (photo was taken after the run):

This was a most welcomed break from the rest of the course which at times was rather narrow and definitely blocked with walkers and people with strollers, who should have been kept at the rear of the field. Not only that, the wait to get into this Lazy River was just ridiculous as some people removed their shoes before entering.

Up until this point, according to my Endomondo app, I was averaging 11:30 per mile but my lap time for the last mile dropped dramatically as I “ran” through the river: 16:40. If not for that, I could have finished in about 34 minutes or so but considering the wait time and the conditions (but especially the wait time), this was not unexpected.

I crossed the finish line at 42:29 with an average pace of 13:14 according to my chip results. And in case you’re wondering what 5k looks like, here’s the course as recorded by Endomondo:

That seems like a good distance but once you’re up and running, it’s really not. Here’s the portion of the course known as the Lazy River, as noted by the dark blue line:

And although I didn’t finish anywhere near the Top 3 in my age group, that didn’t stop me from pretending I did:

So despite the event’s flaws, I had a good time participating as well as hanging out at Wild Rivers afterward. Next event: the Long Beach Marathon Bike Tour on October 9, 2011. I started my preparation by buying new tires today so I’m ready for that one.

Oh, and those Asics running shoes I’m wearing? I bought them at Savers a few months back for a mere $3.50. They were practically new and half price on the day we were shopping, so that saved me some money for sure

By the way, part of the run is a challenge to “Beat the Cow” or someone running in a cow costume since the Chick-Fil-A is a huge sponsor. And if you do beat the cow, you get a free meal.

Did I beat the cow?

No, I didn’t. I got beat by a dude in a cow costume. But at least I wasn’t a sore loser about it:

I told the bovine I was disappointed for not beating them but there’s no shame in that. The cow consoled me with a friendly pat on the back. We’re cool.

I’m done for the night. My legs are starting to feel the effects of the run and I need to relax!