No Pain, No Gain....If only it were so

I am hurting. Last week I was elated to find my weight had dropped 3 pounds during our 2 week trek west. So this week I planned my fall exercise regime and got to it. A local friend and I run early in the morning before we wake the kiddos and we started up again this week-we planned a smaller route (2.5 miles as opposed to 3.5 miles) because I hadn't run for several weeks. I did some step aerobics yesterday along with some abdominal crunches (my body has completely forgot I even have abdominal muscles) and then this morning met the "crew" to do a 12 mile bike course followed by a 2.3 mile run. I can hardly move I am so, so, so out of shape. It is amazing to me how quickly your body loses any shape you've worked so hard to get! And this is the worse part, and why I share this boring post, I am up 4 pounds this morning. Please don't respond saying I'm building muscle!!! I am just annoyed as all get out...and oh, yes, did I mention hurting??!!

Well, I say all that in the hopes that sharing this information in some form of public fashion will make me actually quit eating this next week (that couldn't be the issue, right?). I've got so far to go and it truly is discouraging to feel like you are "backsliding" before making any new ground.

Well, I close with a link to a provocative read my husband pointed out to me called "What if Wesley Was Right?" The author is writing from the UMC tradition and I definitely related to what he was saying. There were a lot of theological terms I felt like I needed a dictionary for but He was speaking at Oxford so one would expect a certain level of academic excellence. You need a minute to read this one. And then you need another minute to think about it. I'm actually still digesting it myself so hopefully will add more to this post later.
What If Welsey Was Right? by William Willimon

It's interesting because I am currently reading a book by Donald Miller called To Own a Dragon (thanks to Cara for making me pick him up). It is about the role of fathers in our society and how growing up without one affected him. He is calling for men to step up and become mentors to boys who are fatherless and has even started the Bellmont Foundation to aid in that effort. Miller is largely stereotyped as part of the emergent church movement of which I haven't been terribly impressed with but own I really don't know much about either. Well, I can't put this book down. He is an incredibly gifted writer and I found out he is coming to Wisconsin in October so maybe I will share more about him later, too. I'd imagine these two writers are in different "camps" of thought so to speak but I am intrigued by both at the moment.