Men are Happier (not running related)

SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS...SOME DAYS ARE STONES.. 
WHY MEN ARE SELDOM DEPRESSED: 
Men Are Just Happier People -- 
What do you expect from such simple creatures? 
Your last name stays put.. 
The garage is all yours. 
Wedding plans take care of themselves. 
Chocolate is just another snack. 
You can be President. 
You can never be pregnant. 
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. 
You can wear NO shirt to a water park. 
Car mechanics tell you the truth. 
The world is your urinal.. 
You never have to drive to another gas station restroom 
because this one is just too icky. 
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. 
Same work, more pay. 
Wrinkles add character. 
Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. 
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. 
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. 
One mood all the time. 
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. 
You know stuff about tanks. 
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. 
You can open all your own jars. 
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. 
If someone forgets to invite you, 
He or she can still be your friend. 
Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. 
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.. 
You almost never have strap problems in public. 
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.. 
Everything on your face stays its original color.. 
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. 
You only have to shave your face and neck. 
You can play with toys all your life. 
One wallet and one pair of 
shoes -- one color for all seasons. 
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.. 
You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife. 
You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache. 
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives 
On December 24 in 25 minutes. 
No wonder men are happier. 
Send this to the women who can handle it 
And to the men who will enjoy reading it. 
Men Are Just Happier People 
NICKNAMES 
· If Sheila, Candy and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Sheila, Candy and Sarah. 
· If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Bubba and Wildman . 
EATING OUT 
· When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.. 
· When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators. 
MONEY 
· A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. 
· A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale. 
BATHROOMS 
· A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel. 
· The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items. 
ARGUMENTS 
· A woman has the last word in any argument. 
· Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument. 
FUTURE 
· A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. 
· A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife. 
MARRIAGE 
· A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. 
· A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does. 
DRESSING UP 
· A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail. 
· A man will dress up for weddings and funerals. 
NATURAL 
· Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.. 
· Women somehow deteriorate during the night. 
OFFSPRING 
· Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. 
· A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.. 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 
A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing! 
SO, send this to the women who have a sense of humor and who can handle it .... and to the men who will enjoy reading it..

Guest Blog Post

I was asked by my Dailymile, Facebook, and Google + friend Jennifer Luitwieler to do a guest article for her blog about "Why I Run".  I hesitated at first, but then thought why not.  I have a pretty decent story.  For your reading pleasure, here is the original article.

Why I Run

Jennifer asked me to share with you all why I run.  Though we’ve never actually met, Jennifer and I ‘friends’ on Dailymile and Google + and now Facebook.   I enjoy following her posts on DM and reading her writings.

Unlike many people I see posting on Dailymile, this whole thing called running was foreign to me.  I was never an athlete before running.  As a youth, I grew up on a farm and sports weren’t something I had the pleasure of pursuing.   I remember one year trying to go out for track.  I participated in shot-put and discus.  I eventually had to quite as my only transportation was my horse.  Yes, you heard correctly, my horse.

Anyway, how did running come into my life?  In order to tell you, I have to give you some background.  I was in the Air Force for 22 years.  I remember once back in the late 70s trying to take up running as a fitness routine.  It didn’t ‘take’.  I was able to run/walk my annual fitness 1.5 mile test every year and that was it.  Back in 2006, I was surprised by an early Christmas present.  On Dec 14^th, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  At 49 years old, I was devastated.  After sitting down with my family and considering all my options, I finally settled on a complete prostatectomy.  At my fairly young age, it seems like the only logical option.  On July 16^th (yes, 6 months later), I underwent the procedure.   

Now how does that relate to running?  Well, during my lengthy recover time, I put on a considerable amount of weight.  In fact, I ballooned up to 250lbs.  Considering I should weigh around 190lbs, I was extremely overweight; however, I was limited in what I could do.  My body had to heal.  The prostatectomy is a pretty invasive procedure.  I won’t get into everything, but let’s just say there were things that had to get better before I could strain or exert myself in a number of ways.  In January of 2009, a year and a half post surgery, I decided to test the body.  I went to a gym and asked if I could try things out.  If my body cooperated, I’d join.  Well it did, so I joined.   I was 50 years old!

After a month of going to the gym, my son approached me about running with him.  He had played freshman football in the fall and wanted to stay in shape.  I was starting to feel good about myself and thought why not.  Why not give this thing called running a shot.  The next morning, we got up at 5am.  We did our stretching and then headed out.  I no sooner got around the corner and I had to stop.  Seriously, I couldn’t make it around the corner to my neighbor’s house without having to stop?  Anyway, I keep going and probably stopped 3 or 4 more times before finally stopping back at the house.  How far was my first run?  One mile!  Yep, one whole mile! 

We did this a few more times that week until my son’s football coach told him he was an offensive player and he didn’t want him running.  Well, there went my running partner.  By then, however, I was beginning to think to myself that I could do this thing called running.  For the next couple weeks, I continued to run this one mile.  I was very determined.   In fact, during this time, my work started a “Fitness Challenge” and I decided to join up.

I kept up the running and before long I was able to run the whole mile without stopping.  Before I knew it, I was venturing out to other streets.  I remember at one point, my knees really started to bother me.  I wondered whether I was going to be able to continue.  I was really getting into this running thing and I seriously didn’t want to stop.  So what did I do?  Well duh, I prayed!  Yep, I prayed to the Lord to let me continue running.  And He did! Before I knew it, I was able to remove all those silly braces I was wearing.  I even went out and had my gait analyzed and bought a good pair of running shoes.  I was slowly becoming a runner. 

Over the next few months my running continued to progress.  When the end of the school came in late May, I was lucky enough to win the “Fitness Challenge”.  I had gone from 250lbs down to 203lbs!  At that point, I was probably running around 15 to 20 miles a week.  I was officially addicted.  I remember being at a restaurant one night with my wife and her looking at me and saying “you’re thinking about running aren’t you?”  I asked how she knew and she said my body wouldn’t stop moving.  At that point I knew I WAS a runner! 

The only thing missing by this time was running a race.  I don’t remember who it was that suggested I run a 5K, but in Oct 09 I signed up for and ran my first 5K race.  Like they say, the rest is history.  I have run almost 100 different distance races since then.  I have my first full marathon scheduled for Sep 2012. 

Why do I run?  I run to be healthy, I run to be fit, I run because I can!  I AM a runner!

Fat Burning Workouts

What is better: cardio, resistance, or cardio with resistance?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-greenfield/fat-burning_b_1154259.html?ref=health-and-fitness&ir=Health%20and%20Fitness