I was about ready to give up on hand-2-hand class, almost like I was getting bored with it and it seemed like it was taking up quite a bit of time.  After tonight I'm glad I stuck with it.  We moved from the clamshell (concrete floor) to the smaller B-hut (wrestling mat floor).  Our instructor also brought some pads.  Tonight we actually got to hit stuff and we did some of our moves that involve throwing someone to the floor.  We still couldn't go full speed because these are still some of those moves that end with you ripping someone's arm out of socket, but even being able to go 1/2 speed helped things click quite a bit more.

Well, this was an interesting evening.  I headed over to go to h-2-h class and it turns out they were doing a comedy show in the clamshell so no class, but figured I'd stick around for the show.  The first guy made it through about half of his set when...BOOM, followed by sirens.  I've never seen anybody dive to the floor so fast.  Everyone in the audience just calmy filed out but that comedian was plastered to the stage floor.  I stuck around for a little while to see if they'd give us the all clear and start the show again but got bored and headed back to my billet.  The good news is that all the MP's were busy running around so I could bump the speed all the way up to 35 m.p.h.  Hopefully things will clear up by morning because it is time for week 6 day 2 tomorrow.

Sone of a b----!!! This morning was my second day off between weeks 5 & 6...or maybe I should say it was "supposed to be" my day off. As per my usual routine, even though it was an off day I threw on my stuff and went for my walk. About 1/3 of the way through my walk the Sgt. from our office went running by in the other direction so we both waved and said our good mornings and headed on our merry way. Not a big deal, we've passed each other before and I've told him about the whole c25k thing. Well, he made his turn and caught back up with me about a mile from our billets. "Hey, come on and finish this last mile with me." Sure sounds like a good idea, run that last mile with the Army Sgt. who runs 2-3 miles a morning just for fun. So, I ran the last mile back with him...not jogged, RAN. He said we could go at my pace, but just because of how I am I was trying to go at his pace, which I'm sure was well below 10"/mile. But, we made it back and he was impressed with the progress I've made.

To top it off they were running the Army 10-miler this morning.  My usual route must have been the last part of the run because there were some pretty haggard looking folks.  When the Sgt. and I started running, there were several people that we passed who were on the tail end of their 10 mile run.  I hope they didn't think they were getting passed by a fat guy who had just run 8 miles.

Well, it was not fun but I finished w5d3 this morning...a 20 minute run with no walk breaks.  I also managed to find a place where I can get my phone on wifi, it's in the secure prison compound but I found one, so I was finally able to upload my Nike+.

Everything was back to normal today.  I got week 4 day 2 run in this morning and we had class tonight.  Definitely not looking forward to day 3.  That's our first long run, 20 minutes, with no breaks.

BTW, this is our hand-2-hand instructor...yeah that's not intimidating at all.

Well, I missed my c25k in the morning for the first time in about a month.  I usually walk on my off days to make sure I'm still getting some exercise but I didn't even do that.  Got up with my alarm and was just starting to get ready when the rockets started coming in.  A few of them hit close enough that I just got straight back in bed and watched a little TV instead.  To top it off, I went over to get in my bonus hand-2-hand class but I guess he isn't doing that anymore.  At least I was able to do the gym again so at least the entire day wasn't a total bust.

Wasn't sure if we'd have class tonight.  We are at an elevated security level...basically means we have to wear our body armor anytime we are outside.  Class is in a K-span which is just a fancy name for "giant tent" so I wasn't sure if we'd still be on or not.  Ended up having class and learned a few new ways to make someone's bone stick out through their skin.

It would have been nice to find out we were on alert a little sooner.  C25k is every other day so on my in between days I still get up and just walk.  This morning I got up, threw on my shorts and t-shirt and headed out.  After I was done and in uniform I went to breakfast where I was finally told that we were supposed to be in battle rattle.  Oh well, they're usually up until all hours shooting rockets at us and stuff so I don't think the Taliban gets up that early.

I have to say it is nice to have an evening off.  Learning to maim people is fun, but getting a night off where I can hang out and not do anything for a change is nice.  I still did my walk this morning and went to the gym and tomorrow morning I stsrt week 5 of c25k so it's not like I'm laying around not doing anything.

And now it's picture time.  Once in a great while someone can wrangle us a ride in a Blackhawk.  Riding around hanging out the side of a helicopter is a hoot and a half (that's my knee on the right).

Hand-2-hand training was back on for tonight.  Okay I was joking about the whole killing someone with my pinkie, but some of the stuff we're learning is starting to get kind of vicious.  It's starts out as self defense and turns into a Steven Segal movie by the end.  Just as an example one of our combinations started out with "if someone grabs your shirt or tries to choke you" and how to get them in a wrist lock and ends up with the person on the ground and me ripping their arm out of socket.  At least he's keeping things interesting.

There's also another thing to add to my list of things to do...archery.  I guess it's not really excercise, but I was pulling a 50 pound bow for two hours so it is a bit of a workout.  Some of the guys over at the prison have an archery range set up and even have some donated equipment to use.

On a side note, week 4 of couch-2-5k is in the books.  I'm not really looking forward to week 5, but I was worried about week 4 and managed to finish that one so I'll just keep at it.

The hand-2-hand combat class has been so popular that he offered to do classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays so people can come in and get some extra practice if they want.  Eager beaver me drove right over but something must have been up because he was a no-show.  No biggie, the class is right next to the gym so I just ran in there and threw some weights around.  I was a little disappointed...I was looking forward to learning how to kill someone with my pinkie.

Ah, home sweet home.  Yes we live in what is basically a storage unit at home.  Since I am a clever Engineer I rigged up my bed into a loft and have a pretty nice setup...although twin beds are not made for fat guys.  The sad thing is that the guys who actually go out and get shot at live four guys to one of those units.

(Disclaimer:  This is a different "building" in our living area, not my actual room so if the Taliban likes to browse the blogs and wants to try and zero in...I ain't in there)

Another night of hand-2-hand combat training.  We did a few new things but mostly we worked on stuff we already knew with a partner.  Lucky me I got partnered up with Bruce Lee reincarnate...at least that's what he thought.  Let's just say there may have been a little more contact than the instructor had intended.

Well, I made it through day 2 of week 4 in the couch to 5k program this morning.  Week 4 is running 3 minutes, walking 1 1/2 minutes, running 5 minutes, walking 2 1/2 minutes and then repeating the whole thing one more time.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm running a whopping 16 minutes...try doing it when you're fat and see how easy you think it is.  I'm sure anyone who saw me at the end of my last run was looking for the speed dial for the ambulance on their cell phones, but I finished the whole thing.  All that sweat and pain is worth it though because I really do feel like a million bucks for the rest of the day on run mornings.

So, this is me and what I have to start with

I went to hand to hand combat training class tonight.  Another benefit of being on a military base in the middle of nowhere is that there's lots of stuff going on that don't cost nuthin' if you just look around a little bit.  I found out about this one on the board on the way out of the gym the other day.  It was a lot of fun and turns out it's a good way to break a bit of a sweat too.  Looks like I might have something else to add to my list of activities.

Gotta Start Somewhere

Well, in case you can't tell from the title of my new blog, I am fat and I am deployed in Afghanistan.  One of the few goods things about being here is the downtime...lots of it.  I am going to try and take advantage of that by hitting the gym and getting more active.

So far I have taken up the Couch-to-5k program found on Cool Running and started going to the gym for about 20 minutes a day.

I'll try to do my best to keep you up to date about my progress and fill you in a little bit on what it's like over here in the "Sandbox".