Ahh the fond memories of the Military. I won't tell you about all of them. What happens in the Military stays in the Military. Kinda like Vegas. What I will tell you is that the military is the place where I began to gain weight. The diet you are fed in the Navy is very much like the meat and potatoes diet of the Oklahoma farmer. In the Navy exercise is basically non existent. I suppose for someone who is a lazy wimp the Navy includes more exercise then they may be used to, but for the average person involved even a tiny bit with sports the exercise the Navy has you do is nearly un-noticeable. In boot camp for the Navy I don 't think we ever ran over a mile and a half at one time. I doubt I ran more than 25 to 30 miles in the entire two months in boot camp. I gained 10 pounds in boot camp. I hardly exercised at all the entire time I was in the military. I stayed in enough shape to pass the PT test. whoopidy dooo. I could run a mile in what 8 or 9 minutes? What normal person within 5 years of graduating high school can't? I know there are some people who haven't been exposed to much exercise at all, but that isn't who I'm talking about. Whatever who cares about them anyway? I had no problem running an 8 minute mile or even a 6 minute mile at that. I could have easily run an 8 minute mile as recently as 6 or 7 years ago. Now who knows? I think I could do it in 10 but I'm a fat ass so who knows how realistic that is. The military was a place where I had the most independence relating to my own exercise level. I was given the option of exercising when I wanted and how I wanted. This meant I did pretty much nothing. I was still rebelling against my father. I need to find a place where I have let him and all other authority figures attached to exercise go. I need to release them before they hold me down until I can no longer get up for myself. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

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The Makings of a Fat Ass Part One

I have not always been this way. I grew up normal. As a matter of fact I grew up skinny and some what toned. I am about 5'6" or 5'7". In high school I was 125lbs. That was 15 years ago. When I was little I used to watch my father (a high school sports coach) coach his boys track team. I used to wish I could be a part of the team. I could think of nothing more exciting than running a million miles in front of millions of cheering people in attempt to win an award. When I was 5 years old my dad let me run in a race that was sponsored by the local radio station in the area. I ran 4 miles and I came in very last place. I got escorted in by a police officer on a motorcycle and the entire crowd was cheering for me. After that I was hooked. I was so proud of myself for finishing the race without cheating like other kids my age who cut across at certain moments when they knew no one was watching. As if the people in charge of the race and watching the race didn't know they were cheating by the time they came in and how they came in ahead of adults in the race. Any way my excitement in finishing, getting the attention, receiving a radio station T-shirt had me hooked for life on running. Eventually the coach in my dad took him over and by the time I was in high school I had him driving behind me in his car on long runs out in the country so that I could keep in shape for the race. I would get so angry that his fat ass would be driving and yelling techniques out the window at me instead of running with me or letting the whole process be fun. After a few of those experiences I was un-hooked. I knew from that point forward that I would not be running unless I thought it was fun. Thus began my rebellious fight against authority and conformity and anything which wasn't fun. Basically, I went from a kid who loved running and had dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete to a kid who would sit around and do nothing just to get away from the dictator that was my coach. My dad was not a bad guy or a bad coach he just chose a tactic of break em down and build em back up as opposed to lets have fun with it and learn something. This simply was not the best tactic for me. It may have worked on others but on me it was paralyzing.

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