DAY 12: "A HELL OF A GOOD START! HAOUUU!" / What is my Profession?

Day 12 was kind of a new beginning of some sort, and it directly showed from the start of the day. I put my new tiny shorts on and went out with Karly. No ipod this time, felt like pondering on life today and chitchat with Karly as I explored The Ash (Ashrafieh if someone didn't know); besides, these stupid shorts don't even have pockets to fit an ipod! Took down the sekké road – the one with the downhill, but didn't feel like running without music. We KINDA jogged down, took a detour to surpass the stray dogs pack area, and go straight to Gemmayze; I felt like taking the road Sara and I took on saturday (Day 10) but with a slightly faster pace. However, as I crossed the street to get to Mar Mikhael, we were ambushed! The pack was there and rushed toward us! Karly got so afraid he backed away till the middle of the street. Cars started honking as Karly stared blankly at me. He could have been hit by a car! What a dumbass scardycat!  I lost my temper at yelled at him and took him back to the dogs. I tried doing the same thing like last time to back them up, but it didn't work this time. The Alpha-dog didn't budge and was ready to pounce. I shit my pants, turned slowly and walked away. I gotta walk with a stick or something from now on just in case we get attacked. This just got dangerous. When I got back I went directly online to check up on the matter. I usually trust Leerburg.com as it is the most complete dog website. It provides tons of information about all sorts of training, nutrition, grooming and your relationship with your pack and much more. Plus I get all Karly's toys, leashes and even some treats from there. But what I love the most is the Leerburg forum where the community turns more into a family that truly cares about the well being of your dog and that do their utmost to answer all your questions, no matter how anal and annoying you might be sometimes. Back to our subject, I researched what the guys at Leerburg had to say about this and found this article, you might find it useful anyways even if you're not jogging but simply approached/attacked God forbid. The gist of it is that you have to walk with a stick (maybe even pepper spray)and not hesitate to use it if the dogs attack yours – or YOU. Apparently dogs have very strong heads so do not be afraid to hit hard. It would even take 3 to 10 strong hits to back away an aggressive dog off you.

pack of 3 for 20$ at Nike Store

We jogged all the way till end of Gemmayze and back to Jeitawi. JOGGED! All the way back and forth! My endurance improved so much since when I started. And it got better than ever! I just thought I wasn't made for Track and Field or endurance games, clearly it was just a question of body conditioning. And it's soo much fun to it when you get used to it and your limitations change. One other thing for runners with sweaty feet and athlete's foot prone: the Ultimate jogging socks! They're called Nike Dry Fit and they are double cotton and padded at specific places to keep your feet from moving in your shoes – kinda like snowboarding socks. I tried them on for the jog and they really make a difference. This Nike + idea is crossing my head more than once a day. The shoe I tried on was so damn relaxing, plus I have an i-pod... would I be ready to make that investment and start following my performance that closely? I mean so far, it's so much fun when you're advancing WITHOUT noticing it. These bit-by-bit improvements that are happening as I go out every day do not make me challenge myself, but just have fun. I just go out and don't push myself. I just do what's comfortable. I know for a fact that once I'll start quantifying my distance, speed, calories burnt, heart rate etc ... I will be forced to get higher and higher scores and will burn myself so much that I'll drop the whole challenge all together. So I guess GETTING NIKE PLUS IS THE LAST THING I NEED TO DO ... for now. Plus, I know what will happen as well. Being a competitive person, I will directly go online to nikeplus.com, start an account and challenge people and try to break their records and shit. Especially with the effort I'm already putting in the P90X, again GETTING NIKE PLUS IS THE LAST THING I NEED TO DO!! For now.

By the way, I can feel a huge jump in my strength and recovery time from one day to another. P90X today was Shoulders/Arms. Remember when I first started I couldn't complete the training? Well this time I doubled the weight and went all the way! Plus I did it in correct form, with a HUGE smile on my face and OBLITERATED the Bonus round. I even noticed that I need to buy weight plates and a couple of dumbbells... However, I couldn't complete the Ab Ripper X program. Laham is right. It isn't that easy. That's his hardest P90X workout. Here's my list from hardest to easiest:
1. Plyometrics X (a blitzkrieg of cardio where you can't think how tired you are)
2. Legs/Back (for complete masochists. Training I'm actually afraid of most)
3. Chest/Back (a nice challenge)
4. Ab Ripper X (challenging yet hurts my lower back)
5. Yoga X (annoying as hell)
6. Shoulders/Arms (most motivating)
7. Kempo X (most fun)
8. Stretching (most boring of them all)

Tomorrow's Plyometrics, the jump training. To be honest I really don't feel like doing it. But I don't think I get to "feel like", or choose what I want and not do. Halloween's coming sooner than I think and I gotta complete my transformation!

"What is your Profession?"

I was thinking of what John Laham asked me jokingly: "what is your profession?". I didn't know exactly what to answer and just typed "haou! haou! haou!" although I really didn't feel it. I didn't feel like a Spartan, or at least had a Spartan mindset. John couldn't know I was staining in uncertainty when my fingers hit that keyboard to reply. But think I can answer now by posting this video. I'm certainly no King Leonidas , but I know I belong somewhere with the pussiest foot soldier of the bunch. Maybe one of the extras at the far end of the background. But I'm there. And here's my new reply to John: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6sARmxEuc


HAOUUUU!!!!