Moves

Yes, you read that right.  As my previous post may have suggested I scaled way back (or, up, in manner of speaking) since last year.  After finding a job – yay! – and moving 3 1/2 hours away from my spouse – boo – I dropped pretty much any regular exercise regimen and began to go out to eat more often.   The result: I am now hovering above 210 lbs, the heaviest I have been since I initially lost weight in college.

I am now a size 16 in pants and size 14 in tops, which means most of my pants no longer fit.  And, of course, I feel disappointed in myself and frustrated that I haven’t done anything to address this sooner.

I have lots of reasons and excuses and I don’t mean to be too hard on myself. They are valid.  A new job.  Lots of upheaval.  Stress.  These things are real and non-trivial. But when you keep putting off positive changes, things become more and more negative, and depressing, and hopeless.

I feel like I’m beginning to turn things around.  I’ve joined a gym.  I’ve signed up for some races.  I’m focusing on eating at home more and eating more veggies.

I ran my first timed 5K in forever this morning. 36:59 in cool (for August) and breezy conditions out on Belle Isle.  It was about as nice a day as they come for a run.

Brews

We were at the Jolly Pumpkin, a great sour brewery, Bar in Detroit yesterday and a couple about 15-20 years older than us sat down next to us at the bar.  The (female) bartender asked the wife what she wanted and when the wife started to reply the husband covered his wife’s ears dramatically and said dismissively, “She likes Stella and Heineken.  She’ll have the pilsner.”  The bartender looked the wife in the eye and said, “You can have whatever you want.”  He also kept saying how gross sour beers were.  But you know what?  His wife tried a sampler with a couple of sour beers in the line up.  And my husband and I attempted to defend the style.  The wife – possibly happy that someone at the bar cared what she thought – started showing me pictures of their neighborhood and a building near them that had recently been restored.  Husband remained supercilious, but mellowed a bit when it became clear that we were serious about the beer style and not simply challenging him for the sake of challenging him.

Who the heck goes into JOLLY PUMPKIN to talk smack about sour beers?

The bartender told us we were hired.

For more about sour beers, check out this recent article from the New York Times.  They mention Logsdon, which is an excellent brewery out of Hood River, OR.  They don’t mention Jolly Pumpkin, though.  My guess is it’s not distributed in New York City, but what a sad omission.