Mothers' Day, I got permission to do my favorite run -- 10 miles around Austin's Lady Bird Lake. What a gift to me. I am so grateful every time I get to run this route. Makes me fall in love with Austin all over again.

I'm just getting warm when Extremely Fit Guy blasts past me. I decide to pace him. He was running just a hair faster than my half-marathon race pace (about 7:40 per mile). I had to push myself pretty hard.

I faded at about mile 5. Which was okay because I then I could relax a bit and enjoy the day.

If you ever find yourself in Austin, this is the place. Loops from 5k to 10 miles.

@ben congrats on progress. One step at a time. Or 9000.

We've all heard the stories, dads charging out of the stands to duke it out center ice at a kids' hockey game. I've certainly seen plenty of nutty sideline behavior. Overall, parents don't seem to have a very good sense of when it's time for sports to be taken seriously and when it's just for fun.

So where would you draw the line, if ever?

When should kids be expected to be focused, to push themselves a bit, to care about winning and losing -- to seriously compete?

Not until High School?

Certainly the rise of club sports has pushed the age lower and lower, with kids now typically entering tryout-based teams with professional coaches by age 10 or 11.

Does that seem like the appropriate age to "get serious?"

Well, this plan to get to the gym has failed completely. I got busy with the business in the beginning of April and had to use my free time to get stuff done. Complete and utter fail.

However...



Not.

Tonight, I was taking dishes to the sink after a pasta dinner and my pants fell to my ankles. Just dropped. I righted myself and took some stuff to the basement. That's where the "official scale" is. I stepped on and fully dressed (pants included) and after eating pasta and drinking a quart of iced tea, I am at the bottom weight from the last challenge. Looking at the chart above, my step count has risen fast over the last few weeks. I am up to where I was when I was working out twice a week and then some and I still have 2 days of this week to go. I may have my first 50,000 step week. If this continues, and I think it will, I might even be up to an average of 9000 steps a day with peaks over 12,000 (where I get more points toward health plan prizes). If I get 50,000 steps next week, I'll rack up some bonus points that might get me to the first prize, $25 cash.

So I guess things are getting on track in spite of me.

For me, the cover is less about BFing and more about how desperate Time is to get some online buzz.

Okay, Time, you've zapped the mommybloggers, you've got the internet's attention. I'll click through and look at your content.

What's that you say? All your articles are behind a paywall? Well that kind of draws your strategy into question. And it means that I'm left with nothing to comment on but the cover.

Well, you did make this funny and honest post from Nathan Thornburgh from DadWagon public. I really enjoyed reading that.

Okay, well, Time, it's been a nice check in. Now I'm going back to ignoring you.

Thoughts?

Absolutely love OneLoad. An essential tool for us. Keep up the great work!

It's also worth remembering that this method of feeding has so many virtues that a bit of waste is justifiable.

You are layering in healthy food habits already. Keep it up. THis will pay off very soon and can last a lifetime.

Keep up the great work.

Any body else worried about all the studies showing how bad sitting at a desk is for you? I'm so worried about it that I'm standing as I type this. I'm trying a new discipline -- all writing must be done while standing.

I wish I had the space/resources for one of those treadmill desks I've been reading about.

Go, Nik, go!

And I'm right here on the plateau with you, Funky. The scale says I'm down a bit -- but that's just because it's summer here, and I weigh after I work out in the mornings. Hotter mornings mean lower weigh-ins.

I know that if I went to the calipers, I would find NC. I can just tell from clothing, etc.

I am definitely in "off-season" mode, scaling back miles and adding group bootcamp workouts. In those workouts, I can definitely see some progress from last year. I can crank out 20 pull-ups in 45 seconds and complete 40 "Atomic" push-ups in the TRX. Though I came up 5 rows short of completing the . (I'm a 40/35) Coach is threatening us with "benchmark testing" soon.

I hope it doesn't involve pushing his pickup while dragging sleds like it did this morning.

I'm thinking about backing the miles down even more, maybe even taking some time off in June before marathon training starts again in July.

We've always gotten great result with products from KidCo. Like the company a lot overall.

Disclaimer -- They may have advertised with us at some point, but it was so long ago I can't remember.

I'd probably go with a magnetic locking thing. Not sure what the impact of that electrical switch would be for any of the locks, though. Most of them have some give and it might be enough to allow a hand to reach in for a shock. A tight fit would be good.

Most baby/kid stores have a huge selection and I found that you pretty much just blitz through and get a little of everything or, better yet, put it all on a registry.

Vacuum sealing is very good for keeping food fresher longer. You can even get an attachment for a Foodsaver that will vacuum seal jars, costing less.

Here's an example.



Oxygen and light are the enemies. Storing food in the back of the fridge or a drawer and in a vacuumed container should give you the best results other than freezing. That said, part of raising kids is getting used to throwing out a lot of food. Just wait until they go crazy for pasta and in the middle of a pasta binge, they decide that the sauce they've been eating for months is suddenly disgusting. Down the drain. It's life. We move on.

This final phase can be pretty frustrating. Mom is ready to be DONE! We went through about the same thing with our youngest at about the same time.

We ended up on a pretty regular schedule with just one feeding early morning, then he just started sleeping through the night. This happened pretty organically for us.

Maybe you could set one time for nursing. Any other times, maybe you should offer a bottle. Don't even let the little one around mom until the prescribed feeding. Then phase that one out as well.

You are almost at the end! Hang in there! Normal sleep is in range.

Took a couple days off from exercise and nutrition discipline to take a trip to the Wine Country with the wife.

One realization I had -- I'm going to have to deal with this lame foot of mine. It's like I'm making my way through the whole catalog of running injuries.

Anyway, I'm going to run through May, spend lots of June in the pool, and resume training in July on the road to a fall marathon -- more on that soon.

I'll do another caliper test next Monday, but I know myself well enough to predict that there will be no change there.

I think it is so cool that this alternative method has worked for you guys. My eyes are opened! Thanks for sharing your progress. This thread is sure to be helpful to others looking for info on the subject.

Welcome, @Don_0.

Great to have you here. You are on quite a journey. I commend you on your commitment and patience -- qualities that will serve you well as a dad. I hope that you will share your experiences and feel free to ask all the questions you have. Welcome back.