Stand By..... Pending.... Pending....

20180531 I went in to see Dr. Dock for my final appointment for setting up my weight loss surgery.

I was really nervous but I made the weight I needed.
So, my surgery will be July 18.
Late morning or early afternoon, time to be figured out.

I have a couple pre-op appointments and classes but the surgery is on.


So last weekend I did FANS.
Still looking for donations https://www.facebook.com/crafterjohn/posts/10204348974600313.


Last year when I did it, and actually finished blowing out my knee, I had been training a lot more and weighed 50lbs less.
I made 8 miles before my knee hurt too much to continue.

This year, when they weighed me at the beginning, I was 368.5 pounds.
I was 387.5 pounds with my bag on.
It ended up a little more once I fully filled my hydration bladder.

I have been trying to adjust my bag and how I carry it.
I had to make more adjustments before this event because I had gained so much weight.
Evidently the changes weren't right as I ended up with some serious lower back cramps.
They got so bad that even on my last lap without the bag that I had serious issues and it was even slower than the previous laps.

Elsolel got some pics of me and you can see how the belt/bag adjustments I made didn't work.
You can also see how wide I am and just how much weight I carry in my front stomach area.

The pic on the top is the ad on the GoRuck site for the 26L GR1.
The pic on the bottom is me with the same bag.
The model in the GoRuck pic is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches shorter so a fairly close approximation of height.
You can tell just how wide I am.

I know after my surgery I won't lose a ton width wise, but I really do expect to lose a lot off my stomach.

Very obvious just how much and where I carry my weight.

Elsolel and I are trying to figure how and where to do consistent pictures.
I want to makes sure that they are all from the same distance and angle.

So this coming weekend I am going down to do the Eagle UP Ultra in Canal Fulton, OH.
Two big differences in this event versus FANS.
1 is that my bag can be weighed at any point and has to be at least 22 pounds.
For FANS, it was only about 18 and part of that weight was partially water.

2 is that the loop is 5 miles and not 2.
At FANS, I knew I only needed to do 2 miles and there was a water stop just over 1/2 way thru.
So each lap at Eagle UP will be more than 2 laps for FANS and not as many water stops.
I just have to keep the motto in my mind: RUCK UP AND CARRY ON.