I'm pleased with myself: I had planned to go to the gym this morning and do some leg exercises. I had only planned to run on the treadmill for about 6 minutes just to warm up, but I felt so good this morning I went ahead and ran for 20 minutes.

The reason I'm doing leg exercises on Mondays now is because I exercise my upper body 3 times a week. Even though I am concentrating on specific areas (chest, back, shoulders), there is some spillover in the muscle groups. I think I can get better results with my leg routine (squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, and calf raises) if I do them twice a week. I realize that with all the running I'm planning to do that's an awful lot of leg work. I'm not doing that much weight right now - I'm working more on endurance- and I'm watching myself for exhaustion, especially now that I'm doing the hypocaloric thing again.

It is precisely 78 days until my 40th birthday. I really do want to meet that day in the best shape I've ever been in. Considering that except for when I went through basic training I have always been a couch potato, that's simply not too difficult to accomplish.

Back to feeling so good this morning: why is it that eating around 1200 calories a day eventually leads to me feeling so great? From what I have read I have a feeling it has more to do with the ketogenic variable - less carbs mean fewer mood swings. I never realized how crappy I felt until I feel this good.

I can tell spring is around the corner; our little drop zone has had 2 good weekends in a row. I did four jumps this weekend - all on Saturday. (Total: 943 - only 57 more to go to get my 1,000 jump merit badge!) Two of them were student jumps with the same student; a woman - hell, a girl; she ain't old enough to buy a beer. She is a little heavy and I have a tough time staying down with her even though I wore 10 pounds in my weight vest. The good thing is she was doing her levels 6 and 7; by the time they are doing those levels they know how to get stable and save their own lives so even if I mess up I can still see them practice their maneuvers and not worry too much about their safety.

But students are crafty devils so it's best not to let your guard down ever. The good news is she passed both levels; level 7 is the last one so now she can jump by herself. She is still a student; she just doesn't need an instructor with her any more. Now she gets to work on a proficiency card that will lead to her 'A' (basic) license.

I love being able to graduate students. They get so happy. I get more hugs that way.

Saturday night we had a pot-luck party. I made pasta salad - do you know how hard it is to make a gigantic tub of pasta salad and not eat any of it? I managed to keep on track; I did have a half a piece of corn bread - mmmm - but that's it as far as the carbs went. Well, there's the three Michelob Ultra. Guess I'll have to count those.

Sunday I came home early and did absolutely nothing. I restarted Baldur's Gate again on my computer but other than that I did nada. I didn't even watch the Oscars. Wish I had; I was so happy that Peter Jackson won.

My what a boring post. I don't even have a top 10 list of favorite actor's noses or anything. Speaking of top 10 though, I am happy to modify my top 10 food staples list. The Wal-Mart in Madison is stocking my favorite condiment, Sriracha chili sauce. Actually, Huy Fong, the manufacturer, makes a chili garlic paste that is just as tasty, but dang I'm so happy to see this on the store shelf! One tablespoon has about 4 carbs, but that's more than you will need to set your mouth on fire.