Do Over

This post was originally posted over at Smells Like Bullshit back in November of 2007. I wanted to repost it here because the links did not come through when I originally emailed it to Nightmare. The links are important because it gives you an idea of what I did while in the Marine Corps.

In a previous post on my site Nightmare asked me a very good question. As I was answering him I decided that it was just too long of an answer and decided to make it a post.

His question was "Why do you run? I have never understood the benefit of running. I lift weights, I am strong, I lift heavy things...people ask me to lift heavy things every day. I have never had anyone ask "Hey...can you start running now and I'll pick you up in 20 miles" Seems like a lot of wasted energy."

That's a really great question Night thanks for asking! It's a debate that has been going on since Moses wore shorts, and I pretty sure it was the case of the fall of the Roman Empire.

I first started running when I was in the Marine Corps back in the early 1990's while stationed at Camp Pendleton which is about an hour or so north of San Diego (you know that city named after a whales vagina.) If you've driven from San Diego to L.A. then you drive right though it. The San Onofre Nuclear power plant is right there (it looks like two really big tits) I started running then because I had to keep my weight down. But I was also in my early 20's then and I had a much faster metabolism then I do now. I would run 3 miles in the morning either in formation for our morning P.T. (Physical Training) and I would also run 3 miles at lunch. I also had to keep my time down in order to keep a perfect PFT (Physical Fitness Test) score of 300. At same time I was also lifting weights with the rest of the platoon. After liberty call we would all hit the gym and have lifting competitions. I don't think I need to tell you but I never won any of them. We'd have competitions for bench press, squats, dead lifts, and just about any other competitions that you can think of to prove who was the bigger man. The machismo was rampant! (It's funny to me now but I actually weight less now that I did back then.)

All though my 4 year service in the Marine Corps I lifted weights, when I was station aboard the U.S.S. Peleliu on our way to and from Somolia and Rwanda I was a member of what we called the 300 Club. The 300 Club was a small group of Marines in my battalion that could bench press 300 pounds at least one time. We'd have contest every Friday for any one that wanted to try to Marine UP! as we liked to say. But it's quite a different story trying to bench 300 pounds while the ship is rolling and pitching.

When I was Honorably Discharged in September 1994 I stopped lifting because the weights just go to be way to heavy.

As to why I run now, I always thought I got a better work out from running. I enjoy the time alone to think about things that may be bothering me or just to have some time alone. It also will burn more calories than lifting weights in the same amount of time. You can't burn 1000 calories in an hour lifting weights but you can running, if you run fast enough. That's is why I always thought I would get a better work out running that I did lifting. As many people know you only work a certain part of your body, wether you work just your arms, or shoulders, back, chest, or legs. Running you work your whole body.

One benefit of running is that when you and your lady are walking down the street and some coked out idiot comes and swipes her purse and keeps running. Would a person who lifts be able to run after him and catch the dude? Probably not, those coke heads are fast! Your muscles won't be used to the endurance. But a runner will catch him. But on the same thought could I crush some ones face like a piece of glass with one punch? Probably not, but a weightlifter could.

Weight training has a lot of benefits also, if you want to lose weight most trainers and those in the health field will tell you to lift weights. Now, this might seem dumb to you, but let me drop some knowledge on ya'll. The more muscle mass you have the higher your resting metabolic rate will be be which means you will burn more calories while sitting at your desk than some fatty sitting across from you. You don't have to have huge muscles to have high muscle mass. You can just have really dense, hard muscles. This is why women have a much harder time losing weight than men do. We men as a gender have larger muscle mass therefore our metabolic rate is higher.

Also a really great benefit to running is when I get drunk star talking shit, or spill a drink down your shirt. I'll be able to get up and run away before you start pummeling me.

That's it for me folks check ya on the flip side.