The Week That Was: 03/26/2012 - 04/01/2012

Better late than never, right? I'm posting this a couple days late, but posting it anyways. I'm thinking I really ought to focus less on weekly posts and more on posting in a timely manner (i.e. food truck trips on the day they happen rather than at the end of the week).

Weight Mis-Management
I'm still in mis-management mode. I don't think I kept the food log for a full day during the week. In fact, I forgot to weigh myself on Thursday which was the first time in a long time that I didn't weight myself when at home.

	Min	Max	Avg
03/19/2012 - 03/25/2012	172.2	175.6	173.5
03/12/2012 - 03/18/2012	174.8	175.6	175.1

On the plus side, my max weight didn't get any higher. I have a bad feeling I'm not going to be motivated to do better until I either get heavier or get back from San Francisco.

Running
My weekly run was better this week than last but still a little off. I completed 7.40 miles (one tenth more than last week) in the 80 minutes. My initial 10K of the run was finished in 67:20 nearly a minute better than last week. Hopefuly this weekend's run was be an improvement again.

Initially, I finally signed up for the Sacramento Zoo Zoom. So I have one more weekend run to train before that race. The course is suppose to be flat and fast, so hopefully I can set a new personal record. If not, I'll know that my extra weight is holding me back.

Food Trucks
Once again it was a double food truck week. And it was the same food trucks as last week: Heavenly Dog Hot Dogs and Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen.

I chased down Heavenly Dog on Tuesday. According to their tweet, they were going to be in Rancho Cordova with Fuzion Eatz and Volkswaffle, and I've been wanting to try Volkswaffle. Well, Volkswaffle wasn't there, so I went with the dog. I got the 3 Alarm Dog again, and once again it was quite good although all the cheese stuck to the foil.

On Thursday I went with a small group from work to find Drewski's. They didn't have the mac & cheese balls, so I went with a mustang and the tator tots. While we were eating, Drewski showed up with freshly made mac & cheese balls, however, he was transporting them in the back of his truck uncovered. Gross!

My Corgis
Fiona was sick on Sunday and threw up six times. It's sad to see her sick. She was better on Monday, but watching a dog puke is kind of disturbing.

Miscellaneous
Saturday night my wife and I went to a crab feed. They had a basket raffle at the event, and Sierra won two of the baskets. We were hoping when she won that it'd be the Lottery Scratchers baskets, but neither were. Still pretty awesome that she won the stuff.

The Week That Was: 03/19/2012 - 03/25/2012

Another week is in the books. I'm definitely continuing to chose enjoyment over dieting. I don't think I can continue to make that decision for too many more consecutive weeks without starting to see some ill effects.

Weight Mis-Management
The mis-management of my weight continues. On the positive side, I did stick with the food dairy Monday through Wednesday, unfortunately, I stopped and didn't record lunch on after Thursday although I did record Friday's and Saturday's breakfast in a lame attempt to get back on the program. I will hopefully do better this coming week. After all was said and done, I was pretty much even over the past two weeks:

	Min	Max	Avg
03/12/2012 - 03/18/2012	172.4	174.8	173.4
03/19/2012 - 03/25/2012	172.2	175.6	173.5

I think part of my program weight management wise is that my ability to complete my runs doesn't make it seem like I need to drop any more pounds.

Running
I was back to doing my 80 minutes training runs this week. I typically run on Saturdays, but due to the threat of rain, I waited until Sunday. My performance was not as good as past weeks. I only covered 7.30 miles in the 80 minutes, and the first 10K of the run took me 68:19. Hopefully this was just an off week. Next weekend's performance should give me a clue into that.

Food Trucks
I hit up two food trucks in the past week. On Thursday, I made a trip out to catch Drewski's Hot Rod Kitcken. I've caught up with Drewski's a number of times, but this was the first time they have deep fried mac & cheese balls. I split an order with two of the guys that chased down the truck with me. The original order was cold, and as we were finishing our first bite, Drewski himself yelled out at us to ask if they were cold. Once we confirmed they were, he had a new batch made to replace them. The hot batch was simply amazing. Other than the mac & cheese balls, I had my usual Mustang which was good as always.

On Friday, I made my first chase down of the Heavenly Dog Hot Dog truck. They have four different dogs you chose from when you pick your item: beef, hot link, polish, and turkey. I decided to order the Three Alarm Dog: a bacon(!) wrapped hot dog with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, and habanero aioli. I asked the cashier which dog she recommended. The hot link, of course! I ordered a side of onion rings to accompany my dog. When I got my food, the melted pepper jack cheese stuck to the aluminum foil in which the dog was wrapped, but I was able to scrap that off and put it back on the hot dog. I must say that the dog was fantastic! The rings were ok. They serve them with ketchup (I tend to use mustard). I think if I got the rings again, I'd see if they'd give me a different sauce (the habanero aioli, perhaps). Heavenly Dog may be my fourth favorite food truck and could move up. I'm definitely looking forward to chasing them down again.

Miscellaneous
I had alcohol three days in a row this past week. Don't think I've done that for a while (last year when I was drinking dessert wine every night for a week, I think). Twice beer, and the other time double skinny pirates (two shots of Captain Morgan plus Diet Coke). Looks like my tolerance for the double skinny pirates is back.

I bailed out on making a trip out to Tahoe on Sunday with some guys from work. My wife was concerned that snow would make the trip back difficult, and that the group may have gotten stuck in Tahoe. I feel bad about bailing on the guys, but as they say, "Happy wife: happy life". Not sure a bunch of outdoor activities in the snow would be all that fun.

The Week That Was: 02/27/2012 - 03/04/2012

I made a one day trip to Oregon for work this week on Thursday which made for a long day. The purpose of the trip was to discuss/brainstorm the user interface/experience for the tools on which I work. While no concrete decisions were made in the meeting, taking part in the process should help out moving forward as I'll be able to reuse the tactics for more productive means. I had thoughts of spending a night in Portland as part of the trip, but in the end, I'd rather not get home late on Friday (affecting my weekend) and spend an extra day away from the corgis.

Weight Management
My desire to hold myself to the amount of calories needed to lose weight has disappeared, and so, my weight was even for yet another week in a row. My weight fluctuation this week was the least of any week this year:

	Min	Max	Avg
02/20/2012 - 02/26/2012	170.2	172.6	171.3
02/27/2012 - 03/04/2012	170.6	172.0	171.4

I don't expect that my motivation will return this upcoming week. With the Folsom Shamrock 10K now under 2 weeks away, it's likely I won't "get back at it" until the second half of the month.

Running
I skipped the midweek run again this past week, and with tennis starting up this coming week, I think I likely won't be doing the short fast run for a couple more weeks. My weekend run went well as I completed 7.54 miles in 80 minutes (up 0.12 miles from last week). I was almost a minute faster on completing the initial 10K also finishing in 66:48. I've officially signed up for the Folsom Shamrock 10K, so next week's run will likely be shorter (70ish minutes) to taper down for the organized run.

Food Trucks
Fuzion Eatz made the trip out to Folsom on Saturday. Since the trucks don't really come to Folsom, I made sure to attend to try to prove that Folsom is a worthwhile place for the trucks to stop. Wicked 'Wich was originally going to be the truck in Folsom, but they had to get Fuzion Eatz to cover them at the last moment. This was my second meal at Fuzion Eatz, and I must say, that I enjoyed it more the second time than the first. The waffle fries were still awesome, but my gyro seemed significantly better. Last time I got the Pancho Villa and this time the Kamikaze. Based on ingredients, I would have expected to prefer the Pancho Villa. I will hunt down Fuzion Eatz again: hopefully in Folsom during the work week.

UFC Fantasy League
I finished third in points for UFC on FX 2 but was less than 10 points behind the top guy (the guys who is second in the league) so I'm still comfortably in the overall lead. There aren't any UFC events for almost a month and a half, so there'll be a bit of a break before things get going again.

The Week That Was: 01/16/2012 - 01/22/2012

Another week is in the books. Aside from the Niners loss (and the drunkedness during it), I'd have to say that it was a pretty good week.

Weight Management
I hit my first target weight on Saturday and then immediately jumped up a couple pounds on Sunday due to water retention (on Saturday, I ran 7.35 miles). The summery stats for the week compared to last look as such:

	Min	Max	Avg
01/09/2012 - 01/15/2012	172.0	176.0	173.9
01/16/2012 - 01/22/2012	171.4	175.0	172.8

I ended the week 180 calories over budget which isn't good but not really bad as I should still be on track to continue to lose some weight this upcoming week. Touching down below 171.5 was exciting and right on schedule (two weeks prior to the Super Bowl 10K). LoseIt resets you back on weight loss mode when you hit ~2 lbs over goal weight, and I'm hopefully that I won't hit above that after my next run, but it'll probably be close.

Food Trucks
This past Tuesday I made my first trip to chase down El Matador Mobile Mex in their first trip to Rancho Cordova.

This was the first "taco" truck that I've chased down with the thought that this would be more along the lines of a gourmet taco. I ended up trying their carnitas, steak, and one of their daily specials: the Asian steak taco.

The carnitas taco (top in the picture) was ok: I much prefer the carnitas at La Fiesta Taqueria (not a food truck). The steak (right) was better. The Asian steak (left) was the highlight of the bunch mainly for it's uniqueness. Both the steak tacos had a bit of a kick that was enjoyable. All in all, I enjoyed my lunch, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to find El Matador.

Running
I did another 80 minute run this week but at a quicker pace than last week and actually my fastest run in a number of weeks. I did more climbing also and managed to complete 7.35 miles in the 80 minutes. I completed the first 10K of the run in 66 minutes and 50 seconds which was a minute and a half better than my previous best.

Miscellaneous
The second event scored using my UFC fantasy league rules is in the books. I finished a close second this week and still maintain a healthy league. My buddy Josh had an impressive run at corretly wagering on the outcome of the matches and was able to make up the deficit of picking one fewer fight correctly. I'm still likely the format so far, but I do think I made it overly complex.

The Niners loss to the Giants was heartbreaking. I watched the game at Folsom Lake Bowl (my UFC PPV destination) and made the mistake of drinking double Captain and diet cokes rather than beer. I put away four (!) during the fourth quarter of the Patriots/Ravens game through half time of the 49ers/Giants. Needless to say, I was a little out of it. I started to get back into things during the third quarter and enjoyed the excitement (and disappointment) of the end of the game. I went into the day wanting to see a Ravens/Niners rematch, but I guess I can live with a repeat of the Giants/Patriots Super Bowl from a couple years ago.

The Week That Was: 01/02/2012 - 01/08/2012

The first week of 2012 was a good one highlighted by success in weight management, two food truck lunches, a long run, and what was hopefully the last major leaf cleanup of the season.

Weight Management
Starting off, I think we have to look at the stats:

	Min	Max	Avg
12/26/2011 - 01/01/2012	174.0	178.4	176.3
01/02/2012 - 01/08/2012	173.2	177.6	174.7

My minimum and maximum weight during the week were both 0.8 pounds less than the week before. Additionally my average weight was 1.6 pounds less. I think the former may be more representive of what I actually lost since in the week before since I think I spent more time retaining water from exercising in the previous week. As for caloric budget, I finished the week 485 calories below budget which was aided by the 1941 calories I burned during the week. I don't expect my numbers next week will be as impressive, but I look forward to continued weight loss.

Food Trucks
On Tuesday, I made my inaugural trip to Coast to Coast Sandwiches.

I tried out the Philly Cheesesteak (w/Wiz) and the Bacon Mac & Cheese. The Bacon Mac & Cheese is fantastic, and I'll definitely be hunting them down to have that again. The cheesesteak was pretty good: the meat was pretty good and not at all greasy. I would have liked the cheesesteak to have been a little bit bigger and to have been served cut in half. I went with a group of 8 (that I organized). Between us, we tried all of the sandwiches on the menu. All but the Po Boy got rave reviews. Next time, I'll likely get the Rueben.

Thursday, I took a crew of 8 (slight overlap with the previous group) to chase down my favorite food truck: Wicked 'Wich. My favorite sandwich, the "Heinz 'Cardiac' Ward" was on the list of specials, but I chose to try out the "That Dog is Poison" which is their homemade kolbassi covered in the "almost famous" chili and cheddar on a hoagie roll. I enjoyed the chili, but the kolbassi needed some spice. One of the guys in our group added some hot coppa to the sandwich. Sounds like it helped it quite a bit.

Running
I took most of the week off to recover from the holiday weekends (I did two long runs both Christmas and New Year's weekend), but I did go out for a 75 minute "jog" on Saturday. I covered 6.82 miles at a 11:01 avg min/mi pace. 11:00 min/mi has been my average pace for the past few runs, so it looks like that's my standard long run pace. I completed the first 10K of the run at 68:18, so unless I get faster in the next couple weeks, I expect my Super Bowl 10K time to be around 65 minutes.

Miscellaneous
Big wind gusts yesterday blew most of the remaining leaves out of the surrounding trees, so hopefully I have completed my last long raking session of the season. Nicely, the gust left the leaves in pretty good piles around the yard, but getting all of the piles into bags still took almost two hours.

I put together rules/formulas for a "way too complicated" UFC fantasy league this week. Tried to come up with a pick'em league concept that assigned more points to the more interesting fights, gave bonuses for picking underdogs, and allowed for additional wagering on how a fight was going to be finished. I guess I should know in a month or so if the rules were a success or an epic failure. I'm sure I'll post a bit about the league.

Why I Love Food Trucks

Perhaps this post would more appropriately be titled "Why I'm obsessed with food trucks" since I truly do appear to be obsessed, but an article with that title should mores be about what's "wrong" with me rather than what's great about "mobile food".

I think my favorite thing about food trucks is that they provide unique lunch items. Of the six area food trucks I've visited at lunch, I'd say that four have items I couldn't find (or easily find) in the area: Wicked 'Wich, Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen, Cajun Wagon, and Fuzion Eatz. Additionally, the Mini Burger Truck's premier burger (in my opinion), The Ninja, is quite unique and not available elsewhere.

Another attraction factor is the fact that food trucks are hip right now. It’s cool to take part in an emerging "fad", and I enjoy sharing what I know about mobile food with others and help them experience "the food revolution" as I like to call it at work.

Furthermore, I enjoy the social aspects of food trucks. This includes following and interacting with the crews via twitter, interacting with other customers while waiting in line and for food, and hanging out with my group. I think the largest social lunches I've gone to in the past few months have all been to a food truck.

As long as the experience remains different and fun, I'm sure I'll continue to frequent the trucks in 2012. I'm curious to see how the landscape changes over the year. How many new trucks will pop up? Will Sacramento and local cities change the restrictive laws currently hindering the effort? Will enough profitable locations be found to support all of the trucks or will we start to see the trucks run each other out of business? In that same regard, will additional Drewski and Mini Burger trucks decrease opportunities for others or result in over-saturation or neither of those? Will the trucks find a profitable location in Folsom to decrease the distance I have to travel to track the trucks? And if so, will it kill some of the fun?