Just as I came into the world...

I bought this book at a library book sale recently for the ridiculously great price of 50 cents. Currently it is serving as my laundromat reading material--it's a collection of short stories about women who run (which I think is pretty obvious due to the title). Today I came upon a story about a women who ran a 5K in the Pacific Northwest... at a nudist resort. That's right, it's a naked 5k race. Called the "Bare Buns Run."

I'm from the Pacific Northwest, so naturally I googled this immediately. It is held in the summer in Washington. 3.1 miles. Clothing optional. People don't have to be naked, but many of them choose to go jogging along with just their sneakers and a smile.

How fascinating is that? And how does that not hurt to have stuff flapping around?

Can you see where this is going? My first reaction was that I could never do something like that. But why the heck not? Of course I am intrigued enough to try it. Conveniently I have a longtime friend who a) enjoys being naked and b) likes to encourage my weird ideas. I called her and left a voicemail along the lines of, "Holy crap, naked run, next summer, let's go, your husband can't come."

She called back and her reaction was an excited, "Really?!?!?!" This is why I have her in my life. Everyone needs a friend who will be naked in public with them. So next summer I plan to run 3.1 miles naked. It is one of my new goals.

You might be asking yourself how this is a challenge--I'm about to run 13.1 miles (unless I come down with the plague--keep your fingers crossed that doesn't happen!) so how is 3.1 going to be hard? Besides the obvious jiggling issue, the running won't be the difficult part.

I have no problem with nudity. I'm all about people being comfortable enough with themselves to show off their bodies if they so choose. In general I am not exactly a prude, but I'm also not really the type to take it all off in front of others. Nudity has a time and a place and so far in life I haven't even been the type to really be comfortable changing in a locker room in front of others. So of course this will be a challenge--it is going to be hard to be comfortable enough with myself to be naked in front of a bunch of strangers--but it's more of a mental challenge this time.

Today I was watching "Oprah" (yes, I am that awesome) and past contestants from "The Biggest Loser" were on. A couple had gained back some weight and said that it is just as important to change mentally as it is physically in order to maintain weight loss. That got me to wondering if I am changing enough mentally--do I really think that differently about myself 70 pounds later? I mean, I think I look great with clothes on, but naked is a different story. I wasn't comfortable being naked 70 pounds ago and I am not exactly comfortable now. I have some loose skin on my stomach and things have... deflated. It happens with weight loss so I'm okay with that, but am I okay enough with my body to be comfortable in the buff?

I think so. At least I hope I will be by next summer. I am so amused--it's going to be an adventure being surrounded by that many naked people! I'm hoping it won't be weird since everyone else will be naked too. It's definitely different than just running down my street naked. That's a little less acceptable. So even if you don't believe in public nudity (which I totally understand) you should all cheer us on! Yay for doing crazy things with old friends!

How do you think they keep from chafing? Also, don't tell my mother.

Oh heck!

You know that feeling you get right before you get sick? The one where you aren't really sick but you just feel achy and gross and can tell a cold/flu/death is approaching?

I started feeling that way tonight.

Currently I am obsessively drinking herbal tea and hoping that it's just my body telling me it needs a good night of sleep. How do I get better by tomorrow? I have a trip to see old friend and a half marathon to complete!!!!

I'm going to be very irritated if I get sick and can't do this. There is no logical reason for me to be sick right now, darn it!

Update to follow--either a really irritated one about how my immune system hates me, or one of excitement that I complete a goal. I'm going to write another post right after this about my newest goal because it is hilarious but completely unrelated to the fact that I feel a little crappy right now.

This tractor is not sexy.

Last night was my final run before the half marathon. I decided to do my easy 4-mile route (easy because it’s not very hilly) and just kind of chill out. The road I run on takes me by some fields that are currently being plowed—and I’m pretty sure the guy riding along in the tractor plowing them each evening likes to taunt me. On Monday I swear he sped up right as I was going by just so he could turn and send a huge cloud of dust right into my face. Yesterday I was running parallel to his path and we started out on one side of the field at the same time. People, this guy decided to just let his tractor fly in attempt to race me to the other side of the field. I won. I don’t think tractors are very fast, but still, I beat him to the other side (and thus avoided having a cloud of dust envelope me as he turned around).

It’s the small victories in life, right?

Tomorrow I’m off to Idaho for the half marathon and will be spending all day in the car. Hurray? It’s almost an 8-hour drive, I think. When I return I will be free as a little bird without commitment to any athletic event! I’m not sure if that is good or bad. My adventure with the 30 Day Shred starts on Monday!

Anyway, wish me luck! Next time I post anything I should be a half-marathon finisher!

Shredded, not deaded.

I tried out Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred again today, and I didn't feel the need to die quite as much. Woohoo! I only took one quick break to chug water and then hopped right back into the game. It's amazing how the body can adapt so quickly. The workout was still challenging, because I can't seriously figure out how to tighten my core properly for crunches and whatnot but whatever. Also, the strength portions are a blessing after the cardio and ab bursts. Bring on the strength training as those sections give me a chance to breathe. So, anyway, we can do this, Leslie! We are going to be so ripped and bounce quarters off of our stomachs for entertainment purposes once we are finished being shredded.

Oh, new challenge for me in the workout? Bicycle crunches. What the crap?! I am so uncoordinated, and I look like a fish flopping around on the ground while doing these. Very attractive indeed.

So, that's all. Not a very exciting post, but I just wanted to say that I'm pleased I didn't die.

Smoothies!

I tend to eat a lot at breakfast. It is my most favorite meal of the day and I tend to consume a ridiculous amount of my daily calories first thing in the morning. Of course, I don’t see anything wrong with this because A) it gives me energy for the rest of the day and B) breakfast is awesome.

Know what else is awesome? Smoothies. I have a serious smoothie obsession, much to the dismay of my poor, cheap blender. I find smoothies helpful when it comes to things like getting five servings of fruit and veggies each day cause you can cram a bunch in there right as you start your morning. I’m a big fan of fruits and veggies as well.

Recently I discovered that I’m not nearly adventurous enough when it comes to my morning smoothie. The most common breakfast smoothie variety often involves the following: vanilla soy milk, peanut butter, a banana, and a few frozen berries (most frequently strawberries, but sometimes I use blueberries or whatever happens to be in my freezer). Seriously people, it’s good. Some might say it’s too high calorie but those people are lame. A large chunk of the calories comes from peanut butter, and I am also quite the fan of things like healthy fats that you get from nuts or olive oil or avocados. Plus, I use natural peanut butter and it amuses me greatly because the ingredients list is one word: peanuts.

The other day I found myself without any berries in my freezer, but I had randomly frozen some canned fruit (without the juice) because I couldn’t figure out how long it was good for when left in a plastic container in my fridge. If anyone knows the answer to that, please tell me. Anyway, it was a mixture of peaches, pineapple, grapes and a lone cherry, and obviously it seemed logical to toss it in the blender with my other ingredients.

The result? Deliciousness! I’m kind of convinced that all smoothies are fabulous. And I just found this whole website of smoothie recipes so I’m thinking I should branch out a little more.

Anyone know a particularly delicious smoothie recipe?

We love Jillian Michaels!

It is currently 1 a.m. and I am watching good boy Mark Darcy kiss panty-clad Bridget Jones as snow falls around them in a flurry of magic. I'm quite smitten with this movie scene, and I don't care who knows it. Singleton Shawna someday wants a young British chap to kiss her in the snow, too, so please send all your good thoughts out into the universe so that it will happen. Thank you very much.

My post (this very late evening, early morning) is about someone that both Leslie and I are pretty much obsessed with: the glorious Jillian Michaels. I only started watching The Biggest Loser this season, but I was immediately captured by Jillian's unique personality of badass with a heart. She pushes and screams, but then there are those tissue moments where she has an emotional breakthrough with a contestant that I find so inspiring. She seriously wants to create positive change in the world, and I admire that.

And Hallelujah, it's also inspiring to know that someone as awesome as Jillian hates exercise! But she pushes through and does it anyway, because it's imperative to creating a healthy body.



For the last week or so I have been listening to Jillian's weekly podcast during my commute to and from work each day, and may I say it's a total motivation booster. During her radio program you get to witness a hilarious side of her that's not really shown on The Biggest Loser. Jillian's a hoot as she provides listeners with fitness advice, and I love it. Go listen right now! I'm going to be so sad when I'm finally caught up with all of the episodes and actually have to wait one week between listening.



Leslie also ordered Jillian's 30 Day Shred, and we are going to start following it next week. I actually cheated and gave the workout a preview today so that maybe I will be able to not drop dead next week. Jillian would be disappointed in me, because I actually did "phone in" my workout as she would say and paused and took breaks at several points. I'll get better, I promise! I find crunches and squats difficult for me to do properly, and I get very frustrated with myself and end up plopping on the floor waiting for the next part of the video. Does anyone have any tips for these exercises or the workout in general? Oh, and I am so out of shape that I actually injured my knee (albeit slightly) and had to apply Ben Gay and ice as per Leslie's instructions. I was limping earlier. Are you sad for me?

In other news, I made lentil soup and homemade pizza last week. I am an ordinary whiz in the kitchen apparently (but mostly due to the magical powers of the crock pot)! Also, I realized that transforming a pumpkin into actual food is quite time-consuming, but well worth the effort put into making pumpkin butter. I found the recipe in my second favorite magazine (right after mental_floss) ReadyMade. The butter is quite delicious on whole wheat English muffins, but not quite diet friendly. Enjoy it anyway and the potent orange infusion. Ha, who seriously writes that?

Here's the recipe, copied from the mental_floss article.

Pumpkin Butter

Try this as a topping for muffins, pancakes, or toast.
Makes about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup pumpkin puree, at room temperature (see recipe)
4 tbsps creamed honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Zest of one orange
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

MAKE IT

1. Make sure the pumpkin and the butter are at room temperature so they blend smoothly. In a medium bowl stir together pumpkin puree, honey, ginger, and zest until will combined and smooth.

2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with a rubber spatula until very smooth.

3. Gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the butter one tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

No one told me this would happen.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to freeze to death this winter. I realize that 70 pounds is a lot, but since I’ve lost it gradually I didn’t really think that I would miss the extra padding come winter. That is incorrect. I’m ridiculously cold most of the time. I’m not talking just a little chilly—this is horrible and involves shaking and shivering in order to avoid hypothermia even though most of the population is perfectly fine. Shouldn’t global warming be helping me out with this instead of allowing the frigid October air to penetrate my bones?

Not only have I lost layers of warmth (making hibernation a no-go) but the loss of layers of fat messes with estrogen levels, according to my doctor. As a result, my already rebellious eyebrows are growing in at an alarming rate and no amount of waxing, plucking, or apathy has managed to control them. Left untamed my eyebrows would undoubtedly cover the majority of my forehead. I’d say I’m exaggerating except I have photos from high school to prove otherwise—it wasn’t until the age of 17 that I discovered tweezers.

As a result, I am rapidly approaching popsicle status and have to pluck my eyebrows every freaking day until my body gets over itself and adjusts to such things. Till that happens I’m wondering if my coworkers would notice if I came to work with a fluffy blanket and a bag over my head.

Salt of... my face?!?!?!

I hate the feeling of sweat drying on my face. The process of sweating doesn't bother me, but after my body has cooled down and I feel dried sweat on my skin it just drives me nuts. Yesterday as I was stretching after my 13-mile run my skin felt different than normal so before I jumped in the shower I glanced in the mirror.

A fine layer of salt covered my skin. Traces of salt left white streaks across my face. Clearly, I had a horrible and incurable illness that resulted in my body releasing salt through my pores.

My first thought was that perhaps I had consumed too many salty foods. The day before I ate soup for lunch, which obviously contains a lot of sodium. My dinner consisted of a completely inappropriate combination of spinach-artichoke dip and tortilla chips, a slice of pizza, and a glass of beer. I do not recommend consuming such things the night before a long run, by the way. Someday I'll learn my lesson and won't have to run 13 miles with a junk food hangover.

Could it be possible that I had consumed enough excess sodium so as to secrete it through my skin? I didn't think so. I called my sister and she thought it was terribly weird and abnormal as well. Obviously the next step involved consulting google.

Apparently this isn't so strange because google produced countless articles about runners and sweat leaving traces of salt on the skin. How is this not something that is crazy weird to people?!?!?! I found this article particularly helpful. Still, finding salt all over my skin is f-ing weird, but apparently its just something that happens. According to that article:

Some runners have saltier sweat than other. Salty sweaters tend to end up with a crust of salt on their skin after a hard workout. Other runners, in comparison, have a low sodium content in their sweat - and no white salt stains on their skin or running clothes.

I'm extremely glad that I didn't sweat out enough salt that it left salt all over my running clothes. Shouldn't this be something that's more widely publicized? Do you think any other beginning runners have ever wondered if they've contracted an incurable illness related to sodium? Cause seriously, finding salt all over my face was not what I expected post-run.

It was very odd. I felt the need to share.

Corn maze adventures!

Yesterday Shawna and I decided to go on a merry little trip to a local corn maze. Fall is pretty much the best season ever, we agreed, and we had limited time to enjoy the goodness that is October. So off we went.

Here is the pretty scenery:


All was well at first. The problem was that once you enter the corn maze, it really is a maze. We had a map but had no clue where we were located on the map and soon became horribly lost. It took us an hour and a half to escape the stupid thing. Naturally, we got distracted many times by a need to take photos and get into mischief.

It was a theme corn maze, thus the photos of us acting scared by a dragon. Apparently it was in the shape of a castle or something.





I'm just going to put the rest of the photos on here without explanation. They explain themselves. We took frequent photo breaks--perhaps this is what distracted us from finding our way. The map was crap. We found a slide in the middle. Eventually we escaped and found pumpkins and all was exciting. Oh, and a pony at the petting zoo had an erection. Shawna bought a pumpkin and plans to make delicious things like spicy roasted pumpkin seeds. At the end of these photos you will find a video that we took by balancing the camera on a corn husk! Let me just warn you, the video shows what happens when you are lost in a corn maze for longer than an hour. And no, I don't know why I'm striking a pose during it. I'm just odd. Let the photo fun begin...

Well, crap.

Currently I am afraid of the half marathon next weekend.

Today I woke up and ran 13 miles and arrived home feeling very badass because I wasn't dead. Next weekend is 13.1 miles so that's just .1 farther! Woo! I had a voicemail waiting from me from a friend who lives in Boise. You see, for my birthday this friend suggested that she pay the entrance fee to this half marathon for me as my birthday gift and I could come and visit her and her boyfriend and run the half marathon on Nov. 1.

She called because they had just driven the route of the race and she said something along the lines of, "We apologize in advance. There are a lot of hills. We're really sorry." So I called her and was told that the hills are crazy hardcore. She asked if I had been training on hills and told me she was worrying about that as they drove the route.

Of course, I knew there are hardcore hills. I've been training on hills just for that reason. Since I am too far away to check out the course for myself, I read about it on the website and saw their map and graph of elevation changes and the description of the course. That has led to me adopting a very ridiculous local hill and making sure it pops up in my route more than once during a long run. I know I am prepared for this. I know I can do it. But hearing my friend sound concerned about it made ME concerned! Also, my parents live nearby and decided to drive over to watch me finish, and several friends who live in Boise will be there as well. So what if I fail? I'd rather fail secretly and in private instead of having tons of people see it happen.

So, now I'm scared. Crap.

70 freaking pounds!

Sometimes I say I'm never weighing myself again and it turns out to be a lie. I'm all about not focusing on the number on the scale, but it doesn't mean I don't like to check and see what it tells me every so often. Anyhow, I weighed myself a few weeks ago and was moderately dismayed to see that I was the same weight as I had been one month prior. I mean, let's be honest--who wouldn't be a little annoyed at that? If there is a woman out there who would be okay with such things I will immediately adopt her as my hero. Incidentally, two days after I weighed myself I got my period (sorry if that's TMI, but it is true) and so I said to myself, "Aha! Perhaps that's why it was the same!" As any woman knows, that time of the month tends to mess with the scale.

Still, I told myself it didn't matter and I would keep going as I had been and perhaps weigh myself next month. Lots of people actually gain weight when they're doing things like training for half marathons, and completing a half marathon is more important to me than losing five pounds. That's how I've actually been the most successful at losing weight: it wasn't until I started setting fitness goals or goals other than a number of pounds that I began seeing serious results. So the number on the scale is pretty unimportant and I told myself not to fret and just pay no attention to it for awhile.

But sometimes I lie. I totally weighed myself today. 150! 70 pounds gone! For some reason 70 sounds way more impressive than 60 to me.

So, I'm a liar. Sometimes the number on the scale does sort of make me happy. But I'm not going to apologize for that because while its great that some people are totally happy with whatever weight they are at and don't care about the number on the scale, I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to be at a healthy body weight. And having lost 70 pounds puts me well on my way to that goal.

Tonight I am going on an adventure to a pumpkin patch with Shawna. Hilarity will most likely ensue. Photos will most definitely follow.

Safety first, my friends.

Here’s a question of the day: where on earth do girls put stuff when their fitness attire lacks pockets? I’ve wondered that for a while actually, as most of my fave workout clothing is without pockets. Also, some of it is four sizes too big because I’m too cheap to frequently invest in clothing that I plan to just sweat in anyway. It’s a sexy look—let me assure you.

Let’s look at a recent day of running: on Saturday I ran 12 miles (oh yeah, I am awesome) and wore socks, running shoes, yoga pants, sports bra, tank top, and a headband. Not a pocket in sight, in other words. Now ideally a girl would also carry with her items such as her id, house keys, a device to play music and ward off boredom, etc, etc. On the longer runs you’re also supposed to take some form of sustenance in order to refuel and avoid death. So where on earth do people expect me to stick these things?

It isn’t just my yoga pants that lack pockets either. I have several other pairs of running/workout pants that are either pocket-free or have one measly pocket that wouldn’t even hold my keys. I know they have things like fuel belts that are basically glorified fanny packs and would probably annoy the holy heck out of me. As such, I have adapted and created a very strange system for things like refueling. I live in a tiny town, right? So it is pretty much void of serial killers and predators other than my neighbor’s evil dog that likes to try to eat me. Also, it is in the middle of nowhere so my routes are somewhat limited unless I decide to run on the highway and that doesn’t seem very safe at all.

My 12-mile route consisted of three four-mile routes in succession. Conveniently, this involved plenty of hills and still kept me close to town where people would find my body if I died. My town is actually small enough that running two miles leaves me outside of town. Sadly, I’m totally not kidding. The solution to the refueling problem led me to leave a bottle of Gatorade and some raisins sitting on the trunk of my car in my driveway—as I ended each four miles I could take a drink and be on my merry way. It works well for me. Also, I amuse old people sitting on their porch if I pass by more than once and they cheer me on.

But where should I put other necessary items? I usually just carry my mp3 player in my hand, as it is tiny and not very annoying, but my house keys? My driver’s license? There’s only one logical place for extraneous items: the sports bra.

I’m sad to admit that I don’t carry my id with me when I run and am very unsafe as a result. Bad, bad Leslie. I also don’t strap reflective tape all over my body and some would lead me to believe that I’ll die if I don’t look like a human traffic cone. With that I will take my chances—come on people, there are like five cars in my town. Luckily I do prefer to lock my house when I’m not there and so my spare house key usually gets shoved down the front of my sports bra.

Imagine my delight when I’m perusing random blogs and come upon a lovely discovery over at Roni’s Weigh: a sports bra with a pocket! The inventor of such a device is my hero. I clicked on the link to the product line and these people are so hardcore that they have all kinds of pocket-friendly items. Obviously I am not the only one with pocket problems. Roni’s giving one away as part of a contest too, so I totally entered. Why not, right? You should all go look at her website, and also at Gracie’s Gear to bask in the wonderfulness that is pockets on your chest.

What do people do when they live in places where it is unsafe to leave stuff sitting on their car or run without id? Should I be concerned about serial killers (and where on earth is a good place to stick some pepper spray)? And seriously, why DO they call it chicken fried steak? I’m still wondering.

I entered the Gracie Gear Giveaway!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.

Experimental Cooking

I just discovered that Cranky Fitness linked to us (woo!) in a post about being healthy while the economy sucks and it reminded me that sometimes people read this little blog… I’m not sure if this should worry me because I do tend to ramble and just type about whatever is on my mind. There’s another tip for surviving the horrible economic times: write a blog—it’s cheaper than therapy.

I noticed yesterday that my cooking habits are very frequently based upon having grown up as white trash. For instance, there is my very favorite method of making soup. It involves taking a pot, throwing in a bunch of vegetables or whatever I need to use, adding liquid, and cooking. I’ve made some delicious soup this way, but I doubt I could repeat them if I tried due to my lack of recipe usage and/or refusal to write things down.

I’m one of those people that doesn’t like recipes. (Interesting fact of the day: the grammar check on my word processing program just tried to convince me that I should be saying “I’m one of those people that don’t like recipes.” Think it wants me to sound as white trash as I am?) Recipes are too constricting. It’s much more fun to just make stuff up as I go—granted this sometimes ends in disaster, but other times it ends in deliciousness. There are some things that I will make in the same basic way each time, but I like the opportunity to vary things just a little. It’s kind of like my grandmother’s recipe for pie crust that my mother has often attempted to teach me (I fail at paying attention, which is why I still couldn’t tell you how she does it). She doesn’t know measurements; she just knows what goes in it.

Yesterday I cooked enough dinners to last me until the end of the month. Seriously, I’m a huge dork. I like to make a bunch of portions of something and then freeze them in individual containers so that when I get home in the evenings I just have to microwave something. It’s like tv dinners (a single person staple) but healthy and much more delicious. Cooking a bajillion dinners at a time really cuts down on my desire to eat takeout. I don’t even have fancy Tupperware because I just use cheap stuff from the dollar store. That’s right, I buy things at the dollar store. Depending on what you buy there, they have some good deals at times. Don’t judge.

The point of this is that I baked a bunch of pork chops and felt like doing something interesting to them. I’m not really sure what you would call them, but it involved olive oil, some Dijon mustard, some garlic… it should be interesting. Again it was the type of cooking that involved me taking stock of ingredients I had in my fridge that needed to be used and voila! Pork chops. I haven’t tried one yet. I guarantee you that I will eat them though, because a girl can’t waste food nowadays.

At the very least, this form of experimental cooking makes eating a surprise, right?

No, I am not pregnant, thank you very much.

I just finished reading this blog post on Elastic Waist, and I think it totally follows Leslie's recent unpleasant moment with her landlady. How are we supposed to respond when others (intentionally or otherwise) make rude comments about about our physical appearance? And furthermore, how can we react when these comments come from someone under three feet tall who still sleeps in footy pajamas?

I haven't had an excessive amount of traumatizing events, but I can recall a few moments vividly. On two occasions I've been watching little toddler girls, and they've deemed it necessary to pet my tummy and congratulate me on the upcoming arrival of the fruit of my womb. Well, maybe in not so many words, but they did point at my stomach and say, "Baby?" These girls mothers were pregnant at the time, so that was quite possibly why they assumed that belly equals baby. Still, I can't blame children for an honest mistake, and this was more of a cold splash of a wake up call for change that I'd like to create in myself.

Another more horrifying event occurred when I was pushing a friend's daughter around WalMart in a shopping cart, and she chose to loudly announce to me and everyone within earshot that I am fat. "You're fat," she repeated several times as she stared into my eyes, and I scanned the aisles for a distraction from her new mantra. "Do you like granola bars?" I asked when my eyes fell upon the boxes. She replied that she did, and I said, "Oh, that's nice" as I continued without giving her any, and searched frantically to return her to her mother. Should I have let my feelings be as hurt as they were by a four year old? What's worse is that I love this kid, and I don't like having this unpleasant moment pop into my head when I think about her. And is she a bully to other little fat girls at preschool?

Children's words are too darn powerful for my liking.

How do you respond to this?

Me: (while helping to move a new stove into my home) Gosh, I'm not particularly strong, am I?

Landlord: Come on, a big ol' husky girl like you?

Me: Haha, you'd think I would be, huh?

...

Seriously, what do you say when called "husky" and should I consider that an insult or a compliment?

The landlord is new and I only met her a few weeks ago, so she only knows me at this size, not the size I used to be. I don't know her well enough to judge whether or not she just says random things like that or if she really thought I was "husky."

Is husky a bad thing? I mean, I wouldn't use husky and the first word to describe myself or anything. But should I be insulted?

I never know when to be offended or when not to be. This is a problem. On a plus note, I got a new stove that actually works and isn't bright yellow.

Random Updates (due to lack of other interesting topics)

I'm still doing the 100 pushup challenge, but I am repeating week two because it seemed unnecessarily difficult. Last night I did 10 without dying and am now moving on to week three as of Sunday.

This weekend my long run is 12 miles! Wooo!!!!! I'm hoping the weather holds out and it is more pleasant this weekend than my 10 mile run in a dust storm last weekend. After this run I get to wind down a little next week and the week after until the half marathon on the 1st. Wish me luck!

So far I haven't missed a day of the Breast Cancer Awareness Fitness Challenge and have managed to surpass the 30 minute goal per day. I'm hoping that post-half marathon it'll motivate me to do 30 minutes per day because right now I'm kind of thinking to myself, "I swear I am doing nothing but napping for a week straight when I'm done with this. That's it, just naps." I think that's just me being tired though.

As for the stupid scale, I haven't weighed myself again since being disappointed by the 154 but it turns out that the day after I weighed in my uterus decided to play tricks on me (I swear my uterus sucker punched my kidney at one point). I'm pretty irregular so I thought it was a safe time to weigh myself, but apparently not. Could explain why it didn't register a weight loss this month... I probably will just not weigh in again until next month anyway, cause it won't be a very big difference anyhow. Then again, curiosity might get the best of me and I'll weigh in next week. We'll see.

I had to spend part of today and will be spending part of Monday at a pumpkin patch for work. Fall is wonderful.

Love Your Body Day

“Love Your Body Day” is today! Who knew? Well, apparently some people did, but I only just now discovered it. I feel we should all celebrate.

This seems like a kickass sort of thing to celebrate, particularly when it is so easy to say negative things about your body instead of positive. Too often a girl is viewed as conceited if she says something positive about her body, but we can all list off things we hate about ourselves. Sure, every woman has fat days or ugly days or “I just want to stay in bed with a pint of ice cream” days, but today should not be any of those!

I wish I weren’t guilty of thinking negatively about my body at times, but I totally am. I’m human, I have days when the scale annoys me or I’m cranky or I have no clean laundry and am left to wear the strangest outfit possible. The strange thing is that it is SO easy to tell others why they are so awesome, so why is it so hard to tell yourself that? One of my best friends and I got into a habit of e-mailing and saying things like, “I feel fat today” or listing things that we felt were wrong, so instead we started saying one thing we liked about ourselves that day or telling each other one good thing about the other person. (We waste a lot of time at work sending silly e-mails to each other. Don’t tell my boss.) And I never notice the flaws that people point out about themselves—usually I just notice how much they rock! That’s the way women should interact both with others and with themselves—instead of focusing on the negative, why not focus on the positive?

Here are five things I love about my body today, in no particular order:
1. It does what I tell it to do. I never thought I would be capable of running even a mile, let alone the 13.1 that I’m preparing to run in a few weeks. Nor did I think I could do a correct pushup or bend in funny ways during yoga. Turns out my body will do what I need; it just has to be properly trained. Kind of like a puppy

2. My curves. I may not be stick thin or even at a healthy body weight, but I like the figure that I have. It’s one that I’ve worked hard to shape and it reminds me that I’m strong. Also, it gives me extra reason to dance around and sing “Bootylicious.” Don’t lie, you’ve all done it.

3. My eyes. They are a feature that people compliment me on the most, for one, and for another they do cool things like sort of change shades of blue depending on what color shirt I’m wearing.

4. My body’s ability to bounce. I’m a very bouncy person. I dance around a lot, I sing, I bump into walls and trip and it doesn’t hurt very badly. Just a few minutes ago I found myself dancing around in my desk chair and singing “Bootylicious.” If I had the type of body that liked to be sedentary, it would be a tragedy. I like that I have energy and my limbs tend to agree.

5. My legs. Hot damn, is running ever good for sculpting your legs. Not only do they look good, but also I like feeling all of the muscles working to propel me forward. When I ran the 10k last month I had the most glorious moment while approaching the finish line—I pushed myself to sprint the last tiny bit of the race and could feel my legs working. Feeling all the muscles contracting and knowing that I was responsible for making them be able to do so was a good moment.

So that’s what I love about my body! I think everyone should leave me a comment describing five things they love about their body. Dooooo it…… You know you’re all sexy beasts, just admit it.

You say potato...

A potato has been lying on the side of the road on one of my frequent running routes for several weeks now. The thing that fascinates me most about this potato is that it still resembles a potato. Seriously, it hasn’t shriveled up or turned a funny color or anything—its just a random potato, hanging out next to a ditch on a country road, exposed to the elements. I tend to have varying reactions toward the potato. For instance, at times I’ll think to myself, “Huh, that’s fascinating, I wonder if it will be here again next time.” Or perhaps: “Screw you, potato, you are disgusting and I am miserable and I can’t believe I’m only to the freaking potato when I feel like I should already be back at my house. Damn.”

I’ve come to realize that while 90 percent of my runs are fantastic there is still that elusive 10 percent that remains miserable and kind of makes me want to die. Thus I take my frustration out on the potato. Throughout this half marathon training there has been the occasional run that I just don’t feel like doing. Maybe I’m tired, or stressed, or its f-ing cold outside. During my 10 mile run last Saturday I spent the entire time waiting for the runner’s high that never arrived and instead clouds of dust blew directly into my face because of a nasty windstorm that only died down once I was done running. I’m hoping it says something about my level of motivation that even when I don’t really feel like running, I know I am capable of it and totally aware that hitting the pavement will benefit me in the long run. That, of course, does not mean that it doesn’t suck.

And then I have days like yesterday when the cold spell died down and it was comfortable enough outside that I could run while wearing capri yoga pants (made of magic… its like running without wearing pants, which is totally preferable) and a t-shirt. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, the sky was bright blue and full of the really pretty puffy clouds that look like cotton balls, I was outside sweating and running five miles like a rockstar. My town is surrounded by mountains and due to the recent onslaught of cold weather they were covered in snow, and let’s face it, mountains look way prettier than normal when covered in snow. Even the uphill portions of my route didn’t damper my mood, and no evil dogs chased me, and I was listening to Kellie Pickler’s new album and thinking, “That’s right, Kellie, once a cheater always a cheater.” Country breakup anthems are seriously the best to run to, I think. During the whole run I just felt good. So good that I even smiled and waved at my evil neighbor because I forgot that I was mad at him (and had to yell at him yesterday even though I’m not a yeller) because it was his evil dog that came close to taking off one of my limbs and it scared the holy hell out of me. He waved back, but didn’t smile, cause he’s creepy and never smiles. Yesterday I found the random potato amusing. It reminded me of why I like running—to feel strong and awesome and healthy and to see interesting things like strange potatoes that don’t ever decompose.

Now I just need to figure out how to turn that 10 percent around so that all my running experiences are so cheerful. Also, I probably won’t be eating potatoes for a really long time.

Eating While Impoverished

I work in a profession that is famous for not paying very well. Sadly, when it comes to eating healthy things the two do not always coincide well. Top Ramen is ridiculously cheap, but not exactly the greatest meal option. I find this unfortunate.

Luckily, I grew up very white trash (even rocking it as trailer trash at one point). This past weekend I finally had to give in and turn the heat on (darn it) which will make my electric bill skyrocket and thus reduce the amount of funds available for things like food or beer or buying unicorns. It’s a sad, sad way to spend the winter. Anyhow, the reason for this post is to share some of my knowledge of how to eat healthy while also spending a little money as possible. My fellow trailer trash would probably concur that it’s possible with a few key items.

Frozen fruits and vegetables: I read somewhere that you should go fresh whenever possible. I say as long as its produce, it can’t be bad for me, right? I hope not. The only thing I’ve bought fresh recently was a bunch of bananas. Oh how I love me some 40 cents per pound produce. Canned works too, in some cases. I have no idea if I’m depriving myself of some type of wonderful nutritious aspects of produce by doing this—but hey, I take vitamins, and I save lots of money.

Lentils: My older sister introduced me to the beauty of lentils. You can buy a little bag for a buck or two, and it goes so very far—plus they are gloriously good for you! Yay lentils! Similar props can be given to rice.

Store brands: I don’t think I’ve bought a non-store brand item in a good long while. It’s the same stuff, different packaging. You can buy the store brand whole wheat bread at Safeway for $1.50 when it is on sale, and the fancy brands can be almost double that at times. Sadly, white bread is often half the price. I do have my standards, however.

Sales and price per unit: I am a big advocate of sales. Also, the most useful thing I learned in elementary school pertains to the price per unit—you know, the little thing in the corner of the price marker that says “$1.99/lb” or “14.5 cents/ounce” or whatever? Pay attention to it. Fifth grade rocked at teaching us stuff like that.

Bulk items and canned food: I try not to buy perishables in bulk because I am only one person and that would be ridiculous. But I recently discovered the beauty of an $11 case of soymilk at Costco and similar glorious bargains. Also, I give a great deal of my money to canned food outlets from time to time in exchange for their metal cylinders of edible awesomeness.

Homemade goodness: This year my mother taught me her wisdom about canning. I’ve helped her many times before, but this was the first attempt at doing it mostly myself. Also, it led to my green beans turning a weird pinkish color. Don’t worry, I am not going to eat them. I’m hoping my next venture ends better—I did can other things this year that didn’t turn pink. Anyhow, besides doing things like growing your own produce and canning it (minus the pinkish color), making food yourself often turns out way cheaper than getting takeout. This constantly saddens me. Also, it leads to experimentation like taking a ton of fresh produce out of my parent’s garden (they spoil me and like to feed me occasionally) and making a variety of soups. There is no recipe involved: just a pot, some veggies or whatever, and tomato sauce and vegetable broth. I literally had about 20 frozen bowls of soup in my freezer that could be easily taken out and eaten for lunch at work. Also, they were full of vegetables and homemade goodness. Sadly, I only have about five left. Note to self: make more soup.

Eating the cheapest produce possible: Cabbage? Good. Bananas? Good. Potatoes? Still have a million from the parent’s garden, but good. Whenever I actually do buy produce that isn’t frozen, I often go for either what is on sale or what is ridiculously cheap. It works well.

Food storage: If you couldn’t guess from the soup project, I also tend to make several portions of something at once and then freeze it for later. I wish I had a larger freezer. Anyhow, it often ends up cheaper doing things this way.

The moral of this story is that it helps to cook your own food and pay attention to what you’re spending. I hope you enjoy some of my white trash wisdom—I’m sure there will be more to follow, but that’s all I can think of right now. For more helpful tips (since the economy sucks and everyone needs to save a few dollars) you can find helpful articles like this one by typing in “eating cheap” on Google. I just discovered that five seconds ago.

Also, it would rock so much if Top Ramen were a vegetable. I’m just saying.

I feel very hypocritical right now.

We all know that I don't believe in letting the number on the scale rule my life--that's the only way I've been able to successfully lose weight without going right back up like I have in the past. Still, I weigh myself every so often cause I like to keep myself in check. Also, I'm a very curious person.

Last time I weighed myself was about a month ago, and I was at 154 for a total loss of 66 pounds. I was perfectly content with this.

Yesterday I ran 10 miles and felt very kickass and awesome. Today I woke up and thought to myself that perhaps a moment with the scale wouldn't be too bad.

I weighed 154.

I'm not going to lie, this totally bummed me out. I have spent the past month eating well, exercising regularly--being healthy in general. And the freaking scale couldn't give me even one pound?!?! I wish that it didn't bother me. Logically, I know that it could be because of water weight, an increase in muscle, that evil thing called my uterus, etc, etc. But it doesn't mean that it wasn't kind of a downer.

The difference between the present and the past is that I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing, cause obviously it got me somewhere. So perhaps I'll let another month go by and see if it gives me a couple pounds. Or maybe I won't. Really if this is where my body decides to stop losing weight and start maintaining, I think I will be fine with that. I like the size I am now. I feel healthy and strong and more confident, which is exactly what I have been trying to achieve.

So I just have to keep telling myself the number doesn't matter, the number doesn't matter.... I really hate that scale and its evil whorish ways. Maybe I should just throw the damn thing away.

Once upon a time...

Shawna and Leslie had a very exciting time and decided to document it with photos in their blog.

You see, though we both live in tiny towns, there is a large town in between us that makes it very convenient to meet up and cause trouble. This weekend there is a film festival in town! And since it was time to pick up our cool teacups that we painted last week, obviously we had to go on a series of adventures.

First, we went to the running store. After that, we picked up our teacups and marveled at their beauty... We're not artists, but at least it was fun. Here is Shawna's teacup which is themed after Pushing Daisies:





Here is my teacup, which is themed after the movie "Superstar" (my all time favorite after Grease 2... my, I have strange tastes) and was finished quickly cause I had to leave before everyone else, so parts of it turned out a little strange:





So what does on do with ceramic teacups? They go next door to the ceramics place and visit people in the Obama headquarters! I bought a button and a bumper sticker, and it was very exciting, and we met a dreamy man when we were asking about volunteering. We didn't realize that to volunteer we just had to go in whenever we had time, so they tried to get us to register voters but we couldn't since we had plans. Oddly enough, a friend from college that just moved to town was in there volunteering and saw us but couldn't say hi cause she was on the phone. We didn't even notice she was there, which tells you how observant we are. Also, that man was really dreamy.

Of course, we had to document this with a photo as well:



I feel that at this point I should mention we were wearing nearly identical coats. You see, last year we went shopping together and bought the same coat on clearance--Shawna bought it in black and I bought it in brown. Until yesterday we had avoided any unfortunate matching experience. Until, that is, Shawna walked out of work and we found ourselves matching. Naturally we decided to roll with it, and proceeded to have many people stare at us, comment on our matchiness, or in the case of a crowd full of young men, drive by and lean out the window pointing. Of course, we had to ask an old man to take a photo of us and our matching coats and a cement man. Notice the couple off to the side staring and wondering about us:



I should also mention that it was freaking COLD yesterday. In fact, shortly after this photo, it began snowing on us. That's right, snowing in October! It was unpleasant. Since we just started the Breast Cancer Awareness Fitness Challenge, Shawna and I then decided to take a lovely stroll around a local park for 30 minutes. I put on my new running shoes to bask in their powers of awesome, and off we went. Here is Shawna demonstrating how freezing cold it was:



And here I am, running maniacally up the path to demonstrate how lovely my shoes are:



Once the path through the park ended, we walked through a glorious neighborhood full of super cute houses like this one:



Isn't the driveway cool? After that adventure, it was time to grab some dinner... and what goes better with fitness than pizza and beer? Okay, probably a lot of things, but we decided to have some delicious veggie pizza accompanied by beer. Also, we gave a slice of pizza to a homeless man and it made us happy cause we looked for a homeless person to give a sandwich to last weekend never found one! After our pizza it was time to get in line for the film festival, and wouldn't you know it, we were first in line! I scared an older man by yelling, "Nice button!!!!" very enthusiastically and pointing at my similar Obama button. He thought I was crazy but really I had a point. At this point we received several comments on our matching coats, including one from a man who said, "You're matching! Bobsey Twins!" We replied, "We're not supposed to be..." and he said, "Oh, but you are!" Ha. I kept feeling a need to explain to people that we weren't supposed to match. Shawna suggested we carry a sign if it happens again, which I think is wise.

Since we were first in line, of course we had someone take a photo... wouldn't you know it, as they were taking it a reporter from the local paper jumped up behind them and started snapping away! I was horrified. You can kind of see the horror on both our faces:



We saw a couple films, and they were good, and then we accompanied some friends to a local brewery where we decided to split a beer sampler. It had small servings of each of the beers they had on tap, and after we tasted each one it seemed logical to spin a salt shaker to see who had to finish each one. Cause why wouldn't you do that?



Lastly, we went to a friend's house and played a game called "Quip It!" which I was horrible at because I can't be witty on demand, usually. A fun and glorious time was had by all!

Adventures at the Running Store

I am afraid of hardcore running people. There is absolutely no reason for this, as I've never had a hardcore running person be anything other than perfectly pleasant to me. At the 10k I ran last month I spoke with a bunch of people who were super friendly and encouraging, and that tends to be the norm. I think its leftover gym class anxiety to think that the really in shape people will mock me. Until yesterday, I had never actually invested in good quality running shoes (let the scolding begin, since I've been running for about a year already).

Luckily I have Shawna to go investigate such places with me! I feel very silly for thinking the running people would look down on me for being a new runner. For one, they like to make money and I was giving them some of mine. Also, most retail people tend to strive towards positive customer service, right? So as we were walking in I was thinking to myself, "This was stupid, you should have bought shoes before. This is not like being 14 and having the mean volleyball team girls laugh at you for sucking at anything athletic. Also, you are hardcore."

So we walk into the running store and are faced with a huge wall of shoes. A guy came over and asked if we needed help (obviously) and I replied that yes, I needed running shoes, and had no idea what I needed or should be looking for. So he had me slip off my shoes and parade up and down the store a few times with my pant legs rolled up so he could see how I walked. Also, I learned that sarcasm is not appropriate in such situations: I told him I had been running with a pair of bargain clearance shoes and they were causing me pain and suffering. This made Running Store Guy say, "What kind of pain and suffering? Are there any sports injuries we should be looking out for?" Um, no, Running Store Guy, I was just being dramatic and my shoes suck.

The (very pleasant) Running Store Guy measured my feet on a fancy foot measuring thing and brought out two pairs of shoes for me to try. He told me I have very normal feet, which is promising, cause I figure at least part of me should act normally, right? Both pairs of shoes were pretty glorious, and only had a price difference of $5, so I tried both on and walked around the store a couple times. Shawna weighed in on which pair was cutest (always important) and then Running Store Guy told me I could test them out on the treadmill in their store!

What? A treadmill? At the time I had on one of each shoe (it was a very good look for me) and Shawna tried to get me to run like that, but I thought that might lead to me falling on my face. Really, this experience could have led to that anyhow because this was actually my first time on a treadmill... EVER.

I started out running outside and have kept on running outside. It's free! I am very white trash and so free is always good. But I didn't want to buy a pair of really expensive shoes without trying them out. (They were actually $95, which is pretty moderately priced, but still a large chunk of change for someone who has been running in $15 shoes. Still, I expected to spend that much so that's cool). So over to the treadmill I went.

Sadly, I can't even lie when I tell you that my logic of how to act on a treadmill comes from watching The Biggest Loser. You know how they straddle it and stand on the unmoving part while talking to Jillian about their feelings? (Love her. She has fabulous hair, too.) So of course I straddle the treadmill and say, "Um... Shawna come help me work this." Conveniently, Running Store Guy was there to help me out. He turned it on and had me start walking, and then put me at a slow jog. Now this is the point when things got interesting--I was not wearing the most supportive of bras. My bra size has changed but as I said I'm cheap and am just rolling with what I already have. Also, my pants were too big and I was not wearing a belt. I realize now that this was a mistake because as I was jogging along on the treadmill, I could feel my pants start to go lower... and lower... and lower... and the girls starting to bounce in attempt to dislodge themselves from their cotton prison. You can kind of see the sagging of my pants in the following photo, wherein I look really cool cause Shawna's camera phone made my feet really blurry and it makes it look like I'm oh so fast.



I should mention that Shawna was totally sitting there taking pictures and laughing at me, as any good friend should. Meanwhile I'm running along thinking, "Don't fall down pants, don't fall down. Oh this is going to end so inappropriately!" Now here is the tricky part. How does one stop on a treadmill? I didn't know! On the Biggest Loser they just fall on their face and Jillian yells at them. What was I going to do? My logic was totally skewed cause I was focusing on not making a public appearance with any scandalous body parts. So naturally I decide to just jump off and straddle it by standing on the stationary parts. This worked well, except for the moment when I almost fell on my face. I'm pretty sure no one noticed that part, cause I was busy distracting them by saying something like, "Oh crap, I don't know how to stop!" Running Store Guy came over and said, "Um, you can just hit stop." You know, the big, red button right in front of me? Oh yeah. I'm cool.

Here is a picture of me doing something, and what I think might be Running Store Guy in a blur behind me:



Here is another picture of me, looking concentrated? I am not sure, but I thought I would share it:



Next Shawna and I explored the running gadgetry for awhile (but didn't buy anything else) and then I paid for my awesome shoes and it was done! Not traumatic at all! Well, I did kind of look like a dork on the treadmill, but I figure I can't be the first to have done that. My shoes are really cool, and they make my feet happy, and I am going to try them out by going for a run later!

I'm in love with a headband.

I have a lot of hair. You can't really tell in that photo, but it is very big and unruly a lot of the time. Thus my search for the perfect headband.

You see, when I put my hair in a ponytail or a bun or what have you, it rarely decides to stay put. There will be a chunk here and there that insists on breaking free and flying in my eyes or my mouth or up my nose (seriously, I have rebellious hair). Basically, it drives me nuts. On any given day it will decide to be curly or straight or both, and its very unpredictable and hard to guess which way things will go. It has a life of its own.

I have tried every headband imaginable to control it while I'm working out. Nothing works. The problem is that I also have kind of a strange shaped head--so headbands either slip off or don't fit correctly... I've tried the sport kind with the rubber gripping things, the elastic kind, blah blah blah. The hair continues to escape and taunt me. It has led to some very unpleasant experiences: the most memorable involved me putting my mp3 player in my sports bra for a minute (it had been in my hand) while trying to re-establish a ponytail. The mp3 player fell, I tried to catch it, my hair flew everywhere, and I'm not entirely sure how but I ended up flashing my saggy, loose belly skin at cars driving past me on the highway cause my shirt flipped up. I'm sure they enjoyed it. I have since discovered that it is easier to bite the mp3 player while fixing the ponytail issues... I'm sure that's entirely unsanitary, but oh well.

Anyhow, I'm constantly on the lookout for something that might keep the hair from attacking me (so far the best solution was bobby pins, but it even escapes those). I can't for the life of me remember where I read out them, but I discovered the Bondi Band and bought one to try out.

If you're shocked that I spent $8 on a headband, that might clue you into exactly how ridiculous my hair is. Yes, it drives me that nuts to have it in my face. Anyhow, it arrived yesterday and I wore it while running... and holy crap, I dig it!

It didn't move the entire time I was running! How is that possible??? It's magic. I'm pretty sure. You should all go buy one and celebrate the glory. I don't care how dorky I look, I am in love with my magical spandex headband. And no, the company isn't paying me to endorse their product, I just really really like it and wanted to share in case anyone else has crazy unruly hair. (If you do, we should be best friends!)

You should see my hair today! I think it is trying to take over the world...

My dog and I are so freaking hardcore. Jealous?

I just walked Beesly in a blizzard for 25 minutes, bitches. That definitely makes me hardcore. How did this come about, you ask? I procrastinated on doing my day 2 activity for the challenge, and so when the sun was in its deep setting stage I thought I'd better get out the door. And, of course, one minute later it started snowing on my poor dog and me. Does this remind you of a recent running incident? I swear, this town has the craziest weather, and I'm convinced it has it in for me. Farewell, sweet Fall. Winter has bitch-slapped you into submittal.

I'm very excited, because THE OFFICE IS ON TONIGHT! I'm going to use my dorky JumpSnap during the commercial breaks to reach the 30 minutes and beyond. I bet you'd all love a delightful picture of this fiasco, wouldn't you? Too bad.

I was also productive today by purchasing a bumblebee Halloween costume at Target for Beesly, so I think that makes me the best dog owner ever. After MUCH struggle I finally got the costume on him, and he was so angry but so stinking cute I couldn't care less.

Pink Spandex

You might notice that Shawna and I changed the name of our blog (the address will url will remain the same cause I'm lazy). It came about due to Shawna's discovery of 80's themed aerobics classes (must go) and her comment that pink spandex is pretty awesome.

I find this name particularly appropriate due to my own history with pink spandex... Oh yes, there was a dance performance to the song "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men in my 4th grade talent show whilst wearing pink tie-dye spandex shorts. I was a member of a four-person group, and boy did we rock. Sadly, about 7 other dance groups also decided to dance to the very same song. It must have been terribly boring for all of our audience members.

I won't talk about the pink spandex tiger print outfit (two pieces) that I bought at a yard sale for 10 cents in my early years. Some memories should really be forgotten.

Today was a good day.

Today I woke up to a frosty morning and burning, sleepy eyes thinking that I would feel like death the entire day. This lack of sleep was due to the fact that I stayed up until 2am watching old episodes "Ugly Betty" on my computer, because I am such a winner. P.S. Betty and Henry scenes break my heart.

I showered and called Leslie to ask if I could put my Slim-Fast powder in coffee instead of milk and she thought that was fine. Turns out it definitely did work and held me over till lunch! Wahoo for caffeine and breakfast in one delicious mocha shape!

During my break at work I decided to kick start day one of the Breast Cancer Awareness 30 Minutes Challenge that Leslie and I are taking on. I went for a walk in the park and saw children skateboarding, dogs peeing, and ducks showing off their butts. Here is said duck butt:



It was an enjoyable way to spend time in the brisk Fall weather, and I found new paths to take next time! I also took a very slow stroll with my dog, Beesly, this evening and he miraculously did not decide to eat poop or roll around on dead frogs as per his usual tradition. But he did get afraid of big dogs who barked at him, and we ran back home in defense of our lives. Here is my pre-frightened scaredy dog:



I feel very good about walking around and enjoying the weather. This is my faaaaavorite season of all, and I will most definitely miss it when it's gone. Bike riding through my neighborhood tomorrow? I think that's a good plan.

If you want to be happy go read this past Elastic Waist post. I get giddy whenever I take a gander at it.

Useful running links...

In case anyone is curious as to what the heck I am talking about when I reference the Couch to 5K plan, you can read about it here.

My older sister first introduced me to it, and I pretty much think it rocks. From there I went on to slowly increase my mileage while training for a 10k, much like the plan you see here, and now I'm using Hal Hidon's half marathon training plan.

I like the Hal Higdon plans because they aren't too extreme and they are specifically geared to beginning runners. Also, I kind of modify them to fit my schedule--like I do my long run on Saturday and shorter training runs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and he has them on some other days. But the plans seem to be rather adaptable.

As you can tell by this and the hundred pushups thing, I like schedules to tell me what I should be doing. Basically, all of what I have been doing in order to become a runner has been slow and steady. Do you think that means I'll ever win a race?

Progress and Motivation

We made it to yoga successfully today. It was actually a really nice class—conveniently they have yoga classes for free near our office every Wednesday, so my coworker and I will definitely be going back. My prior yoga experience involved a class with a crazy woman who made us do sun salutations in rapid succession while making strange growling/breathing noises. It tended to leave me stressed out rather than relaxed, so I was quite happy to discover that these classes left me feeling very well stretched and content while still feeling very productive.

Shawna and I are going to be completing the Breast Cancer Awareness 30 Minute Challenge through Elastic Waist—woo hoo! I keep trying to recruit people to do it with me… I may have one follower so far. Also, I know I have at least two people who are doing the Hundred Pushup Challenge.

Speaking of which, pushups are hard. I may need to repeat week two because the seven required pushups at the end of my pushups last night were crazy hard. I’m doing real pushups rather than girly pushups and I think that may have been too ambitious. We shall see! Regardless, I DID do seven pushups in succession and when I started this I could only do five, so that’s progress, right?

Half marathon training continues to be difficult. A lot of that is due to the fact that its getting crazy cold outside already, but luckily yesterday I discovered a wonderful secret: two sports bras at once. The girls had been having some warmth issues. Earlier today I mentioned to a friend that half marathon training kind of makes me want to die sometimes (I didn’t mean that as a bad thing, as when I describe something as “making me want to die” it generally means that it’s crazy hard and therefore leaves me feeling very fulfilled when I’m done) and she made a comment that perhaps buying new running shoes would motivate me. I was surprised, and didn’t know how to respond, because I don’t think I lack motivation at all. It left me wondering, do my self-deprecating comments make it seem that way? Does something else about me make it seem like I’m not motivated?

I had a conversation about running with Shawna the other day when I told her that running made me want to die all the time when I first started—that’s kind of why I liked it, cause I figure it at least gave me a chance to celebrate each time that I completed a run and was still alive. I still get that feeling of happiness to be finished, but now I don’t find running as painful while it is in progress. The first mile or two is always the worst, and after that I tend to find it relaxing and even, dare I say it, enjoyable at times. Sure, it is challenging, but I’ve reached the point of finding pleasure and enjoyment in running about 90 percent of the time. The remaining 10 percent is reserved for runs where I am just miserable because sometimes that happens regardless of how much ass I kick. Usually on Mondays.

So, sure, half marathon training sometimes makes me want to die. It’s hard to increase my endurance and complete the necessary running each week. Sometimes it makes me sore and tired and cold and cranky. But if I lacked motivation, wouldn’t it keep me from putting my sneakers on and getting my butt out the door? Isn’t it the most difficult things in life that prove most worthwhile?

Perhaps what I should learn from this conversation is to quit whining. Pshaw, what's the fun in that?

I seem to lack dedication...

Me to Coworker: I think I should try to abstain from diet coke for a month. Seriously, I think I have a problem. Also, from having outbursts of rage. That’s a good plan—no diet coke and no rage for one month.

Five minutes later…

Coworker: (mentions so-and-so)
Me: He’s such a douchebag. Oh my gosh, I really hate him right now. (pause) Dude, I just failed so badly. That was literally a few minutes into my month of no rage and I had an outburst of rage just cause you mentioned his name. But I’m still going to give up diet coke!

I swear I’m not an angry person, there are only about three people in the world who bring that out in me. Haha.

Tomorrow… adventures in yoga! Assuming the class isn’t cancelled again.

Also, holy crap, I am excited that this blog was linked from Back in Skinny Jeans partly just cause I love that blog, and also cause we had the first ever comment on here today from someone other than people I know. Hurray!

Gosh darn it.

I recently had to retire my $15 running shoes that I bought on sale at Target. I'd had them all summer, and before them I had been using a pair that I have had for quite awhile but had never seen any running. Over the summer I grew quite fond of my $15 shoes--they went from pristine to completely filthy and it made me feel quite accomplished. They even have some blood on them because I forgot to clip my toenails before the 10k (they were painted a glorious plum shade, you would have been too distracted by their beauty to remember as well). It made me feel very hardcore to have shoes that look so well worn.

But they had gone too many miles. So starting last week I began using a pair that I bought on clearance at a sporting goods store for $20. Sadly, I do not think this is as glorious a clearance find as the Target shoes.

I can't figure out if its just a slight increase in mileage each week, or if it is the shoes, but I am having tiny aches and pains that I didn't have before. Namely in the arch of my foot, which leads me to believe I am not getting proper arch support. I would rather discover this before I injure myself, naturally, but it is still sad that I haven't bonded with these cheap shoes like I did with the last pair.

I'm pretty sure this means I have to go to a real, honest to goodness, hardcore running store and get fitted for proper shoes. This is both sad because I am poverty stricken and scary because I still feel like a non-runner in the running world.

Also, I feel that running in the rain does make Shawna very hardcore. I am impressed. And can we please re-enact that commercial and make a video of our hardcore awesomeness?