Day: January 3, 2016

Snow started falling unexpectedly today. They were big, fat flakes and they suddenly filled the sky; it was poetic, on the last day of Winter Break. We decided to embrace the moment and play in the snow while it fell since it seemed to melt as soon as it hit the ground. A hike at St. Edward Park seemed in order, so we got dressed in running gear for a cold, cold day. As soon as we stepped outside, Gigi and I took off down the trail in an attempt to keep warm. The boys huffed behind us, and we joined up again once we got to the lake. The snow fell the entire time we hiked and it was just gorgeous. Magical. Going out into the cold today was not my number one plan, compared to sipping tea, fireside, with a book, why would you pick the frigid, wet cold? But it was totally worth it, if only for that satisfying sizzle on my cold skin as I got into the hot tub! That hike through the cold and snow was freezing-cold-fingertips-red-nose-snow-in-the-eye living, today. Without it I wouldn’t have learned how very excited Gigi is about all the official races we have planned. I wouldn’t have realized how dedicated she is to being a runner and marathoner in the near future. Thank you to the fat, magical snowflakes, thank you to green, muddy St. Ed’s for a fantastic trail, and thank you hot tub for warming my icy buns after!

The Run the Year things has been mind blowing so far. I know I’m only three days into it, so motivation is high, but I am super dedicated so far. Like, in an unexpected way. The last three nights I’ve gotten a little obsessed with seeing how fast I can run certain distances around my kitchen island. Last night I managed to run a 5k, in my house, in my kitchen starting at 8:40 and finishing up 40 minutes later. It reminded me a lot of how I run the pool laps in the summer to catch some cooler cardio during the hot days. Except this I can do in my house, while my family is reading, playing games or watching tv. I’m in the thick of their activity and conversation.  

 Truthfully though, I have to be honest and admit that I have a really hard time sitting still for long. Especially for kid movies or other television content that I’m not into. Anyone who spends time at staff meetings with me knows that I’m rarely sitting down, anyhow. I stand, march in place, wobble and pace. If I don’t keep my body busy I start getting really goofy and shouting out jokes, interrupting and it just lengthens any meeting. But at home I get fidgety and then I start riling everyone up by tickling, zerberting and otherwise distracting and antagonizing the children in that rough housing kind of way that one parent in the pair is usually especially good at. I still do the wrestling thing, but I’ve also added night-kitchen running to my mix and I love it. There’s a kind of meditative trance that sort of happens. I can almost close my eyes as I circle around and around with every 15 step circle, and since I don’t have to pay attention to traffic or anything I just meditate, drift and daydream by the light of the Christmas tree (that I just negotiated an extra week in the house for this exact purpose). It’s the most relaxing way to get my steps and bonus cardio. The result is that I’ve been hitting around 14,000 steps per day! I’m so proud! I hope I can sustain my drive and interest in doing this. Just belonging to the Facebook community for Run the Year has been influential. There is a constant stream of people posting a selfie and description of the run or walk they just completed to the public page. Talk about motivating! The constant positivity just drives the enthusiasm! I’m so glad I joined this challenge and community! If you’re interested, it’s not too late to start (you can find the link in the next post). You can sign up all the way into 2016’s fall. 🙂

I’m overdue in sharing my resolutions for 2016, due to slothful New Year’s Day recovery in the couch, in the bed, on the floor and, actually, on the treadmill and running circles around my kitchen island, but we’ll get to that later.  What is certain is that I didn’t prioritize writing, and today I’m determined to do so.

1. I will take 10,000 steps per day, every day, on average throughout the year until I reach or exceed my goal of 2016 miles ambulated in 2016.  Indeed, I signed up for Run the Year as a means to support this end.  As I looked back over 2015, while I did a better job of taking more steps, I’m not nearly as consistent as I’d like to think I am at meeting this goal.  This year will be different. 
2. I would like to be in solid enough condition to run at least two half marathons this year.  Maybe three.  I am hoping to run the Snohomish Women’s half marathon on Mother’s Day this year.  Unlike my previous half marathon, I would like to have several consistent, long runs under my belt that exceed eight miles.  When I ran the River Run in October, the furthest distance I had ever run was eight miles.  Once.  Before that it was six miles.  I wasn’t ready at all for that race and I’m impressed that I did as well as I did.  To support my goal of a half marathon, I have signed up for a 10K (6 mile) run on Valentine’s Day called ‘My Better Half-Marathon, and three weeks later on March 6th, I’m running a 15K (9 mile) called the Hot Chocolate Run.  With consistency after that, I have over a month to run myself into readiness for the next half marathon.  Then I want to do the Beat the Blerch half marathon in September with Gigi.
3. I would like to weigh 170.  I’ll be honest.  This used to be a vanity number and, while I kept it in front of me as a goal, it wasn’t a real goal.  More like an ‘if I really want to push myself’ goal.  But I read an article recently that proposed that even if you’re chubby and work out, you’re not lengthening your life more than you would if you just stayed chubby.  According to this article, which was a decades long study of over a million people, it really is a numbers game.  The closer you are to your ideal weight while exercising nets the best results of a longer, healthier life.  According to the doctor’s chart, I exit ‘overweight’ and become ‘normal’ at 170.  I’d like to give that a try.
4. I want to integrate weights into my workout routines more often.  During break, I’ve given myself about 15 minutes three times a week to pull some weights and it seems totally doable.  🙂
5. A friend of mine passed away on Christmas Eve.  It was a savage and swift cancer attack that left everyone gasping at how quickly it moved and left two daughters and a wife alone in its wake.  Throughout the clinics, the chemo, the rallies and falters the family echoed the refrain that: No matter how good or bad you think life is, wake up each day and be thankful for that life.  Someone, somewhere else, is fighting to survive.  I think about it all the time.  One of my resolutions is to remember that no matter what, this world is a beautiful place to walk through and this life is a gift.  Each day needs to be lived with the honor and respect that it deserves, and if someone else can’t, then I need to do that for them.  I’m living my best life this year, in honor of this friend and the family he left behind.

  
This next part is me being a little more bossy pants than I usually feel comfortable with, but it’s something I see and hear a lot about.  I hear a lot of people feeling like they’re stagnating.  Or even more challenging, I see people stagnate who don’t realize they have stagnated in their fitness routine and they complain to me about not making progress.  Stagnating looks like:

• Still walking the exact same mileage in the exact same amount of time several weeks, months or a year later.  If you started out walking a 16 minute mile last January, your mile should probably be a little faster now.  Or you should be walking a little further.  
• If that same distance or effort doesn’t make you get out of breath or sweaty, you need to go faster or farther.  If you’re not sweating and breathing hard, it’s not cardio.
• Taking breaks out of fear more than necessity.  If you’re running along and know you always stop at a mile because you get tired and you’re looking forward to the break, ask yourself if you really need to stop.  If you’ve been running that mile or two or three for a few weeks or more, most likely your body is ready for you to push a little further.  Try adding another minute, or half mile, or to the next stop sign, or whatever deal you have to broker with yourself to make yourself go a little faster or a little further.  Take baby steps, but push yourself just enough to get that great burn and confidence boost.
• You give up the second you get out of breath or sweaty.  Cardio is sustained out of breath, heavy breathing, getting sweaty for a long time.  I like to sweat for at least 40 minutes.  More if it’s something fun like Zumba or another novel activity.  I sweat through my clothes, especially under my boobs, on my back, and I wear black pants because butt sweat is my own personal reality.  I used to feel so humiliated if I got sweaty or red or out of breath, but, HELLO!  That’s what it looks like when you work out!  You sweat, breathe heavy and pull lots of air for a long time!  It’s a good thing!  Embrace it!

We are all guilty of it, and there’s nothing wrong with taking a workout easy from time to time, but if you’re truly honest then you’ll remember that results and change come from honest to goodness hard work and energy output.  Fitness isn’t medicated, it can’t be faked and while being thinner certainly has been nice for me, being fit has changed my life.  It’s always worth pushing a little bit harder in this area, within reason, in my opinion.  So if you’re stopped, if you’ve stagnated, be honest with yourself when you ask yourself why you’re stagnating. I was surprised that my why was a fear of failure and assumption that I just couldn’t do it.  It was better to stop myself than suffer the humiliation of being forced to stop, apparently.  I would freak out at three miles, inducing an asthma attack without failure, time and again.  I thought it was a signal from my body, but one time I accidentally ran right past three miles without noticing and it seemed to change everything.  Give it a try. 😊