I’m Worth It

On Friday I put Fifth Harmony’s song ‘Worth It’ on, on accident, for just a moment, while my second graders were playing four corners and they about hit the ceiling.  “How do you know this song, Mrs. Littlejohn?  After just that beginning horns part, they all broke into song, even though the music was off by then.  Clearly, they knew this one!  Then I had to show off and played a whole bunch of other stuff, instead, from popular kids movies.  Yup, thanks to hip-hop-booty-camp, I have a lot of music that is definitely outside of what would be considered appropriate for my 42 year-old self.  But I’m worth it.  Lol!  

  
I had planned on running seven miles this week and going to two classes, but there’s something about this autumn that seems to be sucking up any spare minutes I find lately.  This time I did make it to Zumba, but not boot camp (my own two kiddos were leaving for the weekend, so I hurried home to kiss them goodbye).  I did run, but didn’t run seven or more miles.  I ran just around six.  Once again, however, I find myself alarmingly chill about the whole thing.  I’m dropping pounds pretty well and when I do work out I’m handling it with ease.  My fitness and nutrition seem to be functioning in a pleasing way for now, so why mess with a good thing?  And, really, I ran on Friday, Sunday (which counted for last week’s numbers), zumba’d tuesday, ran Wednesday, hiked Saturday and ran Sunday.  Just because I didn’t run all of those miles doesn’t mean I didn’t still work out.  And hiking at St. Edward, which is where we went, is really a trail run on the flats and downs and I huff it up the other side.  It’s an intense workout.  I think I just effectively talked myself out of browbeating myself for failing to meet my goal.  Lol.  I’m not editing that away because it was kind of fun to write that.  😜

  
Last year I avoided the weather a lot.  When spring, then summer came and I continued to complain about first the rain, then the heat, I realized that weather was becoming an excuse for me not to go out and run.  When I first started running, nothing would or could stop me.  I ran alone, in the dark, in any kind of weather.  I ran on vacation, at the beach, at hotels, on treadmills- I didn’t care.  I just knew I had to do it so I got it done.  After that first, big chunk of my weight was lost, I kind of let myself have more excuses about weather.  And being tired.  And whatever else.  My training stagnated and so did my weightloss.  Zumba was good for me.  It woke me back up and I started seeing changes again.  It made me want to push myself harder and try things I didn’t think I could do.  So I did the Beat the Blerch 10K this fall and three weeks later, the Snohomish River Run half marathon.  I know I can do better for myself.  I know I can be more.

  • I read in The Oatmeal’s The Reasons Why I Run Long Distances that whenever it occurs to you to go for a run, do it.  Immediately.  Go get your shoes on and go.  Now.  Otherwise you’ll think of a million reasons not to go.  So I’m trying to do that.  
  • I ran a half marathon without stopping.  13.1 miles, without stopping.  I realized that anything up to ten miles is (almost) a breeze, so I need to be running further distances a bit more.  And if I’m running further distances more often, the thought of doing a Ragnar starts to gnaw on me.  While I don’t have a full marathon in my sights, I could see participating in a relay with one or more legs.  While I’ve always said that’s crazy, sometimes crazy starts to sound good.  I’ve been asked to join teams several times but I’ve always said no.  That I’m not ready.  Maybe I am, now. 
  •  I saw a meme that said all weather is good running weather, and I thought, “Isn’t that the truth?”  So I decided it is thus, with the exception of ice or snow or extreme cold.  I’ll run in my garage in those instances, but I will run in the rain and in the dark on safe roads with safety gear.  This weekend it was pouring miserably, almost without stopping, and I went out in it.  I ended up feeling alive and invigorated, fully reconnected to my memory of loving to run in the rain!
  • Someone posted that she had made her goal of walking or running 2015 miles in 2015 on Facebook today and I got really excited.  I looked it up and I think I’m making it a goal of mine for 2016.  Basically it just means I will have to really get my 10,000 steps per day, which equates to almost five miles per day, but that’s one of my ‘rules’!  I should be doing that anyways!  Here’s the link if you want to do it too: Run the Year.
  • I realized that short term goals don’t drive me as much as they used to.  I used to need them as motivation to keep on track, but something seems to have happened in my brain and I actually make healthy choices that are habits, now, without needing as many reminders.  I don’t need to force my hand as much, so to speak.  
  • That said…  I do have to be careful with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up.  After my Halloween candy success I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll be able to enjoy myself without being excessive.  This will be the year of the win!  I won’t have to lose 20 pounds of holiday pudge- I’ll just lose the 20 pounds I’m always, somehow, able to lose in January and will finally be close to my goal of 170!!!  Fingers crossed!  Determination ready!

Oh- and to end my week I lost my toenail, at last.  And I weighed in at 196!  I have pictures of both, but after a lot of thought I decided that you didn’t need to see the ‘after’ picture of when my toenail came off and me holding the little, fallen nail next to it.  Shiver.  Nor would you probably want to see the picture of my feet, the next day, on the scale with said toenail missing.  Socks, Tamara!  Put on some socks!  But, yeah, 196!  It’s happening!!!!

3 Comments

  1. Oh my goodness! If you do a Ragnar, I want in!!!! I’ve been playing with the idea of signing up for one for a while but I don’t want to just be randomly assigned to a team without any idea who anyone is. Do you have any ideas about which one you’d do?

  2. Sara

    It’s always inspiring and uplifting to read your posts, Tami. I’m truly grateful to know you! Good job on your success and dedication, and sharing your story. Love you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *