Raleigh people, name this famous spot, which floods at least once each year.
fitness
My year of running. #runchat #run
I cannot believe that we’re approaching the end of the year. I don’t know where the year went, but I feel so hashtag blessed that I’m still here. It has been an absolutely beautiful year. I’ve experienced a ton – good and bad, but I’m excited to see what 2014 in store for me and my family.
I stole this fun idea to sum up my year of running from Miss Zippy, and I encourage you guys to go ahead and steal it from me now! I’m nosy as hell, so I’d really like to know about your year – and I’ll post this to my Facebook status so some of you guys can play, and I’ll pull some of your comments into my blog.
What was your:
- Best race experience? Hands down, my best race experience this year was the Nike Women’s Half Marathon, which I blogged about back in April. The race itself was awesome. The weather was beautiful, the terrain was flat, and it was just incredibly well-organized, and I feel super lucky, because for the second year in a row, I won my lottery entrance into the race. Eep! Additionally, I am so enamored of Washington, D.C., and spending the weekend there with good friends made the weekend super duper enjoyable. Now I hope this year my ENTIRE name makes it onto the wall of race participant names they plaster the street with in Georgetown. ‘Member this?
- Best run? I need to choose a few. One of my best runs was in Asheville, the weekend of Alexa’s bacherlorette party up in Asheville….
And this view of the river we stayed along…
And I’d have to say my second favorite best run was a run I did with my brother the day after Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. It was just fun to work out with a member of my family who kicked my butt. It’s also so nice to talk to that kid, who’s really impressed me with how he’s matured in the past year. Kid gets up at 3:45 to go to swim practice, and still manages to make it to school each day. Like – bye. Amazing.
- Best new piece of gear? Geez, that’s hard. I have a lot of good stuff. But I think my favorite piece that I’ve acquired this year would either be my Glycerin 11s, cause that shoe update was so sweet, or this purple Moving Comfort full-zip that work gave us at the company holiday party. I have a problem staying warm, so the fact this jacket can stand up to some of the ungodly temps we’ve had lately around here in the mornings says a lot to me.
- Best piece of running advice you received? Put one foot in front of the other. A co-worker told me this as I was training for Shamrock in March, and that’s really all you can do, in racing, and in life. When a race becomes challenging or miserable, you have to tell yourself to place one foot in front of the other. There’s simply not another option.
- Most inspirational runner? I cannot pick just one, because working with runners, I am so inspired by my coworkers. Jenny, who I ran Shamrock with, was a mother, a wife, and still found time to run that full with me. Kerri teachers a full yoga course load, works, and trained hard and well enough to qualify for Boston. Kerry runs a big race a month. Fast. Shelly is pregnant and still running. I could go on and on and on, but you get it. My coworkers rock, and when I don’t feel like working at my running, I think of them, and I usually can muster up enough to get moving.
- If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Be present. Don’t let worry or anxiety steal your happiness.
Now it’s your turn – fill me in in the comments, on your blog, on my Facebook, or Tweet me little tidbits!
Chad Stafko, you are obnoxious.
Chad Stafko wrote this delightful little gem of an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, entitled, “Ok, You’re a Runner. Get Over It”.
And by delightful, I mean totally obnoxious.
He expressed his irritation in the rise of people participating in the sport of running, and most specifically, with those 26.2 stickers you see on folks’ cars, which you affix to the bumper once you’ve completed a full marathon.
He theorizes that runners run only for attention, they run for the selfies, they run for the glory, and they don their gear so that people in society can identify them as runners.
There are folks that do everything for the attention that it will get them. They like attention. And there’s nothing the matter with that.
But to suggest that runners, and more specifically, marathoners do it for the attention, is just ludicrous. I began running after I lost the almost 30 pounds that had crept on throughout college, and after I’d exhausted every other machine in the gym, taken every class there was to take, and I was looking for a means to maintain a healthy weight without boring myself to tears.
I’d read an article in Fitness Magazine, where Jillian Michaels was asked this question.
“What one thing do you never skip in your workout?
This is ironic. As much as I hate it, I run every time, like three miles. It makes you skinny, that’s why. It works.”
So I set out to run at least three miles a day to maintain my weight and the muscle I’d begun to build.
And then I ran a little further.
And next thing I knew, I’d signed up for a marathon, and was chugging along in the wind, wondering what in god’s name I’d been thinking of when I’d signed up.
I run because:
- It helps me maintain a healthy weight.
- It’s cheap (relatively speaking). It’s a little cheaper for me because I work in the best place ever, a Fleet Feet, where I have a lot of resources at my disposal.
- You never “master” running. It’s always a challenge. There’s always something you can do better, you can always run a little faster or a little harder. One day you’ll have a crappy run, another you’ll have a great one. That’s cool.
- The friendships that you form. At last week’s Jingle Ball, a Raleigh event, the room was full of runners, people from my run club, good people who care about others.
- It makes me feel pretty. It makes me feel strong, pretty, and tall.
No nowhere on that list did I mention that I like to be seen. Like I love the bragging rights. That I wear the bright colors for the attention (I just happen to like bright colors, and they keep me from getting hit by a car especially during the winter months, when it’s dark for half the day). I’ve purchased a 26.2 sticker, but I bought a new car soon after I finished my first marathon, so it never made it to my car. I talk about fitness a lot because it changed my life. But because I can be seen? Because of the bragging rights? Nope, I worked. WE work for that sticker. And if we do put it on our cars, it’s not a bragging thing, it’s to identify our brother’s and sisters in 26.2.
Okay dolls, rant completely over. I love you.
Check out my new running threads that I wear for attention!
This was our holiday gift we received from our lovely bosses form Fleet Feet, the Moving Comfort Foxie full-zip. It’s gorgeous, has HUGE pockets, they got them embroidered for us, and I ran in it on Saturday – it’s toasty too!
So whenever I’m seeking my much-needed attention and validation from others, I’ll pop this bad boy on, and hit a public venue, where people can ooh and ahh over me. Right, Chad Stafko?
Shape Mags Cover Girl!
Happy 26th to me! I survived the weekend, managed to steal away for a birthday run, and I was beyond delighted to see who December’s Shape Magazine’s cover girl was.
Presenting….
Mary J. Blige! First off, I’m glad she seems to be rebounding well from this…
But seriously, I am so happy to see some diversity on the cover – not just racially, but she’s not a fitness model, she’s over 40, she’s black, and she takes care of her temple. If that isn’t inspiration, I don’t know what is. From crispy chicken to that hot bod, I will be running an extra mile and lifting a little extra weight this weight in Queen Mary’s honor.
I overdid it. Now what?
I celebrated Elon University’s Homecoming this past weekend. Elon is many things. It’s beautiful, stunningly beautiful. The student body is smart, attractive, and critical thinkers. And…we know how to throw a party. I’m not really going to get into what all I ate/drank yesterday, but suffice it to say, it was off my normal nutritional path.
So, with the holidays approaching, it may happen. To me, to you, we may overindulge in drinks, food, and feel terrible about ourselves for the rest of the day. So what do we do when we overindulge? With the help of our friend, hot mom, Maria Kang, I’ve compiled a few tips to help you beat after-overdoing it despair. Not that I’d know…
- If you can, make a plan so that you don’t actually overdo it. Two Thanksgivings ago, my sister made an amazing pumpkin pie. I ate SO much pie, that I felt sick for like two days after. If I’d approached that meal a little more reasonably (like only had a teeny bit of everything), I probably would have saved myself a ton of grief. Plan. Plan. Plan.
So you’ve actually overdone it, and you feel like you need to be rolled to you car…
- Don’t do this. “Well the day’s already gone to hell, might as well eat everything in sight.” Don’t starve yourself either, though. Take it one meal at a time. And your next meal? It might not be a bad idea to eat something nice and light, so at the very least, you don’t feel like crap the next day. A salad, some veggies, just something that won’t make you feel like you’ve compounded your issues.
- Drink water. For me, it feels like the water flushes out some of the nasty you’ve had. If you’ve had a meal high in sodium or fat in particular, this tip works wonders.
- Work out! This probably isn’t the time for your 20-miler. And it SHOULD NOT, should not, be viewed as a punishment for yourself. Just go for a brisk walk to kind of get the gross moving.
- Do better. Just move on. You had a good time, and got a little rowdy with libations. Next time, plan for better, and try to recommit to healthy foods for the rest of the week.
Do you guys have any tips you like to follow to get back on track after a particularly gnarly meal?
I was weight-gain pescatarian girl :(
Shape magazine posted this article from POPSUGAR Fitness. How I Gained Weight as a Vegan: Don’t Let It Happen to You! Check it out. And it’s so true. Everything she says is hella true. I was that girl.
And by the end of school, beginning of graduate school I’d gotten to here.
…and had to fix it to go to here
A good, 40ish or so pound difference.
Now look. I know, I’m not delusional. I recognize that I’m no ‘Biggest Loser’ Contestant, but I had to take off some lbs. It wasn’t going a good way.
And it wasn’t completely about the way I looked, either. I felt tired and sluggish all the time. But I won’t front. I totally wasn’t confident in the way I looked, in particular, I hated my stomach, but I think that more had to do with the fact that I never worked out, and I generally felt crappy. That crappy feeling, from eating crappy food, will spill over and cloud your view of yourself, so it was just a nasty cycle.
Pescatarianism/Vegetarianism
I transitioned to a veg/pescatarian lifestyle my sophomore year when I was living with this girl. The food at Elon at the time wasn’t my fave, and truthfully, I’d never really been a beef person. Chicken was my friend (let’s perpetuate the stereotype, Cheri), and that was the one thing I’d have trouble giving up. I’d switch back and forth between Pescatarianism (eating no animal products but fish) and Vegetarianism, and despite the fact that I wasn’t chowing down on Big Macs, I packed on a little bit of pudge without even really noticing until swimsuit season snuck up on me. And that was always traumatic.
But the main reasons why my veg-ish lifestyle packed on a little pudge?
- I worked out sporadically, at best. Once a week here. A few weeks off. Once there. Off. And I never gained a sense of why and how exercising was important to maintaining a healthy weight. Plus, when you exercise more, you don’t necessarily want to eat all the crappy stuff that’s gonna make a workout miserable. Now, I’ve changed it by doing something every day, with about one day off a week. I run, run, run, cycle, yoga, and then I teach class on the side.
- I didn’t realize how important diet was in how your body looked. I literally remember one of the Real Housewives of Orange County, Alexis Bellino, saying how diet was like 80% of how your body looked, and feeling horrified in the knowledge that if I were ever to lose the bottom part of my belly that I didn’t like, that I’d have to stop drinking Cokes to stay awake in class. Which brings me to this…
- I drank my calories. I had no sense of what percentage of my calories were liquid. I drank Cokes to stay awake in class. I drank fruity alcoholic beverages with whipped cream on top. I just was doing too much. I’ve since switched to waters, sparkling waters, Kombucha, and nonfat lattés with skim. Obviously, I’ll treat myself, to a Gatorade or a fancy drink from Starbucks, but definitely, it’s more far and few between than it was.
- I didn’t know how to read a label/what a calories was. I had this abstract sense of labels and calories, but not really how it applied to me and what I was eating. It really wasn’t until I consulted with a nutritionist at Camp Pocono Trails, where I was working, that it made sense. And I kept track of everything that I put into my mouth until I had a firm grasp of what I was eating.
- I was still eating fast food. I can’t even…okay. I ate at the most disgusting places. All vegetarian mind you, but all disgusting. One of which included the Filet-o-Fish from McDonalds with the nasty piece of cheese and a glob of tartar sauce on top (who puts cheese on a piece of cod?!) and the Sampler Platter from Applebees, which included mozzarella sticks, spinach and artichoke dip, and cheese quesadillas. All of these items were fried in some way, shape, or form. I am so kind of ashamed when I tell people that.
- I didn’t eat any “whole” foods. I didn’t eat salads. I didn’t read labels to see what ingredients (ingrediences, right Teresa Guidice?) foods included. And I never packed my own lunch. How can you maintain a healthy weight when you don’t even know who’s making your food, right?
So if you’re contemplating vegetarianism or veganism, bravo! However, if you’re doing it for weight loss, you’re barking up the wrong tree. You can just as well fall into a nasty trap and gain a ton. Balance is absolutely key and without all the pieces of a healthy lifestyle, it’s just not gonna work.
Ready to feel kind of inadequate?
Okay, not really, I’m never writing to make you feel bad about yourself.
This woman. She’s a schoolteacher. A marathoner? And she takes a wrong turn on a half course and runs the full. She didn’t just run the full though. She won the full. Get it here on Gawker. I pray, I pray, that the running gods will bestow upon me a teeny tiny bit of the magic she’s got, to allow her adrenaline (and obvious athletic gifts) to push her through. (Oh, and read the comments. There are some haters with a capital ‘H’ out there….)
The humble brag.
I did this the other day.
I know guys. It’s not quite the a humble brag, which is defined as,
a brag statement artfully planted within a slightly deprecating statement; used in order to conceal pride that would otherwise be apparent by Urban Dictionary, but almost. It’s kinda like when you post a status about that 20-miler, but you do it under the guise of “Ugh omg, annoying Family Guy was totally on when I was running my 20-miler at an 8:47 pace. Gross!” What I did would slightly be considered the humble brag because I was sort of letting folks know I work out. But it has a place. As annoying at it is, the humble brag has a valuable place in health and fitness.
The following morning, my alarm went off at about 5:20 am, and I briefly considered closing my eyes, and going back to sleep. But I remembered that I’d posted that I was going to Yoga, and then the thought of deceiving my friends and family, or not being accountable for what I’d said I’d do really made me feel uncomfortable. Plus, I wanted to get my Yoga on!
So say what you will about people who post the details of their workouts on social media, and no, we’re not talking about you who posted about tying your shoes too tight, let’s not get into the minutiae of how your workout went, however, posting about your 5k, posting about nailing a pose in yoga, posting about hitting the gym 5 times instead of your usual 3, for example, is okay, and encouraging, both to others, (believe it or not, family and friends may be inspired by your actions), and it holds you accountable to a WHOLE LOT of people. So keep up the humble brags. Well, sorta, I don’t care if you’re gonna be douchey about it, but if it keeps you accountable? Keep it up!
Cycling Carrie Bradshaw.
So, if you’ve been following, we lost my grandmother last week. It’s been hard, even logistically speaking, to get my runs and my workouts in, especially when we we had to make flights and travel plans last minute. I’m desperately trying to balance working out with real life, and as of last week, it’s become tricky.
Despite the fact that it’s gotten a little hard to squeeze in the physical activity (especially considering that I have a marathon in less than 6 weeks,) let alone some of my shorter runs. I’m trying. I’m desperately trying to make all of this work.
So Saturday, after the funeral, I took a little bit of time to decompress and to figure out what I could do after spending some of the day on a plane, and the rest in a heightened emotional state.
I was really sort of surprised when I saw what hotel my dad had picked for us to stay in. Not that my dad is, by any means, a lame or anything, but it was so cool, and so hip that I was pleasantly surprised. My parents are more the Charleston crowd, so this was a little different for them.
Like this was our view. This photo was taken, no filter, with my iPhone, of the Queensboro bridge into Long Island City. Not bad, right?
Anyhoo, so following the service, and the fact that I felt worn down from that, and from sitting around all day, I decided to figure out something I could do to get the blood pumping. I pulled out that little hotel binder of info, and found out the hotel had some hipster bikes they loaned to guests. So I google mapsed the nearest Starbucks, and got in the bike lane.
I felt, like absolutely overjoyed for 2 seconds. I pulled my locs out of their little like hair tie thingie, and let the breeze blow them around. I even smiled a bit. Woo-hoo! I’m Carrie Bradshaw, but with a bike! And in Queens! And then the terror set in. It’s not my city, and I have never, never ridden in a bike lane with traffic before. So yeah, I was a little terrified. But black Carrie made it alllll the way to Manhattan for some snacks for us and my brother, and I came back, alive and well to tell the tale, and dang glad I did it.
Will I ever be a cyclist? Probably not, because I’m an absolute weenie, but it sure was fun to play one for a while.
Overactive Blogger 