Who Decides YOUR Best?

 

WHEEEEE! FOO FIGHTERS, FTW!

We’re always striving for our best and goal setting is HUGE. We decide them in our personal and professional lives all of the time. I recently shared with you a huge goal of mine for next spring that I’m both nervous and excited about, but I’m not about to worry about until the New Year. But I’ve also got a goal for this fall that I may or may not get to. If I do, FABULOUS! If I don’t, no big deal.

I wrote somewhere on a wall, on an index card, that I want my half marathon time to be under 2:10 again. It’s quite a lofty goal all things considered. Will I make it? At this point, I doubt it. Is 2:15 doable? I think so. Will I be happy just finishing? You bet your sweet ass I will.

Like I’ve said before, I compete for me and no one else. All of these measurables – weight loss, running times, professional achievements – really only matter to ME (which are my first two initials, oddly enough). Sure, people in my life are proud of me, it gives me something to talk about at parties and gatherings and sometimes the odd person will suck in their breath and feign shock/awe/act impressed/what have you and make me feel good about these things, but really, the sense of accomplishment is what drives me forward versus the pats on the back. I like being able to say, “Hey! *I* did that!” Nothing more, nothing less.

But something kind of irks me lately with goals. (Hey - You knew the warm and fuzzies had to end somewhere, people. This is MY blog, after all…)

When people decide other people’s goals for them or decide how they will achieve them, how far they can go, and what their limitations are Yup – that’s when I lose my shizz.

Sure, I can be guilty of this sometimes, telling people I think they can do X or Y, but I never spin it NEGATIVELY (or at least I HOPE that I don’t). What I’m talking about are the people who think because they’ve done that particular a job, run that race or have been to a city too that you won’t be able to pull off that event with great success, or come across the finish line in a certain time or have the time of your life on that trip.

Who. The. Bleep. Are. You?

Not me, sir. Nuh, uh.

Sowhatchutalkinbout?

You aren’t running 13 miles in these shoes, strategizing with this brain or seeing the world through my eyes, so you really don’t have a right to say how things are going to go, yes? AWESOME! So glad you agree! And of course you would! Unless you have some uncanny ability to predict the future that I was clearly unaware of, you have no freakin clue how things are going to play out. And if that were the case, I would like this weekend’s Lotto Max numbers as I would LURVE to win a few smackaroonis, please and thank you!

That’s right - Ms. Cleo, you ain’t.

So, you may have gotten the best of me to rant and rave here today, but you won’t get the best of me for much longer. I’m going to make the best of it today, tomorrow, and every day. And I hope he does, and she does, and you do and every one else does, too.

People like you won’t make me a fool again. You’ll get the best FROM me, but not the best OF me.

Are y’all with me?

Fridge-spiration

image, originally uploaded by mousearoo_16.

Courtesy of some awesome magnets I received for being a super fantastic leader with Scouts Canada.

Race Against the Cupcake

There’s no sense in me keeping it a secret because a) I suck at it and b) I’ve told some people already because of a.

Contrary to what I *may* have said in a drug enhanced, post-race haze after Around the Bay, I will be running my FIRST marathon in Ottawa next May.

So it is written. So it shall be…barring injuries and such, of course.

But right now I’m training for my eighth half mary. Definitely Scotiabank, but could do Island Girl and maybe Goodlife before it moves to the spring next year. Maybe all three for an even 10? Who knows!

But right now I’m also fighting the good fight, as per the usual. Raging a battle with the inner demons.

Which do I want more? To train hard and get back to a PB in the half or to eat cake?

Or cupcakes?

Or cookies?

Or scones?

Or all of the above?

*sigh*

I can eat well for my three meals a day, seven days of the week. I pack a lunch EVERY DARN DAY and hate going out for dinner. I’m pretty anal about eating lean meats and veggies at every meal and I’m not so big on starchy things like breads and pasta anymore because of the crampy, bloated feeling they give me.

But what the heck is up with the baked treats? They make me pay in almost the EXACT same way and I end up feeling like a giant sack of ass for the rest of the day for that fleeting feeling of…well, whatever it is that cake does to you.

Is it euphoria? Cakegasms? Sugar-highs? Pastry paradise?

What the eff is so great about baked goods? Seriously?

The short answer - NOTHING.

And what’s so great about running? Well, even though it can wreck your body if you’re not careful, there’s definitely a high from it and there’s a HUGE pay-off in the end (without adding anything TO my rear-end in the process if we avoid cake) with the sense of accomplishment, the finisher’s medal, the glory, the high-fives, the Americano at the end…

Really, the cake always loses in this race, no?

So I’ll be wearing a bib in the spring for a fall, but it won’t be for eating cake, my friends. But that race sure will be the icing on my running career, eh?

If I ignore it, will it go away?

I had a video but I realized how whiny, stupid and hypocritical it was, so I got rid of it.

Saturday was kind of an important day…and I tried to act like nothing was special about it.

Four years ago on the 17th of July, I reached my Weight Watchers goal of 145lbs.

Sadly, I am no longer that weight.

Last year I made a video (which is of horrible quality), stating that I was committed to reaching that goal again!

But another year has gone by, I went up about 10 more pounds after it, and am now 10lbs away from that goal.

What the heck was I doing all year?

It took me six months to lose 19lbs. Granted, I haven’t been focused all of this time and could have easily lost all of it had I had my head in the game. But life happens, things get in the way and 19lbs is something to be proud of.

But Saturday just didn’t matter to me. I knew I wasn’t going to be 145lbs when I woke up that day, but I did hope for something even greater.

As many of you may know, my adorable little dad has been attending Weight Watchers meetings for quite some time. He’s determined NOT to count points or track (he equates it to teaching an old dog new tricks), but was just a few ounces away from his 10 per cent and one-derland when I saw him last week. Saturday is his regular meeting day and I had hoped that his weigh-in would be amazing, he’d get that key ring and we could celebrate the day for new reasons.

Unfortunately he had to work that day, and didn’t get to attend his meeting. So I left the day as just another, not wanting to know how much I weigh or even caring about what I ate.

But I’m changing that for the next month. See, my 31st birthday is on August 19th and I have decided to take the batteries OUT of the digital devil, hide it in the closet and not take it out again until that day. And until then, I’m going to be super conscious of what I’m eating and tracking like a mofo.

Back to basics for this girl.

I’m happy to be a healthy weight again, but I’d be happier if I REALLY focused on staying healthy and only putting healthy things in my body.

So, I’ll be paying more attention to that and less on the scale. I’m hoping that by ignoring it and focusing on me, the pounds will go away and a healthy attitude will be here to stay.

And maybe I’ll even let the digital devil stay, as long as he promises to play nicely. After all, it will be my birthday :)

I'm Strong to the Finish When I Eats Me Spinach

So I’m still trying to avoid pastas, breads, cereals as much as possible because they’re still somewhat of a pain in the gut.

But I crave noodles. A lot.

So I’m at the grocery store the other day with the weirdest craving for Chef Boyardee ravioli. I have no clue why as I haven’t had it since my nieces were over at Christmas and THAT was what they wanted to eat for dinner, but there I was standing in a local Metro, staring down cans of pasta and trying to talk myself out of it at the same time.

Finally, I decide to leave and spin around to find these bad boys courtesy of Y&Y Brand.

Rice vermicelli is nothing new to me, but SPINACH rice vermicelli? Come again?

I was intrigued, to say the least.  We know how I love me my veggies.

So they’re super simple to cook, of course. Two minutes in boiling water and you’ve got yourself some noodles. I’ve read reviews elsewhere on the ‘net that complained of a smell and showed some disgusting, goopy green water, but I didn’t experience either when I made them.

Inside the package you’ll find four perfect little nests of pasta, each coming out to about 5 POINTS, a bit higher than a portion of whole wheat pasta. If only I had found brown rice vermicelli, which the store stocks but the shelf was empty, I would have had noodles were on par in terms of POINTS (3) with the regular ww pasta.

Because I can’t get enough veggies, I added broccoli slaw, MORE spinach, tomatoes and a pork chop (I have a weird obsession with pork lately) to the noodles for a REALLY filling meal.

I didn’t mind it at all and it didn’t upset my stomach, so I will be eating the noodles again and DEFINITELY be on the hunt for the brown rice ones.

Mouse approved.

**Have you ever been faced with a craving in a store, settled on something else, perhaps something you’ve never tried before, and being pleasantly surprised? Or even disappointed? **

 

 

 

Keeping Your Head in the Game

See what can happen when you don’t? Please note that I had my head in the game. I was attempting to catch a ball at second base. The base runner may have been looking at something shiny or a pretty bird or something. We’ll never truly know as the facts always get skewed when stories are retold later on (especially when there are beers and patios involved).

What can not be refuted is that a mouse travelled a few feet  through the air, landed on her right hip and now has some lovely black, blue, purple and red accessories to carry around for the next few weeks.

And now has to tell this story over and over.

AND also has to tell people that she does NOT have an abusive boyfriend.

So although I did have my head in the game up until that point, feeling good, feeling great, feeling wonderful all week, riding high on sweet scent of my x-weighted challenge success, I promptly checked right out of the game after I was knocked to the earth during that game.

Because in the 24 hours after that, I consumed a cupcake, a blizzard, sweet potato fries, an entire container of Liberté Méditerranée yogurt, a bag of nuts, Pizza Pizza, Doritos, and some other stuff that I can’t recall but I know there’s more.

Yeah. Go big or go home, eh?

It’s not that I used my brother’s birthday (Jainey is ollllllllllllllld) on the weekend as an excuse to pig out, and it’s not that this was even the worst pig out that I’ve ever had because this was  nothing because in the grand scheme of things. Even though I listed a lot of crap there, I didn’t overeat as much as I have in the past. I only felt discomfort last night and gave my ice cream away, something that I would have never done in the past.

The problem is that I just stopped caring at some point.

And this is the cycle I go through time and time again that ruins success.

Distraction, not caring, taking my head out of the game. Whether it’s counting points, calories, portions or just making WISE CHOICES – why do I have to go overboard? I don’t have to.

Whether it’s a birthday or a Tuesday, I have to ALWAYS run with my head up.

I can’t afford to go ass over tea kettle every weekend.

It’s too hot to wear pants and long sleeve shirts, for Pete’s sake!

***so, what do YOU do to keep your head in the game and avoid getting steamrolled?***

So You Want to Run, eh?

Advice? From moi? On running? Pfffft – I’m no expert!

Sure, I help coach a run clinic, but I’m just a sidekick to a former varsity track athlete. The Pinky to her Brain, if you will.

*narf*

But if you want to know my story, more than my iRun shout out and my success story will tell you about how I got started, I’ll tell ya…

See, I didn’t know about things like the Couch to 5km program or Running Room learn to run or 5km clinics when I started running. I literally sat down on New Year’s day, wrote out a goal to run a 5km that June and didn’t darken the doorway of a gym until March of that year.

In fact, I didn’t even try running outside until two days before the race.

But, what I did do? I slowly and surely got my ass on a treadmill five days a week. I went from running for two minutes at a time at maybe 4.5mph and slowly increased intervals and speeds until I was running a full 30 minutes at 6mph. Was it the smartest thing? Probably not. Did I do this overnight? Hells no! It took time. It took dedication. It took sweat. It took getting up at 5:30 a.m. every morning and going to bed at 11 p.m. every night. It took changing my diet, my wardrobe, my routine and my outlook on life.

A lot about me changed, both outwardly and on the inside.

And that June, I ran my first 5km in just under 35 minutes.

It was an ugly race that I wasn’t exactly proud of for a lot of reasons, but it set into motion a series of events that has brought me here today. It also made me the person I am today. I finished that race for the fourth time on the weekend, this time under 30 minutes :)

All it takes is putting one foot in front of the other.

So what do I think YOU should do? What advice do I have to give?

Well…

1. Find a program: You need a schedule. Whether you choose do go it alone, with a group or with a loved one or a friend, you need some sort of plan of attack. There is a PLETHORA of information online for learn to run programs and run shops ALL OVER THE WORLD that will gladly turn over programs in return for your hard earned money. And iTunes can hook you up with podcasts to get you through if you feel like going it alone but still want a virtual coach.
2. Find the right shoes: Everyone thinks that picking a shoe off of the wall at their local sporting good store is sufficient, but when their knees are suddenly screaming at them a few weeks later and they wonder why…sigh. It’s better to go into your local running shop, talk to their staff, get fitted for the RIGHT shoes and then go out and run your little heart out. You’ll save yourself a lot of heart ache and pain in the long run. And your knees will love ya.
3. Find a goal: Honestly, you need something to TIE you to the program. Are you doing it for health? For a race? To lose weight? For a time? What is the end result? You need to have a tangible result in the end because otherwise what are you aiming for? Just to go out and make it a block, and then another and another? Then what? Make it measureable, whether it be time or distance. Make it count. Track your progress each and every step of the way but have an end point in your training. Having a finish line to cross sometimes helps. And the pictures can be pretty horrible fantastic sometimes.
4. Find your rhythm: It’s HARD at first. You’ll want to go fast but you’ll need to go slow. Your breathing will be all over the place and you’ll want to walk. Try to walk:run in intervals and slowly increase them as you become more comfortable. Most programs will outline them for you. Find a natural rhythm with your breathing as well. I like to count out three slow breaths in beat with my feet striking the pavement, but find what WORKS FOR YOU (keep in mind I have asthma and have trouble breathing on a good day).
5. Find a passion: I’m not saying you have to eat, breathe and sleep the sport. You don’t have to bore your friends with useless running trivia and facts, nor do you have to be kitted out with the latest gadgets and make technical fabrics a staple in your every day wardrobe, but learn to love it (something I struggle with EVERY FRACKIN’ DAY), soak up as much there is to learn about the sport to get better at it and stay focused to stay on track.
6. Find a balance: This comes into play in a lot of areas, from fitting running into your schedule to trying not to eat everything in sight. Adding things to your routine kind of upsets the apple cart, if you will. Make the time, even if it’s 30 minutes to get it in, get it done and move on, but also recognize that adding in that 30 minutes doesn’t give you a free pass to do whatever the hell you want, especially when it comes to food. More good does not equal more bad. I still work on this one. Day. After. Day. After. Day.
7. Find friends: I get that you might want to do this on your own and that’s fine. I am probably one of THE most anti-social people IN THIS WORLD, so I feel ya on this, but seriously, if you can, get thee to a run club and make some friends. You are missing out on an amazing opportunity if you don’t. TRUST.
8. Find something else: YOU CAN’T JUST RUN. It is HELLA BORING. That’s right – I said it. Weight train, swim, bike, kick-box, bootcamp, go to yoga, step class – SOMETHING! Cross training will make you a better and happier runner and probably reduce the frequency of injuries.
9. Find yourself: You’re alone with your thoughts for at least 30 minutes on any given run. Use the time wisely. It’s a great opportunity to grow…and shrink :)

I could go on about food and weather, clothes and water, races and bathroom practices, but I’ll spare you. There are so many intricacies that can bog you down.

Really, the best advice I ever find on running comes from the penguin, John Bingham. He sums it up pretty nicely.

The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.

All it takes is the get up and go. So, find the courage.

The rest sorts itself out if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

 

But you…reading this…over there – I know A BUNCH of YOU are runners. Give me your best shot. What are the top five things YOU would tell someone brand new to the sport to do, to try, to get, to stay away from? What are your little nuggets of advice?

Share the wealth :)

Just when I thought it was over…

So, I thought the X-weighted Challenge ended today. I was happy, sad, apathetic – a whole whack of things, much like I am with huge chunks of my life lately.

But then I saw that it OFFICIALLY ends on Saturday, AFTER I already entered my weight.

Eff. Me.

Whatever. My goal of 154 was sort of met. I hit 154.9. Frankly, I say that’s a success. I don’t give a flying fig newton about the .9. Target hit. Mission accomplished. Sound the trumpets. Hand me the oversized novelty cheque, please, and cue the photographers.

But yeah -  apparently I wasn’t supposed to enter my weight, pictures, or measurements today, which wasn’t mentioned on the site when I logged in but I read it after the fact in a tweet. Awesomesauce.

So I have a few more days to eek out a couple more pounds, should I want to starve myself or do something completely nutty (or just eat healthy considering the diet of ice cream that I’m currently on) but I’m not sure if I can go back and change my entry.

I should be happy, right?

Blah.

Actually, I AM happy WITH my body, weight, whatever right now. I look at my reflection fully clothed and think, “hey – you’re looking a-ok!” I’ve definitely got more confidence in a lot of areas but lacking in others (more of a professional thing, I think. But that’s not for the blog or public consumption, really). Naked is always another story, but that always comes down to a comfort level with that one other person and it comes in time when you get to know someone. But again, not really something I want to discuss here and now, especially given so many of my family members read this and we all know how much I LOOOOOOVE talking about my love life. *gag*

So this means I’m in a healthy weight range again.

*pause for stunned silence*

Yeah – no wonder I’m kinda diggin’ on my reflection lately.

So forget that I’m not going to make my goal-aversery in less than two weeks. Forget that I may never make it to the 130s again. I’m a size healthy.

That’s the shizz, my friends.

Challenge or no challenge, I got my head back in the game this year. It took me six months to get here, but I did it.

Now I have to make sure I don’t put my head up my ass again and stay comfortable in my skin.

Because that challenge is NEVER truly over.