Gearing Up

I have to be honest...for the last few months I've felt a little beat up.  Work, home, running kids, actually running and...life.  I don't know if I could possibly do more.  I feel like the stretchy lady on the Disney movie 'The Incredibles' and I'm still working to get my arms and legs back to their natural lengths.  I did get to go to Mazatlan, Mexico for a week with my husband.  This was my "time out" in October.  No e-mail.  No phone.  No one could get ahold of me.  I drank enough to pickle my body to the point I was moderately concerned I had congestive heart failure or was in acute kidney failure.  But what I am most proud of is that I managed to get up every morning, bust out 2 miles on the treadmill and do my ab workout.  I kept to my "no red meat" nutitional lifestyle change - not a hardship at all since the shrimp there is amazing.  Small things to be happy about and certainly minimal mileage.  But it was something.  In past vacations I haven't made the effort and I come home 10 pounds heavier and feel like a slug.

Anyways - getting ready to gear up my creative writing abilities and do more posting.  I have a great tale to tell about my "Unofficial Swimmer's Itch Triathlon" I completed in September with my 15 year old daughter. 

You will be seeing more of me.  Or my words at least.

Until then - I tried a great recipe you might want to bring to your Thanksgiving dinner out of September's issue of Cooking Light.
Sweet Potato Sides:  Butter-Pecan Mashed, Maple Bacon, Chipotle-Lime, or Parmesan-Sage
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/butter-pecan-sweet-potatoes-50400000122908/
I recommend variation one - maple bacon - yum.

Peg's Personal (i)Pod

Disclaimer:  I am not an expert runner.  I am experienced though.

What this means is I do not claim to be an expert.  I don’t have all the answers and the answers I do have are typically derived from some sort of a running travesty I have lived through to tell and almost always involve a unique trauma I have made my body endure. 

That being said…

I get a lot of questions from people who are just beginning to dabble in the sport of running…or who are fairly new to it and are finding the whole concept of cadence a challenge (i.e. “How do I stay the same speed so I don’t hit the wall at the end of my run?  How do I speed train to improve my pace?  How the hell do I motivate myself to keep running once I’ve started and not turn back to go get myself a beer…which is what I really want to do?”).  I was reading a little “Q&A ask the experts” in the June 2012 Runner’s World magazine today.  One of the featured experts Beth Baker, who is a personal trainer and coach in Seattle, said creating playlists that alternate fast and slow songs will help you keep cadence while burning more calories.  It takes a lot of energy (hence the calorie burning) to continuously raise and lower your heart rate.  Beth suggests songs with 180 beats per minute (BPM) for speed work outs and 100-120 beats per minute for warm-up jogging, easy runs, and long and slow runs.  When I read her suggestions I kind of laughed a little.  I consider myself a serious runner but running an 8 minute mile which equates to about 170 beats per minute is my Helena High School “best” in Mr. LeBrun’s physical education (PE) class in 1993.  I have yet to beat that record again.  I’m what you would call a “Steady Eddy.”  I run an 11 minute mile…for 11 miles…or whatever the long run might be.  Usually, the elevation changes don’t matter.  I stay at the same pace no matter the climb or the descent.  I have and can get down to a 9 minute mile if I speed train.  Could I get faster?  Probably.  But for me I like the long run, good work out, and I don’t want to puke at the end.  If chased by a bear I feel I could beat my personal best but the end result would be the same…I’d still get eaten.  Another fun fact:  21% of runners use their tunes to help keep their speed up while the other 79% listen because it entertains them as they pound pavement (Runner’s World, 2012).  Despite my slow “clomp-clomp” I incorporate the faster songs to keep me moving and the slower ones to get going or take a break. 

So-what is on the Juke Box for Peg Leg?  To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here are a few songs that have beats per minute (BPM) and how fast a mile you are looking at:

Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People…this is a 12 minute mile or 130 BPM.  Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine.  This is a 10 minute mile or 150 BPM.  Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland is just over an 8 minute mile or roughly 168 BPM.  I imagine if I tried to actually run this fast I might vomit on my shoes…but I still run to it.  Not Afraid by Eminem is under an 8 minute mile.  I build my play list by starting out with three slow songs, get faster with four songs and then slow down again with three.  Depending on how long you are running for you can repeat the concept-or at least this is what I do.

Other great songs I am running to now?  Remember the Name by Fort Minor, Seven Nation Army by White Stripes, All of the Lights by Kanye West, Cinderella Man by Eminem, Bleed It Out by Linkin Park...I am all over the place.

I have a Metallica list, a Nickelback list, an “I’m a girl and I hate men” list filled with lots of angry female artists…sky is the limit, folks.  If you would like to create a playlist and check out beats per minute, go to http://jog.fm/.  It is a great resource.

For now, I would like you all to know I am now a Master of Science in Nursing (finally finished with school)!  And…I have journeyed over to the dark side…I learned how to swim in May and I am training for my first triathlon:  http://www.mtcompact.org/GCT.htm.

Happy Trails!

I'm Just Lumpy

I would like to start out with a disclaimer before I dive into my story.  Please be advised this is my own story I am sharing when I underwent “further evaluation” for a breast lump.  While it will be seemingly entertaining for you to read, please understand breast cancer affects several women and men and it is something I don’t mess with.  It is the most common cancer for women and is the second leading cause of cancer death for us too…over 40,000 women die yearly from it.

MID-LIFE CRISIS:

I had just turned the ripe old age of 30 and found myself rapidly falling apart.  You could say maybe I was going through a midlife crisis because my young adult life was over.  On the day of my birth, 30 years weighed heavily on my shoulders.  I had just started running again, wasn’t eating well, and at the time was stressed over the fact that my life flashing before my eyes.  I came down with a cold.  Looking the polar opposite of “the picture of health” I sat in my doctor’s office.  The nurse called me back and weighed me.  Awesome.  Let the humiliation begin.  She escorts me to a room, takes my vitals, and asks me why I’m there.  Then he leaves me to feel and look like death warmed over. 

SURPRISE ATTACK:

I had thought I had an understanding with my doctor.  I don’t get in his way.  He doesn’t get in mine.  I tell him what is going on.  “I have a cold.  Maybe cough too.  I’ve had it for a few weeks-maybe six.  I’m training for a marathon and I can’t run ‘cause I’m having a hard time breathing.  What do you think about a Z-Pack and a rescue inhaler?”  His reply:  “Huh.  Well let’s take a listen to you.”  At this point I whine to him about not needing to…blah blah blah…and like a good doctor he tells me I have no choice and to get up on the table.  While he’s listening to my lungs he says, “When was your last breast exam?  Do you do self-exams?”  Hmmm.  Not sure where he was going with this…I replied, “I’ve calved out four kids.  My last breast exam was the last time I had a baby.  A few years ago.  I’ve felt some lumps but I think their just fibrous.”  He removes his stethoscope from his ears, pauses for effect, then hands me a gown to put on and leaves the room.  Oh no…

                          

“I’M JUST LUMPY”:

After the mortifying experience of a breast exam filled with blushing, holding my breath, and gritting my teeth while I answered more of his questions, he suggests I have a mammogram.  Oh.  And he’ll give me the z-pack but I’m banned from running for 10 days to give my lungs a rest.  “A what?!?!?  I’m 30 years old!  I’m just lumpy!  And I can’t run?!  Who are you?!  The Grim Reaper?”  Chuckling at my obvious dismay, he tells me there are two areas that don’t “feel normal.”  While it could be nothing it could also be something.  And he needed to know for sure.  And he told me I needed to know. 

    

THE SKIN SCRAPER:

With a sickly feeling in my stomach I arrived at the hospital for my mammogram.  What was going to happen?  I may have had four kids but I have “little going on up top” if you catch my drift.  How were the jaws of life going to produce any discernible images of cancer when I had little to offer to the machine?  After much manipulation and stellar range of motion on my part, I felt as though any excess skin starting at my wrists was scraped up toward my breasts.  Excess skin under my chin was scraped down.  Concerned my nose would be included in the image because I didn’t realize EXACTLY what was considered breast tissue at this point, I relayed my concerns to the tech and nurse.   They were wonderful, got my humor, and assured me only my ears would be included in the films and not my nose.

WAKE-UP CALL:

I ended up having a normal mammogram.  During the whole experience I began to reflect on what I had done and what I still needed to do…as a mom, as a daughter, as a sister, as a wife, and as a nurse.  Scares like a lump, a bump, a bleed, or an abnormal lab value really put life in perspective for us.  This is good-the silver lining.  The normal mammogram for me was a get out of jail for free card.  The event wasn’t to be ignored-I considered it a wake-up call. 

What do you need to do?  Lucky for us women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a list of risk factors we can review while we assess our individual health, and make informed health choices starting with talking to your provider about what your risks are. 

A few risk factors include (see CDC website for complete list): 

·         Getting older-I know….as if we don’t have enough problems with what age does to us…now this.  Damn it.

·         Being younger when you first had your menstrual period-was anyone like me….12 years old, Mrs. Anderson’s 6^th grade class, and white jeans (yes-it was late 80’s).

·         Starting menopause at a later age-really, after reading the above factor, it doesn’t seem like we can win…does it?

·         Being older at the birth of your first child or never giving birth.  And throw in not breastfeeding with that.

·         Personal history of breast cancer or some non-cancerous breast diseases or how ‘bout a family history of breast cancer (mother, sister, daughter).

·         Drinking alcohol (more than one drink a day).  Again.  Damn it.

·         Not getting regular exercise.

So now that you have made a doctor’s appointment what can you do today?

How about walk or run for the upcoming Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure?  While I realize there is a lot of “unrest” related to funding and allocation of funds, this is an event that does more to raise awareness to the disease than any other that I know of.  Montana’s race is set for this Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at the State Capitol.  Check out http://www.komenmontana.org/komen-race-for-the-cure/race-information/ for more information!  In a different state?  Google your state for dates, times, and locations!

Have a good one!

SLOW DOWN, TURBO

I am always game to deem someone a “nutter” when he or she touts cockamamie antics for weight loss.  With all the fad diets and exercise equipment that can just “jiggle” my fat away…I make it my mission to find practical and healthy solutions for weight loss.  I came across a Men’s Health Blog on Seven Simple Ways to Cut Calories “without even trying” as the post declares (Mohr, 2012).  It proved to be pretty good advice and thought I would share my findings.  The first simple way is to eat with your non-dominant hand.  Have you ever tried this?  Being a clumsy person lacking any dexterity whatsoever, I did.  I may have ended up with more food in my lap than actually in my mouth but the process certainly did slow me down.  There was no way I could shovel the food in fast without the possibility of stabbing myself in the eye with my fork.  Don’t let your foods touch on your plate…for those of you who have or have not been diagnosed with OCD-you will love this trick.  When you do this, you cut down on the amount of food you are eating-essentially a portion control strategy.  Put your fork down between every bite…this encourages you to slow down while eating.  Did you know it takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to sense that you are full?  Don’t wait for your stomach to tell you it’s going to be sick.  Slow down.  Another way to decrease calorie intake is to chew your food rather than inhale it.  While this seemingly passes the common sense test, most of us inhale rather than chew our food.  Remember Grandma telling you to chew your bite of food 50 times?  Well…Grandma knew what she was talking about.  Forego the phone:  If you don’t pay attention to how much you are eating, you will consume more.  Whether it is a phone or book or the T.V., take a break and "unplug."  Talk to the person (or people) around you without distraction-we all know this gives us more benefits than cutting calories.  Start with a salad!  While you can load up with cheese and creamy dressings (and my favorite-bacon) swap bread for salad at the restaurant and let the veggies take up the room in your stomach to help you eat less of the “heavier” calories during the main course.  Last but not least, make veggies and/or fruit the biggest part of your meal!  How to do this?  For example, those of you that love oatmeal in the morning fill you bowl with berries first, then add the oatmeal.  Just some helpful strategies when battling the forces of evil in the weight world...try these out and let me know how it goes. 

But try not to poke your eyeball out.

BACON IN MODERATION

My dad and I have an agreement.  I tell him what to do and he doesn’t listen.  He tells me he’s just paying me back for my bad behavior as a child,  the tables have turned, and it will only get worse.  One of the things I harp on him about is his cholesterol.  What is cholesterol?  Globs of fat.  Cholesterol is a fat-like substance made in the liver and is found in certain foods-such as from animals (dairy products, eggs, and meats).  With his nutritious diet of buttermilk, tubs of butter, whole milk, bacon, roast beast, pork rinds, cottage cheese, and bar-b-que potato chips (he likes the marshmallow sugar coated peeps as well) you can imagine these healthy food choices go a long way to reducing his cholesterol and overall risk for heart disease.

Just like our stubbornness, Dad and I both inherit a tendency toward high cholesterol in our family so it was only natural I had to nag him for two years to have his cholesterol checked (this blood test is called a lipid panel).  While I like to toss back the bacon once in awhile and pound down a Big Mac on occasion, it has never occurred to me to have my own lipid panel drawn.  Since he had his checked I decided I better be a good role model for him and have mine done. 

Brief explanation here.  You have two types of fat globs rolling around in your body.  High Density Lipids (HDL) which is the “good fat.”  HDL carries the “bad fat” which is Low Density Lipids (LDL) back to the liver, essentially cleaning out the pipes that carry your blood “to and fro” around in your body.  The US Department of Health and Human Services provides guidance on how much circulating buttermilk, lipids we should have in our veins:

National                                                 Dad’s Cholesterol                             Tova’s Cholesterol

Recommendations                              (on cholesterol pills)                   (not on cholesterol pills)

Total Cholesterol: (mg/dL)
Desirable:   less than 200	184
Borderline high:  200-239		211
High:  240 and above
HDL:  Needs to be above 40!!!	34	62
LDL: (mg/dL)
Optimal:  less than 100
Near Optimal:  100-129	116
Borderline High:  130-159		130
High:  160-189
Very High:  190 and above

So what does this mean?  Does my buttermilk drinkin’, bacon eatin' dad have better cholesterol than I do?  Nope!  An HDL cholesterol of less than 40 mg/dL is a major risk factor for heart disease.  And we also have to consider ratios (bad LDL versus good HDL).  I have more HDL carrying my bad fat globs to back to my liver than my dad does.  He might have less LDL fat globs than I do, but I almost double him on good cholesterol.  Plus…he has to be on medicine to keep his cholesterol where it is at!!!  I just have to increase my mileage running and keep eating rabbit food!  (FYI:  My dad consented to me making an example of him and supports the contents of this e-mail.  He also may have demanded a tub of cottage cheese and a bag of chips but I pretended to not hear him.)

What can you do to keep your total cholesterol under 200?

·      Get your cholesterol checked by your healthcare provider at least once every five years.  Start at age 20.

·       Eat less than 300mg of dietary cholesterol a day.  Low in saturated and trans fat.

·       Exercise regularly.  What does this mean?  Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity at least four times a week.

·       Quit smoking!  Check out http://tobaccofree.mt.gov/quitlinefactsheet.shtml

These strategies won’t just help with lowering your cholesterol.  They will decrease your risk for heart disease and other preventable illnesses.

This picture is my Dad and Gramma and me...all smiling because we like bacon.  And we all have high cholesterol:

Bacon and buttermilk in moderation...

Magical Powers

I talked my brother Jake into running the Snow Joke Half Marathon with me in February.  Preparation included  putting in the time for three months of training (despite freezing temperatures, snow storms and muscling through aches and pains).  I even went so far as to sacrifice myself by acting as his human shield against cars, trucks, deer, and elk.  He would show up to run with me Saturday mornings dressed out in black, two hours before the sun would show itself-with not a single thread of reflective gear on him.  He would tell you that me guarding his body made sense since I was the one that was smart enough to wear reflective gear.  “Tova.  You are the brains.  I am the beauty.  Protect me with your reflective coat so I can continue to live and raise your nephews like men and not babies.”    

Race day came.  With snow and wind whipping around us, we set out to run 13.1 miles on ice and snow packed roads.  When I was having to bribe Jake with adult beverages at the finish line by mile marker two…I knew he was going to have a tough go of things.  Naturally, I picked up the pace and left him to fend for himself but not after I encouragingly declared, “You got this.”  I almost felt guilty until I started to remember all the Saturday mornings I protected him from getting ran over.  It was broad daylight.  He had two aid stations that could take care of him.  He could survive.    

I made my way mile by mile and with relative ease until I came upon the evilness of mile 11.  Even if I am having an awesome run this mile marker plagues me.  Sometimes I get sick, sometimes I hallucinate, but usually I just cry like a baby for my mama, and beg for someone to have mercy on my soul who will carry me to the end of the run.  It’s not just 11.  Mile markers 19-21, 27, 36-38, 46, and 52-54 are all difficult to power through as well.  Overall, I had a pretty good race and totally smoked my little brother.  But the happiness from my triumph was short lived once he came through the finish line and told me he puked not just once, but three times!  Jake gutted it out, and despite all the discomfort he experienced, he continued to put one foot in front of the other until he reached the finish line.  I was so proud of him.    

While I ran I had a few songs I kept playing over and over and over.  One was called Remember the Name and the chorus is as follows:  “It’s 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and 100% reason to remember the name.” The song isn’t about running-but it is about someone who works.  Hard.  And it isn’t easy.  To others it looks like the qualities of greatness come naturally.     

Some look at me and think I am a nutter for running long distance.  Others feel I have magical powers and my ability makes me strong.  Probably a little of both…but refer to the song above-nothing is as easy as it looks.  There are things out there you all do every day that I couldn’t.  So who has magical powers?  You.  Everyone is running their own race.  Perhaps the kind of race you are in is a little different from the ones I run.   Maybe it is cancer, divorce, mental illness…maybe the race you are running involves making it through the work week while you keep it all together. 

Whatever race you are running, hang in there.  An aid station is coming up and you can get a drink of water.  Soon, the finish line will be in sight.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other...you got this.

Comparisons Between T-Rex and Tova

Today my story is one fraught with something new.  Sound scary?  You have no idea…

If I had to choose, for instance, between running and biking…I’d pick running.  Although I attribute this choice to my lack of coordination, if I’m honest with myself, I choose running because this is my “comfort zone.”  I know that after five minutes of sucking air my lungs will stop burning and I’ll reach my baseline and run with ease.  I know that at mile 5 my right knee will hurt for about 10 minutes and at mile 8 my left hip will feel like it’s locking up – but will go away by mile 9.  I know I’ll have comfortable run at a 10 minute/mile pace and if I run at a 9 minute/mile pace I’ll want to barf afterwards.  All of these things I know about my body.  My mind knows them.  When I’m not tripping over a rock and skidding on my face down a dirt road, I feel very comfortable in my body exercising.

Knowing what you are good at and where you can get the benefit of a good workout is a great thing.

My husband isn’t what you would call a runner.  Oh…the poor man loathes it.  He’ll go and squeak out two or four miles and come back purple, sweaty, and having a breathing fit.  He’ll curse at the running gods and be filled with amazement that he ended up with such a crazy woman who could actually want to run…versus being chased and made to run…one of his very endearing qualities.  He tries.  Clearly this isn’t his comfort zone.  He’s a weight lifter and loves to golf.   Heads to the gym and lifts weights every day…would golf more if he didn’t run with me.  J 

Lately, he’s been suggesting I come to the gym and pump some iron with him.  The thought is…well.  It’s plain scary.  I feel like I could crush the world with my legs but my arms have little to offer humanity.  If any of you have kids, maybe you have seen the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons?  The evil man played by the voice of Jim Carrey sets Tyrannosaurus Rex on the “good guy (or kid)” and T-Rex more or less fails because he gets stuck - his tiny little arms can’t reach the kid and his big head gets in the way.  I’ve been compared to this T-Rex, of course, very lovingly by my siblings.  Not because of the size of my head (I don’t think) but because I have little baby arms.

I’m working on the courage to make an appearance  at the gym.  Soup cans.  Small rocks.  Carrying the water in the pot I fill for pasta over to the stove.  It’s the little things, right?  As much as I hate to admit it, my arms could use some muscle.  I know it would help me run better.  Still…ugh.  But!  I am determined.  I will do this.  And you will have a detailed summary of the event…not without mishaps I’m sure.

My point today is this…when I got married, that whole something old something new saying?  I’m taking it seriously in my exercise routine.  Change is tough.  And sticking your toe out there past the comfort zone line takes some serious courage.  What if you fail?  How about this-what if you don’t try?  You don’t jump?  You might not ever find that you are pretty decent at two or three things instead of just one.  The hard part is sticking with it through that “awkward” phase.  You won’t be a pro the first time you try golfing for the first time.  I know.  I’ve done this one too.  In fact, I’m still not a pro and I’ve done it three times.  But I’m getting better each time we go. 

Take the plunge.  Pump some iron.  Put the pedal to the metal.  Hit the ground running. 

Whatever it is you’ve been thinking about trying…go for it!   And let me know how it goes!!!!As for me, I want to be a different dinosaur.  One more…proportionate…

Have a great week everyone!!!

The Heart of the Matter

In celebration of “WEAR RED DAY” to promote awareness for heart disease, I’ve decided to give you a gift.  I’m going to educate you on heart attacks with my personal humored touch.  For three years when I wasn’t running or juggling kids, I morphed into an Emergency Room Nurse.  I saw my fair share of patients that presented for chest pain and thought I’d shed a little light on the subject.

Myocardial Infarction (a.k.a.: “HEART ATTACK”, “THE BIG ONE” or “A GRABBER”)

Try it out in a sentence… “I think I’m having a grabber!” (as you clutch the left side of your chest where your heart is located).  Signs and symptoms of a heart attack range from uncomfortable chest pressure/pain/squeezing which is code for “I feel like I have cement in my chest” or “I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest” or “I feel like there is a vice squeezing my chest.”  Pain that spreads to the shoulder, neck, one or both arms, back, jaw…..okay okay….anything above the belly button basically.  One might be short of breath, feel dizzy, start sweating buckets, and possibly start chucking up anything in their stomach...or at least they might feel like they want to.  This is when a person needs to pay attention-and get in to the ER fast.

Emergency Room Visit (a.k.a.:  “A fun filled trip to the hospital complete with ripping, sticking, poking, prodding”)

At the hospital I work at, when someone presents with a chief complaint of chest pain, they are speedily wheeled back to the treatment room before they can utter a grunt.  Then the fun begins!  Typically this is a scary process for someone.  And why not?  They are tied to very nearly every machine we have in the place starting with oxygen tubing being shoved into their nose (a heart attack is lack of oxygen to the heart muscle-we put this on a patient to get extra oxygen to the heart to stop the dying of the heart muscle).  Add a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, and some sticky patches to monitor the heart rhythm and we are good to go. 

Well not so fast. We also take a picture of the patient’s heart rhythm.  Sticky pads are placed all over the chest for this procedure which takes all of 3 seconds to record.  Then the nurse gets to lovingly rip the pads off the patient’s body-similar to a wax removal treatment.  Fun stuff.  We start an IV just in case we need to suddenly give any medicine to help the heart.  Four yummy orange flavored baby aspirin are given to the patient to eat and then lab gets to come down and, as gentle as can be, remove several tubes of blood from the patient’s arm.  One of the lab tests we do is called a troponin level.  Troponin is released from the heart when it is damaged…this aids in the confirmation of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).    

You’ve won a night’s stay in the beautiful department of ICU…try one of our comfy beds….

With a diagnosis of “Myocardial Infarction (MI)” or “Chest Pain rule out MI” you win yourself a night at the Holiday Inn Express Hospital (most cities and towns have one of these types of Holiday Inns) and can look forward to fine dining and a culture enriched atmosphere of nursing and medicine for your pleasure.  Some of you may be thinking to yourself… “Hmmm…trying to tough out a heart attack at home seems pretty reasonable compared to what I’d be in for at the ER.”  No…no, no, no.  I tell you this because it is important to me and to your heart that you understand the seriousness of the situation and factors that contribute to myocardial infarctions….LIKE HEART DISEASE.

Heart disease is the leading killer for both women and men in the US.  What can you do to prevent this?  LOTS!:  Exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, eating healthy (lay off the big macs!!!), QUIT SMOKING, and manage your stress!!!  Understand and be able to recognize the warning signs of a heart attack…and call 911 immediately.  Don’t wait 2 hours for it to go away-like Mayo Clinic researchers have found patients still doing.

Check out http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/ for more information about your heart and how to keep it healthy and get more miles out of it.  And you women out there I love?  You need to watch a very moving video called The Heart Truth at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/educational/hearttruth/video/tht-video.htm.

Tomorrow you will see me wearing red.  I will be wearing it in honor of your heart.

Not A Poser

I had the opportunity to participate in my first yoga class last week.  Little did I know it would cause pain and discomfort the next day…but this has been my experience with yoga poses I have created on my own by accident.  Seriously-if you haven’t done a yoga class I highly recommend it.  I know what you are thinking:  weird music, bending like gumby, a thin instructor who looks like he or she eats too much lettuce, uses no deodorant, and is telling you to breathe so much you pass out from an oxygen high.  Nah.  Well it’s not all true anyway.  My instructor was a tall, thin, perfectly sculpted and beautiful Victoria Secret model.  It’s true.  She comes from a whole family of pretty people that my yetti tribe of Reddicks thought only existed in fairytales.  Thank you, Gina, for facilitating the removal of 35 years worth of built up stress in my shoulders and neck. :)  That being said, below is a story I shared of my own yoga pose I performed during a training run last year…enjoy!    

NOT A POSER...

As many of you know, I’m a runner.  Not particularly competitive but I’m what you’d call dedicated.  It is not about the time and it’s what keeps me grounded in my life.  Well, do I ever have a story to share with you about how running grounded me this morning in a very literal sense.

I woke this morning at 5 a.m.- what I call the crack of dawn (usually I have a specific body part in mind when describing what kind of crack of dawn I’m referring to).  At 5 a.m. and after a few slaps at the snooze button,  I rolled out of bed and managed to stumble out the door with my eyes still very nearly closed.  It was fresh and crisp, the sun wasn’t out yet, and not a cloud in the sky…perfect running conditions.  Of course I didn’t think all of these positive thoughts as I grudgingly belted out the first painful mile-while my feet and lungs yelled at me to go back to bed with every step I took.  But I got into it as I warmed up.  I listened to some Metallica and Nickelback on my iPod and muscled through it (so to speak). 

I hit about 4 miles.  Actually hit it.  In the hills above the beautiful town of East Helena, in a sparsely populated subdivision, I managed to trip over a small rock in the mildly descending dirt road.  I skidded 7 feet in some sort of modified yoga position I’ve watched other people make attempts to replicate after attending classes.  Flat on my stomach, palms down, elbows down, straining to keep my chin up and off of the ground with most my weight on the right side.  I now refer to it as the ‘screeching-to-a halt-tiger-moderately wounded-gazelle’ move.  I hadn’t peeled off my long sleeved shirt as it was still cool out so my right elbow didn’t get too many small rocks lodged in it.  Sadly, my knees and hands weren’t so lucky.  After my body stopped skidding, I rolled over in the street and laid there for a minute and willed my stinging wounds to heal immediately.  I slowly heaved myself onto my feet checking to see if anyone in the area was up at this hour to witness the near fatality.  Wouldn’t you know it, the house I performed my yoga position in front of, the owner was rearranging his sprinkler to water his lawn.  With his mouth slightly open, eyes as big as saucers  and hose in hand, he didn’t seem able to tear his eyes away from the scene of the accident that just unfolded right before him.  Initially I thought maybe he might say something…offer to spray my gravel filled wounds with his hose to remove some of the lead shards and debris from them.  No.  After an awkward moment of silence and gaping, I took off like a maimed, cognitively impaired animal and left him to reflect on the morning’s events.

I managed to get past the joint aches and burning flesh (to add to my experience, I didn’t get enough sun block slathered on for my first golfing expedition yesterday and the road rash was making a nice accent to my ruby red skin) and finished up my 10 miles in a not so fast pace. 

We all have things that knock us down.  Maybe it’s a rock in the road.  A personal struggle.  Maybe you ‘fall off’ the exercise wagon because you just get too overwhelmed.  We all can say we have fallen at one time or another.  I know I can…several times.  And not just physically like this morning.  But you get up.  And boy, is that ever the most painful part of it.  We get up and we start moving.  It’s slow and it hurts real bad.  But we do it. 

Run a faster mile, get homework done, spend time with the kids, eat better, drink more water, exercise a little longer.  Everything can be a challenge.  Some days are tougher than others to will ourselves to get back up when we fall.  We can look at these as opportunities.  I now know what it is like to perform a yoga position as my body is in motion, scraping across a dirt road, with a sunburn.  ;) Yay for me!

Frosted Glory

I don’t know about any of you but the month of December was a drag for me.  Literally-I was dragging.  Every day I contemplated on calling in “unmotivated” to work.  But I’d muster up a few drops of energy I didn’t think I had and managed to shower and throw myself together for the sake of my co-workers.  It was rough.  I felt like I stomped through the month with my head down until I could see the bright light of the New Year.  And wouldn’t you know…I woke up on the first day of the year and STILL didn’t suddenly possess any more energy than I did the day before!  After discussing my need to add ginkgo biloba and ginseng to my daily vitamin regiment with co-workers, I found I wasn’t the only one suffering from a severe case of unmotivation.  Like me, everyone else said they “checked out” for the month of December and were slowing integrating themselves back into civilization.  I deduced some were having a harder time than others, hence the facial tics, drooling from the mouth and glazed over eyes I sympathetically observed.

I decided to slap myself back into reality (think about the Rocky theme song here).  I went for a short but painful run and figured I might as well try my hand at the art of water drinking too.  Twenty more days to go until I form a habit.  Yay for me.  Later in the week I wanted to share my aches and pains and asked my husband to come along for a jaunt too.  The weekend came and I thought I’d to shove my body into a state of shock by running five miles in seven degree weather.  My husband was concerned.  All of the ice on the roads coupled with my known  lack of coordination…he sensed a disaster brewing. 

I bundled up and was ready to conquer the road with my IPOD blaring in my ears.   “Let’s do this thing” I told myself…right after I told my husband if he didn’t see me in a few hours to come look for me-I was either laying in a ditch with a head injury from slipping or just frozen in place.  I ran slowly.  My lungs were burning a little but I was good.  I made it about two and a half miles, breathing in and out through both my nose and mouth to keep my face warm.  I had a few near misses that very nearly involved a broken right hip but I pulled through with my cat-like reflexes.  Throw in this new water drinking habit and all that goes along with it…and I really have to time my runs right if you know what I mean, not to mention I was frozen from the midsection down for three quarters of the run.  No feeling.  Numb.

Now I know what you are thinking… “She’s the runner on the side of the road in -10 degree weather that I shake my head at thinking I need to stop and tell her to have her head examined.”  Well.  I think those same thoughts about anyone who walks their dog when it’s blizzarding outside.  Thank you for not stopping to admonish me as it would be a real blow to my drive.

I return home after five miles and free from injury.  My husband looks at me as if he knows me…but just can’t quite place where he has seen me before.  The invisible peach fuzz on my face that he’s never noticed has a beautiful white coating of frost…my eyelashes, my eyebrows…frost.  He was speechless.  I was slightly mortified.  I smiled-and giggled as I wondered if he was comparing me to Grizzly Adams.

Is it worth it?  Trying to make changes to better your eating habits, exercise habits, trying to keep the spark alive, and follow through?  Man, let’s be honest, it can be a drag.  Sometime you want to toss in the towel or “check out”.  Those feelings are normal and you really have to work at it to make them temporary.  For all of you who are hanging in there, trying new things and pushing yourself to the limit…it is worth it.  It doesn’t go unnoticed.  When you change your habits your body notices and those around you do to.

Was it worth it???  Running in the freezing cold and seeing his face when saw me in all my frosted glory?  YOU BET!!!

What’s on your plate for this year?  Big plans?  Big bike race?  A 5K?  How about Race for the Cure?  Do you plan to hike to the top of five peaks in Montana?  Is this the year for a triathlon?  Is this the year you try to quit smoking?  Get off the Mountain Dew and Snickers bars?  Whatever your goal is expect growing pains…be realistic…and it is worth it.  No calling in unmotivated!

Good luck!