Being a Troublemaker

Cricket Hill in Chicago, IL / Image by flickr user karbon69

I don’t ever set out to be a troublemaker because I have no reason to do so. However, last Saturday, I seem to have put myself in that position. It was my first group run with CARA for the summer marathon training program. I was pretty excited about it because this year I plan to finish the Chicago Marathon and hopefully get myself that much closer to ultimate running goal.

In any event, things were not bad to start. My pace group leader is a hugger, but that is ok. Even though I am not one, I felt prepared for the incoming hug when we met so I wasn’t in a foul mood to start the run. The group is pretty big and already I could tell from our second water stop of the day that there might be some people who will drive me bonkers. There is the lady who I would flat out call a jogger because when we stop, she will jog in place. Why people do that is beyond me because it really doesn’t do anything beneficial that I can see. I guess that some people think they cannot start again after a stop, but really, you’ll start again. Continue reading →

Gossip

Jun9

It is amazing how people who never talk to you on facebook suddenly feel a need to talk or comment on something that is rather gossipy or on things that are really not significant. Post something that is actually important and those same people just shrug their shoulders and have nothing to say.

A while back, I decided to see what my “friends” on facebook would actually comment on. Earlier in the year, I would post awesome news that I had to share and the response was underwhelming to say the least. So, I decided to see just what exactly would get a reaction. Continue reading →

Misadventures

May31

Lately, my life has been one laughable moment after another. Nothing bad, per se except that I have unintentionally made people laugh at stupid stuff I’ve done or have had happened to me.

It all kind of started a few of weeks ago when I was at the gym running one night. I know some people are “surprised” I was at the gym, but I kind of “live” there so whatever. Anyway, this particular night, I wore some grey pants to run in. That was a mistake because about 2/3 of the way through my run, I looked down to see that I was sweating so much that it appeared that I had peed my pants. Had I been wearing black pants to run in, this would not have been a problem.

ANYWAY, when you are at the gym as often as I am, you will start to see the same people around the same time. Lately, I’ve noticed this rather attractive guy there. And he sometimes makes me “Edith googly-eyed” if I see him and he smiles and says hello. (I’M HUMAN OK!) This particular night, when I got to the gym, I didn’t see him so all was well in my world because there was no thinking, do I look unbelievably awful right now?

Continue reading →

I Don’t Know What Else to do

May30

Last week after a run, I was checking a notification on Facebook and ran across the above picture. All I could think was that it summed up perfectly my need to run. I say need because, while I desire to run, it really is a need. When I shared the picture, I said that this is really the only time in my day when I am truly happy.

I know some people took that to mean oh, running is fun sometimes so if you are having fun, then guess you are happy. What I really meant was that for me, running really is the only time during my day that I am happy. I’m not thinking about how I might be disappointing others by being a terrible friend. I’m not thinking about how my life is not where I want it to be or that I am ot in a great job or in a great relatioship. I really do mean that when I am running, I am happy because I am able to do it and all the other things that go on in my life really don’t matter. Continue reading →

A Fatty Tale

May29

I work out. A lot. I go through spurts of doing nothing and then get crazy and try to do too much to make up for my lack of nothing. Lately however, I have been on a streak where I have done something every day. I haven’t stopped doing something since the day after Turkey Day 2011. You would think that after doing all of that working out, I’d be as thin as a toothpick.

You’d be wrong. In fact, I am by all intents, purposes and definitions obese. Well, maybe not obese but definitely overweight. Why? Because at times I have eaten like complete crap and while you can exercise to your heart’s content and even so much that you pass out (I’ve kind of had that happen) unless you clean up your diet, you will be overweight. It doesn’t help when you end up using food for comfort when all other things in life are going as badly as possible. And it also doesn’t help when for so many cultures, food is a way to show affection for people. If you go somewhere and don’t eat, then it is viewed as an insult. Sometimes not eating is just because you aren’t hungry and can’t stomach another bite, but you will eat anyway so as not to offend others. Continue reading →

Food Glorious Food

Apr2

who doesn't love red velvet pancakes for brunch?

who wouldn’t love red velvet pancakes for brunch?

It’s kind of obscene how much I think about food. While working, watching sports or television and even when I am working out, I am thinking about food. Not necessarily what I am going to eat. Sometimes that is the case, but other times it might be what I should eat because I am not hungry and I have to eat so that I can keep running. Other times, I am brainstorming about how I can make an interesting dish. Or in reality, how I can make myself a feast for lunch.

Last year, I went to see a nutritionist. I wasn’t eating too badly, but at the same time, I wanted to do it better since 1) I am a vegetarian and 2) I was concerned that I might not be getting enough of certain nutrients. Secondarily, I wanted to lose weight and while I was already pretty good about doing the working out thing, I knew that ultimately, I needed to change how I ate to really make that goal happen. Seeing the nutritionist was the best thing that I could have done for myself. I met with someone who was okay with me not liking certain foods and not forcing me to eat them because “it is what vegetarians should eat.” She also was very helpful in helping to understand that and look at food as a way of fueling my body to do what I wanted.

Continue reading →

I’m a Runner

Apr1

There, I said it. I’m a runner. I’ve been at the running thing since 2006. It is now 2013 and I feel like a runner. I am a runner. Some people would say that I’ve been a runner since 2006, but back then, I felt like a fraud. Sure, I would jog / run a little bit, but more of my time was spent with walk breaks. But last August, something finally clicked and I started to feel like I could accomplish things with running.

It is now April and so far this year, I have run over 221 miles. Yes, over 200 miles. In January, I started the year with a 5K race and over the course of the month, ran over 50 miles. February turned out to be an even better month. There were three fewer days and I ran over 10 miles more. The big month so far has been last month where I put in over 105 miles. If that seems like a lot of miles to you, imagine how it feels to me. Before this year, I thought I was having a good month when I got in 30 miles in a month. A run longer than three miles seemed like forever. Granted, I had done way more than that on numerous occasions, but those were just for races. Running more than three miles in a race was a no-brainer to me. It was what races were for. Continue reading →

The Ignored

Mar31

Middle kid syndrome. If you are a middle kid, you understand this. If you are an oldest or youngest, chances are you don’t really have a clue about it, unless something happened in your life that caused you to suffer. What exactly is middle kid syndrome? It is that situation where you are ignored by your family because attention is paid to the older kid or the younger kid. You learn to be invisible so as not to cause grief because you parents have other stiff to deal with. Quietly, you go about your business. If people notice you, it is mostly because you ended up doing something really amazing that called for praise.

Perhaps in school, your parents got a note from a teacher about a great thing you did in school. Or maybe you play a sport and scored the game winner. In any event, most of the time what you do goes unnoticed.

There is another group of people who suffer middle kid syndrome and these people really go out of their way to not be a burden to their parents and family. Those people are siblings of those who have cancer. Specifically, I am talking about kids who have a brother or sister who has cancer. Continue reading →

Adjusting

Feb9

I start training in earnest on Monday. I am planning on running about nine races this year and the first really big ones are in May – the Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon and the Soldier Field 10-miler. I have a race before those and I’ve already done a couple this year so far. However, I’m really excited about those races. Both races will allow me to run at some amazing football fields. Additionally, I get to express my inner sports meatball and wear Packers attire for both races. At Lambeau it will be feel right. At Soldier Field, it will just annoy Bears fans and I’m all about poking them.

Anyway, last week I got my training schedule and it caused a mini panic for me. HOW was I going to fit in all the working out I do along with the added running that would need to happen so I can smash my previous best half marathon time. I knew I was going to need help, so I emailed my trainer with the schedule. She was thrilled to see there were planned rest days because right now, I’ve been working out for over 430 days without taking a true rest day. I just have easier days where I will just do yoga, but I always have to be doing something.

The group I am training with has two different programs for the half marathon training. One that involves taking one rest day a week and another that has a total of maybe five rest days through the entire process. Since the Green Bay Half will be my ninth half marathon, I figured I should probably do the advanced program. But then I had this fear of will that make sense if I choose to run / walk it? Why can’t I just run the entire time? Then I started to wonder if maybe, just maybe I could run this race in under 2:05 because that would mean I could do something else later in the year. Seriously, why not? Continue reading →

A Cup of Coffee

Jan24

It was brief. Maybe longer than what many consider brief, but a short stay nonetheless. You dropped in for a coffee. Or maybe I stopped by for coffee.

Talking and laughing. Sharing moments and inside jokes. Making others wonder just what is going on. Does he like her? Does she like him? Do they know the other likes them?

Seems it was all fun and games until you really had a conversation. Not the usual banter but it was disguised as such for the outside world to see. Discussing things that you manage to reveal information about yourself to the other, yet to the outsiders, just banal chit-chat. Continue reading →

In My Head

Thoughts and Observations on lots of stuff