friendship

Healthaversary #2: Rainy but Inspiring

January is the month that I mark my Healthaversary, aka my Blogaversary, aka when I woke up and decided it was time to be healthy. Last year I marked it with a hike to a volcanic labyrinth, blowing bubbles and brunch. This year it was pouring rain and I knew the hike down to the labyrinth would be ankle-deep mud. So I decided to skip the hike part and just do a little ritual in my living room. I wasn’t sure who would come.

In the end it was about a dozen women (plus Mr. McB!) who showed up, some I’ve known for many years and one Twitter friend (hi @debroby) whom I was meeting for the first time. First we had an amazing feast prepared by Qi chef Patrick Bremser. He showed us the most seasonal, local dishes he’d made, for a transition into spring. There was a giant pot of potato leek soup with “pungent herbs,” (bright and pungent being the most appropriate foods for this time of year), a most amazing kale and radicchio soup that had been MASSAGED with sea salt and… grapeseed oil? and all I can say is, man, I’ve got to start massaging my kale! It was sooooo tender and fluffy and just.. incredible. There were also little bowls of walnuts, some quinoa, some long-cooked onions (mmmmmmmmm), olive tapenade (MMMMMMMMM), pumpernickel walnut bread, orange zest (zesty!), and some dessertish crostini with pear compote. It was all to. Die. For.

After having this most amazing lunch, we went to our health altar where we’d all put some items symbolizing our health goals for 2011. Therapy bands, running medals, a heart, a little sumo wrestler, a stalk of broccoli, photographs, mementos and other things. We all lit candles. It was just lovely and I felt so … supported and held up as I go into my third year of health.

This second year has been both easier and harder than the first. On one hand, I feel like I am more comfortable with it. It feels like a more solid part of my identity. But this is also where I feel the foreverness of it all. The very long haul. Most days it doesn’t feel like a struggle, but sometimes it does, especially when, like this January, when I’ve felt sick and not with my usual high energy. I don’t like being tired or sick.

But it was wonderful, and wonderful to see the ripples out as others have gotten healthier and others have faced challenges with great courage. I love and admire my community, both local and invisible-and-far-off, and I could not, could NOT have gotten these two years down without you all.

This goes out to all the invisible ones who weren’t in attendance but who have held me up so much these past two years. Much love.

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February 6, 2011 9

First Race of 2011!

Yesterday I ran my first race event of 2011. It was really a test – to see if I had it in me. And man, I had my doubts. After being sick for most of the new Year, I could feel my strength and mojo ebbing away from me. I orginally had signed up for a 10k but then downgraded it to a 5k – this just seven weeks after doing a half marathon!!

I was nervous, no doubt. But I’d signed up and I was determined to do it. I had my great sister-in-fitness Lisa Marie with me, and I also got to meet health Tweeter @Faby_Gonzalez who told me about the race in the first place.

This was going to be a small race (150 people as opposed to 30,000 in Las Vegas!). Which meant that most of them were probably going to be really fast runners. This seems to be the trend at small runs. Anyway, we drove out there and it was beautiful – easy parking (this was a HUGE stresser at the Redwood run I did last year – I got there, the lot was full and I had to park a mile away and RUN to the start line! Ack!) and just a nice, friendly vibe. They had “pep talks” for the 10k and 5k runners both. There were massage tables and food tables and it was just nice.

It was pretty chilly when we got out of the car (East coast people, don’t laugh! or throw stuff) Lisa Marie and I warmed up by doing lunges across the parking lot just like we do at the trainers. It turned out to be a perfect way to warm up.

The 10K pack took off (I was glad I was not with them). Then for the next 10 minutes I powerwalk/jogged around the parking lot in an attempt to REALLY warm up so I’d be ready to run at the start. The peptalk guy mentioned something about the first part being uphill. WHAT? I had not noticed this. I really, really dislike running uphill. Especially at the beginning! But what could I do about it? Not much. Ready, set, RUN!

We took off. I tried to remember my mantra of staying at my own pace and tried not to notice all the people passing me right at the beginning. And then of course it started climbing up hill. And up and up. I was panting. It was really hard! I tried to take small steps, but still I was not ready for that. I tried to just focus and run slow and keep going. A bunch of people around me fell back to walking but I really felt like I wanted to keep running. I felt like I was running really slow.

Then my RunKeeper (on phone) spoke up. “Five minutes. X-tenths of a mile. Pace 12:30.” I was like, Whaaaaaaaa? I’m running 12:30 uphill? I know this is glacial for many of you, but I gotta say, I’ve been running an average of 15:00 pace for the last six months or so. The half marathon was pretty much at a 15:00, which was an average of 13-14 running and 16-18 walking. So this shocked me. Um, no wonder I was winded!!

A note on gadgets: I brought the (dreaded) Garmin in the car and tried once again to decipher the little manual while I waited for LM to get ready. It just frustrated me. I have the feeling this thing is going to be going up for sale soon. I just don’t like it. On the other hand, RunKeeper Plus (the deluxe version) is FREE on iTunes until TOMORROW!!!!! and man, it is even better than the RunKeeper free. I just love it. So I think that’s gonna be my device for the time being.

So we got to the 1-mile marker and I was still not feeling very comfortable. It was still an uphill climb which I was getting tired of. But what could I do? I am used to having orthopedic issues but I have not been out of breath running in a very long time. I kept going.

The thing about a 5k is, no matter what, it goes by pretty fast. We got to the turnaround (it was an out-and-back course) and that made me pretty happy because it meant… yeah! DOWNHILL!

Yeah I was happy. As bad as it feels to run uphill it feels great to run down (unless it is super steep, then it sucks). But this was pretty much a rolling hill and it was just like… wheee! Then it got fun. I passed the 2 mile and then it was on cruise. The finish line was there before I knew it (wheeeeeeeee, downhill!). I was so happy!

This little race was the bomb. Not only did they give us cute little finishers’ medals, they also had the BEST FOOD! Hot pasta, Caesar salad, fruit, what??????? I couldn’t believe it. All for free. And free massages. And just a nice happy vibe. I got to see LM thru the finish line (YAY) then we got our medals and food. She had had some breathing issues on the course too, but she finished strong and I was so happy we were there!!

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This event was really important for me. It truly felt like my “comeback” event after feeling so sick and out of it. LM asked me if I had any goals before we started and I said, “One, I want to finish, and Two, I want to make friends with running again.” Both accomplished! I was really amazed at my time (true penguin time, but for me, it was like cheetah time!). When I got home and studied my RunKeeper stats, I was sort of amazed to see that I’d kept that pace pretty much steady no matter if I was going up or downhill. Which was very surprising to me. But good! It made me feel good.

I’m not sure if I will be able to do an event in February but this got me very pumped for my BIG WEEKEND in March: StairClimb, 5k AND Oakland Running Festival! (probably Team Relay, which is cool by me) I’m ba—ack!

January 30, 2011 16

A Run, A Walk, and a Plankathon!

I’d say I am finally finally FINALLY getting to feeling better! I had an awesome workout on Friday with the trainer and gang. This involved a lot of lunging-with-weights (10 lb barbells) which believe me ended up being a lot tougher on the legs than the arms. I’ve been sore!!!!!!! since then. But good sore.

Yesterday I went out for a run, considering I have a 5k race next Saturday (ahem!). The route I took was one of my typical training runs before the half. This run used to be like, effortless! joyful! Painless! UM. After a month of inactivity, let’s say it was really effortful, kind of painful (not orthopedically but emotionally) and in retrospect, way too long. But when you park you car that far away, you kind of have to finish. It was a little under 6 miles and I think I probably ran about 50% of it, hopefully a slow 5k somewhere in there. It really knocked me out though. I should have aimed for a 4 mile thing. Ah well. Live and learn, right?

Today I just went for a nice, slow, restorative walk in the woods near our house. There were a ton of people and kids and dogs and bikes up there. EVERYone was out enjoying the warm weather and sun (cold-weather people, please avert your eyes, don’t mean to rub it in, honest). Including at the side of the trail, I a little kid sitting on a plastic potty. And parents hovering over kid with a roll of toilet paper and a bunch of plastic bags. They hauled that potty out here in your backpack? Wow.

Anyway. Whatever! It’s all cool! You see all kinds of things out there in the woods. It felt good to just go out there at a nice amble pace, listen to my music and and think about stuff. And it did also feel good to move my bones around 3 days in a row. THAT was good. It’s sure been a while. I was starting to get worried there.

One thing that really lit a fire under my butt yesterday was realizing that I can be kind of … er… competitive! I saw that Josie (aka @yumyucky) had posted on Twitter that she had held a plank position for two minutes! This got me kind of curious. How long could I hold a plank? When we do planks with the trainer it is usually for 60 seconds OR we do a combo of plank-straight arms-plank-etc back and forth. So I had no idea what my maximum was. I decided to time myself, and I made a video. Three minutes!! (note: the video says 7 minutes because I am very techno-challenged and I ended up uploading it 2x) Yahoooooo! Then Josie saw that and SHE made another video (3:20) in response! The plankoff is on!!

I love this stuff. It was all in fun and yet both Josie and I got to really stretch our limits and realize we could do more than we had previously believed. Another limiting belief dissolved! Yay!!

I might try and go for 4 minutes this week. 🙂

EDITED TO ADD!!!!!!!!!!! We have had two more additions to the great Plank-Off of 2011! Check out videos by Julie and Reinaldo, who is competing all the way from Chile! Both amazingly impressive and cool. (and suspenseful!)

January 23, 2011 6

Friends with Snow Again

Sargent Wilderness Area, Chama, New Mexico

By the time I’d gotten to the heaviest of my Before phase, I had become a true hater of snow and snow sports. I grew out of my very-largest, expensive snow pants and SWORE I was not going to move up to the next size. So I’d go out in the snow with the pants unsnapped and only halfway zipped up. That was, er, chilly and distressing. I also remember that the maneuvering that involved snapping or buckling ski boots or other such things resulted in an uncomfortable/impossible squishing together of my ample midsection, and just tightening my boots made me dizzy enough to pass out. Often I’d opt to sit by the fire and drink lots of hot cocoa. Eventually I ended up opting out of going to the snow altogether, it was so unpleasant.

It had been probably more than 3 years since I’d done anything snow-related. But my very best college friend and the godmother of my daughter was throwing a 50th birthday bash with all her besties in the New Mexico mountains, and it involved cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and I could not say no. I thought maybe I’d end up sitting by the fire and reading/writing all weekend. But no.

The first NSV (nonscale victory) came the night before the trip, when I went down to the basement to rummage around the piles of snow clothes. I found the hated VERY BIG snowpants that I could not even zip up 3 yrs ago. Then I found the 3-sizes-smaller ones that my kids had worn when they were maybe in junior high. I held my breath. I tried on the small ones. HEY! THEY FIT! So that put me in a pretty good mood.

I got there, and it was beautiful. So beautiful! I am spoiled by being one of those people who can “go to the snow” and then leave it. And this was some of the nicest, prettiest snow I had ever seen. The flakes were giant crystalline shards of beauty. I was entranced!

My friend had rented me some cross-country skis. Back in the day, I was probably the World’s Worst Cross Country Skier. One, I had absolutely no stamina or cardiovascular endurance. So after about three feet I would be panting. Secondly, I was absolutely terrified to go up or down the slightest incline because I would immediately fall to the ground. NO JOKE. Once I went to this X-C ski resort with the family and I signed up for this hellaciously long (could it have been more than 2 hours?) X-C group ski lesson. It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my LIFE because I was either panting in absolute oxygen debt, or I was trying to struggle up from an upside-down turtle position on the snowy ground, while the entire group looked on in abject pity and disgust, or left me miles behind. It was miserable and I swore on ten frozen Bibles that I would never, ever, EVER cross-country ski again.

But my best college friend, the hostess and birthday girl, had rented me some X-C skis. What was I to do? Well, the REI gods were smiling on me. They sent me one defective ski so that I could not for the life of me get it latched on to my boot. DEFECTIVE BINDINGS saved my dignity. I praised the Lord and reached for the snowshoes. Which I loved. And adored.

It is damn near impossible to fall down while wearing snow shoes. And thanks to all the running I did in 2010, I was not the least bit cardiovascularly challenged by this activity. I tromped through the snow, sometimes up to my knees, in total glee. It was freakin’ AWESOME. And it made my heart pump and my DirectLife activity monitor wake up and say “hey, she’s not dead!” and a happiness rang out across the snowy land.

So now I am friends with the snow again. I went out twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, the first exercise I’d done since the Plague hit me on New Year’s Day. It felt really, really good! And now I can actually contemplate the idea of renting some snowshoes again and going to play in the snow in my own home state.

PS. One of the nicest things about this weekend was learning how to make homemade chai. SO DELICIOUS and so simple. There was always a pot of chai on the stove and I became obsessed with it. Recipe and how-to photos here!

January 11, 2011 9

Weakly Ushering in 2011

I spent the weekend sick in bed, watching a ton of junky TV on hulu.com. Where I came to the conclusion that the Barefoot Contessa is soft porn, and Paula Deen is like … a snuff film. Really. It boggles, but for a few hours I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

I’m still feeling pretty weak. My throat is a mess, and I have absolutely no energy. Taking a shower just now just wiped me right out. I am going to work from home today for one job, and probably calling in sick tomorrow for my physical job. Or at least taking a short day.

It is almost making me cry reading everyone’s energetic posts about New Year’s goals, and getting out there running! and weight lifting and boot camping and the like! Right now the idea of a WALK makes me very, very tired. Sadly, I am missing the inauguration of Oakland’s mayor Jean Quan, the first Asian-American woman to be mayor of a major US city! And I even had a VIP ticket, darn. But I realized after my exhausting shower that it was just out of the question.

I don’t want too many days to go by before I post a New Year’s post. I am going to say what Pubsgal said in her post: “More of the same.” I want to stay healthy. I want to go a third year. I want to do some races – at least one more half marathon and maybe a few 5-10ks scattered around. I want to be the best Weight Watchers leader around! I want to just, you know, KEEP IT UP.

It’s not as exciting as reaching goal weight or lifetime or running a race for the first time, but it sure beats the alternative, doesn’t it?

I’m really looking forward to going to ‘Fitbloggin11 in Baltimore in May! and am working on a brand new solo performance to bring there. I’m psyched about meeting so many of my invisible friends.

My 2nd healthaversary is coming up (officially on Jan 17th, but celebration will be on the 30th). I feel really good about this. Last year, it still felt kind of tentative. I was pinching myself, like, is this real?? This year, 24 months after I began this blog, I believe that this is real. I am a healthy person committed to fitness. I’m in it. Which feels good.

I’m definitely committed to being part of the Oakland Running Festival here in my home town in March! But I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to do the half-marathon or the team relay. I’d love to do the relay with my family, but not everyone has committed (Junior might do the half) so… I don’t know yet. But I’ll be out there March 27th no matter what!

And speaking of March, I also signed up to do the Lung Association Stair Climb on March 26th (yeah, the day BEFORE the ORF!). Thanks to @travelgirl007 for talking me into this. 104 flights of stairs on the B of A building! (thinking about it now makes me want to crawl back into bed) Want to join my team?? Or sponsor me??? Click here!

I’m also planning to return to Las Vegas for the Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon in December 2011. Because I know it’s an awesome venue and it’s gonna be FUN! I hope a lot of my friends will join this party.

Okay, I’m tired just typing all that. Back to bed! Happy New Year, everyone, and may you have a great and healthy 2011!

January 3, 2011 8

Homemade Sugary Pecan Goodness Holiday Giveaway!

One of my dearest traditions is making sugared pecans for friends, coworkers, family and random strangers during the holidays. (gave a bag away to a friendly post office worker last week)

I’m ready to send a bag of scrumptiousness to TWO readers TODAY!! They will be chosen tonight and mailed out tomorrow – probably not in time for Christmas, but before the new year.

And here’s the recipe for anybody who doesn’t win. It’s ridiculously easy.

Combine one egg white and one TB water. Beat until foamy.
Add 1 lb pecans (some people like to use walnuts) and coat them until wet.
In separate bowl, combine one cup sugar, one TB cinnamon and one tsp salt.
Pour sugar combo over the wet pecans to coat them.
Spread on greased cookie sheet in shallow layer.
Bake at 275 for 45 minutes. Turn once about halfway through.

VOILA! Yummy yummy amazing holiday goodness!!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment about YOUR favorite holiday tradition, new or old, or one you’ve heard about and would like to try. Ready, set, go!!!!!

And the winners are….Ashley and Jessie! Send me your snail mail addresses right away and I’ll get your (New Years) nuts to you by next week!

December 22, 2010 20

All the Invisible Nudges

I am really indebted to my Invisible Friends for my run tonight. I had sort of vague plans to do some sort of exercise today, but I’d written off running because I thought it was supposed to rain all week. But then it didn’t really rain today – it was more cloudyesque. I got out of work early (yay! 1:00pm! no more of that job until 2011!) and thought I’d go right away, especially when I got a message from Sportsfan, who had just done a 5 mile run. I noticed I felt slightly envious and slightly… er, competitive. I realized I had not run in over a week.

Earlier this week I Tweeted that one’s identity as a runner has to be constantly renewed or else it kind of dissipates. It’s much like one’s identity as a writer, which I also struggle with on an ongoing basis. It doesn’t matter if one has published a book or run a half marathon– if you don’t keep going, that identity will melt away over time. It’s not like getting a professional degree, which you can just renew by sending in a check to the state every few years. I didn’t fret about “not really being a physical therapist” until about ten YEARS had passed without practicing. It’s not like that with running.

My running identity was definitely getting melty this week. I was overwhelmed with Christmas shopping and prep and a million little errands that chipped away at my exercise time.

I did some errands after work. Time was chipping away. I had some late lunch. I got kind of sleepy. But then I saw some Tweets. @Diegirl said she was either going to sleep or nap. I told HER to run. She did!

I went and put on my running stuff. By then it was almost 4pm. I sat in the car and twiddled around with my iPod, allegedly “charging it up” but I knew I was procrastinating. I tweeted so.

That got me going. Somebody noticed! Their nudges and encouraging me really got me OUT of the car and onto that trail.

Right away, I felt like something was wrong with my legs. My calves were tight as cement and felt like they had golf balls stuck in them. The first mile felt terrible. I thought there was no way I’d make it more than a few miles. But then I cranked up the good music and just kept going. And lo and behold, by mile 1.5 the golf balls started softening up and everything started feeling loosey-goosey and a lot better.

Meanwhile, it was getting darker out. And darker. This is what happens when you start a 5+ mile run at around 4:15pm on the shortest day of the year. Whoops!

My body actually felt pretty good but I didn’t finish until close to 6pm and it was DARK DARK DARK. But it was true that I felt really good and really glad I’d gone. I was so thankful to all my invisible running friends: @letitgo8 and @diegirl who nudged me out of the car, and Sportsfan who motivated me by his own run earlier in the day, and @bitchcakesny who has been really upping her running game, and @mpkann who just returned to running after patiently healing from a hurt knee. All of you have inspired me so much. Ultimately, we are alone in this, and we make the decision whether to lace up the shoes and either go for a run or take a nap. Thank you for helping me make a good decision today.

I love my invisible community!

Oh yeah – I forgot to include DirectLife coach Erin in that invisible cheering section. I got an email from her today. We’ve been trying to work out the details of my daily Targets since coach Jen is on vacation. My activity really JUMPED around the time of the half marathon (like 300% of target) and DL asked me if I wanted to adjust it. Silly me, I said yes, but then returned to non-half-marathon life, and I’d been slacking on my percentages. So there has been some back and forth with the coaches about what my real target should be. Just these small communications also helped me feel like I am not alone, that someone out there Cares about my activity and health.

Accountability rocks.

December 22, 2010 3

No Cliques, Only Free Hugs!

I am so excited to be attending Fitbloggin’ 2011 in May! I know, it’s almost half a year away, but still, I am SO EXCITED! I am re-vamping and polishing my solo performance and getting soooooooooo excited to meet friends who have meant so much to me but whom I have yet to meet in person.

After last year’s conference, I heard some random grumblings and read a few blog posts about how there were “cliques” that made some people feel uncomfortable or unwelcomed. Now I hate cliques more than anyone, but it occurs to me that someone might think that *I* am part of some clique. MizFit blogged about this and my response was, it’s not a clique, it’s a friendship, and if you feel left out, then … then what? Tough luck?

I can imagine that it would be tough to go to a conference and not know anybody. And everyone is all huggy and happy to see each other, and you’re just standing there against the wall, and thinking, this sucks. Everyone is in a clique! I’m going home NOW!

I don’t want that to happen.

Recently I saw that Alan had Tweeted that he was going to get a FREE HUGS shirt to wear to Fitbloggin’. And I thought about the clique grumblings and thought, what if a LOT of people wore FREE HUGS shirts? So if anybody was there on their own, they could just go up to some random person and get a free hug, and instantly they would feel not so alone. Right? Wouldn’t it be awesome if a WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE wore the FREE HUGS shirt and NOBODY felt left out?? How awesome would that be?

So right now, Team Free Hugs has two people. I would love to grow that team between now and May 2011! The rules for membership are simple:

You have to attend Fitbloggin’. Although I suppose you could also participate remotely, by Twitter. But I’ll leave that campaign to someone else to organize.
You have to wear something visually conspicuous that says FREE HUGS. It could be a T-shirt that you purchase here, or that you make at home with an old undershirt and a Sharpie. Your choice. You could also tattoo it in Dayglo colors on your bicep. (MizFit?)
You have to be willing to hug anyone who comes into your path looking like they WANT a hug. You’re GIVING hugs to people, not imposing them on anyone.

That’s it! Down with cliques! Up with hugs!

This is the T-shirt that I want.

Which one do you like best? Have you ever gone to a conference and felt alone? Would it have made a difference if you’d seen a bunch of people with open arms wearing this?

December 10, 2010 23

Tunnel, Meet Light

That was a pretty bleak post I wrote this morning. But you know what is so very awesome about being part of a healthy living community? You put your ugly stuff out there, and people come through for you. This is so very true. So first I got a bunch of supportive tweets. Then I got a phone call from my WW BFF (who also happens to be an awesome WW leader). She said, “It sounds like maybe you need to go to a meeting.”

Light bulb! I have not attended a WW meeting as a member in so very long. And that is something that we are supposed to never forget, that we are all members first. As it happened, HER meeting happened to be starting in less than an hour. So it got me out of my sad woe-is-me pajamas and into some exercise clothes (yay) and over to the meeting.

I felt like such a sad sack in that meeting, but it moved me. Something clicked. The theme was “Learning from Experience.” The thing is, these weekly WW themes can be SO DEEP if we let them be. I sat there and muddled and pondered and thought about what I can learn from this experience. I realized a few things. One, that I was not particularly enjoying my food these past few days because I was eating out of resentment. I wasn’t really savoring or tasting or enjoying my food, which is one of my own cardinal rules. So I vowed that I would really try to go back to savoring as much as possible.

I also realized that I had just been waiting, all this time, almost two years, to see myself stumble and FAIL. Because that little Gollum inside me has been lurking in there, chewing on dead fish and muttering, “You’re not all that, missy.”

Last night I stayed up and caught up on the Makeover Week episode of Biggest Loser. I just cried all the way through it. For those of you who have not been watching Season 10, there are these two women, Elizabeth and Ada. Elizabeth started out the season keeling over during the first challenge and having to be taken away by ambulance. Ada is this fierce Asian-American woman whose parents have been punishing her her whole life for the deaths of her brothers. Anyway, Elizabeth is often physically overwhelmed by challenges; she gets asthma and just has to stop. Ada is a total WARRIOR and really an unstoppable force but she clearly has all this hurt stuff inside. Her family is clearly still punishing her and they suck.

Anyway, in this episode there was this mega-stair challenge. They had to run up like 100 flights of stairs which believe me, is no joke. OR they could take this trolley train thing, for less credit. After like 50 flights of steps, Elizabeth was really struggling (oh I could relate!) and decided to take the train. She felt way behind and when everyone else was done, she was only at 70 and she just could not see doing those last 30 flights alone. She threw in the towel and then was really really upset with herself.

I’ve been that Elizabeth so many times. I’ve had asthma. I have diabetes and high blood pressure. I had pre-eclampsia and gall stones and messed up ankles and allergies. I always had stomach aches when I was little and I just never saw myself as a very healthy person. I would give up so easily. Even when I was on my high school track team, I’d often keel over IN THE MIDDLE OF A RACE and start throwing up or throwing some joint out of whack or whatever; ie not finishing because I was so afraid of coming in last.

But as I was watching I realized that I’ve also been Ada. I’ve felt like I’m not good enough (to live). And I’ve also been a fierce unstoppable beast in the gym. I’ve been all those things. They all live inside me.

After I went to the WW meeting I felt a lot calmer. I felt like I had a lot of things to think about (I still do). Then I went to the gym. I got on the elliptical for half an hour. It felt good and sweaty and clean. Then I got on the treadmill. After 12 minutes my feet and ankles were SCREAMING IN PAIN. I got off. I swore a whole bunch. I got back on the elliptical and did another 20 minutes.

So I got a good workout. But the running part sucked big time. I’m not quite sure what to make of that. I do know that I am determined to FINISH that damn half-marathon no matter what. I might very well be crawling.

To finish up on the Elizabeth/Ada thing: at the gym the next day, the trainers gave Elizabeth the opportunity to complete her final 30 flights on the stairmaster. And she did it and felt really great about herself. I was so happy for her. She also had her inner fierceness inside. I think we all do.

So I’m feeling calmer, better, sweatier. I want to thank everyone for the support you sent my way earlier. Everyone who texted me, tweeted, emailed and commented – you boosted me up a lot. WHICH IS WHY I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY. Thank you.

November 27, 2010 15

foodfoodbodybody

eat, move, think, feel

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