Thursday, March 20, 2014

They Wrote An Article About Me! Or A Run That Fixes Your Whole Day.

Okay, so it's about Crossfitters, but it describes me pretty well. Click here to check it out.  (Except for the Stinky part - but then again, the beasties never seem to mind too much).

While overall the article takes a lighthearted view of the unique personality types attracted to this kind of fitness (here's the contrasting argument), #2 has always always always been true for me. If you followed my blog (or my life) for any length of time, you've figured out that I hate feeling stagnant. Too much routine just sucks. I mean, it has it's value, and I'm not overlooking that - and, I'll admit, sometimes I could use more structure in my life, but as a general rule, I'm not good at sitting still.

So it's no surprise that, knowing today was 'rest' day this week, I was pretty restless. Who would have thought that my 'dinner break' during a 12 hour work day, on a 'rest day', would look like -


...a 10minute/1 mile, 1.4 mile  'jog'.  I recovered from the run pretty quickly, and feel far from exhausted. It was just enough to take the edge off. A year ago, I was FIGHTING for 12 minute mile times. I would rarely go running because I 'enjoyed' it. (I'm still not ready to admit I 'enjoy' running. It's a love/hate relationship. Whenever I'm frustrated, it's a good, quick, go-to that helps the body channel and work through stress hormones. Let's face it. If something stresses me out enough to make me want to run - than it makes the effort of running look like small potatoes.) Today was pretty stressful between work, finding out that Clydas will need his meds upped again soon to get his thyroid level back on track, there is a LONG list of housework piling up, and, ya know, I'm not good at sitting still anyway.

What started off as a crumby day riddled with tech issues holding up my work, work issues holding up my productivity, and vet news, turned into a beautiful one by the time I was done. I came back to my house and grabbed the mail. My new phone case (shaped like Stitch) finally came in! Odin didn't have an accident in the house while I was gone, the dishes and laundry were done with their cycles, and the dogs were happy to see me.

See? Not such a bad day afterall - even though I'll be pulling a 10pmer. It's not a midnighter! My endo also wasn't screaming at me this time like it has been lately, which put that little worry in the back of my mind to rest - for the moment. (Since the surgery that 'might' correct it requires significant recovery time, and 'might' not help anyway - I'm reluctant to dive in head first. Except when it hurts. Then I just want someone to rip it out. But I rarely let it stop me. It's more fuel for the fire.)

A short run fixed a lot - my mood being the main thing.

I'm still looking forward to my late night bubble bath, spinach salad, buffalo sausage, and wine.

Of all the directions I thought my life would take, being a workout junkie wasn't really one of them. But it's a remarkable journey.

I've been asked twice this week what my goals are. It's really made me take a moment to reflect. My "goal" the first time around was to 'lose weight'. From this time last year, I've done that. Last year I was around 220lbs. My weight shot up quickly when I was putting on muscle, but that was really only 2 lbs from where I started training. I'm now hauling around a very different 204lbs now. I still wear the same size causal clothing as a general rule, but it all hangs differently on me now.

A big challenge for me will be sticking to my grain-free, corn free diet while in California and Disney World next month.  Thankfully, there are a few blogs, like this, giving me lots of good ideas so my poor gal pal doesn't get too deprived during her first Disney World Experience. With a race coming up, I have easy motivation to stay on track. I don't want to feel like crud while I'm running or vacationing, so it's easy enough to want to keep the progress going, but traveling is always a bit challenging. My jump rope and gym shoes will be making it into my bags again, that's for sure. The way Disney travel works, I'll be able to look at menus and tell the places we're eating ahead of time. Last time I did that, Disney surprised me and really stepped up to the plate, so I'm hoping for another stellar pre-race experience.

When I think of 'rest' days and vacations, I never thought they would include researching gyms and food choices and storing up the workout juju so that I can perform well (and feel good) while I'm out and about with friends and family.

It's easy to fall into the trap of "I'm not as skinny/fit/fast/fill-in-the-blank a That Girl over there", but when I look back at my journey - sure I may not be where That Girl is - but I couldn't be happier about where I am, where I'm going, and where I've been.

Won't My Sailor be surprised when he gets back from Finding Nemo... A lot has changed - for the better. (Though I can easily see him wondering, "Where's my wife? Oh yeah. At the gym.")

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